Title: In The Instant It Vanishes

Rating: T-M

Pairings: SiriusXOC, RemusXOC, JamesXLily

Description: AU. As the Marauder's 6th Year at Hogwarts begins, the females they choose to keep in their lives test their friendships. RLXOC, SBXOC, JPXLE

Disclaimer: These characters, aside from the 2 OCs belong solely J.K Rowling.

A/N(s): Hello all! This is a co-op story between RemindsmeofaWestSideStory and Kanika Meskhenet. :3 Her OC is Eavan, and mine (As always xD) is Al. :]

XOXO

Alexandra Landor, or "Al" sat solemnly in the Great Hall. She could see the group laughing at the end of the table, and it made her want to cry. She'd opened up to him, and he'd just ignored her feelings. Remus Lupin had been the object of her fancy for quiet a while, but he didn't seem to care how she felt, so she figured she may as well move on. As one of the Marauders cast a glance at her, she diverted her eyes, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to smile at her friend Severus who moved past her to his table. He nodded, without much of another word, and she looked back down at her food. She heard a call from the end of the table she'd been looking at,

"Like what you see, Bird?" Taunted James Potter. He sneered lightly at her, mostly in good fun, but she was in no mood to deal with idiots. Before she could shoot anything back, her friend Lily Evans stood over her, in defense.

"Mind your self, James." She snapped. He looked down, and the other Marauders laughed mildly, as did the female at one of their sides, Eavan. She was prettier then Al, and she actually stood a chance with Remus. Al was awkward, and more or less felt like a burden that no one needed. As Lily sat, she looked at her sadly,

"Morning." She said gently. Lily smiled, and looked at her untouched food.

"Morning. Still not going to eat? It's been several days Al." She chided. Al shrugged, and she moved some eggs around with her fork. Though she always felt down on herself, and kept her eyes downcast, she wasn't terrible looking. She took care of her pale skin, and it showed. She had pretty, russet eyes, though they were usually sad. Her hair was pinned back half way, neatly with a clip in the middle, and her curls cascaded down from there. She was short, and kept her back slouched most of the time, giving her a rather diffident looking disposition. She glanced back down the table once more, and she shrugged, remembering Lily had said something to her.

"Oh well..." She said distantly, and glanced the other way, out on of the large windows.

The Heads of each House began to walk along their own respective house's table, passing out timetables to each student of their House. Eavan Tringham was handed her schedule and let out a loud groan after scanning it over, one that didn't go unnoticed by the taunt-lipped Professor McGonagall who sent the blonde a reproachful stare.

It was the boy sitting across from Eavan, who voiced her discontent towards the class arrangements,

"Double potions with Slytherin this early in the morning? Minnie, love, surely you could have a talk with Professor Slughorn and perhaps---" The older woman rolled her narrow eyes at the shaggy haired, silver eyed boy, irritated by the nickname he had taken to calling her since his 1st year.

"I am sorry Mister Black if you have a problem with your schedule but it cannot be changed, I would suggest you take a deep breath and just get through your class with the least amount of trouble as possible." She sent him and his friends a withering look, the small group consisted of Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew and they were well known throughout the school as the Marauders, heartthrobs of Hogwarts and mischief-makers extraordinaire.

Sirius shot the older woman a charming grin,

"Minnie, Minnie, Minnie in all the years that you've known us you should know by now that the phrase 'least amount of trouble' just doesn't go well with us." She sighed, turning on her heel and stalking off down the table to resume handing out timetables to students, the Marauders were the same as ever, always looking for the next big prank.

"Don't worry Ave, you'll have dear ol' Moony there to help you in Potions class if that's what you're worried about." James Potter smirked in the sandy blonde haired boy's direction, tussling his already messy black hair. Her emerald hued eyes met his cocky dark stare and she waved it off, sending him a confident grin of her own to hide the uneasiness pulling at her insides. Potions was Eavan's worst class, last year she had barely been able to scrape up a passing grade and with it being their 6th year the classes were getting harder and there was more information for her to remember. Why was potions a requirement anyway? She certainly wasn't going to be going around making Amortentia or the Drought of the Living Dead after school, so why bother learning about it?

She felt a reassuring arm wrap around her waist and she was brought out of her reverie by the soft chuckle of the boy beside her, and in her opinion the most handsome, sweetest boy in the world; Remus Lupin. She and Remus had always been friends but when her feelings towards him started to change she knew she had to be the one to act on them, as, like any other shy boy, he was completely oblivious to the advances of the opposite sex. Eavan felt her lips tugging at the corners when she remembered that she had to push him against a wall and bluntly admit to fancying him and that she wanted to be more than friends. Poor Remus had been the brightest shade of red she had ever seen, and it was so cute!

"You should eat a little more, we have 2 hours in that dungeon with the Slytherins and you won't be focused if your stomach's growling." Remus was such a good guy.

