After what happened at the Astronomy Tower, Lily and Marlene kept giving me meaningful looks as if asking me to go and set things straight. What I don't get is that Sirius seemed quite unaffected. He behaved as normally as ever as if nothing had even happened in the first place. 

Well of course I don't blame him. I mean he doesn't have any idea that I heard him confess to me that night while he was asleep, but then I wasn't stupid to bring it up either. Obviously it was for the best that he didn't take anything to heart (apparently) and was oblivious to the seemingly weird set of apology that I had come up with.

"And it was not just a freaking geranium," Sirius was relating his near death experience in greenhouse number 9, "it was a freaking Fanged Geranium." He presented his fingers that were bleeding slightly. 

"Who told you to pick a Fanged Geranium in the first place, Padfoot?" Prongs remarked. 

"Well I might have needed them," Padfoot replied. 

Moony shook his head, "as far as I know, none of the girls here would have appreciated your efforts in presenting them a bouquet of biting geraniums." 

Sirius made a face, "and what if I had to give it to someone?" 

Moony mumbled, "unless you're planning a dreadful punishment on the poor girl then perhaps..." 

I stared down at the ground as if I had suddenly found something very interesting to look at since I could feel Sirius's gaze on me as he replied, "well I would never present fanged geraniums as a punishment, that's for sure. I might have thought of something much more lasting than that." 

Prongs spoke, "and what is the petty crime, may I ask?" 

He smirked, "well... I suppose you're well aware that rejecting the one and only Sirius Orion Black is a crime itself in all respects." 

Yeah sure, I am really interested in observing the Quidditch pitch now, look at how pleasant the weather is. 

"I have my sympathies for her then, that's all I can say," Wormtail stated. 

Moony however looked a lot thoughtful, "I'd say she's smarter than what I gave her credit for. Surprising indeed. And I was so looking forward to a couple galleons, there's a book at Flourish and Blotts which I need to buy. Bit expensive, thought I could have squeezed my way round it for once." 

Padfoot spoke up, "what are you guys talking about?" 

Prongs seemed to have gotten the meaning of what Moony had implied, "oh nothing, absolutely nothing." 

Then turning towards me he asked, "Kat, what happened on the Astronomy Tower? Was that comet delayed or something?" 

I was startled, "what? No... Why do you ask?" 

He shook his head, "you're right Padfoot. A few fanged geraniums would never have been appropriate." 

Would anyone care to explain what's happening around here? 

"Exactly!" there goes Sirius all over again (he's such a Drama Queen), "I could have nicked a few dandelions but the flobberworms decided to throw a party and of course Moony would never like me turning up with a bunch of venomous tentaculas." 

I spoke up, "are you planning to be a florist, Sirius?" 

He shrugged, "not a bad idea. But no that's not what I had in mind, absolutely no way. Besides there are already so many people jealous of me that I would prefer to keep the florists at bay. Can't have them fawning over me as well." 

God... Always a flirt and never refraining from pointing that out. But hey that's really normal behavior for him, right? Good. 

Kat, honey, please be normal yourself, nothing is wrong and everything's fine and you don't have to get worried about something which is out of the question at the moment. 

Kinda something Mom would advise if she knew about all this going back in time and being attracted to someone who isn't meant for me and then hearing an unexpected confession... 

You could say things have been more than just eventful here and trust me only two month have passed till now and I have no idea what is to come up in the rest of the three months. Like literally. But we had the new year coming up as a sort of distraction. 

***

Christmas break was ending and most of the people would be back to school in a few days. And then the Quidditch Season would resume. Only three or four matches were left and Marlene was confident that the season would be over before February. In case I forgot to mention earlier, Marlene is a living breathing Hogwarts newsletter and gossip magazine all rolled into one. 

"Tell you what, Kat, we were considering something," Prongs stated all of a sudden, "five months is not a very short period and you have somehow made us believe that your ideas are well worth our time - " 

I interrupted him, "would you just spare me the trouble of explaining and get to the point?" Because honestly if you don't stop Prongs he would gladly ramble on for an hour or two without any halt. 

He nodded, "oh yeah, why not? We were considering to let you officially join the Marauders." 

Oh really, you think so? "And for the past two months I was just a subject to be considered?" I asked. 

Padfoot shook his head, "no no, not like that. You can say we were training you for the bigger parts, you know the real pranking." 

And for these two months whatever we have been doing were just a part of a training session? I don't believe it. 

"There's one thing I guess you should know," I remarked. 

Moony raised an eyebrow, "and what is that?" 

I finished my sentence, "you guys are freaking unbelievable. I mean there is not a single time that you fail to surprise me. I really wonder what you people meant by officially joining the Marauders." 

"If you had forgotten by now, I clearly remember telling you that we'd inform you of any additions which we come up with afterwards. Remember? Back in our lair...?" James spoke up.

Oh. Okay...

"Good to see that you understood," Padfoot remarked lightly after I kept a bit silent. 

"Fine, what is this new addition which you were considering?" I asked. 

"All of us have names that disguise our true identity, you know," James began, "and we figured that even though the name Kat is just as good still we would prefer assigning you a more creative and extensively thought out nickname." 

Um... Okay. 

"Now does anyone have any ideas?" Sirius asked or rather announced. 

