Disclaimer: Not mine

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP HPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

Christabel's POV

The first term seemed to pass in a blur to Christabel and before she knew it, it was the Easter holidays. Her parents had sent her and her siblings wonderful Easter eggs. Christabel's had been milk chocolate with a pattern of flowers done in white chocolate. She loved chocolate so had eaten the whole thing at once rather than saving it.

It may have been the holidays but the students still had homework to do. Christabel, Hortensia, Tom and Jamie were currently sitting around a table in the common room doing a star chart for Astronomy. 'Some holiday,' muttered Tom, 'they're still giving us homework to do.' 'Well, we are still at school,' Hortensia pointed out, 'of course they'd expect us to still do school work. At least we don't have classes.' Tom grumbled a bit but he did agree with her. 'After we've finished this we could always have a wonder around the grounds,' Christabel suggested. 'Yeah,' Jamie agreed, 'I want to see the womping willow.' Christabel shuddered she didn't like that tree. 'Ok,' she said hesitantly, 'Just so long as we don't go too near it.'

So after the four had finished their Astronomy charts they went for a wonder round the grounds. Soon they came to the womping willow. 'Why was that even put here?' Tom asked curiously. Christabel and Hortensia knew the story. 'Tensi and I know,' Christabel told him and Jamie. 'Can you tell us Christa?' Jamie asked. 'Our dad told us the story,' she began, 'the womping willow guards the entrance to a tunnel that leads to the shrieking shack. It was put on the grounds long before my dad even born. He'd always tell us story's about when his dad and mum, our grandparents, were at school. His dad, James he was called, was part of group of good friends who called themselves the marauders. The group was made of dad and his friends, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Remus was a werewolf so the shrieking shack was built so that he had a safe place to transform. The womping willow was put at the entrance to the tunnel to keep the other students out. However our dad, Sirius and Pettigrew learned to become animagi. They could change into animals. Our dad became a stag, Sirius became a dog and Pettigrew became a rat. They made up nicknames. Dad was Prongs, Sirius was Padfoot, Remus was Moony and Pettigrew was Wormtail.' Christabel finished the story. Tom and Jamie noticed something. 'Why do you call Peter Pettigrew, Pettigrew rather than Peter?' Jamie asked. Hortensia and Christabel's faces darkened. 'He's the reason we don't know our grandparents on our dad's side,' Christabel explained, 'he betrayed our dad's parents to Voldemort and left our dad as an orphan.' 'I'm sorry,' Tom said gently. Hortensia and Christabel smiled. 'It's ok dad's doing just fine now. We also have a photo album of his parents,' Hortensia said. 'What happened to the other marauders?' Jamie asked. It was Hortensia who spoke this time. 'Sirius died helping our father against some deatheaters when dad was in his fifth year,' she said, 'Remus, along with his wife, died when Voldemort attacked Hogwarts and as far as we know Pettigrew's dead as well.' 'Are you sorry about that?' Tom asked. 'About Pettigrew? No. But we would have liked to have the chance to get to know Remus and Sirius especially seeing as how Sirius was dad's godfather,' Christabel said.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

They spent a few minutes more and then continued their exploration of the grounds. They soon found themselves at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. 'I hope you lot aren't planning on going in there,' a voice behind them said. The four turned around startled. Hortensia and Christabel sighed in relief when they saw it was their brother Kenneth. He was with three other boys they didn't know. 'Hi Kenneth,' Hortensia and Christabel said. 'You don't have to worry,' Christabel assured her brother, 'we're not stupid enough to go into the Forbidden Forest.' Kenneth looked relieved. His sisters suddenly remembered their manners. 'This is Tom and Jamie,' Christabel said introducing her new friends. She then introduced them to her brother. 'This is mine and Tensi's brother Kenneth.' Kenneth then introduced his new friends. 'These are Russell, Matthew and Robert,' he said. He turned to his friends. 'These are my sisters Christabel and Hortensia.' The two groups exchanged greetings. 'So if you're not going into the Forest what are doing right outside it?' Kenneth asked his sisters. They both shrugged. 'We were wondering the grounds and just ended up here,' Christabel said. Just then a howl came from inside the wood. The two groups quickly moved away from the Forest and back to the castle.

They parted ways in the entrance hall. The Slytherins when back to their common room and the Hufflepuffs went back to theirs. 'How many siblings do you have?' Tom asked. 'There are nine of us all together,' Christabel said, 'we're all in different houses.' Tom and Jamie were surprised there were so many. 'Is Kenneth the only one in Slytherin?' Jamie asked. 'No,' Hortensia said, 'our sister Esther is also in Slytherin.' 'What about the others?' Tom asked. 'Our sister Annette and our brothers Bertram and Dunstan are all in Gryffindor,' Hortensia began. 'Our sister Lilias and our brother Leander are both in Ravenclaw,' Christabel finished.

The four Hufflepuffs soon arrived back at their common room. Fortunately the chairs by the fire weren't occupied so the four of them quickly claimed these chairs before anyone else could.

The four sat talking long into the night because it was the holidays and there were no classes the next day.

Christabel was happy. She missed her parents but she was enjoying being at Hogwarts. She was actually rather looking forward to when classes started again.