A/N: This chapter is sort of a set-up, a prequel if you will of coming attractions. It's not particularly interesting. You can skip it if you'd like. There's some character introduction, which is why it's here in the first place, but if you don't care about that, the plot features are minor and you'll be able to figure most of it out later if you do happen to skip. If you have any questions, PM me, I'd be happy to answer them. SIRIUS does not come out of this looking as good as one might like, just to keep in mind, so no slash. I'm not trying to be mean, he was just the best one to fit this role I have in my head. I love Sirius, as you can see if you read my other fics.

All that Gabriella McPeak had wanted was to learn to be as good of a witch was her mother. She wanted to be able to heal people in seconds, to do all her chores with a few waves of her wand, and to knock away the Quaffle every time it came for the goal posts (she was an obsessive Holyhead Harpies fan). She was sorted into Ravenclaw, as she planned. She was the top of her class, as she had hoped, but things don't always go according to plan. After all, she hadn't planned on Sirius Black, but he wasn't even the start of her problems. It all began in fourth year.

Gabriella had always been a fan of inter-house unity. Her best friend was a Hufflepuff, one Miss Gillian Messner. They made friends in all of the other houses, played on their House Quidditch teams, and even had their own little newspaper going. Sure, half of it was gossip. They were teenage girls in a boarding school. But half of it was real hard news, gathered through their parents, about the world outside their walls and the war everyone knew was brewing on the horizon.

They had always been a bit awkward with the gossip. Gillian and Gabriella weren't exactly well experienced with relationships. Gabriella had dated one boy for all of second year, one Hale Branton of Ravenclaw, and had the world's longest crush on Gryffindor seventh year Irving Tillotson, who happened to be one of her best friends. She was also good friends with one Kent Hubbell, Slytherin seventh year. Why so many seventh years? Her sister, Kimberly, was a Hufflepuff seventh year (and practically a squib) and her other sister, Kristal, had graduated from Gryffindor just a few years prior. Their brother, Lawson, started in Gabriella's fourth year, and the youngest, Malcolm, still had a few years to go.

Gillian's boy history was even shorter. She had dated Hale as well. In fact, Hale was now dating their other best friend, Margaret La Roche of Ravenclaw. Everyone thought it was an odd pairing, and possibly the most odd part about it was how the girls had passed him around. That had been gossip column material for weeks. Gillian dated him at the end of first year, but their close friend Megan Owens of Hufflepuff decided she wanted him, and Gabriella had seen that the relationship wasn't getting anywhere, so she used her flirtation skills (learned from Kristal) to split up Gillian and Hale so that Megan could have him. That lasted all of a week before they broke up and Gabriella dated him for the rest of the year. When they decided they were too different, he dated Margaret.

Gillian, however, had a good reason to have not dated anyone else. Her mother had a mandate: no dating until she was sixteen. The mandate had already been broken, of course, but she was just too good of a girl to break it twice. Gabriella's parents had the same mandate unofficially, but she ignored it. Rules were meant to be broken, in her mind. She did date one other boy, briefly. Hale's best friend, Myles Starkey, had asked her out in first year and they dated about a month. They were still good friends. No, her reason for not dating was her crush on her best friend Irving, who was sweet, adorable, and always needing help with homework. He also liked to watch her play Quidditch.

The problem was his girlfriend, Richelle Avery of Slytherin. Everyone knew it was a bad idea to mix Gryffindors and Slytherins, and Gabriella had told him this, but Irving couldn't resist. It was like she had used a love potion on the boy, and Gabriella certainly wasn't ruling it out.

But that's not the point. The point is the trouble that Gabriella got into. Aside from her best friends, she had her study group friends: Ronald Thomason of Hufflepuff (whom she kept dating off and on for a month at a time, rather unfairly), Roscoe Rogers of Hufflepuff, Samuel Hathaway of Hufflepuff, and Vin Montgomery of Ravenclaw (though many thought he ought to have been in Slytherin). Normally, she rode the train up with her study group so that they would help her get her things on the train, but she couldn't find them on the platform on September first that year, so seventh year Kent helped her get her trunk on board. He walked with her to find her friends' compartment, but stopped her partway up the train and looked at her.

