Summer came and went, and it was the start of 6th year.
"I have great news!" James exclaimed as he and Sirius made their way into the marauders compartment on the train. Remus had already started on his book, and Peter was munching on some every flavor beans; and by the look on his face, he just ate a very unpleasant one.
"Not till Stella gets here. I want you all to hear it!" James replied, beaming.
"You can tell Stella later!"
"Tell me what?" said girl asked from the doorway, her eyebrows raised in question.
"I made Quidditch Captain!" James shouted, whipping his badge out of his pocket and holding it up them to see.
"Congratulations!" Stella hugged him.
"Way to go, mate!" said Sirius, clapping him on the back.
Remus and Peter both congratulated him, too.
"Thanks!" James beamed. "I've got to tell Lily!"
"Before you do that," Stella said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back in. "I want you to meet the last two additions."
As if on cue, a first year girl came bouncing in the room.
"Your sister?" Remus asked skeptically. The girl was only 11, but she had olive skin, short black hair, and brown eyes. She looked nothing like Stella. Then again, she did resemble Dominic a tad.
Stella shook her head. "This is Gabriella, Dean and Kaylee's sister. Gabby, this is James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter."
"Hi!" She waved, and they greeted her back.
"Where's Livie?" asked Stella.
"She was talking to some boy in the hallway." Gabby told her.
Stella rolled her eyes. "I'll go get her."
As she made it out into the compartment, she noticed her sister was laughing at something a blonde second year said. A blonde second year Slytherin. He was being polite from the looks of it, but he didn't know she was muggleborn, and Stella didn't want her sister involved with them.
"Olivia!" She called. Livie waved goodbye and ran off to her sister.
"Hey, Stell!" she grinned. Her brown girls bounced behind her as she skipped, and her brown eyes were wide with excitement.
"That boy was a Slytherin, you need to be careful with them. They discriminate against muggleborns." Stella warned her.
Livie's eyebrows rose. "Oh? Why?"
"They think that they're better than everyone else. They're just snobs, there's nothing wrong with you. Now come on, I want to introduce you to my friends." Stella said, pulling her youngest sister by the hand and leading her into the compartment.
"Guys, this is Olivia."
"Nice to meet you all." Livie smiled.
"Good to see you again, Livia!" Sirius exclaimed. He had gotten to know her when he spent the holidays at her house.
"Always a pleasure, Siri." Livie giggled, and then she waved and followed Gabby out to visit their other siblings.
"I think she likes you." Stella laughed to Sirius.
"I tend to have that affect on the ladies." He winked.
"Ginger alert!" Stella exclaimed.
Lily narrowed her eyes playfully. "Nice to see you too, Stell."
"Lily-flower! Guess what!" James exclaimed.
"You've decided to stop calling me that awful name?" Lily asked.
"Nope!" James shook his head, grinning. "I made captain of the Quidditch team."
"Congratulations. Remus, I came to get you. We're supposed to head off to the prefects compartment now, to get the passwords and our patrol routes." Said Lily.
Remus checked his watch. "No, we have five minutes."
Lily blushed. "Oh…I figured we should go early…since-"
Remus caught on, and stood up. "You're right, let's go."
Lily smiled with relief and they set off.
"She still hates me." James sighed, sinking into his seat.
"Are you kidding me? Didn't you just see that?" Asked Stella.
"See what?" Peter piped up.
"That." Said Stella, as if it were obvious.
"That being…" Sirius prompted.
"Lily came extra early cause she wanted to see James!" Stella exclaimed.
"She told you that?" James asked, perking up.
"Well, no…" she trailed off.
"Then how do you know?" Sirius inquired.
"Women's intuition." Stella shrugged. "It's common sense, really. Think, Lily and Remus are friends, but not close enough to go out of their way to walk together. She came into our compartment cause she wanted to see James. Remus was just her excuse."
"Oh." All 3 boys ahhed, nodding their heads as if they had the slightest clue how that conclusion made sense.
"Milano, Gabriella."
"RAVENCLAW!"
"I knew it!" James exclaimed, collecting 5 sickles from Stella, Sirius, Peter, and Remus as Gabby took a seat beside her big sister at the Ravenclaw table. Sabrina was called shortly after.
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Called it. My sister is a genius." Stella beamed, collecting her money back from Remus, and an additional 5 sickles from Sirius, James, and Pete.
It was November, and just starting to get cold out. Stella was walking along the side of the black lake with her current boy toy, Luke Mellark, a seventh year Hufflepuff.
"So, refresh my mind. Are you on your Quidditch team?" she asked.
Luke shook his head. "Nah, I hate quidditch."
Stella's mouth dropped and she stopped in her tracks.
"You okay?" he asked, spinning around to face her.
She snapped out of it. "How…How can you hate Quid- no, those words don't even go together in a sentence!"
Luke laughed. "Well it's not like I could take you on anyway."
Stella smirked, her anger evaporating at the compliment. "You got that right!"
