Chapter 9:

Hermione heard an owl in the kitchen, and quickly hurried to get to it. She smiled as she recognized Addie's handwriting.

Dear Mum,

I made two great friends on the train and boats; their names are Teddy Lupin, and Astraea Malfoy. They are both in Gryffindor with me. I know that Astraea is Draco Malfoy's little sister, but I promise that they are nothing alike. The three of us have decided that we will be the Junior Marauders. I know from Uncle Sev's stories that they weren't always nice, but we promise to only prank people for fun, not to be mean. Last night we decided to prank the teachers. It was great! Uncle Sev does look good with neon pink hair, like in the story of his third year. Unfortunately, Uncle Sev caught me, and forced Professor Black, my Head of House, to punish me. He also dragged me up to the Head table in front of the Great Hall. Luckily he didn't know about Teddy or Astraea, though. Professor Black seems nice (and we have the same name!). He seemed quite impressed with our prank, and only gave me detention and took points away. He seemed interested in why we decided to call ourselves the Junior Marauders. I wonder why? I've got to go to sleep now!

Love you forever and ever,

Adhara

Just as Hermione finished the letter, and before she could contemplate the more confusing parts, another owl flew in and dropped a letter on her lap. Opening it she found it was from Severus.

Hermione,

I am sure that you have received Adhara's letter by now, and thought I would give you the more educated version. And don't start protesting that Addie is smart enough to figure is out; she doesn't know all of the information.

Sirius Black is back. I know that we all believed him to be dead, and you suffered a lot from his loss, but he really is back. He is the Transfiguration Professor, and McGonagall is the Headmistress. I am trying to get along with him for Addie and Harry's sake (Harry's the DADA teacher), but it isn't easy.

What I understand to have happened is that four years ago, the day that Adhara threw a huge fit about her father, Sirius Black fell back through the Veil. He has been teaching at Hogwarts since, and I don't know how we didn't find out, but I suspect that it was kept out of the Daily Prophet, and Harry didn't feel the need to tell me until we would meet face to face. I'm sorry that this happened this way, and I wish that I could support you more.

Sirius has also tried to go to Grimmauld Place, he can't understand why it won't appear for him, and Dumbledore hasn't told him about him having a child.

I'm sure that Addie told you about her prank, she's just like her father in that way. She has also become friends with Astraea Malfoy and Teddy Lupin. They don't know it yet, but all three are cousins of a sort.

If you need anything, just Floo to my quarters, and I will contact you if anything major happens here.

Severus Snape

Hermione sat staring at the paper before her in shock, the possibility that Sirius could come back had never existed for her. When she realized she was crying, Hermione wiped the tears away, and went upstairs to find a good book to read.

SBHGSBHGSBHG

"Are you sure?" Teddy asked Addie. His question was double sided, he wanted to know if she was sure about taking all of the blame, or credit, for the stunt they had pulled last night, and he wanted to know if she was sure about the welcome she had planned for this morning.

"What are we waiting for?" Astraea demanded, and then she jumped up and ran out shouting, "I can't wait to see the Great Hall!"

When students walked into the Great Hall, the first thing they saw was a giant floating, sparkling banner hanging above the Head table. It said:

Welcome (back) to Hogwarts ~ From the Junior Marauders

All of the students were whispering and pointing, wondering who the Junior Marauders could be. The magic that was used to make the banner was quite advanced, so everyone was convinced that they had to be in fifth year, at least. Everyone that is, except five people, Adhara Black, Astraea Malfoy, and Teddy Lupin knew that it was them, and Sirius Black and Severus Snape had suspicions as to the identities of the members of this new pranking group.

"They really out did themselves, whoever they are," Harry said in awe, "I didn't know how to do those charms until sixth year, and I couldn't combine them until seventh."

"After, I taught you them for a whole summer," Severus reminded him. Sirius split his time between glaring at Severus for sharing such a memory with his godson, and admiring the work on the banner. 'In third year it would have taken all four of us combined to create that. That girl must be powerful, and extremely smart, even if she did have help that is powerful magic.' Sirius thought.

