"Her name is Belle Bernhardt. Already made the quick judgments that Sirius is annoying and James is the accessory to have." Sarah Barnes spat bitterly. "If that wasn't bad enough, she looks almost exactly like Lily Evans."
"Lily Evans? Didn't she disappear to Switzerland or something?" Ashley laughed bitterly. The other three joined in the laughter.
"Excuse me." A heavy French accent over the two English words made the four Ravenclaws look up.
There was a very beautiful redhead standing in the doorway. The two Ravenclaws and the two Slytherins shot glares at her, shifting their trunks into the remaining seats.
"Oh. You're full. I'll move on, then." The accent remained, and the redhead pushed her cart forwards.
"Where are Remus and Peter?" Sirius snapped as he and James sat down across from Jennifer.
"They're in Clarisse and Mia's compartment. Clarisse begged Mia to stay, and we didn't want to put up with Peter." Jennifer replied chirpily.
"Excuse me." The three looked up to find a distressed Belle standing in the doorway. "Oh, it's you, James, Jennifer, Sirius."
James loved the way she said his name.
(A/N: This is where Belle's accent will sneak through.)
"All ze compartaements, zey are full. Or, in ze case of ze last compartaement, I am unvanted." Belle sighed. "I can only 'ope zere is rrroom forrr me 'ere."
Sirius smiled. This was exactly the way Lily had been in her third year, the year that James didn't return. Unpopular and unwanted, Arabella had offered her a spot where James would have sat.
"Come on in, Belle. There's always room for you here." Sirius patted the seat across from James with a wider grin.
'Belle' was surprised. This person, he knew who she was, who she was deceiving. But she smiled in spite of herself.
"Z'ank you."
"So, are they going to make you do your Sorting with us first years?" Jennifer piped.
"Oh, no. Professor McGonagall, she says zat I may be Sorted separately. Imajjjine, a seventh year sitting on zat stool!" Belle clamped her hand over her mouth. "I've read very much about it."
She laughed uncomfortably, and James didn't even notice.
"What do you like to do, Belle?" Jennifer asked with a wink.
"Well.. I enjjoy a nice swim every now and zen, I love to zrow and attend parties, I love to daunce.. And, Quidditch. I love Quidditch." Belle smiled. "I enjjoy Muggle literazure.. It iz, verrry, how you say? Amussing."
"What position do you play, Belle?" Sirius asked, winking like Jennifer did.
"Oh, vell, I orrijjinally played Keepair, but zen I became a Seekair, and zen I learned to play ze Chasair posision.. I'm verrry vell-rounded." Belle smiled again.
"Muggle literature, eh?" James found his voice. "Shakespeare?"
"Vy, yaes.. I do verrry much enjjoy 'is idea of love." Belle looked out the window. "I do not suppose I vant to be in Rrravenclaw."
"Why not?" James wrinkled his brow. "You didn't mind earlier."
"Vell, that was before I stopped at zis one compartment. Two of ze girls 'ad blue and black striped scarves on, and two of ze girls 'ad green and silver scarves. All of zem moved z'ere trunks so zat ze remaining seats were occupied. I do not zink zey like me." Belle hung her head sadly.
(A/N: Okay, now the French accent is even annoying ME. But you get the point, right.. This is pretty much how Belle sounds. Back to typing normally.)
"Well, I'm glad Gryffindor is your only option, now." Sirius said sincerely. "We need a Gryffindor girl."
"Do you mean to say that there are absolutely NO girls in the Gryffindor house? It will be a nightmare, like having half a million brothers!" Belle looked horrified.
"Oh, no.. Sirius and James meant to imply that there are no girls in seventh year from the Gryffindor house. Besides, Sirius knows what its like to have a lot of siblings of the opposite gender. He has seven sisters and a brother." Jennifer reassured her. "I am surely going to be in the Gryffindor house, so you at least have me."
Sirius and Jennifer smiled at her with their honest emotions- They were happy she was back.
James smiled too. Belle was going to make this year very, very interesting.
"James! Sirius! Jennifer!" Belle ran into the Great Hall waving her arms above her head. The Sorting hadn't started yet, due to the fact that the hat was on Belle's head still. The entire hall looked up to see and hear a very beautiful French girl running in. "I'm in Gryffindor!"
She ran to Sirius to hug him, and he spun her around. "That's my girl!"
"Oh, hi." All the seventh year Gryffindors (all being boys) stood up as Remus spoke. "James and Sirius do like to keep pretty women to themselves."
Belle blushed and she, Sirius and Jennifer grinned. He obviously had no idea who she was.
"Hi. I'm Isabelle Bernhardt, but you must call me Belle." She said softly and sweetly. "You are?"
