First story time posting a story in a looong time. Hope it's not too terribly short, I always have trouble with length. Anyways, this is the beginning of a major AU Sirius/OC story. There will be canon elements, but a lot of things are gonna be changed up. The first six chapters will be a snap shot of our character's first year six years at Hogwarts. After that, the story will take place from seventh year and go past graduation. As always, I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own all the OCs you encounter.

"Ruby Winifred, watch where you are going!" A harsh voice cut through the crowd, causing heads to turn towards Orla Zeller. Although short and otherwise very kind looking, the fierce glare on her face, made the children promptly turn back to their own parents. It was unfortunate for Mrs. Zeller though that her own children continued to ignore her, completely unconcerned about their mother's wrath. The only one out of the five that was behaving was Naomi, the youngest, blondest and always best mannered. Luckily for Orla, Zane had come down with a nasty cold and had stayed home with a sitter, rather than see his siblings off. He was a sweet boy, but he loved to rough house with his older siblings. A little over a year separated Zane from the twins.

Meanwhile Jude, the oldest at 15, who had already kissed his mothers cheek, and hugged his father good bye, was no doubt causing a ruckus on the train itself. Twins, Amery and Ruby however, were giddy about their first year at Hogwarts and were running circles on the platform. While Amery wasn't much bigger than his sister (although he maintained that he was 2 inches taller, thank you very much. Being the older brother by a whole 3 minutes meant a lot to him), he was much darker featured than his twin. Dark hair that fell into his eyes because he escaped his mother's wand when she tried to give him a pre-Hogwarts hair cut (with the help of Ruby of course).

Unlike his sisters who both favored their light colored mother, Amery Felix Zeller looked like his father's miniature. With his long dark hair, to dark brown eyes, and olive-tinted skin tone, he made quite the picture next to his sisters. While Naomi with her fair hair looked considerably more like Mrs. Zeller, Ruby took on a little more mousy appearance. Her hair was not quite as brilliant as her younger sisters, definitely more of a dish water blonde than anything.

The only thing that gave her complexion any kind of color was the dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks, which sometimes spread to her shoulders in the summer. While Amery's eyes were a dark chocolate brown, Ruby's hovered between brown and green. Although he loved his sister very much, Amery loved to pick fun at the gap between Ruby's two front teeth which usually resulted in a wrestling match between the two.

Judging by the harsh look on her mum's face, Ruby thought it was high time that her and Amery saved their trouble making for Hogwarts when they weren't being supervised by the woman who they were convinced had eyes on the back of her head. "Come on, mum's head is about to explode." She tugged on the sleeve of her brother's shirt, who promptly stopped trying to use her as a step stool. Amery scoffed but solemnly made his way back to his mother and father, Ruby's little hand tucked between his skinny arm.

Luckily for the twins, their father who was a Muggle was far too interested in the magic around him to really tear into his children for misbehaving. "You two better behave yourselves. Don't think that just because I'm not around doesn't mean you can run wild at school." Mrs. Zeller said with a sharp tone, eying the twins. With her luck, her kids would be the first to receive a detention on their very first day. She didn't even want to think about the kind of mischief those two would get into. Betraying the hard tone and glint in her eye, Mrs. Zeller bent over and fussed over both children's hair and the state of dirt of their faces before giving up on the loss cause. "Promise me that you won't get into trouble, please?" There was a certain hint of pleading in her voice that caused Ruby and Amery to look at each other with near identical grins.

"Of course mum!" They answered in unison, before Amery delivered a sharp elbow to his sister's ribs.

"I'll make sure Roo is on her best behavior. No worries, ma." Amery said with an easy smile, hugging both his parents again.

"Yeah, and I'll make sure no one drowns Amery in the Lake for being a giant git." Ruby retorted, sending a glare her brother's way. She held on a little tighter to her father, knowing how lonely and boring it would be at home for him with just little Naomi and boring Zane to keep an eye on. Although he shouldn't be, Colin Zeller was always fascinated with his children's magic, even though it was technically underage. He got a real kick out of the time that in a fit of rage, Ruby had caused Jude's head to swell three times its size before his mother could get a hold of him. Kissing her mother's cheek one last time, and ruffling Naomi's blonde hair, Ruby took her brother's arm again (all earlier pointy elbows forgotten) and dragged him to train. Luckily their dad had already helped moved their trunks aboard so there was no awkward, heavy lifting. They drifted past compartments with older kids in them, although they did stop briefly at Jude's to press their faces against the glass before scurrying away. It wasn't until they got nearly towards the end of the train that they found a compartment empty enough to house them.

