Julia Higgins (Marauders Era)

2. Deal With Devils

In case anyone had any doubts, I don't own 'Harry Potter'. I wish I did though.

Warning: Amateur writing.

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Friendship with Lily wasn't so catastrophic as Julia feared it would be. They met up daily after classes, found a relatively secluded corner in the library and helped each other study, all the while talking about anything and everything. Moaning Myrtle's washroom was a good meeting spot too, always empty as it was. Sometimes Severus would tag along (not in the case of the washroom, for obvious reasons). Whoever thought Lily could keep a secret from him was an epic idiot. Anyways, Severus wasn't a snitch so Julia didn't mind.

she admitted it felt surprisingly normal. (In a good way, of course.)

What she would never admit, however, is that she pulled all-nighters more often than not to actually catch up with Lily.

The fourth-year had barely begun and that girl was already halfway through the fifth year course. Beautiful and the memory of an elephant! Julia felt cheated somehow.

As usual, she pretended not to care who was better.

The shut-eye she got during History of Magic class easily compensated for the hours of sleep she missed at night. She swore the world could explode and professor Binns wouldn't notice a thing. Side effects of being a newly-dead ghost she supposed.

Sadly, the situation with the Gryffindor gits wasn't going so well as she would've liked. They continued to bother her regularly and it was beginning to wear her patience thin. Usually, she was all for ignoring a problem until it disappeared. But with the extra Quidditch practice before the upcoming inter-house Quidditch cup on top of daily classes, it was more than a little annoying.

Her joining the Quidditch team remained one of the things she had mixed feelings about. On one hand, it attracted too much attention. But on the other hand, flying.

(while dodging large-hard-snowballs-not-made-of-snow)

Back in her second year, she'd stolen a school broom to unwind after a particularly unpleasant day and flew around in the training field. Because absolutely nothing could compare to the feel of the wind in her hair.

Given her amateur sneaking skill, it didn't take long for someone to notice. Thankfully, that someone happened to be a third-year Slytherin named Emma Vanity. Not so thankfully, she was also the newly appointed captain of the Slytherin team.

Emma was impressed with her flying, and Julia was too cowardly to refuse an upperclassman's...request. The rest is history.

She didn't mind being on the team that much, to be honest. Another thing to keep her schedule packed, just the way she liked it. But dealing with the marauders tended to make people less agreeable than usual.

A talent they acquired through years of practice no doubt.

On a scale of 'ugh' to 'bitch, you better run' she felt somewhere around 'I'm gonna pretend you're not as dumb as you appear to be' in regards to the Marauders.

At the moment, her best defense against them is hiding anything of value where they wouldn't dare try to search and pretending to be offended by their words.

Reducio was the key to happiness, in her opinion. Smaller things are easier to hide after all.

If anyone wondered why on earth the Slytherin produced tiny books from under her skirt or shirt, they were probably too weirded out to ask. Good for them.