Chapter 1:- Hogwarts Again

Mia mumbled a good-bye to her parents on the platform, barely stopping to give them a hug, and climbed aboard the scarlet steam train that was belching steam onto the crowded platform. She wasn't sad to be leaving them at all, she'd barely seen them all summer and in reality Hogwarts was more home that's where her friends were. Waving a vague hand in their direction she started to make her way down the train, avoiding the hyperactive first-years already in their robes, and breathed a sigh of relief when she eventually found the Gryffindor 6th year girls chatting in a compartment together.

'Alright Mia?' Mary ventured turning her head away from Bella as she saw Mia's long blonde hair enter the compartment and tossed her bag into the overhead rack.

Mia nodded and gave a curt smile as she made her way to the window looking out onto the platform and let her blue eyes search the platform trying to find what she was looking for. She soon found it, the blur of the back of her parents' heads disappearing back into the muggle world through the barrier not even stopping to see she was off safe.

'That must be a record' Mia chuckled sitting in the vacant window seat next to Lily not a hint of sadness laced in her voice

Everyone else laughed, except Lily, 'They do care you know?' she speculated, Mia thought, somewhat hopefully, Lily had always found Mia's detachment from her parents alien as she had maintained a close relationship with her's.

'Funny way of showing it' Mia huffed slumping lower in the chair 'They stayed for what, thirty seconds this time? Ernie's a genius, ran off as soon as he saw someone who looked vaguely okay. He's first-year and they didn't stay!'

'They'll be busy though, won't they? With Voldemort around and everything', Lily's voice was quiet and soft and Mia knew she was trying to comfort her but it didn't stop the swell of frustration at her words, nothing could excuse their lengthy absences from her childhood.

Mia elected to ignore the comment. To Mia if her parents held a real interest in her and Ernie OR their education then their jobs as an Auror (her dad) or working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (her mum) wouldn't stop them from hanging around for an extra ten minutes to say goodbye. Mia's rants about her parents' lack of interest in what she got up to or her herself was now commonplace to the beginning of their journey back to Hogwarts, and Mia had grown to care less and less and was now barely affected at all when her parents left.

As the train started chugging away from the station a red stream of light shot past the window and down the carriage. Nothing better than a duel in the corridor, it was good to be back.

'Reckon that's Potter and Black?' Bella asked motioning her head towards the disturbance as casually as possible stroking a stray brown hair out of her pretty blue eyes as she did so

'Probably' Mia said shrugging my shoulders 'shouldn't you be doing your prefect duty Lils?' Mia asked shooting a glance towards her and smirking towards Mary, Mia was pretty sure she was on her train of thought as she usually was with these matters

'God you're probably right' Lily jumped up, already in her robes, and hurried towards the door straightening them as she did so

'You're awfully eager considering that James is the one creating the disturbance' Mary said mockingly holding a hand to her heart as the other girls giggled

'Hilarious' lily shot scathingly as she blew out of the carriage

'Nice casual mention of them their Bella' Mary chuckled kicking her shoes off 'Still holding out hope that Potter will go off Lily sometime soon?'

'Think I left it a bit late, she's starting to actually talk to him. I would go for Sirius but, though being undeniably good-looking, I just can't get over the childish pranks'

'And you could for Potter?' Mia asked questioningly raising an eyebrow

'Oh shut up' Bella was now blushing a profuse colour of red 'He was different'

Again Mia raised her eyebrows but they sat and contemplated this for a second and started to nod in agreement, although all four of the Gryffindor boys had a hand in the pranks which they arranged everyone in the school knew Sirius and James were effectively the brains behind the operation. The two were the best-looking boys in the school, and knew it since they regularly had girls throwing themselves at them. However, since James had been pining over Lily since the first Hogwarts journey the interest in him had dwindled slightly whereas interest in Sirius had only multiplied which only seemed to inflate his ego.

