In A Blink (Marauders Era)

Chapter Two

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September Second, 1976

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Lark was stabbing her eggs again at breakfast, and it wasn't because she was famished. In fact, she was quite the opposite, having spent many hours last night glutting herself with the rest of the Marauders and Samantha. If any charming student were to ask her why it was that she was so violently indulging in her breakfast, she couldn't even give him or her a straight answer. Her sleep for the past week had been scarce, and the fact that she'd spent the majority of the previous night whooping and slurping butterbeer didn't help one bit. Aside from that, she'd received her schedule earlier that morning to find herself extremely disappointed; over summer break, she'd forgotten that- yes -despite her connections with various Gryffindors, she was still a Slytherin. That meant that all of her classes would be spent with Severus Snape, Narcissa Black, Bellatrix Black, and a variety of other people who she prefered not to interact with.

All in all, Lark was mangling her eggs because she had fallen from the skyscraper of summer and all the way back down to the sidewalk of reality, and it hurt.

A certain greasy-haired boy gazed at her from the other end of the table, and she shrank inwardly. She didn't want to deal with this right now. She didn't want to look at him, didn't want to talk to him, didn't want to feel him breathing down her neck, and didn't even want to remember him. To her, it was as if the past five years hadn't even happened. She wanted to erase the memories of birthdays, tearful confessions, and the love they shared as the only ones who truly cared about one another in a way that wasn't either required or false.

Instead, she stared across the hall at the Gryffindor table. There sat James Potter, with his big, black glasses and tousled hair. He gave a nod of acknowledgement to Lark and resumed having what looked like an in-depth conversation with Lily, a girl with flaming red hair, a long neck, and emerald eyes, who was trying to look a uninvolved as possible. Across from them was Peter Pettigrew, a plump student with beady eyes and whitish-blonde hair. Next to him sat Sirius Black.

He grinned when he caught Lark staring, and she blushed and waved her hand happily. Sirius mouthed, 'You okay over there?', still ignoring Marlene Mckinnon, who had her arm draped over his shoulder and head resting in the crook of his neck.

'I suppose so,' she smiled back.

Marlene was a tall girl with blonde hair and a delicate sort of frame. She was the sort of person who everybody always expected to be going steady with somebody, but never was. Her beauty was more majestic and unavoidable than intentional, which was probably why boys drooled over her. She had a habit of turning all of her suitors down, though, and was often accused of preferring women to men. Lark refused to believe it; Marlene had eyes for Sirius Black and only Sirius Black, which was a detail that anybody with a brain would have noticed.

"Do you know if he's seeing anybody?" Marlene had whispered to her in September of the previous year.

"If the entire fifth year and half of the sixth counts as 'anybody', then yes," Lark had snorted. Marlene simply rolled her eyes.

Now she felt a bit sick watching the gorgeous girl drape herself across Sirius. That was where she should be: not necessarily draped across a boy, but sitting with her friends rather than under the glares of all of Slytherin house.

"Sir," she squirmed awkwardly in an armchair across from Professor Dumbledore in the evening, still not content with their daily meetings. "Could I be re-sorted? Not that I don't like my house or anything, but- er -I'm not exactly Slytherin-like."

The old man raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her, rotating a small piece of crisp parchment between his fingers.

"Why would you say that, Ms. Gaunt?"