// SONG: I'm A Believer, The Monkees \\
-//-
3rd of January, Monday, 1977
Marco Russo had more power than the Hogwarts students could've ever imagined.
Because on the first night back after New Year's, as James went to follow Andrea up the stairs to her dorm for the night, the stone steps under his feet quickly disappeared, turning into a slide, sending both him and Andrea flying downwards again.
Remus jumped up from the couch he had been half asleep on, watching the two of them collapse in a heap on the floor.
The slide turned back to a staircase as if nothing had happened.
"What the hell was that?" Andrea groaned, rubbing her head that had smacked into the side of the wall.
Sirius and Remus both approached, curious of the new development. "Sirius," James ordered, pointing to the stairs.
Sirius placed his foot on the bottom stair and watched in amazement as they staircase disappeared again, turning into a stone slide.
They tested everyone, but the only person it didn't change for was Andrea.
Pulling their wands, everyone got to work.
They tried every charm, jinx and spell they knew, but nothing worked. Andrea even tried to charm it with the reverse spell she'd used to make the slide with Dorcas, but James fell on his face even after that.
Sirius tried running really fast, but it still didn't work.
"I think we're gonna have to accept that the stairs are never gonna work again," Sirius sighed, rubbing his bruised butt.
Peter came running back into the Common Room, panting heavily after his trip to McGonagall's office.
"She – said – it's always – been there," he got out through heavy breaths. "Bull!" Remus exclaimed. "We've been going up there weekly, almost daily since third year. Did she say anything else?"
Peter finished drinking from the water bottle James had handed him. "Yeah. She said a Dad from the old days did it to keep her horny boyfriend away from her."
He shot looks to Andrea and James followed with a frown. "Marco Russo is a scary dude, man."
Knowing Marco had been the one to make the jinx happen, they all gave up on trying to change the stairs. The boys wished Andrea a good night and headed off to bed.
As Andrea turned to leave, she was met with James leaning against the wall, a sad pout on his face.
"You'll survive without me for one night," she chuckled, going to walk up the stairs.
James grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers, his pout deepening. "It's not just one night, though, is it? These stairs are gonna stay like this at least until we've finished school. So I can never come up to your dorm again!" he whined.
Andrea chuckled and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Come to our dorm. Stay there for the night. Not since you came to Hogwarts have we gone without a sleepover on the first night back to term. Do you really want to break that tradition?"
Andrea let out a heavy sigh. James pushed his lip out even further, looking like a cartoon character.
"Puh-lease?" he dragged out. Andrea brushed her hand down his face, laughing at his patheticness. But she gave in, heading off to her room to wash up and grab a change of clothes.
Silently, James opened the door to his dorm, hoping to sneak Andrea in without getting mocked by their friends.
But he was unlucky, seeing as they were all still wide awake, Sirius forcibly pulling Peter's hands away from his ears to force him to listen to his new Queen record.
They all turned as the door opened, sending catcalls and mocking words their way as James went to get ready and Andrea came in wearing her PJs.
She flipped off Remus for a comment about neediness and waved her wand to turn off Sirius' record, settling down in James' bed.
Returning from the bathroom, James waited for everyone to settle in before switching of the lights and joining Andrea in his bed.
It had been a long first day and the marauders had spent at least an hour trying to solve the mystery of the staircase, so it was a good time for them all to fall asleep.
But being high on the energy of being back, some found it harder to fall asleep than others.
Andrea lay in bed, her back against James as she faced Sirius' bed, her eyes still wide open. Sirius turned to her with a smirk, the boy clearly not feeling sleepy yet either.
He sent her a wink before he lay back on his bed, facing the top of his canopy.
"If you're having trouble sleeping, clap your hands," he started quietly, clapping his hands almost inaudibly. Andrea covered her mouth to stop the giggles from coming out. He turned to her with another smile.
"If you're having trouble sleeping, clap your hands!" he sang much louder. "If you're having trouble sleeping and you really feel like weeping cause you can't stop fucking thinking clap your hands."
Andrea raised her own hands, clapping in sync with him.
"Sirius it's 3AM. SHUT UP!" They both fell quiet at Remus' grumpy outburst. Sirius zipped his lips and James grabbed onto Andrea's hip, turning her in towards him instead of facing Sirius so they wouldn't start anything again.
Andrea yawned and quickly snuggled deeper into the covers, James' arms automatically pulling her closer to him.
The dorm went silent again for about twenty minutes before Sirius' voice broke through, disturbing the peace.
"Remus, would you kill this spider for me?" he whispered so everyone only barely heard him.
Remus didn't even bother to open his eyes from his bed, fed up with the same routine of never falling asleep repeating every night.
"Is the spider hurting you, Sirius?" he grumbled back, his voice already showing signs of sleep.
James drummed his fingers against Andrea's hip, making her open her eyes and looked up at him questioningly.
James held a finger to his lips as he reached around her to grab his wand off his nightstand. "It's on top of me and it's hurting my heart," Sirius sulked.
As quiet as a mouse, James pointed his wand in the direction of Sirius' bed, hoping he was aiming at the tiny spider.