Mia broke the silence making a sour face and saying 'I'm not sure I'd want to choose either'

Mary and Bella laughed and nodded in agreement and they all gradual changed into their black robes.

'Anyways I should probably go check Ernie's okay, he asked me to just in case someone tried to hex him' Mia rolled her eyes and heaved herself out of the compartment grabbing her wand as she did so. Mia had been hoping that having a younger brother wouldn't be a drag but this had instantly disappeared since she'd made Ernie the promise.

Mia reached the compartment Ernie was in within five minutes and it immediately transpired she was interrupting a blossoming new friendship when her face was treated with evils and mouthed instructions to "bugger off". Mia almost blurted out that Ernie was almost in tears last night because he was worried he didn't know how to "defend" himself but it seemed cruel to douse his budding level of coolness, she settled for ruffling his hair and running out of his compartment before his stunning spell (which incidentally she had taught him only a week previously) hit her.

Reaching the door to their compartment it became apparent to Mia that something had changed since her departure, the blinds had been drawn all the way down so no one could see in, and also too many voices were emanating from inside for just Bella and Mary. Mia felt for her wand handle within her robes just in case the occasion called for it and opened the compartment door boldly.

'Alright, Wright? Good summer? Not missed me too much I hope' Sirius was grinning at Mia from where she had been sitting a mere five minutes before and stretched his hand towards her in a mockingly romantic gesture

'Oh you got me there. Couldn't stop thinking about you and missing you profusely' Mia said in a high pitched girly voice stretching her hand out towards him. Mia kept walking towards him, hand out-stretched, until their fingertips were almost touching then withdrew her hand and slapped him round the back of the head 'Don't be an idiot Black'

Mia settled in-between Sirius and Peter with Mary, Bella and James opposite. She couldn't help noticing that James had left a space where Lily had been sitting in anticipation of her return.

'Am I missing something? Is there a reason you're here?' Mia said raising an appraising eyebrow at the three boys undisguised scepticism evident in her voice

James shrugged 'We got bored when Remus swanned off to the Prefect carriage and decided to see what our fellow Gryffies were up to'

'And obviously we had to see that you were all safe in these dark, dark times' Sirius chipped in punching Mia lightly on the arm

'Not enough people to hex?' Mia drawled unleashing what she'd like to think of as a cheeky grin

They chuckled.

'Something like that' Sirius said still smirking

'Yeah that and we'd already got Snivellus' Peter said shooting his eyes to his friends for approval

'Yep gave him bright blue hair and some horns, thought we'd give him a proper welcome back' James said stretching his arms up and forwards

'I swear he just gets creepier and creepier each time I see him' Mary said giving an involuntary shiver

'It's all the grease on that hair' Bella said laughing

'Still not fans then?' Sirius said raising an eyebrow at the girls

'Not remotely' Mia answered

At that moment the door of the carriage opened and Lily's emerald eyes looked back at the group with Remus looking at them nervously from behind. She looked as if she was going to kick off and Mia almost ushered her from the carriage but Lily's face suddenly fell calm and she took the seat offered to her by James.

'Remus warned me this might happen' Lily said trying to leave as much space as possible between her and James although Mia noted it was hard considering the size of the compartment and she was made even more aware of this as Remus took the space on the other side of Peter.

The fact that Sirius was fairly muscly did not help matters.

James broke the considerable silence whilst everyone shifted to try to make adequate room 'I think there's nothing for it Lils you'll just have to sit on my lap to make room' he gave her a cheeky grin Mia supposed to try and assure her he was joking

'I'll ignore that actual statement because you didn't call me Evans' Lily said arching one eyebrow at him 'and I won't hex you because last year I swore I'd at least make it to the feast'

Well this was progress the fact they were all sitting in the same compartment showed a marked improvement in the friendship between the sixth years.

They managed to chat and giggle their way through the rest of the journey and without Lily hexing James although she did have to point menacingly at him with her wand after a slightly lewd comment. Eventually the boys had to depart the compartment and head back to theirs so they could change.

