Once they had all successfully boarded the train, they were faced with the disorganized mess that was their luggage. Kirsty glared at Emma, annoyed that, as usual, she produced her unbelievably small trunk that she had somehow managed to fit all her belongings into. She saw similar looks of annoyance on her friends' faces.
As they stood there pondering the best way to tackle this predicament, an extremely unpleasant and all too familiar voice stated, "You're blocking the corridor again, White!"
The gang looked up from the jumbled mess in front of them, and saw the equally unwelcoming sight of Sian Morgan. Kirsty raised her eyebrows in amusement at the only person who could pronounce her surname with such venom. Sian stood in front of them, with her trademark hands-on-hips stance and her immensely irritating cockiness.
Flanked, as usual, by a rather ruthless-looking gang of Slytherins, Sian spoke again, harsher this time. "Move," she instructed whilst drawing her wand from within her trouser pocket. Like a group of highly annoying lapdogs, the Slytherins behind her followed suit. Protectively, the Marauders stepped forward, withdrawing their own wands. Lily's eyes seemed to gleam with anger and annoyance, but she remained where she was, as she hated violent confrontations. Also, knowing Lily, she probably didn't want to annoy the Slytherins so early in the school year. Emma stood with her, looking equally angry, and shaking her head at the Slytherins' incredibly hostile attitude towards them. Kirsty withdrew her own wand, but remained standing just behind the four boys. The only thing that separated the two groups was the pile of disordered luggage between them.
Remus asked, with an air of calculated coolness, "And what if we refuse?"
Sian raised her eyebrows and her eyes glinted maliciously, "There's ten of us and only seven if you. You're a clever boy, Lupin; you figure it out."
"And yet, here I was hoping for a dignified response," countered Remus, a hint of irritation in his voice.
"Nice nails, by the way," Sian added, looking pointedly at Kirsty's new 'Mugle' manicure.
"I thought so, too," Kirsty replied coolly. "They really get the point across, don't they?"
Sian, who seemed to be becoming immensely irritated by the lack of retaliation she was receiving from the group, sneered, "You really are a disgrace, you know that, White. You, Black, Potter and Pettigrew are the lowest of the low, associating yourselves gladly with these…" she paused as if to relish a malicious glance in Lily and Emma's direction, before continuing, "Mudbloods." Kirsty flinched, and saw the others do the same, at the use of that repugnant word.
"You take that back, right now!" roared James, his fists shaking with an uncontrollable fury.
"Yes," continued Sian, as if there had been no interruption. "You lot will be the first to be disposed of. And I really, really hope that I'll be there to witness it."
And just like that, Sirius and Peter reacted. Jets of blinding lights erupted from their wands as they both shouted their desired spells. Their sudden action took the Slytherins by surprise, but it didn't take long for them to regain their composure, and for them to start screaming a variety of curses right back at the two.
Kirsty and Emma stood, watching the two boys duel, in a frightened awe. When did they learn to fight like that? Kirsty thought, her eyes swiveling from left to right as she watched the duel in front of her. Peter was the biggest surprise. He fought with just as much severity as Sirius. And it was safe to say that Kirsty would never think of him as being timid and incapable ever again.
Kirsty subconsciously took a step back from the action. She had no desire whatsoever to get involved; getting into a fight with the Slytherins before she had even arrived at Hogwarts seemed just a bit too farfetched, even by her standards.
James stood watching his two friends, and he seemed itching to join in with the battle. But the stern look that he had just received from both Remus and Lily seemed to be the only thing stopping him.
"Remus, do something," whispered Lily harshly.
"With all due respect, Lil, I think this is a situation for the Head Boy and Girl," he replied, nodding his head at James' newly assigned badge.
James groaned loudly before exclaiming, "Enough!"
