ch4

"One week. One week was all I asked of you Athena." Professor Dumbledore said rubbing his temples, pointedly not looking up at the five young Gryffindors who sat opposite him.

"But Professor they deserved it! 'Sides Athena didn't even throw the first punch!" Sirius defended, before snapping his mouth shut. He knew from previous experience that getting involved in a fight between the two Dumbledores was never a good idea.

"Who threw the first punch Mr. Black?" Dumbledore said, lifting his head to gaze penetratingly into Sirius' grey eyes.

"Rodolphus Lestrange sir. He hit Athena in her face, her nose is probably broken." Sirius said honestly, before hastily looking down at his hands, Dumbledore always seemed to see right to the core of him and it was a little unnerving.

"It's true sir." Remus confirmed, nodding slowly. Glancing over at Athena who was sitting in stony silence, blood was still slowly dripping down her face.

Dumbledore sighed deeply, his face darkening as he glanced up at his beloved niece. She was the love of his life, but must she always cause him so much grief?

"Go down the Hospital Wing, all of you." Dumbledore said finally.

"What? No detentions?" Athena said finally, looking up at her Uncle, who just shook his head, giving her a small smile that he reserved just for her.

"Of course not. I can't fault you for defending yourselves. Now go, Madame Pomfrey will paint my back porch red if I keep you from getting your nose mended a moment longer." Dumbledore said, and the teenagers filed out, snickering at the imagery.

They had just made it past the Great Hall when-

"ATHENA DUMBLEDORE! WHAT I JUST HEARD BETTER NOT BE TRUE!"

"OH MERLIN IT IS TRUE! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LEARN?" Lily Evans shrieked, as she tore down the corridor toward her friend. Athena had blood dripping from her nose, down to her chin and onto her white uniform shirt, which was torn and tattered. Her stockings were ripped up and her hair was disheveled. She was also sporting a black eye and what appeared to be fingernail scratches down the length of her arms. The boys weren't in much better shape, although Athena looked the worst because of the volume of blood on her face and clothes.

"Look at you! You look like you got hit with a truck!" Lily exclaimed rushing to Athena's side.

"Yeah well.. You should see the other guy." Athena offered feebly, she was becoming more and more aware of the mind numbing pain in her nose, and tears had sprung into her eyes, making it difficult for her to see.

"Fighting again. A full on brawl? When are you going to start being a girl?" Lily prodded Athena with her wand. Athena shrugged.

"I just don't get it Athena. Your so gorgeous, imagine how many guys would be after you if you acted like a lady for once." Lily said as Athena rolled her eyes, she had been getting this speech from Lily for years.

The Maruaders however protested this statement. They were already fielding practically every male in the school and it was becoming incredibly tedious, and it made all four of them incredibly angry, though each for different reasons. In the Maruaders humble opinion, the last thing Athena needed was more guys after her.

"Oh for Merlins sake what have the five of you gotten into now?" Madame Pomfrey called out as they reached the hospital wing. The boys had just shrugged, grinning guiltily, Athena however was becoming blinded by the pain and the tears in her eyes, so she just flopped down on the nearest bed and waited for Pomfrey to make her way over.

"Fighting again! Tsk Tsk. Drink this Dumbledore. Now this is going to hurt." Madame Pomfrey said as Athena polished off the familiar goblet of fracture healing potion, she had broken more bones during her time at Hogwarts than she could remember. Madame Pomfrey placed both hands on the side of Athena's face and then roughly pushed the sides of her nose together with her thumbs. Athena let out a loud hiss of pain, and the boys and Lily looked at her sympathetically.

"There now, good as gold!" Athena said grinning as she and the boys walked out of the Hospital Wing, each having been healed of their various cuts and bruises. Lily had gone off muttering about their imaturity shortly after Athena's nose was fixed. They all looked much better, though Athena still had light bruising around her eye, they looked fine. Except of course for the state of their tattered clothes.

"Merlin. I'm knackered." James said as he flung himself onto the comfortable couch in the Gryffindor common room, his friends copied his actions on the various chairs that filled the room, Athena yanked a pillow off the couch and snuggled up on the floor.

"The girl could sleep anywhere." James said chuckling as he stood up and gently lifted the now softly snoring Athena and placed her on the couch, before sitting protectively in front of her as if Rodolphus might burst into the room at any time and punch her again.

Sirius stared at his sleeping friend. Sometimes it honestly took his breath away how beautiful she was, even with a slight black eye, and blood all over her clothes she still looked like a vision. Sirius blinked, forcing the thought from his head. Sirius had hinted last year about him being with Athena to James, and James had gone off his rocker. Sirius had quickly explained that he was just joking, and his messy haired friend had calmed down, but the reaction had stuck with him. So he pushed all thoughts of how perfect Athena was out of his mind, and instead threw himself into fling after meaningless fling.

He glanced back over to her, a small smile was playing about her lips and he couldn't help but wonder what she was dreaming of. She was so innocent when she slept, it was so different from the usually fiery raging girl that occupied her while she was awake. She was a roaring good time though, he'd have to give her that.

A few weeks after the Gryffindors battle with the Slytherins, the Maurauders and Athena were still getting pats on the back and "Good on ya's!" from various people. The four boys and their ever present blonde were sitting at the Gryffindor table having lunch on a Saturday. James and Sirius were recounting their heroic battle with the Slytherins to some third year girls who looked awe struck. Athena, Remus and Peter were snickering softly each time one of the third years would swoon.

