Shake It Out

Saturday morning found me trudging to the Hogwarts grounds after breakfast, wishing to enjoy the last rays of sunlight before the dreary Scotland autumn arrived. Despite the sunlight, it was still a bit chilly, so I opted for dressing warmly.

I had reached the beech tree by the Black Lake, conjured a blanket, and laid down, facing the sun. I closed my eyes, slipping in and out of sleep. It was quite nice.

However, as things typically go in my life, my rest and relaxation were rudely interrupted about a half an hour later.

“Harris! Fancy seeing you here!”

“Fuck off, Black.” I didn’t even bother opening my eyes.

“That wasn’t very nice, love,” came the unmistakable voice of James Potter.

I sighed and opened my eyes, slowly sitting up. I was greeted with the sight of all of the marauders. Lovely.

“What do you want?” I asked wearily.

“We just wanted to enjoy the beautiful day near the lake, at our favorite spot. Little did we know that our favorite girl would be there as well,” Black grinned, sitting down next to me.

“Bullshit,” I snorted. “Get to the point, or leave.”

“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t like us?” Sirius replied as the rest of his motley crew sat down upon my blanket.

“I don’t like you, Black, because you tend to be an arrogant, randy prick which annoys me, and I like James, because he is generally likable and amuses me. I respect Remus, because he goes through hell monthly and yet remains as pleasant as ever, and Peter-" I glanced at the strange boy, "I don't know much about him."

They all stared at me incredulously for a bit, before James came out and asked with raised eyebrows. “You don’t mince words, do you?”

I shrugged. “Slytherins are known to be blunt. Now, goodbye,” and I laid upon my blanket (as much as I could due to the four adolescent males upon it) once more.

I didn’t hear them leave, so I popped an eye open to see Black glaring at me, James grinning, and Remus looking incredibly confused. It was a strange sight, Remus’ face was, because he was an intelligent bloke and was not confused often. Pettigrew was just looking at James. I swear he’s in love with him.

“Did I say something?” I questioned Remus.

“What did you mean about the monthly…” he started slowly.

“Oh,” I scoffed, closing my eyes once more, “I know you’re a werewolf. I figured it out in first year, actually. But don’t worry; I don’t feel any differently about you or anything. You can’t help the way you are.”

It was silent again. I sighed huffily and sat up again, looking at them all. “Okay, is there a reason you lot are still sitting here gaping like a school of goldfish? I am trying to sunbathe.”

When I went to look at James, I was alarmed by the size of the grin on his face. “Stop smiling, Potter. Your teeth structure isn’t that great.”

“Mates,” James addressed his friends, “Let’s keep her.”

Keep me? What am I, a cat?

Remus started grinning as well, and addressed me. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you’ve kept my secret for so long.”

I nodded. “I’m normally not good at keeping secrets that don’t concern myself, but as I’ve said before, I respect you. Don’t fuck it up, though, love.” I added.

James and Remus exchanged looks, then returned to staring at me as if I was some new, glorious toy. I turned to Black, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout all of this. There was an obvious hurt look on his face.

I sighed. “What’s wrong, Black?”

“You don’t like me,” he grumbled.

“Stop being such a prat all of the time and we won’t have this problem,” I suggested.

He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, looking disgruntled.

I turned to James. “So are you blokes leaving now?”

James laughed. “No way, Harris. We have to get to know our new friend.”

I sighed again. You may be asking yourself at this point, ‘Why is she sighing when she has brand spanking new friends?’ My answer is, ladies and gentlemen, that I just wanted to lie on my goddamn blanket and catch some rays before the fiery ball of heat disappeared for months.

I relayed this information to James.

“Then do it!” James said. “You lay down and we’ll ask you questions about yourself.”

Ooh, probing personal questions, my favorite.

“If you must.” I returned to my original position.

“Full name?” Remus questioned.

“Harris Camille Bailey.”

“Favorite color?” James asked.

“Green.”

“Birthday?”

And that was my cue to stop answering. I didn’t like to be questioned, and I didn’t like to get personal with people I just met. It’s just the way I am.