Sirius and Peter swiveled around to face him, surprise plainly etched across their faces at having been told off by James. The Slytherins also stopped, equally surprised. Sian, however, not being one to back down so easily, grinned satanically, aimed her wand at Kirsty's forehead, and cried, "Vulnero inimicus."
Kirsty didn't have time to duck as the light smashed into her, knocking her off her feet. She cried out in surprise and weakly brought a shaking hand to her forehead, wincing at the deep gash there. She brought her hand away and stared at her bloodstained fingers. She was vaguely aware that all action had stopped, and was jostled out of her startled state as her friends crowded around her, all looking at her worriedly.
"You bitch!" screeched Emma, scowling at a rather amused looking Sian.
"Ten points from Slytherin, for causing bodily harm to a fellow student!" shouted Lily, looking furious.
"Now will you move?" Sian asked calculatingly, looking as if she hadn't heard Lily bestow her punishment.
"Are you okay?" Sirius asked Kirsty, concern etched into every line of his face. Kirsty nodded meekly in reply as James leaned down and picked her up off the floor.
"Thanks," she stated gratefully. James smiled at her, annoyance and anger still present in the furrow of his brow. Then he snaked his arm protectively around Kirsty's waist and held it there.
After making sure that Kirsty was alright, Remus begrudgingly moved over to their pile of luggage, and careful to keep a watchful eye on the Slytherins, he started to levitate it over to one side. Peter eagerly went over to help him.
They made quick work of clearing the corridor of luggage, and as soon as they finished, they returned to stand supportively beside their friends.
"Much appreciated," stated Sian, eyeing the now clear corridor; the other Slytherins just guffawed behind her.
Sirius stood facing them again with his wand in hand, looking very much as if he wanted to continue the duel. Lily walked up behind him and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Sirius, enough's enough. They're not worth the trouble anyway."
"That is the most sensible thing that I have ever heard escape the mouth of a Mudblood," Sian stated, her voice laced with venom.
It seemed to take all of her effort, but this time Lily didn't flinch at the use of the word.
"You need to come up with some new insults, mate," stated Lily, with a hint of aggression. "That one's been used already; think of something original for a change." She paused momentarily and then continued, her voice a deathly whisper, "And just so you know: It'll be you that is disposed of first. And I really, really, hope that I am the one that has a part in wiping that cocky smirk off your face!"
Sian looked completely stunned; if it wasn't for the fact that her eyes were blinking rapidly in disbelief, then one might think that she had just been Stupefied.
"Go, Lily," whispered Peter, his voice filled with awe.
All the gang looked at Lily with their mouths agape. James was staring at her, transfixed. He looked as if he had never wanted her more.
Sian roared with frustration, unable to come up with a comeback, and fiercely barged past them, the other Slytherins following in hot pursuit.
"Well, that was fun!" stated Remus dryly.
"I'll say," agreed Peter, wiping beads of sweat from his brow.
"Lil, that was bloody awesome!" cheered James.
Lily blushed appreciatively. "Nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it!"
"Thanks, Lil," stated Kirsty with a gratified smile as James proceeded to remove his arm from around her waist.
"How are you feeling, Kirst?" asked Emma in concern.
"Fine, it's just a bit sore."
"Come on," instructed Sirius. "We'll get you to our compartment and take a proper look at you."
As Sirius poked his head around the door to their compartment, he let out a yelp of surprise. James also poked his head around the frame of the door to see what was wrong. But instead of yelping in surprise, James cooed, "Hello, how long have you been in here?" James disappeared into the compartment, closely tailed by Sirius. Not long after, Kirsty and the other four arrived in the compartment, Remus and Peter in front, levitating the luggage.
"Well, thank you very much for being so chivalrous and offering to carry the luggage!" exclaimed Peter sarcastically.
James and Sirius just offered mischievous grins in reply.
"Hello, baby!" cooed Kirsty to the little black and brown tabby cat that sat patiently in its carrier, which had been safely perched on the bench.
"Oh," exclaimed Lily, as she, too, saw the cat. "How and when did Willow get in here?"