Wormtail spoke up, "Honeyduke!" 

Moony replied, "but she's not a sweet shop, think of something else." 

The whole evening passed by in the Marauders thinking absolutely ridiculous names for me. Some of them were nice too. Razorbeak, Crackleplumage, Talonspark, Thunderbolt (most of the suggestions I liked were put forward by Moony). 

Seems like Padfoot had told them what form my Patronus took. It was kinda awkward since it seemed that I didn't even have a say in the whole situation. 

"It should have a meaning," James declared but he looked as if he was quite frustrated, "I mean I get completely that Leviosa, Wavelet, Tiger Lily, Sugar Quill etc etc are very nice but... Don't you think it should also have an eccentric ring to it? And it should not sound dangerous either. Like naming someone Razorbeak sounds completely lethal. Thunderbolt is cool but too long so is Crackleplumage. I mean it should be short and also have the sort of adventurous hint... And no Wormtail you just can't go on naming her after all the Honeydukes sweets you were rambling on about for the last few weeks. I wonder who would like to be called a Chocolate Frog or a Butterbeer, for Merlin's sake?" 

Wormtail made a face, "I still think Sherbet Lemon would have done nicely. And Kat likes sweets." 

James made an exaggerated expression with his hands, "it's got to fit in! Like just imagine it: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and... And Sherbet Lemon? Not happening." 

Well I agree with him on that point, I guess. Moony was laughing silently, "yeah Prongs has got a point. Even though it would have been quite hilarious. The Marauders just recruited Sherbet Lemon." 

Sirius suggested, "um... Wildflower? No that was Wallflower? Or Gardenias? I think..." 

James shook his head, "would you please come out of flower land, Sirius? If you went on like this the next thing we know would possibly be you recalling how a Primrose tried to bite your nose off. And how the crisis of the famous Sirius Black's missing nose almost made the front page of the Witch's Weekly (condolences of the Sirius Black Fan Club included on pages 6 and 8)." 

Padfoot frowned, "aw, come on James, that was a rumor. My beautiful nose is still intact... Hey, you're not talking about that Hufflepuff fifth year, are you? I sort of remembered that her name was Primrose too. Primrose Macmillan." 

And she tried to bite his nose off? Gross. Oh beautiful nose indeed. He's way better off in flower land I guess. 

"I guess so," Wormy remarked, "she founded your fan club, right?" 

Sirius frowned, "I didn't ask her to. I mean it's not my fault if I look like a complete Greek God. To be honest, Zeus has literally nothing on me." 

I tried to prevent myself from laughing. Sirius and Zeus... Hilariously ridiculous. 

Prongs tried again to prevent us from deviating and began to explain while I was simply enjoying their efforts on coming out with an extensively thought out name, "for instance you can consider our names. There's a reason we designed them, right? And they fit together and they certainly have a particular meaning." 

Trust him to get worked up about even the most ordinary of situations. However their names are weird and I would love to know what particular meaning they have, honestly. "Would you enlighten me on the particular meanings please?" I remarked. 

James nodded, "of course, why not? For example... Padfoot. Padfoot likes to keep his feet socked. Like always. You can't see Padfoot without his socks (even though some of them are ludicrous) but yeah he likes to wear socks hence the name. Wormtail. Uh... Well that's a bit difficult. Wormtail is a great spy, he can sneak into the most unthought of places without any difficulty just like a worm's tail, you know. Most of the secret passages in the Map were discovered by Wormtail. As for me, Prongs, I think I like to go on about freely like a stag. I absolutely adore stags, deers, reindeers, ibexes etc etc. Then there's Moony... I suppose... Moony likes the moon," he finished with a dramatic expression. 

James has a habit of fiddling a lot with his hands and he does that whenever he wants to make a point clear. 

Moony however seemed not quite satisfied with his statement, "I like the moon now, do I?" 

James scratched the back of his neck (and that's something all of them do when feeling slightly uncomfortable), "yeah well... Let me rephrase that. Moony hates the moon. And is kind of obsessed with it at the same time so yeah, you get the point." 

Weird, like I said before. 

"WILDFIRE!" Sirius practically shouted. 

Wait, what? 

"Where? How? Fire?" Wormy stood up alarmed. 

Sirius groaned in disappointment, "of course there's no fire in the Forbidden Forest, I was just giving a suggestion." 

James had a thoughtful expression on his face, "let me see. Not bad." 

Moony spoke up, "you have been so far declining everything we come up with. At that rate you won't be able to assign her any name before the New Year's Eve at least." 

I spoke, "I do like Wildfire, you know." 

He mumbled, "um, well, Wildfire it is, then." 

Wormtail piped up, "now can we go to the Hall for dinner please?" 

James nodded, "of course." 

Then turning to me, he added, "welcome to the Marauders, Wildfire." 

I laughed because like literally that's the third time he has actually welcomed me into that marvelous Marauders group. 

"And you're coming with us for dinner," Wormtail spoke, "I'm in no mood to go worming down in the kitchens tonight so you better turn up in the Hall if you need food. Trust us, no one is going to find out." 

Uh okay... Moony lent me his glasses again and James gave me the Cloak to use in case of emergency. Figuring that everything was probably all set, we joined Lily, Marlene and the rest of the few remaining Gryffindors and made our way down to the Great Hall.

***