Mate

Timeline:

Grindlewald's Reign: 1891 – 1955

Peace/Tom Riddle Travels: 1955 – 1970 's

First Blood War Stared: 1970's

Marauders Born: 1972

Marauders Era: 1983 - 1990

Cantha was Born: July 31st 1992

Parents Died: October 31st 1993

Cantha Started Hogwarts: September 1st 2003

War Ended: May 1st 2009

Moved Mystic Falls: September 2nd 2009

Chapter 3: The Grill

'Finally, the end of the day' Cantha thought as she approached the parking lot opened the door to her car. She put her bag in back seat and walked over to the driver's side, about to get in when someone called her name. Turning around, she saw brown hair and felt an uneasy feeling come over her. Elena stood in front of her, her face conveying the nervousness she felt, but still trying to mask it with a smile; though to someone as good at reading people as her it was very obvious, the brown orbed teen really didn't hide her true emotions as well as she thought she did.

"Hey, what's up?" Acantha asked. Just because the brunette gave her an uneasy feeling did not mean she had to be rude when the girl had so far done nothing to deserve it. Cantha may have respected Snape for being the youngest potions master in a long time but she did not appreciate the attitude from her first potions class just because the man had hated her father. She made a point of not being a bitch to people just because they gave her uneasy feeling because unlike what other people thought, it was not a valid reason. The brunette smiled at her.

"Since you're new, you don't know about the Grill, it's the local hot spot, so I was wondering if you want to go with the girls, me and Stefan. We're heading there now, you could follow us there." Elena proposed. The raven head looked unsure; she was getting a bad vibe from the brown eyed girl and while it may not be grounds to be rude to her it was grounds to be cautious. Elena kept on rambling on about it, her nervousness getting the better of her, not that Cantha was paying attention.

"Fine, yes, I'll come." Black inky curls bobbed up and down as the teen nodded her head with an annoyed gleam in her vivid emerald green eyes, but the brunette was too busy thanking her to notice. Cantha told Elena she would follow behind her and Bonnie as they drove to the grill, not wanting to spend more time than necessary with the girl.

Elena was good there was no doubt about that, she still had the innocent and naïve outlook on life that Cantha herself had once upon a time but there was something about the girl that rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it was how smothering she was and how she thought she knew best. Cantha had heard what happened between her and her brother Jeremy at the start of school, it was something that annoyed her to no end, Elena had tried to help, Cantha would give her that, but she went about it in a completely wrong way and refused to acknowledge it thinking she knew best.

Arriving at the same time, Cantha pulled in to the parking spot next to Bonnie while she and Elena exited the car and waited for her. Similar to the reaction at School, everyone around stopped to gawk at the car that not even the founders could afford, let alone let their teenage children drive around in it. Both brunettes led the raven haired girl into the fairly busy restaurant, all of them deciding to leave their bags in their cars. Cantha was half expecting Bonnie to leave her car unlocked since everybody knows everybody in such a small town and would obviously trust them but thankfully it seemed the budding nature witch wasn't as dumb as she liked to pretend.

It was something she could tell as soon as she met people, if they were supernatural or not. Very few people knew this but Cantha's connection to magic was very strong because she followed the Olde Ways like the other purebloods did. While she could not actually see people's aura, she could get a vague feel of it as soon as they were close to her. Nature witches like Bonnie had a sort of earthly feel to their aura, like a rainforest, showing their connection to nature. Vampires like Stefan had a cold dead body feel to their aura and werewolves, like Tyler Lockwood from the school courtyard as drooled over her car in the morning, had a muskier, wet dog type aura.

Snapping back to present as they walked through the door, music blared from speakers, the click of pool balls colliding with each other and people talking and laughing loudly so they would be heard by their friends over all the noise, the entire building filled with rowdy teenagers, it seemed like this really was the only hangout in town for both adults and kids. She heard Bonnie and Elena over the deafening sounds asking each other if they saw Caroline, or an empty table/booth.

"She's over there, Bonnie" the raven head said to the spirited brunette next to her, spotting bubbly blonde right away as Bonnie and Elena were still looking around the building. Elena followed her gaze and saw her friend, before her eyes widened in impressed disbelief, wondering how Cantha had spotted the cheerleader so quickly in such a crowd when they had only just walked in, the door was still swinging behind them.

"Good eye, can you use it to find Stefan? I'm sure Elena will appreciate the effort and be put at ease from her wonderings of her prince charming" Bonnie teased, while the afore mentioned brown eyed teen blushed and spluttered a denial. The raven haired beauty smirked.