Once everyone was in the Great Hall, the banner exploded and became fireworks that rushed around the Great all, and those who had been present during the Weasley twins' exit were reminded of that, except without the destruction. Once the fireworks died down the whispers came back full force. It was now estimated that the Junior Marauders were extremely talented seventh years. When she heard that, Adhara smirked. She had done all of that work by herself; all Teddy and Astraea had done was prepared some of the more complicated spells so that she just had to finish them off.

In New Zealand, they weren't as strict about underage magic use, so Addie practiced then. When you live in a house with Hermione Granger and Severus Snape, there is no way you can avoid learning. Eager to be the best when she got to Hogwarts, and play the bet pranks, Addie had studied all the books her mum had that could possibly be helpful. Then, Addie practiced spells using wandless magic to strengthen her magic. Addie had kept it secret, so that even her mum and Uncle Sev didn't know about her wandless magic.

"Come on," Addie said, "I can't be late to Professor Black's class." Teddy, Addie and Astraea walked out of the Great Hall, leaving everyone puzzling over who the Junior Marauders were.

SBHGSBHGSBHG

"She's fantastic!" Sirius exclaimed. He and Harry were walking to lunch together, and were discussing Adhara.

"I wonder who her mother is?" Harry wsan't looking where he was going, he was staring into space as he pondered the mystry of Adhara Black.

"Who knows?" Sirius replied, glancing at his companion before continuing, "but if Snape knows her then we probably don't. or at least not in the context of a mother."

"True," Harry replied, finally coming out of his daze and shook his head, "That doesn't make me any less curious though."

"Uncle Harry, Uncle Sirius!" they were interrupted by Teddy as he came running down the hall towards them.

"What's up, squirt?" Sirius asked, stopping Teddy's headlong rush by hugging him.

"Uncle Sirius," Teddy was panting, "What happened to the Marauder's Map that you and Dad are always telling me stories about." Sirius looked slightly shocked at Teddy's question, and Harry was hiding a smile behind his hand. When Teddy acted like this it was as though it was payback for all of the pranks Sirius played, and all the rules he broke when he was younger.

"WWhy would you need that?" Sirius asked, trying to stall the inevitable. He knew that he would eventually give in to Teddy and give him the Maruader's Map.

"'Cause I don't want to get lost on my way to classes," Harry smirked, that was an answer that Sirius would have made. Turning on the puppy dog eyes, which Teddy had transformed to be extra large and a deep blue that appeared to be gathering tears, Teddy continued, "You wouldn't want me to get lost in this huge castle, would you?"

"Of course not," Sirius replied. He sighed, and looked back at Teddy before sighing again. "You can't have it just yet, but I promise you'll get it." Teddy smiled, and reverted to his usual appearance before dashing towards the Great Hall.

SBHGSBHGSBHG

"I've almost worn him down," Teddy announced as he slid into his seat across from the girls.

"Great," Addie smiled, "The sooner we get the map, the sooner we can plan bigger pranks."

"Are you sure this will work?" Astraea asked. Because she grew up at Malfoy Manor, surrounded by stuffy, prim and proper portraits of her ancestors she was hesitant at times when breaking the rules.

"Of course," Teddy said, "Uncle Siri always gives me what I want."

"Even if this doesn't work, we could always trick him into revealing where it is, and then steal it." Addie offered. Had Severus been listening he would have thought of how like her father Addie was.

SBHGSBHGSBHG

Sirius was sitting at hi desk wishing he could talk to Remus about what to do with Teddy and the Marauder's Map, and to just talk about Adhara. He was startled from his thoughts by a soft knock on the door of his office.

"Come in," Sirius called, removing his feet from the table. While it was quite comfortable to sit that way, it wasn't proper for a teacher or an adult.

"I'm here for detention, sir," Addie said once she was standing in front of Sirius' desk with her hands folded. Unlike most kids who got in trouble, Addie was looking Sirius in the eyes and didn't look the least bit frightened. Sirius added that to the list of things surrounding this girl's mystery, and became even more determined to learn about her.

"Today you will be writing an essay about the pros and cons of prannking people," Sirius was quite proud that he had incorperated both sides of the argument in theis assignment, anyone who knew Sirius as a student would have been shocked that he was punishing someone for pranking. However, his logic was that he was educating Adhara about why to prank.

