Here's my newest story that takes place in the Marauders' sixth year; this is after the 'mudblood' incident. This is not a Sirius/Mary Sue fic, not at all. The first couple of chapters specifically follow my OC to establish her, but the rest of the chapters follow a few of the other characters (e.g. Sirius, Remus, James, Lily).

I hope you enjoy it, please tell me what you think! Also, check out some of my other stories!

I am not JK Rowling and I don't own any of the rights to Harry Potter stuff.

August

"Da! We're gonna miss the portkey, hurry!" Moira McKinnon yelled as her, her brother, Rodger, and their cousin, Marlene, ran up the hill just on the edge of her village. The sun was starting to come up far in the east, slowly streaking over the Cliffs of Moher. She bent over, pressing her hands on her knees, to catch her breath. They had run nearly the whole way from their cottage, which wasn't very far, but it was at the bottom of the hill.

"Oi! Maybe if you were carrying as much as me!" Her father grunted as he nearly climbed up the rest of the way on his hands and knees. Rodger and Moira ran to his aid and took the tent and two of their many bags from him. Rodger threw the strap of the tent bag over his shoulder and Moira did the same with a duffle as she handed the other bag to Marlene.

"Mr. McKinnon!" called a voice from the top of the hill. They all looked up to see a silhouetted figure. Moira squinted into the sunlight to see her brother's best friend, Dave, waving at them holding a large rusty can.

"That must be it!" said Mr. McKinnon rubbing his hands together excitedly. They closed the distance between them and Dave, and each greeted him differently.

"How ya doin', son?" said Mr. McKinnon with a firm handshake.

"Good, good. Real excited for these VIP tickets," Dave responded with a huge goofy grin.

"What's on, man!" Rodger said pulling Dave into a quick hug. Then Dave turned to Moira, who was waiting patiently, and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and lifted her up. When Dave deposited her back on the ground he ruffled her hair, which made her scrunch up her face and pat her French braids back down into place.

"Davie Davie!" Moira said laughing. Davie Davie was the nickname Dave had earned when Moira was ten and first learned his full name was David Davies; it was the first time he had ever stayed with the McKinnons after his and Rodger's first year at Hogwarts.

"Hey, heard you got those metal things off your teeth, lemme see," Dave said happily. He was always happy; nothing could get him down, not even losing the house cup. Moira grinned to show off her newly straightened teeth. When the magic remedy didn't work on what Rodger called her "snaggle tooth" Mr. and Mrs. McKinnon resorted to the awful, and somewhat painful, muggle method of braces. She wasn't the only kid at Hogwarts to sport braces, thank Merlin, but it certainly didn't help her image. She was "Rodger McKinnon's unfortunate looking little sister," for her first five years of Hogwarts.

"You look lovely," Dave said, ruffling her hair again. She laughed, but again fretted over her hair. It had taken Marlene and Moira five different volumizing hair potions for it to do something other than lie horribly flat on her head.

"Alright kids," said Mr. McKinnon, checking his watch, "Everyone, grab the can!" They all obeyed just in time for the can to begin to glow before it whisked them all away. After the horrible trip was over and they all landed in an unfamiliar field, Mr. McKinnon checked in with a wizard in a kilt. The can was tossed into a pile of trash and "County Clare, Ireland" was checked off the list.

"Please move along, another portkey is arriving in one minute," said the wizard in the kilt.

"Dave, you remember our cousin, Marlene, right?" Rodger said as they followed Mr. McKinnon to the camp grounds.

"Of course I do! You're a Gryffindor in Moira's year, yeah?" Marlene nodded in response. "Shame you two weren't in the same house."

"Nah," said Marlene jokingly, "We'd probably get sick of each other." It was true that Moira and Marlene had had quite a hard time spending all of their time together before Hogwarts because they were both rather competitive. They were also rather different; Marlene was booky and Moira was sporty. Ironically, Moira was sorted into Ravenclaw, though anyone who had more than one conversation with Moira would find it more than fitting. Her father called her "precocious," her brother called her "pretentious." She didn't mean to but it seemed she could rarely refrain from using big words or spewing facts. She read a lot of books and things stuck; what else could she talk about? That was not to say that she wasn't capable of coming off as completely normal when she could stop herself from offering up trivia no one cared about. In fact, she never cared much for school and hated tests, which made her a bit of an outcast from her housemates. She often told herself how lucky she was to have Rodger and his friends, as well as Marlene, who she spent most of her free time with. Dave would refer to Moira as an "honorary Gryffindor" as long as it wasn't Quidditch season.

