A/N: HEY THERE. So, they deleted my story for no reason. I don't understand it. BUTTT, I am back. And am here to bring you amazing stuff. Review and message me and what not.

Marietta looked up wearily at a balcony window on the second floor of the Potter mansion with bright blue eyes. It looked so peaceful in that house, so different from her own home that she had fled from. Near the bars of the little balcony was a vine with a disillusionment charm wearing off from the last time someone had tried to sneak up to the window. It made the eleven-year-old girl smile softly at the family's attempts to keep strange things out of their happy home; strange things that included James getting back in after a night out to see his closest friend.

The Potter's were one of the few pureblood families who did not support Voldemort, or anything he stood for. They stood up for muggle rights, and everything that Dumbledore represented in his years of greatness. From respect of house elves, to being amazing cooks, Mr. and Mrs. Potter were the dream family any little girl would want. Or, in Marietta Peter's case, yearn for.

Ever since her and little James had met at age five on August 9, 1965 at a welcoming party for the neighbor's held by Kenneth and Aubrey Dennis, they had clicked. Marie had just gotten her first toy broom stick and let James ride it first, then James let her on behind them and they rode around, two feet from the ground until he crashed it into a cabinet. When Marietta turned seven, James went to her party laden with a big stuffed bear and some different sweets that his parents had told him to pick out for her. Even though they seemed to be great friends, her parents had a growing dislike for their daughter's new companion. They would host several parties a year, inviting every pureblood family in town. Amongst those would be the Blacks, the LeStranges, the Malfoys, the Thomas's, and to their great dislike the Weasleys and the Potters.

Aubrey would let her daughter wander around with the other children when she was fussy. Marie would find James and a little boy names Sirius Black and play with them, until she turned nine; Sirius had stopped coming to the parties because he would get terribly ill each time one was mentioned.

"You will never talk to that Potter boy again," Kenneth had threatened, locking his little girl in her room after her eighth birthday party. "You will learn to like Bellatrix, and Narcissa; the good little Black children from up the road."

"But I don't want to!" she would whine back. "They don't like me, and they are always mean to me." But they wouldn't listen to her protests, and the more she defied them, the more time she spent in her small bedroom.

James then started to sneak out to see her. They would always talk about what had happened, and what was going on before it would be too late, and James would have to leave his closest friend again. Marietta cried herself to sleep now and then when she wouldn't see him for weeks or months at a time, because he was her escape from her family's pureness.

A small hazel eye peered through glasses and an opening in the curtain, with bits of raven black hair getting in the way. The window opened, revealing a thin looking, eleven year old James Potter, who's smile brought light to the night they were engulfed in.

"Marietta!" he yelped, climbing down that vine as quick as he could. When his bare feet touched the soft grass, he ran towards her and lifted her off the ground in a hug that expressed everything beyond words. Moments seemed like hours as they just stood there and held each other with all the emotions swimming between them.

Finally, James took his arms from her back, and gripped her shoulders. "What are you doing here? I didn't think you would come to see me," he muttered in astonishment. He let her go, and before she could reel back from that hug, he was already holding her rucksack, and climbing the vine. Marie hurried after him with her owl's cage, and took a little bit longer than James to reach the bars. Both of them stood for another couple moments, until James looked down and saw that there was no owl. "Where's Chipsy?"

"I let her fly before I left," she answered, pulling open the window and climbing inside. Once James had gotten in too, and sat next to her on his large bed, she burst into quiet tears. "James, I can't go back home. They said if I ran away I would be disowned-"

"You ran away?" She nodded, and he hugged her tightly again. "You did it, Marie, you stood up to them and left! Mum and Dad will be so proud of you-"

But at the mention of his parents, her face contorted into worry. "Will they let me stay? I don't think I can stay here; it would be too much trouble! This was the only place to turn."

James laced his fingers between hers and looked straight into her dark blue eyes. "We all care about you, Marietta. Nothing anyone can ever do is going to change that, I promise you."

She smiled. Because his friend was smiling, James smiled too.

They both laid down on top of the sheets, and Marie snuggled up to him like her favorite teddy bear. "Good night, James."

