Sofia Marie Erosa hugged her mother for the last time, before she boarded the Hogwarts Express for the second-to-last time.
"Madre, I have to go! The train leaves at eleven!"
"I know, mi hija, but I'm going to miss you so much! What am I going to do without you around the house? You were such help this summer!"
"Yeah, after my birthday. Listen, mamá, I'll write once a week, and the year will be over before we know it. Now I have to go, te amo, mamá!" Sofi said, running towards the whistling train with her trunk, and the cage of her jet black barn owl, Holly. She walked with her things down the crowded aisles of the train looking for her friends. She checked in the windows of all, and even mistakenly opened the doors of some before finding Alice Prewett and Charlotte Ellis alone in a compartment filled with luggage, talking and laughing loudly.
Alice was a tall figure, standing at about 5'8'', she had bright blonde hair that fell neatly just above her shoulders. She had very large brown eyes. She was very beautiful, and many-a-men pined for her, but she had been seeing a one Frank Longbottom since last year, and he had graduated that same year, reluctantly leaving her for another year at Hogwarts with her many admirers. Alice was the stereotypical girl of the group. That one that fussed over guys, and make-up, and shoes. She kept the girls feeling pretty and feminine. Charlotte, who preferred to be called only Char, was the exact opposite of Alice. She was only an inch shorter than Alice, but well built. She played on the Gryffindor quidditch team, and she had the muscles to prove it. She, too, was very pretty, had mouse-brown curls that hung loosely in large ringlets, and for as long as Sofi had known her, she'd worn the front pieces, those near her face, pinned back to the sides. She could never hold up a long lasting relationship like Alice's, she was more... popular. She was what some would call a slut, and she knew it. She was the out-going one of the group. She kept them all on their toes, and complemented Alice in making sure they weren't feeling too feminine.
Sofi, in contrast to her friends, had a slim, 5'4'' frame. They towered above her, and made fun of her for it, but she didn't mind much. She had almost black hair, stick straight, and almost waist length, with bangs that swooped to the side of her face. Her olive-toned skin was proof of her Spanish origin, raised in Barcelona by her widowed mother until she turned eleven, when she went to Hogwarts, as was the wish of her late father, who had also attended there. Sofi was the shy one. She didn't speak much to people other than her friends. She was more rational than her friends, who were sensitive, and hot tempered. She was the voice of reason, the logic of the four.
They had a fourth member in their group, Lily Evans, the smart one; the responsible one-- no where to be seen. She had dark red hair that was above her waist, and bright green, almond shaped eyes. Many men had pined for her as well, but most were deterred by her most fervant admirer.
"Where's Lily?" Sofi asked Charlotte and Alice, when they were done greeting each other. (As Sofi spends her summers in Spain with her mother, they don't get to see each other much during holidays).
"She got Head Girl, she's up in the prefects department now. Seemed happy when she stopped in to tell us, but I doubt she'll be happy when she finds out who her partner for the year will be," Alice laughed. Sofi looked at her questioningly. Charlotte giggled uncharacteristically. "Mr. James Potter, can you believe it?"
"Not even in the slightest," Sofi said in her newly accent-less English. "We will never hear the end of this!" She put on a high pitched, mock-Lily voice, "Of all the people in our year! Unbelieveable. That James Potter is the biggest troublemaker, the most arrogant arse the school had ever seen!" The three of them laughed as the compartment door slid opened and the voice of Sirius Black spoke out:
"Why, Erosa, you simply must be talking about me! I'd be so offended if you weren't." He came in and sat down next to Sofi. She blushed at being addressed so directly. He was followed, as per usual, by Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, the former of which sat by Alice, the latter taking a seat on the floor.
"Oh, Black, don't you worry your misplaced pride to be hurt! I'm sure you're the most troublesome boy in our year," Charlotte said, "But we were talking about your Head-Boy-better-half."
"Aah, yes, Prong's Head Boy-ship. That will be a damper on our fun this year..." Sirius contemplated.
"Oh, Padfoot, I'm sure you'll carry on without him just fine," Remus said.
