Hellooo… If anybody's reading this, don't hesitate to review. It can be anonymous or whatever I don't mind! Even just a two-word review!

Almost forgot! Disclaimer: I wish… but I don't own Harry Potter. L

The weeks passed quickly in a blur of classes, Quidditch practices and running away from the Marauders. Five times now they had offered Nova suspicious-looking potions, and having witnessed the pranks they'd pulled on others, Nova was more than a little wary. Suffice to say that she now drank out of a hip-flask and kept the boys well away from her food.

James had proposed to Lily five more times in the middle of the Common Room. Once he had actually magnified his voice for the whole House to hear, but that had only made his scream unbearably loud when Lily had slapped him. Sirius had turned thirteen the week before, and it had been a day no one at Hogwarts would ever forget. And apparently, they did that every year for each of their birthdays. According to Lily and Alice, birthday pranks were a Marauder tradition. Sirius had woken up with completely blue skin and white back-combed hair, and had spent the day chasing after the Muggleborns who called him a Smurf. 'Smurf' was now James, Remus and Peter's name for Sirius, for whom the most distressing part of the whole incident had been the damage done to his precious hair. He was now on a new deep-conditioning regime, much to James' amusement.

Nova's injuries had healed well, and only her ankle and left wrist ever gave her any trouble. Thank God for that, most of first and second years had now stopped hassling her to give up Quidditch, something Nova had point-black refused to do. That was were she was now, actually, the Quidditch pitch at training. It was lashing rain, being the middle of winter, but that did not deter the great Robert Wood, who Nova was seriously beginning to think was possessed by the spirit of Quidditch.

Nova was looping through the players in the lashing rain, racing to find the snitch before the Reserve Seeker, Bobby West. As she scanned the air for the snitch, she looked up to see a flying black bowling ball zooming towards her head. "AAAAHHH! HOLY SHIT!", screamed Nova, rolling 180 degrees to hang upside. She felt the Bludger skim over her knuckles and she winced. Rolling back right way up she saw Sirius and Annie Harvey arguing mid-air. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CONTROL THE BLUDGER, SIRIUS, AND HIT IT AT THE CHASERS! NOT SHOW OFF FOR YOUR GIRLFRIENDS! HONESTLY, AM I THE ONLU BEATER ON THIS TEAM THAT ACTUALLY DOES THEIR JOB!" Nova, confused, looked over to the stands. Seeing a smirking Em and Marlene, who waved at her quite cheerfully before resuming their efforts to distract Sirius, Nova rolled her eyes. Further up the pitch, all of Sirius' attention was on Annie as he roared at her.

"THERE ARE NOT MY GIRLFRIENDS! AND ITS NOT MY FAULT IF YOU CAN'T AIM A BLUDGER AT THE BLOODY CHASERS!" "YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" "WHINY BITCH!" Wood looked up from his post at the center hoop, missing the Quaffle as it whizzed past, much to James' delight. Wood flew over to Annie and Sirius, who were oblivious in all their fury.

Wood tried to get their attention for several minutes, getting angrier and angrier. By now everyone else had since stopped practicing and were now looking at the spectacle in the middle of the pitch. Down in the stands the two girls whooped, and Nova had to roll her eyes again. Marlene and Em were so like the Marauders, troublemakers in their own right.

It was only when Sirius and Annie lunged for each other in mid-air that Wood decided to quit the niceties and intervene, hovering in between them while James held back Sirius, Jared Bell Annie. "JUST SHUT UP ALREADY! BLACK, HARVEY, IF TE TWO OF YOU CAN'T PLAY TOGETHER THEN YOU WON'T PLAY AT ALL! UNDERSTOOD?!", Wood roared. Sirius and Annie continued to struggle with their captors. "I SAID: UNDERSTOOD?!", Wood roared again. This time the fighting stopped and the two nodded sullenly.

"Well then, let's continue practice. And if the two of you ever fight again, I'll throw the both of you off my team!" With that, Wood flew off and practice began again, everybody flying a little better to avoid Wood's wrath. Nova caught the familiar glint of gold hovering a few feet above the Hufflepuff stands and went for it, catching it well before Bobby, who hadn't even seen it. She released it again and gave it a five second head-start. Bobby caught sight of it and set off after I. Not to be outdone, Nova followed him, zooming over him, the tips of her toes grazing his curly hair, Nova reached down and caught the snitch just as Bobby reached for it.

