Disclaimer: Harry Potter (c) J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement intended.
AN:This fanfic was originally going to be about another OC of mine, but because she was in Harry's era and his friend she pretty much does the same things as the trio (ya know, Horcrux hunting and stuff). So because it would take forever to write that (and it would be kinda pushing my luck by taking Jo's work and just shoving extras into it), I decided to write about someone close to the original OC, a relative in fact. I am sticking to canon closely, however a few things will change later on...not gonna say what though. There will be pairings, but later on and you'll have to wait and see. This WILL get M-rated because it'll get more violent with some sexual themes. For now, it's just the swearing.
P.S. If I have made any grammar or spelling mistakes let me apologise. I HATE using bad grammar and spelling so if you see any mistakes, please, tell me and I'll edit it. I did check it before and noticed some, but, hey, I get lazy too. :P
CHAPTER 1
TABULA RASA
September 1st 1977
King's Cross was busier than usual today; though no ordinary person could ever fathom why. It wasn't that they didn't notice the strangeness around them: the curiously dressed people with old-fashioned trunks; the caged nocturnal birds - it was the fact that they thought it impolite to stare. It wasn't the British way to be side-tracked by such things; instead one was to keep one's nose firmly out of other people's business. So, it was unsurprising to sixteen-year-old Dianne Stokes that she found she could make her way to the space between platforms 9 and 10 with minimal attention, even with her pain-in-the-backside of an owl, Cerridwen, flapping around in her cage, almost knocking the heavy trunk off of the trolley she was pushing.
As she reached the archway between the platforms, Dianne lined herself up to face the wall that only wizards and witches would know was the gateway to Platform 9 ¾. Despite having done this for five years straight, she could never get over her nervousness of what she had to do next. Dianne had always thought it seemed like a great, big middle finger to her instincts having to run at a brick wall - her gut always yelling at her to stop before it was too late, before she became a bloody mess against the brickwork.
"Right, Di, you go first. Abigail will be right behind you," said Dianne's mother, a petite woman with greying brown hair. Dianne stole a look at her sister who was standing by their father, her fingers waggling through the bars of her cat's cage, trying in vain to comfort the hissing beast.
Dianne took a deep breath and started a slow trot towards the wall, picking up the pace the closer she got. She was panting as she shoved the heavy weight in front of her, trying to gain speed whilst keep control of the trolley. She was less than a metre from the wall. This was it, she thought, the part where every nerve in her being would be screaming Stop! Stop! She screwed her eyes shut as her trolley connected with the wall…then passed through it.
She knew she had made it before she had even opened her eyes. For one thing, she wasn't in agony. Secondly, she could hear the familiar clamour of the platform: the children talking excitedly, telling each other what they had done over summer; the parents asking their kids if they had remembered everything or reminding them of last minute things.
"Come on then," said the gentle voice of her sister beside her, "don't want to be late now, do we?"
Dianne glared at her sister's back through the crowd as they finally made their way to the burgundy steam engine. After managing to load their luggage onto the train, without any assistance, Dianne noted with pride, both girls exited the train to say goodbye to their parents.
"Now remember," said their mum as she gave each of them a bone-crushing hug, "pay attention in class and study hard, but not too hard. Don't want to be having a nervous breakdown. Just have fun and enjoy yourselves, but not too much fun. Don't want to be failing your exams."
"Isla, only you can use that many contradictions in one sentence," said their dad as he released Abigail, who, after waving a final goodbye, bounded back onto the train, and pulled Dianne towards him.
She clung to him, breathing in the smell of pipe tobacco and peppermint – a smell she had always associated with him. "I'll miss you, dad."
"Not as much as I'll miss you, Di." He pulled away and held her at arms length, taking a good look at her with his ice-blue eyes. Dianne had always admired her dad's eyes; they reminded her of crystal or diamond. She had been unfortunate enough to inherit her mother's muddy-brown eyes and hair. It had been Abigail that was the lucky one when it came down to looks, Dianne thought.
Just then the train's whistle blew and the doors to the carriages started to slam shut by themselves. Giving her dad a last peck on the cheek, she leapt onto the train. She made sure to stand there waving out of the door until both Isla and Martin Stokes were but dots growing fainter still as the train sped away from the station.