“Hello? Harris? Birthday?”

“You can leave now, James.”

“Of course not! We’ll just tell you about ourselves! I’ll start. My name is James Charlus Potter. My favorite colors are Gryffindor red and gold. My birthday is March 27, and I enjoy pranking unsuspecting victims. I also quite enjoy Lily Evans, she…”

And he went on and on to describe her, and more about himself. He paused for me to make an occasional comment, scoff, or snort, and was generally amusing in his narration. Throughout this, I came to the realization that I truly like James Potter. Besides being hilarious, he was genuinely in love with Lily Evans, and was dedicated and determined enough to continue to pursue her six years later. I also admired his dedication (obsession) with quidditch. I loved the sport myself, but didn’t try out for the Slytherin team for obvious reasons.

While I was musing, Remus started his narration. Apparently his full name was Remus John Lupin, and was born on March 10. He explained how he was bitten at a young age, and all of the hardships he had to endure since. He was another person that I truly liked and respected. Maybe these guys weren’t that bad.

“Alright Padfoot, your turn.”

“Sirius Orion Black. Red and Gold. November second.” He said this all stonily.

“Are you going to continue?” James asked happily, disregarding his best friend’s dreary mood.

“No. She didn’t.”

What. A. Brat.

“Listen Black,” I said tiredly. “Just stop being such a dick all of the time and we’ll be right as rain,” I checked my watch. “I’m going to lunch.” I stood up, ready to walk away.

“Wait! We’ll come with you! You can sit with us.” James told me, standing up as well.

“Alright,” I said, vanishing the blanket beginning the trek back to the castle.

Remus caught up with me. “A silent banishment spell? Blunt and talented. I admire it.”

That stopped me in my tracks for a second. “Not very many people do. Now, c’mon. I’m starved.”

We walked back up to the castle together, with Black exclaiming behind us. “I’ll prove you wrong, Bailey!”

Whatever you say, pet.

I sat down at their table and began piling food onto my plate as usual. Remus sat down next to me, copying my actions as we watched Black, James, and Roundy enter, Black grumbling in James’ ear, like the little baby he is.

James sat down across from me, Black next to him, and opened his mouth to say something before it went slack at the sight behind him. I turned around to see Lily Evans and her gaggle of biddies flouncing past, noses in the air as usual.

“Oi, Evans!” James began, but was cut off.

“Drown yourself Potter,” she continued walking.

James just sighed longingly, dolloping mashed potatoes on his plate sadly. Black patted him on his back.

“You can do so much better than her,” I suggested casually, forking potatoes into my mouth.

James’ head snapped up, looking at me, confused. “What’re you on about?”

It was like he’d never considered anyone else. Quite sad, really. I rolled my eyes, and gestured my fork at the redhead down the table. “Evans. She’s such a bitch to you. To everyone, really. And you’ve been nothing but nice and caring to her all these years. She’s snobby, self-centered, and not even that pretty. Maybe you should try turning your attention elsewhere.”

Remus was nodding vigorously during my little speech. Peter was staring at James while he ate another block of cheese, and Sirius was looking at me.

“So you agree with her?” James addressed Remus, outraged.

“Of course. I’ve thought that for years, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

They both turned to look at me pointedly and I shrugged. “I tend to talk first, then think.”

“But,” James stuttered. “It’s Lily Evans! The definition of perfection. I’ve loved her since forever!”

“It’s Lily Evans, the definition of snotty bitch. She’s ignored you since forever. Perhaps it’s time for you to do the same.”

“But I don’t know how to deal with other girls! Lily’s been my one and only all of my life at Hogwarts!”

“Don’t deal with all of the girls. You need to find someone to appreciate James for James. Get it?

James looked at me thoughtfully for a bit. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I always am.” And I continued to eat my food.

“I agree with Harris,” Sirius added during the thoughtful silence.

James glanced at him. “Alright then.”

And that was that.

I finished eating ten minutes later and stood up. James stood up as soon as he saw me do so (knocking pumpkin juice onto Sirius’ lap, who exclaimed “Where’s the fire?” with annoyance), and I looked at him, confused.