"So, Eavan was it?" Sirius started, exchanging a smirk with his bestmate James,

"Have you and ol' Moony shagged yet? Tell me, was he an animal in bed?" James broke into a fit of laughter while the silver eyed boy kept a serious face (no pun intended), gauging her for a reaction. Remus coughed awkwardly, sending his two best friends a harsh glare.

Eavan ran a hand through her dirty blonde hair, an amused smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she blew at her raven colored bangs out of her eyes.

"Sorry, mate, I don't shag and tell," She teased and Sirius let out a bark of laughter at the bright shade of pink that Remus was turning.

"I..er...think we should head down to the Dungeons...don't...um...want to be late..." Remus sputtered, shouldering Eavan's messenger bag and shifting his books to his right arm so that he could take her hand in his left. The emerald eyed girl nodded, waving briefly to the two boys who resumed stuffing their faces (they'd catch up later), and intertwined her fingers with her boyfriend, ambling off towards the dark and dingy Dungeons of Hogwarts.

Al could say at least she was excited for potions. She didn't much care for Slughorn, always thought him more of a buffoon then anything else. He was older then dirt, and picked favorites. She wasn't one of them, so she didn't like him. She was good at potions, but she didn't let on to that. She sat in class, and she didn't listen at Slughorn talked, she let her mind wander slightly...

Al sat with her back to a tree, overlooking the lake on the outer part of Hogwarts. The sun was setting, and she didn't know what to do with herself. All of her two friends were out together, and she was left alone. With Severus being in love with Lily, she was often the third wheel and left alone. She didn't' blame them, if she were into someone she associated with, she'd want to be alone with them too. She sighed, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and her eyes bugged,

"Remus?" Her voice cracked. He smiled at her, his cerulean eyes dancing lightly. She could feel her heart speed up as he leaned towards her. His lips took hers, and she could feel her back go ridged. His lips were soft, and she could only blink. This wasn't real, was it?

She jolted upright, and she kicked the table in front of her. Severus looked at her with a perplexed look. She looked a bit befuddled, and he raised an eyebrow, but not before Professor Slughorn beat him to the chase.

"Nice of you to join us, Al. Can you tell me what we need to add to make this correct?" He said, motioning towards a healing potion.

"Well, it smells too good to be a healing potion. Needs more of something, Murtlap Essence perhaps." She spoke nonchalantly. She got glances as he messed around on the table, and was shocked she got something right. She never spoke much. He figured it was a lucky guess. He droned on for a bit more, and he then assigned a potion to pairs. She paired up with Severus; because Lily wasn't in this class.

"You alright?" He asked, from behind long, greasy hair. She nodded mildly,

"Nothing I can't get over with time." She said sadly. It pained him to see a friend in pain, but she didn't want to talk about it, so he wouldn't ask. He could guess who it related to though.

"He isn't worth it, you know." He added, before he could stop himself. She smiled lightly,

"Yes he is." She finished. She looked into her caldron, and she winced as a loud laugh came from across the table. Sirius was messing with something, she couldn't see what. James was amused as well, and the girl laughed, and Remus smiled lightly. He was less of a kidder then the others, and she didn't like seeing the couple together and happy, it made her jealous. She turned back towards Severus, and she froze as James spoke in their direction. Any day but today...

"Hey, Snivelly, seems you must be repulsing your poor partner. Maybe it's the grease." He sneered. She bit the inside of her mouth, and turned back to her caldron. She kept her eyes trained on the nasty liquid, and she managed to slice her finger a few times cutting materials up. She sighed, and once it was complete. She gathered some in a vile, and by this time, Severus realized it wasn't what they were meant to be making.

"What is that?" He asked, unsure if he wanted to know. She looked at him blankly, and she tossed some onto his jacket. It caught fire instantly, and he started to panic when he realized it wasn't burning.

"How'd you do this?" He asked, running his fingers through it.

"Practice." She said simply. She then turned and walked towards James Potter. She opened the vile as he turned towards her, and she dumped all the contents over his back. His black robe erupted into flames, and he screamed. She laughed mildly, and he yanked his jacket off, and the fire spread to his hair. Everyone looked horrified, as she turned away, she spoke,

"Maybe it's the grease." She returned. Sirius opened his mouth to speak, when she looked back at him, with a mildly amused expression,

"Shake it off Potter." She cooed. He looked at her, and shook his coat, extinguishing the fire. Nothing was charred, and she didn't cause any damage to him either. It had merely been an illusion.

"Surprise?" She said mildly, getting a shocked giggle from noneotherthan Remus Lupin, getting a blush to spread over her face as she scurried back to her seat.