"Oi, Athena?" Somebody suddenly called from the other side of the table. Athena glanced around and saw Gideon Prewett, a seventh year, and in her opinion the most handsome boy in Gryffindor, if you didn't count Sirius that was, and she didn't. Gideon strode over to her, smiling, and sat down next to her, squeezing Peter into one of the third year girls who squeaked in disgust.

"What's up Gideon?" Athena asked, grinning. Trying to keep her cool, the tall muscular red head was the stuff of every girl who attended Hogwarts dreams, because not only was he incredibly handsome, he was sweet, and funny, and smart and a really good wizard. He and his twin brother were a force to be reckoned with.

"Oh not much. I just realized I never told you how brilliant you were in that fight with the Slytherins." Somewhere in the backround Lily Evans made a sound of protest and disbelief.

"Thanks, It wasn't that big of a deal. These two gits are making it much more then it was." Athena said indicating James and Sirius who had stopped recounting their tale, and were now listening to Athena's conversation closely.

"I think it's a pretty big deal. I saw Lestrange deck you, I almost hexed him into oblivion myself, and you just kept on fighting. You've got guts Dumbledore." Gideon said smoothly, Athena felt her heart doing the ballet in her chest.

"It's nothing to fuss over, I wasn't about to let them talk about my Uncle that way." Athena said blushing slightly, and then silently cursing herself for bringing her Uncle Al into the conversation. Everyone was always telling her about how all of these guys had fancied her, but nobody ever asked her out. She never got asked to Hogsmeade, and she went to the Yule Ball last year with James. She reckoned it was because they were all afraid to get on the headmasters bad side.

"Thats very admirable. So listen, I was wondering if you have a date to the Yule Ball yet, or if your going to let Potter hog you all night like last year." Gideon said flashing her a winning smile, and running his fingers through his auburn hair almost nervously.

Athena glanced over at James, who was glaring at Gideon. Athena rolled her eyes, Where James got off being so damned protective of her, she didn't know.

"No, I don't have a date. Why? Are you asking?" Athena said flirtatiously, deciding that if he had the guts to ask her out, that he must actually like her.

"Yeah I'm asking. What do you say?"

"Sure. I'd love to." Athena said beaming. She had dreamed of this scenario a hundred times, and now it was actually happening!

"Thats great! I'll see you around alright? I think Fabien over there is wetting his pants in excitement." He said indicating his brother who was looking at the two of them, anxious for information.

"Its nothing to fuss over!" Sirius said in a high pitched impression of Athena. The Marauders were all lying in their beds, winding down for the night. Sirius felt irrationally angry with Athena, and he was about ready to throttle Gideon Prewett, who had been strutting around Hogwarts all day like he owned the place.

"Calm down Padfoot. Who cares if she goes with Prewett to the ball? He's a pretty nice kid, weren't you just saying the other day that he was alright? There's no need to be getting all aggro." Remus said staring up the ceiling, he too was feeling jealous of the seventh year, but he wasn't about to get angry about it.

"I agree with Padfoot. What's he playing at asking Athena to the ball. She's a fifth year, I swear on Merlin if he tries to do anything with her, I'll hex him into the next century!" James said, fuming.

"Exactly! Seventh years are all about shagging. He probably thinks he'll be able to shag her!" Sirius said, the explaination dawning on him.

"I'll kill him!" James shouted abruptly standing up and grabbing his wand off the table, looking every bit ridiculous with his glasses askew and in his pajamas.

"Bloody hell James get back in bed. Did you ever think that maybe he asked her because she's very pretty, or perhaps because she's fun to be around. You yourself said last year that you were glad Lily had rejected you because you had such a good time with Athena." Remus said, as always being the voice of reason.

James flopped back down on his bed. "Yeah, but I've got the right to have a good time with her! She's MY friend!" He said defensively. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Maybe he wants to be friends with her too."

"Well she's got enough friends thank you very much! What, we aren't good enough for her anymore?" Sirius said glaring at Remus, why did he have to be so bloody right all the time.

"You two are acting like lunatics, and your one to talk about Gideon only wanting a shag, because honestly Padfoot, look at yourself. Your worse than Prewett by a mile." Remus said angrily, before roughly pulling the shades of his bed closed, and casting a silencing charm. He was done with THAT conversation.

Sirius and James looked scandalized, but followed Remus' lead, and each pulled their shades shut, leaving a very bewildered Peter sitting on his bed.

The argument was resolved by the next day, and in time the Marauders actually began to like Prewett, he was on all accounts very nice to Athena.

"Prewetts not so bad, 'sides I'd rather him than somebody like Padfoot right?" James said grinning, and patting his friend on the back. Oblivious to the fact that Sirius Black was currently in a silent war with himself over that very fact.

Athena dated Gideon for the rest of the year, they had a wonderful time at the ball, Gideon even spent a lot of the night chatting with her Uncle, an action that made Athena swoon with delight. He was incredibly kind to her, and he was a lot of fun to be around, and most importantly he had gotten James' seal of approval, because even though she would never tell him that, James' approval meant a lot to her. So they became attached at the hip, which was hard for the Marauders to stomach at fist, since Athena used to be with THEM 24/7, but they got used to it, and it wasn't like they never saw her, they still saw her more then Gideon did. Athena was very happy that year, and it was hard to see Gideon go in June, but he promised that they would see each other again someday, and held her close as she cried.