Bobby frowned for the briefest of seconds, then grinned widely at Nova. "Well, I guess we both know why you're the Seeker, right?", he quipped, slapping Nova a high-five. They both descended to the ground, laughing and tossing the snitch back and forth. When they reached the ground, Wood called them all into a huddle. Nova steered well clear of Sirius and James- Sirius was in a black mood after his encounter with Annie Harvey, and James as usual was with him as they were pretty much surgically attached at the hip. Instead she stood with Lucy and Bobby, thinking that they would make a great couple. Usually Annie would have chatted with the three of them, but was in a mood comparable to Sirius'.

Wood began to speak, emphasizing his point as usual with elaborate hand gestures. "Okay guys, this is our last practice before the holidays, and I've got some guidelines for ye. Alright, I know that its Christmas, but if any of ye come back to school two times bigger than ye were leaving 'cause ye ate too many Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans, ye're off the team. Understood,?" Laughter filled the air and Wood went slightly red. "Okay, okay! OKAY! Now, no dangerous activities this time, I don't have time to hold more tryouts. And so help me if anyone on this team goes troll hunting or something stupid like that, I will personally flay you alive!" "THAT A THREAT OR A PROMISE, WOOD?", came the voice of Marlene from the stands. Immediately after speaking she ducked out of sight in a fit of giggles, and Wood was left blushing searching furiously for the person who had spoken. When he found nobody, he continued with his speech. "Well, anyway, I think that's about it. No overeating, no dangerous stuff or injuries. Come back in January alive and well, and we'll have no trouble crushing Ravenclaw into dust. Merry Christmas!"

Laughing and chatting, the team dispersed. Nova's good mood had vanished when Wood had mentioned the holidays. He had reminded her of the fact that Nova would be remaining in Hogwarts, alone, and worst of all, her birthday was during the holiday season. Actually, it was Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. Nova knew that she wouldn't get a single card, except the customary birthday card and her favorite Toffee-Flavored Lolly from Evan, the only one who knew when her birthday was. Although in light of recent events, Nova doubted that she would be receiving even that. Adding to all of that, Nova would probably be the only one in Gryffindor House remaining at school over the holidays. Although, there was hope yet. Her friends had not yet discussed their holiday plans, but Nova had an ominous feeling about the holidays, and trudged sorrowfully into the Great Hall for breakfast. It didn't help her mood that Wood had had them up at basically dawn for early-morning Thursday training.

Sighing, Nova made her way to the Great Hall and found her Gryffindor friends. Lily and Mary were sitting on wither side of Lily and Alice. Marlene and Em were still at the Quidditch pitch, and Nova wouldn't be surprised if they ended up snogging their way through the male members of her Quidditch team. "Hey guys", she sighed, dropping onto the bench next in between Lily and Mary. "Hey Nova! So, how's practice going? Think we'll beat the Ravenclaws?", asked Alice excitedly, dark hair flying everywhere as she bounced up and down n the seat, including into Lily's face. Lily gave Alice a hair tie and Alice frowned at it before tying up her hair reluctantly under the watchful eye of Lily. "Sure, Alice, we've got a fighting chance", Nova replied, trying to hold back the giggles.

When the six of them had finished breakfast they went their separate ways- Lisa and Mary trudged off reluctantly to the dungeons and a terrific double Potions class; while Nova, Lily and Alice walked slowly to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class with the Slytherins. Their Defense professor, new this year, was Professor Reilly, a skinny little red-bearded Irishman. He got along very well with Nova, favoring the only other Irish student in the class. He showed the same amount of favoritism towards Melissa Finnegan, a third year Gryffindor, also Irish. He did not however, favor Will, although he was Irish, from Killarney.

Marlene and Em showed up mere seconds before Reilly and they all filed into the classroom, taking their seats. Reilly started to call role, ticking the names off on a list as he went along. Nova groaned, she had just realized that Evan, Mulciber and Avery were in this class. Just as Reilly called out, "Black, Sirius", Sirius, James, Remus and Peter burst into the classroom, panting as though they'd each done ten laps of the Quidditch pitch. Reilly looked up, far from amused. "Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew, detention tonight, me office. Do not be late to my class again. Go on then, sit down!" The four boys trudged to their seats miserably, Remus shooting Sirius an annoyed look, clearly indicating that their tardiness was Sirius' fault.

