Hey everyone! I know its been a while and I'm really sorry I haven't updated. My life got really busy, but know its settled down and I'll have time to update a lot more regularly. Also, I'm proofreading this myself and I have a tendency to skim over things occasionally, so I apologize for any mistakes. -Stag-geringly-perfect.
Disclaimer- I own nothing but the plot, my friends.
Elizabeth had never been more excited or nervous in her entire life. She was standing in the Hogwarts Great Hall with a group of other eleven year-old kids. She glanced around the large room looking at each of the tables. The first table she saw was adorned with green and silver ties, and most of the students were scowling. 'Slytherin,' Elizabeth thought. She continued to survey the room until her eyes fell upon the Gryffindor table. Her brother was laughing with his friends. The one with some-what long, curly hair was waving his arms in what Elizabeth could only assume was some version of a story. Elizabeth wondered what they were talking about so adamantly.
Professor McGonagall gave a small cough and pulled Elizabeth out of her thoughts.
"Marlene McKinnon." She called out. One of the girls standing near Elizabeth started to move towards the stool in the front of the room. She sat down and the professor placed the Sorting Hat on the girl's head.
The hall was quiet for a only moment.
"GRYFFINDOR!" The Sorting Hat yelled. The Gryffindor table clapped and hooted loudly for their new addition. Marlene sat down quietly at the end of the table and folded her hands.
The sorting went on something like that. People were called and placed in different houses. Most of the students were sorted quickly, but there were a few hat stalls. Hestia Jones was a hat stall. She was in fact the last person Elizabeth actually payed attention to, after Hestia was placed in Hufflepuff, Elizabeth started day dreaming. She wished she had been called earlier so she could have had a place to sit.
"Elizabeth Potter." Elizabeth made her way to the stool and sat down. She felt the hat touch her head and heard a voice.
"Another Potter? Not too ambitious are you? Some-what bright, very loyal." The voice whispered.
"Please put me in Gryffindor." Elizabeth muttered to the hat.
"So you want to be a Gryffindor, eh? You've got the loyalty, but do you have the heart," the Sorting Hat asked her.
"Please put me in Gryffindor." She said again.
"If you're sure," the hat whispered. "Better be GRYFFINDOR!" It called out.
Elizabeth stood from the stool and made her way to the table. James and his friends were standing and clapping. Elizabeth was surprised James hadn't been screaming "That's my sister," from how proud he looked. He and his friends had made sure to save her a seat with them. Elizabeth took her seat next to James, and as soon as her butt hit the bench, her brother had pulled her to his side.
"Another Potter who's brave at heart! Mum and Dad are going to be so proud, Lizzy!" James was beaming. "I was getting worried with how long you were up there."
Elizabeth must have made a face, because one of James friends made a comment.
"You were a bit of a hat stall. James had assumed the hat would barely touch your head before placing you in Gryffindor." The boy paused for a moment before speaking again. "I'm Remus Lupin by the way." He held his hand out across the table for her to grab. Elizabeth shook his hand and nodded politely.
"Elizabeth Potter," she replied. James and his friends laughed. "What?"
"Lizzy, they know who you are."
"Well, it's polite to introduce yourself to new people, James." Elizabeth grinned. "I see Mum's social etiquette lessons have obviously worn off at this point."
"They never took hold to begin with, Lizzy!" James laughed.
"Regulus Black." Professor McGonagall called. James slowly stopped laughing and turned to look towards the front of the room. The boy, Regulus, walked to the stool and had the hat placed on his head.
The hall was mostly quiet. Small whispers were audible in the silence. Regulus' eyes were looking everywhere but the Gryffindor table. Just as someone whispered "He's a hat stall, too?" The hat yelled out a house.
"SLYTHERIN!" The Slytherins clapped politely and welcomed their new peer.
The boy next to James sighed. Elizabeth leaned forward to look at the boy on the other side of James.
"And your name is?" She asked holding out her hand with a small smile on her face.
The boy glanced at Elizabeth. "Sirius Black," he told her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sirius."
Elizabeth settled into Hogwarts life with ease. She made friends with her roommates and spent most of her time with them, much to the surprise of her parents and brother. Elizabeth had always been very dependent on James when she was young. It seemed at school however, she was able to construct her own support system. She and her friends sat together at meals (though James insisted that Elizabeth also sit by him), in the common room, the library, and in every class except Potions.
Professor Slughorn had paired the students off so that Gryffindors were paired with Slytherins. Elizabeth had heard all of the nasty things about Slytherin house of course. Her father had been a Gryffndor, so Elizabeth grew up hearing tales of how awful Slytherin house was and all the dark wizards that came out of it. James also believed in the rivalry, and Elizabeth could only assume the stories were true. She wasn't however going to let a silly rivalry mess up her grades. Though she wasn't at the top of her class, and probably never would be, Elizabeth valued her education. She was a witch and had a right to learn magic the right way, no matter who she was paired with.
