Author's Note: Well, here is my first attempt at a Harry Potter fic! I recently re-read the entire series and this idea just wouldn't leave me alone! Obviously some things won't coincide exactly with the book, especially with the introduction of OC's, but hopefully everything will flow well! The title is currently a 'working title', so if anyone thinks of something that would be better, I'm definitely open to suggestions! Enjoy!

Best,

Dragonwing

Ch.1 – The New Gryffindor

The start of fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry began in the typical way for James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, also known amongst themselves as the Marauders. First years were sorted into their respective Houses, class work was piled onto them in preparation for their O.W.L. exams, Lily Evans was still turning down James' advances, and some excellent pranks had already been thought up and executed on certain members of Slytherin House. In fact, fifth year was promising to be much like the previous four years had been for the four friends, and they had made it well into the first couple of months of the term without accruing too many detentions between them.

It was during the first week of October that a big change came their way, one that would make Hogwarts infinitely more interesting than it already was.

"Hey, Moony, you finished that essay for History of Magic yet?" James asked Remus as they were eating dinner that Friday evening in the Great Hall. The enchanted ceiling showed the final reds and purples of the setting sun giving way to a clear and starry sky.

"Yes I have," Remus answered without looking up from the book he had propped on a jug of pumpkin juice. "And no, you can't copy it."

"Aw, come on Moony!" James tossed a dinner roll at him, it connected solidly at the werewolf's chest and slid into his lap. Remus calmly put the hunk of bread next to his plate and was about to tell James exactly why he couldn't copy his essay, when Dumbledore stood up from the staff table and raised his hands for silence.

Once the students' talk had died down he smiled and addressed them. "While it is not my usual custom to make announcements in the middle of dinner, I have just received some news that simply cannot wait. I would like to announce that we have a new student who will be joining us here at Hogwarts." Several students exchanged looks and whispers, curious about who could possibly be starting school two months into the term. The headmaster went on,

"It is indeed unusual in the wizarding world for a student to change schools halfway through their education, let alone transfer to a school in a completely different country. In fact this will be a first for this school. We have made an exception in this case, however, and I am sure our new student's future House-mates will kindly receive her into our Hogwarts family. That being said, I would like all of you to give a warm welcome to our new transfer student. Coming from the Salem School of Witchcraft in the United States of America, and joining our 5th years as they prepare to take their O.W.L. exams, I would like to introduce Miss Adrianna Fawley!" Dumbledore gestured towards the doors to the Great Hall, which opened of their own accord to admit Hogwarts' first ever transfer student.

There was an audible gasp from the students sitting nearest to the large doors, and Adrianna hadn't made it halfway across the room before all of the male students, and many of the female students, were on their feet trying to see her. A couple of first year boys at the Ravenclaw table attempted to stand on their seats for a better view and promptly fell off onto the floor.

"What's going on?" Peter asked, trying in vain to see over the heads of the taller 5th years. "What is it?"

"Bloody hell…" James muttered, gripping Sirius' shoulder and craning his head for a better view. "You ever seen anything like that, Padfoot?"

"No…" Sirius shook his head, not even noticing the fingers digging into his flesh. "You, Moony?"

Remus did not respond, he was working too hard to slow his breathing down. Something about this person was decidedly different and it made him nervous, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"For Merlin's sake!" Peter grumbled, becoming frustrated at not being able to see. "What's all the fuss about…Oh!" The smaller boy's complaint was cut off as the girl finally made her way up the steps to where Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were waiting with the recently produced Sorting Hat.

Adrianna Fawley was the most beautiful creature any of the students present could ever remember seeing. Hair the color of obsidian fell down to the small of her back in soft waves and framed a heart shaped face with strong cheekbones and full, blood red lips. While her skin was creamy and smooth, two faint patches of color touched her cheekbones, giving her the look of someone who spent a good deal of time being active. Long, dark lashes framed intelligent, coal grey eyes, and her finely arched brows were the same shade as her hair. Adrianna shook hands with a smiling Dumbledore and a slightly shocked looking Professor McGonagall. The Transfiguration professor regained her composure and gestured sharply for the rest of the students to sit back down. She then brought forward the Sorting Hat on its three legged stool and placed it in front of Adrianna. Before the girl could take a seat, however, Professor Dumbledore stopped her and whispered a question into her ear. Adrianna nodded, though her face did not show any reaction to the Headmaster's request.