Before she drifted off to a dreamless slumber, he said something that would stick with her through her entire life...

"Good night, Marietta Potter..."

"MARIE! MARIE!" The seventeen-year-old girl grumbled in her sleep, but the voice just got more impatient. "Marie, don't you grumble at me! You're the one that fell asleep in the living room again."

"Shuddup, Siri," she slurred, talking to one of the couch cushions.

"You're no fun when you're asleep," he pouted back, before tackling her and pinning her to the couch. Reluctantly, she turned over under Sirius Black's muscular chest with eyes a hazy red color.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I want you to get up and pack for the train in-" He looked at the large clock above the fire place. "-ten minutes or we will be late."

Marietta shoved her foot under his chest and heaved. He toppled over the side of the couch, and landed with a loud thumping noise. "Ten minutes? You couldn't wake me up sooner?"

Marietta Desdemona Potter had been living at the Potter's for seven years. They had done everything except a legal adoption, but she still thought of them as her only parents. Every morning she would get up and smile, knowing that she was about to encounter Mrs. Potter's breakfast of champions, or a talk from James about the infamous Lily Evans and how they were going to have a spring wedding; every year since the first at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Then Sirius Black would interject with his "wise" opinion about the snobby redhead, and give James names and names out of a small book full of girls' names and bra sizes.

Sirius Black was James's best friend, aside from Marie. In fact, he moved into the Potter's the previous year, escaping his parents when the straw finally broke the camel's back. He was in the bedroom in the guest house right outside, built shortly after James came home talking about his new friend from school. Sirius had dark, longish hair, and steely silver eyes. He knew how to smolder them at women. He was tall, and built from playing Quidditch all those years at Hogwarts. But the most important thing was something Marietta was trying to suppress; the biggest crush on him since first year when he saved her from Lucius Malfoy and his little stinging hex. He took it right in the side of the head.

Marie tore across the Potter's living room, down a hallway on the left, and into her room where EVERYTHING she owned was on top of her bed. And James, laying over it all. "Marie, you're late."

"And you are in the way, Jamsie darling." He rolled off the bed, kissed her on the top of the head, and held a thumbs-up on his way out the door. She began grabbing at everything in arms length, and then remembered that she was seventeen now. "Magic. I need my… HA." With wand in hand, she shouted gleefully, "Accio belongings!" while holding her wand over her trunk. Things began zooming across the room, and from the hallway, all into the trunk on the floor. The only thing she didn't expect was when she heard a loud RIP, and a pair of men's underwear flew in from the kitchen area, judging by the scream.

"MARIETTA DESDEMONA POTTER."

"Sorry, Sirius!" She had forgotten about the time she wrote her name on all of his underpants. Most of them didn't fit anymore, but she found the ones that still did.

After everything was packed, and Sirius put on new underwear, they were off to Kings Cross station.

The Hogwarts Express pulled away from King's Cross Station at 11:00 am on the 1st of September. Children were hanging out of the windows giving their parents their goodbyes and giving them something to worry about. Most of the students looked like they would get their heads ripped of when the train turned the corner.

The third compartment from the front of the train was one of the two larger ones in that scarlet steam engine. Right now, Remus Lupin sat on the bench, reading a large book. Apparently, he was the only one in the specially saved room yet. The other four had failed to turn up yet. iProbably ran into Evans again, /i he thought in amusement. Running a rouge hand through his mane of blondish red hair, he resumed reading the small text in front of him half-heartedly.

Remus John Lupin was a bit quieter than his best friends. But he still enjoyed the shenanigans they all got into. He was usually the one with the get-away plan. There was a shabbyness to him, making him less valuable to the ladies, but he didn't mind. He had eyes for one girl, since he first met her. And what beautiful green eyes they were.

"Hey!" yelled James and Sirius happily, slamming the door open, with Marietta in tow.

"Remie, my love-"

"Sirius," James cut in, as he threw his rucksack on the shelf above his head, "we both know that he is mine."

Sirius looked mock-offended. "Don't make me fight you, sir."

"I can take you!"

And they continued with a very rambunctious slap fight off to the side.

"Hey, Remie!" Marie said cheerily. The boy looked at her, gave a big smile, and put down his book.

