Disclaimer: I'm NOT J. K. Rowling, and the only character I own so far is Tabs.
Author's Note: Thanks to Aqua Mage, Aguila, Katkit, KMK, and Me for reviewing!
Chapter One: Back to Hogwarts Again"Jamie, wake up! It's the day! The day you go back to Hogwarts!" a woman's voice said to a messy-haired boy with hazel eyes.
"I'm coming, Mum," James Potter said with a groan. He's my brother, and the woman with the curly brown hair and bright blue eyes is my mom. James got the position as head Boy, but Mum's too obsessed with Sirius to even think about him.
"You'd better eat some breakfast before Siri devours it all," I said to him with a grin, raising my eyebrows at Sirius.
Sirius Black is a dark-haired boy with either blue green eyes or green blue eyes. He's seventeen, like Jamie and me. He's living with us because his family is a mad flock of angry turkeys. It's a treat having him here, but seriously, that guy eats fore food than the whole family put together!
"C'mon, Tabitha. A growing boy's got to eat. Jamie, pass me the maple syrup, please," Sirius said with his mouth full, spitting some food onto the table.
"Don't call me that," I snapped at him. I hated that name. Tabitha. Ugh. Why couldn't I just have been named Jennifer, or Stephanie, or Cassandra? "It's just Tabby, plain and simple." Sirius just shrugged and finished his fifteenth stack of pancakes.
"Tabitha Serenity Potter, don't you dare snap at dear Siri," Mom said to me, ruffling his hair. "A growing boy's got to eat, after all."
"Yeah, a growing boy's got to eat," James mimicked.
"You keep your mouth shut, James Godric Potter," I said, eying him dangerously. I smiled sweetly at my mother. "Yes, dear mother. I promise not to snap at that thickheaded, overweight git—I mean, our precious gift from God." James sniggered.
"Thank—hey, wait a minute!" Sirius said after drowning his twentieth glass of orange juice. "I'm not overweight!"
"He only weighs three hundred and ninety-eight pounds, dear," Mom said to me simply.
I gawked at her. "Are you serious?" I asked her in disbelief. Then I did a victory dance. I was right! He is overweight!" James put a napkin over his mouth to hold in his laughter. I smiled brilliantly at him.
"How much do you weigh, then?" Sirius asked me defensively. I grinned at him.
"One hundred and twelve pounds even," I said to him triumphantly.
Mom gasped. "That's two hundred and eighty-six pounds less that Sirius!" she exclaimed. "Fatten up, Tabitha!" She poured lots of orange juice in my cup, then put heaps of pancakes on my plate.
I groaned. Then I noticed the time. "Merlin's beard! It's about time!" I cried. There was a mumble jumble and soon we had all apparated to King's Cross Station.
"Jamie, you first," Sirius said hastily. "C'mon! I wanna see if I can pull a prank on Snivellus before we go!" James went through, then Siri.
"Bye, Mum," I said to my mother with a wave, then went through the barrier.
I looked around for a glimpse of red hair. I spotted it. The person. Lily. Red hair, almond-shaped green eyes, pale skin, and loads of freckles. My best friend.
"Lils!" I shouted. Fortunately, she heard me.
"Tabby" she cried, and flung herself at me. "It's so good to see you, Tabs. You can't imagine a summer with Petunia. It was most horrible."
"Uh, Lils, I'm awfully glad to see you too and all, but d'you think you could let go?" I asked her, pretending to choke.
"Sorry, Tab," Lily said, letting go with a sheepish grin. "C'mon, or we're never going to find a compartment."
"All right," I answered her. "Race you!" I leaped toward the Hogwarts Express.
"No fair!" Lily cried behind me. I grinned.
"Since when have I been fair, Lily Kelicia Evans?" I said to her. I could hear Lils laugh behind me.
I won the race, of course. But Lily, being Lily, grinned good-naturedly and congratulated me. "C'mon. We need to find an empty comp—oh, here's one!" she said. We settled down there.