Reilly finished the role and took a seat on his desk, leaning on the edge of it casually. "Did everyone do the twelve inches on Hinkypunks I asked for? Hmm… We shall see. ACCIO HOMEWORK!" About fifteen neat rolls of parchment sailed through the air and landed on Reilly's desk. He immediately began to go through them, checking the names off on a list. "Black, Potter, where is your homework?", he asked sharply. Sirius didn't even look up, inspecting his fingernails in a bored sort of way. James, despite all his cockiness could never quite pull off the same cool indifference that Sirius could, and so was studying the view from the window with intense concentration. "Well?", demanded Reilly. Sirius and James were forced to face their teacher with guilty faces. James spoke for himself and his friend. "Sorry Professor, must have forgot. We had like this reeeeally long Transfiguration essay to finish last night and-" Reilly cut him off. "Your other homework, assigned by other teachers, is not my concern, Potter. Yourself and Black will be serving another detention with me on Monday, nine o'clock sharp. I expect you both to hand in your essays tomorrow." Sirius groaned, Nova smirked, Marlene and Em burst into a fit of giggles that couldn't be stopped by even Reilly's glare.

Sighing and sitting back on his desk, Reilly began to talk about the aim of the lesson. "Alright, today we're going to move on from basic magical creatures to basic defensive magic and dueling. Some of the areas we will be studying will include disarming, Stunning, Shield Charms and basic dueling. We will not be covering the Unforgivable Curses this year, as they aren't required until around fourth year. Okay, does anyone know anything about dueling? Ever done any, anything at all? Jinxes, Shield Charms, legal curses?" Reilly seemed to look especially towards the Marauders and a few of the Slytherins as he said this, then he looked to see who had raised their hand. Sirius, James, Nova and Lily had their hands in the air. Surprisingly, Evan, Avery and Mulciber were just sitting there, arms down, smirking as though they were above it all.

Reilly nodded at Sirius. "Black, you're up. What can you tell me about….jinxes? What are they, and name a couple." Sirius thought for only the barest instant before answering, although with parents like his a vast knowledge of Dark Magic was hardly surprising.

"Jinxes are one of the seven spell types, associated with Dark and negative magic. They are used mostly for the amusement of the caster and for defense. They can be prevented by an Anti-jinx and stopped by a Counter-jinx. Examples…. Jelly-legs, Finger-removing, Stinging, Stretching and Anti-disoperation Jinxes."

Reilly looked vaguely impressed with Sirius, nodding to show that eh was correct. Next he called on Lily. "Ah, Evans. What can you tell me about…Shield Charms?" Lily didn't even have to think, immediately rattling ff a definition and explanation. "The term Shield Charm refers to several varieties of charms used to repel physical entities and spells. The simplest and most commonly used variation is the Protego Charm, performed with an upwards flick of the wand." Once more Reilly nodded, signifying that Lily was correct, looking very impressed at the capabilities of her memory.

"Okay now, legal curses and examples. Let's see, aahh… Potter, fire away." James sat back, looking smug. "The worst of the seven kinds of spell. Curses are the worst kind of Dark Magic and are used to cause harm, injury or death. Examples would be the three Unforgivable Curses, the Gemino and the Hair-Loss Curses." Once more, James was correct and Reilly looked around for the last volunteer, eyes resting on Nova.

"Now Loyal, I've been led to understand by Professor Dumbledore that you have an, aahh, special understanding of this last topic, and the one we shall be focusing on over the coming weeks. Dueling. Off you go."

Nova thought for a minute, all eyes on her, waiting. Then she was ready. "A duel is a confrontation between two wizards. The two combatants must first bow before using different spells to harm, disarm or kill until one combatant is either killed or surrenders. In case a combatant dies a replacement, called a second, can continue the duel on their behalf." Reilly nodded. "Correct. Now, ordinarily dueling is not permitted, but is a prized skill amongst Aurors, and is commonly used during times of war. Now, today we will be focusing on dueling, so please follow me to the Great Hall, 'cause I'm not stupid enough the do it with you in here, I like my classroom."

