-//-
(KIWI//Harry Styles)
1st of September, Sunday, 1974
Hurrying down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, Andrea looked into every window of the compartment doors in desperate search of her friends.
Finally spotting two redheads, a blonde and a head of wild curls, Andrea slid the door open and smiled brightly at the girls in front of her. "What's up witches!" she greeted, making them all turn to her.
"ANDIE!" they all cheered and stood from their seats, sharing hugs and greetings.
Over the summer break, Andrea had written a few times with Corinna and even visited Mary in Scotland for a weekend, but the other girls she hadn't gotten as close to. Her closest friend outside the group was Dorcas, but she wasn't in her house or her year.
Dorcas' girlfriend Marlene was though, and she was just as nice.
Either way, they were all friendly and she could easily join them at meals or chat with them in the Common Room, but they weren't best friends. Not like she was with the boys. Not the type of friendships she had with the Marauders.
As they all took their seats again, Lily studied Andrea scrutinizingly. "Not that I'm complaining, but why did you decide to come to join us instead of your gang?" she asked, chuckling. Andrea groaned and dropped her head to Mary's shoulder. "Because boys suck," she stated.
Marlene snorted. "Yeah? What's new hun?" she laughed, not looking up from Corinna's nails which she was currently painting. "Why, specifically, do they suck today though?" Lily giggled.
Andrea rubbed her stomach which had been killing her since she woke up that morning. "Guys know nothing," she groaned.
All the girls looked at her, finally understanding what she was on about. "Congratulations!" Marlene cheered, handing over a cookie for her. "Woah. She never gives up her cookies. You're lucky," Lily whistled. "Why are you congratulating me?" Andrea chuckled, accepting the cookie. "Because it's not every day a girl gets her period," Lucretia cheered.
Andrea rolled her eyes. "I got it a few days ago. But it's been killer since Yesterday," she said. "Either way, we'll take care of you. This calls for pumpkin pasties and chocolate milk," Lily declared, getting out of her seat to go in search of the trolley.
"I'm glad I've got at least some people to help me out in these situations," Andrea chuckled as Mary rubbed her back.
"Of course. It's what friends do," Corinna grinned.
-//-
Riding with the girls made Andrea slightly less irritable. As the train reached Hogsmeade station, Andrea stuck to the girls, hoping the boys would at least take her trunk off the platform for her.
As she gathered outside with the other girls, they decided to split up into two carriages. "DeeDee!" Marlene squealed making Andrea wince from the high-pitched noise. Marlene ran forwards and leapt onto her girlfriend and one of Andrea's best friends, Dorcas Meadowes.
"Hey, love!" Dorcas grinned, hugging Marlene back and kissing her cheek. Dorcas had updated Andrea on the developed relationship between the two when she came and stayed with her a few weeks back.
But because they were gay and this was the seventies, they had agreed not to make it too obvious. But at the same time, PDA didn't exactly send a clear message that they were straight.
Beside Dorcas, Andrea spotted one of her other good friends.
Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Andrea felt her eyes wander a little too much as she studied him. Kingsley was taller and even through his white school shirt, Andrea could see he had definitely buffed out over the break. Andrea felt her cheeks grow hot as Kingsley made eye contact with her as well and an easy grin took over his features. Her face grew hotter when she saw Kingsley trying to subtly check her out, but then also struggling to not check her out.
Getting her period wasn't the only thing that had changed for Andrea this school year. She had always been a very pretty girl, being blessed with good genes from both her parents.
And even with the pimple, she put a magic serum on to cover her forehead that morning, she was looking more grown up and cuter than ever. Her large dark eyes, her deep dimples and the permanent grin that always ghosted her lips.
"Hey A," Kingsley greeted her, walking closer. "Hi King," Andrea smiled. As Kingsley reached her, he enveloped her in a tight hug, lifting her slightly off the ground in his embrace. As he released her, Andrea felt awkward, avoiding eye contact.
"Good summer?" she asked him, eyes locked right over his shoulder. "Yeah, it was great. You?"
"Yeah, I-"
"Come on love birds. We don't have all day!" Mary complained. She grabbed Andrea and dragged her over to the carriage Dorcas, Marlene, and Lucretia had grabbed.