He got up, and they embraced each other for a quick moment. "Morning, Marietta," he answered mid hug. He took a breath, and the vanilla scent of her shampoo made his cheeks flush slightly. They released, and Marie looked at him with a funny expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Are you blushing, Remie?"

He blushed more. "No." But it was too late.

Sirius and James stopped slapping immediately and looked at their friend. They all shared a look, before James spoke first. "He isn't blushing!"

"Nope." Sirius shifted between his two friends so that he was kind of right in front of Remus. "Not red in the face. At all."

"But I can see-"

"NO. LIES."

Marie raised an eyebrow, but before she could fully grasp what was going on, two other people came tramping into the room. No seriously, they were tramps.

"Hi, Sirius," said the first, tucking a strand of straight, stringy black hair behind her ear. Her face looked slightly scrunched, and her bright green eyes held a nauseating amount of longing. It was almost like watching a tiger gaze at a piece of meat, only worse.

The other girl had a sharp looking face, every angle focused on the boy standing like he was just seen stealing cookies from the cookie jar. "How did they find me?" he whispered, not really addressing anyone in particular.

James started to giggle uncontrollably, and Marie looked like she was about to explode with joy. Remus leaned in, and muttered, "I think they have you followed."

"Sirius," dragged the sharp looking one, "you should come and join us in our compartment. We could show you a few things… like the lacey parts of our-"

"Ladies. Um, I am actually allergic to…uh…well, it's just not pretty, but I appreciate the offer." He seemed satisfied with the answer. They both frowned and left with a whole group of disappointed girls. The moment they were out of earshot, Sirius sat down by the window, looked at his three best friends, and said in a small voice, "Never sleeping with anyone. Ever again."

There was silence, and then all three of the others began to laugh, hard. James actually fell to the ground in a fit, Remus was shaking, and Marie stopped long enough to sit down, put her arm around her friend, and leaned his head up to look him in the eye. "You try that, honey."

Before anyone could recover, two other girls burst in, panting slightly.

"Have you seen a sort of funny looking git with long blonde hair?" asked the first girl, a sly grin on her perfect, tanned face. "He threw a hex at me! Rude."

"Calm yourself, Marlene," the other commented, shoving blonde hair out of her mouth.

Marlene McKinnon looked at her friend Dorcas Meadows and raised an eyebrow, drifting into her deep brown bangs. "Fine, Cassy, but only because he will be here any minute with his little possy and I will have my revenge."

Not five seconds after the words left her mouth, a certain blonde someone knocked both girls into the compartment with the flick of his wand. But Lucius Malfoy wasn't known for his sporting attitude and love for people.

Behind him stood a very amused Bellatrix Black, a rather bored looking Regulus Black, The LeStrange brothers, and Serverus Snape in the back looking conflicted.

Marie turned sharply, and pointed her wand at Lucius. "Reducto." Malfoy tried to block, but the spell went under his arm, and hit him in the chest, sending him flying into the hall. Behind Marietta, James and Sirius both had their wands raised, looking threateningly at the rest of them.

Bellatrix stepped forward, wand in hand, and sneered, "Well if it isn't my ignorant cousin and his muggle loving friends."

"Good to see you too, Bella. How goes working for the-man-who-looks-like-an-egg?"

She kind of twitched, and sent a silent jet of purple light flying in Sirius's direction. He blocked it, and sent another curse at her. Blocked. Another curse. Blocked.

Marie rolled her eyes, and while Bella was thinking, she shot her fist at the crooked nose in front of her.

Bellatrix was knocked on her butt, landing on all of the others. She looked up, while grasping her now bleeding nose, and said in a muffled voice, "This isn't over!" before running off with her little friends.

High fives were shared, and the mood lightened immensely.

The rest of the train ride was filled with stories from the moments they hadn't spend with each other over the summer, Remus's terrible "furry little problem" ("It put's it into prospective!" "Shove it, James."), Dorcas's stories of her muggle trinkets like a "television" and "electricity", and worries about all of their upcoming seventh year at Hogwarts.

It was only the beginning of a very long year that would be the start of everything.