"Is that all, sir?" Addie questioned. She was surprised that her Head of House hadn't given her a more serious punishment.

"Yes," Sirius nodded his head, "If you finish quickly we will discuss how you planned and accomplished both of the pranks." Sirius' eyes wer twinkling when he said this. He held back a smirk when he saw Addie's eyes widen in surprise, she hadn't expected a teacher who knew anything about pranking.

SBHGSBHGSBHG

"Done," Addie proudly handed Sirius her essay. Sirius looked up from the sumer assignment he was grading, he hadn't expected her to be done so quickly. Assuming that he could quickly look it over, and tell her what needed to be improved, Sirius was shocked to discover that the essay was even longer than he was going to require, and it was written in small neat handwriting. Glancing quickly at the first paragraph, sure that if it was this long then Adhara was talking nonsense. Howver, when Sirius began reading it, he was shocked at how well it was written, especially for a first year without doing any research. Sirius scanned to later in the essay, and decided that this was the work of an average third year, and the writing skills were better than some of the fourth years'. Addie was standing patiently, waiting as Sirius looked over her work. 'Well, it's to be expected,' Addie thought, 'Mum says that no one espects someone my age to know as much as I do.' "Do you want me to tell you about the pranks now?" Sirius raised an eyebrow when she admitted to having done both pranks, and not pleading innocence to the second.

"Sure," Sirius said, "How did you get the banner to sparkle?" Sirius decided to start with the second prank, the one he was more curious about.

"A spell," Addie replied with a straight face. Sirius just looked at her, and she broke into a smile, "Mum loves it when I read and study, so why do I have to tell her exactly what I'm studying?" Sirius nodded and forced back a smile; that was something he would have, and had, done happily.

SBHGSBHGSBHG

"I don't get it," Teddysaid as he reached for a Chocolate Frog, the girls had snuck up to his dorm room,and they were all sitting on his bed eating candy, "I mean, Uncle Sirius is cool, but why would you enjoy having detention?" Addie smiled, she had had five detentions with Professor Black, and now that she had just finished the last one, she knew that she would almost miss being able to talk to her Head of House about pranks.

"It's just that I rarely find anyone to talk about pranks with," Addie said as she unwrapped a Sugar Quill, and began nibbling on the tip, "You guys are great and everything, its just that with Professor Black, he has so much more experience with pranking that I love hearing his ideas." Astraea nodded in understanding, and Teddy looked like he understood what she was telling them.

"That makes sense," Astraea said, "I wonder if he would help us with some pranks?"

"I'll ask him when I go to get the Map," Teddy said, as he picked up the candy wrappers and prepared to throw them away.

"You mean," Addiepasued, pulling something from behind her back mischeviously, "this map?" Addie's eyes were twinkling more than Dumbledore's ever had, and her friends were gaping at her. Not only had did she get detention on her first day, but while she was in detention, she had stolen from her teacher. Shaking his head at Adhara's audacity, Teddy got up and threw away their trash.

SBHGSBHGSBHG

"I don't get it," Sirius said as he and Harry sat before the fire of the teachers room, he had just finished his last detention with Adhara, and wanted to spend more time with her for some unknown reason, "I mean, her last name is Black, and Snape is her godfather. There isn't anything else, short of being related to Moldywarts, that could garauntee that the child would be the king or queen of Slytherin. And yet, Adhara is a Gryffindor, and a damn good one at that." Harry didn't know if he should be amused or irritated by how fixiated Sirius was on this girl, he hadn't talked about anything else since their first detention.

"Look at you though," Harry said when Sirius started to stare intot eh fire, "You are a Black, sure you didn't have Snape as a godfatehr," here Sirius snorted, "but, you were also in Gryffindor, and if what I've seen of Adhara so far is accurate, you both enjoy pranks." Sirius looked thoughtfully into the fire, letting his brain absorb his godson's words.

A/N: I am loving writing this story, and the amount of reviews it's getting (I LOVE YOU GUYS!), but I would also love a betareader ;) So if you're interested, let me know! I'll keep updating when I'm not in school.