"I brought her in earlier with my luggage," replied Kirsty, tickling her cat's nose through the carrier.
"I did wonder where your luggage was," stated Sirius.
"So that was what you were cooing at, James," said Emma in sudden understanding. "I feared for your sanity."
"When do we not fear for his sanity?" countered Peter with a grin.
Emma smirked in reply.
"Come on, Kirst; sit down so that we can have a look at your head," instructed Remus softly.
"I'm not an invalid, you know. It's just a little scratch!" replied Kirsty in slight annoyance.
Before Remus could reply, a soft hooting came from the luggage rack above their heads. They all looked up in surprise.
"Is that…Socrates?" asked James.
"It certainly looks like him," agreed Sirius, looking up at the little black owl.
"It must be, because Hayley's luggage is there, too," stated Peter, craning his neck in order to get a better view.
"Then where is she?" asked Lily, worried.
"I'm sure she'll be here in a minute," replied Remus calmly, although he, too, looked a bit worried.
Unbeknownst to the others, Kirsty had taken a seat and released Willow from her carrier.
The little tabby meowed loudly to gain the attention of all the people surrounding her.
"Oh, sorry, Will," apologized Emma as she reached down and tickled the tabby behind the ears.
Kirsty watched them all as they said hello to Willow she then slouched down on the bench alongside her cat. Before James started to relax fully, he reached over to the pile of luggage and released his brown barn owl Einstein, aptly named because he was the clumsiest and stupidest bird ever, from his cage. Instantaneously, the scruffy-looking bird flew up onto the luggage rack to join his feathered friend. Now that they were all sitting down, Remus got up from his seat and crouched down in front of Kirsty.
"Now can I have a look?" he asked sincerely.
"If you must," Kirsty sighed with a grin.
Remus leaned forward slightly, and brushed Kirsty's fringe away from her forehead.
"Ouch," he empathized as he looked at the gash properly for the first time. "It's not bleeding. Does it hurt?" he asked softly as he gently pressed his index finger against it. Kirsty flinched a little in response. "Sorry," he stated with a friendly smile. "I think it could do with being healed, just to make it less noticeable. You may be left with a scar though. Sian put a lot of power behind that spell."
"A scar is fine. My fringe will more than likely cover it anyway."
Remus smiled at her and then turned to face Emma. "Would you like to do the honors, Em?"
"What?" she asked, looking slightly perplexed.
"Would you like to be the one to heal her?" asked Remus again.
"Why me?" asked Emma, looking puzzled and a little frightened as to why Remus had asked her.
"Well, out of all the people here, who is the one who wants to become a healer?"
"But, Remus…I don't know how," she stuttered.
"I'll walk you through it," he replied kindly.
But before they managed to get underway with the lesson in healing, a voice announced from the doorway, "There you all are! Nice to see that I was missed!"
They all wheeled around and came face-to-face with a tall, slim girl with light brown hair, and turquoise eyes that were elegantly framed by a pair of thin, black glasses.
"Hayley!" they all squealed in unison. Sirius, Remus and Lily, being the nearest to the door, went over and greeted her with hugs.
"So, did you not wonder where I was?" she asked, trying to sound upbeat, even though a hint of disappointment could be heard in her voice.
"We just figured that you were late," teased Sirius.
"I'm never late," replied Hayley in annoyance. "Name one time that I've been late!"
"Last year, fifth year…" replied James counting them off on his fingers.
"I said, name one," replied Hayley huffily.
"Ignore them, Hayley," soothed Lily. "Of course we wondered where you were; we would have come to look for you if we hadn't had a run-in with the Slytherins."
"A run-in?" questioned Hayley, suddenly alert.
"I think it's safe to say that they came off worse!" replied Peter jovially.
Kirsty cleared her throat. "I beg to differ!" she exclaimed, pointing at her forehead.
