Okay, so I'll still be continuing my other story, if anyone's still reading it ^_^

I just had this one started for a while and I felt the inspiration to continue it :]

Anyways, I only own those that don't sound familiar.

**Afflicted**

"POTTER, you creep! Get away from me this instant before I hex you to oblivion!" shouted an angry red haired girl, pointing her wand straight at the poor boy's shocked face. His brown hair was perfectly messy and his brown eyes danced with amusement behind his circular glasses. This display between Lily Evans and James Potter was far from new.

"But my dearest Lily flower-"

"Shut that trap of yours right now Potter, how many times have I told you not to call me that?" The poor boy was about to open his mouth but the girl had beaten him to it. "GET OUT!"

Once again Lily was pointing that overly used wand of hers at him and threatening to hex him to a point where his mouth would never open again. Grumbling I snuggled in to the compartment seat a bit more, not even bothering to pay even the slightest bit of attention to my surroundings. I shut my eyes and tried to block out as much noise as I possibly could. Hearing the compartment door slam, I heard Lily finally sit down, but of course not forgetting to say something along the lines of -Potter- and –Imbecile-. Rolling my eyes I took a sigh and directed all my attention to my red haired, angry, best friend.

"Lils…?" was all I could mutter before the compartment door slid open. There stood in the doorway was a short, brown haired girl. She took one look at the expression on Lily's face and automatically burst in to fits of laughter.

Lily on the other hand, did not find it funny at all. "You know what Jen, I don't find this a tad bit funny, and in fact I find it stupid and childish. It is our sixth year for Christ's sake, hasn't that boy realized how stupid he looks every time? Don't you agree Al?"

I was brought back to reality when Jennifer sat down beside me. "Hmm… well you see Lils I have to agree with Jen on this one, besides that, James is my mate, you know, just as well as we do, that you secretly love the bloke…even if he is a pig-headed toe-rag." This had created another outburst from Lily and another fit of hysterics from Jennifer who was laughing so hard the seat began to shake.

"Stop laughing Jennifer! It's not funny!" Lily started hollering. "ALLISON ROSE DANIELS! I cannot believe that you would ever assume even for the slightest second that I would ever, and I mean ever fall for a thing like Potter! I'll have you know I'd rather die alone with fifty cats then go on one date with a piece of trash like Potter. I mean honestly, how can you even be friends with him?"

Lily's face was turning redder and redder from every word she screeched. That was our Lily for you. Lillian, or Lily Evans. Smartest girl in our grade, nicest too, unless it came to James and his friends of course. Aside from brains, and personality, she has looks too, the whole package. Long auburn hair, pale skin, freckles, and beautiful emerald eyes, bet you'd never guess a girl like that was one of the top students. One thing she didn't have in her favor, however, was her temper. Merlin did that girl have a temper.

"Aw come on Lily, sod off. Al was only kidding, weren't you Al?" Jennifer looked at me and winked, biting back loose giggles. I rolled my eyes and just nodded my head. Jen and I both knew Lily harbored secret feelings for James, I mean honestly, with those looks and the amount of time he's been following her around; that charm had to settle in somewhere.

Jennifer Reeves, best friend number two. It is a well known fact in Hogwarts, everyone (aside from the Slytherins, of course) loves Jen. She's smart, nice, and did I tell you absolutely beautiful? She has a face that should adorn magazine covers, not roam the halls of Hogwarts. Today her long, light brown hair was pulled into a pony tail accentuating her facial features. What caught most guys though, were her eyes. Lily, who has deep, emerald green eyes, Jen, had pale light blue ones. But of course, she is one stubborn girl, I'll tell you that much. Won't budge for anything.

Then, of course, there is me. I won't tell you much, because there really isn't that much to say. Dark brown hair. Light brown eyes. Medium brown skin? Well, no, it would have been nice to be darker, but to my dismay, white as a sheet. I'm not ugly, I'll tell you that much, but in comparison to Lily and Jen, well, I didn't compare.

Lily is the smart one, the genius, the one with the common sense. Jen and I? Well, we're the lazy troublemakers. Hence why we got along with the Marauders a bit better than Lily did.

Finally, after a long rant on why James Potter is the worst man to ever walk this planet, Lily calmed down and regained her rosy complexion.

