It's Nice To Have A Friend

2 - Changes

Mallory followed a group of students to what they called the Great Hall. Mallory discovered that it was the huge room she had been in the day before.

"Schmidty!" someone shouted as they tackled her into a hug.

Startled, Mallory's first instinct was to shove them away from her but she hesitated as she noticed the curly black hair.  Awkwardly, she wrapped her arms around Sirius.

Sirius pulled away and grinned at her. "The boys are already eating," he informed her. "We can go. That is unless you want to head back up to my dorm." He winked at her.

Mallory felt her cheeks burn. Her eyes widened in alarm at the boldness of Sirius. "Um..." she awkwardly started. "I actually— Uh... I have a boyfriend."

Sirius's smile didn't seem to waver. "I was joking, love— Are you American?"

Mallory smiled down at the floor, nervously biting her bottom lip as she realized how many questions would be directed her way. "Yeah."

"That's ace!" he shouted, grabbing her arm and pulling her to the Gryffindor table. "Boys! Did you know that Schmidty is American?"

Mallory sat down and attempted to hide from all the students looking at her.

"You are?" James asked, looking over as he dished out food. "Say something."

"What do you want me to say?" she asked quietly.

"You're so quiet, Schmidty. Be loud!" Sirius exclaimed.

Mallory looked over at him, her brows furrowed as she chewed on her cheek. She shook her head in response.

"What's America like?" Peter pressed.

"I don't know," Mallory mumbled.

"But you lived there."

Mallory shrugged. "It's big and I only lived in two states. There are fifty of them."

"What two states did you live in?" Remus queried.

"Nevada and Utah."

"Vegas?" 

Mallory nodded.

"That's ace, Mallory!"

Mallory nodded awkwardly. She hated that all four of the boys' attention was on her. She started dishing out her breakfast, hoping they'd move on to another topic.

"What the hell, Mallory!" James suddenly yelled.

Mallory looked over at him, alarmed. Her heart started to race as he stared at her plate of food.

"Merlin, have you been eating like this your whole life?" He grabbed her plate, shoving everything off and re-dishing her food.

"James is the mum of our group. He makes sure we get enough food, that we're eating, we're happy... You get the point," Sirius whispered to Mallory.

James gave Mallory her plate back. Mallory stared in disgust at the pineapple on her plate. "So, did you meet the girls last night?" James asked.

Mallory shook her head as she slowly took a bite of pineapple.

"You didn't? Why not?" Sirius questioned.

Mallory shrugged as she choked down the pineapple. "They were talking and I was tired."

"They didn't talk to you?" James queried.

Mallory shook her head as she choked down another piece of pineapple.

"Oi! Fortescue!"

Mallory choked on her pineapple and shook her head. "No, I'm fine!" she tried to tell him, coughing.