"Where's your entourage?" Dorcas giggled, seeing as one almost never saw one Marauder without the others. "Gone," Mary sighed, brushing Andrea's hair gently. "Why?" Dorcas laughed, not understanding them. Andrea looked to Marlene for help so she wouldn't have to explain again.
Marlene rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "Because boys suck," she offered. "Ah," Dorcas said in understanding.
Andrea narrowed her eyes at her. "She didn't even give you a reason." Dorcas shrugged.
"Didn't have to. It's true. Boys do suck."
-//-
"He's gonna be a Slytherin for sure," Sirius unsuccessfully tried to whisper to James. Andrea rolled her eyes as she overheard them but kept her gaze forward. "Are you kidding? The boy's shaking like a Tentacula leaf. He's a Hufflepuff for sure," James tried and failed, to whisper back. Andrea huffed, making Mary turn around and look at her quizzically.
"SLYTHERIN!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
As James and Sirius called out their guesses loudly as the Sorting Hat was placed on the poor boy's head, McGonagall turned to the two boys with a stern look. Andrea leaned closer to the curious Mary and whispered only for her ears, "Ravenclaw."
"RAVENCLAW!" the Sorting Hat called out loudly and the Ravenclaws cheered, a lot of students from other houses sending quizzical looks to James and Sirius. Mary smirked at Andrea.
"You should put some money on this," she giggled. A redheaded girl stepped up to the stool. "Gryffindor!" James and Sirius both called out loudly. Mary turned to Andrea again. Andrea studied the girl. "Slytherin... maybe."
"SLYTHERIN!" the Hat called as soon as it touched the young first year's head, making Andrea's guess right again. As the new Slytherin headed to her table McGonagall turned a sharp glare at her two Gryffindors again.
"Black and Potter! Don't make me take points off you before the term has even started," she said sternly. Many of the other students started chuckling as she told them off. Sirius mimed zipping his lips shut, making Andrea roll her eyes at him.
Andrea looked to the empty spot beside Peter and felt a pang in her heart. If Remus was here, he could roll his eyes with her. He could tell the boys to shut up. He'd keep them all in line, maybe even being there this morning to smooth things over when she got pissed off at them.
But today was a full moon.
This was the first time he had missed the start of term because of the moon. Andrea only hoped it wouldn't happen again for the rest of their school years. So instead of making him take the long train ride on the day of the moon, he had written and told his friends that he would stay at home with his father for the moon and then he would travel with his dad to Hogwarts tomorrow, not sure when. It all depended on how bad the moon was tonight.
"Gryffindor!"
"Ravenclaw!"
Andrea turned to the boys before looking at the kid under the Sorting Hat. Andrea grinned. "Hufflepuff," she murmured to herself.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted, the Badgers applauding loudly as the newest addition joined their table. "How did you know that one? I was thinking Ravenclaw too," Mary questioned in awe. Andrea pointed at the kid.
"He's got a Hufflepuff pin on his robes. Probably from his siblings or one of his parents. Since he's wearing the pin, he's proud to be related to Hufflepuff and I assume he keeps the same policies and priorities as that house. I'm assuming," Andrea shrugged.
Mary nodded along. "So, 'Ministry Detective' is your future occupation then?" she joked, poking Andrea's side with her elbow. Andrea winced at the contact and Mary cringed. "Sorry," she chuckled. Andrea held her gut.
"Growing up's a bitch," she grumbled, not bothering to guess along with the rest of the Sorting.
The only satisfaction was that James and Sirius were hit and miss on every single first year. Another downside was the thirty points the two of them managed to lose Gryffindor during their guessing game.
-//-
A knock sounded on Andrea's door. She lifted her head slightly off her pillow. "It's open!" she called out, hoping it was Mary returning with some chocolate chip ice cream.
As a head of messy black hair stuck through the gap she groaned and dropped her head onto her pillow again. "What do you want?" Andrea grumbled as James came into her room. He stood in front of her bed; his hands clutched together behind his back as if he were awaiting trial.
"So, I feel like you were mad at me today and I don't know why. So, I made a list of everything I did and I'm gonna try not to do any of them again," he said, his hands still clasped behind his back.
"And also, it's the first night back for the term and I was hoping you'd let me stay here. You know, keep the tradition alive and whatnot." Andrea smiled up at him. He was hard to say no to when he was being all soft and cute. "This is only our second time back," she reminded him, already moving to pull back the covers for him. James grinned happily, taking off his shoes and snuggling into the covers next to her.