"Fifteen minutes till the Head's Meeting," I said to her, grinning. Just then, the Marauders came in. Lily groaned. The Marauders were a group of four boys, three of them who were popular. Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and my dear brother James Potter.
"Hey, Lils. Good to see you. How about a 'it's nice to see you too' kiss for Jamesie?" James asked sweetly, sitting next to Lily. He finally noticed me. "Oh, hi, sis."
"Hey, bro," I answered him with a grin as Lily rolled her almond-shaped eyes.
"How about this—no," Lily said to James, who faked a hurt look.
"C'mon, Lils, you know you love him," Sirius said to Lily with a wide grin.
"Do not," Lily said. "Tabs, help me!"
"Sorry, Lils, but I can't do anything against my bro," I answered her, laughing.
Lily stuck her tongue out at me. "Remus?" she asked a brown-haired boy with sparkling blue eyes.
"Aw, c'mon, guys. Leave Lily alone," Remus said to his two best friends. Sirius and James pouted, but scrambled up onto their feet.
"Not that that interruption is over, I wonder who the Head Boy is," Lily said to the five of us.
"I—" James started to say, but I shook my head at him.
"It's going to be a surprise," I mouthed to him. James nodded, a grin forming on his face.
"I wonder who the Head Girl is," Sirius said loudly. Peter cracked up.
"Shut up. Of course, Lily is," Remus said, elbowing Sirius. "Straighten up." Lily smiled gratefully at him.
I checked my watch. "Time to go, Lily and J—I mean, Lily," I said quickly.
"See you, Tabby and Remus! Bye, Peter!" Lily said to the three of us, and left.
"Hmph. She acted like we weren't here," Sirius said, looking mildly offended. "How rude!" He crossed his arms in front of his chest. He looked so hilarious. I burst out laughing.
"What?" Sirius asked. "What'd I do?"
"Nothing," I answered him, grinning. "By the way, James. You'd better be going, too. You're Head Boy."
"Oh, yeah," James said with a smile. "Can't wait to surprise my flower." He skipped away.
Sirius, Remus, and Peter came into the compartment to join me. "D'you think she's gonna be surprised?" Peter asked eagerly. Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but there was a scream. "Yep," I answered.
"JAMES POTTER, THIS IS NOT FUNNY! ONLY HEADS ARE ALLOWED IN THIS COMPARTMENT!" Lily's voice came ringing down the hall.
"But I am, Lils," James said, probably showing her his badge. "See?"
"GIVE THAT BADGE BACK TO REMUS. NOW!" Lily demanded, and footsteps came closer. "Here, Remus." The gleaming badge was in her tiny hand.
"Sorry, Lils, but that's not mine," Remus answered pityingly. "It's Jamie's."
Lily laughed. "Remus Lupin, you are a comedian!" she said.
"I'm serious, Lily," Remus said as I nodded. Sirius laughed. Lily frowned. James smiled.
"I'M QUITTING MY JOB, ER, POSITION THINGY!" Lily screeched. "THERE IS NO WAY I'M GOING TO SHARE THE HEAD'S TOWER WITH JAMES POTTER!"
"What?!?! Lily, you've been waiting seven years to become Head Girl," James said. "And what's so stinking bad about me?"
Lily looked as if she were about to burst. "Lils, he is my brother. You judge him, and you judge me," I said, settling the matter.
"Aw, Tabs," Lily pleaded, but she could see that it was no use. "All right. Here." She handed James the badge.
"This is such a beautiful moment," Sirius said, sniffling. "I'll treasure it till the day I die."
"Shut up," Lily and Remus said. I laughed.
"Look! It's the trolley woman!" Sirius shouted suddenly with shining eyes.
"Uh-oh," James said. We all watched as Sirius took the whole lot and started eating hungrily.
"But we just ate!" James cried. Sirius shrugged and continued to bite his Chocolate Frog's head.