"Let's go this way.." He said, tugging on her arm to lead her back towards the castle.
"How come?" Stella asked.
"Slytherin drama." Luke pointed by the lake, where a crowd of Slytherins were crowded around.
Stella saw what he meant, and narrowed her eyes. "Let's go check it out."
"Wait, I don't think we should get involved. We should let the prefects handle it." Luke suggested.
Stella glared at him. "Maybe you should wait for the prefects to handle it. But I don't need a badge to know something is wrong."
Luke looked slightly taken aback by her snapping at him, so he followed her. "If you insist."
"Move it." Stella shoved passed some of the Slytherins, making her way to the center of the circle. Just as she feared, her youngest sister was on the ground, clenching her knees to her chest, and balling her eyes out, with 3 wands pointed at her. "STOP!"
Stella ran down to Olivia and put her hand on her shoulder, searching her eyes for any sign of physical pain. "What did you do to her?" Stella hissed.
"Nothing! We just offered to clean that muddy blood of hers." A dark haired 6th year with green eyes, Derek Shockley laughed darkly, waving his wand around.
"Leave her alone, now. This is your only warning." Stella growled.
"But we didn't even have any fun yet." Shockley grinned.
Stella was now on her feet, with her wand pointed at his throat. "You will never touch my sister-"
"Or else what? What's a pretty little half blood like you gonna-"
Derek was cut off mid-sentence as Stella punched him square in the face, breaking his nose and leaving a trail of blood trickling down his face.
He coward back, clutching his nose.
Malfoy now had his wand on Stella. "Why you little-"
"What's going on here?" Jason asked, making his way through the crowd.
"You!" Stella hissed, seizing her brother by the front of his shirt and glaring daggers at him. "Your friends were harassing our baby sister! This is all your fault."
She pointed at their crying sister, who looked scared out of her mind.
"Stella?" Dean asked, as he made his way through with Dominic to see what was going on.
"Dom, you and Deanie take Livie to see McGonagall." Stella told them. They nodded without question, helping Livia up and escorting her through the crowd.
"As for you," She growled at Jason. "You should be ashamed of yourself."
Jason ripped his shirt out of her grip and glared right back. "It's not like I tortured her!"
"You didn't stand up for her!" Stella hollered.
"Guys," he said in a quiet voice. "Lay off my little sisters, okay?"
"No, not okay. You torture any other first year muggle borns, don't you? You think its fun, pretending to be a dark wizard? Do you think it's cool, Jason?" Stella hissed. "Answer me!"
"What makes you think I'm pretending?" He snarled.
"What?" Stella gasped.
"Nothing." Jason murmured, slipping his arm behind his back.
Stella's eyes widened in disbelief. She whispered, "Let me see your arm."
He ignored her. So she yelled, "Let me see your arm!"
She reached for it, but he pulled back.
"No!" Jason shouted.
"Show me, Jason." She hissed, pulling his wrist forward. Jason rolled his eyes, but didn't stop her as she pulled up his sleeve. Stella gasped, and then dropped his arm, as if it burnt her.
"That's a sick joke." She spat in disgust.
"I don't joke, Stella. I leave the immaturity to you and your gang of idiots." Jason retorted.
"We're better than you Moldy Voldy followers!" She defended.
"His name is Voldemort! And you shall only address him as the dark lord!" yelled Jason.
"So it's true." Stella whispered.
Jason laughed darkly. "As if you care."
"Of course I care! You're my little brother, Jason! And what you're doing is a death sentence!"
"I'm not your brother. This is my family now." He told her.
She shoved him but he caught himself before stumbling back.
Stella could feel tears glistening in her eyes, but she refused to cry. Especially in front of her rivals. "Go to hell!"
Jason sent her one last glare before taking off towards the castle, his cronies following behind him so Stella was alone with Luke. She sank to ground, leaning against a tree, and held her head in her hands.
"Umm…" Luke scratched his head, feeling awkward. "Do you want me to walk you back to your common room?"
Stella shook her head. "No."
He kneeled down to look into her teary eyes. "Want to talk to me about it?"
"Can you send Sirius and James down? I- I need to talk to them." She said, trying not to sob.
A flash of hurt shined in Luke's eyes, but he nodded. "Sure, I'll see you around."
A few minutes later, James and Sirius came out and sat by Stella at their tree.
"Hey." Sirius said, as he plopped down beside her.
"What's wrong?" James asked.
"It's Jason." She whispered.
"Oh no." Sirius said, concerned. He had a feeling what this was about.
"He's not…" James trailed off, but Stella nodded.
"He is. He's a death eater." She let out a silent sob, despite her efforts.
"I'm so sorry." Sirius said, hugging her. "I think Reg is, too."
"But they're so young!" James exclaimed, outraged.
"Regulus is only fourteen." Stella gasped.
Sirius sighed. "Old Voldy must be more desperate than we think."
"He is." James nodded. "I just hope he stays that way." Stella and Sirius both nodded in agreement