Dianne made her way back to her compartment and slid the door shut. She pulled the blinds down over the glass door and leant her head on its cool, hard surface. She sighed; glad to be alone with her thoughts at last.
"Why hullo there," said a voice from behind her.
Dianne yelped and spun around. Sitting in the seats by the window were three girls. The one by the window, the one who had spoken, had tightly curled blonde hair that was tied back from her face with a red and gold tie. She was looking at Dianne with a bemused expression. Dianne knew who she was instantly and relaxed. It was just her roommate, friend and fellow Gryffindor, Annabelle Phipps.
"Whatever is the matter, Dianne?" said the girl beside Annabelle. This girl looked the complete opposite of the girl she shared the seat with. Whilst Annabelle was blonde and tanned, this girl was pale and had hair as black as ink with dark eyes to match. She too was Dianne's other Gryffindor roommate, Mhairi Campbell.
Dianne chuckled as she took the remaining seat next to the girl with short brown hair and freckles called Lucinda Gordon - or Lucy as she preferred. "Nothing's up with me. You just scared the crap out of me, that's all."
Annabelle smirked. "Just remember to clean yourself up before coming anywhere near me, sweetheart."
"Oh, ha ha," Dianne rolled her eyes before turning to Lucy. "How was summer?"
"Great," she said, although her voice held a twinge of annoyance, "if you like spending three weeks in the middle of nowhere dog-sitting for your useless cousin, Bertha."
The others laughed whilst Mhairi leant forward to pat her on the hand consolingly. "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who had a fairly pathetic summer," she said. "I went to Paris—"
"Well that doesn't sound 'pathetic'!" interrupted Dianne with a look of confusion.
Mhairi sighed. "No, that wasn't the bad part. It was what happened whilst I was in Paris. All I wanted to do was see the sights with my family and sketch 'til my heart's content, but no. It seemed the Parisian boys had other things planned."
Annabelle looked at Mhairi, her eyebrows furrowing together. "You mean you're saying your summer was awful because you had a heap of men falling about for you?"
Mhairi nodded dejectedly. "Yes," she said, "it was truly awful. And just so you know, they were not men, just mere boys."
The other three shared looks of amusement mixed with exasperation. Typical Mhairi, thinking male attention was a fate worse than death. Although, looking at Mhairi now, Dianne wasn't really surprised by the fact that she was so admired by the male populace as of late. She has really blossomed over summer. Her body had filled out creating curves in all the places a woman should have curves. It just seemed to remind Dianne of how much she was lacking in the boob-and-hip department.
"Aha!" exclaimed Annabelle drawing Dianne out of her reverie. "It's a new school year, so you know what that means," she said as she dug a brightly coloured notebook out of her bag and dangled it in front of them.
Dianne, Mhairi groaned in unison and Lucy put her head on the table, mumbling something that sounded like "Merlin's balls".
"Do we really have to?" said Dianne, grimacing. "I don't know how many more resolutions I can keep breaking."
"Must be nearing a world record now," said Lucy as she rubbed her temples.
Annabelle wagged her finger at the sulking Gryffindors. "Come on, guys! It's tradition. We've been doing this since 2nd year. That's four years of resolutions!"
"Yes, and if you ask me," said Mhairi, "it's been four years too long."
Lucy laughed whilst Dianne leant across the table to give Mhairi a high-five.
Annabelle threw Mhairi a deadly look and continued. "Okay, guys, how about I start? Remember, we each pick a resolution that we must all try to achieve this year." She flipped open her notebook, found an empty page and pulled out a quill. "Okay. Number one: we must all try out for the quidditch team this year."
Annabelle looked up at her friends once she was finished writing. They all wore identical expressions of horror.
"For the love of Merlin, no!" whined Mhairi. "I can barely fly let alone play quidditch!"
Dianne's and Lucy's protestations merged with that of Mhairi's to create nonsensical babble that rather sounded like a bunch of seagulls. Annabelle held up her hand with a steely look on her face. "Enough! You all let me pick first, and I have picked. I am not the world's greatest flyer either, but I am willing to embarrass myself if it means doing something new and exciting this year."
