11Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or anything from it, so anything in this fic from HP isn't mine. Taylor and Jondy do belong to this account, as does my plot… and anything else not borrowed from somewhere else.
A/N: Yay, next chapter. Credit and muchas gracias to Lil' Padfoot who picked the groups! (LM tried doing it randomly, but it didn't work out well.)
"The first group is… Jondy, Taylor, Sirius, and me," Remus said, reading the names off the papers. He didn't look particularly excited about his group, especially after noticing the devilish grins the other three had on their lips.
"The second group will be… Peter, Hermione, Ron, and Draco."
"WHAT?" Ron exclaimed, eyes wide with shock. "No. No way am I going to be in that group!" he said, giving Peter and Draco dirty looks.
"You have to, Ron, this is what we agreed," said Hermione. "I don't like it either, but there's nothing we can do!"
Ron shook his head. "We can just not go!" He sat down on the steps of a nearby shop. "I refuse to go with them."
"Um, actually, Ron…" Remus began, looking around guiltily. "You kind of… can't do that," he finished, avoiding Ron's gaze the whole while he said that.
Ron looked warily at Remus. "What- what exactly do you mean, I can't do that? Why not?"
"Well, I, ah, sort of magicked the papers so that everyone would have to stay with their groups until we found Snape," Remus explained under the angry glare of the redhead. "I thought something like this might happen… So I figured this way it doesn't matter… You're stuck with your group anyway."
"Great," Ron groaned. "We'd better find Snape soon, then, because the longer I have to be stuck with those two…"
Seeing the look on Ron's face, Harry turned to Hermione. "You're not going to let him kill anyone, are you?"
"I'll try my best."
"So that makes the last group… James, Lily, Harry, and Ginny," said Remus, finishing off the grouping. "Let's go."
So all of the groups set off in different directions to look for Snape.
"Hey, look, a joke store," Sirius said excitedly, running toward it.
"Sirius, I really don't think that Snape is going to be hiding in a joke store," Remus said, grabbing his arm.
Sirius' suddenly stopped momentum caused him to fall to the ground, pulling Remus with him. He stood up, brushing off his robes. "So?"
Remus groaned. "Sirius, the whole point of this little expedition is to find Snape," he said, standing up and brushing off his robes as well.
Sirius let out an over-exaggerated sigh. "Do you really care where Sni-vel-lus is?" he asked, stressing the separated syllables in the Marauders' nickname for Snape.
"Well…" Remus knew he should care… it was kind of hard to, though. All this time, Snape had done nothing but groan and tell people to end his misery… He was a grown man now, for goodness sakes'! He wasn't a little kid who had a right to whine and complain anymore!
"Ha! You don't care!" Sirius exclaimed with a grin. "Besides, Taylor and Jondy agree! Plus, they've never been in a magical joke store before!"
Jondy and Taylor nodded. "Please, Remmy?"
Remus sighed. "Fine, but only if you promise not to call me Remmy again."
"Whatever you want… Remmy."
"Don't call me Remmy!"
"Hey, you only told them, not me!" said Sirius, laughing. "But I won't… unless I really feel like it."
"Hey, where'd they go?" Remus asked, looking around for the two girls in the group.
Taylor poked her head out the door of the joke shop, answering Remus' query. "You guys coming, or what?" she asked.
"You bet!" was the cry from Sirius, and both boys headed up the steps and into the joke shop.
Ron reluctantly joined his group. "Let's just find Snape as quickly as possible," he said, still upset over his group placement.
"For once, Weasley, I actually agree," Malfoy said. "Let's just get this over with."
"Let's go to the apothecary or something," suggested Ron. "That seems like a Snape place to go."
"I don't know, Ron," Hermione said, sounding unsure. "It seems a little too obvious."
"That's what he wants you to think!"
"Well, I guess so…"
So the four headed to the apothecary, and for what would probably be the only time that day, all four had to agree that they didn't want to be stuck with this group for any longer than they had to. They had their different motives, but still, it was agreement all the same.
"So."
"So."
"So."
"So."
The four looked nervously from person to person, unsure of what to say.
"Well, where should we go?" Harry asked, finally breaking the silence.
"Uh, that way," came the reply from James, pointing randomly. So they started walking that way.
"So, Lily, don't you find that interesting?" James asked, walking beside her.
"Find what interesting?"
"Well, you turn me down every time I ask you out, yet…" he gestured toward Harry and raised his eyebrow.
"That- that doesn't mean anything," Lily said defensively. "It's time-travel isn't it? Things can get… messed up in time travel."
"Mm hm…" but James couldn't help grinning at the blush that crept up Lily's cheeks. "Whatever you say…"
Lily sped up to walk alongside Harry and Ginny. "Hey, look, a Quidditch shop! What do you say we have a look around?"
They all agreed, and entered the shop.
A/N: Okay, so I lied. I didn't get this chapter up when I said I would… But if you've read anything of mine before, you should know not to rely on what I say too much… I'm a procrastinator, one of my worst qualities. I'll try to work on getting another chapter up soon.. hopefully this time I will! Also, next chapter should be more interesting. Really. Well, please review! I know you might not always like to, but it means a lot to me. Thanks!