"Oh, my God, who did that?" asked Hayley, horrified.
"Sian," they all explained in unison.
Hayley shook her head in disbelief. She changed the subject by saying, "Remus, I believe you were saying something before I arrived."
"Yes." He smiled at her in response, before turning again to instruct a rather scared-looking Emma.
"Right, so what do I have to do?" asked Emma, with a forced calm.
"All you have to do is point your wand at Kirsty's forehead and say 'Episkey'. That will heal up the wound."
"Ok," nodded Emma, her resolve obvious. She followed Remus' instruction and pointed her wand at Kirsty's head.
"Go on Em, you can do it," cheered Kirsty supportively.
Emma took a deep breath and said, "Episkey."
Kirsty's head felt very hot, and then very cold. She raised her hand to it and felt it gingerly. It seemed to be mended.
"Em, you did it!" squealed Kirsty, jumping up from her seat and hugging her friend.
It took a few seconds for realization to sink in, but when it did, Emma began jumping around and squealing alongside Kirsty. The others smiled at them both.
"May I introduce, Emma: the best healer in the world!" exclaimed Kirsty.
"Yay!" cheered Emma in response.
"Oh, shoot!" cried Lily. "Sorry to spoil this happy moment, but we have to go to the Prefects' meeting."
"Do I have to go?" moaned James.
"James!" cried Lily, shocked. "Being made Head Boy is an honor; you should be proud of such a privilege, and I'm shocked that you would want to throw it away like that. Because it is still puzzling me how someone as ignorant and obnoxious as the likes of you, James Potter, could have possibly been given the opportunity to become Head Boy!"
"Roughly translated, that means 'Get your overly-inflated head into the incredibly small compartment for the prefects' meeting, or she'll kick your arse into next Wednesday'," supplemented Sirius.
"Fine, let's go," mumbled James.
"Prongsie the Prefect, Prongsie the Prefect!" sang Kirsty as they got up to go.
"I'm Head Boy, actually," replied James, putting on a snobby accent.
"Well, I can't make a song out of that; allow me to demonstrate," explained Kirsty. "Prongsie is Head Boy; Prongsie is Head Boy! See, it doesn't have the same ring to it."
James just rolled his eyes as he walked out the door after Lily, Remus and Hayley.
In order to keep amused while the other four were gone, Peter got out his copy of the Quibbler and started to flick through it, and Emma decided to get some nail varnish out of her bag and paint her nails.
Sirius sat watching Kirsty intently as she tried to look at her 'war wound' in the window.
"How do you do that?" he asked suddenly.
"Do what?" asked Kirsty, confused.
"Make up a song, just like…" Sirius snapped his fingers.
"Any idiot can make up a song," she answered. "Listen: de de de de de de de, de de de, de de de!"
Sirius raised his eyebrow at her – damn, he was good at that. "That was 'Mary Had A Little Lamb.'"
Emma and Peter snorted.
"Really?" asked Kirsty, bemused, "How about this: do do do do do do do, do do do, do do do!"
"That's still 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'; you just replaced the 'de's with 'do's!" answered Sirius, whilst laughing.
"Shut up!" exclaimed Kirsty sulkily.
----------
After about ten minutes of idle chatter, Kirsty announced, "I'm gonna go to sleep!"
"Already?" asked Sirius, in disbelief; they hadn't been traveling long.
"Yeah, well, getting up early and having a preterm run-in with the Slytherins makes you drowsy!" Kirsty replied with a yawn. "Could you hold Willow a minute, please?" she asked, passing the little tabby over to Sirius.
"Why?" he questioned.
"I've got to get comfy, haven't I?" replied Kirsty sleepily.
Sirius took the little tabby, settled her on his knee, and began to tickle her gently behind the ears. Willow instantly began to purr loudly; she was strangely fond of Sirius, even though he transformed into a dog once a month.