Ignoring all the comments our best friend just made, Jennifer sat up. "So…I hope your summers were as good as mine, because boy do I have a story to tell the both of you." beamed Jenny, brushing her brown hair out of her face.

"No Jen, they probably weren't but please amuse us with your wonderful adventures in the land of…where did you go this year?"

Jennifer snorted "You know how my parents bought a house in Germany?" The two of us nodded our heads. "Well, at first I thought it was going to be a pretty pathetic summer, until one morning I went out to get the Daily Prophet and there I saw the miracle that my summer needed."

I rolled my eyes at her stalling, "Enlighten us…"

"You know who stood there? CHARLIE DAVIDSON!"

Lily's eyes widened and my mouth dropped. Holy shit, Charlie. "Charlie Davidson as in Ravenclaw Davidson? Sexy Charlie, the holy crap look at his abs I want to die from his gorgeousness, Davidson?"

"Yes Al, that one."

"So what'd you guys do?" interjected Lily.

"Well nothing to specific but let's just say Charlie is off the market."

"Well about bloody time aren't I right Lils?"

"Of course you are, took him all whole year to man up and ask you out."

Jennifer turned pink and laughed some more. "What about you Lily what did you do?"

Lily smiled and said "Well, actually I had a great time; my grandparents took me to Ireland."

I made a disgruntled face, and Jenny, as if she read my mind said "Oh, I feel so sorry, did you at least do some age appropriate activities?"

Lily shook her head and laughed as she dismissed the innuendo in that comment. "Actually, my grandparents had friends with a grandson, who was quite a looker might I add."

Jen and I made cat calls causing Lily to blush a light shade of pink "And who might this looker be?"

"Not a brilliant bloke, but amazing green eyes, gorgeous blonde hair, and the best body to ever walk the earth."

"oooooh"

"And how would you know what his body looks like Ms. Prefect Evans?" I said, laughing even harder as her face turned from pink to red.

"Oh shut it, anyhow, enough about my escapade, how was your vacation Al?"

At the question I stiffened up. "Pretty dull to tell you guys the truth. Let's just say that I'm quite glad to be back at Hogwarts."

"That bad love?"

Nodding my head, Jennifer and Lily understood they had touched upon a tender issue and strayed away from the conversation; I smiled at them, well forced one, to make the situation less tense. They seemed to have bought it and smiled back.

Standing up Lily stretched her arms and legs. "Hey you two, I have prefect duties to go to, so I'll see you later, 'kay?"

Getting nods as a response Lily walked out to tend to her duties.

I stifled a laugh, "What a nerd." The compartment had gotten quite and in a few moments and I felt a hand tap my shoulder.

"Yes Jennifer dearest?"

"So how long do you give them?"

"Give them for what? Before babies start sprouting or Lily and James actually getting together?"

A wicked smiled spread across Jennifer's face "Hmm, what do you say about playing matchmaker?"

"Play matchmaker…with those two?" I made a pause and weighed out the pros and cons of the situation "Are you bloody mental?"

"Don't tell me you are against it." However she never got an answer, just guilty silence.

"I say, we start planting seeds this year, and if they flower still doesn't grow, we take matters into our own hands." I winked at Jen and put my hand behind my head.

Jennifer laughed and suddenly became serious, "So Allie…" she began, which only meant two things. One, she wanted something or two, she needed something. Either one wasn't looking to good for me...at all. However, I was glad she didn't stray upon my home issues. "…do you like anyone?"

"Of course I do, love. The unicorn, from fourth year and of course the lovely, what do muggles call him again… oh yes I believe it was Rumpelstiltskin."

She arched an eyebrow "Right Al…And what about Chance?" I shook my head 'no.' "Matthew Cadwell?" I shook my head no again. "Sirius?"

"I beg your pardon?"

I cocked my head to the side and started laughing. "You know what Jen? You're right. Sirius and I have a secret relationship and this summer we spent it in his bed shagging each other bloody senseless."

Jen started laughing too and shook her head. "Ye, like that would ever happen."

"Exactly!" Sirius. Yea, okay. The universe would collapse and appoint Serves Snape as its new dictator before anything happened between me and Sirius.

