The summer of 1977 was a hot one in New York City. The hottest on record. But despite the heat, Bellissia Angenelo was walking outside. She was saying goodbye to the Italian neighborhood that she had grown up in. She wiped a tear from her eye as she looked up at her apartment building she had lived in for so long. The bricks were old and worn down, as was everything else in the area. Her eyes slid next door to the pizza shop her grandfather owned. She had just recently said a tearful goodbye to her grandparents. They were her favorite people in the world. Their stories of "the old country" were know throughout the town. Well, New York was no small town, but in the Italian Quarters, everyone felt like family.

She was leaving her beloved city behind. She would be living in England. England! She had never heard of a stupider idea. All this happed when her stupid father landed himself in the slammer. Reason? He killed a guy. Bellissia had no idea who the guy was or why. She would NEVER forgive her father. Her mother had been dead since she was four years old. When her father had been carted off his last wish was that Bellissia move to England to live with these relatives and "continue her education." She had snorted at this remark. Yeah, like anyone's going to listen to that psycho. But her grandparents had upheld her father's wishes. So here she was, one-way ticket, hotpants and all, saying goodbye to everything she ever knew.

Hailing a cab in NYC was easy if you were hot enough. In more ways than one. Luckily, Bellissia's mother had given her her fiery temper, long legs and perfect figure. She was naturally tanned and her dark hair was slightly curly. She jogged to the middle of the street as fast as her platform shoes could carry her. Upon putting her hand in the air, two cabs screeched to a halt. She threw herself into the nearest one after stowing her luggage in the trunk. And with one sad nod to her old life, she rode towards the airport.

Antonia Angenelo-Lupin stared out the window anxiously. Her husband Phineas "Finny" Lupin was pacing. They were watching for their son Remus. He was supposed to go to the muggle airport today to pick up their new family member. They had gracioiusly accepted responsibility for Antonia's brother's daughter, Bellissia. All they knew about the girl was that she was a seventeen-year-old Italian orphan from New York City. Just Remus's age. Remus had begged to go to the airport alone to pick up Bellissia. Well, not completely alone. Two of his best friends, James Potter and Sirius Black were comming along as well. Then the four of them, Bellissia included, would stay at the Lupin House for two weeks before going to Hogwarts. They did not know for sure if Bellissia was magical, but Dumbledore had told them that Bellissia would be welcome either way.

Finny glanced over at his wife and smiled. "You look so beautiful," he said. She just grinned and blew him a kiss.

Sirius Black was starting to get extremely impatient. They had been waiting there for an hour, and muggle places always kind of gave him the creeps. It must have been the pureblood in him.

"Moony, I already don't like this girl. She isn't very considerate of other people, making us wait like this," he grumbled.

"Relax, Padfoot it's not her fault. What if something happened?" James replied.

"Erg, don't say things like that Prongs. I'm getting this horrible picture of a plane crash and I don't like it one bit," Remus shuddered.

They stood in silence for another five minutes before a loudspeaker said, "Now arriving in gate 22, flight 576 from New York."

The trio perked up and made their way to gate twenty-two to find it crowded with people freshly unloaded from the plane. One gorgeous girl with tan skin, silky dark hair and a glittery halter top parted from the crowd. James was first to spot her. He whistled under his breath. "Wheew, take a look at her." Lupin and Sirius turned their heads and saw the girl pull out a piece of paper and study it. "My god, those shorts don't leave much to the imagination, do they?" chuckled Sirius. Lupin however looked slightly annoyed. He immediately recognized her as Bellissia Angenelo and was feeling very protective of her at the moment. "Guys, that's her, that's Georgio's daughter."

"Man, Moony, you never told us your cousin was a babe!" James replied.

Remus ignored this and made his way over to her. Bellissia glanced over her shoulder to see a very angry sandy-haired boy walking her way with two black haired boys following him. Her eyes grew wide. "Remmy!!! It's so good to see ya! You look so much different than I thought!" she screeched as she flung her arms around Remus's neck.