A skinny red headed girl with the greenest eyes Ruby had ever seen, burst out from the glass door, pulling an even skinnier, hooked nosed boy with her, huffing about idiot boys, caused the twins to peek their own noses in the compartment which she left. Ruby wanted to call out to the girl and warn her that there weren't any other open places but she was gone as fast as she appeared. Amery was already inching his way through the door anyways, Ruby's hand trapped under his armpit.

"Can we sit here?" It was unusual politeness from her brother but Ruby assumed he wanted to make new friends. Especially given their company, something about them (Ruby thought it was the boy with glasses) made it feel like they wanted to be friends with them.

"Even though you chased off your previous guests," Ruby muttered under her breath, and without waiting for a reply, threw herself unceremoniously into the nearest empty seat.

"Roo!" Amery hissed at her, aiming a kick to her shin before following suit. "I'm Amery Zeller and this is my little sister Ruby."

"I'm not your little sister, you big headed prat. He's only three minutes older than me." Her tone was matter of fact as she stared down every boy around her. She didn't want anyone referring her to as someone's little sister. She was her own person, damnit!

The boy with untidy hair and glasses stifled a laugh behind his hand before offering it to her. Ruby shot her brother a self satisfied smirk before reaching out and shaking his hand firmly. "Ruby Zeller, nice to meet you. You can call me Roo."

"James Potter." Ruby took his hand, watching as he extended to her brother after. James opened his mouth again; no doubt to introduce his companion but the other boy beat him to the chase.

"Sirius Black," He said with a smirk, reaching across James to take Ruby's hand. She hoped a blush didn't creep up into her cheeks. He was rather cute, with his sleek black hair that he so casually shook out of his grey eyes. Ruby couldn't help but think he'd make a pretty girl. She bit down on her tongue to keep her from laughing out loud, the thought of Sirius with blush and lipstick dancing in her mind. In a swift movement, Sirius brought Ruby's hands to his lips. It was rather sophisticated for an eleven year old boy, Ruby thought before balling up her fist and punching him in the forehead.

"Hands off, Black!" Roo hissed, hurriedly rubbing her knuckles against the fabric of her jeans. Just because he had the whole dream boat thing down pact, Ruby was not interested in boys, thank you very much. To her surprise, Sirius just laughed and turned Amery's way and shook his hand. He offered no explanation, but rubbed his head where Ruby's little fist had made contact.

"You hit pretty hard for a girl." He offered up after a minute, after James loud laughter died down.

"You have a pretty soft head for a boy." Ruby scoffed. "Girls can hit just as good as boys. I have three brothers, and I can pummel Zane." She said in a way that left no room for any other comments. Although he didn't say anything, Amery rolled his eyes heavily at the other boys and aimed an elbow into Ruby's side. With a fierce glare at her brother, Ruby pulled her arm back and socked Amery as hard as she could in the arm.

"Anyways, what did Messrs. Potter and Black do that caused that girl and her friend to sprint out of here?" She continued with a pointed looked in her twin's direction. She didn't like that gleam in his eye, it meant he'd try to get her back later.

If they were fazed by their behavior, James and Sirius didn't show it. Instead they both laughed loudly. James had an obnoxious, but infectious laugh that caused Roo's face to break out in a grin. Sirius had a deep bark like laughter which for some reason, Ruby thought suited him.

"Messr. Black? Hmm, I think I like that. My dear ol' mum would be pleased if I started making people address me like that. What say you Messr. Potter?"

"I think it fits me quite nicely. Not nearly as pompous as Lord Potter, although that is fitting as well." James answered. "But let's say just her slimy companion thought it'd be best to be in Slytherin." There was an air of great distaste in James' voice.