Kirsty swung her legs up onto the seat and shuffled backwards so that her back was pressed against the wall of the compartment, next to the window. She rested her feet on top of Sirius' knees, and held her arms out, obviously indicating that she would like her cat to be returned to her.
Sirius grinned evilly. "Cat's mine now, Kirby!"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" she screeched, not impressed by the use of her ridiculous nickname.
"Kirby, Kirby, Kirby, Kirby!" chanted Sirius.
"Give!" instructed Kirsty. "I'm too tired to argue."
"Compromise," stated Sirius, copying Kirsty's sleepy style speech. "I'll put her front half resting on your ankles and the other half on my lap."
"Fair enough," replied Kirsty as she closed her eyes. Sirius smiled and positioned Willow like he had just suggested. He looked over at Kirsty, who already seemed to be drifting off into a peaceful sleep. In his opinion, she looked extremely uncomfortable resting her head on the cold wall, so he hastily conjured a pillow and placed it under Kirsty's head, all the while being extremely careful not to wake her.
Sirius watched her sleeping form, transfixed. His gaze shifted as he took note of the little Scottish flag that had been drawn onto Kirsty's bag. He looked from the bag, to Kirsty, and back again. He, Sirius Black, had a devious plan.
"Hey, Em, you didn't, by any chance, bring some face paints with you, did you?"
"When have I ever let you down?" asked Emma, looking intrigued as to what Sirius could possibly be planning.
Sirius gratefully took the face paints from Emma. Peter's face lit up, like it always did at the prospect of a prank.
Taking great care not to wake Kirsty, Sirius started to slowly apply white paint to her face.
Emma, being an artist and a perfectionist, was literally on the edge of her seat, watching intensely to make sure that Sirius didn't make any mistakes.
Sirius breathed a sigh of relief when he finished applying the white paint. Kirsty still hadn't woken up. Filled with determination, he went on to apply the blue face paint.
When he had finally finished, he sat back to admire his work.
"Wow!" exclaimed Peter, amazed.
Emma, upon seeing Kirsty's face, collapsed into a fit of very silent giggles.
----------
Kirsty awoke to the sound of seven voices chatting and giggling quietly. She opened her eyes to see James sitting next to her with his elbow resting on Sirius' shoulder; she also saw that her legs were now resting on his knees. Next to James sat Sirius, whose knees she was using as a footstool. Willow lay with her front paws and her head resting on Kirsty's ankles and her stomach and back end resting on Sirius' lap. Hayley was lounging with her back on the seat, so that she was facing the ceiling; she had her head resting slightly on Sirius' lap, which meant that she occasionally got flicked in the head by Willow's tail; her legs were in the air diagonally and her feet rested on the door frame. On the seat opposite Hayley, sat Lily, who had her head resting sleepily on the back of the seat, and her feet were laying gently on top of Hayley's stomach. Remus lay on his side with his knees bent and his head resting on Lily's shoulder. Then there was Peter, who had his hands behind his head and his legs on top of Remus' bent knees. Lastly, opposite Kirsty, sat Emma; she had her elbow resting on the window ledge, her hand propping her head up, and her feet rested just above Kirsty's knees.
Kirsty rubbed her eyes sleepily; no one had yet seemed to notice that she was awake. As Kirsty tried to adjust to the sudden brightness of having her eyes open, the elderly witch pushing the food trolley poked her head into the compartment, "Want anything dears?" she asked kindly.
"Chocolate, please!" exclaimed Sirius, James, Hayley, Peter and Remus as they jumped up. The rest of the group fell onto the compartment floor, seeing as they had all just been in a tangle of legs and arms. Willow looked terrified as she landed in the midst of the falling teenagers. The scared little tabby quickly scrambled up onto the luggage rack, where the owls were roosting. At the site of the crazed tabby, the owls took of in a frenzied flight, which resulted in them flapping hysterically around in everyone's faces. Sirius, James, Hayley, Peter and Remus looked on at the situation they had just caused, and grinned at the other three sheepishly.