Rodger, Dave, Marlene, and Moira all chatted about last year and this upcoming year and how Gryffindor was going to finally beat Ravenclaw in the Quidditch cup now that Rodger and Dave were Captain and Co-captain respectively. Because she was the only Ravenclaw in the group, Moira kept her arguments purely playful. They realized then that Mr. McKinnon had stopped to talk to two men.

"Merlin! Do you know who that is?" Marlene whispered tugging on Moira's sleeve excitedly.

"That's Ludo Bagman from the Wimbourne Wasps!" Rodger gasped. Not exactly one of their favorite teams, but it was exciting nonetheless. Ludo Bagman was one of the best beaters in the league, hands down. Also, certainly the best looking.

Mr. McKinnon extended his hand to both men. "Rookwood," he said tightly as he shook the hand of a tall man in black wizards' robes, "You know we need to dress like muggles at these events."

"Please," Rookwood said slickly, "I'm not wearing those wretched muggle clothes. Besides with all the other things that happen in the camp grounds I'm hardly worried." Mr. McKinnon didn't respond, but instead turned to Ludo and introduced himself.

"Mr. Bagman, pleasure to meet you!" said Mr. McKinnon with a hearty handshake.

"Pleasure to meet me?" Ludo chuckled, "I should be saying that to you, the Marvelous Mike McKinnon!" Rookwood rolled his eyes at this, but Ludo didn't notice and continued, "The Kestrels haven't seen a season worth mentioning since you retired!" Mr. McKinnon smiled, but went to argue because whether or not he had played for them, the Kenmare Kestrels were his favorite team, however Rodger took this moment to loudly clear his throat from behind Mr. McKinnon.

"Aye! Where are my manners? Rookwood, Bagman, these are my kids, Rodger and Moira, my neice, Marlene, and Rodger's friend, David."

"No need to introduce me!" Bagman said heartily shaking each of the kids' hands. "And I know all about the McKinnon kids! They'll be recruiting you this year, eh lad?" he said to Rodger who smiled wider than you could imagine.

"Yes, sir! We've already had a few teams come to the house to discuss options," Rodger responded.

"Bet the Cannons were the first ones!" Bagman said with a chuckle as Rodger nodded. "They think if they're the first ones with their foot in the door they'll getcha, but you're too good a player for them."

"Thank you! That means a lot, coming from you." Moira looked at her brother with pride to see that he looked like Christmas had come early. She wondered if Bagman had anything to say about her.

"And you, little miss Moira!" So he did. Moira turned to Bagman and smiled softly, hoping for praise on her past racing season, though she knew he was obviously far more into quidditch. "You have taken the racing world by storm, haven't you? Fastest and youngest girl in the ametuer league!"

"Oh. . . well," Moira said, blushing.

"No, no, don't be modest, there are stats to prove it! You should just drop out of school now and join the professional league!" Bagman continued, clapping Moira on the back.

"See, that's what I've been saying!" Moira said laughing, but her father looked displeased.

"She is not dropping out of school," he said seriously. "Her mother would never allow it," he finished with a grin and a wink. "You certainly know a lot about the up and coming athletes, Ludo."

"Look out," said Rookwood, suddenly jumping back into the conversation, "He's after your job."

Mr. McKinnon's eyebrow lifted curiously, but lightheartedly, and Bagman hastily tried to cover his tracks.

"After you retire of course! I still have plenty of quidditch years left in me. Don't want to step on anyone's toes," said Ludo, glaring at Rookwood towards the end. He pushed his yellow hair off his forehead and mentioned something about seeing someone about a bet.

The group headed off to the campgrounds as Mr. McKinnon grumbled about Bagman. "Says he wants to be Head of the DMGS and he's placing bets? Do you know what kind of message that sends?"