"What?" she said with a confused look.

"Oh," said Kent with a smirk, "you grew up a lot this summer."

Gabriella blinked. Well, she had, but did he really mean what she thought he meant?

"Um, thanks?"

"Oh, it was definitely a compliment," he said as he looked her up and down with a wink.

Getting her confidence back, Gabriella shook her head and shoved him in the shoulder, waving goodbye and walking off to find her study group, not knowing Kent was leering as she walked away. That was the start of all her troubles.

When she found them, Gabriella dropped into the seat next to Ron and rested her head on his shoulder. They weren't dating, but this was just the way they were. To her, it meant nothing, although to him it meant the world and she had no idea.

"Where were you guys?" she said with a frown. "Kent had to help me get my trunk on the train."

Vin frowned back.

"Kent Hubbell? Have you not listened to all your sister's friends talk about the world of trouble that boy is?"

"He looks at me like a little sister," she said with a raised eyebrow. "It's not a problem. Besides, I know how to handle myself. I grew up with four siblings."

"And you rule them all," said Ron with a happy smile.

"More like she annoys them all," said Sam snarkily.

So Sam and Gabriella weren't the best of friends. They didn't exactly hate each other, and when the others weren't around, he was sort of sweet. Vin was the same way. Actually, except Ron, they were all sort of like that nice when it was just a one-on-one encounter, but in the group they were vicious. She knew why. They saw her as the girl jerking Ron around on a string.

"So," she said merrily to her fifth-year buddies, eager for a change of topic, "who're prefects in your year?"

"Whitney Mitchell and me in Ravenclaw," said Vin, "Ron and Yvette Moss in Hufflepuff, Zeph McCormick and Alexis Melton in Slytherin, and Remus Lupin and Lily Evans in Gryffindor."

"Congratulations to both of you," said Gabriella honestly. Despite Vin's strange behavior toward her, she had always liked him fine, and his little sister Chara was her little protégé. "I'll be your mum is proud, Ron?"

"Yeah," he said. "I was the one shot."

It was true. His brother Ean was smart, and in Ravenclaw, but hardly ever said a word, and his little sister Catrin wasn't at Hogwarts yet, but though she was bubbly and sweet, she wasn't the most intelligent of folks.

"But you'll be a prefect next year, no doubt," he continued. "After all, your sister was Head Girl, and I'll bet both of your brothers will be prefects, too. Especially Malcolm, he's just like you."

"I'll let him know you insulted him," Gabriella said with a smirk. It was true, Malcolm was always said to be just like her, but to say so in front of him was to say that he had murdered someone. It was impolite, to say the least. It didn't go unnoticed that Kimberly wasn't mentioned. For the most part, they just didn't talk about her. It wasn't that they did it on purpose; she was just incredibly easy to forget.

"So, Lawson's starting this year," said Vin casually. "Who wants to make bets on his House?"

"Ravenclaw," said Roscoe and Sam.

"Gryffindor," said Ron.

"I think he's like you, Vin," said Gabriella. "He's got some solid Slytherin traits, but through and through, I'd say he'll end up in Gryffindor. He's too nice to plow people over because they're there."

"Did you just call Vin nice?"

Sam was staring at her as though she had said that grass was purple. Nice was not the typical descriptor one used in the case of Vin Montgomery, but Gabriella had been sure that there had to be a nice person in there somewhere.

When the train finally arrived at Hogsmeade Station after the fiftieth hand of Exploding Snap, which Gabriella and Sam won almost every time, they filed off the train and waved goodbye on the platform as she scurried off to find her girls. Several minutes later, Gabriella, Gillian, Megan and Margaret were climbing into a carriage with Gethin Park (Megan's boyfriend since she gave up on Hale), and Hale himself.