"Nice to see you, too Bella!" His anger faded a bit as he pecked her on the cheek. "These are two of my best friends, James Potter" he gestured to the boy with glasses and hair that stuck up all over, "and Sirius Black." the handsome boy with messy black hair gave a lopsided grin after giving her the up and down. She just giggled and waved to the boys. She was used to guys checking her out. "Guys, this is Bellissia. You'll meet our other best friend, Peter Pettigrew, at school," he finished.

"How are we getting to Lupin House, Remmy?" Bellissia asked.

"My parents' car."

"Killer."

"Excuse me?" his eyebrows shot up.

"Neat," she corrected, rolling her eyes.

James and Sirius walked ahead so the two could catch up on each other's lives.

"So, Bella, how have you been?" his eyes narrowed with concern.

"Oh, you know me, Remmy, I live and let live. Always a silver lining." she smiled, but Remus noticed it looked forced.

"I just worry about you."

She looked shocked. "Why?"

"Well look at what you're wearing! Did you forget pants?"

"Remmy! You're just like Grandmama! They're hotpants. All the cool people in NY wear them! Especially the ones that go to Studio 54." she added dreamily.

"Bellissia Maria Angenelo! Tell me you don't go to those terrible discos!"

"Of course I don't! I couldn't get into Studio 54 if I tried! Did you know they once turned away Liza Mennelli?"

"I don't care if they turned away the Minister of Ma-" but he stopped himself. He didn't know if she knew about the magical world. She looked at him questioningly but shrugged it off.

"I appreciate it, really, Remmy, but I already have a father."

"Fat lot of good he can do you now." She glared at him and sped up.

"Bella, wait! I'm sorry! That was out of line! Please!" he called, but she was tearing through the airport crashing into anybody and everybody. Remus sighed and took off after her. What happened to James and Sirius?

She was running in no particular direction. All the tears that she had been told to hold in when her mother died and the tears that she never cried when her father was taken away started pouring down her cheeks like a dam had been removed from a river. Her platformed shoe hit something and she felt her body pitch forward. She didn't care anymore about anything or anyone. She almost hoped she smashed her face into the ground. It would give her something else to cry about. But just before she hit, a pair of strong hands lifted her up and stood her on her feet. She tried to get away but they held her tight through her struggling. She looked up to see messy black hair and a pair of crystal blue eyes staring back at her. The Black boy. She struggled even more but with firm hands he steered her to the baggage claim area. She pointed to a purple duffle, and he picked it up and swung it over his shoulder with one hand, grabbed her wrist and with the other and walked her rather forcefully to a silver car. They waited in silence for a good minute or two before James and Remus came galloping towards them.

"Bella what the hell were you thinking?! You can't just run off like that! Lucky Sirius found you!" Remus shouted.

She looked up at him angrily with puffy red cheeks and racoon eyes from her mascara. "Let's just get in the car, OK?" said Sirius. Remus nodded and the four of them climbed inside. Remus driving with James shotgun and Sirius and Bellissia behind them. They were all quiet until Remus said, "How about some ice-cream, eh?" For the first time, Bellissia gave a true smile. One that lit up her darker-than-ebony eyes. "That sounds great."

Man, that Bella chick is crazy thought Sirius Black. One minute she's arguing with Remus, next she's sobbing, next she's all happy. What's her story?

Sirius is so hot, especially when he saved me from smashing my face, thought Bellissia Angenelo. But I don't know if I like all this man-handling. I'm an independent woman!

Bellissia is FINE but Lilly's better. She's more...real James Potter thought. I can talk to her about anything and she's so nice to everybody. Even that idiot Snape!

This is not going how I pictured at ALL Remus Lupin thought. First my friends drool over her, then I make her cry. I bet she loooves England so far!

Remus pulled the car into a muggle diner. "It's the best place for sundaes this side of London!" he exclaimed. Bellissia grinned and followed the boys into this shabby restaurant.

Once everyone had their ice creams they began to talk about anything nonmagic. Sirius seemed facinated with the fact that she came from a long line of Italians and that her grandparents owned a pizza place. James told her about how they were the school pranksters and that they were known as Maurauders. She seemed very interested with the school so Remus quickly filled her in on how his parents were doing and how his mother made excellent pasta thanks to Bella's grandmother. They all left the diner as friends and drove towards Lupin House.

