Hokay, so. I'm relatively new to the whole fan fiction thing, and this is my first ever Harry Potter story. I absolutely love anything and everything to do with the Marauders' era-- I just think JKR did a phenomenal job coming up with a solid story line that can still leave a lot to the imagination :) As with just about everything I write, I added in my own main character to the mix-- someone who goes way back with Sirius and starts harboring certain feelings for everyone's favorite lycanthrope (there's a word you don't use too often).

Despite what the first chapter or so may lead you to believe, the story's gonna take place in the Marauders' 6th year.

Oh, and oooobviously I don't own any of the characters you recognize. That would be JK Rowling, aka who I want to be (if and) when I grow up.


Brand New Day

[August 31st, 1971]

Margaux Estelle Dupont, known as Stella to most of the world, wound up to bat as the late summer sun began to set. Stella and her best friend Sirius were escaping her parents' party at their expansive summer home in England. The party was celebrating her oldest brother Henry's promotion at the Ministry, her middle brother Pierre becoming a Prefect, and her going off to Hogwarts for the first time this September.

All their family friends had been invited, which mostly included various members of the Black family plus important ministry officials, and the party had taken a decidedly political turn. Everyone began discussing their favorite topic—the concept of Muggles being accepted into the wizarding world as regular wizards. Once Stella heard the term "mudbloods," she signaled to Sirius that it was time to get out of there.

Sirius was attempting to instruct her and Regulus, his younger brother, on how to play the Muggle game he had been watching the neighbor boys play from his window at home. It involved a stick and a hard ball, and apparently the aim was to hit the ball as hard as you could with the stick. Stella was quite good at it, as she was at just about every athletic activity, and found it was a lot like playing Beater in Quidditch. Except, of course, no broomsticks.

Regulus had long since given up playing, whining that she and Sirius weren't playing fair by making him go after the balls they would hit far into the forest. He had threatened to rat them out for playing a Muggle sport until Sirius had said that it was only because they were older that Regulus had the responsibility to run after every single ball Margaux would hit as if his life depended on it. Once Regulus was old enough to go to Hogwarts, he could play like them, Sirius had assured him.

The trio was in a far corner of her yard when they heard Margaux's mother calling out to them.

"Margaux Estelle! Viens ici! Sirius and Regulus, you too! Time to eat!"

"Nous venons, mère!"

All three rushed to put their nice shoes back on, and Sirius and Stella were still brushing off their dress robes when Regulus started trotting obediently toward the tent where the large party had gathered. Sirius rolled his eyes at his brother's retreating back.

Lanterns had been lit and were magically hanging at various points in the magical tent which covered a good portion of the yard. It was quite pretty. Someone had been hired to play the piano throughout the entire evening, and Margaux couldn't help feeling sorry for the man. Although she loved music and had aspirations of becoming a rock star (much to the chagrin of her parents, who claimed it wasn't a proper profession for a young woman of her stature), his fingers had to have been hurting him by now.

Judging by the man's appearance, she very much doubted he would have been the kind of person to enjoy this kind of party. He seemed more laid-back, like the young people she had seen in France the one time she had been to visit her grandmother this spring. She was shocked by how very little of the world she and Sirius had seen after being sheltered by their parents their entire lives. It was in France, from one of her grandmother's friends, that she learned the term "mudblood" was offensive. She suspected there was a lot more to learn about the world than what little her parents had told her.

She and Sirius were sitting across from each other, both next to their mothers. As the first course was being served, she exchanged an exasperated look with him as none of their table had stopped the political talk. Glancing longingly behind her at the second table, she wished she had been placed there. Sirius' cousin Andromeda had made a rare appearance, most likely because she was friends with Henry, and they seemed to be having a much better time there. Most of Henry and Pierre's friends from school were at that table as well, and they all seemed to be enjoying a joke someone told.

That was when she noticed the piano player watching her. His robes were worn, and he seemed extremely skinny. However, there was something about the way he was playing that was unlike any other musician she had ever seen before. He was truly part of the music, she felt. His hair was longer, and unkempt. It kept falling into his face. Her father and all the men she had ever seen had either short hair, or long hair that was always neatly pulled back. As he finished the piece he was playing, he looked up at her and winked, smiling a true smile before playing yet another song. She blushed, and turned back to her plate.

"Maman," she whispered at her mother's shoulder. She was always intimidated from talking too loudly at her parents' dinners. "Maman, is that man going to eat at all?"

"Which man, ma cherie?"

"The man playing the piano. He looks hungry. And he must be tired from playing for so long."

"Darling, that man is different from us. We're doing him a service by hiring him to play tonight, just as we do the elves we have in the house. We've been over this time and time again, darling. But you see, that is what happens when you waste your talent by trying to become a musician instead of listening to your parents. You cannot afford to eat. Maybe he can bring home whatever we have leftover, would that make you feel better? Stop staring, now."

Stella put her hands in her lap, and tried to give her full attention to her food. She seriously doubted whether the reason he couldn't afford to eat was because he didn't listen to his parents, but she wasn't about to say that.

"Maman."

"Oui, ma fille."

"Why can't he afford to eat? Food isn't very expensive, is it?"

"Ah, Margaux, tant des questions!" Stella could tell when her mother was trying not to get exasperated with her because she would always switch to French, and her French accent would suddenly thicken as the words rushed out of her mouth. "I don't know anything about that man's life. Just be grateful that you are eating well tonight. I am sure he is where he is because he made his own decisions. Do not worry about him."

