"What do you mean you're not leaving?" Marlene was the first to speak on the train.
"Exactly what I said." Aries shrugged, opening another one of Liam Handley's books, one she had read countless times but never got tired of it.
"Don't you want to leave? I thought you hated it there?" Alice asked, concern edging her eyebrows in a frown.
"She's doing that annoying patience thing again." Honey growled, folding her arms together and pouting while glaring out the window. "I've tried to talk her out of going back there, but obviously I have failed" she added.
"Of course I hate it there at 12, Grimmauld Place, but I have to go back." Aries sighed closing her book, knowing she wouldn't get very far if the girls kept asking her questions, which she knew they would.
"Why? It doesn't make any sense. If Regulus and your father were the only ones keeping you there, and now that you got over that, why are you still going back?" Lily asked.
Aries gulped, looking down at her lap nervously. It was the same question she had been asking herself for the past few hours. The same question she had asked herself the night Sirius had left. Why was I still staying?
"Because even though Aries is a reckless young woman, with the IQ of someone similar to Dumbledore, she is still a human being. And humans have fear." Honey rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Alice, Lily, and Marlene shared a moment to glance at one another in silence before Lily spoke, "You're afraid to leave? But wouldn't you be free of your mother if you left? What would you be afraid of?"
"The same reason I'm scared to act out, or be someone other than the person my mother made me. Afraid to get punished. Afraid to be found and brought back. Scared to think I could never be free of her." Aries admitted.
The girls had never heard Aries speak of her fears, not even a fear of failing a test, not afraid of looking bad before classes start, not afraid of even being mocked at school. They had all realized in that moment how small she really was. How even the boldest, most reckless girl they knew, was no braver than them.
"Oh Meredith." Alice frowned, getting up with Lily and Marlene to hug Aries. Honey stayed out of the hug, keeping her distance and frowning out the window.
While Lily began humming her song, Alice took notice in Honey's bad mood and decided to take action on her own thoughts.
"You wanna talk?" Alice asked Honey, the blonde looked back to Alice, a single nod lead the two out of the compartment and into the train corridor. "What's on your mind with all of this?" Alice asked Honey as the girl leaned against the wall.
"I just hate how Aries won't help herself. Why can't she just run? Leave? Why can't she just take her own advice for once? I want to help her but I don't know how" Honey huffed in annoyance.
"Well, for one. Aries isn't just our friend, she's like a sister to all of us, so of course we all want to help her. But her situation is more complicated than that. It's Mere's decision if she wants to leave or not, and she does, we just need to help her keep up the motivation. We need to show her that she's not alone. That she has nothing to fear." Alice explained.
"Why does it have to be so hard though?" Honey whined.
"No one said it would be easy." Alice shrugged.
"No one said it would be this hard either." Honey countered.
"Patience, Honey. Everything will fall into place, just give it time." Alice shrugged. "I mean, look how long its taking Lily and James to get together. Even Aries and Remus." She added with a giggle.
"Yeah, why is it taking them so long? Ben and I have been dating for a couple months now, same with you and Frank, right?" Honey asked. As soon as Alice heard his name, a blush formed on her skin, sending Honey into a teasing mode.
Though, before Honey could start, the sound of Ben and the Marauders began to echo through the corridor and soon enough, the boys came into view.
"Hello, Beautiful." Ben spoke, placing a kiss on Honey's cheek and wrapping an arm around her waist.
"Hi." Honey smiled half-heartedly. Sensing her discomfort, Ben started to withdrawal his hand, but stopped when she placed her hand over his and brought it back around her waist.
"Are the others inside?" James asked, looking forward to seeing a special red head.
"It's girl drama hour." Honey sighed, taking her own arm and wrapping it around Ben, starting to walk away from the group.
"Where are you two going?" Peter asked, though winced when Sirius swatted his arm.
"There gonna go shag in the other compartment obviously." Sirius then laughed when Peter began to turn red.
"Shut up Sirius! We're gonna go check on our bands." Honey laughed back at the group before disappearing down the corridor.
"So, do tell, what's going on in there?" James asked, rubbing his hands together, excited to hear what the girls were talking about.
Remus, half listening, had a Liam Handley book up and glancing to the group everyone once and awhile to show his presence.
"It's nothi-"
"OH MY FREAKING SALAZAR!!!"
A shriek echoed from the inside of thee corridor, which lead the group to immediately open the door, only to find Lily and Aries standing on the seats and holding onto Marlene in horror.
"I can't do it if your holding onto me!" Marlene yelled.
"You're my shield! The heck I'm letting go!" Lily yelled.
"It jumped again!!" Aries yelled.
"Let me get it!" Marlene yelled back
"What is going on!" Remus asked as the girls all looked at the now open door.
"Oh! That's good! Leave the door open! It'll leave!" Lily yelled as she crushed Marlene closer to her.
Sirius all of the sudden started laughing when he figured out why the girls were so scared.
"It's not funny!" Aries screeched when she saw the eight legged creature start to crawl up on the seat they were standing on, "It's coming for me! Someone kill it!" Aries yelled when the group just stood there.
"Its...a spider." James said, staring at it like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"Its so cute!" Alice giggled as she walked up to it and placed her hand in front of it, letting the spider crawl onto her hand.
"It's not cute! It's a deadly! Terrifying! Creature!" Lily yelled.
"No, Aliceeeee" Marlene complained, knowing Alice would grow attached and not want it to be killed.
"It was a spider." Peter shook his head at the girls while Sirius doubled over in laughter.
"Yeah, and I want to kill it. Let me at it!" Marlene struggled against Aries and Lily.
"No! I want to keep it!" Alice yelled, but let out a shriek when Marlene suddenly broke free and began to chase Alice out of the compartment and down the corridor.
"Well, there goes the spider, so you girls can get down now." Remus chuckled slightly at there frazzled state. Both him and James offering a hand to them while Sirius began to compose himself.
Aries took Remus's hand, but didn't make any move to get down, while Lily quickly got down and seemed to forget to stop holding James's hand for a moment. Which James didn't seem to mind.
"Aries." Remus spoke gently, pulling her hand towards him slightly. With a slight glance over, she began getting off the seat and glared at Sirius while he wiped the tears from his eyes.
While Sirius was busy still composing himself, he didn't have time to duck and cover when Aries swatted his head, not once not twice, but three times. Making him wince and let out a rather high pitched shriek.
Remus only shook his head, a small smile on his face as James began to laugh over Sirius and Aries sibling like torture.
Two hours later, the boys had left the compartment, Honey had come back and the girls had fallen asleep on the train, only when a sudden chill had taken place over the girl did they wake.
Seeing as they were still not at the train station and near the middle of no where, the girls frowned at each other and looked out the window. The glass was frosty, another chill passed by the girls making them shiver.
"What is that?" Marlene asked as Aries held a shivering Alice.
A figure showed outside their compartment door, which slowly began to open. The figure became known to Aries as a gasp left Lily.
Dementor
___________
So, is it just me or did anyone else think of Draco Malfoy yelling "Dementor! Dementor!" when I wrote that in? Hehe just me? Cool.
Another day, another chapter. If anyone has any ideas or thoughts about what might happen, feel free to leave a comment, I'm always looking for more inspiration.
Thank you for 60k! Love you all! -Brooke