For the Loners }{ [Open]

[Madison Lenger]

Madison was honestly growing tired of all the glowing faces around her. Every direction she turned, there they were. Couples. Holding hands, wrapped in each other's arms, crooning at one another and glowing just as brightly as all the carnival lights surrounding the brunette. It was getting really, really old. Most people, were Maddie to say anything, would call her jealous and spiteful, and maybe she was in the smallest degree. But really? She was just tired of losing friend after friend to the "Marvelous glow of infatuation!", as her mother would phrase such a thing.

Lame. Completely so.

A sigh left Maddie's lips and she scuffed her foot against the ground, raising a small cloud of dirt and dust. This was turning out to be a really bad idea. She'd originally come to the carnival with a handful of friends. Then slowly, one by one (and two at a time at one point) they all dwindled away with that same glow as they were claimed by boyfriends, or what was most likely going to become their boyfriends. All of them but her. They'd all cheerfully abandoned her with promises of return, and never did as such. Hours ago.

So what, exactly, was the big issue here? Maddie wasn't hideous, was she? Her eyes scanned over herself quickly as if to check and make sure. Everything was in it's right place. She was well proportioned, had an alright face...Hell, her mother would throw an absolute fit if she knew that Maddie wasn't the first in the crowd to be drawn away.

That thought alone made the brunette feel a bit better about the situation. Anything that would anger her mother was alright with her. Though that didn't help solve her problem of being alone at the Spring Carnival...and now probably for the rest of spring break. "Just bloody perfect." she frowned, folding her arms over her chest with a huff. Her foot once again scuffed against the ground as she carried on. Hopefully someone would come to their senses soon or she was going home without them all.

[Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew]

Peter wandered through the carnival only half-seeing everything around him. He had come with the other Marauders, but James had quickly tired of the games and buggered off to go find Lily, Sirius had decided it would be more entertaining to watch James make a fool of himself rather than play the games, and Remus had followed along, like he always did, to keep the other two boys in some resemblance of order. Peter hadn't felt up for James-watching, however. He'd been in a bit of a funk lately - he supposed maybe it was the looming knowledge that his Seventh and final year at Hogwarts was coming to a close, and he needed something to so after he graduated. I really did not have any note-worthy skill, no real hobbies to pursue. He just bounced from day to day, mostly doing whatever he wanted. He was mostly content with mediocrity, even if it was a little boring at times. The only thing he really knew about his future was that he would avoid working in his parents' shop at all costs.

Glancing up, Peter noticed that he'd crossed nearly the whole length of the carnival without seeing a bit of it. He had been standing on grass when he'd left his friends, but now his shoes scuffed up little dirt clouds as he dragged his feet. Out of the corner of his eye Peter saw a similar dust cloud forming, though slightly larger than the ones he had caused from walking. No, this cloud had been formed by someone kicking at the dirt on purpose. His eyes traced from the dirt cloud to the leg that had caused it, following up the leg, over an obviously female torso, stopping as he came to a face he knew.

He knew the girl from around the common room, but that was about the extent of Peter's knowledge of this girl: they were in the same house. If he remembered right, she was one year behind him, and quite loud. Generally looked like she had just or was planning to get into something... rather a bit like if James had suddenly been thrown into a female body. Just bored enough to try anything once, Peter decided it was worth a shot to try talking to her. She looked as bored as he did, and what's the worst that could happen - she'd tell him to bugger off? He was used to that.

Walking up to the girl, Peter quickly tried to think of something halfway witty to say. It wasn't his usual - he normally just stayed quiet and let Remus do the explaining, and James and Sirius inent the stories that somehow managed to work out. Opening his mouth was usually counter productive.

"Too bad no one thought to make a 'scuff the dirt' booth. Looks like theyd've gotten at least two patrons out of it."

[Madison Lenger]

With every scuff of her shoe, Maddie was coming closer and closer to the decision to leave. Being here, at the carnival, had originally been a plan to be girls' night for her and her friends. And now here she was- as her mind had previously complained- all alone without a clue as to where any of her friends had gone. It was frustrating, irritating, and seriously hurtful. "Oi, to hell with 'em." she scoffed, then turned around to head back across the grounds and go back home.

Until she was spoken to.