"Atten-sion!" Sirius demanded. The boys stood stiff like soldiers. "Roll-Call!"
Belle giggled.
"Paul Eastman." The blonde, sleepy-looking boy said.
"Ronan Figg, at your service." A very light-haired boy offered his hand to her. She shook it.
Munguldus took a double-take before reciting his name slowly and confusedly.
"Logan Houston." A boy with very dark blonde curls told her his name with a goofy grin.
An African-American (definitely by the accent) offered her his hand. "Ethan Lincoln."
A boy with slicked-back blonde hair shook her still-outstretched hand. "I'm Tad Lowe."
"Remus Lupin. Very close friend of Sirius and James's." Belle smiled again. He was still turning on all the Marauder charm.
A boy with spiked brown hair winked at her. "I'm George Meyer, milady."
Sirius shook his head, remembering the time in fourth year that George to Lily so angry she accidentally shaved his head with the spell that came out of her mouth.
A boy with light blonde curls that resembled Logan (including the goofy grin) recited his name. He was Christopher Morgan.
A playful boy with red hair smiled at her. "Patrick Murphy."
A chubby blonde boy mumbled his name, Peter Pettigrew.
"Later you will have to meet our Ravenclaw friends. And no, they never associate with Sarah Barnes, who I believe was the one who was rude to you." Sirius told her confidently.
"You must have had the most terribly long sorting." She said softly.
"Oh yes, and then there were three girls going into Gryffindor, so there were twenty new Gryffindors!" Tad told her. "It was rather funny. This one girl, Lily, had to wait the longest because she had been put down as Lily Zerkofsky instead of her name, Lily Evans."
Belle laughed uncomfortably. She remembered that.
"And, boys, she plays Quidditch! That means we can all have a scrimmage on Saturday!" James proclaimed loudly. "I'm the Gryffindor Quidditch captain." He whispered to her. "All the boys play, and we haven't been able to have a our year only scrimmage because there weren't enough people in Gryffindor. But now, there is!"
She smiled at him before taking a seat. Professor McGonagall was glaring at her.
"Miss Bernhardt?" She asked, tapping her foot.
"Oh!" Belle took the hat off of her head and walked to the front of the room. "Sorry."
She smiled at some of the Ravenclaw seventh years, the rude ones. They scowled. But the other Ravenclaw seventh year girls smiled back. She returned to her seat.
"Smooth, Lily." Sirius muttered in her ear. She elbowed him.
"My name is Belle." She hissed in return.
"Whatever you say." Sirius shrugged. He placed his hand gently on the small of her back. "Be a good girl, will you?"
"I'm always a good girl." She replied.
Sirius simply grinned.
"What is her name?" Severus Snape demanded.
"What is whose name?" Zahn Michaels narrowed her eyes.
"The girl. The auburn-haired girl that was sitting at the Gryffindor table with the seventh years." He replied impatiently.
"Oh, Sevvy, she's just a Gryffindor. A Gryffindor seventh year girl. Think, Sevvy, think." Zahn tapped a finger on her forehead, and flipped her long, blonde hair over her shoulder.
"The list of students comes out.. In ten minutes! Thanks, Zahn!" Severus looked like he was going to kiss her.
"Don't hold back, Sevvy-boy." Zahn said with a seductive wink as he got up and headed to the Entrance Hall.
GRYFFINDOR SEVENTH YEARS
Bernhardt, Isabelle; Black, Sirius; Eastman, Paul; Figg, Ronan; Fletcher, Munguldus; Houston, Logan; Lincoln, Ethan; Lowe, Theodore (AKA Tad); Lupin, Remus; Meyer, George; Morgan, Christopher (AKA Chris); Murphy, Patrick (AKA Pat); Pettigrew, Peter; Potter, JamesHUFFLEPUFF SEVENTH YEARS
Appleby, Missy; Aschku, Appi; Chang, Robert; Chambers, Lexi; Chu, Anna; Dobbs, Adrienne; Longbottom, Frank; Patil, Ishmael; Settle, Eva Lyn; Wilson, Leanne; Williams, Otto; Zerkofsky, BorisRAVENCLAW SEVENTH YEARS
Barnes, Sarah; Barnes, Sean; Bryant, Ashley; Chen, Coco; Estevez, Leola (AKA Lee); Gerault, Clarisse; Jordan, Nicholas; Meyer, Sid; Morgan, Diana; Murphy, Amelia (AKA Mia); Suarez, Jennifer (AKA Jenny)Severus had read enough. Surely, Isabelle Bernhardt was the girl that he was looking for, as all the other names on the list were ones he had seen before, and the girl couldn't be a Slytherin.