stars | sirius black

03: Late

ARABELLA DID NOT EXPECT that she would wake up an hour and a half earlier than she had intended to on her first day back at Hogwarts. Nevertheless, she was just thankful that she would have the shower all to herself. Once she was bathed and clothed, she went down into the common room only to find Remus already there, reading a book.

It was common knowledge that if Arabella wasn't with Sirius Black or Lily Evans, she would be with Remus Lupin. They would be seen either quietly reading together to having an intense debate about a certain topic that interested them both. Arabella definitely considered him to be one of her closest and dearest friends.

Remus Lupin certainly returned the feeling and considered her to be someone he was very thankful he had in his life. She was even the first person he told about his lycanthropy. He told her even before the other marauders. Ever since she was told this, she had helped him before and after the transformation, like giving him food from the hall and healing some cuts and bruises; taking care of him and soon the other marauders, as she had not become animangi like they had, it was the best she could do.

"Good morning Remus." Arabella greeted him, smiling. Remus looked up and gave her a small smile as well, "Good morning Ara. Sleep well?"

"Yeah, and yourself?" she asked him, sitting down in the chair across his. Remus simply nodded. "Do you want to go down and get breakfast now or should we wait for the others?"

Arabella thought about it before saying they should brobably head down first. She assumed the others would wake up a lot later than they had. Remus nodded and put the book back back on the shelf where he had found it. Arabella linked their arms together and they headed down for breakfast.

The Great Hall was slightly deserted as it was still early on in the morning. Only a few students were at the Gryffindor table so it was easy for Remus and Arabella to find a place to sit. Remus piled a couple of waffles and a muffin on his pate whilst Arabella had some sausages and pancakes.

Half an hour later, both of them were already full and having a quiet debate on which quidditch team they thought was the best.

"Good morning Mr Lupin, Ms Arroway. Welcome back." They heard their head of house, Minerva McGonagall, say.

"Good morning professor." Remus and Arabella greeted.

"Here are your schedules." She said, handing each a piece of parchment with their classes on it. "I trust you can also give these to Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Pettigrew, and Ms McKinnon once they have woken up."

"Alright professor." Arabella said as McGonagall headed to hand out more schedules.

Arabella checked her schedule and saw that her first class was Potions with the Slytherins. She heard Remus mutter a quiet "that sucks." And she let out a quiet laugh.

Arabella suddenly felt her vision getting blocked by two hands. Beside her, Remus smirked and shook his head slightly.

"Guess who?" she heard someone whisper in her ear.

"Sirius." She said in an almost bored tone. Sirius' hands were gone and she saw James sitting in front of her smiling slightly and shaking his head.

"How'd you know it was me?" Sirius asked, taking a seat next to her and Peter taking a seat next to James, across Remus.

"You do that every time I go to breakfast before you." She said, rolling her eyes at his shocked expression.

"Anyways, I'm going to go find Lily." She said. James perked up at the mention of Lily's name; the others seemed to notice this as well as they prepared their ears for James' nonstop, what the others affectionately call, Lilytalk. Sirius muttered a quiet, "Oh Merlin" and hit his head on the table.

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After searching and wandering down the halls for quite some time, Arabella was finally able to find Lily. "Where the hell have you been?" she asked her.

"I was at the library." Lily stated nonchalanty.

"Of course you were." Arabella replied, rolling her eyes.

"Anyways, I think you should go now. Before you're late for class."

"What about you?"

"I have to speak to McGonagall about something." Lily said, looking at everything but Arabella.

"Wait, what do you mean before I'm late?"

"How much time did you think you spend looking for me?" Lily asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Oh shit." Arabella muttered before racing down to Potions.

_____

"Sorry professor." Arabella said, panting slightly.

"It's no problem Ms Arroway, we haven't even started. Please take a seat." Slughorn smiled at her, gesturing for her to enter. Arabella smiled sheepishly at the professor and entered the classroom. She sent a glare to James and Sirius who were chuckling at her tardiness and smiled at Remus who was giving her an apologetic smile.

She sighed as she sat down on the only seat available.

"Hello Severus." She smiled.

"Hello Arabella." Severus gave her, what Arabella thought was a smile.

Despite her association with the Marauders, Severus has been quite friendly with Arabella; even calling her by her first name. Arabella never partook in the Marauders bullying towards Severus and even trying to convince them to stop a few times, something he would never admit that he was thankful for. He would also sometimes hangout with her and Lily and she treated him like a friend. Severus felt it was only right to treat her like one as well.

Severus and Arabella drowned out Slughorn talking about the Draught of Living Peace as they caught up and talked about their summers. They were both incredibly skilled at Potions so it wasn't much of a problem.

However, while she was talking to Severus, Arabella missed the glares James and Sirius were giving him.

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hello! i am back after what seems to be about eight months (oops)? i am so incredibly sorry. but good news i am back and this story shall now be updated regularly (yay). so vote and comment if you liked this part and i'll be back with a new one (hopefully) tomorrow or the day after.

- arielle

p.s. i updated and edited the first three parts and changed a few things, so go read that:)) (or don't, it's ur life)