Growing up in a mostly Muggle home, in a Muggle community, the Zeller twins didn't know quite enough about the Hogwart's houses to form a proper opinion. Their older brother Jude was in Hufflepuff, and Ruby remembered how proud her mum (and dad once it got explained to him) were of him. So she knew that's were all the loyal, hard working types ended up. Despite loving to goof off, Ruby thought that sounded like the best place for her brother. The only real thing that Roo and Amery knew about Slytherin was that Jude got in a fight with a 'nasty boy' from that house last year, at least according to their mum.

If nothing else, Ruby was fiercely loyal and there so hated Slytherins on principle. Given that Orla was a Ravenclaw alumni, Ruby deducted that's where all the smart people ended up. Despite being overbearing and having eyes on the back of her head, Roo knew her mother was a brilliant witch. She couldn't really see herself in her mum's old house though. She figured that she might end up in Hufflepuff with Jude, which was fine by her. She just hoped that Amery would be with her.

Secretly though, Ruby hoped for Gryffindor. She merely shrugged her shoulders when her parents, and siblings asked what house she wanted and tried to play it cool. She didn't know much about Gryffindors, just that they were brave (and Ruby fancied herself brave) and red was her favorite color. Silver was so not.

Before she could comment on the qualities of each house (like Amery was prattling on about Hufflepuff), the glass door to their compartment slid open again. In the door way stood a tall, sort of peaky looking boy.

"Mind if I kip in here for a bit? Someone dropped a dungbomb in my compartment." He seemed a bit out breath as he talked, like he had run very hard and fast away from the offensive smells.

"Sure thing mate, have a seat! The more the merrier!" James said with a bright grin, gesturing to the open spot next to Amery. "I'm James Potter, Sirius Black and twins Amery, and Rub-"James pointed to each person as he introduced them, faltering a bit at the look on Ruby's face. "Or rather, Roo Zeller."

"Remus Lupin thanks again." He answered, brushing his hair off of his forehead with a sheepish grin

"Right, now that all the niceties are aside. Who's up for some exploding snap?"

Jude had told them all about Hogwarts, but the mental image he painted was nothing like Ruby was actually seeing. She couldn't even dream of a place as wonderful as Hogwarts. It had been amazing on the outside, even if she was crammed next to Amery, the red headed girl from earlier and her admittedly greasy looking friend. She couldn't help but wonder what the rest of the castle if this was just the Great Hall.

Ruby was too distracted looking for Jude's head of blonde hair to catch the song the Hat was singing. Unlike the other eleven year olds around her, she wasn't surprised when the Hat started to sing. Jude had a big mouth and blabbed on for weeks about sorting on his first summer home. She finally caught her brother's eye who offered her a short wave before pointing back up to the front of the hall.

Knowing that she and Amery would be the lasts to be sorted, Ruby let her mind wander a bit. It wasn't until she realized it was Sirius' face disappearing under the hat that her attention snapped back. For the most part, it didn't seem like it took too long to sort a person. Some people the Hat barely dropped down on their heads before it shouted out their house. For Sirius though, it seemed like it was taking ages. She could imagine it felt even longer for Sirius. Finally, the brim torn open and yelled out Gryffindor.

Immediately there was whispering as Sirius triumphantly made his way to the Gryffindor table. The Slytherins booed and hissed pretty loudly but it made no difference in all the cheers and yelps from the Gryffindors. Ruby shot Sirius a thumbs up once she caught his eye, unable to stop grinning for her new friend. It seemed like Gryffindor was where he wanted to go.

Again, Ruby tuned out the sorting until another familiar face climbed up the stool. It was the red headed girl from the boat, Lily Evans. It didn't take long for the Hat to give Gryffindor another new student. She swore she saw Lily turn back to that hooked nose boy with a sad smile before taking her seat, carefully ignoring Sirius.

Ruby watched Remus get sorted into Gryffindor as well, taking the empty seat that Lily left open. More than ever, Ruby hoped for Gryffindor. After Remus, two twin girls were sorted, both into different houses, Mary Macdonald into Gryffindor and her sister into Ravenclaw. Her heart clenched at the sight, knowing how hard it would be for her to be away from Amery. Annoying prat he may be, but Ruby loved him like he was another part of her soul.

