Minnie knew how she appeared to Sirius. He thought her the good girl who did the right thing, the girl who married on command, obedient and quiet, dull and timid. A Hufflepuff like the rest of her family with lineage tracing all the way back to Hogwarts founder, Helga Hufflepuff, the proof of which was a priceless cup lost along with her great aunt, Hepzibah some two decades prior. A Hufflepuff, yes, but still a pure blood and the Black family had few suitable matches left to them outside their own cousins.

Not ready to return to her common room, Minnie approached the painting of the fruit bowl down the hallway from her common room. A ticklish pear gave way to a flurry of activity as almost every house elf in Britain accosted her with so much dessert, she wasn't sure if she could hear her tummy grumbling or her pancreas whinging. Maybe I really am bland she thinks grabbing a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits before hurrying off up the stairs, thanking her brother silently as she took a couple of little known passages to stay as far away from the library as possible.

Her brother Charles, or Charlie to her, was the golden boy in the family. A Hufflepuff like herself but also a Chaser and Quidditch Captain, he went on to graduate Hogwarts last year with exemplary NEWTs and then marry the girl he'd been arranged to, just like Minnie was, difference being they were actually besotted with each other. What her parents didn't know is that when Charlie had been at Hogwarts he'd also been cheeky to his professors and knew many of the secret passages throughout the castle (although claimed nobody alive knew them all).

Minnie sighed as she sat on the ledge of one of the empty astronomy towers, careful not to spill her tea. It was around 8pm and dark already, where had those long summer evening gone? Minnie thought as she pulled out her camera and used a freezing charm to keep it as still as possible as she framed a shot of the castle, bathed in a warm glow under the cool blanket of night.

It's not as if she'd been pining for Sirius all this time. During her fourth year she decided he wasn't that great after all – he was always in detention, read muggle bike magazines and wore his hair a tad too long – a tired cliché of a rebellious teenage boy. Maybe her parents would let her marry someone else after all, she thought, picturing Thomas, a friend of her elder brother's.

She'd spent much of the previous summer in Diagon Alley, meandering the askew shelves of the musky second-hand bookshop that Thomas had begun working in after leaving Hogwarts. She asked him for help locating authors, wanted his recommendations, was almost a little overbearing in the way fifteen-year-old girls can be, but harmlessly so. She thought he knew she had a little crush on him, but he didn't seem to mind, so back she went whenever she thought enough time had passed since her last visit.

'I'm a voracious reader,' she had claimed one hot August afternoon just before the day became too clammy, her eyes roaming over his kind face as he laughed. 'Are you hungry?' He asked as warm brown eyes watching her closely, 'I'm just about finished for the day and an ice-cream has been calling my name.' Minnie responded with a blush and a smile.

Thomas lead Minnie just next door to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour with a hand on the small of her back. While uncomfortably aware that Minnie was his good friend's little sister, Thomas had quite liked the young woman she'd developed into. Her large brown eyes and ever so slightly chubby cheeks had continued with her from childhood, the slender waist and rounded hips a new feature. She evoked in him a feeling of protectiveness that was no longer that of a friend's little sister. He had bought her butterscotch ice-cream and made her laugh before kissing her chilled and saccharine lips across the plastic table.

It was these thoughts that kept Minnie warm while sitting on the cold stone of the astronomy tower, legs dangling over the edge. For one perverse moment she wondered what would happen if she jumped, but instead hauled herself to her feet and started the ten-minute walk back to her common room, timing it to arrive right before 9pm curfew.

The entrance to the Hufflepuff common room lies conveniently down the hall from the kitchens, find the stack of barrels and tap out a tune on the middle barrel of the second row to gain entrance. Cheerful honey tones greeted Minnie as she sought out Anna Wright, muggle born and best friend since first year sorting ceremony, when Minnie held Anna's trembling hand. Anna later confessed she had asked the sorting hat to put her in Hufflepuff as well so that she'd have a friend, Minnie was glad she had.

While Minnie considered Anna her very best friend, she had wanted to keep Thomas her little secret at first, but Anna had just given a very lively account of her summer in Peru and Minnie felt a little competitive. So it all came out, Thomas, tall and wiry, older and therefore cooler, gave Minnie her first kiss.

'Min! You never said!' Anna shrieked, earning a few glares from around the common room. Leaning forward Anna whispers, 'how was it?'

Minnie blushed and hated herself for not being more nonchalant about it, claimed it was nice. Nice? Anna repeats. 'Yes, nice.'

Anna looked a bit put out. 'No thumping heartbeats? No electric touches? No chemistry?!'

'What's chemistry?'

'Ah, don't worry,' Anna watches her friend shrewdly. 'Well at least you're smitten, kitten.'