"Well, hey, there, Gabby," said Hale. "How was your summer?"

"Good, I guess," she said. "Rather uneventful. Ron and Vin are prefects."

There was a general happy consensus at this news, as everyone in the carriage were either in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw and Ron, at least, was very well liked. Vin wasn't everyone's favorite, but he was the obvious choice, and he wouldn't go out of his way to be mean, Gabriella was sure of it.

Catch-up time was brief, however, as they were soon at the castle and had to separate to their house tables for the feast. Gabriella and Margaret headed over to Ravenclaw with Hale and sat near Vin, who was with the rest of the prefects. They talked about Hale's newest theory of wandcores until they could see the first years being led into the Great Hall.

Lawson was standing with his childhood friend, Gwil Middleton, whose older sisters Gwen (sixth year) and Nia (third year) were in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor respectively. Gwen was a friend of Kent's as well, and her best friend Tondra Underhill was his girlfriend. As the writer of all school gossip, it was Gabriella's job to keep on top of things like who was dating who and how everyone connected. Hogwarts was huge, so she and Gillian had their hands full.

The Sorting Hat sang and students were called up one at a time in alphabetical order. Eventually, they got to "McPeak, Lawson," who was sorted into Gryffindor. Sam and Roscoe would have to pay up later. Then, "McShane, Elizabeth" was sorted into Ravenclaw and came to sit near Gabriella and "Middleton, Gwil" was sorted into Gryffindor, joining Lawson with a huge smile plastered on his face.

Sorting ended with "Wharton, Felicia" being sorted into Ravenclaw and was followed by a few words from Professor Dumbledore before the food appeared and the feast began. Gabriella dug in eagerly, and saw her brother doing the same over at the Gryffindor table. She smiled to herself as she saw him and Gwil making friends quickly. She turned to Felicia and Elizabeth, who were sitting across from her, next to Vin.

"So, where are you ladies from?" she asked casually, handing Vin the potatoes he had been eyeing.

"I'm from London's West End," said Felicia nervously. Gabriella watched the way she eyed the plates. She was Muggle-born. She had never seen food magically appear before. Elizabeth seemed to take it all in stride.

"I'm from Kent," said the blonde. She was likely from a small wizarding community. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

"I'm Gabriella McPeak," she said, holding her hand out to the blonde and brunette in turn. "I'm from Godric's Hollow, of course."

It was one of the most prominent and oldest wizarding communities, and she lived three houses up from the Potters. Vin lived there, too, and the Middletons and Tillotsons.

"How hard is it to come here without knowing anything?" said Felicia nervously.

Yes, the girl was most certainly a Muggle-born. Vin grunted.

"It doesn't make a damn difference," he said. The girls looked at him with fear.

"Don't mind him," said Gabriella with her best smile. "He's just cranky. He's right though, Margaret here and her older brother came from a Muggle family, and she's one of the best in our year."

Margaret flinched. It was true, she was one of the best, but Gabriella was better, and Margaret didn't like to think about that. She was very competitive, though not as bad as their archenemies, Hilary Wight of Slytherin and Marion McCleary of Hufflepuff. Both lived in Godric's Hollow, both had aggressive parents, and both had had Gabriella set up as their target for them from the day they all received their Hogwarts letters. It was silly, really. Marion, Hilary and Margret all wanted to go into Healing, but Gabriella wanted to go into Magical Law Enforcement, or maybe the Auror office. There was no point in comparing, but those two always did, and Margaret did as well, and none of them were ever happy with Gabriella being the top of the class.

"Anyway," said Gabriella happily, "I'm sure you'll be just fine. And if you ever need anything, let me know."

Just then, Vin's little sister Chara came over.

"Chara!" said Gabriella eagerly. "How was your summer?"

"Hey Gabby!" said Chara. "It was great until my prat of a brother got his badge. Since then he's been talking of nothing but all the points he's going to take off Owens."