“What’re you going to do now?” he questioned eagerly, like I was the most exciting person in the world.

However, to his disappointment (or so I thought) I was not going to bungee jump from the Astronomy tower or anything of the sort. “Just going to write a letter.”

“To whom?”

I just looked at him.

“Right. You don’t fancy getting personal, do you? I’ll change that.” He said it like he was confident or something.

“Goodbye,” I turned to leave.

“Wait, I’ll go with you!”

I glanced at the rest of the Marauders to see if James taking this much of an interest in me was a normal occurrence, but they looked just as confused as me.

I shrugged. “Come along then. I’ll have to stop by my common room, but we can go to the library.”

“Oh good, I’ll come too,” added Remus, standing up to follow us.

“Don’t forget me!” Roundy added.

As we began our trek, I distinctly heard Black mumble something regarding ‘Not fair’ and ‘I found her first’.

~*~

Monday morning came with a definite change as I walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, as usual. I had spent the previous day catching up on my sleeping, so I wasn’t out in the open to see my new friends much.

Despite my normal appearance, a great many heads turned upon my entrance. Unlike what I supposed many other girls my age would do, I simply looked back at the observers with a raised eyebrow, who quickly averted their gazes when met with mine. This was strange for me, as I was never the subject of the many stares of the gossip mongrels at Hogwarts. Sure, I received the random contemplation throughout the years, but never in this quantity.

I saw James waving me down from the Gryffindor table, so I went and sat across from him, next to Black, who still appeared to be in a surly mood.

“Any idea why the whole school is staring at me?” I addressed Remus and James across from me.

James and Remus turned around to observe the observers while Black answered from next to me. “They’ve always stared.”

“Be that as it may,” I began buttering a piece of toast, “They’ve never all stared at once. And especially not at me. I’m just the sad Slytherin outcast who everyone looks past.”

James and Remus turned back around to share an incredulous look before replying.

“What’re you on about?”

“You really haven’t noticed?”

I just replied with a ‘What the fuck are you talking about’ type of look.

“Everyone knows who you are, Harris,” James told me.

I snorted. “We’ve already been over this. It’s because I’m the-”

“Enigma of Hogwarts?” Remus suggested.

I looked at him, confused.

“I don’t know what enigma means, but you’re the mysterious, standoffish bird from Slytherin, who-”

“That’s what enigma means, James.”

“Well how am I supposed to know that, Mr. I-spend-my-life-in-a-book?”

“I do not spend my life in a book and you know it!”

“Oh please, you-”

I tuned out their arguing and turned to Black.

“What are they talking about?”

He looked up from his moping and replied, “So you’re talking to me now?”

I sighed, trying to reign in my self-control as to not yell at him or insert any rude remarks. “Yes Black, I’m deeply sorry for ignoring you. Now would you please answer my question?”

Even though he hardly knew me, I think he could tell that that was an incredibly insincere apology (I rarely apologized), but answered anyway, in a nicer voice. “Everyone knows you as that sexy, unapproachable Slytherin girl who never talks to anyone.”

It was my turn for the incredulous stare. “What are you talking about? No one talks to me because I’m a Slytherin!”

Black shook his head with a smile on his face. “No, it’s because you’re beautiful and intimidating, love. And I would bet a thousand galleons that everyone’s staring at you because you finally talked to someone, and not just any someone, but the Marauders, also known as the Kings of Hogwarts.”

I waved away his joke and stared off into the distance, thinking. Foresight was telling me to listen to Black. That the population of Hogwarts has not been ignoring me all of these years, but I, them. Maybe the initial students I had encountered had judged me on my tie, but after that, I had judged everyone else, distancing myself. Although I hardly doubted the sexy thing was true. That was probably just Black’s hormones inserting themselves into the conversation.

I turned to Sirius, in awe. “No way.”

He just nodded and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “And it was me, Sirius Black, who introduced you to the world of friends.”

I pushed him away by his face. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get to Transfiguration.”

As we left James and Remus at the table, still arguing, I pondered all of the stares directing themselves at me.

Could all of these people have been my friends?