I grabbed a cauldron cake. "Let's all gulp something down before Siri decides to eat the whole thing," I suggested. We all dug in.
"Jamie, Lils, you still have that Meeting," Remus reminded them ten minutes later.
"Shoot!" Lily said, stomping her foot. "C'mon, Potter!" The two disappeared.
"What would they do without me?" Remus asked, shaking his head.
"Shut up, Remmie," Sirius and I said in unison. Peter laughed.
After hours of talking, laughter, and eating (for Siri, mostly eating; he ended up choking when he laughed), we arrived at Hogwarts.
"Lily and James still aren't here. I guess the meeting was for the whole ride here," Sirius said with a shrug.
"C'mon! Before we're the only ones left here!" I said, and led Remus, Sirius, and Peter through the crowd.
We joined three sixth-year Hufflepuff girls who giggled when Sirius and Remus came in. Remus sat next to the girls, Sirius next to Remus, and Peter with me on the other side of them. It was a silent ride. Bo—ring. I was getting tired of the giggling.
"Excuse me, but do you girls mind shutting up?" I asked them quite politely. They noticed me for the first time and started whispering. I ignored them, but Sirius gave me his famous smile.
Finally, we arrived at the castle. It looked as magnificent as ever. I wasn't too disappointed in leaving the girls.
"Finally. Hogwarts," Remus said, sighing in relief. I smiled at the familiar sight.
"Back to pranking and breaking rules," I added, rubbing my hands together eagerly.
"Lovely," Sirius said, grinning. "Can't wait to do something to Snivellus. I didn't get a chance on the train."
"Sirius, don't do anything that'll hurt him. You too, Tabby," Remus said to Sirius and me. I smiled sweetly.
"Now, Remmie," I said to him in a sugary voice. "What makes you think that we'll harm a precious, sweet little angel like Severus Snape?" Sirius and Peter burst out laughing, and Remus grinned as we entered the Great Hall together.
Lily and James were standing near the High Table, waving. We waved back, and sat down at the wonderful, noisy Gryffindor Table. The usual Sorting went like this:
"Akenson, Stephen!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Ayun, Erin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Bann, Brandon!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Dumpe, Nathan!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Ember, Neal!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Faing, Jonathan!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Hail, Poseidon!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Impervio, Janet!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Inges, Pansy!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Kani,
Kara!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Love, Crystal!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Love, Katrina!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Minor, Kevin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Parkinson, Karl!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Raven, Rob!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Sang, Sora!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Ussyli, Opal!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Violet,
Alexandra!"
"HUFFLE—no, wait, GRYFFINDOR!"
I clapped enthusiastically as Alexandra ran to our table. Sirius was sleeping on a golden plate. Remus was clapping. Peter was staring at Alexandra, too tired to clap.
Dumbledore did his speech (which I didn't pay attention to). "Finally, welcome our new Head Boy and Girl, James Potter and Lily Evans!" I clapped the hardest, and shouted in Siri's ear.
"Hey, what'd you—ah, Jamie!" he started clapping and whistling. Peter stood their, clapping silently. Remus cheered proudly.
"And now—dig in!"
Sirius was obviously happy to. He was an eating machine.
"Whoa. Slow down, mate," James said as he joined us, grinning dreamily. "You'll choke."
"Jamesie!" Sirius cried, and threw his arms around my brother. To tell the truth, it was quite disturbing. James looked bewildered and embarrassed. Lily was trying to stifle her giggles.
After that very disturbing and embarrassing display of emotion, Lily and James sat down and started to gobble everything up.
"you guys are eating more than Siri," Remus commented, amused by the events. Lily choked.
"I do not eat as much as that, that, thing!" she exclaimed. "Hmph! I have never been more insulted in my whole entire life, Remus Janeiro Lupin!"
"Hold on," Sirius said with his mouth full. "I'm not a thing! I have never been so insulted in my whole entire life, Lily Isadora Evans!"