Gabriella shook her head and laughed as Chara talked to her brother about what she had come over for. Vin put up with Megan, probably because he was friendly with Gethin, but he thought she was the most annoying person on the planet, even more so than Gabriella. She knew Chara had been joking by the way she had smirked, but Gabriella wouldn't put it past Vin to arbitrarily take points off Megan for breathing his air or talking in shrill tones.

The next morning at breakfast, Gabriella sat at the Hufflepuff table to discuss the first edition of their make-shift paper with Gillian.

"So, I'm thinking, bests and mosts," said Gillian with a glimmer in her eye.

"What are you talking about?" said Gabriella through her eggs.

"Oh, you know," said the perky Hufflepuff. "Best Butt, Best Dressed, Best Hair, Biggest Spaz, the like."

Gabriella smirked. It wasn't actually a bad idea, making such a list, but it would have to be long, people would have to be able to win more than once and there would have to be a vote, counted by an objective bystander, so someone not in the student body, without a stake in the outcome.

"Great, I'll do up a survey and as Dumbledore if he'll count the results. The man twiddle's his thumbs half the day, I'm sure of it."

Surprisingly, they got approval from the headmaster, who was amused by the idea, so in History of Magic, Gabriella made the list that would be the next part of her troubles.

Best Butt

Best Dressed

Best Hair

Biggest Spaz

Most Athletic

Most Likely to Succeed

Strangest Laugh

Best Smile

Teacher's Pet

Most Likely to Skip Class

Most Creative

Most Likely to End up in Azkaban

First to Get Married (not necessarily to each other)

Biggest Flirt

Friendliest

Biggest Partiers

Quietest

Class Clowns

Couple of the Year

Cutest Imaginary Couple

Spunkiest

Most Forgetful

Best Body

Best Eyes

Biggest Gossip

Most Paranoid

Most Random

Most Obnoxious

Most Outgoing

Most Gullible

Most Likely to Never Be Single

Most Easygoing

Most Likely to Become Minister of Magic

Most Opinionated

Dirtiest Mind

Biggest Ego

Couple that Breaks Up Most

Smoothest Tongue

Most Likely to be Completely Mediocre

Laziest

Most Likely to Spill Things that Cause Flames

Most Socially Inept

Cattiest

Battiest

As to the size of the list, Gillian and Gabriella reasoned, it was going to be their entire first issue while they worked on real articles and caught up on the news from the summer. It ought to make things interesting, at any rate. The surveys were distributed the next day and buzz around the castle was huge. They both filled one out, of course, keeping it a secret from each other what they were putting down. They picked their friends for every one, of course, knowing that the castle was filled with people doing just that.

The results were in from Dumbledore far faster than anyone had expected. By the end of the second week, their first issue was published.

Best Butt: Mary Lou Settles of Hufflepuff and Sirius Black of Gryffindor

Best Dressed: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Irving Tillotson of Gryffindor

Best Hair: Lily Evans of Gryffindor and Sirius Black of Gryffindor

Biggest Spaz: Gillian Messner of Hufflepuff and Peter Pettigrew of Gryffindor

Most Athletic: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and James Potter of Gryffindor

Most Likely to Succeed: Lily Evans of Gryffindor and Remus Lupin of Gryffindor

Strangest Laugh: Kimberly McPeak of Hufflepuff and Maximillian Lopez of Slytherin

Best Smile: Lily Evans of Gryffindor and Sirius Black of Gryffindor

Teacher's Pet: Lily Evans of Gryffindor/Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Vin Montgomery of Ravenclaw

Most Likely to Skip Class: Megan Owens of Hufflepuff and The Marauders of Gryffindor

Most Creative: Gillian Messner of Hufflepuff and Mickey Rodriguez of Ravenclaw

Most Likely to End up in Azkaban: Megan Owens of Hufflepuff and Kent Hubble of Slytherin