Dumbledore faced the students and smiled serenely. "Before we place Miss Fawley into her House, there is one other announcement that I'd forgotten to make." The other staff members looked at the Headmaster curiously, obviously wondering what other surprises were in store for the evening. He continued, "I have been given permission by Miss Fawley, and her parents, to inform everyone that until we are used to having Miss Fawley in our midst, there may be some…unusual occurrences to keep an eye out for. For example, if any of our male students find themselves suddenly, inexplicably, and hopelessly in love with Miss Fawley, and have never even spoken to her, I urge you to see Madam Pomfry at once for a remedy." There was a murmuring throughout the Great Hall as everyone tried to figure out the meaning behind Dumbledore's advice. Adrianna kept her gaze carefully trained on the stool in front of her as the Headmaster chuckled. "You see, everyone, Miss Fawley is a unique individual. She is currently the only child, whom we know of, in existence whose parents are a wizard and a succubus." The Great Hall buzzed with comments whispered between neighbors, even a few of the staff members leaned across to their fellows with looks of disbelief clearly written on their faces. Adrianna never took her eyes off of the stool, but a slight blush bloomed over her cheeks, which only served to make her look even more attractive. Dumbledore acted as if no one else was speaking and finished his little speech. "Having said that, I have been assured by Mr. and Mrs. Fawley that once Adrianna has been here for a few months the effects of her appearance should wear off for the most part. Those who find themselves still having difficulty should, as I said before, see Madam Pomfry and she will be able to assist you. And now without further delay, we shall sort Miss Fawley into her House." He smiled kindly and indicated that she could finally sit down. Adrianna moved gracefully around the stool and sat down, robes settling perfectly around her as Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat over her mass of hair.

The hat remained still and silent for a moment, several of those watching wondered if it would even sort a student who was not a first year, but then the wide seam that served as the hat's mouth opened as it exclaimed: "Why, what's this? An older student, is it?" Adrianna closed her eyes as the hat fell silent again, apparently searching through her head to see which House would be best for her. Finally, after several tense minutes, the hat spoke again. "A very difficult decision, yes…But in the end it had better be…GRYFFINDOR!"

The noise that erupted from the Gryffindor House table was deafening, the boys of Gryffindor House were particularly vocal while a few of their female counterparts shot them nasty looks and tugged them back into their seats. Professor Dumbledore returned the Sorting Hat to Professor McGonagall and clasped Adrianna's hand once more before turning to formally introduce her to all of the staff at the table. Meanwhile, talk resumed amongst the students.

"How crazy is this, eh?" James grinned, throwing an arm around Sirius' neck. "And I'm not just saying this, but, does her last name sound familiar to anyone besides me?"

"Fawley?" Peter queried, "I'm not sure…"

"There was a Headmaster Fawley a long time ago," Remus said, having finally gotten control over his erratic breathing. "Maybe she's related to him?"
Sirius shook off James' arm and brought his fist down on the table. "That's it!" The other Marauders looked at him curiously. "The Fawleys are one of the oldest pureblood wizard families left. I remember my father talking about them," He made a face at the memory. "He was saying that they're one of the only pureblood families that our family hasn't managed to marry into."

James laughed, "Well, here's your chance to fix that, eh Padfoot?" Sirius blushed and punched James in the arm.

"Wait," Peter still looked puzzled. "I thought Dumbledore said she was from America?"

Remus shrugged and picked up the book he'd abandoned during the headmaster's announcements. "Well, maybe one of the Fawleys moved there a while back and met her…uh…mother there."

"Could be," James mused, taking a healthy bite of mashed potatoes. "We'll just have to ask her won't we?"