"You say 'you'll' as if I'll be doing it alone," quipped Sirius. Peter, from the floor, shook his head vigorously. Remus sighed, and decided to change the subject.
"So, Char, Sofi, Alice, how were your breaks?" He asked politely.
"Okay, I suppose." Sofi said.
"Facinating," Sirius said sarcastically.
"Well Frank and I spent more or less the entire summer together. I'm going to miss him so much this year," Alice pouted. Remus patted her on the shoulder.
"Cheer up, Alice! Get some new man this year. There are bigger fish in the sea," Charlotte chirped. Alice shot her a playful glare, knowing she was joking.
"I'm sorry, Miss Promiscuous, but we can't all have two week relationships of snogging in broom cupboards."
"I-beg-to-dif-fer!" Sirius said in a sing-song voice. He and Charlotte high fived. Remus and Alice shook their heads, Peter and Sofi laughed.
After talking for a good hour or so, the six were interrupted by the door sliding open and Lily's melodic, high, voice ringing through the compartment, even as she shouted out of it. "Potter, this is my compartment stop follow--" She stopped speaking as she saw the extra three in the space.
"Well, Lily-kins, it would seem that this is my compartment as well!" Came James' cheerful voice from over her shoulder.
"All marauders, get out! Go!" Lily said, clearly exasperated. They obeyed without protest. James pouting.
Lily sighed as she closed the door behind them.
"Well, let's hear it." Alice said expectantly.
"What?" Lily asked, clearly bemused.
"I cannot believe that Dumbledore appointed James Potter to Head Boy!" Charlotte imitated.
"As if he's ever done a single responsible thing in his entire life!" Sofi continued.
Alice helped too, "He thinks he's so cool! When really he's nothing but a--"
"Selfish, arrogant toerag!" The three finished in unison, laughing. Lily looked affronted, but there was a hint of a smile on her tight lips.
"With those four, and you three, I don't know how I'll ever make it through this year!" She said as she flung herself down on the seat next to Sofi.
Sofia:
After the feast was over, Lily, Char, Alice and I, made our way up to the Gryffindor tower, and collapsed in the common room.
"I am so glad to be back" Lily said.
"Seconded," I agreed.
"Petunia was dreadful, as usual. Ugh. And now that I'm of age my parents were eager to see 'all the little tricks I've been learning!"'
We laughed. "Well, my sisters and brothers have been teasing me since I got here that they could do magic and I couldn't, but man, did they regret it this summer. Ha!" Char laughed.
"Mi madre took every advantage she could of my new ability to do magic. 'So-fi, can you do the dishes? So-fi-a! Get the laundry done so we can go to the movies!' I swear, I was Cinderella!" Lily laughed, but Char and Alice, both pure-bloods, looked confused at the name of the muggle fairy-tale princess. We soon went up to the dorms, where we unpacked our things, and greeted our other room-mates, Ella and Emma Landour, twins, long unpacked.
Char took out her old fat cat, Stitches, who looked around contemptuously at everyone before stalking behind the beds.
"Hey, Sofi, you think Stitches could sleep at the end of your bed this year, seeing as you've got the extra space," Char jokingly asked. I narrowed my eyes at her, then went to the bathroom to shower. On my way there, I ran into Sirius, who was on his way to the boys' lavatory it seemed.
"How's it going, short stuff?" Sirius had even more right than Char with the short jokes, he stood at about a towering 6'2'', almost a full foot taller than myself.
I chuckled at his joke, "Pretty good. How 'bout yourself? I heard the weather up there can get kind of chilly this time of year, " I quipped back with mock concern. He laughed. I almost never have conversations alone with anyone but Lily, Char, or Alice. It was quite the oddity, but it would be so rude not to talk to him.
"Alright, I'll take that." Just then a sixth year girl named Maya passed by. She was very pretty, with a full chest, and long, blond hair. As she passed, I knew Sirius' move before he did. "Hey, Sofi, see you later!" he turned to go the other direction. "Hey! Maya!" I was almost glad that the short conversation was over.
