Asha glanced at the clock on the mantel. 5:17. They were going to be late. "Dad!" she yelled at the ceiling in an attempt to notify him of the time.

There was no answer.

"Dad!" she called again from the bottom of the stairs, tapping her foot. Still there was no answer. Sighing, she began up the stairs. What could be keeping him? He said he would be ready at 5 and that they would leave for the Potter's at 5:15. It was now approaching 5:20 and she was getting very impatient.

"Dad?" she knocked softly on the door at the end of the hall knowing that he was probably in there. "We're late."

Asha could hear shuffling on the other side of the door and waited for him to emerge. She wasn't allowed in his studio, she never had been. He said that it would ruin the magic of seeing a finished painting if she knew how it was created. She never argued this point with him because it was interesting to see the blank canvas enter the room and reemerge with a flawless picture across it. But at the same time she wondered what process was involved in the making of these paintings that had half of the town knocking on their door.

The door opened a bit and her father stuck his head through. "I'll be down in a minute."

Almost as suddenly as it had appeared, his head retreated back behind the door.

Defeated, Asha returned to the living room to wait. It was no use trying to pull him away from his work. Once he started on something he could not stop until he was satisfied with the piece and no amount of complaining from her could draw him out of that room. This was a fact that she had learned a long time ago.

Last year when she got back at the end of the day from the muggle school having received an excellent mark on a test that she had spent days studying for, he father was hidden in that studio. Asha went about her evening as usual, fixing herself leftovers and working on her homework. It wasn't until nine that evening that her father finally emerged and found her test sticking out of her Science book.

They arrived at the Potter's house at 5:50, having apperated exactly 30 minutes after they had intended. It was a good thing dinner was not until 6:30.

"Sorry," Her dad apologized when Mrs. Potter opened the door to greet them. "I got a little caught up in work."

Mrs. Potter laughed and ushered them into her home. From the entry she could see through the door to the dining room where she spotted a long wooden table set with dishes that seemed to sparkle as they reflected the light from the chandelier. Red and green centerpieces lined the table in silver bowls. In front of her was a dark wood staircase leading to the upper floor of the house, the railing held a strand of Christmas ivy wound around its posts.

Mrs. Potter opened a door to their right and offered to take their coats. Thanking her, Asha removed hers and handed it to Mrs. Potter who then jammed them into the already overflowing collection of winter wear.

"Everyone is in the sitting room. Follow me." She guided them though a door opposite the dining room.

The room was decorated with strands of green and red, stocking hung over the fire place, a giant tree sat in one corner completely covered with decorations, it looked like Christmas exploded. Among the decorations people milled about, talking and laughing in groups in all parts of the room, Asha recognized none of them.

"We Potters really get into our holiday celebration." Mr. Potter laughed from behind them. "Come, I will introduce you to everyone."

For the next 20 minutes Asha was lead around the room and asked the same questions over and over about Hogwarts. How was she liking it? What was her favorite class? Had she been to this part of the castle yet? She was growing bored of answering questions but the adults seemed always have yet another for her.

A friend of Mrs. Potter was telling her a lengthy story about her time at Hogwarts when she heard it. It stared off as a low buzzing in her left ear but slowly began to grow. She turned her head from side to side in search of the source, no longer paying attention to the story. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a hand retreating from the frame, as if someone grabbed it as then ran round the corner.

The buzzing grew from one ear to both. She knew this jinx and the person responsible for it. Asha politely excused herself from the conversation and weaved her way though the room in the direction on the doorway.

This room was lined with books. Every wall was covered from floor to ceiling with pages and pages of words bound together and covered in deep red, green, blue, and black leathers. A table in the center held a few books piled at the center; at once she recognized these as James' school books. At the far end of the room sat two comfortable looking arm chairs in front of what appeared to be a window with its curtains drawn.

The buzz was getting louder. Asha looked about the room for any sign of her attackers. There was no other way into or out of the library besides the door that she had just come though so they had to be in here somewhere. But where? If they were behind the chairs, she would be able to see their feet and there was no other furniture for them to hide behind.

Maybe there was a secret passage behind one of the shelves, Asha thought while looking around. You know the ones where you pull a book out or turn the head on a bust. She had just begun considering the best location of such a passage when she saw something move.

It was the very edge of the long curtain that covered what she supposed was a window. She watched it for a minute but it did not move again. It must have been a breeze coming though the open window.

Her head bounded with the volume of the buzzing. About to give up on this room and check the sitting room again, Asha turned to leave the room. From where she was standing she could see a tall window in the other room that matched the one in the library. The curtains in the sitting room were open, revealing a window seat.