A curious sound was made and Maddie turned around to face the keeper of the voice. Her brow was creased ever so slightly and her expression was unsure and curious. The voice was male, she'd acknowledged that immediately. What she hadn't expected to find? A Marauder. Not just any of them in fact, the one everyone claimed was their tag-a-long. Not that, that was a fair judgement to make. The brunette's head tipped a bit to the side as she observed her current company. Her mind replayed his words and a soft sound was made in her throat.

"Mhm, it certainly seems that way, doesn't it?" she peered behind him to find more clouds of dust and smiled, "We'd be battling it out for prizes though, yes?" her smile broadened a bit, "I'm pretty sure I could take you, though." Playful boasting, and nothing more. After all, Maddie wasn't rude or conceited, just playful and ornery by nature.

[Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew]

Peter heard a small sound escape the girl as she turned around. Maybe that was his skill - he'd always had really good hearing. That was part of why he was always the lookout on the Marauders' shenanigans. The other part was because the others were better than him at everything. He could see the girl doing some sort of evaluation of him. Probably trying to figure out why it was me, of all people, that talked to her. She looks the type to have boys around most of the time. As the girl tipped her head to the side, Peter couldn't help but notice, and thus be distracted by, the way her hair moved. It looked really soft, and Peter kind of wanted to touch it. The girl made another noise right before she spoke, drawing Peter's attention away from her hair just in time to catch her words.

Glancing over his own shoulder when the girl did, Peter compared their dirt clouds. "I don't know if you'd take me - depends on how they'd judge it. Mine is low and kind of skinny, but it spans across the lawn. Yours is large and billowing-y, but it's all in one spot. Looks like a tie if you ask me." Grinning, Peter took the last few remaining steps foreward and extended his hand. "I'm Peter. Peter Pettigrew. I know I've seen you around the common room, but I don't think I've ever actually met you, really."

[Madison Lenger]

A snort escaped her grasp before she could contain it. It wasn't meant to sound offensive at all, nor conceited, though that's probably the way the sound came off. Maddie couldn't help it. She had a competitive nature, one that made her pull quite the face at the Marauder's response to her teasing. "Ha! You wish." though maybe he did have a point. Billowy and everywhere...Beckoning for attention and loud....They weren't exactly the same thing, but the dust cloud sort of made Madison feel like she was being compared to it. Boisterous...and yet there were his clouds as well. Small, quiet....Perhaps she wasn't the only one being compared to.

When he stepped forward, Maddie's eyes drifted back to his frame. The orbs fell to his extended hand and observed for a moment. He certainly didn't seem like the shy and timid type, which went against more rumors. Without much more pause then her single set of thoughts, Maddie's hand extended in turn and took the offered one in a grip not quite feminine, though wasn't pinching or harsh in any fashion. "I'm Madison, or rather, Maddie," she paused, thinking a brief moment, "Lenger would probably be what you'd hear me called by from a distance, that or Maddie-Lee." she shrugged her shoulders, "And I'm quite aware of who you are. Been in the same common room for six years with you lot now, after all."

She grinned at this, seeming amused by the idea. "Quite the nasty quartet you blokes make." her words were true enough, to be sure, yet held only amusement in her tone. Apparently the Marauders weren't a sore subject for the sixth year as they were for most other people who weren't tripping over themselves to get their attention.

[Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew]

The girl snorted in response to his offer of a tie, like she had never even come close to tieing with anyone in her life. And she probably hadn't. For Peter, though, tieing was a pretty good achievement compared to his usual placement. He got low marks in class, barely enough to pass, was always in the background of James, Sirius and Remus, wasn't particularly noticeable in the looks department... tieing was a good thing, for him.

Maddie's handshake was more manly than Peter's. He could tell. He'd never had much call for shaking-hands, though his father shook hands with their patrons every day, Peter himself was always in the background. No one shook hands at school. So, Peter knew that his own handshake, while passable, was rather on the weak side. Madison's, however, was pleasantly firm without hurting his knuckles. Her mention of Lenger did spark a bit of recollection in Peter's memory, he remembered hearing the name called across the common room on a few occasions.

"I don't know if 'nasty' is quite the right word for us. 'Entertaining,' definitely. 'Suspicious' would probably work too. You might even be alright going with 'obnoxious' for some occasions, but I don't think I'd go so far as nasty." It was good to hear the amusement in her voice. The Marauders often had the effect of annoying people rather than entertaining them (especially in the case of one Severus Snape, but he wasn't the target audience. (Just the target.)).