Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only own the plot and a few characters I made up to help shape our heroes.
AN: Hello everyone! Though this is my first Harry Potter fanfic, if you've seen my profile you'll note that it's by no means my first in general. I hope you enjoy and I'm excited to hear your comments, constructive criticisms and to see your favorites and follows!
If someone didn't know any better, they might think there were fairies in the woods that day. Maybe water pixies if the splashing and wild laughter had anything to say about it, the sounds coming from all directions like you were right there but the trees were too tall and you were too blind. But if you could see and you knew better, you would have walked through the trees to find the easy river that trickled through the land. And in it were two young girls who resembled pixies.
"Lily Evans if you try and dunk me one more time..!" Petunia screeched like a threatened squirrel and launched herself away from her sister who was in the process of trying to kill them both. Instead of dragging Petunia down with her, Lily instead flopped onto the water and sank where her victim was supposed to be.
The red head came up laughing hysterically before coughing up some of the water she swallowed on the way down. She was dragged out of the water while Petunia looked her over worriedly. "I'm fine, I swear. Can we go back in the water?" Her coughing had subsided but it had ruined the moment with her sister who stormed off claiming she was going to get hypothermia. "Fine, I'll just play by myself." She huffed as she waded back into the warm water, trying to mask her pout over being left by herself.
"You could catch a fish with that lip." It was a half minded joke that came out from behind a tree as her magic friend followed. "You should put that back where it came from, I'm here now so you have much better company."
Lily flicked water at him and turned her back to hide the smile that escaped from behind her walls. She was only nine, they weren't very good yet. "My lip is just fine thank you very much. At least mine are good for something, yours just spit out bottom." She squealed as she felt something cold run up her back turning around to see Severus working on a spell with the water. "Oh you little." She went under to swim over to him, hands on her hips as she left the water and promptly shook all over him.
If you walked by the trees that guarded the clearing, you would think there was faeries dancing on their branches.
There wasn't a day that went by in the Potter house that something wasn't happening. A trick here, a misplaced spell there. The only child of Euphemia and Fleamont Potter was quite the troublemaker, practicing spells in the house that ended badly without a wand to direct his magic in the way he intended and playing magical tricks on the staff and his parents. As he grew older, the pranks were less frequent but bigger. Instead of small things everyday like itching powder in the dishcloths or popfires dropped from the ceiling, he had started leaving levitation zones which would leave his victims floating for around a minute until it wore off or they would suddenly find themselves stuck in place.
His parents had hoped that their son would make friends and his pranks would stop. And then he met Sirius Black. The ten year olds arrival that night should explain everything. "Ah bollocks mate, why do you have to be on the third floor?" James groaned as he ignored his friend's failure to climb through the window, not even opening his eyes when he landed on the floor.
"Get bored of the front door?" It was a joke but he was seriously concerned when Sirius didn't say anything. With no witty response to quell his nerves, he groaned again as he rolled over and waved his hand to light up the room. When the orb finally turned on, he froze as he took in the sight of his friend. Dark waves were spread out over the floor only broken by the mud that clung to his locks. Or was that blood? From what he could see of the boys face, it was all sorts of cold colors and made his stomach churn. "Sirius?!" He tried to slip out of bed, his feet tangled in the blankets still as he crashed next to the body on the floor. "Come on, show me you're alive."
It took three hours for them to feel safe about Sirius' condition and all the healing salve James could find without alerting anyone. "Just like the first time we met, you the bloody prick and me the beat up whiny kid."
"I was the prick who heard you getting beat up in an alleyway by your cousins and threw a hex. I scared 'um off, didn't I?" Proud eyes were hidden behind dark hair that hung from his head but there was worry seeping through his carefully placed smugness. "Does that mean your family did this to you?"
Sirius didn't have to answer, not to any of the Potters.
It was not an unusual sight to see the quick steps of a rushing mother who's babysitter cancelled last minute and needed to finish some errands while quite literally dragging their child along with them. No, not for Bristol. It's many shops held the perfect distraction for Hope to lose herself in and have her boy pay the price. As time went on and he felt like his feet were going to fall off because his mother had to go an hour away so no one would recognize them, he suddenly felt his shoulder hit something and his sore feet gave out on him.