'I think you're getting to like him Lils' Mia remarked as her friend moved over to sit by her

'Yeah I mean you didn't hex him once that time' Mary chimed in

'And you were in contact with each other without flinching' Bella laughed her dirty laugh winking at Lily as she did so

'Forced contact' Lily said rolling her green eyes and huffing at her friends' intolerability 'I find him….bearable. We're almost friends, emphasis on almost, he could just cock it up by asking me out again'

'Which he hasn't done for months' Mia pointed out 'I might warn James there's a light at the end of the tunnel'

Mia ducked as Lily swung her hand at her head, lucky she'd always had quick reflexes thanks to a younger brother and constant exposure to quidditch, and Lily's reaction only enforced Mia's belief that Lily was indeed beginning to find James more than "bearable".

They didn't speak to the marauders again, much to everyone's pleasure but more so to Lily's, until everyone was seated at the Gryffindor table for sorting. Mia bristled with slight frustration as she felt Sirius sit down on her left, they'd been getting on better but his ego was too big to spend copious amounts of time in her life and the train ride to Hogwarts had been his allotted time.

'How were the holidays then Wright, seriously'

Mia turned round to find Sirius smiling at his own joke and sighed, some people had a limit to how much they grew up, he was apparently stuck at the age of eight 'Old joke Black'

'How were the holidays Pad-Sirius?' Peter chipped in across the table, it figured that he hadn't seen any of the Marauders over the holidays not for their lack of trying to include him more due to his attachment to his mother…and cheese

'Not that we didn't invite you to spend some, what would have been, blessed time with us but since you ask Wormtail, I'm still at the Potter's but trying to find my own place. Contrary to his own belief spending that much time with James is not a bed of roses' Sirius said raising an eyebrow at his best friend across the table as James flicked him between the eyes

'Not had contact from the parents then?' Bella asked chiming in from Mia's other side

'Had a "secret" owl from Regulus' Sirius said making quotation marks out of his fingers

'Saying?' Bella persisted

'That I should re-join the Black family to restore my honour and that he thought I'd made my point'

'Tell them your reply though Sirius' Remus chipped in from James' side struggling to maintain a straight face

'Told him he could bugger off didn't I? The smarmy git, and yes I did actually call him a smarmy git in the letter. To be honest I'm better off without them, they don't deserve me'

Mia rolled her eyes at his typical arrogance and looked across to see Lily acting the same and they smiled at each other. The boys chuckled at Sirius, and they all high-fived each other subtly whilst Mia sneaked a look at the Slytherin table and the short black hair of Regulus Black, although good-looking with defined features and baring a likeness to his brother his features seemed oddly distorted. The Gryffindor sixth years fell silent to listen to the sorting hat's annual message which as far as Mia could gather was emphasising caution in who you place your trust but to trust your friends and family and band together to get through "these troubled times".

'Cheerful as ever' Mary muttered from across the table as Dumbledore stood up to give his brief speech

'Sign of the times isn't it I suppose' Lily ventured

The rest of the meal passed quite pleasantly and Mia was comfortably full with quality food as she made her way back to the Gryffindor common room with Bella and Mary as Lily had to stay to escort the first-years back to the common room, an unfortunate job of a prefect. The boys had left the meal just before them, except Remus who was the other Gryffindor prefect, and were nowhere to be found when the three girls entered the common room. Six years of being at Hogwarts and still the sight of her trunk at the foot of her bed made Mia smile with happiness. This was where she was meant to be.

