Myna waited for James to deny it, to say that his sister wasn't evil, to stand up for her.

But no. All James said was, "Right."

September 1st, 1971

Myna didn't have much appetite after her brother literally broke her heart. Severus had been Sorted into Slytherin, too. He'd been close enough to hear what James had said, and was mad at the Gryffindor on his new friend's behalf. Myna thought that she much preferred young Severus Snape; he was nicer and much more trusting. It was, apparently, later on that someone betrayed that trust.

She watched the Sorting dispassionately, but perked up slightly when a "Rosier, Pandora" was called. She looked so much like Luna that it almost hurt to look at her. Pandora, like her daughter, was Sorted into Ravenclaw.

After dinner, the Slytherin prefect, Narcissa Black, led the way to the dungeons. They stopped at a stretch of blank wall, and Narcissa uttered the password, which was completely original.

"Pureblood."

Yup, totally something that Myna would never have guessed.

Narcissa pointed everyone else to the boys' dormitories, which were to the right, and led Myna to the left and up the stairs. "You're the only girl this year," she told Myna as she opened a door on the third floor. "This will be your bedroom. Lucky you — you don't have any roommates! Mine snore like crazy, and Evangeline recites constellations in her sleep."

Myna managed a small smile. "Thank you, Narcissa," she said in a low voice.

Narcissa beamed at the younger girl. "Think nothing of it, Myna. You are my relation, after all." Myna jerked back as if burned.

"We're...related?!"

"Of course!" Narcissa exclaimed. "It is a distant relation, but it is there nonetheless. I am Sirius' cousin, and he and the Potter twins — you and James — are second cousins. Now," she continued, as if she hadn't just upset everything in Myna's small world, "It's time for bed, dear. Lights out is in a half hour. I'll be back to check that you're in bed by then. Good night!" She smiled, waved, and shut the door behind her with a soft click!

Myna did her nightly routine in a daze. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and put on her pajamas as if in a trance. She climbed into bed and turned out the lights, staring up at the ceiling. A small crack of pale golden light glowed from beneath her door.

Dear Merlin, she was Sirius' cousin! Second cousin, yes, but a cousin! She ended up with her cousin!

She sincerely hoped that she wasn't somehow related to Remus, too.

September 2nd, 1971

Myna received her schedule the next morning from her Head of House, Professor Slughorn. The portly man had a large paunch, with several small wrinkles around the corners of his eyes and mouth. He smiled constantly, half of the time at nothing.

She found that she had her first class — Transfiguration — with Severus. She was thankful that no Gryffindors shared the class — it was only Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Professor McGonagall was still just as stern as she was in Hermione's time, but she looked way different: her hair was jet-black with silver streaks, she had way less wrinkles, and she stood even taller than Myna remembered. She wondered briefly if McGonagall wore high heels.

They were working on turning matches into needles, and Professor McGonagall showed them the proper wrist motion. Myna felt a bit foolish as she waved her wand without doing anything. It was really quite hard to make it appear like she was working hard while not actually doing it. Severus was having a bit of trouble, but he persevered. It turned shiny after a few minutes, and Myna beamed at him. He smiled tentatively back.

Myna finally let herself manage it after about ten minutes, but it was still much faster than any of her classmates. She then prodded Severus in the back to correct his posture, arranged his arm differently, and held onto his hand while she went through the motions with him.

This time, when Severus pointed his wand at the match, it thinned, elongated slightly, and turned silver and pointy. He hadn't quite managed the eye of the needle, but not many had — excluding Myna, of course.

They were dismissed with homework already — an eight inch essay on Transfiguration techniques. Severus headed off to DADA, while Myna and Lily met up just outside the Charms classroom.

Myna found that Harry's mother was a natural at Charms. They were just working on the Levitating Charm, and Lily's feather had shot straight up into the air, where it hovered, awaiting movements from the red-head's wand. It followed every slight twitch of Lily's hand to a T, whereas Myna's feather was a bit slower. Although, Hermione had never been the best at Charms, so she didn't really have to worry about hiding any talents that were years ahead of her level.

Next up was DADA, which she also shared with Lily. Unfortunately, the class also had every single one of the Marauders — not that they were called that yet, reflected Myna. Thankfully, she and Lily were left well enough alone, although she caught James staring at Lily and ruffling his hair. Apparently, now that she was a Gryffindor, it made her okay to pant after.