Before any of the others could answer, Professor McGonagall approached and cleared her throat. "If I could see Miss Evans and Mr. Lupin for a moment? As prefects and fellow fifth years, Professor Dumbledore feels you two will be the best candidates to show Miss Fawley around and help her become acclimated to Hogwarts." Several seats away, Lily stood up immediately and made her way to their Head of House. Remus closed his book reluctantly and fought the urge to begin hyperventilating again as he stood up slowly from the table.

"Nice one, Moony!" James whispered and winked at the werewolf. "You can get her to come and sit with us, yeah?"

Remus opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, unable to answer, until Professor McGonagall gave his arm a tug and he was forced to follow her and Lily up to the staff table where Adrianna was waiting with Dumbledore.

The Gryffindor prefects were introduced to Adrianna by Professor Dumbledore, "I'm sure you will be in excellent hands with these two!" and with a friendly smile he led Professor McGonagall back to the staff table, leaving the three teens standing by themselves.

"It's nice to meet you, Adrianna. I'm Lily Evans." Lily smiled and shook the other girl's hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you too." Adrianna's voice was smooth, almost musical. She turned to the other prefect and extended her hand.

It took a poke in the back from Lily to get Remus to greet her. "R-Remus Lupin." He stuttered, taking her hand and gasping slightly at how warm her palm was against his own. His werewolf sense of smell picked up a distinct scent coming off of the young woman, it wasn't unpleasant but at the same time he couldn't identify it.

Adrianna tipped her head to the side and looked at Remus curiously for a moment before smiling and letting go of his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Remus." She looked at both of them in turn. "I really do appreciate you showing me the ropes around here."

"No problem!" Lilly gestured towards the Gryffindor table, where most of the occupants were still staring avidly at the new student. "Let's sit down, shall we? You should have time to get something to eat before the dessert comes out."

"Oh, it's alright." Adrianna said as the three of them walked to the table. "I probably won't have anything tonight. I don't really need to eat very much."
"You don't?" Remus asked curiously.

"No," The dark haired girl laughed softly, the sound hit Remus' ears like little bells. "You see, succubi don't need to eat unless they want to, and since I'm half succubus I only need to eat very little. Unless I just feel like eating more, that is."

"Fascinating…" Remus murmured as they reached the section of the table where his friends were sitting.

As usual, James was trying his best to chat up Lily. "Come on, Evans! You're showing our new classmate around with Remus, why not sit with us?"

"I don't know…" Lily huffed, she looked at Adrianna. "Is here ok with you?"

The other girl nodded, her hair flowing forward slightly and then settling perfectly back into place. "Sure, this is fine. Hi, I'm Adrianna." She was quickly introduced to James, Sirius, and Peter across the table before taking a seat in between Lily and Remus.

"You've certainly caused quite a stir around here," James grinned as the food on the table vanished and was replaced with the night's dessert. "Bloody brilliant if you ask me! Even some of the teachers look a little dumbstruck!"

"Yeah, I don't think Professor Dumbledore told them I was transferring here." Adrianna glanced back at the staff table, and noticed that one professor in particular was keeping a sharp eye on the Gryffindor table. She turned back to the others and inclined her head back at the staff table, "Why is that one still staring so hard though?"

Sirius followed her direction and snorted. "That's Professor Slughorn, the potions master. He's a bit of a…student collector."

"Student collector?" Adrianna asked, raising a finely arched brow. "How so?"

"He likes to surround himself with students that he thinks are special, talented." James smirked. "He thinks Evans here is a regular potions prodigy."

Lily sniffed and refused to look back at the still watching Slughorn. "Yes, he thinks I'm 'special', for a Muggle-born anyway." She made a face and flipped her red hair over her shoulder in annoyance.

Adrianna looked up sharply at Lily. "What would that have to do with anything?"

"You're kidding, right?" Sirius asked, looked at her through a lock of his long hair. "There are still plenty of witches and wizards around who think that being 'pureblood' is the most important thing in the world." He stabbed his treacle tart with a fork and muttered darkly. "My parents included."