Asha marched across the room to the window and fling back the hangings. James Potter and Remus Lupin froze where they were, James' wand clutched in his hand.

"Hi." James smiled up at her once the shock of being found wore off.

"Make. It. Stop." Asha could barely make out what he had said to her over the sound in her head.

James muttered something that she could not understand and gave his wand a flick. At once the buzzing came to an end.

"How do you like Hogwarts?" James said in a high voice attempting to imitate the women in the other room.

Asha rolled her eyes and took a seat on the other side of Remus. The seat was wide enough for all three of them to fit comfortably side by side and deep enough for them to pull their feet up if they leaned back against the window.

The three of them sat in the window for some time. They talked about what they had done so far on holiday, school work, and what they thought Sirius, Sean, and Oliver were up to at that very moment.

"He is probably stuffing his face with roast." Remus said about Sirius.

Eventually Mr. Potter came looking for them to call them to dinner. Asha found herself toward one end of the table seated between her father and Remus' mom. Remus sat between his parents and James sat near the other end next to his father.

The table was covered with foods that Asha found smelt delicious. She could hardly wait to try them and was excited when dishes began to be passed. Around her people were discussing friends and recent ministry events. Asha knew nothing about what they were talking of so she kept quite and continued to work her way through the amazing meal that rivaled the feasts at Hogwarts.

"There's a new rumor goin' round." A wizard half way down the table announced, gaining the attention of the entire table. "'Course Dumbledore's tryin' to keep it quiet, but wit that many students I'm surprised it didn't come out before."

What was he talking about. Asha couldn't think of anything happening at school that Dumbledore would want to keep quiet. The only things that happened at Hogwarts was that students went to classes, nothing exciting. As far as she knew nothing big happened because if it had she would have heard, she had after all witnessed how quickly things spread through the school. Asha could tell you that the Head boy and girl had been caught kissing in a closet on the second floor, the same Head girl that had a boyfriend of two years. There had been a standoff between the two seventh years outside the History of Magic classroom where curses were fired and several bystanders had been hit by stray spells. They had both received a weeks worth of detention and lost 40 house points each.

"Are you going to tell us or not Finn? You can't say there is a rumor and then stop." The woman across the table from him urged him to continue.

Up and down the table there were sounds of agreement.

"Well," Finn began. "I 'erd from Gregory Franks, his daug'ter is a fifth year in 'ufflepuff, that there is a student at 'ogwarts who I'm lead to believe isn't sorted into a 'ouse. Load of rubbish if you ask me."

There was surprised looks from everyone at the table. Asha wanted to become part of the chair. She chanced a look down the table to James who's face had a look of shock, his fork frozen half way to his mouth. She couldn't see Remus but she was positive his face looked similar.

She wasn't sure exactly how it happened or who asked it but everyone was looking at the three first years, who also happened to be the only Hogwarts students in the room, waiting to see if they knew anything. James, who finally put down his fork, was opening and closing his mouth like he was trying to think of something to say.

"Technically she has a house." Remus was the first of the three to speak.

As soon as he said this the room burst with questions. Who was this girl? What did he mean? Why was Dumbledore trying to keep it a secret? Did they know her?

"Kind of." James answered the last question with a smile.

This caused more questions from the adults. One seemed to take over with all the adults asking it. What was she like?

"She's nice." Remus answered. Asha heard a hit of amusement in his voice.

"A little pushy though." James chimed in.

"She's really good at Charms."

"Complete rubbish at Potions though. Remember when her cauldron started hissing and Slughorn made everyone leave the room in case it blew up," laughed James.

Asha couldn't stop herself.

"That wasn't my fault! If you and Sirius hadn't-" She stopped when she realized that everyone was staring at her.

"Asha?" Her dad was looking at her with curiosity.

She soon found herself telling the story of her sorting and what the hat had said to her. She told them about going to Dumbledore's office and how he had explained that while she might not be in one of the other houses she was still a student and responsible for the same things as the other students. She told them that she had a common room to herself. This caused another round of questions about its location but all she said was that it was in a spare room in one of the towers.

She wanted to tell them things but was unsure of what she should tell them. Dumbledore had to have a reason for wanting to keep it quiet. The fact that she hadn't even told her father, she knew how he felt about magic and didn't want to give him a reason to take her out of school.

By the time Asha got done answering everyone's questions, dessert had been brought out and eaten. It wasn't until Mr. Potter announced that there was coffee in the sitting room that she got a break.

As she got up from the table her father caught her eye. She could tell by the look that he gave her that they would be having a talk when they got home and sure enough, they did.

She had expected that he would demand to know everything that had happened from the time the Hogwarts Express left the station to the time it arrived back for the Christmas Holiday. Instead he was more interested to know why she had not told him.