"It's alright Dad," Moira said patting his back just as they came upon an empty plot of land with a sign reading: "Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports: McKinnon and Guests." This was Moira's second time at the Quidditch World Cup, the last one had been right after her second year at Hogwarts. The time before that her mother felt she was too young to go to such a big event, which was a shame because that was the year her cousin, Aela, was on the winning team. This year, much like the match eight years ago was between the Irish and American National Teams. Naturally, the McKinnon's were supporting Ireland, but Aela, who was joining them, would be supporting her former team, the American Eagles. Despite the slight rivalry, Moira and Marlene were both very excited to see Aela because she was the only other female cousin on the McKinnon side.

"Alright boys! Let's set up the tent," Mr. McKinnon called to Rodger and Dave who groaned at the same time.

"We can help," Moira responded eagerly.

"No you can't," said Mr. McKinnon, "No magic 'til you're seventeen."

"Why do I even bother?" grumbled Moira. Her and Marlene took this opportunity to walk around the campsite, the match wouldn't start until the next morning so they had the entire day ahead of them. They walked past many old Ministry workers, some with their families, some chatting with co-workers. Moira and Marlene both giggled at their attempts at dressing like muggles. Ever since the two witches started going to the muggle cinema together to watch the "movies," as they were called, they had gotten much better at dressing like muggles. Frankly, they found the style of the day very freeing and hip. Marlene tugged on Moira's long braids, "They seem to be dry, you can probably undo them." Moira did as Marlene instructed and shook her hair loose. Her usually lifeless hair fell in bouncy waves down to the middle of her back.

"How do I look?" Moira asked, combing her fingers through her hair.

"Stellar!" Marlene said with a grin. As much as their personalities always clashed, Marlene and Moira's style differences were even more outrageous. Moira wore a gauzy, embroidered peasant tunic that fell just above her knees, a small denim vest, and brown knee-high moccasins Aela had gotten her from an Indian reserve. Her long, now wild, mousy brown hair matched perfectly with the hippie style she borrowed from all the surfer flicks she watched with Marlene. Marlene, who had always admired muggle models, was far more into the mod style. She used rollers to tame her dark brown curls into the high volume style of the movie stars. She was wearing a vibrant, shapeless, yellow dress with a large white collar and no sleeves. She also wore knee-high boots, but they were white and shiny and squeaked when they rubbed together. Moira felt that she was the more comfortable of the two of them. They wandered out of the VIP campsites into the souvenir venders and food carts. Foods from all over the world swirled together to make a salty-sweet smell that wafted into the campsites, luring in customers. The smell of something wonderfully familiar caught Moira's attention.

"Blimey, hotdogs!" she jogged over to the cart, not caring much if Marlene had followed her. The front of the cart was filled with moving photographs of the American players, and nearly a dozen miniature American flags stuck out of a tin cup that read: "American Flags: 2 Sickles."

"Well, hello ladies, how may I help you?" asked the young man working the cart in a clear American accent. He smiled broadly at Moira and Marlene, but his face dropped when Moira made her order. "Thought you girls were American," he said with a sigh. "I don't think any of them have arrived yet, they usually do the closest portkeys first," he continued as he squeezed mustard onto the two hotdogs. "Enjoy the match girls, and I hope you won't be offended that I don't wish your team wins." He gave the girls a light laugh then went back to his business as they walked back along the venders. There were plenty of gaudy souvenirs for both teams, as well as some old team jerseys sold dirt cheap.

"Think we should get Aela's old jersey?" Marlene said holding the jersey up in front of her. "It's only a galleon!"

"Ugh, even I wouldn't pay that much for it!" said an American from behind Moira. Marlene saw her before Moira even got a chance to turn around.

"Aela!" Marlene and Moira wrapped their arms around their favorite cousin who was dressed in high-waisted jeans and a Boston Black Cats cotton shirt. Dave and Rodger were with her and watched as the girls caught up with each other, astounded at how they could all talk over each other and still understand one another and respond even though there were three different conversations going on.

"Jees look at you two! You're gorgeous young ladies, not those little punks I saw at the last World Cup!"