"I am so sorry, I didn't think I was big enough to knock over anyone and I was just trying to rush through." He only caught a glimpse of the girl and her apologetic smile when she got up and ran off, his mother pulling him up just as some older kids walked by.
Hope checked him over a hundred times, a little nervous in a busy street like this that he had gotten injured. It was silly and they both knew it, but not only was he her only child, he was attacked by a werewolf in his sleep. She was more protective of him then ever. "That girl should really have looked where she was going I mean honestly, what could she be running from out here? It's not like there's things flying around here." She pushed them both off and brought him into the cool breeze of some shop with plates in the window.
When he was finally left to his own devices and allowed to hang out at the small bookstore, he took a deep calming breath as he curled up with a book to read while he waited for his mother. He was almost completely zoned out when he heard a thud from behind one of the bookshelves. Upon investigation, he found the girl that had crashed into him before reaching high as she could go to get her book back from the older boys surrounding her.
"Little book nerd, what'cha gonna do? Call your siblings for help? Call for Mommy and Daddy?" When they saw Remus come around the corner with a glare, they pulled back their teeth like that was supposed to scare him.
"Boys, put those things away. No one wants to see them." She had her hands on her nonexistent hips, tilting her head as she looked at their surprised faces. "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you knew higene was important to other people. I thought wrong apparently. Now I would greatly appreciate you giving me my book back as I intend to buy it from the lovely woman at the desk." When she realized they had become statues, she rolled her eyes and jumped up to catch the book that had fallen within her reach. "Have a nice day boys, please try not to break anything." A strong grip fell on his arm as she dragged a shocked senseless Remus in the owners line of sight. "I'm Venus and yes, I know it sounds like I've been named after a planet."
"I'm Remus Lupin and I'm aware that that sounds ridiculous." When she laughed, her eyes turned into the sky outside his window at night. She fixed up her hair with fingers not meant for such intricate and delicate work, but somehow managing to do it anyway. He snapped himself out of his jarred state and stuck out his hand to shake.
Venus upon seeing it swept out her skirt and bowed to kiss it. "May I escort you to your awaiting guard?" She blushed darkly as she might have realized how strange she seemed but Remus just offered her his arm, as he dealt wit the strange daily and she seemed like more fun than anything he'd ever encountered before. They paid for their books and walked out of the store on their toes, joking about how cool it would be to fly. "I mean, only if no one else could fly. But if you didn't like something, you could just be like, "bye!" and levitate away."
A sound like an annoyed hog escaped his nose which was quickly covered by him challenging her. "I don't think that's how that works." He blushed when she informed him that he should see a doctor because it seemed his nose didn't work either. "You're so mean."
"You're the one who became friends with me! You didn't have to accept my over." She wiggled her eyebrows for no reason just to get him to laugh, waving when she saw his mother. "That's your mum, right? Let's go shopping with her! My brothers are around here somewhere and I'd love to get kidnapped before they find me."
Remus rolled his eyes but grabbed her hand and skipped with her over to his poor mother. Could faces really contort that way? He shook his head and focused on introducing the two ladies. He hadn't been this nervous since he'd opened the officially stamped letter dropped off at his house three months ago.
People made way for the witch who walked with her head held high in the crowd and glared at anyone who dared try and get in her way. "You have all your books, we've gotten your wand. A good sturdy wand that will do you well, though don't go meddling with all that darkness at school. I have to go pick up a few more things if you want to go to to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. It's just started up and the shop owner seems very friendly. He'll look after you." She directed the small boy behind her over to where she would leave him, bringing her protective shadow with her.
Peter was used to getting left alone when his mother went off to do something he wasn't allowed to know about, though usually it involved presents or something for his father. Once, he'd seen an inky cat curled up on the back of her hand. His curiosity was promptly squashed.
"Why would anyone ever come to a shop like this to sit alone?" Someone plopped down into the seat across from him with a smile and he was suddenly very conscious of the way he looked. Did they think he was a lost child? A toddler type that was going to cry without his mother? "I mean, I get wanting to get away from people but this…" They stole a cherry from his ice cream. "...this is just disappointing. And since I'm the family disappointment, it seems I have a duty to drag you down with me."