The teacher, Professor Willowbark, a woman somewhere in her late-thirties or early-forties, was a strict, stout little woman, who made them read about the powers of blood and how dangerous it could be if their blood fell into the wrong hands. The entire class left after forty-five minutes, looking rather pale. Myna had grown up learning all of this, but Lily was horrified and disgusted.

"How can someone do that?" The red-head asked as they headed to the Great Hall for lunch. They both had a free hour after lunch, which they had decided to spend either in the library or exploring. "It's barbaric!"

Myna grimaced. "It's evil," she replied. "Only those who have no regards for the consequences attempt it."

Lily stopped dead, and whirled to face her friend. "How do you know this?" She asked suspiciously.

"I read," Myna answered. "Also, you forget that I grew up in a Wizarding family. I had a private tutor, and my brother and I learned about this stuff from the time we could read." Her grey eyes had filled with sorrow and pain at the mention of James, but she put on a brave face and smiled brightly. "Let's go, Lils. The sooner we eat at our separate tables, the sooner we can meet up with Sev and go somewhere."

Lily peered at her friend, eyes narrowed, but left it alone. She could tell James was a sore subject with Myna. Already, she hated him. He had insulted her and Severus, he had pushed his twin sister away just for being Sorted into Slytherin, and as soon as he had found out Lily was a Gryffindor, he had sucked up to her, telling her that she was the most precious flower he'd ever seen before. Arrogant toe-rag, she scoffed mentally.

They met up outside the Great Hall barely fifteen minutes later, for each girl had scarfed down her food and bolted. They found Severus waiting for them, leaning against the wall. The girls took an arm each, and marched him off to the library, where they spent the following hour reading in silence. Lily was fascinated by Potions, and pored over a thick book on the subject, whereas Severus was more interested in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Myna mostly flipped through random books, browsing. Hermione Granger knew all of this already.

Just half an hour before their next class — Potions — a noise came from beside their table.

"Hello, Snakes."

Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James stood there. Sirius was the one who spoke, his handsome face twisted in an ugly sneer. Peter looked uncomfortable, James looked a bit ashamed of his friend, although he stared Myna down when she caught his gaze, and Remus looked like he was going to be sick. She quickly calculated the moon's cycle in her head.

Three days until the full moon.

"What do you want, Black?" Myna was thankful for Lily's quick tongue; she didn't think she could have articulated anything. Sirius at this age was even handsomer than she had guessed — not that she would have told him that, though. His head was quite big enough already without her stroking his ego.

Sirius's entire face changed as he looked to the redhead. "Oh, hey, Lils." Even his voice had changed — become deeper (Myna assumed that he thought it made him sound older.

Lily scowled. "Only My and Sev get to call me that." She shortened Myna's name because she assumed, like with her friend, that it might be a sore spot with James. Indeed, the black-haired wizard's hazel eyes turned sad and his lips tightened.

Sirius made a moue of disgust. "Sucking up to Gryffindors already, eh, Snape?" Myna noticed that he hadn't even bothered glancing her way.

The death glare aimed at Sirius wasn't nearly as scary on adolescent Severus as it was his older counterpart, but it was effective enough. Sirius narrowed his eyes, curled his lip, and turned on his heel. Peter followed him quickly, with Remus trailing after the two like a lost puppy, although the sandy-haired boy cast one last look back at the trio. Myna turned to the remaining boy, eyes narrowed and arms crossed.

"What do you want, James?"

Her brother flinched as if she had physically struck him, and recoiled. Myna only called him by his full name when she was royally brassed off at him. "I...never mind." He turned tail and ran after his friends.

Severus sneered after the group. "Coward."

"Let's get to Potions," Lily sighed. The group packed up and trekked down to the dungeons, where Slughorn welcomed them in with a genial smile.

As the three sat down at a table in the back, all Myna could think was, What happened to 'family comes first'?

A/N: Wow. Just...wow. I am blown away by the amount of reviews that I received for the last chapter! Thank you all so much! I guess you hate seeing James act like a prat, huh?

Special thanks to Padfoot'smyMan for sending in that 68th review!

Thank you to: LK-HoGwArTs-hEaDgIrL, Hermione Lyra Malfoy-Riddle, simbacurls, fantasyfreak12, Alexa SixT, Padfoot'smyMan, KEZZ 1, Adhara Cassiopea Black, Black Banshee

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