"How are the Black Cats? I heard everyone got the new Clean Sweeps, I heard they're great, looking into their racing model m'self."

"How's Aunt Maureen and Uncle John? Have you heard the new Morganas' Album? It's brilliant!"

When the chatter died down a bit Rodger cut into the conversations, "Aela got s'mores stuff and Dad made a fire. Wanna head back to camp?" Everyone chatted all the way back to the tent. Moira, Rodger, and Dave prodded Aela for quidditch stories from when she played on the national team, and Marlene tried desperately to keep up with the conversation but all she knew about quidditch was the basic information she remembered from spending too much time with Rodger and Moira. They returned to the campsite to see it was entirely filled with shabby little tents and fires and clothes lines. Some people went a little overboard and put picket fences around their plots and even released a few garden gnomes. Sometimes the World Cup went on for days, weeks, or even months; it wasn't unreasonable to make yourself comfortable considering you might be there for a while. The whole area was split about 50/50 between American dignitaries and members of the Ministry, but there were a few names that Moira didn't recognize.

"Dad, who are all these people? I thought this was the VIP section." As they passed yet another sign that displayed a name, but no title.

"It is," sighed Mr. McKinnon, "Some people can actually afford to buy these tickets."

"Well that would explain what Potter's doing here," said Rodger, just as two dark-haired boys emerged, laughing, from the tent next to theirs.

"Oi! Potter! Black!" Dave called as we approached a tent that was a deep shade of blue and clearly new.

"Hey!" said Sirius Black while he jabbed James Potter in the ribs. James looked up from what he was doing and grinned and the boys greeted each other noisily. Aela went back the the McKinnon's tent, but Marlene and Moira hung around with Dave and Rodger as they caught up with James and Sirius. They were all in the same year, James and Sirius were even in Marlene's house. It would be rude to not, at the very least, say hello. They waited for the boys to stop wrestling or play fighting or whatever it was that they were doing, and Marlene gave a hearty, "Hello!" while Moira gave an awkward wave. Rodger and Dave were much closer with James and Sirius than the girls because they were all on the Gryffindor quidditch team. James and Sirius both gave Marlene a quick hug and offered their hands to Moira, seeing as they had never really talked before. There were only so many kids in their year, so they all knew each others' names, but it still seemed odd not to make formal introductions.

"Hey we're making s'mores, do you guys want to join us?" Rodger offered.

"What the hell are s'mores?" Sirius asked, and James looked just as confused.

"Man, you gotta try this stuff!" Dave said excitedly as he remembered the first time he had ever had a s'more at the last World Cup. "You toast a marshmallow over a fire then put it on a piece of chocolate between two graham crackers. It's sooooo good."

"Uh sure, that sounds cool," Sirius said with a searching glance at Moira, which she didn't understand.

Just as the sun was setting Moira found herself around a campfire with melted marshmallow stuck to her fingers as her dad told one of his best quidditch stories. She was between Rodger and Marlene facing Sirius and James. The story Mr. McKinnon told was the one that ended his career, which was answering one of James's questions. This story had always been Moira's favorite because it was the one in which his parents met.

The Marvelous Mike McKinnon had taken a bludger to the knee. It was his seventh season with the Kenmare Kestrels and they had just brought in a new healer that morning. Mike was nervous when they brought him to the locker room on the stretcher because he trusted the old healer with his life, and he didn't even know the new healer's name. This is when the story gets good, in walks the healer, and she is the most beautiful woman Mike has ever seen. She had eyes the color of a quidditch pitch, and hair like a freshly polished broom. At this point Moira and Rodger would laugh at the fact that their father couldn't think of any better way to describe their mother than by comparing her to quidditch. Her name was Hellen and she was all business. Mike, despite the pain, kept trying to catch her eye. She prodded his knee carefully and started fiddling around with the potions on the cart next to her. After reading what seemed to be every label on every bottle, she brandished her wand and said simply, "This may hurt a little." Before she said the spell she looked up into Mike's face for the first time to give him a reassuring smile, but she was lost in his eyes instead.

