Year Seven
Willow opened the door to the beach house in Xivares that had been left to her and let Lily and Aisling in. Martha, Mary and Alice were already there.
"Now, this holiday would be perfect if we hadn't noticed a certain group of boys who were staying in a house up the street," Alice said as she sat down at the breakfast bar.
"Let me guess, the marauders?"
"Only the two most arrogant of them. There's also McDougall, Daratrazanoff, Longbottom and Sonsday. Should be an interesting month," Martha said. They all laughed and went to change into their swimmers. They walked out of the house, Willow grabbing something that was encased in a large bag. They walked down to the beach and she pulled her surfboard from the bag. She showed her friends where they could swim in salt water but not worry about any waves, then ran into the surf with her board. The girls swam in the beachside pool and noticed a group of boys walking down the road to the beach. Willow didn't notice them as she talked with a local out behind the break.
The six boys paused on the beach and noticed the girls in the pool, but they frowned when they realised that it was only five of the six they had watched walked to the beach.
"Is that… is that Stark out on the surfboard?" the boys turned to look at what Frank was staring at. They saw a girl with sun-streaked, wet hair looking behind her at the swell. She suddenly leaned forward and started paddling. She stood up on the board and rode the wave. She fell off as it broke and came up with a laugh. She high-fived a local and he grinned at her. James gave the local a once over and decided that he didn't like the guy.
"Usted está consiguiendo mejor cada vez que usted venga aquí," (You are getting better every time you come here) whatever the guy said it made Willow grin and laugh. She looked around and saw the boys.
"Tengo que ir, mi primo le está dando una mirada que dice que quiere alejarse de usted a toda costa. No conservar el surf todos para ti, seré de nuevo," (I have to go, my cousin is giving you a look that says that he wants me away from you at all costs. Don't keep the surf all to yourself though, I will be out again) Willow smiled again and went over to the boys; the girls had gotten out of the pool and had walked over as well.
"Why were you glaring at my neighbour?" she asked sweetly, but the look in her eyes was anything but sweet. James looked down at her.
"You are my cousin, and he is a guy who looks to be a bit older than us."
"Yes, he also happens to be married and have four kids," Willow added. She turned and looked at the other boys, they were all staring at the girls. "Do you lot see something that you like?" they quickly looked away and Willow laughed evilly. Lily shook her head.
"Are you going back out?"
"Hell, yeah, try not to kill him Lils," Willow kissed James' cheek as Lily walked back to the pool. She laughed and went back into the surf. She knew that the boys were all watching her, but didn't care. The girls' consented to sitting at a table for lunch with the boys.
"What do you all want? I'll have to order for you."
"Why would you have to order for us?"
"Do any of you speak Spanish?"
"Ah… no?"
"Then there is your answer Black," Willow took their orders and got James to help her carry it back.
"Do any of you girls want to have a go?" Willow asked when everyone was finished eating.
"Hell no. We have all seen that cut on your leg," Martha said and the others nodded, Willow laughed. The boys stared at her and she shrugged.
"What? When one starts surfing one is bound to fall off, I just happened to fall off over a bit of reef. It hurt too," she pulled a face.
"Hey, cariño, vas a volver a montar las olas?" (Hey, honey, are you coming back out to ride the waves?) Willow looked up at the question and grinned.
"Estaré allí en un momento," (I'll be there in a moment) she replied in the same language she turned back to her friends and they looked at her with strange looks. "what now?" none replied and she stood up.
"I'm going back for a surf. Alice the house key is in my bag if you lot decide to go back to the house, I'll probably be out here for quite a bit longer." She walked away and went back into the surf.
The holiday ended too soon for Willow's liking, she didn't want to go back to the school and prepare for NEWTs. But she knew that she had no choice. Her friends helped her clean up the house and she smiled at them all. They all got a taxi to the airport and got onto the plan that would take them to London. They were staying at the Leaky Cauldron until the start of school.
"Bloody hell Black! Watch where you're going!" Lily and Mary helped Willow to her feet, fighting to hide their amusement. James and Remus did the same for Sirius.
"Good morning ladies," James smiled at them and walked away without another comment, Black and Remus followed. The girls were shocked.
"Did… did James just walk off without asking you out Lily?"
"I… I think he did," she looked just as shocked as her friends.
"And was that the Head-Boy badge on his chest?" Mary asked.
