This first year goes by kind of quickly. This is because a lot of my plot points have to take place when everyone is older. I love the idea of cute baby marauders, but I just can't bring myself to draw out this first year.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this unfortunately... Harry Potter or Beetle the Bard or whatever else you recognize...
The second morning of classes, a screech owl landed at the Gryffindor table in front of Siri, dropping a blood red envelope before quickly flying away. Siri knew what it was and who it was from at once. She groaned and picked it up.
"You've got a Howler?" He asked. "You can't have done anything that bad yet, have you?"
"You have no idea." She told him.
"What is a Howler?" Lily asked from a few places down.
"You will see." Siri assured her as she opened it. Her mother's magnified voice instantly ripped though the Great Hall, causing the silverware to shake.
"SIRI MALEFICENT BLACK! WE SEND YOU TO HOGWARTS TELLING YOU TO UPHOLD THE FAMILY NAME, AND HOW DO YOU RESPOND? BY GETTING PLACED INTO GRYFFINDOR? YOU HAVE SHAMED US! YOUR FATHER AND I COULD NOT BE MORE DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! CAN YOU IMAGINE OUR SHOCK WHEN WE RECEIVED NARCISSA'S MOURNFUL LETTER WITH THE HORRIBLE NEWS! AND WHAT REGULUS WILL HAVE TO GO THOUGH, KNOWING THAT HIS SISTER IS A DISGRACE TO THE FAMILY? THIS IS FAR FROM OVER, WE WILL BE HAVING A LONG DISCUSSION WHEN YOU COME HOME! I HOPE YOU ARE SATISFIED WITH THE PAIN YOU HAVE CAUSED US!"
And then the letter burst into flame. There was a great commotion among the students as the gossip started again, but Siri but on a brave face and wiped the ashes off the table, pretending she had not been fazed by her mother's words.
"Pass the jam, please Remus." She asked as she buttered her toast. The stunned boy passed her the jar without a word or change in his shocked expression.
"So..." James said with a grin. "Your middle name is Maleficent?"
"Oh, shut it, Potter." she smiled back.
Siri could already tell that she was going to have a great time at Hogwarts. Lily and Remus were rule followers, and the little Peter kid would not leave them alone. She doubted he could take a hint if it hit him in the face. But James continued to be amazing. He had a similar sense of humor and take on life, fun loving and wild, and the very best friend Siri had ever had. He made classes more fun to attend as they joked around and competed to see who could do spells first or best.
She and James pulled Remus around the castle as they explored (with Peter dutifully trotting along behind them) and there was plenty of mischief to be had for the four of them.
Remus had helped them look up and practice a tripping jinx to use on Lucius, which ended up working perfectly. They chose to hit him with it right as he exited the Great Hall, where everyone could see. James and Siri laughed until they could not breathe after seeing him fall flat on his face with his hair flying everywhere.
Siri was also fairly certain that McGonagall had several more gray hairs due to the four of them. Their dear Professor caught them making mischief at every turn, wether it was befriending Peeves and helping him wreck havoc, chasing Flich's cat, Miss Victoria, or trying to lure the tentacles of the giant squid above the surface of the lake.
"We were just having some fun, Professor." Siri said, giving her an innocent smile.
"Don't give me that look, Miss Black. It does not work on me." The stern woman frowned. But Siri could see the edges of her lips twitching as if she was trying not to smile at them. "I know that you are a marauding bunch of imps."
"That's us, Minnie!" James said (the Professor's lips twitched again), "The Marauders! Hogwarts will never be the same!"
"If it is still standing by your graduation." Professor McGonagall sniffed before taking her leave.
But nor was everything great. Remus' had to miss several days of school due to his mother being sick, and when he came back, he was the one that looked as if he had been ill.
"Are you alright, Remmy?" Siri asked him when he got back as she felt his forehead. "You don't look so good. Was you mum contagious?"
"I'm fine, Siri." He smiled at her. "Just a little tired is all. I didn't get much rest while I was there."
Not long after that, his aunt died, and he had to leave school again.
"Poor Remus." Peter sighed. "It always seems to happen to him, doesn't it?"
When Christmas rolled around, Siri took up James' offer to spend the holiday's with him. She really didn't want to spend Christmas getting yelled at for being a Gryffindor.
"Mum, dad, this is Siri Black. Siri, these are my folks." James introduced.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Potter." Siri curtseyed.
"It is a pleasure to meet you too, dear." Mrs. Potter smiled. "James talks about you in all his letters."
Siri blushed with a smile and James took her hand.
"Well come on then! Let's get on home. I can't wait to show you the place." He said. She nodded in agreement, and soon the two adults had side-apperated them out of the train station.
Siri loved their house the moment she set eyes on it. It was a little country cottage, and looked like the house she had always envisioned that the Wizard with the Hopping Pot lived in.
"It is beautiful!" She cried before James dragged her in.
"This is the living room, and that is the kitchen." He said, pointing to his left. "The loo is down the hall to the right, guest bedroom to the left, and mum and dad's is at the end. My room is up here."
He led her up the stairs that ended at the foot of his door. The room itself was a light blue, with a slanted ceiling and an alcove with a window that let the sunlight in.
"I love it!" she cried, falling back onto his bed. They stayed up there, laughing and talking until they were called down for dinner. Siri was amazed and happy that they ate at the table in the sun-yellow kitchen. Dinners at home were always dark and silent in the large dinning room. The Potters could not be more different from her family, and she found it absolutely wonderful!
That night after lights out, Siri crept out of bed and slunk off to James' room where he was waiting awake for her. They stayed awake so long that they eventually fell asleep where they were, lying horizontally on his bed and over the bed covers. That was how Mr. and Mrs. Potter found them the next morning. And the next, until they finally gave in and transfigured a sleeping bag into a trundle bed that would fit beside James'.
Christmas was just as wonderful, even if she didn't get any gifts from her mother and father. Reg sent her one, and so did her cousin Andromeda and her Uncle Alphard. Lily, Remus, and Peter had sent her ones as well. After dinner she and the Potters all sat around the tree, drinking hot chocolate and telling funny stories and jokes. It was the best Christmas Siri had ever had in her life.
She was almost sorry to go back to Hogwarts again, but was happy to see Remus and Lily again. She was even glad to see Peter. The only thing that ruined it all was a letter from her mother, informing her that they insisted that she be home for Easter.
Siri grew more and more dejected as the months past and April grew nearer. By the time the break arrived, she hardly acted like herself at all. She knew her friends were worried, and tried her best to put on a mask with them, but she always seemed to slip up and they all saw through it anyway. She spent almost the whole train ride back in silence, and gave a rushed goodbye when they arrived.
"It is about time." Her mother scowled when Siri found her at last. "Come."
Her mother grabbed her roughly by the scruff of her neck, and without a moment lost apperated them to number twelve Grimmauld Place.