Jenny sat there quiet for a second until she suddenly blurted out, "Hey isn't your sister starting Hogwarts this year?"

I nodded my head "Yeah, she'll probably land herself in Ravenclaw, honestly all that girl does is read, read, read, read, eat, and read some more."

"Wait what's wrong with Ravenclaw; anyways where is she right now?"

"I wouldn't know, I got on the train before she did…I'm pretty sure she'll find me though"

Jenny nodded her head and started looking through her purse for something. I started to drift off in to sleep when I heard a loud scream that sounded so much like Alexandra's. My eyes shot open and like a mad woman I ran out of my compartment. No surprise who caused this mess; I looked at the scene and my sister was hanging upside down soaking wet. I looked at Alecto Carrow, her goons and of course Regulas Black …

"Hey Daniels, you came to watch our show today?"

"No Black I didn't so I suggest your pricks put my sister down before I make you!" The only person who could humiliate my sister was me and me only. There was no way in hell I would let a bunch of slimy creeps humiliate me or my sister. I tensed up and gripped my hand around my wand, ready to strike at any moment.

"So that's your sister huh Daniels? Well then even more of a reason to do this; especially to a filthy blood traitor like you."

This was it, forgetting my wand; I lunged at Carrow and started pounding her face in the ground. I don't know what caused me to lunge at her instead of using my wand, but I did. And might I tell you, breaking her nose with my fists feels much more satisfying than using a spell.

I felt a pair of arms pick me up. In blind rage I started flailing around even more, but the person's grip tightened around my waist even more. I saw James and Remus holding their wands out while Carrow and her 'crew' ran out like cowards. She was holding her bleeding nose while Regulas threatened us. I looked and saw Jennifer helping my dripping, wet sister down. Finally calming down I felt the familiar scent of mint enter my nostrils.

"Alison, you okay now?"

I nodded my head "Yeah Sirius I'm fine."

I was about to start walking but Sirius' arms were still around my waist and he pulled me back in, and whispered in my ear "Next time Daniels, don't try to do this by yourself"

I pushed his arms off of me and whispered back venomously "Don't worry Black, I'm a big girl."

He let go of me and I walked up to James, Remus, Jen, and of course my sister.

"Hey thanks guys, really, but I think next time I could do it my self"

James laughed "No problem Daniels, that's what mates are for"

Remus nodded as well, I smiled at them, waved and walked back to our compartment with Jennifer and Alexandra. I don't know why Remus wasn't at the prefects meeting, but I didn't want to stick around and ask. Taking my wand I dried her off and put my arm around her.

"You okay sis?" She nodded her head and gripped her book even tighter. I felt my heart ache at her sad face. "Hey Alex, don't let those creeps bother you. If they ever do anything like that again…you let me know…do you understand me?" She looked up and silently nodded her head again.

We got up to the compartment and Jen stood next to the door. "Hey Al I'm going to go get you guys something to eat."

"Sure, no problem"

My attention shifted back to Alexandra. Truthfully she wasn't even annoying at all, though I made it always seem that way because she was so quiet, mature, and most of all our parents always loved her more than both Charlie and me combined. Maybe because she was so much different than I was? Charlie, our older brother, was always known as the bad seed, my parents always said he poisoned me. He was the first family member in our WHOLE family to get in to Gryffindor, than me of course. I'm sure you can guess now that we come from a pure-blood Slytherin family. Just like all the others, our parents a bloody mental. More my mum than dad, though. Our parents didn't want Alex to turn out like Charlie, or worse, me, so instead, they always kept her away from us, treating Charlie and I like slaves. Besides this summer, I have never even known Alex that well at all. She is only 3 years younger, but that isn't the point. She was home schooled by the finest 'people', but 'mum' and 'dad' …well some things went down and they won't be around for quite a while, so Charlie offered Alexandra and me to live with him. No doubt I said yes, but Alex wasn't as lucky. Our grandparents took her in the very moment mum and dad weren't able to take care of her. I really don't know anything about my own sister to tell the truth. She might be one of those Slytherin fuckers or she might be a shy quiet 13 year old kid. Charlie and Alex were very similar in appearances, light brown hair, green eyes; they looked just like our mum. I on the other hand, am exactly like my father, to my dismay. Dark brown, practically black hair, brown eyes, short temper and one hell of a mouth.

