Kitkat: I'm also quite curious about where this is going :)

"When I got up this morning

I thought it might be important

To take all the words I had for you

Put them in a song to prove

That you got something in you

That reminds me to continue." The Films

A New Acquaintance

Dahlia Black did not have any books to look up these mysterious happenings in. However, she was a magical child with a wide imagination and deep understanding of that which cannot be grasped right away. So, over the following months she instinctively understood that in a land far away her male counterpart was living his own fairy tale with the three friends she had encountered on that Christmas day. As she was biding her time, a plan was slowly forming in her mind.

Her main problem that thwarted the swift execution of her schemes was her magical tutor, Mr. Pidwen, employed to make her and Regulus fit for a life surrounded by magic. The man was way too intelligent! There was no escape from "Mr. Pee" as Dahlia and Regulus called him behind his back.

At last, some time in spring, her ingenious brother Regulus managed to stage a diversion: in the middle of a horrible rainy day, little Regulus got into a fight with a random muggle born kid nearly twice his age on an outing in Diagon Alley. Dahlia did not have a lot of time to dwell on the pride she felt for her little brother. She trusted in Pidwen to get him out of this trouble and quickly slipped away through the crowds until she reached the Leaky Cauldron. There, she quickly flitted towards the fireplace, threw the floopowder she had brought along in it, and cried out her destination. Under the surprised looks of the lunch customers of the magical pub she disappeared.

…

Young James Potter was bored. His father was at work. His mother was somewhere upstairs completely absorbed in a two thousand page volume on the life story of Merlin. Furthermore, it was raining outside so he didn't feel like flying his broom. In short: he was alone and staring at the flames of the fireplace full of annoyance and boredom when the little, dark haired girl stepped out.

James blinked a few times. She grinned and extended her hand. "Hi James," she said. "I'm Dahlia."

"Alright," James said, shaking her hand and looking at the fire expectantly. After all, the girl could not be here on her own, could she? Her parents were probably friends with his parents and would come through any minute. However, nothing happened.

"Is nobody else coming?" James asked.

"No, who else are you expecting?" she answered.

"Well, you know, your parents or something. I mean … what are you doing here?" he said.

"Oh, I just wanted to get to know you," she said and shrugged. "I heard that my family doesn't like your family. Thus, we are supposed to become archenemies as soon as we go to Hogwarts. We are the same age, you know …"

James reached up and messed up his hair in a confused gesture. "So you're here to become my enemy a little bit earlier?" he asked. This girl must have some kind of medical condition, he thought.

"I rarely do what I'm supposed to," Dahlia answered with a wicked smile. "So actually, I'm here to become your friend and scheme some schemes with you…"

This sounded quite interesting to James. And slightly crazy as well. This Dahlia girl might just be the distraction from boredom he needed.

"What kind of schemes are we talking about?" he asked.

"Well, at first we must bring together our collaborators!" she said, smirking.

"James, darling, who is this?" Dorea Potter's voice suddenly came from the door of the living room. With a mildly interested look on her face, his mother was scrutinizing their young guest.

"Hello Mrs. Potter," Dahlia said and confidently walked up to the older witch. "I am Dahlia Black. I had heard so much about your family that I thought I might just drop by some time… well, and here I am."

"Oh, do call me Dorea. A Black, you say? My relatives, you know, though we don't have much contact with each other anymore. Well, now that you here, you can have lunch with James and me. It'll be just about half an hour," Dorea said, ruffled up Dahlia's hair and disappeared in the direction of the kitchen.

"Wow, your mum is awesome," Dahlia said. "My mum is about the opposite of her. Imagine a screaming Banshee crossed with a Grim."

James sniggered. "Okay, now tell me the truth why you are here," he said, sobering up.

Dahlia was thoughtful for a moment. Her plan had been to form a friendship with "her" James Potter and then find the other two boys with his help. However, Dahlia had never had a proper friend before (except her little brother, but that was more of a sidekick), so she didn't quite know where to begin. Maybe, a little voice in her head whispered, a little truthfulness would go a long way?

