Shake It Out

I was eating my solitary breakfast the next morning, when Black and friends entered the Great Hall. I looked at him with renewed interest, trying to figure him out with my eyes.

He walked with a swagger, not unlike that of Lucius Malfoy (seventh year Slytherin), though neither of them would admit it. But they were different in the way they carried themselves- Lucius with a cold superiority, Black with the carelessness and ease of a kid with not a care in the world. I knew that wasn’t true, though. I heard that he finally ran away from his crazy pureblood psycho family’s house to Potter’s this past summer. While he hated his family, it had to hurt that they didn’t come after him. His little brother was also at Hogwarts, a year younger in Slytherin. They didn’t speak.

There had to be something hidden behind that careless smile. Perhaps I would find out what.

As they walked to the Gryffindor table, laughing at whatever it is that they laugh about, Black caught my eye as he sat down. He gave me a tentative smile, and I nodded in return, and went to reading the Daily Prophet and eating my apple.

I could feel eyes boring into my head, so I looked up to see Black staring at me. I raised my eyebrows at him, and saw him mutter something to Potter, and stand up. He was heading my way. I watched him as he approached, finally halting right next to me at the Slytherin table.

I glanced around me at the other Slytherins who were glowering at him, then back at Black. “You have a lot of bollocks, you know that Black?”

“Oh, I know,” he smirked. “Now, come with me. You can sit with the Marauders to eat.”

I snorted, then realized that he was serious. “Let me get this straight,” I began. “You’re asking me, a Slytherin, to purposely go sit at the Gryffindor table? Why don’t I just stand up and announce my wish to be publically executed?”

He rolled his eyes. “They won’t bother you if you’re with us. We’re Gryffindor royalty.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes and mutter, “More like royal jackasses. Anyway,” I said louder. “How are your friends going to react to this?”

He waved at my worries. “I already told them, and they’re dying to meet you.”

I looked over at the remaining Marauders. Potter was bothering Evans, Lupin was reading, and the round one was stuffing his face. I never could remember his name.

“I’m sure,” I replied sarcastically.

“Really,” he insisted, then got impatient. “Oh, come on!” He then proceeded to grab my arm and pull me towards the Gryffindor table. Needless to say, we turned a lot of heads, and the SBFC sent me quite a few glares.

Oh, yes. I forgot to mention the Sirius Black Fan Club, or the SBFC as they’re known by. That’s right, Black was apparently desired enough to have acquired a fan club. Gag me with a spoon.

He pushed me down into the seat as we arrived at the opposite house table. While it was identical in that it was long and wooden, the atmosphere here was lighter, and I immediately liked it.

“Guys, this is Harris. Harris, well you know James,” Potter grinned from across the table from Sirius.

“Harris, Remus,” Remus Lupin looked up from his book and gave me a small smile, looking rough. It was probably a full moon soon. You see, Remus Lupin was a werewolf. I probably wasn’t supposed to know this, but it was kind of self-explanatory when he disappears once a month. I didn’t have a problem with it, though. Everyone knew that Lupin was one of the gentlest guys at Hogwarts. He couldn’t help what he became.

“And this is Peter,” Black introduced. So that was his name. Peter (formally known as The Round One) looked up from the other side of Lupin, who was across from me. Round One (I didn’t care much for the name Peter) was gaping at me. It was slightly creepy. He had watery blue eyes, light brown hair, and was currently consuming a bit of toast on cheese. (You heard right, it seems as though he crumpled up some toast to top a block of cheese. Strange boy.)

“Hi, guys. Nice to meet you,” I was trying to be as friendly as possible, which wasn’t easy. After going so long without associating with anyone your age, one finds it hard to be uppity and kind.

“I feel like I already know you, Harris,” I noticed that he was calling me by my first name. I figured I should return the favor.

“And why is that, James?” I asked.

“Because you’re all that Sirius here talks about,” James laughed, receiving a piece of toast to the face, courtesy of Black.