Two more students were sent to Hufflepuff, another to Slytherin before a watery eyed boy stepped up the stool. Although she didn't know him, she thought he was a shoe in for Hufflepuff but she was surprised to see him go to Gryffindor as well. Remus kindly made a spot for him. James was up next and without a concern; Ruby knew where he would go. Sirius roared particularly loud, throwing an arm around his friend's shoulders before he sat down.

Lily's slimy friend eventually made his way to the front, the Hat barely taking a second to declare him a Slytherin. He looked very proud of himself, but knew by the cautious look back to the Gryffindors that he wished he had gone with his friend. Finally after what felt like days, Amery Zeller moved to the stool. It took a few moments, but like their train companions, he too, went to Gryffindor.

Sweating more than she originally thought she could, Ruby took her brother's place, and stuffed the Hat on top of her head.

"Ah, more twins, always interesting." A lofty sort of voice filled her eyes. Ruby couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Forgive me, I don't mean to make you out to be a novelty. Let's have a look see then." Merlin, it really felt like she would be up here forever. "Impatient little thing, aren't you? Hufflepuff would suit you well, you'd be hard pressed to find another as loyal as yourself."

"No, no, no." Ruby begged. She wouldn't have minded Hufflepuff other wise, but Amery was in Gryffindor, and so were all her friends. She wanted to be with them.

"Hmm, Gryffindor? I think that would work. Yes, I see now. Better be, GRYFFINDOR!"

If it wouldn't look utterly ridiculous, Ruby would have run to the Gryffindor table. Instead, she forced herself to walk, but unable to keep a grin from splitting her face in two. Her cheeks would hurt later from all the smiling, but she couldn't help it.

"Roo!" Amery shouted and in a rare display of twin-ly affection, her brother threw his arms around her and hugged her tight. She knew that was his way of telling her that he was scared they'd be separated too. After releasing her brother (although she did take a few more seconds of hugging knowing they'd be back to normal once he let go), Ruby used her hip to push James further down.

"Budge over Potter, I'm starving!"

After stuffing her face with every food she could reach (especially the mashed potatoes), Ruby was feeling quite full and tired. The nerves, combined with the thought of being away from Amery had taken their toll on her and she was very ready to sleep. Vaguely she heard Dumbledore say something about the Forbidden Forest being off limits, and some or other about some caretaker. She let her head droop and fall onto Amery's shoulder, effectively tuning out the rest of the speech as her eyes starting to close.

"C'mon Roo, we're supposed to go up to the common room." Amery shook his sister, who startled quite easily.

"Yeah, move it Roo or we'll be the last ones up there." James nudged her in the shoulder before scurrying off to catch up with Sirius who was anxiously following the prefect out of the hall.

"Well, we certainly can't be last can we?" Ruby turned to Amery with a grin, all hints of sleepiness gone. Without a second glance at each other, the twins took off, darting between people, and shoving past James and the watery eyed boy Ruby had come to know as Peter.

"Move it James or you'll be the last one up!" Ruby taunted over her shoulder. Laughing at the look on James' face, Ruby hardly noticed that she was about to collide with a very tall, and lanky prefect.

"Oi! Watch it!" The prefect turned around, and fixed Ruby with a look of confusion. "You don't even have the password yet!" He extended a freckled hand to her. "It's your first night, you might want to save bothering prefects for the first real day, eh?" Gideon Prewett fixed her with a good natured smile and helped Ruby up.

"Thanks." She mumbled sheepishly, brushing the dirt off her back side before falling back a little. How embarrassing.

"Good one Roo. You got in trouble before we even hit the common room!" Sirius said with a grin, slinging his arms across her shoulders.

"I hardly call that getting in trouble," Ruby answered with as much dignity as she could muster. She ignored Sirius' bark laugh and shook her arm off of her shoulder. "Bugger off Sirius or you'll be the first person I try a hex on!" Although she fixed him with a glare, Sirius could tell it was still in good fun. Plus, there's no way she could out hex him, anyways.

"And you'd deserve it too!" A soft voice cut through their conversation, as all their heads turned back to Lily Evans. She had her arms folded over her chest, eying him and James with a look of contempt.

"Because we asked you, right?" Sirius puffed up a little, a cruel sort of smirk on his face.

