// SONG: Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Billy Joel \\
-//-
9th of April, Saturday, 1977
"You plan on telling them we're gonna stop in five minutes for the rest of us to pee?" Lucretia asked Andrea, hanging out of the open window of the car.
Andrea cocked her head to the side, eyeing the line-up of the peeing boys. "Nah. James wouldn't stop whining about needing to pee, so I let them pee. They wouldn't care to pee in a bathroom," she chuckled.
Lucretia had stayed in the car, not bothering to get out but the other girls had gotten out and leaned against the car with Andrea, all watching the boys with interest.
They had finished up their visit at Andrea's cousin's in Atrani and spent the day shopping in Amalfi. Now they were on the last leg of their journey, driving off to Ravello for the rest of the night and then taking a Portkey back to school in the morning.
As the boys finished up Andrea had to run away as James tried to touch her with his hands without washing them.
Getting back in the car, all the guys complained when Andrea pulled into the pitstop four minutes later, and then back in the car again, everyone let out the last few bits of energy.
It was the last day of their break and they weren't going to waste a single second. "Here, Remus. I bought some chocolate but couldn't finish it all. You want some?"
Andrea glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw Remus' face light up as Lucretia offered him chocolate.
With a quiet thank you, he accepted it, taking a large bite of the chocolate. Andrea almost swerved into the oncoming lane as a guttural cry left him, the look of someone who just swallowed a lemon on his face.
"Sweet lord this is what evil must taste like," he spat, trying to wipe the chocolate off his tongue. "The hell is that? You trying to poison me, Adams?"
"It's not poison, you drama queen, it's chocolate. 100% real, human chocolate." Sirius grabbed the packet out of Remus' hands and read the front. He let out a sinister snigger, giving Remus the chocolate back. "100% real... And vegan," he laughed.
Remus turned to Lucretia with a horrified look. "VEGAN?!"
James rested his arm over the back of Andrea's seat and leaned forward, turning the music of Billy Joel up to block out the fighting in the back.
Andrea gave him a quick side-glance before returning her eyes to the road. "Thank you," she smiled.
James dropped his mouth to her exposed shoulder and gave it a quick kiss. "You're welcome, cuero mio."
Andrea gleamed at the Italian pet name, loving how much Italian James had spoken all through their trip.
Most of her Italian relatives of the older generation have never left their hometown and don't speak a word of English so the only ones capable of communicating with any of them through the entire trip had been Andrea, James and Sirius.
Sirius had charmed them all, as always, but most of them remembered James from when he was younger and were quite excited to hear that he and Andrea were now in a relationship.
She would deny it until her grave but Andrea swore she saw her father's aunt passing one of the cousins a few coins over dinner after they had informed them all of the dating.
Andrea leaned back in her backrest, steering with one hand lazily down the stick-straight road and dropping her hand to James' hand on his thigh where he instantly moved his on top of hers, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb lovingly.
Andrea looked down at their hands with a soft smile, loving how automatically they both responded to the others touch.
"Oh! Pizza! Andie, please stop!" Peter yelled from the middle section, the noise of the people in the back finally breaking through the music James was blasting for the two upfront.
Andrea glanced out the right to where he was pointing and saw one of her favourite Ma's and Pa Restaurants.
Smothering her smile, she turned the music down a little and at the last second, turned her blinker on, everyone cheering as they heard the ticking signalling they'd be fed soon.
James shook his head at the energy everyone had taken on for this trip, even Dorcas and Kingsley acting like bratty siblings ever since the cliff jump.
"I don't remember us becoming parents," he chuckled quietly for Andrea's ears only.
She shrugged, sending him a private look. "Didn't think we'd be in this kind of situation until at least our thirties."
-//-
26th of May, Thursday, 1977
Andrea jumped slightly, snapping out of her daze as someone abruptly dropped into the seat next to her.
She hadn't been expecting Mary to arrive for another five minutes because she had just checked where she was on the map. James knew better than to sit beside her in Charms or Transfiguration, seeing as she had reserved those classes for sitting with Peter and Mary most of the time.