The other girls looked sceptical but let her continue. "So, Mhairi, you're next."
Mhairi looked around and spluttered, obviously still upset about quidditchgate, but soon regained her graceful composure. "Alright, my resolution is that we must all join the Tutoring Club."
"WHAT!" shouted Annabelle. She stood up and smacked her hands off the table making a painful thwack sound. "You can't force us to join your club! You can't possibly make us teach snotty-nosed brats, most of which are Slytherins," she spat their rival house's name as if it were poison on her tongue.
"It's my choice, and I have chosen it! Anyway, it'll be worth the sacrifice because it'll be new and exciting," said Mhairi, using the same words as Annabelle had in a mocking tone. Annabelle stared at Mhairi long and hard, making Dianne wonder who was going to break first. As it turned out, it was Annabelle who broke.
"Fine," she mumbled as she harrumphed down into her seat and scribbled the next resolution down on the page. "Lucy. Next."
"Number three: we must all pull as many pranks as we can this year."
Mhairi flinched, blatantly scared of the idea of her pristine reputation being tarnished, especially now as she was a Prefect along with Dianne. Dianne, herself, didn't mind the idea of letting loose and being bad for a change. Back in her first year at Hogwarts she had been a taddle-tale geek – complete with glasses and braces too. "And last, but definitely not least, Di."
Dianne thought for a minute, really thinking about what she wanted to try and achieve this year. She knew she wasn't going to be able to play quidditch or tutor kids well (although getting a detention with Filch would be a piece of cauldron cake), so she wanted her own resolution to mean something to her. Then it came to her, as quickly as flicking on a light switch. "Got it," her eyes were wide and bright. "This year we should try and get as many boys as we can."
"That," said Annabelle, her voice merely a whisper, "is a brilliant resolution." She beamed at Dianne, which made Dianne laugh. Of course this resolution would please Annabelle…
Lucy looked at Dianne, one eyebrow raised. "Define 'get'. You mean snogs or boyfriends or…?" Her sentence trailed off as she blushed.
"Shags. Definitely shags." Annabelle said as she manically scribbled the resolution into the notebook.
"Whichever you deem appropriate, I think. It's entirely up to us, individually I mean." Dianne said.
Mhairi snorted and crossed her arms. "Could you have picked a more awkward resolution for me, Dianne?"
"Oi," said Annabelle, pointing her quill at Mhairi in a threatening manner, "if you can put us up to that god-awful club, then she can put us up to getting some action. Anyway, after the social-suicide of the Tutoring Club we may need to save our reputation somehow, even if it means—"
Just then the trolley lady opened the door. Looking at the piles wondrous confectionery for sale, the topic of resolutions went out of the window
Hours passed and, having succeeded in eating their body weight in chocolate, were returning to their compartment from changing into their school robes in the girls' lavatory. It was just as they passed an empty compartment which, Dianne noticed, contained Abigail's trunk that Mhairi suddenly swore under her breath and slapped a hand to her forehead.
Dianne turned in shock whilst Lucy and Annabelle looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Mhairi Campbell never swore, so it came as quite a surprise, and a concern, to hear her lose her composure in such a way.
"What's up?" Annabelle said, darting toward Mhairi, her wand grasped in her hand.
"I just remembered that we forgot to go to the Prefects' compartment! We're going to lose our badges, aren't we?" Mhairi's eyes were worried as she looked at them.
Dianne's heart sank with sudden realisation. Mhairi was right, they hadn't reported immediately to the Prefects' compartment and now they had just spent half the journey doing sod all.
"Oh," said Annabelle, looking slightly dejected as she stowed her wand in her robes.
"No, we won't. We'll just head there now and see if anyone's still hanging about. Plus, Abigail is a Prefect and she's not back yet. Look," said Dianne, pointing to the empty compartment beside them, "if she's anywhere I bet she's with Lily Evans in the Prefects' compartment."
Mhairi nodded and proceeded to follow Dianne in the direction of the place they were supposed to have been hours before, hoping that she would not have to endure the disgrace of having her badge confiscated.