"God, I hope not," Lily shuddered. She had gotten Head-Girl, and having to share a common room and dormitory with James seemed like the end of the world to her. They got on the train and Lily went off to the Heads compartment and the other girls went and found their own compartment. Lily came back an hour later.
"I have to share a common room and dormitory with Potter," she moaned and her friends just laughed. "Someone save me." Willow put her arm around Lily's shoulder and held her close.
"Sorry, but we can't help you," she said, causing the others to laugh. Lily joined in.
"This is going to be a very interesting year for us," Martha said with a slight sigh.
Willow sat down at Gryffindor table for the first day of classes. She pushed her plate away, folded her arms upon the table and dropped her head onto them. She only sat up again when two people sat next to her.
"I wanna go back to bed, Lils."
"Too bad, so sad," Lily replied as Professor McGonagall came over to them.
"Your schedules, ladies. Miss Evans, you can take any class at NEWT level. What would you like?"
"Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Potions, Charms, Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts please," McGonagall touched her wand to a blank schedule and handed it to Lily.
"Miss MacDonald, you can do any NEWT level class apart from Potions and Herbology"
"Can I please have the same as Lily, with Ancient Runes and Astronomy instead of Potions and Herbology." She was handed her schedule.
"Miss Stark, you can take any course at NEWT level."
"Hm… History of Magic, Charms… Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration… Arithmancy, Potions and Muggle Studies," she was handed her schedule. "Brilliant, I have the first line off." She smiled and Mary groaned.
"Let me see that," she grabbed Willow's schedule and read it over.
Name: W. Stark House: Gryffindor
Mon: Free / Arithmancy / Charms / lunch / Transfiguration / Free / Free
Tues: Double DADA / free / lunch / Potions / Arithmancy / free
Wed: Charms / Free / Arithmancy / lunch / Muggle Studies / double History of Magic
Thurs: Double Transfiguration / Free / lunch / History of Magic / free / Muggle Studies
Fri: Double Potions / free / lunch / DADA / Charms / Muggle Studies
"Man, I shouldn't have asked for history, I could have had heaps of free time," Willow said as she took her timetable back. Lily and Mary laughed at her complaint.
"Willow! I need your timetable!" James yelled as he came into the hall. She stared at him and he snatched her schedule out of her hand. He frowned at it and made a copy of it before giving it back.
"Padfoot! Daratrazanoff!" he went over to the two guys.
"I think that he's already turning into the Quidditch Nazi from last season," Will stared at her Quidditch captain in terror. "Save me." Lily and Mary only laughed at her. She poked her tongue out at them.
"Go to class," she grumbled and they left her alone. Willow noticed that she and Black were the only Gryffindors left at the table. He moved down so that they were sitting opposite each other.
"What do you think about James becoming head boy?" he asked.
"I think Lily will try to kill him by the end of the year," she replied, he smirked at her and she rolled her eyes. "see you later." She stood and walked out of the hall.
"I hate all bloody boys!" Lily came into the seventh year girls' dorm; the five girls looked up at her and knew that she was beyond angry.
"What's he done this time?" Mary asked, only James could make her this angry.
"Nothing!" everyone was silent as Lily sat down on Will's bed.
"Aww," Will put her arms around Lily in a hug. "I think you miss him pestering you." The other four girls came over.
"I do not. I miss him actually talking to me, actually acknowledging that I exist," Lily looked down at her hands, biting her lip.
"Lily, have you fallen for him?" Willow asked gently, the redhead nodded slightly.
"Okay, this calls for an emergency girls' night in," Martha stood up. "Alice, take Aisling with you to Ravenclaw and get something to sleep in and your pillow. Willow, you go down to the kitchens and get some snacks organised. Mary, you, me and Lils are going to find sexy pyjamas for the six of us. If we do this now we won't have to do it later." Alice, Aisling and Willow left the room, Will mock saluting Martha. Will sent the jelly-legs jinx at James and Sirius as she ran past them with a laugh. She went into the dungeons and to the painting of fruits in a bowl. She tickled the pear, it giggled and the painting swung open to reveal the kitchens.
"Mistress Stark," an elf came forward with a huge grin on her face, Willow smiled back.
"Hello Greta, can you send some snacks up to the Gryffindor seventh year girls' dorm at eight-thirty please? And a case of butterbeer?"
"Yes mistress, what are you wanting?"
"pasties, chocolate, cheese and biscuits, and a fruit plater. Not too much of anything though, there are only six of us eating it."