"Isadora? What kind of a name is that?" I asked, taking a swipe of pumpkin juice.
"Dunno," Sirius answered with a shrug. "Just made it up. Lily Isadora Evans. The initials spell LIE. L-I-E."
"I have never heard such a ridiculous thing in my entire life!" James laughed.
"You soon will," I said impishly, and muttered a spell under the table, pointing my wand at Lily.
"I love James Potter!" she shouted. Sirius doubled over. Peter fell off the table, laughing. Remus even managed to laugh. James looked at Lily as if he had never seen her before. Lily clasped a hand over her mouth and looked at me with an expression that clearly stated that I was dead. The Great Hall burst out laughing. Professor McGonagall was howling with laughter. Professor Dumbledore looked mildly surprised. Snivellus Snape was smirking at the Slytherin table.
"Forget I said that," Lily said loudly, but she couldn't be heard over the laughter. She pointed her wand at me.
"I love you too, Lils," Jamie said, grinning widely. Lily turned the same shade of scarlet as her flaming red hair.
"Ugh. It's too loud in here. I can't hear myself think," I complained. "Sorry, people, but the show's over. Obliviate Maximus!" A jet of white light emerged from my wand and separated into who-knows-how-many bolts of bright light. Each hit a person's head. I grinned at Lily before she got hit.
"Er...what just happened?" Remus asked, looking around him blankly.
"Yeah! Why am I on the floor?" Peter said, rubbing his head painfully.
"Um...you guys and the whole Great Hall fell asleep, but I didn't get affected because, I'm, er, really stupid, and weird, and mentally challenged so, er, well, that's it," I fibbed rather badly, stuttering.
"Okay," Lily said, raising an eyebrow. "Tabby, at times like this, I wonder how you managed to get sixteen O. W. L.'s during fifth year."
"And how you beat me, Lils, and Jamie," Remus added.
"I'm just naturally gifted!" I said brightly.
"And so am I!" Sirius exclaimed radiantly, smiling angelically. Everyone stared at him. "What?" he asked.
"You're a very special kid, Sirius Black," I said to him. "Very special." That cheered him up. Too much.
"Yay! I'm special! Whee!" Sirius cheered, and started dancing on the Gryffindor Table. "I'm SPECIAL! S-P-E-C-I-A-L, SPECIAL!" People gawked at him. "What? Tabs said I was!" The eyes turned to me.
"Siri, I advise you to keep your mouth shut if you like the shape your nose is in right now," Jamie told his best friend. He knew from past experience. Sirius shut up. Thank God.
"My best compliments to you, Jamesie," I told my brother, smiling. I turned to the horrible eyes. "Go back to your own beeswax, people, or I'll hex you to oblivion!" They stopped staring at me.
"Now, what were we talking about?" I asked sweetly.
"About how special I was," Siri answered proudly, beaming.
"We're not at all like Tab's mum, you know," Lily said, rolling her eyes.
"Let's get away from the topic of Sirius Rodolphus Black for a moment," I said. "As much as I'd love to hear all about you, dearie, I wanna know where the Heads' Tower is and what the darned password is!"
"The Heads' Tower is near the North Tower," James explained. "But I'm not telling you the password, sweetie." I pouted. "Oh, all right. It's 'Lily and James are mighty sex gods'."
"Who thought of that?" Remus asked, laughing.
"Potter, of course," Lily said, making a face. "Me, a sex god? You've got to be kidding me. Tab's the most experienced girl at Hogwarts, aside from that Ravenclaw girl Jessica March."
"No, I'm not," I contradicted. "Who would like me? I have hideous, tangled black hair, stupidly dull blue eyes, and horribly pale skin."
"No you don't," Lils argued. "You're hair is perfectly curly, and the color of the midnight sky. Your eyes are beautifully blue, like glittering sapphires. And your skin is NOT pale. It's wonderfully creamy white."