She took a deep breath and told her tale: "It all began last Christmas. I was hiding from my annoyingly crazy cousin in the attic. And then I was suddenly not at home anymore. I was suddenly at Hogwarts and met four students …"

As Dahlia told her tale, James was listening wide-eyed and curious about this strange incident. Was the girl having him on? Where had she heard that he was an awesome flier? And if she was telling the truth, how could he get to know these four boys as well?

"So you think there are some kinds of counterparts of us in some other world out there?" he asked.

She nodded.

James narrowed his eyes: "You're having me on, I don't believe you. So you want to be my archenemy after all…"

She put a hand over her heart: "I solemnly swear I am telling the truth."

They were locked in a silent staring contest when Dorea called them to lunch. Slowly they made their way into the dining room.

"So, how are your parents? How are Orion and Walpurga?" Dorea asked as soon as they had sat down to eat as if Dahlia's parents were old friends' of hers.

James rolled his eyes. How boring this kind of small talk was!

"I guess they are like always," Dahlia answered, staying politically correct.

This was when they could hear some shuffling and loud voices in the living room. Dorea gracefully rose to her feet and was about to make her way over, when an angry voice screeched: "Where is she? Where is my eldest? Where are you hiding her, Potter? My eldest and those Potter-blood traitors…" Dorea took out her wand. Within the next instant, Walpurga Black appeared in the doorframe of the dining room of the Potters.

"Banshee crossed with Grim?" James asked Dahlia in a staged whisper. He was not quite sure whether to be amused or cross for that woman to talk to his mother in such a manner.

"There you are!" Walpurga exclaimed shrilly as soon as she set eyes on her mischievous eldest.

"We were just about to have lunch," Dorea said calmly, "do you care to join us?"

"Lunch? Lunch with the likes of you? Mudblood lovers! Never!" Walpurga exclaimed. "Daughter, you come with me right away! This is no place for a proper Black to be!"

Dahlia scowled. Then she whispered almost inaudibly towards James: "I'll be back. Wait for me at midnight." Innocently she raised her voice: "Coming, mother!"

…

One positive thing to be said about the Blacks was the gigantic blind spot they had for their eldest offspring. This escapade of Dahlia's, for example, was seen as some kind of attack on the honour of the Black family by the Potters and not as a scheme executed by their daughter. Dahlia got off by being sent to bed early. She did not care one bit. She stayed up reading until suddenly the door to her room creaked open and Regulus silently snuck inside.

"Hey Rex," Dahlia whispered and put down the book she had been reading.

"Hi Dally – so, did it work?" Regulus asked as he sat down on the bed next to her and looked up at her with big brown eyes. "Will you finally tell me why you wanted to go to the Potters? Oh, please do tell me!" He was making adorable puppy dog eyes.

The two children were of course forbidden to call each other with such commonplace names as Dally and Rex, but exactly for that reason they liked to call each other by those nicknames in secret.

Dahlia furrowed her brows and thought about what she should tell Regulus. Up to now she had been very secretive about her encounter with the four marauders. James had been the first person she had told about that little journey across time and space. Regulus, however, might be her one and only actual friend, but he also was her little brother and should thus be protected by her from the dangers this world could bring.

She opened and closed her mouth. Was it her place to tell a little boy that one could just be picked up from one place and turn back up in completely different circumstances? That one was not safe anywhere? Not even in one's own little home?

"Aw, come on, Dally," Regulus interrupted her musings, lying down on his back on her bed.

"Well, last Christmas while I was in the attic something peculiar happened to me," she began and soon the tale was pouring forth like a river that had broken a dam. Regulus listened full of wonder and astonishment.

"So now you want to go and get to know the counterparts of these boys?" he asked when she had finished.

"Yes," she said, glad to have finally told Rex all there was to know.

"Sounds like a good idea. I mean you would probably meet them at Hogwarts, but that's still more than a year away," he said, nodding to himself.

"So, what do you think?" Dahlia asked. "Are you going to help me? Are you coming with me to the Potters' place tonight at midnight?"

A broad grin spread over her brother's face. "Yes!" he whispered. "Yes, sure, I'm in."