Year Four

Willow met her friends on platform 9¾. She was tanned and her hair was sun-streaked. The six girls grinned and hugged each other.

"It looks like the beaches of Spain agreed with you," Mary smiled; the others laughed as Will grinned.

"Of course. And the locals weren't that bad either. A few of the guys showed me how to surf."

"Go out with me Evans!" a voice called and all six girls groaned. Lily spun and glared at James Potter.

"Never, Potter!" she yelled back at him and turned her back on him. Willow and Mary laughed. James and Sirius had become the heart-throbs of the school and Sirius knew it all too well. James knew it as well, but he was chasing Lily, so he didn't really notice the girls that had become his fan club.

"Let's get on the train before the fan-girls make it impossible to get on," the six girls did and found a compartment.


Willow screeched as goo was dropped over her head and down the back of her uniform. She looked up to see James and Sirius staring at her in shock. She didn't bother to tell them that she would get them back, it was written on her face and in her eyes. They boys watched her stomp off in worry and with a slight bit of fear, then ran down to their potions class so that they wouldn't be late, knowing that she would be late. Willow walked in half an hour later.

"Miss Stark, you are late," the Professor said as everyone turned towards her.

"Sorry Professor Slughorn, I ran into a little trouble on the way here," she took her assigned seat, which was between Remus and Sirius, and got out her potions book. Remus looked at her face and then at James and Sirius, he knew immediately that they had been the cause of her delay and sighed. He wondered when his friends and dorm mates would grow up enough to at least stop pranking the girls.

"Well, be that as it may, you will still be serving a detention on Saturday."

"But sir, I have a Quidditch match," she looked at him with wide eyes and she saw from the corner of her eye that James and Sirius were doing the same.

"You should have thought of that earlier," his tone said that there was no point in arguing. Willow glared at James and Sirius and they looked at her apologetically. She didn't look at them from the rest of the lesson. She handed in her potion, packed up her belongings and walked out of the classroom. The rest of the class was surprised. She had arrived later than the rest of them, yet she had managed to finish before them as well, showing that she was actually smarter than she let on to those around her. James and Sirius stared after her and James realised that he had seen this once before when she had been upset about missing out on the chance to see her mother because his mother had told her that she wasn't allowed outside because he had crashed a broom into the living room fire, she had taken the blame for it, and many other things that he had done that caused her to miss out on things that she had been looking forward. But this was only the second time that she had been forced out of something that she truly loved.

"Shit," he muttered to himself. Sirius looked at him and he just shook his head. "later." Sirius nodded and they finished their potion.

Willow sat down by the lake and looked out over the water. She didn't pay any attention to the people walking in and out of the castle and didn't move as someone sat next to her.

"I'm sorry for getting you into trouble."

"It's not your problem now Potter, you don't have to deal with that consequences."

"Oh, but I do. You and Sirius, despite your mutual hate and animosity towards each other, are the best team of Beaters that have been seen in a very long time. And it really is my fault that you got covered in goo. Sirius tends to talk me into things that I know I shouldn't do."

"Yeah, I've noticed that. I have to go finish some homework, see you later Potter," she stood and walked off.

"Willow, what happened? Why have we stopped being siblings?" she turned and saw him standing. She sighed and looked down at her feet.

"I don't know what happened. I know that more times than not you would brush me off to hang with Sirius; that was okay with me. But then you stopped sneaking into my room at night and you stopped coming around. And whenever I went over to your house to hang with you, your parents told me that you and Sirius had gone off somewhere. So I stopped. I know that things might have turned out differently if I had kept on trying, but it was getting too hard. I knew that we wouldn't ever get back to how we were when you called me Stark for the first time ever last year," she sighed at the look on his face, she could see that he understood that there was blame to be placed on him as well and that she wasn't blaming him for everything. She smiled sadly and walked back to the castle; she saw Black from the corner of her eye and knew that he had heard everything.

Lily and Mary found Willow sitting up in the Astronomy tower and they sat on either side of her.

"I told him everything. And Black heard. I know that we can't go back to being family and it hurts to know that," she rested her head on Lily's shoulder and felt tears roll over her cheeks. Her friends just held her and let her cry. An hour later she sat up straight and blew her nose.

"Thanks, I needed that," she said as they all stood up.

"No problem," Lily said with a smile.

"It's our job as your best friends to comfort you when you are down in the dumps," Mary grinned at her and they all laughed. Willow pulled a face as she remembered her detention on Saturday.

"I can't believe that Slughorn is making me do detention when there is a Quidditch match is on."

"He's not," Lily said and Willow stared at her friend.

"What did you do?"

"Told him that I was taking the detention for you as it was totally uncalled for, for him to make you miss a Quidditch match. He took the detention away."

"Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you-thank-you!" Willow crushed her friend in a hug and she laughed. They walked into the Gryffindor common room and sat down at their table to do their homework. They ignored the marauders and the boys frowned, it didn't look like they were planning any pranks but you never knew with them.