First to Get Married: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw/Gillian Messner of Hufflepuff and Ned Templeton of Gryffindor

Biggest Flirt: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Sirius Black of Gryffindor/Kent Hubble of Slytherin

Friendliest: Lily Evans of Gryffindor and Remus Lupin of Gryffindor

Biggest Partiers: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Sirius Black of Gryffindor/Irving Tillotson of Gryffindor

Quietest: Margaret La Roche of Ravenclaw and Vin Montgomery of Ravenclaw

Class Clowns: Rowena Scott of Hufflepuff and The Marauders of Gryffindor

Couple of the Year: Lily Evans of Gryffindor and James Potter of Gryffindor

Cutest Imaginary Couple: Lily Evans of Gryffindor and James Potter of Gryffindor/Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Irving Tillotson of Gryffindor

Spunkiest: Lily Evans of Gryffindor and Sirius Black of Gryffindor

Most Forgetful: Alice Simon of Hufflepuff and Peter Pettigrew of Gryffindor

Best Body: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Sirius Black of Gryffindor

Best Eyes: Lily Evans of Gryffindor and Sirius Black of Gryffindor

Biggest Gossip: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw/Gillian Messner of Hufflepuff and Stewart MacDougal of Slytherin

Most Paranoid: Hilary Wight of Slytherin and Severus Snape of Slytherin

Most Random: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw/ Chara Montgomery of Ravenclaw and James Potter of Gryffindor

Most Obnoxious: Megan Owens of Hufflepuff and James Potter of Gryffindor

Most Outgoing: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and James Potter of Gryffindor/Sirius Black of Gryffindor

Most Gullible: Mary MacDonald of Gryffindor and Sam Hathaway of Hufflepuff

Most Likely to Never be Single: Megan Owens of Hufflepuff and Hale Branton of Ravenclaw

Most Easygoing: Mary MacDonald of Gryffindor and Ron Thomason of Hufflepuff

Most Likely to Become Minister of Magic: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Lawson McPeak of Gryffindor

Most Opinionated: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and James Potter of Gryffindor

Dirtiest Mind: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Kent Hubble of Slytherin

Biggest Ego: Hilary Wight of Slytherin and James Potter of Gryffindor

Couple that Breaks Up Most: Gabriella McPeak of Gryffindor and Ron Thomason of Hufflepuff

Smoothest Tongue: Suzie MacFusty of Ravenclaw and Sirius Black of Gryffindor

Most Likely to be Completely Mediocre: Kimberly McPeak of Hufflepuff and Irving Tillotson of Gryffindor

Laziest: Megan Owens of Hufflepuff and Kent Hubble of Slytherin

Most Likely to Spill Things That Cause Flames: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw and Peter Pettigrew of Gryffindor

Most Socially Inept: Margaret La Roche of Ravenclaw and Vin Montgomery of Ravenclaw/Marion McCleary of Hufflepuff

Cattiest: Gabriella McPeak of Ravenclaw v. Hilary Wight of Slytherin and James Potter of Gryffindor v. Severus Snape of Slytherin

Battiest: Kimberly McPeak of Hufflepuff and Xenophilius Lovegood of Ravenclaw/Sam Hathaway of Hufflepuff

When they published the list, Gillian and Gabriella had not an inkling of the troubles it would cause. They were naïve enough to believe it was all in good fun, thrilled that they had scrapped up more than twenty of the honors between them, even the ones that they knew weren't the most complimentary, like the allusion to Gabriella blowing up her potion and setting herself on fire, or her unfortunate relationship of sorts with Ron. Saturday, however, would lead to the biggest riot Hogwarts had seen since Kristal McPeak had published a piece on inter-house relationships in her second year.

A/N: I realize this is tedious and long, but it's just the setup. I promise, this is the only chapter I want to do like this. There are a lot of names to keep track of, and the list is incredibly long, but each of these things is intended to come up later, and that's why they're here. Sorry it's not the best of chapters, but it gets much, much better.