"You okay?"

She looked at me with confusion "Huh?"

"I said are you okay?"

She nodded her head and I just sat there dumbstruck. To tell the truth, I was always the worst in the awkward type situations.

"So…what house do you want to go to?"

She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. She just sat there, quiet and distant. She could be in Ravenclaw, or in Gryffindor like me. The compartment door slid open, I thought it was going to be Jenny, but had a feeling she wasn't coming back.

I was actually correct it wasn't Jennifer, it was Lily "Hey Al, we need to go change, oh wait that's your little sister?" I nodded my head and smiled at her. "Hi" She said sitting down next to Alex. "My name is Lily. Is this your first year here?"

Alex looked up from her booked and shyly nodded her head. Lily smiled and looked at the book. "What is that you're reading?" I rolled my eyes and got up. Leave it to Lily to speak about books to my little sister.

"Guys I'm going to change, okay?" Lily smiled at me and nodded her head.

Walking out of the compartment, I slid the door shut and went to the bathroom. It was always the same, every year. The older we get, the more little first years we see. I remember when I was a first year, arriving at Hogwarts for the first time, seeing the gorgeous castle illuminated against the moonlight. It was absolutely breathtaking. Strange how we're all practically seventeen, yet I still feel like the same eleven year old who ran around the halls casting any new spell I learned.

After changing in the bathroom, I began to walk back to my compartment until I heard my name being called from behind me.

"Oi, Daniels!" I turned around to face a black haired figure walking toward me, waving one hand in the air, and a big smile plastered on his face. Sirius Black. Merlin, summer did him beautifully. This boy, or should I say man now? Well, in any case, Sirius has always been a good looking person, but now, he's absolutely breathtaking. His black hair grew out a bit past his ears which made his gray eyes pop out even more. Those eyes, I can understand why any girl would swoon at the sight of him. That smile, those perfect white teeth, his perfect, Greek god-like facial structure, believe me, I could go on. However, this IS Sirius Black, and his ego is practically the size of England, and growing.

"What's up?" I cocked my head at his hesitation.

He raised his hand to the back of his head and began to scratch it. "Well the guys and I were wondering if your sister was okay, so we dropped by the compartment, but you weren't there so we wanted to make sure you didn't go and do something stupid." He lowered his hand and flashed me a cocky smile.

I rolled my eyes. "Mhm…and where are the rest of the guys?"

Sirius laughed his bark like laugh and walked up to me putting his arm around me. "James…well he stayed with Evans and Remus stayed to make sure Evans doesn't murder the poor bloke and Peter…" He paused and looked around. "I swore he was right behind me." He looked around one more time and shrugged his shoulders.

I shook his arm off my shoulder and began to walk to the compartment, no use standing in the middle of the train, no? "Well I appreciate the concern, but I assure you, I don't need it." I hated when they did this. It's nice to know they care, but I'm not some damsel in distress, don't need the Marauders coming to my rescue every time a mishap occurs. The walk became awfully silent and I stopped walking and saw Sirius was a good few steps behind me. "Any reason you're walking so slow?"

He stopped walking and smirked at me. God I hated that smirk. "Just admiring your arse Daniels, never noticed how nice it was, that's all."

"My arse…?" I narrowed my eyes at the gray eyed boy in front of me.

"Your bum." He winked in my direction. "Sound better?"

At this point he was a few centimeters away from me. Sirius always did this. To all girls. This is how he got them in to broom closets, empty classrooms, and every other possible place that has enough space for a good shag. I wouldn't go in a fifty foot radius of Black naked or even partially clothed. But that's just me.

"You know Black," I brought his ear closer to my face. "I like it better when you don't speak at all." With that I picked up my hand and slapped him across the face. His previous smirk was soon replaced with a scowl. "Don't even look there Black."

He always did this and the result, well, it was always the same. Do we hate each other? Not one bit. Do we hate certain aspects of each other? Yes, with a burning passion. At least I do. There was never a day that did end with Black not having a black eye or me being hexed. That's just the way we worked. But if the time arose, I would sure as hell help the bloke out. He's not like the rest of his family, and I respect that.