'I'm definitely putting my pyjamas on now' Mary said ripping her trunk open and dunking her arm into the mess to find them

'Seconded' Bella said from next to Mary not attempting to open her trunk just yet

'Way ahead of you' Mia smiled and clicked open her trunk to pull her pyjamas from the very top of it, she packed in order as it seemed a much easier way of unpacking

Once everyone was changed Mia was sat pensively on her bed mulling over what could happen during the first week of the year, first years getting lost was guaranteed, and new romances bloomed although they were always seemed the ones which were doomed to end within weeks

Mia leant back onto the pillows of her bed and as tiredness started to take hold already she couldn't help but feel this might have the making of a blockbuster year

The boys were sitting on the floor of their dorm having just finished a particularly heated game of exploding snap between Sirius and James, with Sirius winning of course. Sirius loved annoying James like this and still smiling from his resounding victory he got up and dragged himself over to his bed to find his pyjama bottoms in the mess of his trunk.

'You shouldn't have asked for a rematch from our game on the train Prongs' he said smirking as he pulled off his robes and on his bottoms leaving his chest bare 'You must've known I'd always win'

'Ha-di-ha I'm pretty sure you confunded me on the train Padfoot. Now wizard's chess that's a real mans game' James said from standing on his bed next to Sirius' as he too pulled on his pyjamas and proceeded to jump on his bed

'Now, now children play nice' Remus shot sarcastically from the other side of the room and Sirius couldn't help but smile at his friends' ability to diffuse or detect an emerging difficult situation

'Right you are Moony. There are far more important things to be discussing' Sirius said reclining on his bed and shooting a sideways glance at James who was nodding in agreement 'For example has anyone seen any hot-tottie they like?'

Sirius noted that Peter, who had thus far hardly said a word since they'd arrived back in their dorm, was now paying a hell of a lot more attention to what was being said.

'Well I still maintain Lily is the hottest girl in this school, she'd easily get a 10, perfect'

'Stuck record Prongs' Sirius said rolling his eyes dramatically at Remus who was laughing from the opposite bed

'I would ask if you've seen anyone Padfoot but since you've dated most of the year except the Gryffindor girls I'd presume it was a rather small field' James sniped back and Sirius shot a half-hearted stunning spell at him as punishment which James easily dodged

'Fine then let's just chat about the Gryffindor's then, that way we're all on an even playing field' Remus said

'Lily's the fittest' James said immediately

Sirius watched Remus tilt his head to one side 'I don't know, I've always thought Mary was really pretty, I love the chestnut colour of her hair, and certainly Bella's got what one could call nice assets' the boys nodded in agreement at this 'and Mia is definitely looking better than she did at the end of last year'

'A lot slimmer' Peter said and Sirius could swear he saw the boy lick his lips, sometimes he was a little to creepy for Sirius' liking

'And the hair is looking better' James chimed in 'more blondey, sets off the eyes'

'I agree she's a lot hotter than she was' Sirius said turning round so he could fix his Gryffindor banner to the wall

'Somewhat agreed' Remus said sceptically nodding at Sirius from across the room

'Hey Paddie' James chimed

'Yes oh dear one' Sirius replied rolling his eyes

'Didn't you try to get with Mia that one time?'

'Oh I remember that' Remus chuckled oblivious to the glares Sirius was now shooting them

'Truth and dare, wasn't it Moony?' James asked innocently

'Third year?'

'Paddie' James asked turning back to face Sirius with a grin 'didn't she knee you in the balls?'

'You know she did Prongs'

'Just checking'

'Aw Sirius' one and only rejection' Remus said mockingly

'I was thirteen'

'Either way mate it was still a rejection' Remus chuckled

'So ratings out of ten for all of them, God we haven't done this for a while' James said from his bed 'I nominate Lily a ten, Mia an eight and a half and the other two eights. Any disagreements?'

Sirius had gone under his bedcovers by now and turned over to look at his friend with a cynical eye 'She's pretty and whatever but I'd give Lils a nine and a half at max and maybe give Mia an eight despite her smoking body'

'Which we never discussed' Peter said somewhat hopefully

'And which we aren't going to discuss Wormtail' Sirius said hoping to cut off the lewd comments which were sure to follow, too lewd for even James and Sirius and that was saying something