But the person sitting down next to her wasn't Mary or James. It was an upset looking Lily Evans.
Since the group shared Charms with Slytherin this year, Lily had kept loyal to her friends and always sat down next to Snape through every lesson. But today, Snape was sitting at their usual desks, glaring daggers at Andrea.
"He still being a bitch to you?" she asked, leaning into Lily.
The redhead let out a hard puff of breath, nodding furiously. "He's been especially annoying after we got home from our trip, saying I'm turning into a sheep following after the marauders."
"WHAT?!" Andrea yelled, pushing her seat back furiously and standing quickly, ready to tell Snape where he could shove it.
Lily quickly grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her down into her seat again. "Stop it. It's fine. I told him this morning before classes I was done being the big person in this friendship. If he wants to stay in contact, he can grovel and I'll see if I decide I want him in my life or not at a later date."
Andrea patted her hand soothingly. "Good for you. I know that can't have been easy." Lily bit her lip, looking much more upset than Andrea felt she deserved to feel. That someone as slimy as Snape could make Lily upset that he wasn't in her life would never make sense to her. "He's the one who told me I was a witch, you know. Told me all about Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, even Azkaban."
Andrea bit her lip, stopping the comment that wanted to come out. "But he's not that person anymore. He's... He's changed too much. His soul is bitter now and I don't like it."
Andrea's eyebrows shot upwards but she didn't say anything. She didn't feel like there was anything she could say on the subject to help. So her best bet was to change the subject so Lily could blink away the tears gathering in her eyes.
Which became her mission for the lesson. She sent Mary an apologetic look when she arrived but with one glance at Snape Mary understood exactly what was going on and sat down by Fabian instead.
Andrea kept sending Lily horrible doodles, disturbing her notetaking and making the other girl finally laugh and smile, brightening her spirits.
After an especially horrible sketch of Andrea flying on a broom making it look like she was packing more than most girls downstairs, Lily couldn't keep it quiet any longer, getting the giggled and finding it very hard to stop.
"Anything you'd like to share with the rest of the class, ladies?" Flitwick squeaked, the noise finally being too loud to politely ignore anymore.
"Yes, actually," Andrea smiled, propping her chin in her hand. "Who'd you think would win a fight, a bear or a shark?" Flitwick along with most other students let out a slight chuckle.
"Well, I was thinking more about Charms. Just keep down the talking for after class, yes?"
Flitwick turned back to start teaching again but Andrea's question had sparked interest with other students. "Hold up, Professor F, we've got to get to the bottom of this," James called, turning around in his seat to look up the pews at Andrea. "Is the fight on land or in water?"
Sirius nodded vigorously, turning as well. "Yes, that's a very important detail. Who has the home field advantage?"
Andre thought it over but it was Lily who contributed with a logical, meaningless input. "In water but it's a bear that can swim really well. Like polar bears."
"Hmmm... the boys hummed, looks of thought coming over other students as they pondered the ridiculous question.
Andrea turned subtly at the feeling of eyes on her and was met with Snape's dark, beady eyes looking at her with pure loathing and more jealousy than she thought he meant to show.
Ignoring the death glare she was receiving from Snape, Andrea turned to Lily again and gave her suggestion for the winner of the fight; the shark if its bite is big enough to make the bear immobile in two bites.
"Right!" Flitwick interrupted, trying to get his class back. "Let's copy down the notes on practical charms then," Flitwick announced, pointing to the board behind him.
Andrea happily started writing down that, glad he hadn't docked them any points.
"And ten points off Gryffindor for having fascinating minds."
"Merlin's bloody balls!"
Flitwick spun so quickly Andrea was afraid he'd topple over. "Who said that?!" he demanded, his voice turning hard. There was a lot of things Flitwick let them get away with, but swearing was his biggest pet peeve and allow no form of it in his classrooms.
"James! Watch your mouth. Shame on you!" Sirius scolded beside his best friend. James looked up from the parchment he had been busy writing on, looking clueless.