The compartment was still crowded with people by the time Dianne and Mhairi arrived. They both looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief. At least they hadn't missed the meeting entirely. Although as they entered the room, Dianne noticed that it didn't really seem like a meeting. The crowd jostled impatiently as people moved around and the loud hum of voices sounded like a hive of bees. As Dianne followed the flow of the crowd she heard a small, ginger Ravenclaw complain to a tall boy also from Ravenclaw. "Can you believe it? We've been waiting here hours!"
"Yeah," said the boy, a sour look on his face, "this is just typical Gryffindor behaviour, them all swaggering in at the last minute. They might be brave, but they are not the sharpest tools in the shed, I'll tell you that."
The girl nodded in agreement. "This is just bad organisational skills on Evans' part. Maybe she's not so perfect after all."
Evans? That snapped Dianne out of her eavesdropping. Could they mean Lily? Had Lily made Head Girl? Why had these people been waiting for so long? Had something happened? Dianne needed some answers and fast. Elbowing mercilessly, ignoring the sounds of indignation as she went, she dragged Mhairi deeper into the crowd, looking for someone, anyone she knew.
Near the centre of the swarming clump of people, Dianne saw a 7th year Gryffindor girl she recognised. The girl was small and blonde with a round, friendly face which broke out into a smile when she saw Dianne. "Alice!"
Alice pushed her way to Dianne and gave her a quick hug. "Hey, have you just arrived? I never saw you when you came in."
Mhairi moved forward so that she could see past Dianne's shoulder. "Yes, we forgot, sorry. We're not too late are we?"
"No, haven't missed a thing," said Alice, shaking her head. "In fact, you're not the only ones who have seemed to have forgotten. Head Boy has decided to do a no-show, although we have pinned him down to being a Gryffindor. You know, they try to keep the Heads from the same house if they can."
"The Head Boy's not here yet?" exclaimed Dianne over the din. "Oh, hey, I heard something about Evans being…ugh…worried," she lied quickly, not being able to bring herself to repeat the nasty words the Ravenclaws had said. "Did Lily make Head Girl then?"
Alice smiled her kind smile again. "Yeah, she did. Ecstatic about it too until this happened. And, bah, 'worried'? Furious is the word I'd use." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder but didn't bother to look round.
In the centre of the turmoil, just behind Alice, was Lily Evans. Her dark-red hair was slightly dishevelled, her bright-green eyes narrowed but blazing in quiet fury. She stood still on the spot with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot repeatedly on the floor. Dianne felt sorry in that instant for whoever was Head Boy.
Suddenly the crowd seemed to split in two creating a path way that lead right to the centre of the room. There, at the door of the compartment, were the two 7th year Gryffindors, Remus Lupin and James Potter. Lupin had his hands tucked into his shabby, worn robes and he looked at James, who had his arms held high above his head with a smug look on his face, with a suppressed smile. The crowd watched, most people in awe, few in irritation, as James swaggered towards the centre of the room, flanked by his friend. Fleetingly, Dianne thought about Moses parting the Red Sea.
As the boys walked past her, Dianne could see that James, his glasses perched atop his handsome head of messy-dark hair, was wearing a shiny badge that bore the words 'Head Boy' on it. Dianne's pity for the mysterious Head Boy vanished instantly. Lily had her outright permission to treat him to a severe Bat-Bogey Hex; in fact, she could have it in writing, just for clarification.
"Evans, my dear," said Potter in a husky voice as he ran his hands through his hair, "I hope I haven't kept you waiting."
Lily no longer looked angry. Her mouth was open slightly; her hands limp by her sides, and her lovely eyes wide with shock and confusion. "This," she said slowly, "isn't happening to me. This is a joke. One of your stupid jokes, right?" She covered her face with her hands and seemed to be whispering to herself, something along the lines of "…Not happening…just a dream…Wake up."
Potter leant down so his face was level with Lily's. Dianne thought he was going to kiss her at first but he stopped as she peeked through her fingers. "Hello."
As quick as a flash, Lily lashed out at him, her right hand making a swing for his cheek. It would've been a good, hard slap too if Potter hadn't been so quick to move, his quidditch reflexes coming into action.
