Tales from the Common Room Fire

Chapter 1: Mother Eagle

"Lisa! Lisa! I've signed it!" The dark-haired Irish girl ran into Ravenclaw tower. Her hand gripped tightly to something on a silver chain, and she had the biggest smile her friends had seen in weeks.

Lisa looked up from her Transfiguration essay, "so it's official? I'm now speaking to Isabel Black, of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black, sister to Theo 'Eagle-Lover' Black, daughter of Lord Sirius Orion Black and Professor Remus John Lupin?"

"Well yes, but can you please just call me, Izzy?"

Lisa smiled at the overwhelmed look on her friend space, "if that's what you want." She looked around the common room, "where is that brother of yours anyway?"

"Theo? Probably in his own common room for once; pining after his god-brother.… The Slytherin one."

Lisa raised her eyebrows, "are you telling me he doesn't fancy the Chosen One?"

Izzy smirked, "Maybe so, but we all know there's no getting Harry Potter away from that Lioness."

Two boys entered the tower, a blonde and redhead, and sat down at a study table with a chair between them. The girls exchanged glances. Lisa said, "here are his boys now. They look so incomplete without your brother."

"He doesn't know how good he's got it." Izzy crossed her arms with a pout. Her expression suddenly lifted, and she waived, "Hi Mandy!"

Lisa lent forward to hiss in her friend's ear, "you'd have it good too if you told her how you feel."

"Not everyone has a fairytale romance like you and Michael. Now shush she'll hear you."

Lisa sighed and turned back to her parchment. She stared at it for a while trying to comprehend her unfinished sentence. A feet that was made twice as hard because she had to pretend not to notice the half flirting beside her. It was obvious to everyone, except Izzy and Mandy, how they felt about each other. The blushes and smiles they shared or enough to make those nearest feel like they'd eaten an entire sugar quill in one setting.

"Hey, MacDougal, Brocklehurst, get a room!"

More people than necessary looked over at Kevin Entwhistle's words. As a Muggle born a person's sexuality was just more important to him then most other people. He'd pitched a fit when Prajna (formerly Padma) Patel requested to move to the boys' dorm. Now Mandy was turned away blushing, and Izzy got to her feet. She pointed to the silver locket on her chest engraved with the Black family crest.

"It's Black now, Entwhistle. If you're going to barge into other peoples business at least get their name right."

"Is that locket supposed to scare me or something? You know I was talking to you."

Mandy grabbed Izzy's hand, "Izzy, just forget about it okay? He's not worth it." Izzy looked down at their clasped hands, and the pleading look in Mandy's blue eyes. With a sigh she dropped back into the chair, but continued to glower at Kevin.

Anthony walked over from his table sizing up the situation. He looked to Lisa for an explanation.

"Kevin's upset because Mandy and Izzy were talking. He called Izzy 'MacDougal' and she told him that it's 'Black' now. Mandy is trying to calm her down. I don't know why he's still standing here though." Lisa tried to be neutral, but she glared at the troublemaker by the end.

Anthony nodded, "Kevin if you have a problem with Mandy and Izzy ask them to stop whatever it is they're doing. If you don't know what that is to tell them then just don't look at them. The common room is big enough for everyone." He finished with a tap of his prefect's badge as he met each of their eyes."I don't want to have to take house points for something this callow."

Lisa smiled in spite of the situation, "Callo? You always sound as though you swallowed a thesaurus Anthony."

He shrugged "it means 'immature'—also point of interest 'unfledged'—it seemed fitting."

At that moment the door to the common room swung open again, and the dark-haired boy strutted through. Slytherin's silver serpent stood out against a backdrop of purple, and the same colors alternated on his tie. The boy swaggered over to the redhead and captured his lips before looking around and spotting Anthony. He walked over to the group and threw his arms around the blonde prefect.

"Why'd you leave Terry all on his own, Anthony?" He looked over the boy's shoulder, "Oh, hey Sis! Locket looks good on you, and so does Mandy." Theo winked. The girls looked down at their hands and let go blushing.

"Theo, I'm trying to be impartial here." Anthony gestured to the disgusted Kevin Entwhistle.

"Sorry Tony, prefect away, I'll be over here with Terry." The Slytherin sauntered back over to claim his seat.

"You know what, forget about it, I'm going to the library! It's the only place around here I can get any peace!" Kevin stomped over to the table where he'd been sitting, stuffed all his study materials into his bag, and rushed out the common room door. It close with a heavy thud behind him.

Anthony sighed, "it's people like him that make Pajna want to give up being a prefect. He's thinking of offering it to you, considering everyone seems to listen to you anyway."He looked at Lisa as he thought aloud. "Then I could give my position to Michael, and things would be a lot easier."

Lisa shook her head, "Flitwick chose you two, he knows that Prajna is here and Padma is long gone, he knows about you, Terry, and Theo. He doesn't care."

"Our classmates aren't always so open minded," Anthony turned and walked back to his boys. Lisa watched Theo greet him with a kiss, and tari reach his hand across to hold Anthony's. Her brows knit together in worry for her friends.

A/N: This is the first one shot that comprises the collection. The stories won't go in order, but we will try to change which common room each time. Sometimes big things will be happening, but others it will just be friends hanging out. We want to give a sense of what day today life is for the students as we see it.

Thank you for your time, and would like to know your thoughts, so please leave a review.

Sullivan and Lane

Disclaimer: The characters and settings of "Harry Potter" are the property of JK rolling. We use her framework to make a world of our own, but we only for entertainment.