"Yeah, well your parents are nutters either way." James said brightly, and then he turned back to Adrianna. "But, yeah, that way of thinking is pretty common."

"Hmm…" She took a sip of pumpkin juice. Sirius tried and failed to not stare at her slender throat as she did so. "It's not like that so much anymore in the States, I think that's why my father moved there."

"So you are related to the Britain Fawleys?" Remus asked, "Did you know one of your ancestors was a headmaster here?"

Adrianna smiled at the sandy haired Marauder. "Yes, I did. I was hoping to see his portrait sometime and have a chat. If he'll talk to me that is." She looked down quickly, "Some of my father's relatives haven't been too happy to meet me, but the rest have been nice enough."

"They're upset that you're not a pureblood?" Lily asked, frowning.

"Not exactly," Adrianna sighed, her red lips twisted ruefully. "I think they're more upset about the fact that I'm not purely human."

Remus gulped and shuddered next to her, but she didn't seem to notice. The conversation steered towards more pleasant topics, though all Peter managed to do was stare at the newest Gryffindor with his mouth hanging slightly open. Eventually the remaining food disappeared from the tables, Dumbledore bid them all goodnight, and the students began making their way out of the Great Hall back towards their dormitories.

The task of getting Adrianna out of the Great Hall and into Gryffindor tower turned out to be a much more difficult feat than they'd originally thought. Both Lily and Remus had to stick with the intriguing new arrival as student after student, mostly boys, stopped them so that they could introduce themselves to Adrianna. A second year Hufflepuff boy even went so far as to ask for the girl's hand in marriage before they'd even made it to the staircase. But Adrianna took it all in stride, greeting people as quickly and politely as she could before moving on with the Gryffindor prefects. She even courteously thanked the second year for his offer, but declined and suggested he go see Madam Pomfry before going to bed. The other three Marauders eventually took it upon themselves to create a sort of buffer around the two girls and Remus, fielding off approaching students and, in one particular case, James cast a particularly effective hex on a fourth year Slytherin who didn't seem to want to take Sirius's polite "Back off, you git!" for an answer.

After finally making it to the entrance to the common room, they then had to deal with the portrait of the fat lady 'oooh-ing' and 'ahh-ing' over Gryffindor's newest addition. James, after saying the password five times, finally shouted "Codswallop, dammit! Codswallop!" and the portrait swung open with a bang. Lily and Adrianna sank gratefully onto a loveseat by the fireplace while the boys took up the chairs immediately around them. They still had to field off a few more interested students, but Adrianna seemed more tolerant of people from her new house compared to some of the others who'd tried to stop her progress to the common room.

"You have so much patience!" Lily exclaimed after the last starry-eyed first year had stumbled away. "I wouldn't be able to stand that kind of attention!"

"I'm used to it for the most part," Adrianna sighed, tilting her had back against the couch. "It will all calm down once people get used to seeing me around, just like Dumbledore said."

"Still, it's got to be annoying." James stretched. "What do you do when you go out in public?"

Her red lips twisted again. "Well, in the wizarding world I usually don't do anything. People are going to know I'm different either way. But if I'm going to be around Muggles I have a potion I can take a spoonful of and it will…as my father puts it…'dim my light' a little bit. Enough to where I can walk around without drawing too much attention."

"Do you spend much time around Muggles?" Lily asked with interest.

Adrianna looked at her curiously. "Of course, in America I did anyway. It's such a big country, and we're all so spread out, that we really can't help it. Even children born in all-wizard families go to Muggle schools until after grade five," She grinned at the shocked expressions she received. "In fact, one of my best friends that I grew up with is a Muggle."

"That's great!" Lily sighed wistfully. "I wish the wizarding community was more tolerant around here…"

"It just takes time," Adrianna said reassuringly, putting a hand on her new friend's arm.

Lily nodded and stood up, "Well, I don't know about you Adrianna, but I'm exhausted! I may even wait until tomorrow to finish up some work, since its Saturday."
"Evans is putting off homework?" James gasped dramatically and threw a hand across his forehead. "I think I may faint!" He laughed and pulled Peter up. "Let's go, lads, and let our new Gryffindor get some rest!"