"Whoa, Evans!" he said as he backed away from her, the shock clear on his face and his hands raised in front of him. He obviously hadn't been expecting her to react like this to his little show. "Watch the face. You can't buy looks like this," he gestured to himself before trying to evade another slap from Lily. This time he wasn't as lucky as her hand smacked across his shoulder.
"I could kill you, James Potter!" she shrieked, pushing him away from her. "Do you have any idea how long these people have waited here for you? And you saunter in here like some sort of God. Who does that?" She made to push him again but he caught her wrists and pushed her hands to her sides, holding her in his rigid grip.
"Okay, Lily, you need to calm down, right now," he said, leaning against her to stop her from kicking him. "People are beginning to stare."
He was right, everyone was staring, but not because of Lily's outburst, but because of how close Lily and Potter actually were. His face was only inches from hers, his hazel eyes pleading her to see reason, both their chests rising and falling in heavy breaths. It would've looked romantic if he hadn't been such a twat, Dianne thought. Everyone looked on to see how this would end. Were they going to kiss? Or was she going to knee him in the nuts and get it over with?
Lily sighed and looked away from Potter's gaze. "Let go of me, please."
He did as she asked and watched her with soft eyes as she disengaged from him, straightening herself out and clearing her throat.
"So, now that His Royal Highness has decide to show," she broke off as a number of people, including Dianne, Alice and Lupin, laughed, "I — I mean we — can inform you all of your duties as Prefects."
Once Lily had gone through listing out the numerous duties and responsibilities of being a Prefect, she allowed people to go. The room started to clear pretty damn quickly, Dianne noted, as people rushed to leave, obviously desperate to get out of the room they were trapped in for hours on end.
She approached Lily, who had been joined by Alice in conversing with Potter and Lupin. Just then a voice broke out above the noise of the vacating students. "Lily! Lily, we know who he is! Head Boy! You'll never guess! It's—" The owner of the voice, Dianne's sister, Abigail, stopped once she entered the room. "Oh," she said downhearted, "he's here."
Lily crossed her arms and turned to look at Potter with a scowl. "He took his time though."
"What happened to you anyway?" said Alice, looking at Abigail with a raised eyebrow. "You went searching ages ago."
Abigail walked over to them, her brown-wavy hair bouncing with each step. A few boys who were waiting to leave the room turned to look at her as she passed with dreamy looks on their faces. That was the usual male behaviour around Abigail though, acting as if she was a Veela. Dianne had grown used to it over the years and had come to accept that she would always be the "uglier sister".
"Well, after interrogating most of the train I finally bumped into Marly who was with Sirius and Peter," said Abigail, "and, naturally, they were curious as to why I wasn't here. So I told them what had happened, and that's when Sirius came out and said that James was Head Boy and that he and Remus had left hours before."
Mhairi turned in confusion to Lupin and Potter. "You left hours before? Dianne and I completely forgot about this meeting and still made it here before you. What took you so long?"
"A good question," interjected Lily, a sceptical look on her face. "I'm not surprised Potter would pull a stunt like this, but you, Remus," she said shaking her head, "I expected better from you."
"We had a minor run-in with a couple of Slytherins, that's all," he said to Lily in a calm voice. He turned to Mhairi and smiled. He had a nice face, Dianne thought. Not strikingly handsome like Potter, but somewhat more intriguing – his light-brown hair specked with grey, his eyes the colour of honey, the few scars that lined his cheeks. The scars didn't take anything away from his attractiveness, but, instead, added to it. Dianne's mum would have said they gave him "character".
Mhairi blushed slightly and said, "Well that explains a lot," before turning to look at Dianne. "Should we be going?"
Dianne was about to respond when Abigail cut in. "What? You're going? B-but I've only just got here. Can't you stay, Di? Can't we…talk?"
Dianne turned to her sister with stony look on her face. She tried to ignore the clawing feeling she got in her stomach as she saw the sad, pleading look in Abigail's eyes. "No. We should really be getting back now. Annabelle and Lucy will be wondering where we've gotten to." Dianne turned to Potter, Lupin, Alice and Lily and bid them goodbye before taking Mhairi by the wrist and pulling her towards the door.