"Not true. First night back from Christmas and Easter break I stayed here too." As he settled, he saw the hot water bottle she was holding. "Why do you have a hot water bottle on your stomach?" he asked her, fiddling with the paw of the bear-shaped hot water bottle she was clutching. Andrea shifted her position only to wince in pain at the movement.
"Because my uterus is literally shredding itself inside me," she groaned.
James' eyes went wide. He reached around him and pulled a mirror out of his back pocket. "What are you gonna do with a mirror? You need to check your hair before going to sleep?" Andrea teased. "No. I need to talk to Sirius," he said casually.
"SIRIUS!" he called loudly at his reflection. The image moved and a dark room came, suddenly a sleepy Sirius looking back at his friend. "What do you want, Potter?" he groaned, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "I need Remus' chocolate stash. Code RED," he said urgently.
"Roger that," Sirius said quickly before he disappeared from the mirror. Andrea looked at James with furrowed brows, very confused by the message.
A few moments later the door opened again and in came Peter holding a stack of Quidditch magazines and Sirius carrying a box filled to the brim with chocolate along with a bag full of cherry lollipops. Andrea slowly sat up in her bed.
"What's all this?" she asked in awe, looking at all the boys. "Some survival materials for you during your 'time of the month'," Peter shrugged, placing the pile of magazines on top of her trunk. At his words, Sirius' face split into a wide smile.
"Woah. How have we never made that connection before? Prepare yourselves for a year full of menstruation and werewolf-related puns. I'm gonna be annoying Remus to the brink of murder when he gets back," he grinned. Andrea smiled sarcastically at Sirius.
"Yay! Maybe we'll sync up," she faked a cheer. Sirius tutted. "Darling, I don't know what that means. Care to explain?" Andrea shook her head. "Ignorance is bliss, my dear Black. Where did you guys learn all this anyways?" she asked, unwrapping some chocolate, and taking a large bite.
The other two boys looked at James. Andrea turned to him questioningly too, and he rubbed his neck sheepishly. "My mum might've sat us all down a few weeks back and scolded us on what to do when you got your - what did she call it?" James asked Sirius.
Sirius raised his hands and did air quotes. "Visit from 'Aunt Flo'," Sirius shuddered. Andrea scrunched up her nose. "Ew. Never call it that again," she giggled. "Noted. Code Red it is," Peter grinned.
"And Moony's can be 'Remus' time of the moon'," she giggled, earning a high five from Sirius.
"Better than bleeding out of your genitals," Peter shuddered.
"Ah, humour based on my pain. Ha, ha."
-//-
3rd of September, Tuesday, 1974
"Mister Potter, please move seats," the Professor said, finally fed up with the constant talking. Andrea smiled to herself. These new Professor's really had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
It was the second day of lessons, and they were currently sitting through the first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with their new Professor, Mister Jones. It didn't help that this was their final lesson of the day either.
Andrea turned in her seat to see James pouting at the teacher. "But why?" he sulked, clutching onto Sirius' shoulder for dear life. "Because you and Mister Black have not stopped whispering since the lesson started," he said, crossing his arms.
Andrea caught Sirius' eye and he sent her a wink. "Professor Jones, feel free to move him. But if he sits here, I'll whisper to him. If he sits a few rows away, I'll shout to him," Sirius explained matter-of-factly. Andrea looked at the teacher to see his reaction. He was gaping at Sirius, probably questioning why he accepted this job. "It's all up to you, really," he added, challenging the teacher.
The new Professor cleared his throat and turned away from their desks. "Moving on, Boggarts-" Andrea let out a silent chuckle and knocked her shoulder against Remus' when she saw the hard scowl he was wearing. "Lighten up, Moony. They're just having a bit of fun."
They both turned to see James and Sirius doing a complicated handshake. "Nailed it," they whispered to each other, making Andrea laugh again.
As the lesson finished up, the five Marauders hurried off towards their dorms to drop off their book bags before dinner. Andrea joined the boys up to their room, deciding to leave her bag here so Remus could force her to study afterwards.
As Remus opened the door, she couldn't help but grimace. She dropped her bag onto James' unmade bed and took a look around. "You've been here one day," she scolded them, looking around at the chaos.