"Look behind you" she said, not turning around herself but sensing the cold deathly aura that screamed vampire right behind her, she could practically see how Stefan would have blushed, if he was actually alive, hearing Bonnie's teasing words. Walking over to Caroline leaving Bonnie and Elena to turn around, she left the two love sick teens and Bonnie, well love sick teen and vampire and a budding still in the dark nature witch, behind. Cantha heard Elena gasp and stutter when she in fact saw the handsome new student behind her, Bonnie quickly overcoming any embarrassment and surprise caught up to her after winking at Elena and dodging her grabby hands.

"Hey Caroline and bus boy I don't know." Cantha said. Said two girls laughed softly at the taken back look on his face, clearly not expecting such a bold statement though why not she didn't know since she was currently wearing 6 inch wedges and a leather jacket and that he had been present in class when she faced down Tanner.

"Hey Cantha, this is Matt Donovan another one of our friends, Matt this is Acantha Potter-Black, she's new here." Bonnie introduced.

"Nice to meet you Matt, call me Cantha. My full name is a bit hard for people to pronounce sometimes." Cantha told him, taking the menu he was handing out to her and putting it in front of her, not reading it just yet. Those pureblood heiress lessons had taught her manners and if Aunt Cissa found out she was not abiding by them the teen would only be tortured to take more etiquette classes since she had clearly forgotten them. Just then Stefan and Elena walked to the table, finally finished staring into each other's eyes like star crossed lovers and slid in opposite Caroline, Bonnie and Cantha.

"Hi. Cantha, how did you know I was behind you, Elena and Bonnie? I didn't even see you turn around." Stefan asked, eyebrows furrowed in thought as he wondered how she had heard him even though vampires were so silent by nature. At this Caroline and Matt looked at her, Bonnie and Elena with one eyebrow raised silently asking one of them to expand on the question and provide some insight into the situation.

"Yeah, I was meaning to ask you that, you spotted the Caroline as soon as we stepped into the building, and when Bonnie asked you if you saw Stefan, you told us to turn around when you didn't even look around or try to find him. Did you just guess?" Elena explained the full situation to Caroline and Matt as they looked curious and confused.

"I have very good eyes. That and I saw Stefan's reflection on the door as we were walking in" Cantha replied smirking, not really being able to tell them about feeling Stefan's aura behind her. It was the truth though, she had seen Stefan's reflection in the door and made the logical assumption that he was the next person to walk in after them. 'I'm a seeker and I've been through war, sneaking up on me is not going to be easy, is it?' she thought sarcastically. The others had no problem accepting the answer and since Cantha wasn't lying, her heartbeat remaining steady was enough to satisfy Stefan.

"So, where are the both of you from?" Caroline continued her investigation from lunch. Her two best friends shook their heads with fond smiles while Stefan rolled his eyes but had an amused look plastered over his face. Cantha, on the other hand, gazed skeptically at the bubbly blonde; Caroline seemed like someone who pretended to be dumb but was the complete opposite, the so called interrogation let her be in the know for what was happening around town and allowed her to get closer to people without them suspecting anything. Plus it always helped having your mother be the sheriff of the town. It was smart and Cantha certainly respected that about Caroline.

"I'm grew up Surrey in London, England, but I spent most of my time up north in a boarding school in Scottish highlands." Cantha informed them. She had gotten used to the spot light, she still didn't like it but Blaise and Draco had managed to bring out her Slytherin side so now she was very used to using the spotlight in her favour, completely unlike her first few years of being in the Wizarding World where she let the press run all over her. Being the 'Chosen One', the spot light was kind of hard to escape much to Acantha's misfortune, but know she could handle it a lot better. With her response giving, the girls turned to Stefan, waiting to learn more about him. Elena seemed especially eager for this particular answer and it apparently Bonnie and Caroline agreed if the tiny smirks were anything to do by.

"I just came in from New York. I'm staying with my Uncle Zack in the Salvatore Boarding House; my parents died a long time ago." he informed them, answering the unasked question about his parents. Elena gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, her face sympathetic and understanding, not knowing that a long time ago was longer than their grandparents had been alive. Cantha saw Matt coming over from the corner of her eye but the rest didn't see him yet. She had chosen this particular seat on purpose; it was right in the corner of the girl and allowed her to not only see outside but also the entire hangout as well. The war had taught her to never leave her back unguarded.

"Hi Matt" she said not looking up from the menu, the gang turned to see him frozen and looked at her in surprise.

"How did you know I was coming?" he asked in disbelief.