In the end, Elizabeth was paired with Sirius' brother. Though she wasn't very close with Sirius, she was around him and James often enough, and Elizabeth couldn't remember a time Sirius every talked about his brother. She had realized there was a problem between the two of them that ran far deeper than just a school rivalry a while back, but obviously it would have been a rude thing to ask about, so Elizabeth tried to forget about it.
Elizabeth sat down next to Regulus. Slughorn had finished his small lecture and sent them to do some book work. Regulus was hunched over his book and furiously scribbling notes. She glanced at his paper wondering how he would possibly be able to read it later, but his writing was immaculate. His quick script was better than Elizabeth's when she took her time.
Elizabeth shook her head and carried on. She had notes to take as well.
Regulus continued to be a mystery. He was a riddle that Elizabeth just couldn't crack. It frustrated her. In potions he refused to talk to her unless he absolutely had to and even then his replies were short. To be fair, Elizabeth didn't talk to him much either. She had introduced herself to him, but he seemed to have forgotten her first name or preferred to ignore it. He only ever called her 'Potter.' At first Elizabeth called him by his first name, but eventually she grew tired of being polite to someone so rude.
So Potions class quickly became the bane of Elizabeth's day. Marlene McKinnon, Elizabeth's best friend, also hated Potions.
"Do you know how hard it is to work with Avery?" Marlene questioned. Avery was another Slytherin in their Potions class. Her voice was high pitched and she spoke down to everyone who wasn't a Slytherin or a pureblood. Marlene was, of course, neither of those things.
"Of course I do. I have to work with Black." Elizabeth replied.
The pair made it to Potions just before Slughorn started teaching. Elizabeth walked to the back and sat in her seat. She placed her books neatly on her desk and tried to pay attention to Slughorn's boring lecture. When he finally finished he told the class to create the potion he had told them all about in excruciating detail.
Regulus got up without a word and went to grab the potions ingredients. Elizabeth set up the cauldron while she waited for him to return from the store room. She flipped the book open to glance at the directions. Before she could get a good look, ingredients were shoved in front of her face. She looked up at Regulus and lifted an eyebrow.
"Excuse you. You didn't have to push them in my face. Setting them down on the table and nicely saying my name would have sufficed." Elizabeth told him.
"Get over it Potter. Just chop the ingredients." Regulus replied.
"My name is Elizabeth, Regulus. We have to work together for the rest of the year. Can we at least be civil and stop using each others surname?" Elizabeth asked.
"Potter is far less trouble than Elizabeth." He muttered.
"Most people just call me Liz or Lizzy. Less of a mouthful I suppose. Not that Regulus is much better." Elizabeth responded.
"Liz sounds like a common name. Simple. I don't like it."
"I don't know what to tell you then, Regulus." Elizabeth sighed in exasperation. "I can't exactly change my name because you don't like it."
"Eliza."
"What?" Elizabeth asked in confusion.
"Eliza sounds far better than Liz." Regulus explained. "I like Eliza."
"Whatever, as long as its not Potter." The pair continued the class with witty eleven year-old banter. The class Elizabeth had been dreading turned out to be better than she expected. She had learned she had a lot in common with Regulus as well.
After that day in Potions, the class seemed far less dreadful for Elizabeth. Her partner no longer hated her, and class went by much faster talking with Regulus than it did ignoring his existence. By holiday break, the two had formed an unusual friendship. It wasn't unheard of for a Gryffindor and Slytherin to be friends of course. Lily Evans and Severus Snape were also friends but in the two opposing houses. Occasionally teachers would tease Elizabeth and Regulus of being another Potter and Black duo like their older siblings, but the pair just shrugged them off. Regulus seemed to have an aversion to being compared to Sirius. Something Elizabeth understood completely.
When the end of the year came, Mr. and Mrs. Potter were not surprised to see Regulus and Elizabeth climb off the train together. They would later comment to Elizabeth how sweet it was of him to help her down off the train. Before parting for the summer, Elizabeth hugged Regulus tightly. She heard her name being called and ran, but not before promising to write him during the summer.
So thats it for first year guys. Second year might be two chapters, but third year and on are where things really get going. I hope you guys like it, and I tried to make this one kind of long to make up for my extended absence. Also, I don't know if anyone that reads this is into this kind of thing, but me and a friend of mine are starting a little roleplay group on tumblr. It's an AU during the Marauders Era after they leave Hogwarts. I'm going to leave a link here and if you guys wanna check it out, that would be really cool! .com Thanks for reading and I'll try to update soon! ~Stag-geringly-prefect