WHEN WE WERE YOUNG : marauders era

06. unpleasant greetings

"This is it guys! We made it. I know we're going to be legendary!" James exclaimed from across the table looking at the other four. They all beamed at him and gave each other high fives.

As the cheers died down and the sorting ceremony ended, Juliana finally noticed the girl sitting next to her- the red haired girl they had seen on the lake. She had been too engrossed in the ceremony to notice before.

The girl smiled at Juliana and said, "Hi. I'm Lily Evans. Nice to meet you," she said politely as they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you too, Lily. I'm Juliana Vasilios."

"You're pureblood?"

"Uh-huh. What about you?"

"Muggleborn," she said shortly avoiding Juliana's eyes.

Juliana's face lit up with a smile as she exclaimed, "That's great! I've always wanted to meet a muggleborn."

"Why?" Lily asked cautiously.

"Well... because I have a deep respect for muggles and want to know all about them. They're really fascinating, being able to live without magic. Makes us witches and wizards look lazy," she said with a kind smile.

Lily felt shocked but was extremely relieved.
"Umm... thanks. I was starting to think being muggleborn wasn't a good thing. I overheard some people on the train saying that muggleborns shouldn't be allowed; that purebloods are better," Lily said with a sigh.

"Don't worry. Not all purebloods think that way. At least my family doesn't. That's my sister across the table by the way," Juliana said as she gestured towards Mareena, who was eating some treacle tart on the other side of the table whilst talking animatedly with Remus.

The feast had begun, so Juliana and Lily shifted their attention towards the food laid in front of them. There were loads of fried chicken, steaks, some treacle tart, pumpkin pasties and other varieties of food.

"I've never tried this before. What is it?" Lily asked curiously, pointing at a cake on the table.

"That's a cauldron cake. They're pretty nice. You should try some," Juliana said as she grabbed a plate of bacon and steak instead.

As they ate, the Gryffindor house ghost, Sir Nicholas, or Nearly Headless Nick as everyone called him, popped up from under the table and unintentionally gave a fright to a short, plump blonde boy sitting next to James, who simply laughed at the sight.

"Ugh! That boy again. He's such a pain in the neck," Lily muttered to Juliana.

"Who? Do you mean James?"

"Do you know him?"

"Yeah, we're friends. We met on the train."

Lily looked at her with a shocked expression and said,
"Well, I'm not going to judge you. But if I were you, I'd stay away from him," Lily said as she glared at James.
"Arrogant git," she muttered under her breath.

Juliana was confused but shrugged. It didn't matter what others thought about her friends.

Although, Lily was right about James being arrogant, she thought with a smirk.

Later, both Juliana and Lily began talking to the Gryffindor prefect about the classes they would be taking this year.

Juliana couldn't wait to get started, especially with potions which she was looking forward to the most.
She looked at the staff table and saw Professor Slughorn, the potions master as the prefect pointed him out to them.
He was a jolly looking man with a huge belly, talking to the tiny professor next to him.

Suddenly she heard a malicious voice from behind her. When she turned around towards the source of the voice, she saw a white-haired Slytherin boy standing there next to Sirius. As she looked around, she saw many confused faces and some flashes of anger from the elder students.

It was evident that Slytherins weren't welcome at their table and she had the feeling their attitudes were mutual.

"Hello Sirius. Thought I would congratulate you on making it to this fantastic house," the boy said, although it didn't really sound like he meant it.

"Shove off Lucius," Sirius said as he glared back at the boy, hatred evident in his eyes.

"Of course, of course. I'll leave you to your thoughts. You're going to have to find a way out of this mess, after all. I've heard your mother isn't really charming when she's angry," Lucius replied with a smirk and walked back to the Slytherin table.

"Are you alright, mate?" James asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah. Fine," Sirius answered with a shrug.

"Who was he?" Juliana asked.

"Lucius Malfoy," Sirius replied as though speaking the name itself was torture for him.
"One of my deranged, purist cousins."

"It's alright, Sirius. Don't let him bother you," Mareena said firmly as Remus patted him on the shoulder kindly.

"Yeah mate. We've got your back," James said with a wink.

Sirius let out a laugh.
"Yeah. Alright. Thanks guys."

Lucius was right. His mother would be furious when she finds out and he tried not to imagine what he would have to face once he was back home. He felt pain shoot up his body as a memory flashed across his mind.
No. Don't think about that, he told himself, even though he felt fear grip him.

But as he looked at his friends, who were supporting him no matter what, he felt fear loosen its grip and warmth spreading inside him. He realised at that moment that he did have a family.

One connected, not by blood but, by heart.

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P.S.~

Lucius Malfoy is probably older than the marauders according to the other fanfictions but for the purpose of this story, Lucius will be represented as the same age as the marauders.

Plus if I'm not wrong, Sirius is only related to Lucius through marriage right? ( please correct me if I'm wrong ) but since they're all purebloods, I'm portraying them as cousins. I hope no one minds;) same goes for other upcoming characters:)

Hope you're enjoying the story:) would love to see some comments.❤