I entered the compartment and plopped down next to Remus. Remus Lupin. I love this boy to death. Just like the rest of the Marauders, aside from Peter, poor Peter, he was tall, lean, and good looking. His sandy blonde hair and warm chocolate colored eyes went well with his sweet personality. Remus was the book worm, the nice guy, the common sense of the group, he was the only one of the four I could sit and talk with for hours with out getting aggravated. What I always wondered was how he got the scars on his face, as well as the rest of his body for that matter. He claimed they were from some rabid bunny that seems to get loose every few weeks, but I found it harder and harder to believe every year. I looked around the compartment and saw Peter was squished in the corner with Lily and James, who, yet again, were arguing. Actually, more of Lily yelling and James taking it. Honestly, the amount of times she insulted him, you'd think he would be insecure by now, guess not.

James Potter. Quidditch team captain, chaser, and one of the most sought out boys in Hogwarts, after Sirius of course. In looks, James was probably one of the only boys to rival Sirius. He had wonderfully defined facial features, messy brown hair that never seemed to be tamed (I think he secretly likes it like that), hazel eyes hidden behind circular glasses, and lopsided, cocky smile that was always plastered on his face. Just like Remus and Sirius, he stood at about 6 foot, if not more, and was build beautifully. Years of Quidditch did him well, I assure you.

At this point Sirius walked in and glowered at me. I looked at his face and saw there was a big red hand print glowing on his cheek. Seeing the hand print I began to laugh, which caused Remus to stop talking to Peter, Lily to stop yelling at James, and the moment James turned from Lily and saw Sirius he was laughing just as hard as I was.

"Oi mate! What happened to your face there?" Sirius stopped looking at me and glared at his best mate.

"This one!" He yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at me. "Slapped me!"

I raised my hands in a guilty fashion. "You deserved it. That's all I have to say."

"I was giving you a compliment Daniels!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Well next time, keep those compliments to yourself. Honestly Black, you've become even more unbearable in the past few hours than in the last five years!"

Sirius opened his mouth to respond until the train jerked and sent him flying into James and Peter and me shoving into Remus.

I looked up apologetically and felt a blush creep up my face. "Sorry Rey."

Remus looked down and smiled warmly at me. "S'ok Al."

I smiled back at him and we got up and began to walk out of the train. Lily fell in sync with me and we let the guys walk ahead, well minus Peter who had a hard time catching up. This made me giggle a bit. Poor Peter Pettigrew. Small, pudgy, dull blonde hair, watery blue eyes, and a rosy complexion. The poor bloke, always in the shadow of James and Sirius. I never really spoke much to him in all our years of Hogwarts, but then again Peter had this weird fear of all members of the opposite sex. He wasn't as bright as the rest of them, definitely not as confident, didn't say much and whenever he did, it was usually the obvious. I never understood how he even joined the group to be honest…

"Hey Lils, where's Jen?" We looked around as we hopped off the train.

"Dunno…Probably with Charlie? Now the question that should be asked is: What happened back there?" I cocked my head to the left and stared at Lily confused. Did she mean with Remus? Because I'm not even sure what happened. I never blush…

"With Sirius." I let out a breath of relief and laughed awkwardly.

"Oh…" Lily arched her eyebrow skeptically. "Well he made a comment, that well lets just say that toerag had it coming. Fucking conceited bastard…"

We got on the carriage with a few third year Hufflepuffs, maybe fourth years? Honestly, I'm not too good with that.

"Well that's Black for you. Just as bad as Potter. Do you know what Potter did before you got back?" I shook my head 'no' and let her ramble until it hit me, my sister. FUCK. She wasn't in the compartment when I got back. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"SHIT LILY!" She stopped talking, as well as everyone inside the carriage. I lowered my voice and stared at her worriedly. "My sister. Fuck. My fucking sister. Where the fuck did she go?" I put my head inside my hands. "What kind of older sister am I? Not even a day and I forgot about her. Blimey I'm going to make a wonderful mother, yeah?" When I finally finished flipping out I looked at Lily who was smiling at me. I don't understand what's so funny about this…I lost my fucking sister. What if she's still on the train. Or worse, HEXED ON THE TRAIN! Christ, what would I tell Charlie? He'd probably laugh. Laugh so hard he'll explode. Oh. Shit, the entire Daniels family would come for my head, not that they wouldn't do that now…just more of a reason I suppose.

