good things fall apart • sirius black

What makes her so special?

Weeks passed of the same lessons in circles, detentions and Animagus research, and the school was relatively void of Marauders mischief making, due to their hiatus on pranks.

Halloween was fast approaching now, something that was taken very seriously at the school and life had settled back into its rhythm. Remus was seven books in already, for the lack of prank planning had given him more free time; James had been rejected in his affections for Lily far too many times to count; Peter's studies were improving surprisingly well, and he wasn't falling as behind as he usually did; Ellie was still splitting her time between the boys, Lily and Marlene, and Regulus; and Sirius was almost always off snogging Jessica.

It wasn't the routine the group were used too, but it was working for now and sprits were still high.

    "BUT QUEEN!" James cried in outrage.

    "Led Zeppelin, Jamie. I'm sorry." Sirius held a hand in front of the messy haired boys face, Ellie giggling in between them. This was the fifth time this week they'd had this argument already.

    "We can't be friends anymore." In his ever-dramatic ways, James turned his head away and crossed his arms.

    "I'm not saying Queen is bad. I like Queen. I like Queen a lot. Led Zeppelin is just better." Sirius shrugged it off, but James gasped in even more indignation.

    "Don't try and save yourself now!" He replied with a scoff.

It was the age-old debate between the two best friends. Which muggle band was better? Usually, the conversation came about as they discussed different kinds of new music or new records one of them had got, but inevitably, it always came back to the same thing.

James loved Queen and Sirius loved Led Zeppelin. And there was no swaying either of them to agree that they were just equally as good.

It often ended up with the Marauders having to take sides, Peter usually with James and Remus with Sirius. But Ellie always caused drama. Most of the time she'd say Led Zeppelin, just because James was hilarious when angry, but sometimes she'd say Queen and that always ended up with a full-on turf war. Sirius would rage against her, and at then James for swaying her, and then Peter for just taking the wrong side. It was very amusing to watch, but actually deathly serious and the beautiful girl had ended up with blue eyebrows last year when she'd picked Queen one time.

    "What are we talking about?" As if someone had casted a spell over them all, the group fell deathly silent as Jessica Arnell sat down. She squeezed her way between Ellie and Sirius, rather strategically, making both of them shuffle awkwardly.

Mealtimes were usually a Marauders only event. They always had been, and they always would be, for it was when most of their serious conversations happened. If something needed to be discussed, it would be at the Gryffindor table. Unless it was of a sensitive topic (full moons and closely guarded secrets) and then they'd retreat to the boys' dorm. Otherwise though, when eating, no one else was really allowed to join in. Lily Evans was perhaps the only exception, and Marlene too if she were in tow, but the red head never had a desire to actually sit down with the group.

It was like some unspoken rule that mealtimes were their time together, (not that they didn't spend every other waking moment as a group), and no matter the circumstances they only ever sat as a five. Anyone else being around just felt like an intruder pushing their way in - something none of them were very open with.

It was fair to say they were very stuck in their ways, and so Jessica had only really set herself up for failure as soon as she decided to interrupt.