"But I'm nothing compared to you, flower," I told Lily. "Your hair is straight, and bright and fiery like fire. You should be proud of your eyes, Lils, they're totally exquisite! Any guy who looks in them will swoon, girl." She smiled at me.
"Enough girl talk," James said. "Let's—"
"Oh, shoot!" Lily cried. "James, we're supposed to be at the Head's Common Room with Dumbledore!"
"AHHHHH!!!!!!!" James screamed. "Hurry up!" We watched as they scampered away, waving.
"It's gonna be boring without Jamie in the Boys' Dorm," Remus said sadly.
"And without Lily in the Girls'," I agreed.
"Hey! We can sneak up there every night!" Siri suggested. "Since Lils and Jamie can't come to our common room—"
"But they can," Remus objecte4d.
"That's not the point," Sirius said. "Besides, the Heads' Tower is more, well, comfortable. And it's more vacant.
I gasped. "Wow! Siri! You used a big word! Comfortable! I'm so proud of you! Good boy!" I said sarcastically, smacking him on the back.
"Thank you, Tabby, dear," Sirius said proudly. "This moment shall be treasured in my memory forever. Thank you." Remus laughed.
"She was being sarcastic, Padfoot!" he said, hiccupping with laughter. "Does anything get through that thick scull of yours, Sirius Black?"
"Doesn't seem like it," I said, grinning. "Siri, that's a compliment.
"Why, thank you!" Sirius boomed. "You are so kind, Tabby." Remus, Peter, and I cracked up.
McGonagall tapped her goblet with her spoon five times. "Awww..." Sirius said. "I didn't get to eat much..."
"D'you guys want to play Witchopoly at the Common Room?" Remus asked, interrupting him.
"Sure!" Sirius and I agreed. Peter shook his head.
"I'm pretty tired, Moony. Better catch up on some sleep," he yawned. I shrugged as we exited the Great Hall, blabbering about Quidditch and stuff like that.
"You gonna play for the Quidditch Team this year, Tabs? Last year we got crushed by Ravenclaw without you," Remus said, grinning. He was a Chaser on the team. Sirius was a Keeper, James a Seeker, and Lily also a Chaser. The two Beaters were Arthur Weasley and Frank Longbottom. I used to be a Chaser, but quit during my sixth year. Callie Prewett was the only one who would take over, and she was the Klutz of Hogwarts.
"I think so," I answered, thinking. "Callie's been waiting five years to get the Chaser job, though, and I don't want to make her feel bad. She only played half a year last year."
"But we have no chance against Ravenclaw without you, especially since they've got Bertie Bott as Chaser this year. He's brilliant," Sirius pleaded.
"I'll think about it," I replied simply, grinning mischieviously. I secretly loved it when they pleaded like this.
We finally got to the Common Room. The Fat Lady, in a frilly pink party dress, was looking prim and cheerful.
"Password?" she asked us, smiling.
"Er...oh, yeah! Mimbulus Mimbletonia," Sirius said quickly. Remus and Sirius slipped in as the portrait door swung open. I paused.
"I've been wondering," I told the Fat Lady. "What's your real name? I mean, it can't be Fat Lady, can it?"
The figure in the portrait smiled. Obviously, no one had asked her anything of the sort before. "Well, it's Felicia Lace. FL. That's why they call me that Fat Lady. I don't look fat to you, do I?" she asked. I shook my head. "Bu the way, what's your name, dearie?"
"Tabitha Potter. Just call me Tabby," I answered.
"James Potter's sister, I presume?" she asked exasperatedly. "The troublemaker."
I grinned. "Yep. I'm his sister, Ms. Lace," I said.
"Oh. Just call me Felicia. Liccy, if you wish," she said happily. "Good night, Tabby."
"Good night, Liccy," I said to her, grinning. I stepped into the Common Room.
"What took you, Tabs?" Remus asked.
"Nothing much," I answered. "Not start that game of Witchopoly.
I rolled the dice.