Abigail grabbed at Dianne's shoulder and pulled her around to face her. "Please, Dianne, tell me what I can do to make you forgive me?" she whispered. "I'll do anything." There were tears forming in Abigail's eyes, and Dianne had to push down that familiar feeling of guilt ripping at her stomach.
"What's done is done. There's nothing you can do, Abigail." Dianne slid out of her sister's grasp, ignoring the pained look on her face, and strode towards the door without looking back. For once in her life, Dianne was glad she had longer legs than most girls as it enabled a quick escape.
Mhairi hurried along after her. She waited until they were in the corridor before speaking again. "I guess that means you haven't forgiven her then."
"You guessed right," said Dianne through gritted teeth, not slowing her pace even though she knew Mhairi was struggling to keep up. She wanted to run more than anything, something she always did when she felt angry. "I can't believe she had the balls to ask for forgiveness, after what she did," Dianne gave a humourless laugh, "which was sod all might I add."
Mhairi gave a small uncomfortable cough. "Don't you think you're being a little harsh on her? After all, it must have been difficult for her as well – to choose between you or her friend. And it was a fair few years ago now. You know what they say, 'the past is the past and there it must stay'."
"Honestly? No. I think I'm being quite civil to her. I could do worse, but she's my sister so that has to count for something - even if it never counted for something to her." Dianne stopped suddenly and turned to face Mhairi who almost crashed into her. "And, no, it shouldn't have been a difficult choice. Family are forever, but you can choose your friends, and Abigail messed up when she chose Marlene McKinnon as a friend." Dianne looked at Mhairi and smiled, though it was broken and weak. "I spent my first year at school alone and it was entirely my own fault. But I never once expected that my own flesh and blood would just stand by and watch my torment. If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn't have hesitated to stand up for her even if she was an obnoxious, little twit like I was."
Mhairi placed a comforting hand on Dianne's shoulder. "I supposed so." She gave a chuckle and looked up at her friend. "But then again, we can't all be as noble as you, Dianne."
"So it would seem," said Dianne with a laugh. She patted Mhairi on the back and the pair began to head back to their compartment at a more reasonable speed.
Mhairi and Dianne were almost back to their friends when they heard a commotion coming from behind them. They turned, confused, to see a Slytherin boy with dark greasy hair and a crooked nose firing a round of hexes into a compartment.
As quick as a flash, Dianne had her wand out. "Mhairi, go back to the others. I'll handle this."
Mhairi nodded and darted away in the direction of their compartment. It wasn't that she wasn't capable of fighting, but they both knew that Dianne was the better duellist and a much stronger adversary. Mhairi was more comfortable with a Charms essay than she was with a wand.
Dianne dashed forward and elbowed the Slytherin boy in the ribs, pushing him aside and away from the people he was attacking. He staggered back, but soon managed to regain his balance. He looked at her with pure loathing before sending a curse hurtling in her direction. She threw herself up against the wall and felt the air breeze past her as the spell missed her face by sheer inches.
"Stupefy!" she cried, aiming her wand right at the boy's face. A streak of red light flew through the air, but the boy blocked it.
The boy wasted no time in retaliating as he cried "Sectumsempra!"
Dianne jumped up against the opposing wall as the curse blasted the place she had been standing just seconds before. The wall now had a ruddy great hole in it.
Becoming increasingly desperate, Dianne kicked out at him. She felt a great rush of pleasure as the heel of her shoe impacted with his groin causing the boy to wheeze in pain and double over. She pointed her wand at the gasping shape huddled on the ground and yelled, "Reducto!" The boy flew backwards into the air and collided with the door at the far end of the carriage. He staggered to his feet, panting heavily and clutching his wand in one hand, his crotch in the other. He managed to give Dianne another hate filled look before fleeing through the door and out of sight.
Dianne grinned to herself, a sense of pride overwhelming her. Well, at least all those years of torment from McKinnon led to one good thing: she could sure kick some arse in a duel. She tucked her wand into the waistband of her skirt and gave herself a quick brush down. Almost out of nowhere a hard force crashed into her back and she was sent sprawling on the floor. She rolled over, groaning, and looked up to see what had just hit her.