“Oh really?” I asked, my eyebrows raised.

“He hasn’t shut up since the train ride Tuesday,” Lupin Remus said from behind his book.

“Well I don’t know what all he could talk about,” I said, glancing at Sirius (who was looking strangely embarrassed) next to me. “We’ve barely talked, ever."

“You don’t need to talk to you to notice those tits, babe,” James said to me with a smirk, earning another piece of toast to the face.

As I scrunched my nose up in disgust, preparing to read him the riot act, I noticed James trying to gouge my reaction. I turned my head a bit, gazing back at James, pondering him. From years of observing my peers, I could tell that James was sizing me up, trying to see what type of girl I was.

I could be the boring, prude-type of girl who would get offended, slap him maybe, or storm off. Or, I could be the bitty-type of girl, giggling and try to show them off more.

I settled for shrugging. “They do tend to speak for themselves sometimes, but I feel like Black was too busy complaining about the fact that I wiped his kiss off of my hand on the train.” I smiled at James, and he smiled back.

I think I just made a friend.

Sirius looked weirdly between the two of us. “Mate, Lily’s over there, remember?”

I wondered why Black was reminding him of that.

“Yeah, Pads, I know.”

“So, is there a reason that you call Black ‘Pads’?” I addressed James.

“It’s short for Padfoot,” Peter interjected, blushing.

The other three turned to glare at Peter, then looked at me.

“What’s the rest of your nicknames?”

They looked around at each other uncertainly.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m gonna find out eventually.”

“James is Prongs, Remus is Moony, and Peter is Wormtail,” Sirius explained slowly.

I took a minute to contemplate this. Remus is Moony- like the full moon? As in werewolf? That would make Wormtail… a rat?

Oh.

Everything suddenly made sense. I noticed last year that when Remus would disappear for his transformations, the other three started tagging along as well. I wondered how they could be around him without getting hurt, but it all became clear. They were animagi.. Wizards who could transform into an animal at will. Peter became a rat (big surprise there), James was Prongs, so he must’ve been a... deer of some sort? And dogs have pads on their feet, right? That would be Sirius.

The guys must have noticed the realization cross my face, and started to look nervous.

“Harris...” Sirius started.

“What are you thinking?” James asked.

“Well,” I said, standing up. “Must get to Runes. See you lot there!” And I winked, and left. I was still close enough to hear Remus reprimand them.

“What did you idiots do?” He sounded furious.

I grinned as I walked away. Their secret was safe with me.

Soon after I was sitting in Runes, zoning out as usual waiting for class to start. I kept falling asleep and then waking myself up again. I was not adjusting well to waking back up at 7. Suddenly, somebody sat down next to me and wrapped their arm around my shoulder.

I jumped in surprise, turning to see Black grinning at me cheekily. “Sweet Circe!” I put my hand over my heart. “Don’t do that!”

“Do what?” he asked, still grinning, and now playing with my braid with the hand that was around my shoulder.

I stiffened uncomfortably. I wasn’t used to people touching me, and I didn’t like it, despite his warmth and godly scent. “Black, get your arm off of me.”

“Nope.” He popped the ‘P’ and twirled my dark brown plait around his finger.

I huffed, agaitated. “If you do not-” I began, but was rudely interrupted.

“Siri-Bear!” a screech was head from the doorway.

I turned around to see Betsy Donald, sixth year Hufflepuff and all-around tart. And that was putting it nicely. She had bleach-blonde hair and breasts the size of Christmas turkeys. If they weren’t the product of a breast enhancement charm, I was Merlin’s mistress.

I wondered vaguely what she was going on about as I tried to wrestle myself from under Sirius’ arm. I wasn’t having much luck. While keeping me trapped, he turned to the angry blonde girl that was storming over to us.

“Yes, pet?” he asked sweetly.

“What are you doing with your arm around this- this slag?”