"Detention Mr Potter!" James looked back and forth between Sirius and Flitwick in shock, not believing what was happening.
So slow it was nearly too sinister to belong to the care-free Gryffindor, James turned to Sirius with a scowl that promised pain and suffering for many years to come.
"You're dead, Black."
-//-
The same evening, Andrea pulled an impromptu meeting with the Gryffindor Quidditch team, warning them about the coming day.
"They're all gonna be here for breakfast tomorrow so everyone; be on your best behaviour!" Andrea announced, standing on top of the coffee table in front of her fellow Quidditch players.
Marlene jumped up and joined her, giving them all a hard look. "That means none of you tosspots better fuck this up or screw up the game or I'll skin you and hang you by your dicks from the Astronomy Tower!"
Fabian and Gideon backed up, not as used to Marlene's controversial threats as the others and Andrea saw more than a couple of hands subconsciously move to protect said dicks.
"We won't do that of course but if any of you screw up any of our chances of getting any deals with scouts, I will physically hurt you myself."
"Badass," Marlene grinned at her. "That's not badass, that's just mean," James chastised, loving watching someone else do the speech for the team to cut the shit for once.
Andrea jumped down from the table, shouldering past him as the group dispersed. "Fuck you," she shot back, heading to pick up all the things she had carelessly dropped earlier.
"Go ahead," James shot back immediately, not thinking long enough to stop himself. Marlene, who was very much still listening pulled her lips in between her teeth to keep quiet, her eyes wide in glee.
Andrea doubled back, dropping the robe she hand started putting on again. "What?"
"What?" James repeated, feigning ignorance. Andrea narrowed her eyes at him as Marlene cackled, finally walking away. Andrea looked after the blonde, helping James change the subject.
"She's extra stressed because Dorcas' Dad is coming tomorrow and she wants to impress him," she explained. Understanding dawned on James. "He's the Quidditch manager, right?" Andrea nodded.
Dorcas had been lucky to grow up with her pro Quidditch player dad, now turned coach, teaching her all his tricks since birth. Which explained why no Beater in the school matched her skill.
"And what are you stressing about?" he asked, stepping in behind her and wrapping his arms around her middle.
Andrea rested her hands on top of his, leaning her head back into him. "Our parents are coming for breakfast and I'm scared about what shit our friends will do or say in front of them."
James chuckled, his chest vibrating against her chest. "Yeah, New Year's was a trainwreck. Let's just put a muzzle on Sirius for tomorrow so he can't spill shit again."
Andrea nodded vigorously, her head running against his chest with the motion. "Yes, please. And keep him away from anyone who looks official and may be a potential scout."
Just as James went to joke further on the matter, Peter and Sirius entered the Common Room, heavily dropping a pile each of school books onto the floor before they collapsed onto a couch together.
"Been studying have we?" James chuckled, forcing Andrea to move with him as he walked over to them. "Kill me," Peter mumbled, his face buried in the many throw pillow on the couch.
Andrea released herself from James' hold and sat on the armrest of the couch, rubbing Peter's back in comfort. "One more month and we're done, Petey," she tried to cheer him up.
Sirius moaned beside him. "And then we only have one year left and then we're never gonna see Hogwarts again!" he cried out.
James tried to think of a way to cheer him up but luckily didn't have to. Because in the next instant the Portrait Hole opened and in came Remus, his reading glasses askew and his eyes glued to the piece of parchment in his hand.
He looked up from the Marauders map and smiled at his friends. "Here you are," he grinned. His smile slipped as he saw Andrea trying to coax Peter into a cheery mood with promises of ice cream sundaes and Sirius stayed motionless in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position.
Remus rolled his eyes and walked over, smacking them both on the back of the head with the map. "Stop whining you privileged, pretentious kids. Exams and school is not a problem big enough to be considered a problem anymore when our world is going into war."
And with that, Sirius and Peter quickly stopped sulking and everyone was fixed.
-//-
Translations:
Cuero mio - my heart
– ACE
♥