"Engorio," he whispered, followed by the high-pitched scream of Sirius ripping through the air, causing Andrea to fall into a fit of giggles ending in hiccups.
"Every fucking night..." Peter grumbled, wrapping the pillow over his ears.
As Remus got Sirius to calm down again and killed the enlarged spider, Andrea looked up at James in the darkness. "Why the hell have we been sleeping in my dorm all these years?" she giggled quietly.
James brushed the hair away from her face and made himself comfortable again.
"Because this is a no-sleep zone, as you will quickly learn this year."
-//-
6th of January, Thursday, 1977
"Stop sulking," Sirius chuckled, nudging James' arm. James turned to Sirius with a scowl. "Give me my girlfriend back and I'll stop sulking."
Sirius turned to Marlene with a confused expression. "When did I take his girlfriend?" Marlene laughed at them both. "I think seeing as your brother is the one that's stolen her attention, you're responsible too."
Sirius let out an exasperated huff. "I'm gonna go take a nap. Call me when something interesting happens." He sent Remus a look, a silent message passing between the two.
James turned back to sulking, staring at Andrea and Reggie over by the Slytherin long table, enjoying their lunch together.
Andrea had come to James their first day back to classes, declaring that Reggie had a very bad Christmas. He wouldn't tell her anything that had happened but the shallowness of his face and the dark bags under his eyes told the story by itself.
So in an effort to make school a little easier for him, Andrea had taken it upon herself to spend every meal with Reggie at the Slytherin table.
For his other housemates, she wasn't the most welcome guest, but the two blocked out all the looks, merely enjoying the others company.
She had offered for the two to spend their meals at the Gryffindor table, but Regulus refused. So, they were stuck having to block out the rude pricks by themselves.
"Reading the Prophet again?" Snape sneered from the seat across from Regulus. Andrea rolled her eyes, ready to tell him to shove it.
"Well, it changes every day, you see," Reggie responded coolly, turning his page. Snape's face set in a hard scowl as he turned away from the two, going back to his conversation with his mini-me pet from second year.
Andrea leaned over Reggie's shoulder, reading the article along with him. She found the wording incredibly boring, but her eyes stayed mostly glued on the picture of the page.
There was a shot of a smoke cloud over a house, a snake looping into the eye of a skull repeatedly. Just looking at it sent a chill down her spine, because the meaning behind the symbol was so much worse than anyone would've thought.
The Prophet explained that this was their calling card. At every household or building they'd found this symbol hovering over it, someone would be dead inside.
This new change of information had gotten out over Christmas break, and as news spread, many parents had decided not to let their kids come back for the New Year.
One of them being Marshall Fawley.
Andrea looked up as she thought of his absence, looking over to Lucretia by the Gryffindor table, her face set in sadness as she sat between Mary and Lily.
With her sight in that direction, her eyes quickly drifted to James, finding his on her already.
She smiled to herself, seeing him look like a lost puppy. She nudged Reggie's shoulder, gaining his attention. "I'm gonna grab the others before class so James stops staring at you like you stole his favourite toy."
Regulus turned to her with a smirk. "You his favourite toy, Russo?" he suggested. Andrea rolled her eyes and shoved his face away while she stood from the table.
"Up yours, Black."
-//-
Sirius stirred awake, reveling in the scent of Remus that surrounded him. As he let out a big sigh, Remus pulled him closer to him.
"Great nap," Sirius yawned. "It really was," Remus responded, stretching his arms outright before hugging around Sirius again.
A throat cleared behind them. The boys turned slowly to see Andrea, James and Peter standing beside the bed they were currently lying in.
Sirius abruptly sat up, his eyes jumping between all of them while Remus automatically pulled away from the other boy. "James it's not what it looks like," Sirius said, jumping up off the bed and reaching for his friend.
"Really? Cause it looks like you've found yourself a new best friend to give you cuddles when you need it," James said harshly, pouting slightly.
"What?! NO! He's not gonna replace my best friend, I'm just in love with him!" Sirius defended. James looked him up and down with a sceptical look. "Promise?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yes, I promise. No friendship feelings whatsoever. Just sexual." James nodded and looked between the horrified Remus and the pleading Sirius. "All right then. As you were." And then he turned to leave.
Andrea and Peter gaped after him, turned to look at each other and then to Sirius and Remus. Sirius, realizing what he just said froze completely and Remus looked as white as his sheet.
Andrea turned behind Peter, pretending someone was standing in the doorway. "Oh, my goodness, it's been so long! Let's catch up!"
She wandered off leaving Peter alone with the guys. He let out a huff. "James realises you've been sneaking into each other's beds since 2nd year, right? It genuinely concerns me if he hasn't noticed that."
Andrea appeared back in the doorway. "Petey! You owe me two galleons," she laughed, running off again.
Peter grumbled, heading for the door to follow after Andrea again. "You couldn't wait until after summer to admit that? I would've made a lot of money if you had," he grumbled, before leaving the dorm as well.