I found it highly ironic that she called me a slag. Hilarious, actually.

“Well isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black,” I said, keeping my voice even. I really didn’t want to end up with more detentions for slapping this sad, sad girl. Also, I just grew my nails back out and I didn’t want to break them on her ugly face. It was hard work, growing nails.

Her face was red as she looked at me confusedly. "What are you talking about pots and kettles for, this is Ancient Runes class!!"

I had to hold in my laughter, as did Black. Well, I suppose that’s Hufflepuffs for you.

“Who are you, anyway?” she demanded.

“No one you need to be worrying about, darling,” I replied, still trying to twist out of Black’s grip. “But, by all means, continue yelling at Black. I find it quite entertaining.”

She glared at me, with enough eyeliner coating her beady little eyes to don an entire emo boy band. “How about I yell at you, the little whore that’s all over my boyfriend! Get your own, whoever you are! But I don’t know how you could, with a face like that,” she concluded smugly.

I stopped struggling with Black to give her a cold stare. She took a step back, but turned to Sirius when he butted in. I was rather disappointed that he butted in, actually. I was ready to practice my curses on her.

“I’m not your boyfriend!” Sirius said indignantly.

“But Siri!” she whined. “We connected yesterday! I thought you felt something!” She stomped her foot.

I snorted, still glaring at her. I bet Sirius felt something, a connection of sorts, but it certainly wasn’t what she was thinking.

“Listen, pet. Fellatio does not constitute a relationship.”

I think I just puked in my mouth a bit. I did not need to hear that. I did not need to heard that. I did not need to hear that.

“But you loved it when I-” she began, desperately.

I had had more than enough. I felt bad for the poor girl, as odd as it was.

“Alright honey,” I addressed her in a sweet voice. “Black is not healthy for a girl with such low self-esteem. You need therapy and a support system. Black is toxic, and also wildly smarter than you and it is not in your best interest to pursue a relationship with him.

She stuttered, trying to think of a comeback, and then stalked out of the classroom in tears. She wasn't even Ancient Runes with us. I laughed. I never said I was a nice person. I was a Slytherin for a reason, I suppose.

I took advantage of Black laughing hysterically next to me to pull his arm off, scoffing “You’re no better,” before turning back to the front because Professor Babbling had entered.

I tried focusing on her lecture about 6th year Ancient Rules while Black kept pestering me. I was torn between trying to pay attention, trying not to fall asleep, and trying not to punch Black in the face. It was all very tedious.

“Wait, Bailey, what are you talking about?”

“Harris, hey, Harris! What do you mean?”

“Psst, over here!”

He reminded me often of a troublesome puppy who just wanted to play. After ignoring him for the whole lesson, the bell finally rang and I stood up, gathering my stuff.

“Why were you ignoring me the whole time? I thought we were friends!”

Woah. That caught me off guard. No one had honestly said that to me before. It was a weird feeling. I, of course, didn’t let it show how much the word had affected me. Everyone knew that I was a social pariah, but I didn’t need to bring it to the forefront of his mind.

“Erm, we are. But you are a manwhore, which is just as bad as that slag.” I yawned and started leaving.

"There's nothing wrong with sex!" He exclaimed indignantly.

"Be that as it may," I replied, briefly turning around to face him, "when you hurt people in the process you turn into a manwhore."

“I’ll prove you wrong,” he scoffed, walking with me out of the door.

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I’m skipping the rest of the day. See you later.” I started walking to the dungeons.

“Wait!” Black caught up, surprised. “You can’t just skip the rest of the day! What are you going to do?”

“You think you guys are the only ones that get away with stuff around here? Just tell the professors I’m having lady problems,” I cackled. “I need some sleep!” I continued to walk away from him.

“Wait, you’re just going to ditch me like that?” he called out to me. “Some friend!”

I kept walking. He’d get over it. But there was a smile on my face all of the way to my dorm.

Some friend. I liked the way that sounded.