Willow sat down at the Gryffindor table and dropped her head onto the cool wood of the surface. She was in her Quidditch robes and she was beyond tired. Lily and Mary looked at her with worry.

"Are you going to be able to play today?"

"I have to, I don't have any choice. Potter will kill me if I don't play," she lifted her head and looked at Lily. "Please don't let him get you riled up this morning."

"I can't promise anything," Lily stood and went over to Alice. Willow dropped her head again.

"How many times do I have to tell you Potter that I do not want to go out with you?"

"Why? Why me? What did I do to disserve him being at his most annoying today of all days?" Willow asked the table as someone sat next to her. She looked up and saw that it was Black. She groaned and stood up.

"I'll be at the pitch. Potter! Evans! Shut up and grow up for once!" she yelled as she grabbed her broom and stormed out of the silent hall. She walked all the way to the pitch without realising that Black was right behind her.


It was a week before the Christmas holidays when bad news hit three of the fourth-year Gryffindor girls. Lily's mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and had been given less than a year to live. Mary learnt that her little brother had died in an accident that had also crippled her mother. James, Sirius and Remus walked into the Gryffindor common room to see Alice, Aisling and Martha comforting Lily and Mary, who were both sitting on the couch crying. Willow was standing before the fire, staring into it with blank eyes. Martha stood and walked over to her, but she just shrugged off the comforting hand that Martha placed on her shoulder. Martha went back to her seat. James went over to Willow.

"Will? Are you okay?" he put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. He could see the haunted look in her eyes. "Will?" she shook her head and ran from the room. He saw a piece of paper fall to the ground as she dropped it and picked it up.

Dear Willow,

I know that this will come to you as a bit of a shock, but your father has passed away. He was murdered by the same people who killed your mother when you were younger. I am deeply sorry for this. His funeral is in four days and I expect to see you there. We have much to discuss.

Yours truly,

Beatrice O'Hare.

"Merlin, that is the most uncaring letter that I have ever read," Sirius had read over James' shoulder. James shoved the letter into Sirius' hands.

"Don't let anyone read this. I mean it Sirius."

"Pranksters honour," James nodded and ran from the room.

Willow was at the edge of the lake. She was picking up stones and throwing them as hard as possible into the lake.

"Give him back!" she screamed, tears running down her cheeks. James came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. All her strength flowed out of her and her knees buckled. He gently sank into a sitting position, Willow in his lap.

"He's mine, he can't leave. He's mine," she hid her face against his shoulder and put her arms around his neck as she cried. He gently rocked her until her tears ceased to fall.

"Will you come with me? I don't want to face Aunt Betty alone. She's scary."

"Of course I will go. I'm sorry that he was taken from you as well as your mother."

"I'm sorry too. No one will ever call me Willowtree again," she started to cry again, but not as hard as the first time. They eventually walked back up to the common room. Will kissed James on the cheek and went up to the girls' dorm. She saw that Lily, Mary, Martha, Aisling and Alice had placed the five mattresses on the floor to make one big bed for them all. She changed into her pyjamas and climbed in beside Lily. The six girls fell asleep with surprising ease considering all that had happened.


Willow stood with James and Sirius as they waited for the ceremony to begin. Will had been surprised when Sirius had asked to come, even more so when he actually showed that he was sorry that she had lost her father. The three teens were all dressed in black clothing and Willow felt like a poser. Her father hadn't believed in wearing black at a funeral, he had said that it was too dull and boring.

"Ah, Willow," a woman with greying hair came up to the girl and hugged her. "We'll be starting in a moment. You should go take a seat."

"Yes Aunt Beatrice," the trio went inside and Willow saw the coffin, her heart constricted and the boys took one of her hands each. She took a shaky breath and they sat down.

"Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to say farewell to George Stark. He was a loving husband and a devoted father. He was taken from us before his time and we shall all feel the loss of his presence. I would like to call upon those who knew George to talk about him," the priest called person upon person and the more Willow heard, the more she wanted to run away and find a nice corner to cry in. It was eventually her turn to go up and give her speech.

"I've never done this before. My dad meant the world to me. We were all we had left. I'll miss him so much. He would always call me by these funny little names that only made me laugh when he said them. He understood me where my mother didn't. He wasn't just my father, he was my friend and nothing will ever fill in the hole that was – is – his place in my heart. I love him and I'll miss him," she went and sat back down. Sirius and James took her hands again and she rested her head on James' shoulder. They watched as the coffin was carried out of the church and put into the back of a Hurst. James pulled Willow into a hug as her tears started to fall over her cheeks. Her sobs were stifled against his shoulder and he looked at Sirius. The teen was looking at the back of Willow's head in worry. He met James' eye and they knew that they were thinking the same thing; 'will she be alright?'.