"I have very good eyes and ears and I use them, unlike the rest of the people on this table." Cantha smirked at them, raising a silent challenge wondering if anyone would say anything to contradict her. She mostly curious about Stefan. The girls glared at her playfully but didn't say anything, whereas Stefan almost looked offended. 'Well he is a vampire with heightened senses' she thought, while Matt chuckled.

"So, what can I get you?" he asked all of them. All of them ordered a cheese burger, fries and a coke, school food was not at all filling as the adults would tell you. It was a glob that looked just as disgusting as it was unhealthy. Some students even thought the lunch ladies just threw a bunch of healthy stuff into the blender and turned it on high for 20 minutes. They chatted about random things and laughed together, waited for their food to come.

"So do you have any siblings, Ris?" Stefan asked the teenager, bringing the subject back to her and continuing Caroline's interrogation.

"No, I'm an only child. How about you guys?" she turned the question around.

"One older brother but we don't get along" Stefan smiled tightly and the others didn't push, seeing the sore subject for what it was.

"One younger brother, Jeremy" Elena replied in an effort to take the attention away from Stefan since it was clear he was uncomfortable with it.

"No" Caroline and Bonnie responded together. The blonde tactfully not pushing to get the juicy gossip on Stefan's brother.

Matt came over with the food a few minutes later; they ate, laughed and talked like they had been friends for years or least like they had known each other for more than a day. It was very disconcerting for Cantha since the only friends she had were the ones she made in Hogwarts, never coming across people who either didn't hate her (Privet Drive) or think of her as some savior instead of a person (the Wizarding World). Stefan and Elena got closer together, both bestowed with each other leading Bonnie and Cantha to make a bet about how those two would be dating in 3 days or more; Bonnie disagreed and said it would be less.

They all went their separate ways after an hour or two, Bonnie giving Elena a ride home. In half an hour, Cantha was wearing a baby blue tank top and white short shorts, opting for comfort instead of style since she wasn't really expecting anyone or had any plans to go out. She turned on the TV in the living room, and in all the guest rooms as well, and started to do her homework, years of studying at Hogwarts had made sure that she couldn't study in complete silence anymore. She didn't have a lot since it was her first day and the teachers were just getting in the swing of things but she had no doubt there would be more once everyone settled down. It wasn't hard either, mostly everything they taught in high school she had already studied; Cantha was just missing the actual piece of paper that acknowledged that, something that Hermione had used in her tirade of education being important and that Cantha had better go to school or else.

Finishing her work in barely an hour and deciding to watch TV for a while, she flicked through the channels before coming to the movie channel that had Bambi playing already half way through though she didn't mind, Bambi was something of a tradition between her and Sirius who had taken her out to watch it the summer before 4th and 5th Year. He had disobeyed Dumbledore just for her and continuously done so time and time again for as long as he was able to, understanding how much trouble she got into when she didn't have the full information though he had been unable to tell her of the prophesy.

Turning the TV off she slowly made her way to the music studio she had installed when Mystic Falls was decided and started to work on her music till around eleven o'clock. Cantha had always had a passion for music, for as long as she could remember. Music was something she found a solace in when the rest of the world was against her. Truly it was all of the arts (music, art and drama) that she connected to, Cantha seemed to have a real affinity for them just like she did with magic, but it was music, specifically dancing, that she truly become one with, though she did write her own music as well.

Ever since she was a little girl, she saved up all her pocket money for the first 5 years she got it, from the Dursley's so she wouldn't tell anyone of the abuse. Cantha had not spent a dime of it, planning on saving it for a rainy day or if she ever needed an escape; living on streets, while better than the Dursley's, would not have been easy and a start on money would have helped in the start while she got used to the harsh conditions. Then she saw the guitar on display, while Petunia took her grocery shopping because she could not be trusted in the house alone, and couldn't help but buy the masterpiece. The raven had been writing music since then, using it as outlet for everything she could not, would not dare to, express out loud.

At eleven, Cantha put down the guitar in its stand, she saw a music shop in Diagon alley once after 3rd year and decided to get a guitar custom made in tribute of her parents and the Marauders. The body of the guitar had been made out a mix of cherry and mahogany would giving it a dark red shine, Going a step further, she had sketched out a design she wanted on it and had the man charm it so that it moved around. It was or the Marauders in their animagus forms, Moony and Padfoot were messing with each other and rough housing while Prongs occasionally stepped in and poked one of them with an antler, which were covered in Lily flowers in tribute to her mother. Although not a lot people knew this, Lily Evans Potter had also become an animagus with the help of the boys and came out with a fox form and was named Kit, a short version for Kitsune.

Checking all the doors and windows, making sure they were locked and the emerald orbed teen crawled into bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the fluffy pillows on her bed.