The Second Black Lion
Chapter 1 – The Beginning of the End
The day dawned bright and early on the 1st September. All was quiet in the Potter household until,
"Wake up Annie! It's time to get up, we don't want to be late for the train and miss it," Annie's brother Sirius was saying as he bounced on her bed.
"Ugh. Just give me 5 more minutes Siri," Annabelle Black groaned into her pillow.
"Wow, James just said the same thing when I woke him up," Sirius said lying down on the bed beside her.
"You wonder why," Annie's muffled voice replied sarcastically.
"Come on, it's our last year at Hogwarts, the least we can do it get there early so we can enjoy being big seventh years," Sirius said pouting at his twin sister.
"Why do I get the feeling you used that line on James too?" Annie asked as she got out of bed and stretched.
Annie and Sirius walked downstairs into the kitchen where a puffy eyed James looked as though he would fall asleep and do a nose dive into his toast.
"Good morning, you're all up early, aren't you?" Mrs Potter said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Sirius woke us up," James said in a disgruntled sort of voice.
"Well it's a good thing he did. You still haven't packed your trunk. I know lots of… things have been going on but that's still not an excuse for not being ready," Mrs Potter said as they all winced at the reminder of what had happened earlier that summer, James' father had died not long after they had returned from Hogwarts.
"Fine, I'll start packing now but could you, perhaps, help me pack?" James said in a sweet, innocent voice. It was too much for Annie and Sirius, they burst out laughing.
"James, you're of age, why can't you do it?" Sirius gasped between laughs.
"Yeah, you take Charms and can't do a simple spell like that, pathetic," Annie said while trying to stifle her laughter.
"Ha ha, very funny," James said as he walked out of the room.
They were all packed, ready and at the train station by 10:30. One by one they ran through the supposedly brick wall on to platform 9 ¾.
"Annie, over here," Lily Evans called as she leaned out of the window of the scarlet steam engine.
Annabelle made her way onto the train and towards the compartment her best friend was sitting in, Sirius and James following. Just before they made it there they found their way block by a couple of Slytherin thugs.
"Well look what we got here, a couple of blood traitors. I heard your mother disowned you, Blacks. That's got to hurt," said the bigger of the two.
"Actually the only thing that hurts is my eyes because I'm looking at you. Oh, and just so you know we got disinherited last year so you're little slow on the update Mulciber," Annie replied coolly.
"Now move out of our way or we'll make you," Sirius told Avery and Mulciber.
"Going off to see your little Mudblood friend, Black?" taunted Avery. "Maybe we should go there and teach her a lesson about dirtying up the place, the filthy Mudblood scum,"
"That's it, Stupefy," James yelled pointing his wand at Avery and Mulciber. They crumpled to the floor in a heap. James put his wand away looking very pleased with himself and they stepped over the unconscious Slytherins taking care to step on them. They reached the compartment without any more trouble.
It seemed Lily wasn't the only on in the compartment, Remus Lupin was sitting by the door reading a very large book.
"'Thesteral's, A Death Omen or Not?' Easy, they're not. People just think they are because they can only be seen by people who have seen death. There Remus, I just saved you several hours of having to read a terribly long book," Annie said smirking.
"Thanks Spoiler Alert," Remus said while he closed the book and put it on the seat next to him.
"No problem Bookworm," Annie replied snatching the book of the seat, chucking it in the luggage rack and sitting down next to Remus.
"How were your holidays?" Lily asked as she sat down beside Annie, James and Sirius sitting down opposite them.
"Fine, yours?" Annie replied.
"Awful. Petunia's getting married next summer and all she's been talking about is the wedding and her whale of a fiancée," Lily ranted.
"Poor thing," Annie said.
"How about yours Remus?" Sirius asked clearly uncomfortable.
"Oh, it was the same as always. Nothing much happened," Remus said.
"Hey I came up with some new pranks over the summer," James whispered to Remus and Sirius.
The talking continued on until it started getting dark outside and the lamps turned on in the carriages.
"Time to get changed into our robes, we're almost there," Lily spoke up. They got changed into their robes.
"You're Head Girl? I knew you would get it!" Annie yelled suddenly.
"What? Oh yeah, I am. Wait a second. You're Quidditch Captain?" Lilly asked Annie confused.
"But I thought… no," Lily said in disbelief as she started at the Head Boy badge on James' chest.
"I know I had the same reaction when I saw it," Sirius and Annie said together, they looked at each other and started laughing.
Lily was still staring at James as the train slowed to a stop at Hogsmead station.
"I've said this once and I'll say it again. These people have and obsession with hogs because we have Hogsmead and Hogwarts. I bet you there is another place around here with 'hog' in its name," Annie said as they walked to the carriages that would take them up to the school.
"I wonder where Wormtail is. We haven't seen him at all today," Remus said.
"He probably couldn't find us. Look there he is now. HEY WORMTAIL! OVER HERE!" Sirius yelled over the noise of the chattering crowd. After a few minutes Peter Pettigrew appeared out of the throng of students.
"Guys, there you are. I couldn't find you anywhere. Hello Annie and Lily," Peter said in his wheezy voice.
"It's 'Annabelle' for you Peter," Annie said coolly. She then turned around and hopped in the carriage behind them with Lily close behind her.
"Of course, Annabelle, I'm sorry," Peter squeaked as the Marauders got in the carriage after the girls, closing the door behind them. There was a frosty silence in the carriage as it set off along the path, towards Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.