Eavan bit her lip to keep herself from laughing at James' situation, but wasn't very successful and instead let out a loud amused giggle, earning a glare from the messy haired bespectacled boy. She had to admit that the trick had been rather clever, and even if she didn't like Snape all that much either she admitted that James shouldn't have tried to instigate a fight by taunting the boy. She tilted her head to the side and smiled warmly at the girl that she recognized as Alexandra and called over the isle to her,

"Hey, that was a pretty cool trick! Maybe you could teach it to me sometime?" The brunette stiffened in her seat next to the greasy haired teen and shot the blonde and raven haired 16 year old a scathing glare,

"Figure it out yourself." Taken aback by the spiteful remark Eavan shrunk into Remus, squeezing his hand. He shot her a concerned look and placed a soft kiss on her cheek,

"I'm sure she didn't mean it that way." Sirius snorted, leaning back in his chair so that only the back two legs were on the ground, his arms crossed over his chest,

"I say she's gone mental, but I've got to admit, it was a neat trick." Eavan and Remus glanced over their shoulders at the silver-eyed boy who adopted an arrogant look,

"I could do better, I bet." The sandy blonde haired teen rolled his tired blue eyes,

"You're not smart enough to figure out a potion like that, now I suggest you and James get to work and finish your potion before you get an incomplete." James waved off the comment dismissively, mimicking Sirius' air of nonchalance,

"We'll get it done when we're good an' ready, mate." Remus sighed, turning around in his seat and shaking his head at the two boys behind him before turning to Eavan and offering her an affectionate smile.

"Did I do this right, Rem?" She furrowed her brows in uncertainty, staring down at the cauldron that was beginning to fizz.

He chuckled nervously, wrapping a protective arm around her waist and pulling her to her feet,

"I think it'd be a good idea if we took a few steps back, Ave." and they did just that as the potion in their cauldron began to fizz and sizzle more violently before erupting into a splash of purple goop, spraying everyone in the room.

Silence enveloped the class as everyone simply stared down at their own purple gooey bodies with a disdainful look before shooting daggers in Eavan and Remus' direction. Professor Slughorn's face had turned a shade of purple that Eavan had never seen before, and it wasn't from the goop that was dripping down his face either. The silence dragged on for a few more moments before it was broken by Sirius and James' sharp barks of laughter.

"Bloody hell! You really weren't kidding, Ave! You really are terrible at potions!" James snorted, clutching at his sides and falling out of his chair and onto the sticky floor.

Eavan bit her lip and rubbed at the back of her neck sheepishly, offering the class an apologetic smile only to receive amused looks from one half and annoyed grimaces from the other. Remus bent down and whispered in her ear reassuringly,

"Don't worry, happens to the best of us, love."

As the day wore on, Al tried to keep to herself. Severus didn't ever speak much, so she didn't have to try very hard. She ended up having a free block, and she went to the library, she enjoyed watching the floating books. As much as she meant to keep up a distant and abrasive facade all the time, she didn't do it so well when she was alone. She didn't really want to like she was, but she couldn't help it most of the time. It was easier to be rude then to act nice when one was hurt. Lily understood her pain, so she gave her her space most of the time. Severus didn't mean to be a bother sometimes, but others he said nothing; so he was never truly a pain either.

She slid down against a bookshelf, and she brought her legs back towards her face. She rested her head on her knee, and her eyes welled with tears. She hated this feeling. Dejected, and self-loathing. Maybe if she had just been a little more forward, she wouldn't have to hate that girl. She hadn't ever done anything wrong by Al, and she didn't deserve it, but she wasn't a good enough person to be able to overlook the fact she was with the man Al wanted. She blinked back the tears that threatened her eyes. She brushed them away on her sleeve, her head jerk making her curls bounce behind her head. She ran her fingers into her hair idly, and she kept her head low.

"Pathetic." Her mother's voice rang in her ears. She had always wanted to prove her wrong, find a good man, and marry them someday, and have children. Prove to herself and her family she was a better mother then hers had pretended to be. Before she could wipe the next tear that fell from her eye away, she heard someone come close to her, and she didn't look up.

"You alright?" A female voice asked. She looked up to see Eavan standing before her. Perfect... She said in her head, she nodded, and she slowly pushed herself up. She looked past Eavan, and she started to walk past her, and as she did, she looked sadly at her own shoes, and she tossed back over her shoulder at the other,

"I'm sorry for being a git." Al spoke barely above a whisper. She moved past the girl, and she didn't look back to see the others response. She moved into the hallway, and plowed right into a soft body. She felt herself start to slip, when they grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet. She got her footing slowly and looked up to see she'd hit Remus Lupin. Her cheeks reddened, and she looked at her feet,

"Sorry about that. If you're looking for Eavan, she's in there." She motioned towards the library.

"Excuse me." She said, keeping her head low, moving off down the hall.

"Thanks.." He muttered, watching her go. Strange girl, he mused to himself.