"Very good mistress. Greta will bring it up at eight-thirty."
"thank you Greta," Will left and went back to Gryffindor tower.
"All sorted?" Martha asked.
"All sorted, it'll be here at eight-thirty," she looked at the pyjamas that had been picked out for her and smiled. It was a pair of black pants that had an elastic waistband and fell in loose fabric to her ankles. The shirt was a blood-red, form-fitting, low-cut tank top, also showing a bit of her stomach and lower back, which meant that her blue wren tattoo on her lower back was going to be showing when she wore it. The other five ensembles were similar, the colours were different and the styles of the clothes varied.
"we picked according to each individuals skin, hair, eyes and body type," Martha said. "Let's go to dinner." The six of them left and went down to the great hall.
Mary came back into the girls' dorm after a trip to the kitchens to get another bottle of butterbeer.
"hey, the guys are down in the common room. They're playing a game of 'I've never'. Do we wanna go play?" the girls all looked down at their pyjamas and smiled.
"Definitely," Martha, Aisling and Alice linked arms. Mary and willow pulled a bottle of firewhiskey each from their trunks, then linked arms with Lily. The six left and went down the stairs.
"Oh boys, we want to play as well," Martha and Aisling called in a sing-song voice. Seven boys looked up at the six girls in shock and confusion. They saw the bottles that Willow and Mary were carrying.
"How did you get those into the castle?" James and Sirius demanded. Willow held a finger to her lips.
"Shh, it's a secret," she said.
"Girl power!" the other five girls said at the same time, they laughed.
"Have you already had some? You lot never break the rules." Dimitri was answered by the three marauders.
"Yes they do!"
"They just don't get caught!"
"or they blame us!"
"True," Willow grinned evilly at Sirius.
"And between the six of us, we could probably beat the record that you marauders hold," Mary added with her own grin.
"And we still wouldn't get any blame," Lily gave James her most evil grin. "Are you going to let us play or not?" the boys brought over more cushions and one went up the stairs to the boys' dorm. He came back with six more shot glasses. Each of the thirteen glasses was filled with firewhiskey and handed out to the teens.
"So, what are the guidelines for this game?" Alice asked, knowing that the rules for 'I've never' varied.
"Well, you pour a shot each, which is already done," Ian started.
"Then one person starts with I've never, saying something that they have never done," Erick continued.
"If you have done it, you down your shot and refill your glass," Dimitri finished.
"I'll go first, you ladies join in whenever you are ready," Frank said, giving Alice a grin. "I've never gone skinny-dipping." James, Sirius, Remus, Willow and Mary took their shots. The two girls smirked at the boys.
"I've never hit a woman," Ian said. Willow and Alice took a shot each. James stared at Willow in bewilderment.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"Nothing, I've never kissed someone of the same sex," James saw Sirius smirk. The girls looked at each other and downed their shots. All the boys stared at them this time and they laughed.
"We might tell you if you behave," Willow grinned.
"I've never pranked the headmaster," Sirius said. Willow, Lily and Mary downed their shots and the marauders stared at them.
"You pranked Dumbledore?" Sirius asked in awed disbelief.
"Yeah, we were in our... second year?" Mary turned to Lily and Will.
"Yeah, we turned his robes splotchy rainbow," Lily chuckled.
"Right, that was Halloween, the whole school was shocked, the looks on their faces were priceless," the trio of girls grinned at each other.
"Aye, t'was. I've never had sex," Mary said with a grin. Lily, Alice and Willow were the only ones who didn't take their shots.
"I've never given attitude to a teacher or prefect," Erick said in a quiet voice. Lily, Mary, Willow, James, Sirius, Remus, Frank and Dimitri took their shots. Lily giggled and the girls knew that she was about three shots away from her limit.
"Who?" James was staring at Lily like she had grown another head; he couldn't believe that Lily the class suck-up had given a teacher a piece of her mind.
"Trelawney," Lily grinned.
"I remember that. It was the very first class of the year," Martha was swaying a little in her seat.
"Yeah, Aisling is the only one of us who likes Divination," Alice was starting to grin, remembering what had gone down in the class.
"What were we doing Ash?" Martha asked.
"Tarot cards. Lily just... well she told the Professor where she could shove the cards," Lily laughed with the rest of the girls. "I've never seen what pulls the school carriages." Willow was the only one to take a shot.
