A/N: This is your typical L/J, RL/OC, SB/OC fic, though I will not tell which OC goes with which Marauder. That's a surprise. This is also RL/NT, because there are two time frames. The start of every chapter is 1997, and after that comes the 1977 time frame.

The OCs aren't Sues… at least, I don't think they are. They are pretty much based on me (Kristie) and my darling beta Ashantelle. Ash isn't really French, though, and I am not Italian. I've always wanted to be Italian, though. pouts

Thanks much to Ashantelle for beta-ing. Please read her fic; it's entitled "Loving You", and you can find that on my favorites list.

Please read and review. I want at least 5 reviews before I post the next chapter. Reviewers get cookies and rubber duckies. Ü

Kristie

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Chapter 1

1997, a teashop somewhere in Diagon Alley

Remus Lupin sat at the table of the small and cozy teashop. He swirled the dregs of his tea and sighed. He was about to meet someone he hadn't seen for seventeen years. He took a bite of his stone-cold raisin scone and sighed once more. It wasn't that he didn't miss her; in fact, she was one of his closest and dearest friends. However, seeing her again would make him remember things that he would rather have forgotten.

He glanced up when he heard the clicking of heels on the parquet floor. He smiled as he saw Ashantelle Bardeau enter the teashop. She gave Remus a quick hug before sitting on the vacant chair. She looked just like she did when they were twenty, though slightly more tired-looking. Her dark hair was still as long and black as ever. When she took off her glasses and put them in the pocket of her expensive-looking suit (which suddenly made Remus feel uncomfortably shabby), her eyes were still as expressive as ever.

"It's been quite a while, ne?" she said, smiling a bit.

"Yep. It really has," Remus replied, also smiling slightly. He was surprised at how awkward they were; they used to be the closest of friends. "How was France?" he asked her, making an awful stab at conversation.

"Oh, the same. I'm enjoying my work."

"What do you do?"

"I'm now a designer for Muggle fashion. Don't tell me it's a complete waste of magical talent, Remus. You know there's probably no place for me here."

Remus was about to say just that, but instead asked her, "Well, what else is in France?"

"Like I said, it's the same. Full of French people."

"Like you?"

"Yeah. Like me."

"Sirius used to call you French Fry, right?"

"He did. And I would strangle him every time."

"Yet he lived to tell the tale every time he returned to the dormitory."

There was a pregnant pause. Neither wanted to continue discussing Sirius; his death was horribly painful for them both. Remus took a swig of tea and tried not to make a face; he had forgotten that only the dregs remained.

"So…" she said softly.

"So…" he said in the same manner.

"I brought a few things from our Hogwarts days, mostly from our seventh year," she said, fiddling with the clasp of the large black handbag she was carrying. She pulled out a couple of photos, worn with age. Remus looked at them and smiled sadly. There were three teenage girls on Platform 9 ¾, smiling brightly. Two of them were already dead.

1977, Platform 9 ¾

Lily's P.O.V.

I fiddle with my Head Girl Badge and wait for my two friends to come. I came a bit earlier than usual, but that is because I am really nervous. Me? Head Girl? Though I like the power, I am completely horrified of the responsibility.

I am shaken from my thoughts when I spot two tall girls coming my way. Damn my short-ness. Damn their tall-ness.

The first is skipping and yells "Good morning, Sunshine!" when she reaches me. She is tall (mentioned that already), has the body frame of a lamp post (her words, not mine; she describes herself in the most unflattering ways sometimes), has porcelain skin and raven ringlets that go past her shoulder. This is Kristiana Amanpour, one of my best friends.

One would wonder why Kristie and I are best friends. She is like Potter and Black sent running through Zonko's with a ton of sugar in their bodies. Actually, she is a female version of Potter and Black, minus the pranking. I guess that's what makes me more tolerant of her; though she can be a bit boisterous and rather overconfident at times, she doesn't really do any harm. She is also rather affectionate, always giving hugs around. She also likes spoiling people, refusing to let them pay their share of the bill when eating out, and giving them really pricey gifts during Christmas and birthdays, despite protests. Though at times a bit rash and over reactive, when push comes to shove, she can be a fiercely loyal friend.

My other friend's greeting is a bit tamer. She gives me a hug and asks how my summer was. She is tall (mentioned that), has the loveliest brown eyes ever, a lean athletic build to die for (which came with her being on the Quidditch team) and long thick dark hair. This is Ashantelle Bardeau, my other best friend.

Ash and I are completely alike. She's like me, minus the red hair and the temper that comes along with it. She's a feminist, very confident yet not conceited. She's a good conversationalist and very reliable. A good quality of hers that I don't have is her ability to adjust. She might hate the pranking of Potter and company as much as I do, but she somehow learned to tolerate them. Sure, she isn't all matey with them, but she's certainly not seen yelling at them all the time. One more thing I like about her is the fact that she has everyone's respect, and she didn't gain it through yelling at everyone. I like that. I like that a lot.

Another thing about Ash is that she's completely Quidditch obsessed. Well, maybe not completely obsessed, but she's on the team and very much into the sport. Actually, I'm the only one amongst the three of us who isn't too keen on the sport. I watch it because of Ash, but I spend half the time closing my eyes because of my fear of extreme height.

Ash is also part-French, though she doesn't have the accent. She's lived in England all her life, though occasionally she goes to France over the summer. Kristie, on the other hand, is Italian, and she too doesn't have the accent.

"My summer was fine. How was yours?" I ask Ash, wondering if she went to France again.

"Crazy. Kristie and I went around Asia. We spent two weeks in Hong Kong, stayed four days and three nights in Singapore, spent a week in Japan, stayed for two days in Malaysia, and stayed for slightly less than a month in the Philippines," she replies.

"What's so crazy about that? The traveling?" I ask, slightly envious of the vacation they enjoyed. I spent my vacation with Petunia, The World's Greatest Whine Queen and Witch Hater Extraordinaire.

"The traveling wasn't the crazy part," Kristie says. "It was enduring my noise for about two months." I laugh as she says this. I can only imagine what Ash had undergone.

"You made me lose my sanity the moment we got on the plane!"

"But you love me for that, don't you?" Kristie says in a perky way.

Ash sighs and rolls her eyes. "Yes, Kristie. As much as you annoyed the hell out of me and woke me up freakishly early in the morning every single day of our vacation, I still love you."

"Yay! I'm loved."

This is a normal conversation with Kristie when outside with other people. Though she is really a deep person, around other people, she is a bubbly social being. I've seen her deep side, though, and she's sometimes deeper than Ashantelle and I combined. Although I prefer her serious self to her bubbly façade, there would probably be no fun in our lives if all three of us were serious. Life would be monotonous, consisting of only stacks of books and mugs of coffee.

I love my friends a lot. They're more like my sisters than Petunia will ever be. I don't know what I'd do without them, and I don't know how I would have survived six years of Potter and company without them. Mum always tells me how lucky I am to have such good friends whenever I tell her about them. She's right; though our friendship isn't perfect, it's wonderful, and it's one of the many things for which I'm grateful.