The paper mural had already grown since their arrival for the new term. She looked to the wall beside the doorway and walked closer. All the boys had added pictures to the wall that had earlier been blank and clean.
She recognized a few of the photos, some from the previous school year and some from the summer holidays. They were all in different styles because Andrea, Peter and Remus all had very different cameras.
"Can I hang things in here too?" she asked no one in particular, studying a picture of Peter and her that Remus had taken with the camera Peter had given Andrea for Christmas the year before.
"Are you part of this dorm?" Sirius asked, loosening his tie as he looked at her. "No," she hesitated. "Then no," he said bluntly.
Andrea crossed her arms defiantly. "That's rude, Sirius." He pouted at her. "Oh, dear. Did I hurt your feelings?" he cooed. "Yes," she sulked dramatically, hanging her head. "Well too bad because-"
Andrea lifted her head and looked at Sirius with her large, deep brown, puppy dog eyes. Sirius' eyes went wide. She pushed her bottom lip out slightly, the lip quivering as she made her eyes go a little wider, making them look almost misty with tears.
"Oh no. JAMES!" Sirius called out in a panic. "James, help. She's doing it again." James came running out of the bathroom at Sirius' panicked call. When he saw Andrea's face he groaned.
"There's nothing to do. You just give her whatever she wants," he chuckled. Sirius slapped a hand over his eyes. "I said, NO!" he said, shaking his head for good measure.
Remus scoffed. "You guys are so weak." He went up to Andrea and held onto her shoulders. "Andrea, no." She scowled at him. "Not fair. You have no heart," she grumbled, crossing her arms and stomping her foot for good measure.
"Not true. I just give zero fucks," he smiled, opening the door to the dorm for her.
"Language," James grumbled, closing the door behind all his friends. "Sorry, mum," they all chorused back to him.
-//-
As the Marauders finished off their dinners, Andrea and Sirius made up a dull excuse and ran off ahead of their other friends. "Did you get them?" he asked excitedly. Andrea nodded, showing the same excitement.
"I didn't find all the ones Lily wrote down for me, but I found loads of other ones. You'll never believe it - but Muggles have legends about werewolves too!" "WHAT?! How?"
Andrea concentrated, trying to remember what she had read. "Something to do with some Greek Gods - and don't ask me what that is because I have no clue. But I knew about the name Remus, remember? My sister is obsessed with European mythology so that's where I got it. I picked up a book on Roman Mythology too to see if we could find the story of Remus - this guy who was raised by wolves."
"Muggles are weird," Sirius decided, following Andrea up to her dorm.
Together, the two of them sat for the rest of the night, flipping through the books she'd gotten, wondering if some of the same things going for Remus, laughing when they read about bizarre half-changed human wolves, confusing themselves because every legend was different.
Andrea settled for just reading and magically highlighting sentences or pages she thought were interesting or wanted to test on Remus.
But Sirius had already used up all the parchment she had on hand, settling for writing on the back of the papers now. Andrea studied him as he read on with complete focus, stopping every now and then to write something new down.
Andrea rested the current book she was reading, Book of the Werewolf, against her bent knees and turned her body to face Sirius. "Why are you so interested in this anyway?" she tested him, trying to prove a hunch. Sirius looked up from his book. "I don't know. I want to help Moony, in any way I can. And if this is what I can do before I manage to become an Animagus, I'll easily settle for that."
"Okay," Andrea said suspiciously, accepting that he meant what he said, but assumed there was more to it. Sirius went back to his book before he stopped abruptly and studied Andrea sceptically. "Why are you so interested in this?" he asked her. Andrea looked up with a gentle smile.
"I don't like seeing my friends in pain, emotionally or physically. So, if there's something in this to help make Remus' life a little easier, it's the least I could do for him."
Sirius studied her a minute longer, wanting to question her intentions further. But he left it, keeping his eyes down and continuing to read and write notes while both of them silently suspected the intentions of the other.
Only, as usual, Sirius was the one in the wrong on this one.
-//-
4th of September, Wednesday, 1974
"But that's lame!"
"You're lame!" Andrea scowled at Dorcas for the insult. "No, I'm not. I'm awesome. Come on, I don't want to do this with the guys. I want to do this with you. My bestest friend in the whole wide world," Andrea begged, grabbing Dorcas' hands dramatically.