"Shove off Sirius; she's probably mad you picked on her friend." Ruby rolled her eyes and shoved Sirius and company ahead of her. "Hurry along boys, there's only so much shower time and you all desperately need it." She waved them along, including Amery. "You should just ignore him; he and James think they are a riot." Ruby shrugged, falling back to walk besides Lily. Although she got along with Sirius, and James, she could see how other's might not.

"I'm Ruby, but you can call me Roo, since we'll be dorm mates and all."

"Lily Evans," The red headed girl replied with a bit of a sniff. "They made fun of my friend Severus, it was rather rude." Lily made no effort to mask the glare she aimed at the back of James' head. "I'm sorry, I'm being a bit of a brat aren't I? They are your friends, I shouldn't be so harsh. It's nice to meet you Roo."

"No worries. They do act like gits sometimes, but they are generally nice." Ruby said with a shrug before turning the corner.

"Who are the other boys with them?" Lily asked, as if sizing up all five boys.

"Well, the taller one is Remus. He's quiet, and very polite. The short one up there is Peter, I just met him at dinner. He seems alright. And the other one is my brother Amery. He's a total prat. Feel free to jinx him from here down to the Great Hall. He'd likely deserve it." Ruby answered, grinning.

"Oh, you're twins then?" Apparently, Lily did not seem adverse to the idea of jinxing one's siblings.

"Yep. He likes to tell everyone he's my older brother, but it's only by three minutes so it hardly counts." She rolled her eyes. "My ACTUAL big brother is in Hufflepuff, he's a fifth year."

"So you've always known that you were a witch then?"

"Well, yeah. My mum is a witch, the first in our family. My mam almost died when Dumbledore showed up on their doorstep. She was in Ravenclaw. But dad, he's a muggle. Didn't know a thing about magic until he met my mum. She helped sew his sister's wedding dress and then they got married. Mum told him about her being a witch and all before that though. He was pretty surprised, but I suspect most muggles are. He loves all the magic though, always wants my mum to do spells and stuff for him. What about you?"

"No one in my family is a witch," Lily said with a hint of sadness. "Severus told me, he saw me do magic, so I've known for a while." She shrugged.

"Well, no one in my family was magical until my mum, nothing to be ashamed of." Ruby said, looping her arm through Lily's. "We live all around muggles, so we can't even really do magic anyways. It's a real drag."

The red headed girl laughed, it was a delicate sound, much softer and pleasant than the throaty chuckles of the boys she had spent the last few hours with. Arm in arm, Lily and Ruby pushed through the portrait door into the common room.

"Wow, it's brilliant!" Ruby exclaimed loudly, eying a particularly comfy looking chair near the fire. She dropped her friend's arm, and turned around to look at the common room. She saw her brother wave her over excitedly from the boy's dorms doorway. "Be right back, gotta say good night to Amery." Ruby excused herself from Lily quickly and bounded over to her brother.

"It looks even better than Hufflepuff's common room sounds!"

"Tell me about it, I can't wait to snag one of those chairs." Ruby agreed. "And you ought to be nice to Lily, Sirius. She's quite nice." She added, raising an eyebrow in his direction. Sirius just rolled his eyes, and grabbed James and Remus by the arm and dragged up them the stairs, Peter following close behind. "Good night!" She called up after them, satisfied by the various grunts they answered her with.

"Do try and make some girlfriends Roo," Amery said in a serious tone before smirking at his sister.

"Right, do try and not to wet the bed in front of our new mates." Ruby scoffed before pulling him into a hug and running off to the girl's dorm. Lily had already made her way up, and was pulling back the covers to her bed when Roo bounded her way in. She spotted Mary, the girl who got separated from her twin sister, lying in bed. Another girl with long dark blonde, who Ruby didn't remember seeing get sorted, sat in the bed across of Lily, with a very dreamy expression on her face. Ruby attempted to catch her eye, but the girl just continued to stare up at the ceiling.

Casting a look at Lily, and with a grin on her face, Ruby Zeller crawled into her own bed. It had been a very long day, and all the earlier adrenaline from racing up the stairs escaped her. She was with her brother, and was already making new friends. It would be a good year indeed.

I really hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter and it wasn't too short/long, whatever. This is completely un-beta'd and I'm not the best with grammar so I apologize for any mistakes. If anyone is interested in beta-ing for me, please PM me! I don't have an eye for that stuff. Please review and tell me what you think!