Sirius rose slowly and seemed to want to say something to Adrianna, who had stood as well with Lily, but couldn't seem to get anything out. Instead he managed a quick "g'night" and reluctantly headed for the stairs after Peter and James. Remus was the last to get up, having taken the time to finish reading a page he'd been on. He smiled brightly, "Well, goodnight then!"

Adrianna stopped him with a light touch on his forearm and turned back to the red haired girl waiting on the stairs, "I'll be right up, Lily, I just need to ask Remus something."

"Alright!" Lily waved to Remus and vanished up the stairwell.

"W-what is it?" Remus asked nervously. The hand that she still had on his arm felt like it was burning through his robe sleeve.

Adrianna turned back to him and smiled softly, "There's something I need to ask you, Remus. I was going to wait, but I think now it would be better to go ahead and get it out of the way."

"Really?" His voiced cracked slightly and he winced. "What's that?" Remus fiddled with the bookmark sticking out of the thick tomb he'd been reading, trying to avoid her steady grey gaze.

"Do your friends know that you're a werewolf, Remus?" Adrianna asked evenly. "Or do you keep it to yourself?"
The book in Remus' hands hit the floor with a dull thud. His eyes widened and he did another excellent impersonation of a goldfish trying to breathe air. "I…I…that is…um…" Remus looked frantically around the empty room before whispering. "How did you know?"

She chuckled, shook her head, and bent down to retrieve the fallen book. "You should read up on succubi, I think." He took the book back dumbly as she continued. "Full-blooded succubi can immediately tell if someone is…different from the average human. It's a useful ability, and, it happens to be one I've inherited." She placed another warm hand on his arm, trying to comfort the still gobsmacked lycanthrope. "I could tell the minute I met you, it showed up as a kind of aura when I shook your hand. Plus," Adrianna giggled and tapped the side of her nose. "You also smell like a werewolf, no offense."

She waited patiently while Remus managed to find his voice again. "That's…I've never heard of anyone being able to do that!" He looked around nervously again. "Anyway…yes…James, Sirius, and Peter know about it…they're the ones that help me when I have to…transform. But no one else knows! Please, please don't say anything!"

"Of course not," Adrianna became very serious. "I would never do that to you, Remus, I promise. I just wanted to let you know that I knew about it, and that I'm here for you if you need me."

"You are?" Remus asked, surprised. "Why?"

She gave him another rueful smile, "Well, I know what it's like to be…different from everyone else. I also know what it's like to have people discriminate against me, or even hate me, because of what I am."
"Who would ever hate you?" He said softly, clutching his book with a knuckle-whitening grip.

"You'll notice soon, if you haven't already, that most women don't exactly like me right off." Adrianna sighed. "It's natural though, a defense mechanism, they realize that men are going to initially pursue me regardless of whether they're committed already or not, and it can make them pretty…hostile. Lily is a rare exception to that, I could tell when I met her that she didn't find me threatening, and it's such a relief…"

Remus looked up at her when she trailed off. She was staring into the dying fire, a flash of something like pain or regret briefly crossing her beautiful face. After a moment she seemed to sense that the conversation had lagged and she looked at him again.

"Either way, I just figured that people like us could stick together." Adrianna smiled warmly, "It's not every day that I meet someone else who is, to use Professor Dumbledore's word, unique." She put out a hand for him to take again. "Friends?"
He put out a shaky hand into hers and immediately felt a soothing warmth spread through his palm and up his arm. Remus smiled back at her, "Yes, friends."

"Good." Adrianna patted his arm once more. "Goodnight Remus, see you tomorrow." She turned in a whirl of robes, long hair, and that particular scent that he still couldn't identify.

By the time he recovered some from the shock of having his secret discussed so openly and understandingly, she had already disappeared up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

Remus grinned stupidly and spoke into the empty common room. "Goodnight Adrianna. Welcome to Hogwarts."