The day finally came that Asha and the others students were to return to Hogwarts for the second half of the year. She couldn't be more excited. Ever since the party at the Potter's, her dad had been treating her differently. He did not seem to trust that she was telling him the whole story and would keep asking her the same questions over and over as if he was expecting a different answer each time.

"That's her."

"Over there."

"Next to the boy with glasses."

Asha made her way through the crowd with James, ignoring the voices around her. Apparently she wasn't the topic of discussion at just the Potter's house over break. Her dad had dropped her off at the Potter's yesterday before rushing off to a meeting at a gallery in Dublin. Mr. Potter had left them at the entrance to the platform, having had to stop by Diagon Alley for something.

The pair continued to wander the platform in search of their friends. Remus had said he would meet them by the engine of the train but there was no sign of him, Asha assumed that he was running a little late. As for the others they just hoped they would run into them.

"Is that Sean?" James pointed through a crowd. Asha felt James grab her wrist and let him pull her across the platform toward him. On the other side they found Sean and Oliver saying goodbye to their parents. Not wanting to interrupt, they stood a few paces away from the group and waited.

Eventually Sean noticed them and called them over for some very awkward introductions.

"Sorry about them." Oliver apologized as the four of them headed back toward the front of the train.

"That was nothing compared to what happened on Christmas Eve." Asha shared a smile with James.

"What happened?" Sean asked looking from one to the other.

Asha glanced around at the other people on the platform. Here and there people were watching them, not even bothering to pretend that they weren't when she made eye contact with them.

"Nothing major but we'll tell you on the train if you really want to know," She did not feel like drawing any more attention to herself.

"It was funny though," James chimed in. "You should have seen her face when they started talking about Hogwarts."

By now that had made their way back to the engine of the train. They pushed their way through a large group of Hufflepuff sixth years to find a familiar face waiting for them on the other side.

"Sorry I'm late. I had trouble finding my potions book." Remus smiled at them. "Is Sirius here?"

In the little time she had known him; Remus had never misplaced anything or been late. He was the most prompt and organized person she knew. She was about to comment on this but the train whistle blew, letting them know that it was almost time to go.

"We'd better get on. Our compartment is all the way at the end. Sirius will find us on the train." James took control of the group and led them once again down the familiar platform and to the far end of the train.

Asha led the way into the compartment at the persistence of the guys. "Ladies first." They mocked, bowing down to her. She rolled her eyes at them and flopped onto the seat by the window. Her favorite thing to do when traveling anywhere was to stare out the window and to watch the buildings and fields fly past.

The boys piled into the remaining seats just as the Hogwarts Express began to move and Oliver began to recount how his little sister had almost burnt down their brother's house. He was just finishing telling them about how the candle flew from her hand and landed in the tree, when the door to the compartment slid open.

"Nice of you to join us, Black." James grinned up at his friend.

Asha looked up the new arrival just in time to see his face change from a frown to a smile. Sirius greeted them before sinking into the seat across from Asha. She thought she heard a small sigh from him but she was not sure.

"How was your holiday?" Remus asked him, Oliver's story no longer important to them.

"The same as usual, you know how families are." He did not make eye contact with any of them as he spoke and Asha got the feeling that there was something that he was not saying. "How was your's?"

James and Remus laughed before launching into a very detailed rendition of the events of Christmas Eve.

"Oh man, I wish I had been there." Sean managed to say through his laughter after James described the look on Asha's face when everyone found out that it was her.

Asha stopped paying attention to them and turned to the window to watch the country side pass by. She envisioned herself in the fields, walking though the tall grass, alone with no one to bother her with more questions.

Hours later, Asha opened her eyes to the setting sun and the overwhelming feeling that she was being watched. It was Sirius. He was positioned toward the window with his head resting on the cool glass. Asha caught his eye and gave him a weak smile that he returned.

"Sleeping Beauty awakes." James announced spotting that she had moved.

Asha aimed a foot at his shins but his reflexes were too quick for her. He pulled his legs onto the seat and hugged his knees to his chest.

"Anyone for a game of exploding snap?" Oliver asked the group, pulling a pack from a hidden pocket in his coat. Minutes later the four boys where deep into the game, Asha and Sirius were appointed referees. James and Sean shared the crown from most competitive in their year, they had learned early on that any game involving the two had to have a referee just in case someone got a little to into the game.

At first Sirius sat back and watched the game take place but when James declared himself the victor of the first round, he suddenly became animated and began arguing with his fellow Gryffindor.

A while later the train came to a rest and the first years practically fell off of the train racing each other to the carriages that would take them to the school, all arguments long forgotten.