Her eyes widened.
Looking down at her was none other than Lupin. His lip was bleeding and he had the beginnings of a black eye. "Oh, Dianne, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. Here," he said, offering her his hand, "are you alright?" He stopped abruptly as his eyes flickered to her waist. He snatched his hand back and tried to conceal his face which was growing a deep shade of red.
"Oi, Moony!" called a voice from inside the compartment. "Has Snivellus run off yet? I want to finish him off."
Dianne let out a little gasp as a tall, incredibly handsome boy with black hair emerged. The boy, who Dianne knew as Sirius Black, walked over to Lupin and patted him on the shoulder. "Hmm," he said, analysing the damage on the other boy's face, "nothing a good old Episkey can't fix." His grey eyes narrowed as he registered the look on Lupin's face. "Mate, what's wrong?" When Lupin didn't answer, Black's gaze turned to Dianne. She felt her inside's clench uncomfortably as he let out a bark of laughter.
"Padfoot, go back inside. I'll—"
"First day back and the girls are already showing you their briefs, Moony. You must be getting better," said Black with a horribly smug grin on his face.
Dianne sat up, her face screwed up in confusion. She looked at the two boys trying to figure out what Black meant. They were both looking at her, one with amusement and the other with a mixture of embarrassment and pity. No, Dianne thought, horror washing over her like a wave, they're not looking at me. They're looking at my…
Dianne looked down at herself and felt the air leave her lungs. Her skirt had folded back from being pushed over and was now revealing her white and pink polka dot knickers to two of the most popular boys in the whole school. She would have given anything for the ground to open up and swallow her right then and there.
"Oh my god!" she wailed as she jumped up, flattening her skirt down — trying to salvage any piece of her dignity that was left. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.
"Well," chuckled Black, "thanks for helping us, Stokes. And, uh," he winked at her slowly and seductively, "thanks for the show. Would you mind if I called you up some time for another one?"
Lupin turned to his friend, a pleading look on his face. "Padfoot, please, enough."
"Not even in your dreams, Black," she spat as she shoved past them and made her way hastily in the direction of her friends. She quickened her pace as Black began to wolf whistle.
Mhairi had obviously informed the others of the incident (well, part of it) that had happened at the opposite end of the carriage as all three girls leapt to their feet when Dianne entered.
"What happened?" said Annabelle. She had been closing the distance between them, but had stopped when she saw the ice cold look upon Dianne's face. "Are you okay? Is everything alright?"
"No one's hurt, are they?" asked Lucy, who was folding a copy of the Daily Prophet and dropping it on the table.
"Just my dignity…and a Slytherin boy maybe," she said taking a seat beside Mhairi, her eyes on the floor.
"Then what on earth—" Annabelle started, but she was cut off by Dianne.
"I flashed my pants to Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." The others stared at her with blank expressions, making Dianne hope they hadn't heard her.
Annabelle was the first to speak. "Well," she drawled, "not wasting any time on getting boys, are you?"
Dianne glared at her and slouched back into the chair. "It's not funny. Don't you think I suffered enough humiliation from them already?"
However, it was clear to her that the others did find her ordeal amusing. Lucy was looking at her, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. Annabelle, now seated beside Lucy, was leaning her head on her hands and was batting her eyes with a sickeningly smug look on her face, which only reminded Dianne of Black's reaction to her knickers. Mhairi was trying to suppress her smile, but could only manage it enough so that her lips twitched.
"Did the boys at least enjoy the sight?" asked Mhairi in an infuriatingly innocent voice. "I suppose Black did, without a shadow of a doubt, but…did Remus Lupin?"
"Oh bugger off—" started Dianne, a look of indignation on her face, but her three so-called friends had burst into peals of laughter, drowning out her foul language.
"It's alright," said Lucy, wiping tears from her face and smiling like the Cheshire Cat. "Once, in my fourth year, I managed to showcase my bra to an entire potions class."
Annabelle roared with laughter, slapping her hands on her thighs. "H-how?" she managed to gasp out.