"Lay off the poor kid, 'dite. We get that you have an overbearing personality but you don't need to smother people. Have you even asked him his name yet?" This boy was much older and Peter immediately was glad for his presence.
"Stop it with the nicknames Eros, we get that you're a Ravenclaw and are witty. It's literally in your house description?" The person, god why is it so hard to tell anything about them?, snarked before turning back to Peter. "My name is Aphrodite but you can call me anything you want if it isn't degrogitory. That idiot is my older brother Eros. And you were just about to tell me your name."
"I was?" It came out as a squeak, his cheeks pulling all of the embarrassment that they could from his soul. There was some part of him that wondered what it would be like to feel so confident, he could see it like scales of armor across their skin and he was almost completely defenseless. Maybe they could show him out to make his own armor. "I was. My names Peter Pettigrew, it's nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand to shake and gave them both weak smiles when they easily took it. "Um...why are you sitting with me?"
Aphrodite threw the back of her hand to her forehead and leaned back in her chair like she was going to start singing and reciting Shakespeare. "Oh, why does anyone do anything?" Her brother shoved her almost off her chair. "Because you looked like another terrified first year trying to figure out what they're doing. I have a lot of siblings so I kind of have that mentor instinct when it comes to people. Plus you were alone and looked like you could use a friend." She grinned like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but the way she said it didn't make him feel stupid. It was like she was sharing a secret with him. "Was I right though? About you being a first year?"
Peter nodded and took a bite of his ice cream for the first time since he stepped foot in the shop. Well, he took a bite of his cream with chunks. "My mom has been taking me shopping. Dad tried to get me binders and notebooks but she made it clear this was nothing like muggle school. So I don't know what to expect."
"You're a halfblood! That's so cool, we are too!" The girl excitedly went on to explain some of the more looked over parts of the school with her brother chiming in every now and then. Peter found out that she had four siblings, she was a twin, with Eros being the oldest going into third year and a younger sister the year below them. "We need to get going, but it was nice to meet you Peter! Find us on the Platform tomorrow, we'll show you around and you can ride in the boats with me!" Aphrodite bounced away with the same energy she came with.
Was this what having friends was like? People remembered your name and helped you? Peter decided he liked having actual friends. "Peter, you let all of your ice cream melt. Do you want me to buy you another one?"
"No, that's okay. I had fun."
The definition in the muggle dictionary for waiting is as follows: the action of staying where one is or delaying action until a particular time or until something else happens. For a young soul who was quickly watching her life disappear before her eyes, the delay was never ending. Her family had been gone for hours, leaving her to watch the nine year old who somehow ate more candy than there was in Honeydukes' storage room. How she hadn't died yet was beyond magical or muggle comprehension.
"Are they back yet? Are they back yet? Oooh, I bet they bought us new coats! Or at least they got Eros a new coat and you'll get his old one. Does that mean that…?" She yelped as if she lost her balance on a pogo stick, slamming into the couch as the giggles were shocked out of her.
Her older sister immediately rushed to check on her, hands brushing over ribs and arms to make sure nothing was broken. She searched around for a flashlight and quickly checked for a head injury. "Don't you dare ever scare me like that again, what is wrong with you?" She took a deep breath to calm the needles prickling underneath her skin as the residual fear disappeared. That was her word of the day, residual. "I swear I'm going to tell Mrs. Adams that you're allergic to sugar and sweets." It was a slip of the tongue that was hidden beneath her breath, but there was nothing a nine year old can't hear.
"You can't do that! Why are you trying to ruin my life? Is it because you don't have one of your own?" There was a blur of blonde hair as she stormed away to go hide somewhere and write about how awful siblings were in her diary.
The door swung open as her siblings brought back all of their school supplies. "So what'd you get me?" Aphrodite just beamed at her and suddenly she understood why Juno thought it was the end of the world.
AN: Thank you again for reading, I just wanted to let you guys know that as we get more into the Hogwarts school year, I'd love to hear prank ideas and you can submit character names with a house and short description (pureblood, half-blood, muggleborn, only child, blood purist, etc..) if you want to see someone pop up! I can't tell you how involved they'll get, it just depends on how they fit. Tootles! I'll be updating weekly, crossing my fingers, but AP homework will take priority if I get behind. I will warn y'all of that before hand though instead of just disappearing.