"Better than James?" Dorcas asked sceptically. "A thousand times better! I could never tell James that Kingsley looks cute in orange," Andrea grinned. Dorcas pulled a face. "It is physically impossible for King to look cute. I think your brain is broken." Andrea decided to not get sucked into this discussion.
"So, is that a yes?" she asked hopefully, rocking back and forth on her feet innocently. Dorcas groaned in defeat. "Where's our starting point?"
Andrea grinned triumphantly. "Why the highest Tower in the school, of course," Andrea said smugly, heading towards Gryffindor Tower.
Dorcas rolled her eyes. "The Astronomy Tower is the tallest tower in school. And you know Ravenclaw Tower is taller than Gryffindor, right?" Andrea frowned. "Nuh-uh. Sirius said Gryffindor was the tallest," she protested.
Dorcas shook her head. "No. We're taller. But I don't want to break my neck so sure. Let's start with Gryffindor Tower, the third highest Tower. I just have to grab my stuff."
-//-
"This is a stupid idea and we're both going to die," Dorcas huffed, holding onto Andrea's hand with an iron-tight grip.
"Why did you wait till now to say that?" Andrea squealed back, preparing herself to let go.
"I did. I've been repeating that sentence since you came into my life!" Dorcas argued back. Andrea turned to look at her. "And yet, you're still here," she grinned.
Dorcas groaned. "Befriending a Gryffindor was a bad judgement call on my part. Not gonna make that mistake again," she grumbled. Andrea squeezed her hand. "You know you're dating a Gryffindor, right?" she giggled, trying to remind her of Marlene.
"Urgh, don't remind me. You lions will be the death of me." "Or, you know, the 'not being able to brake' will be the death of you. Either way, I promise to speak at your funeral."
When Dorcas didn't reply, Andrea finally rolled closer to the top step, putting her toe down so the part without wheels on the roller-skate was keeping her still. "On three?"
Dorcas nodded silently, breathing in and out quickly. They had tried to research the spells to turn the steps into slides but found it impossible. Then, Andrea shared with Dorcas her uncanny ability to do wandless magic on, somewhat of a large scale. Leaving the Ravenclaw Tower they tested it out on one of the staircases and it worked.
Now, they were going to do it to all the stairs leading down to the Entrance Hall and fly straight out the front doors. If everything went according to the plan.
"One - two - THREE!"
Still holding hands, they kicked off the landing they had chosen, rolling down the smooth rock floor, going down at a steep decline and picking up speed quickly.
"We're not gonna make that turn!" Dorcas screamed, digging her nails into the back of Andrea's hand.
"We'll make it!" she urged on, feeling ecstatic and energized by the sound of cheers coming from students who had shown up to see what was going on. Emerging onto the second floor, they struggled to turn onto the last stair slide. But they managed to steady themselves and they could finally see the front doors.
Andrea felt like she was flying when suddenly a battered, yellowed-eyed cat walked into her path. Releasing Dorcas' hand she swerved to avoid running Mrs Norris over and as Dorcas flew out the front doors and into the courtyard, Andrea didn't have time to turn back onto her original path before colliding with something hard and cold.
The clanging of metal on stone echoed through the hall and all the students watching either cheered, gasped or laughed at the scene.
The suit of armour helmet still sitting on her head crookedly, Andrea stood and did a small curtsy to the onlookers, earning her a round of applause. She lifted the guard of the helmet but regretted it immediately.
Storming towards her was a furious-looking Professor McGonagall and the new Defence Professor, Jones, following after her. She dropped the guard of the helmet again and casually turned to leave as if she wasn't the culprit they were after.
"Russo!" McGonagall called loudly, making Andrea stop immediately. She had too much equal fear and respect for the woman to ignore her. If it was Sprout or Slughorn, she might've just kept walking. Turning around, Andrea lifted the helmet guard casually and smiled innocently at her Head of House.
"Am I in trouble?" she asked the Professors, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
McGonagall's expression didn't waver. "Have a guess," she said, her voice as stoic as ever. "No?" Andrea smiled, with a small shrug. She could swear she saw the corner of McGonagall's mouth twitch the slightest bit before she sobered her expression again. "Have another guess."
-//-
– ACE
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