"Well, I thought it would be funny to whip open my robes like a superhero after packing away all the ingredients. So I did, and it made everyone laugh," Lucy said, "but little did I know that they were actually laughing because I had just ripped open the buttons on my blouse as well." She gave a small smile. "It was only after washing away my armadillo bile that I realised my chest was in full view."
"What did Professor Slughorn have to say about that?" said Mhairi, leaning forward, looking very intrigued.
To Dianne's shock, Lucy smiled cunningly. "He thought it was funny. Gave me 20 point for Gryffindor, he did. I swear, since that day, that man can do no wrong in my eyes."
Annabelle laughed. Dianne and Mhairi turned to each other and shrugged. Professor Slughorn was a very peculiar man indeed. Well, either that or Lucy had a nice pair.
The view outside the window had changed; the gentle rolling hills had been replaced by sharp mountains wrapped in purple heather which poked out from behind vast expanses of trees, and the sunny sky had darkened into a cloudless evening. It wouldn't be long until the express would arrive in Hogsmeade, Dianne suspected.
"Ah," said Annabelle who was also looking out the window, "it's good to be back into the swing of things." She had a dreamy look on her face. "This year's going to be a bloody good one, I can tell."
Mhairi looked over to the door, her eyes widened. "Uh oh," she said looking at Dianne. "Don't look now, but McKinnon is standing right outside."
Despite being told not to, Dianne immediately looked out of the glass door and, sure enough, there was Marlene McKinnon, leaning casually against the wall, talking to some brunette Hufflepuff. She was playing with tips of her long blonde hair and seemed deeply interested in whatever the Hufflepuff had to say. Dianne glared at her. "Merlin, I hate that girl."
"You're not going to be pushed around by her anymore," Lucy said. It wasn't a question, more of an encouragement, as if she was willing Dianne to stand up for herself.
Annabelle glanced over at McKinnon and made a disgruntled noise. "I know it's wrong, but can we make a fifth resolution to hex her into next week?"
"That," Dianne said, wagging her eyebrows at Annabelle, "is my own, personal resolution for this year."
Lucy nodded once. "Too right. It's a new year and we can make it whatever we want. It's a new leaf, a new page in the book, a new—"
"Yeah, yeah, we get the picture, sweetheart," said Annabelle smiling as she turned to the window again.
Dianne followed Annabelle's gaze. The view was simply breathtaking. The Black Lake glinted in the moonlight and the Hogwarts castle stood above it on the cliff top like a king sitting on his throne, watching over his kingdom.
"A new year," Dianne whispered. "A blank slate…"
The screech of the train's brakes woke Dianne out of her daydream. They had just pulled into Hogsmeade station and now students were rushing out of the carriages and onto the platform. The girls' grabbed their belongings and exited the train, shoving their heavy trunks as they went. The air outside was still and cold, cold enough to make people's breath form an eerie white mist.
"Firs-years this way!" called Hagrid, the gigantic Hogwarts groundskeeper. He had thickly matted dark hair with a bushy beard and was holding up a lantern. His size meant he was still visible even as he led the many first years away to the lake. Dianne wished she was a first year again at that moment; it was a nice night to sail across the Black Lake, unlike her own trip in which it had been raining. She smiled as she remembered Hagrid letting her use his moleskin jacket as a cover for their particular boat. Hagrid was the best example for 'never judge a book by its cover'; he may have looked intimidating, but Dianne had never known a kinder heart.
"Oi, Dianne, get your arse over here!" yelled Annabelle from one of the many horseless coaches which escorted older students up to the castle.
Dianne threw her trunk down onto vast pile of luggage before placing down Cerridwen, blowing her owl a kiss as she stepped into the coach beside Lucy. The coach trundled off in the large convoy that stretched up the hill and all the way to the castle, the flickering lights of lanterns like stars in the night sky.
TO BE CONTINUED...
I hope you enjoyed that (Y)
But you know what comes next: REVIEW. PLEASE.
I wanna be able to improve my writing skills and I can't do that without feedback. If you do review, thank you VERY much. Here, have a cookie *gives cookie* You earned it, babes. :P
(NEXT CHAPTER COMING SOON)