The note of finality made Stella realize her questions were done being answered for the rest of the evening. She resigned herself to stealing looks at the man, while pretending to be paying attention to the rest of the table. After dessert and a brief toast by her father to his children (mainly his sons, she noticed), their guests finally started to leave, some wishing her luck before they departed.

Sirius was edging his way through the well-wishers, and Stella was wondering absently whether they could finish their game before he had to leave. She was about to ask him when she was interrupted.

"Well, Margaux, my dear, are you excited for Hogwarts tomorrow?"

A portly man, who she noticed had been sweating through most of dinner despite the cool night air, approached where she and Sirius were attempting to hide. She thought this must be Professor Slughorn, the jovial Professor her brothers had both made jokes about during their school breaks. Stella was fairly certain he was responsible for her brother Henry being promoted this summer, and wondered why her brothers would make fun of a man who was nice enough to do something like that.

"Yes, sir, I am, thank you."

She stood up straight and put her arms behind her back, trying to be polite and ladylike, like her mother had always pressured her to be. Sirius smirked as she abruptly changed posture.

"I must say, your brothers have set quite an example for you to follow at school. Any idea which house you'd like to be in?"

Her oldest brother had been sorted into Ravenclaw, like her mother had been, but her middle brother had been placed in Slytherin like the rest of their family friends. If her father had gone to school at Hogwarts instead of Durmstrang, she suspected he would be a Slytherin as well.

"I'll be happy wherever I'm placed, sir."

Another smirk from Sirius, who she had just been commiserating with earlier in the evening about how miserable they'd both be if they were stuck in Slytherin.

"Ah, how very diplomatic. Your father must be pleased. Selfishly I must say I hope that you're put in Slytherin." He winked at her, as if he was letting her in on a secret. "I'm head of house, and I would very much like to see the both of you at my table tomorrow evening. How does that sound, Sirius? Care to join Narcissa and Bellatrix?"

Professor Slughorn was smiling, and she assumed he was only trying to be friendly.

"I would rather die, sir."

Sirius was smiling as charmingly as ever, and Stella couldn't keep herself from snorting at the crestfallen look on the professor's face as he realized the disconnect between what Sirius had just said and his outwardly expression. Luckily, the professor was quickly intercepted by Stella's mother and led away before he could comment.

"You really shouldn't have said that, Seer." Stella reprimanded her friend once they were out of earshot.

"Why not? It's better than the 'I'll be happy wherever I'm placed' crap that you came up with. At least I meant what I said."

"Don't say crap. And maybe I did mean what I said."

"Give me a break. We both know how miserable you'd be in Slytherin. You'd be a sheep, just like the rest of our families. You don't really believe in all that pureblood stuff they shove down our throats, do you?"

Truthfully, she didn't. At the same time, she couldn't help but worry what would happen between her and Sirius if she did get placed in Slytherin, versus what would happen with her and the rest of her family if she didn't.

"Seer? Can you promise me something?"

"Hmm?"

"Even if something horrible happens, and the Sorting Hat separates us or puts me in Slytherin, will you still promise to be my friend?"

"The daft hat is not going to put you in Slytherin."

"You can't know that. Tell me you'll at least still be my friend."

"Well, I can't promise anything. When I have several hot, older, Muggle-born girls vying for my affection, I don't want you ruining my reputation."

Stella smacked him hard, hoping her parents didn't notice.

"Sirius!" She hissed at him, once she was sure she had slipped under their radar.

"Ow!"

He pretended to be hurt and nurse his arm, but at the same time, he couldn't stop himself from laughing at the expression on her face.

"Fine, fine, you know I was joking with you. But seriously," he smirked, enjoying the pun on his name that never got old with him and the inevitable eye roll that he received. "Of course I'll be your friend. As long as you don't like being a Slytherin and you never stop making fun of Bella or Cissy with me, we can still be friends."

"You promise?"

"Of course. Who else is going to keep me company at these kinds of things once Andromeda gets herself blasted off the family tree?"

"No one," she agreed. "Not even Regulus, once he wizens up."

"See? You're my best friend, Stella. And you're the only one that puts up with me. You probably couldn't keep me away if you tried. Now stop worrying. Hogwarts isn't going to know what to do with us."

"That's what I'm worried about," she said, mostly to herself, as she imagined what her first day would be like tomorrow.

Almost 24 hours later, Stella bounced gleefully in her seat next to Sirius at their new house's table. She was half expecting someone, anyone, to come running up and tell her it was all a joke that the two of them had been placed in Gryffindor. Until then, she and Sirius would revel in the death stares being shot at them from their relatives at the Slytherin table, as well as the stares of random students who were shocked that a Black and a Dupont had just been sorted into Gryffindor.

To be frank, the threat of being disowned from her family wasn't nearly as threatening here, hundreds of miles away from her parents (especially her father). She expected a howler from him tomorrow morning courtesy of her snitch of a brother, but under the presence of the enchanted ceiling and comforting blue-eyed smile of the Headmaster, she felt completely safe.

On the train ride up, she had made friends with a half-blood, several Muggleborns who had never even heard of Hogwarts before, and a handful of purebloods whose surnames she recognized from her father's diatribe every morning after reading the Daily Prophet. A vivacious red-headed Muggleborn girl she met on the train (Lily, she thought) plopped down next to her and gave her a big, friendly grin. Rebellion never seemed so much fun, and she knew that she and Sirius were in for the greatest seven years of their lives.