"Lily this is not laughing matter. I lost my fuckin-" She cut me off, her green eyes twinkling at me. Flipping her hair to the side, she pulled me into an embrace. "Calm down Al, she left before you came back. She said she wanted to be alone. I made sure she found a compartment and everything. In fact, as we were leaving I saw her make friends with a few Ravenclaws." I took a breath of relief and saw the Hufflepuffs were still staring at us.

"Nothing to look at!" I snapped at them and cross my arms across my chest.

When we finally arrived at Hogwarts my entire body felt elated. Lily and I made conversation on the way to the Great Hall. Merlin do I love Lily. I can talk to her about practically anything and the conversation won't die out. When we go to Hogwarts, just like the first year I came, I was speechless at the beauty of the Great Hall. The four large, decorated tables. The enchanted ceiling, which was the night sky at the moment and the anticipation of amazing food, was making my stomach practically scream. Hearing my stomach Lily laughed and pulled me to our usual spot at the Gryffindor table. We sat down and as students piled in we still saw no sign of Jenny.

Sharing a worried look we both got up about to leave until Jenny walked in arm in arm with Charlie. She gave him a kiss good bye and skipped over to us.

"Hello ladies." Her face was red and hair was disheveled. About to make a comment about it the Marauders sat around us and James beat me to it.

"Good shag, Reeves?" He winked at her and sat down next to me, across from Lily. I laughed at her reddening complexion, but Lily, didn't find it so funny. "Leave her be Potter. You're just jealous you can't get a girl." I put my hand in my head and knew this was the start of another argument.

James lowered his voice; I think that was his Lily voice. Ha-ha, I think he thinks it makes him sound more mature! Sirius to the right of James dropped his head on the table and sat there getting ready for the worst. "My dearest Lily-flower."

"Don't call me that Potter." She spat out his name with pure venom.

"I could get any girl I'd like, specifically you, it's just taking you a-"

Knowing what would happen Jenny cut him. "SO! How was everyone's summer you guys?"

I felt a chuckle rise up from next to me and that's when I realized Remus was sitting next to me. "I didn't even notice you sit down there."

He stopped laughing and got a worried look on his face. "Oh, sorry. Did you have it saved for anyone else?" Remus got ready to get up, but I started laughing and pulled him down. "No, No. Just an observation." He smiled at me that same warm smile, and that's when I noticed how tired he looked today. It's only the first day of school…

About to make a comment, Dumbledore cut me off and the Sorting Ceremony began. Among the first years I saw my sister, nervous and terrified. James leaned over and whisper, "Ey Daniels, that's you're sister, yeah?"

I nodded my head. "Alexandra Daniels," McGonagall called my sister's name. "You will be first, due to your late admittance." She nodded her head and walked up the steps. "Please sit down on the stool." Obediently, Alexandra sat down. The Sorting Hat was place on her head and there were five minutes of pure silence. Not a sound echoed through the Great Hall. I grabbed on to Remus' and James' hands and squeezed them. Luckily, they gave me a reassuring smile and I calmed down. Remus and James gave me a warm feeling of calmness.

Finally, the Sorting Hat's loud, booming voice echoed through the hall. "SLYTHERIN!"

My head started spinning and all eyes were on me. Not many knew of my family, after a small…mishap; our family history was put in the dark. Lily, Jenny, James, and Remus all started at me with confusion and caution written across their faces. The Slytherin table exploded with applause and my brain with exploding with conflicting emotions. I didn't know what this meant. Do I hate her? Do I still treat her the same way? Does this mean she's like the rest of our family? My head was spinning and I couldn't look up. The Sorting Ceremony went on, everybody decided not to pursue the topic of my sister, but one pair of eyes was still on me. I looked up and to the other side of James, Sirius was staring at me. His eyes were boring into mine. I didn't see any emotion in them, just a blank, hard stare. I couldn't take it anymore; I looked down and sat through the rest of the Ceremony in my own thoughts.

Fuck me.