"I've never gone without underpants at school for a whole day," she said to quickly divert the attention away from her. Lily, Mary, Martha, Aisling and Alice took their shots.
"I'm so glad that my first name doesn't have an A in it," she added as her friends went bright red under the stares that the guys were giving them.
"I've never been kissed by the opposite sex," Lily said with a hiccup. Willow, Alice and Mary were the only ones not to take their shots. Lily stood up a little shakily.
"I'm going to bed now," she took two steps and stumbled. Willow and Mary casually stood and went to their friend's side. Alice and Aisling did the same for Martha.
"Night boys," Martha, Lily, Alice and Aisling called back.
"Night girls,"' the boys replied and watched them go up the stairs.
"I've never thought about kissing one of them," Remus murmured. The other six boys took their shots.
"Well, we all know that James wants Lily and that I want Alice, what about the rest of you?" Frank asked.
"Martha," Ian said.
"Mary," Dimitri grinned.
"Aisling," Erick murmured.
"Willow," Sirius went slightly pink as his dorm mates looked at him. "what? She's smart and pretty and funny and-"
"Is always yelling at you," Dimitri pointed out.
"And she tries to knock your head off at Quidditch practice," Ian added.
"yeah, okay. But I'm serious-"
"of course you're Sirius, none of us are," James mocked with a smirk. Sirius glared at him and threw a pillow at him. They were interrupted by the return of Willow and Mary.
"you still playing?" Will asked.
"Only if you tell us about no knickers day," Ian said, the two girls sat. They looked at each other and shrugged.
"okay, we have the permission of the others to reveal a few things," Mary said.
"it was last year at Halloween," Willow started the story. "We had gotten a bottle of firewhiskey and were playing a game of Truth or Dare. Lily had gotten some Veritaserum. Anyway, we gave up on the game after we ran out of firewhiskey."
"Alice got an idea. She wrote down the letters in each of our full first names, like W-I-L-L-O-W-M-A-R-Y-L-I-L-I-A-N, you get the picture. She put all of the letters in a hat and had Martha pick out a letter, it was the letter 'A'," Mary was grinning widely now.
"so the next day those who had the letter 'A' in their first name weren't allowed to wear any underwear. I was lucky, I don't have any 'A's in my first name. it is really ironic that today is also Halloween. It has been exactly a year since the last game."
"What if we make it a tradition and do it every year?" everyone turned to see that the other four girls had returned, Martha was holding a black top-hat.
"Except we use last names," Lily said, her words slightly slurred.
"You're on," James and Sirius said immediately. The other boys nodded.
"Okay, Lils, you write while I spell out all our last names," Lily got a quill, ink and a piece of spare parchment.
"E-V-A-N-S M-A-C-D-O-N-A-L-D H-O-R-N-B-Y P-R-E-W-E-T-T
V-E-C-T-O-R S-T-A-R-K P-O-T-T-E-R B-L-A-C-K
D-A-R-A-T-R-A-Z-A-N-O-F-F L-O-N-G-B-O-T-T-O-M
S-O-N-S-D-A-Y M-A-C-D-O-U-G-A-L L-U-P-I-N got them all?"
"Yes Martha," the letters were separated and put into the hat. Remus was asked to pull out a letter and he did. He grinned as he looked at the letter that he had pulled. He looked up at Willow, then at Sirius, his grin widening. She knew that the letter was in both her name and Black's, which only gave two possibilities. Martha snatched the letter away from Remus and showed it to everyone else. It was the letter 'K', and only she and Black had that letter. Will stared at it then shrugged. She and the girls said goodnight and went up to bed, the boys did the same.
"You like Sirius, don't you Will?" Lily whispered as they settled into the mattresses that they had put on the floor.
"Yeah, I do. I fell for him and I don't know how or why. I used to hate him for taking James away. James is like my brother, I really, really hated Sirius at that time. I had no one to talk to in the holidays, it got worse after papa died," Lily put her arms around Willow, Mary joined them.
"We'll help you catch him," Mary whispered.
"Thanks. We shouldn't have done this tonight," Willow sighed.
"Why?" Lily asked, clearly puzzled.
"We have classes tomorrow," the three groaned quietly. They knew that they would all have hangovers in the morning and they weren't looking forward to them.
"Bloody boys!" Willow hissed, saying the words that had started off this night. Lily and Mary snorted, and they eventually fell asleep.