Whispering and muttering the class filed out and made their way to the Great Hall, Nova doing her best to avoid the stares of Evan, Avery and Mulciber. When they reached the Great Hall Reilly called for silence, which took several minutes to achieve, mostly because of the Marauders, who had demonstrated the Jelly-Legs Curse on Adrian Simmons of Slytherin. When Reilly had finally managed to sort out Simmons and promised the Marauders two weeks worth of detention, he began to pair them up according to ability.

Nova had been hoping to go with a Gryffindor, standing with the girls from her dormitory. When Reilly came over accompanied by a smirking Evan, her heart sank. She stomped off with Evan, who looked very pleased with himself. "Cheer up, Nova", he had the nerve to say. "Somebody's got to give them a good show." Nova could have punched him. "I'll be handing you your ass in a bucket, Rosier.", she hissed.Then she stalked off and lined up across from Evan with the others.

Reilly had had the tables cleared so that the Hall was now one great expanse of wide-open space. Reilly spoke up, explaining what they were to do. "Okay, what I want you to do is as follows: bow to each other first, holding wands in the accepted combat positions, then cast the first spells on the count of three, proceeding from there. Today we aren't going to focus on anything in particular, since I've heard that ye did the Shield Charm recently with Professor Flitwick, so just fire away, duel as best ye can, but no illegal curses, and you may not curse someone else's partner, Black and Potter. Begin."

Nova glared daggers at Evan as she bowed, keeping eye contact throughout. Raising their wands, Evan counted them in, unable to resist a little teasing. "On three, Nova. One. Two. Hope you're not afraid or anything, Loyal. THREE!"

"MELAFORS!", bellowed Nova, her quick spell hitting Evan before he could perform a Shield Charm, encasing his head in a giant pumpkin. Laughter broke out in the Hall. Evan raised a wand blindly, unable to see due to the pumpkin on his head. "LOCOMOTOR WIBBLY!" Nova reacted fast. "PROTEGO! PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Evan was first thrown backwards by the force of her spell as his friends had been earlier that term, then hit with the Full Body-Bind Curse. The curse kicked in as he was thrown across the room, so he landed pumpkin-headed and paralyzed.

Silence fell throughout the Hall, the sudden bursts of light that accompanied spell-casting ceasing as all eyes fell on Nova. Em and Marlene's eyes were like saucer, the Marauders looked very impressed, Lily and Alice merely amazed. Then Professor Reilly was next to Evan, performing the counter-curses. When he finished he stood up and stared over at Nova, who stood defiant with her head held high, not caring if she got a detention. Then Reilly spoke with wonder in his voice. "Loyal, that was-that was something else. I see that Dumbledore was right. What age are you?" "Eleven, nearly twelve." "And when do you turn twelve?" Nova cringed at the question, now everyone would know when her birthday was. "Boxing Day, sir. A week and a half's time."

Reilly murmured something that sounded like, "Amazing." Then the bell rang, to Nova's delight. The class fled out the doors to Charms, Nova praying hat she wouldn't bump into a pissed-off Slytherin. She left the Hall and headed straight for Charms, not hesitating for a second to send a curse bounding down the hallway towards an evilly-smirking Avery, turning his ears into broccoli, deciding that she would stick to low-key curses and jinxes at the risk of being expelled. Then she sprinted down the hall to Charms, praying that she wouldn't be followed.

Nova managed to avoid her friends and classmates until dinner, putting them off with talk of the upcoming Christmas Dance (fourth years and up), and who the best fourth years to sucker into taking you would be. But at dinner, Lily, Alice, Marlene and Em cornered her. Will, Lisa, Mary and Reg arrived from a shared class and, once filled in, joined the pestering party. Finally she gave in.

"I've already told ye how I grew up after age four. Of course I can duel, defensive spells were the first things I learned. I needed to, for God's sake!" At long last they seemed satisfied, and changed the subject, Lily grinning coyly. "So, Nova", she began, still grinning with that coy expression, "Your birthday's on Boxing Day, right?" Glowering, Nova nodded stiffly. "Why didn't you say something? That's like… a week and a half!", Marlene burst out.