Sirius was, by reputation, a womanizer. He had snogged with just about every girl in our year, and the year that had just graduated, and was now, I guess, making his way through the year below us. He had once snogged with Char, but they're both so casual with those things, it blew over in the span of a minute. Lily was off limits by proclamation of James, and Alice by Frank. He and I never got together, I guess, because I've always been very shy, with guys especially. I mean, I'd been on a couple dates, even had a kiss or two, but never actually snogging, and I was perfectly satisfied with that, I certainly wasn't expecting anything more. I would never have thought things would change in my last year at Hogwarts.
Sirius:
After the sorting, the speech, the feast, the gang and I headed up to the common room, than straight to our dorm, that we shared with no one, thankfully. After talking, and unpacking for a period, James lay on his bed, reading a letter, marveling at all his Head Boy perks. "Blimey, Lily and I get our own common room! With its own fire and library, she'll love that..." Remus was on his bed, reading a textbook of some sort. I scoffed to myself, Remus was the smart one of the group, always reading. Peter was on the floor, leaning up against his four-poster, practicing a certain charm over and over.
I was done unpacking, and still felt gross from the train ride, so I decided to go down to the lavatory for a shower, meeting Sofi on the way. I look over-- almost down-- at her figure and say "How's it going, short stuff?" She laughs silently, and replies with a comment on my own height. I notice her old slight Spanish accent is gone, and she speaks English perfectly. She didn't speak much on the train. Come to think of it, she doesn't speak much at all. I was about to say something about her accent, or lack there of, when a sixth year walked by, practically begging for me to follow. I said goodbye to Sofi quickly, rudely, to go talk to Maya. I'll have to apologize for that later.
Later it occurs to me, as I ever-so-seductively kiss Maya goodnight after a talk in the common room, that I've dated--well, snogged-- everyone in my own year, with three exceptions. Excepting Lily, of course... and Alice, that Frank Longbottom had always had his eyes on her, wouldn't want to cross him. And... except for Sofi. I wouldn't want to mess up a friendship like that, but we hadn't always been good friends. She doesn't see many people at all; I wonder why that is? She's very pretty, hot, even. The kind of girl who caught your attention until you saw how closed up she was, and somehow, then, she didn't seem worth the trouble. She had always been very shy: if addressed directly, she would give short answers that didn't provoke any further questioning or conversation. I really hardly knew anything at all about her. I knew she was Spanish, I'd gathered that from her accent, now gone, and Char said something in a summer's letter about her being in Spain. I knew she's amazing with potions and herbology, I'd seen her in action in the classroom. Perhaps she was an aspiring healer? She seemed compassionate enough, the job would fit her. She is very kind, I don't think I've ever heard a cruel sentence from her lips, not that full sentences were a regular occurrence. But just because she was kind, didn't mean she wasn't up for a prank or two. When Lily was reprimanding us for our mis-deeds so many times last year, she never said anything, smiled at a lot of them.
"HEY! Padfoot?!"
"Huh? What?" He came abruptly from his thoughts. "What?"
"Where were you mate? You've been out of it for minutes," James said, looking almost concerned. Remus had looked up from his book.
"I was just thinking about Sofi. She's very quiet, what does anyone really know about her?" I asked, sounding more casual than I felt.
"She's from Spain," Peter said.
"Wow, thanks, Wormy, great help as usual," I said sarcastically.
"Well, from her accent, she certainly can't be South American," Remus said, more to himself than to us. "And it sounds like kind of northern Spain, maybe Zaragoza or Barcelona."
"Do these random bits of insight fall from the sky?" James asked, looking up.
"She doesn't have the accent anymore, I was just talking to her." I pointed out, ignoring James.
"Really? I hadn't noticed on the train..." Remus said.
"Yeah, well, she doesn't say much," James said casually.
"But that's just my point!" I said, jumping a little to move my position on the bed. "She doesn't say anything! Why not?"
"Well, she's just shy. You can't actually demand that she be comfortable around you, Sirius," Peter said, in a rare moment of insight.
"Peter's right," Remus said, James scoffed. "She is who she is."
"I want to know more about her."
"Why so interested in her all the sudden?" James asked, picking up his letter again, losing interest.
"I don't really know..."