"Ended up vanishing all the bones in my knee, instead of fixing it," Mike said with a proud grin, tapping the very knee he spoke of. "Took a whole night and a full bottle of Skele Gro to fix that problem, but I knew with one look I had found the girl of my dreams. It's a rare thing to find, boys, so once you do, hold onto that," Mr. McKinnon finished happily.

Marlene and Moira exchanged a smile as Aela stood up and stretched.

"I'm off to bed, I'm getting too old for this." Dave watched her stand and retreat into the tent as James looked contemplative, watching the stars, and Sirius watched the light of the campfire dance across Moira's features.

"I'm going to turn in too," said Mr. McKinnon, "Rodger, make sure that fire's out before you lot head in, and not too late! We have to get up really early tomorrow."

"Rod, your dad is so cool," Sirius said in awe when they were all left alone.

"Yeah, my dad's nice, but he's kind of boring," James offered.

"Don't say that about Mr. Potter, he's a great man!" Sirius said with a smirk. He was messing with James, but what he said rang true. The Potters had taken Sirius in without a question when he showed up on their front door step a little over a month earlier. Mr. Potter had even run out that day to go get a ticket to the World Cup for Sirius when he realized his stay would probably be permanent.

"So how has the summer been for you two? How are Remus and Peter?" Marlene asked Sirius and James. Sirius looked to James for help, he didn't really want anyone knowing about his situation just yet, and James was always the alibi maker when they would get into trouble.

"Oh, you know, just messing around, not doing too much. Me and Sirius have spent almost the whole summer together-"

"-Naturally," Sirius cut in.

"And erm Remus we've seen a few times, his Mum's still ill, you know, and Petey's been is Spain this whole summer on holiday. He's having a blast, though, sending us letters and all. Apparently going topless on the beach there is very popular."

"What about you lot?" Sirius asked, looking to Moira, but Rodger answered.

"Pretty much the same, hanging out with Dave, thinking about which quidditch team I'll play for."

"I went on holiday to America to visit that Disneyland place. The muggles call it 'the most magical place on Earth' wouldn't they be shocked if they found out about us?" Marlene said with a laugh.

"I've just been studying up on magical law all summer, when I'm not hanging out with these losers," Dave said, pointing a thumb at Moira and Rodger, "dreadfully boring stuff, that is."

"What about you Moira?" Sirius asked, and honestly Moira was surprised he actually remembered her name.

"Er, just a bit of racing," she responded with a shrug.

"Don't be so modest Mor," Dave said. "She's top ranked in the amateur division, she broke her own world record, and professional racing teams want her to drop out of Hogwarts now and race for the pro league," Dave said proudly.

"No kidding!" James said excitedly.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to do it," Moira said a little indignantly.

"She thinks she's rubbish," Rodger said quietly.

"You had the world record and you broke it! How could you be rubbish?" Sirius asked staring at Moira in disbelief.

"Big fish, small pond. I'm not fit for the professionals, I'm just a kid. Maybe in a few more years," said Moira staring into the dying fire. She looked up at the group and made eye contact with Sirius before quickly looking back at the fire. "I'm going to bed, I'm exhausted."

Moira stood and walked to the tent, quickly followed by Marlene, who knew how much Moira hated thinking about her career, especially in the break time between the racing season and school. They stepped into the tent for the first time that night to find the familiar and cozy interior they knew from the last World Cup.

"Well, that was interesting," said Marlene from across the tent as she sifted through her duffel bag, looking for pajamas.

"What was?" asked Moira as she poured milk into two glasses in the tent's kitchenette. She was pretty sure she knew exactly what Marlene meant, but she wanted to hear her say it.

"Spending time with James Potter and Sirius Black. Was it just me or did Sirius keep staring at you?" Marlene said just before pulling closed the curtain that blocked the entrance to the bunk room. Moira stopped, halfway through twisting the cap back on the milk. She thought she had been imagining that.

"I kind of noticed too," she said slowly. The curtain opened again and Marlene stepped out in a flowery nightgown.

"Maybe he liiiikes you," Marlene teased as she sat and reached for one of the glasses of milk.

"Doubtful," Moira replied flatly. Yet, she couldn't help but hope Marlene was right.

Thanks for reading :)

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mayzie