Nova spoke with her eyes fixed on her knees. "I don't like people making a fuss on my birthday." Em and Alice snorted, and Will raised a disbelieving eyebrow. Lily spoke next. "Nova, I don't mean to be rude or anything, just an honest question. You might not like people making a fuss on your birthday, but since your parents died, who has?", she asked softly. Nova wasn't angry, just sad. She missed Liam and Mara Loyal deeply: the way her father, tall and strong, would swing her up onto his shoulders; the way her mother, a skilled Metamorphagus, would make her goo and laugh as a young child; the way her father, a Legilmens, could always tell what was wrong with her mother and make everything better. Nova missed the days when a simple wave of one of her parents' wands could make everything better. Now everything was so much more complicated.

"Just Evan. Evan Rosier. He's the only one who knew when my birthday was. Actually, before I came to Hogwarts, Ev was my only and best friend", said Nova in a small voice, having decided on total honesty. There was no one she could trust more than these eight people, except for perhaps Albus Dumbledore. She could trust them.

Nova heard the sighs and gasps at her statement, refusing to look up. "Sorry Nova. I guess we're just… surprised… that you could ever have been friends with Evan Rosier. I mean, he's into Dark Magic and all that, everything you're not, and besides, you both seem to hate each other", came Will's soft voice.

Nova swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling Reg and Alice's comforting arms around her shoulders, the others fighting for a chance to pat her knee. Nova smiled, she had great friends. "You're right, really, Will. In a lot of ways, Ev and I're opposites. I don't stand for Dark Magic, but if somebody uses it on me, I'll use it on them. Dueling is a hobby of mine, and I'm not even sure if its legal. The thing is, the laws of our world don't really affect my decisions either, much like Ev and his friends. Ev loves Quidditch, he used to pay with me during the summer, and that's my favorite hobby. And of course, for long stretches of time, Ev and I would have been the only kids for miles, so we came to an understanding quickly. He was as good a friend as he could be. When they cursed me he didn't stop it, but I could tell he wanted to. He knew that I could take it, trusted me and asked me to trust him. He wouldn't risk his life for me, and I wouldn't for him, so we have an understanding, I s'pose. I can't stand for his bad qualities, but his good ones, can be truly good sometimes."

Nova looked up to shocked faces. "Sorry", she mumbled blushing, "I've been rambling, haven't I? Its just such a complicated relationship to explain, simple enough to live." "Well, Nova, we trust you enough to trust that you know best. But if Evan ever hurts you I'll kill him. I've got to go now, Charms homework, but you can expect a present from me", stated Reg calmly. Then with a kind squeeze of her shoulder, he was gone.

Then Will stood up. "Same from me, Nova. He hurts you, or any of ye, he dies. I gotta go too, I was supposed to have detention with Reilly a half hour ago. Did you know that if you're late for detention every day, he adds it on at the end? I'm still doing detention from the Dungbomb thing, and that was TWO MONTHS AGO!"

Everybody burst out laughing, Lisa sticking out her tongue at Will as he left, Will sticking his out over his shoulder as he ran, middle finger extended behind him. Then Slughorn walked past and saw Will's finger, thinking it was meant for him, a teacher. He turned on his heel and set off after Will, who immediately started to sprint away, dodging madly through the crowd. "GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT, O' BRIEN, YOU RUFFIAN! HOW DARE YOU MAKE THAT RUDE HAND GESTURE AT A TEACHER! I SHALL BE INFORMING PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL OF YOUR TRANSGRESSION, HAVE NO DOUBT! GET BACK HERE, O' BRIEN, THIS INSTANT!", bellowed Slughorn in vain. Realizing that merely shouting was pointless, Slughorn tried to run after Will, but due to his rather overweight frame, it was really more of a waddle.

Nova and her friends looked at each other, then burst out laughing. "RUN, SIR, RUN!", yelled Em, ducking when Slughorn wheeled around. Clutching at their sides and laughing, the seven friends set off for the Gryffindor Common Room and the joys of Transfiguration homework.

There we go, another chapter done! So yeah, one thing: if you read this, do you think you could just drop me a quick review, even a smiley face or a quick hi! or whatever, please! I accept anon reviews as well! Thanks I would so appreciate it! J