"I swear you're all trying to kill me!" cried Kirsty from her position on the floor.
"Finally decided to wake up, did you?" asked Lily.
Kirsty yawned and nodded. "I had a great dream, I dreamt -"
"Chocolate!" yelled Sirius as he threw a Chocolate Frog at each of them.
They all sat quietly as they munched away on their chocolate, and read the information on their Chocolate Frog cards.
"Hey, guys, where are we?" asked Kirsty, suddenly looking up.
"On a train," said James sarcastically.
Kirsty mock-glared, "I mean, are we in Scotland yet?"
Kirsty had a strange fixation with Scotland, and none of them really knew why. All they had managed to get from her was that somewhere along the line, her family had been Scottish.
"Don't know…" replied Lily. "Why don't you have a look out of the window and see."
Kirsty shrugged her shoulders, stood up and walked towards the window. She wiped away the condensation and peered outside. At the sight of her reflection she jumped backwards. The Scottish flag had been painted onto her face. "OH MY GOD!" she yelled. She turned and faced them all. "YOU!" she shouted as she pointed at Sirius.
Sirius tried and failed to look innocent.
"You conniving, sneaky, little worm!" she continued to screech as she took a few steps closer to him.
Sirius actually looked afraid now, and the others looked as if they were trying their hardest not to laugh.
Kirsty raised her hand as if she was about to strike Sirius. He flinched, waiting for the blow to come, but it never did. Instead of hitting him, Kirsty enveloped him into a tight hug.
"I love it, I love it, I love it!" she squealed ecstatically. "It's awesome! Cheers, mate!" she added with a big grin. She kissed him gratefully on the cheek and started bobbing up and down excitedly.
Sirius laughed, relieved.
"How the hell did you lot manage to talk to me and keep a straight face?" asked Kirsty with a laugh.
"With great difficulty!" replied Hayley with a wide smirk.
"We must be in Scotland, because the Flying Scotsman has just arrived," laughed James.
As soon as James mentioned the Flying Scotsman, Kirsty's eyes lit up. A fabulous idea had just worked its way through her messed-up brain. "Where's my broom?" she asked gleefully.
"No," replied Lily sternly, "as Head Girl, I forbid you to ride your broom on this train!"
Kirsty looked downhearted, but didn't question Lily's authority.
"You can always do it at Quidditch practice," suggested James.
Kirsty grinned. "I knew I liked you for a reason, Jamesie!"
"Okay, I'm going to go and ask the driver where we are," announced Hayley as she made her way to the door.
"I'll go with you," agreed Remus. "As fascinating as the flying Scotswoman is, I don't think that I can stay in the room a moment longer with you and that ridiculous face paint!" he laughed as he walked out the door after Hayley.
"That's it, he's going on my list!" cried Kirsty. "The rest of you like, it don't you?" she asked, trying to look intimidating.
"Yes, it's incredible," the others agreed.
Remus and Hayley were back within a few minutes, and Hayley announced, "Yep, we're in Scotland, and we're pretty close to Hogwarts now, so we'd better get changed into our uniforms."
"Okay, us girls will get changed first," replied Emma.
The boys looked like they had no intention of moving; they just sat there waiting expectantly for the girls to get changed.
Kirsty and the other three girls stood in front of them with raised eyebrows and crossed arms.
"You're not bothering us," stated Sirius, innocently.
"OUT!" exclaimed the girls in unison.
Author's Notes: I got the "Mary had a little lamb' bit from 'The Simpsons' so don't credit me for that. Also I got Sian's spell from the Latin word for harm: 'vulnero' and foe: 'inimicus'. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to review.
Things Aren't Always Black and White by padfootsgirl1981
Chapter Notes: Here's the long awaited chapter two folks! Again an even bigger thanks to my beta reader Pennilyn Novus for all your hard work.