When they arrived it was dark and Mrs. Angenelo-Lupin rushed outside to greet them. She was a petite lady who looked almost identical to Bellissia and had a temper to match. Remus had been very embarassed to find out that after his mother had picked him up on Platform 9 3/4 after his first year, a couple of seventh-years had wolf-whistled before Mr. Lupin showed up protectively behind her. She gave each teen a kiss on each cheek and threw her arms around Bellissia. "I am so glad to see you, Bellissia, darling. If there is anything at all you need, don't hesitate. You're one of the family." Remus winked at her and took her bag inside. James and Sirius followed suit.

"I know this must be so hard for you, but if you need a woman to talk to, I'm here. It's so great to get another girl in this house! I'm always outnumbered! Well we'll still be outnumbered, but at least I have one female ally!" she decared and with great enthusiasm, she pulled Bellissia inside the house.

"Thanks Mrs...um..." Bellissia broke off.

"Antonia is fine Bella."

"Thank you Antonia."

Antonia smiled. "Now don't you worry, you'll have your own room and the boys can all sleep in Remus's room. I'm sure they will all be waiting in their room so you go ahead and join them, first door and to the right."

Bellissia thanked her again and walked toward the boys' room. That woman talks at about a mile a minute! She's nice though. I like her she said to herself. Just then, all three boys popped out from their room. She was so startled she staggered back a few feet.

"GOTCHA!" James said, laughing.

"You guys!" she screeched, but it was too late they had grabbed her arms and pulled her into their room, shutting the door.

"OK, we have a question to ask you." James began. "It's very serious. Answer truthfully."

"James, don't--" Remus began but Sirius put a hand up to silence him.

"Here we go." James continued. "The question is, do these words mean anything to you: wingardium leviosa."

The three boys stared at her, sitting on the edge of their seats. It was what they had been dying to find out. Was Bellissia a witch or not? Bellissia studied them hard. What if they didn't know what it meant either! If she said it was a simple spell to levitate an object, they might pull a Salem on her. She couldn't afford that. Maybe she should just play dumb. Or answer with a question. Yeah that's a good idea.

"It does if Avada Kedavra scares the living daylights out of you," she answered. James's stony face broke into a smile. Remus and Siruius sighed with relief.

"Oh thank God." Sirius said. "For a while we thought you were a muggle. See we're wizzards. So is Mr. Lupin. We had no idea if you were since you were from America and Mrs. Lupin--"

"Mrs. Angenelo-Lupin" Remus corrected.

"Right, her. She's a muggle. We go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Did you go to a magical school in New York?"

"Yeah, I did. It was called Indigorio Institute. We didn't board there, though since everyone lived so close to it. Do you board at Hogwarts?"

"Uh huh, there are dormitories we stay in." Remus answered.

"Oooh!" she wiggled her eyebrows. "So who has a girlfried? Remmy I bet you do! You're so sweet, any girl would love you!" Remus blushed and mumbled incoherently.

"Oh, Remmy don't leave her hangin! He's been going out with a girl named Annette Canterby since last Christmas!"

"Thanks, James," Remus replied sarcastically. "At least Annie likes me! You just dream about Lily all the time!"

"That hurts, Moony."

"What about you, Sirius. Do you have a special friend?" Bella pressed.

Sirius shrugged. "Not at the moment, but I usually do."

"Sirius has his own fanclub at Hogwarts," Remus said with a snicker.

"I do not!" Sirius said heatedly.

"Yeah, he's quite popular with the ladies!" James added laughing.

"What can I say? Who wouldn't want a piece of this?" he returned to his cool, nonchalant manner.

Bellissia laughed and threw a pillow and and hit him in the head. His face turned to a look of shock.

"Oooh, yankee, you're going down!" he declared. Soon all four of them were in a vicous pillow fight that ended only when Mr. Lupin opened the door and stated that while he was glad everyone had met and was having fun, his goal for tonight was to get at least some sleep. He then showed Bellissia to her room where she collapsed on her bed and promptly fell asleep.