Sirius turned to Remus, who still hadn't spoken a word. "Sooo... I just said a bunch of stuff that you can completely ignore and –"
Sirius was cut off by Remus colliding his lips to his, feeling completely free now that his friends, his family, knew about them.
-//-
24th of March, Thursday, 1977
It started in March.
Everyone tensed up as soon as a knock sounded on the door of a class, dreading who would be behind it.
Slughorn, Sprout, McGonagall or Flitwick.
Every Head of House came for their own students, informing them that something terrible had happened with their friends or family outside of school.
The first time was Slughorn coming to tell one of his Slytherin's that his parents had been murdered because they had refused to join the Dark Lord's forces.
After that, everyone feared the knock upon their classroom door. With good reason.
The week of Andrea and James' birthday, a knock came at the door during Transfiguration, Slughorn standing in the doorway.
Everyone turned, the Gryffindors letting out audible breaths seeing as McGonagall was teaching the class and wouldn't be knocking.
"Hello, Professor. May I borrow Miss Vanity for a second?"
Andrea snapped back around, watching Emma as her entire face crumpled with fear and sorrow.
Standing on shaky legs, Emma left the classroom, following her teacher.
Everyone sat in silence, showing respect for the news they thought she was getting.
McGonagall looked around the class in confusion, not catching on to why they all seemed so sad. She tried to continue the lesson but was interrupted by a scream out in the hallway.
Andrea spun around in her seat, ready to run out the classroom and console her friend.
"YES! YES! YES! THANK YOU, PROFESSOR!" they heard Emma scream of joy, making Andrea pause. A murmur of whispers started through the classroom.
"Hush down," McGonagall ordered them. "Minnie, you know what's going on?" James asked, just as curious as everyone else to the news Emma was receiving.
McGonagall sent him a look, but realized everyone's attention was gone. She let out a heavy sigh. "It is not my place to share, but I do know a Quidditch scout was present at Slytherin's last game. That's all I know."
James grabbed Andrea's hand off the desk. "So maybe not every knock on the door is the knock of doom anymore," he whispered to her as the class went on.
Andrea turned to him with a smile. "We may just be getting out of this madness soon," she responded.
-//-
25th of March, Friday, 1977
After the class, Emma did confirm that a scout had been there for her last match, and he wanted to talk to her about plans after school.
Andrea was happy for her, but it did raise the bar for their next match.
Because now that she knew scouts were starting to come, the pressure was on.
Getting his kiss good luck, James trudged onto the field, the spring rain coming down hard and making the field one big puddle.
Andrea shook out her hands and grabbed her broom, touching the handle on the doorframe on her way out.
"Pressure's on today, people!" she barely heard Frankie's voice shout over the pounding of the rain. "Captain's Potter and Vanity are both fighting tooth and nail for the Cup this year and they've both whipped up two strong teams. Place your bets, everyone! This one's gonna be tough to pick!"
Andrea mounted her broom, ready for a hellish match and a tough fight against Regulus.
"On my whistle, players! One, two –" At the high-pitched whistle breaking through the strong wind, Andrea kicked off the ground, taking flight.
After twenty minutes of not seeing a thing through her goggles because of the constant water, Andre gave up trying to wipe them dry.
Hovering mid-air, she took her goggles off and placed a water-resistant charm on them. As she continued flying, she cursed herself for not doing it earlier, hoping her other teammates had been smarter.
"Oh, there's Black chasing the Snitch! Where's Russo?"
Andrea snapped around searching the sky for Regulus. She hadn't caught sight of the Snitch once, and here he was, chasing it down without her.
She spotted him zooming past by the Gryffindor goalpost. She set after him, but she had a good distance to cover seeing as she was on the other side of the field.
James had also caught Frankie's announcement and let Dolohov and Marlene continue the play while he searched the sky for Andrea. He spotted her taking after Regulus, almost half a field between them.
Thinking fast, he tried to slow Regulus down.
"Prewitt!" he shouted, not knowing which twin he was looking at. The redhead turned to James, showing him it was Fabian.
He pointed at Regulus. "STOP HIM!"
Fabian took the message and waited for the Bludger to come his way. Andrea had to duck in the very last second, the Bludger hitting Regulus on the shoulder and sending him off course with the force.
Andrea leaned further forward, willing her broom to fly faster. She felt a knock in her shoulder as Regulus returned, both of them fighting with all they had to get there first.
Regulus had the advantage of having a longer reach than Andrea, his longer arms able to touch the Snitch before her.
But she had the speed.
And thankful for the new broom her parents had gotten her that Christmas, Andrea manage to speed forwards a couple of inches, her fingers grasping hold of the small ball before Reggie got a chance to catch up.
They both pulled back, slowing down in the sky. Reggie sent her a small smile, descending from the sky.
"RUSSO'S GOT IT!" Frankie yelled out, the whistle following right after, signalling the end of the match.
Andrea landed, James pulling her into a hug as soon as her feet hit the ground. She grinned into his shoulder, hugging him back just as tightly.
She glanced up, looking up at the stands where she knew her parents and the Potter's were seated.
They did it.
Only one match stood between them and the Cup staying in Gryffindors name.
-//-
– ACE
♥