Antonia walked around the house as quietly as she could. It was a little early to start breakfast, so she thought for a moment she might check that everyone had packed last night like she asked. Her first stop was the boys' room. She saw three brown trunks sitting upright on one wall. She smiled and searched for her beloved son. All she saw, however, was two tufts of black hair sticking out of the covers. No Remus. Her motherly instincts went into high gear. She (thankfully) suppressed her urge to wake the house and send a search. Instead, she tiptoes down the hall, ears perked and alert, for any sound. She came to Bellissia's room and, on a whim, opened the door. Her face broke into a sad smile as she saw her son and niece sound asleep. Seeing them brought back memories of times when she was in school with her big brother Georgio. He used to come in and check on her. He tried to protect her from everything. At the time, she pushed him away. He didn't trust any of her friends, and he especially didn't like Phineas. He saw Finny as a threat to his baby sister's welfare. Magic scared him, and he felt it should scare Antonia, too. She was shocked when she heard he sent his only daughter to live with her and Finny. She was even more shocked when she found out Bellissia was a witch. With these thoughts all rushing through her head like cars on a freeway, she gently woke Remus and Bellissia with a kiss each on the forehead. Remus stirred and sat up.
"Oh, morning, Mum. I just came in to check on Bella last night and I guess I fell asleep."
"Don't worry about it, mio tesoro. Do you two want to get up and help me with breakfast?"
Bellissia yawned and stretched her arms high above her head. "Mmm, breakfast sounds good!"
"Alright, I'm going to the kitchen and the both of you need to take a shower and meet me down in thirty minutes, alright?"
"Ok," they chorused.
Twenty five minutes later Bellissia and Remus padded down the stairs towards the kitchen. Bellissia's hair was still damp and sticking to her black cropped shirt. Remus had never noticed before, but now he could clearly see a ruby-colored belly-button stud. Antonia waved them in and set each to word on a waffle iron. Soon they were cranking out waffles faster then Antonia could mix more batter. The waffles smells drifted through the house and before too long, Finny, Sirius, and James were shuffling in with wild morning hair and hungry looks on their faces. Antonia laughed out loud, which sent Bellissia giggling, which made Remus chuckle, and soon everyone was laughing. As it died down, Antonia handed out plates and ice-waters. When everyone had two waffles and a lot of syrup on their plate, they all dug in.
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Loading up the car proved to be a very difficult task. Four seventeen year olds yielded enough luggage to equip a small army. Seating was another problem. There were four backseat riders and three seats in the back. When at last the adults forced all the luggage inside, Antonia threw up her hands and told the kids to suck it up and squish together. They all made a face, but got inside. James and Remus each had an end, with Sirius next to James and Bellissia next to Sirius and Remus. They were all quite grumpy until James said, "Well, I hope everyone used deodorant today!" Their icy moods melted away and they all began to talk and joke during the long drive to King's Cross Station. Bellissia tried not to be too sad to leave the Lupins as she watched them from the backseat. They smiled at each other often and Antonia frequently grabbed Finny's hand while it rested on the stick shift. Bella admired how in love Finny and Antonia were. She smiled and thought about how great it would be to find true love. Perhaps Hogwarts was just the place to start looking. Sirius noticed the direction of Bellissia's gaze.
"Aren't they just too sweet?" he whispered in her ear.
"I hope to find love someday," she answered.
"Me too."
Phineas stopped only once to get gas and allow a bathroom break. Inside the gas station Sirius kept teasing Bellissia and James pretended to steal her purse. Remus laughed as he watched Bellissia struggle and act mad. He knew she wasn't really upset, he could see the joy in her eyes. He eventually stepped in when he saw his father throw him and impatient, "We're late!" look. Back on the road they made good time and arrived at eight-thirty in the morning, thirty minutes before the train left. Phineas went to get a few trolleys and Antonia fussed over them until he returned.
"Bella, don't you want something a little, well, less revealing to wear for you big train ride?"
"No, Antonia, I'm just fine."
"James, your hair looks a-mess, could you—"
"There's no point Mrs. A.L., it never flattens," James said as he ran his fingers through his black mop to muss it up even more. Antonia sighed and turned to—
"Sirius, you've got a hole in your jeans!"
"I know, I put it there, I used a shaving razor. Want to see make another one?"
"Why? Why on earth would anyone purposefully rip their jeans?"
"Because it looks cool, Antonia!" Bellissia answered. Antonia just tutted and turned to Remus.
"Oh, no," he thought.
"Remus, you look wonderful!" she said as she approvingly eyed his sweater and khakis. "Always the perfect gentleman! You dress just how your father dressed at your age," she sniffed.
Phineas was back and he smiled when he saw Antonia wiping a tear from her eye and hugging their son. As soon as Remus was allowed to breathe, Finny let go of the trolleys and caught Antonia from behind around the waist and swung her around. She screeched and had a panicked look on her face, but as soon as she figured out it was her husband, she smiled and turned and kissed him smack on the lips. Finny pulled head closer, deepening the kiss until he heard his son.
"Mum! Dad! That's disgusting!" Remus half shouted right as James said "Cool Mr. L! I'll have to try that with Lily."
Sirius turned to Bella and mumbled, "If he does, we won't ever see him alive again." Bella stifled a laugh and allowed Sirius to help her load her trunk on a trolley. Once everyone's trunk was on wheels, they started off through the station. Remus spent the time talking to his parents and glaring at any guy staring at his mother's long legs or shiny, dark hair. James watched the muggles go about their business with interest and often said things out lout, to no one specific, such as "Wow, look at that, now that's something you don't see every day!"
Just as Bellissia was about to join Remus and his parents, Sirius held her back.
"Now, if I let you strike out in a busy train station all by yourself, what kind of friend would I be? Plus Remus might have a heart-attack. Come on, you can walk with me."
Bellissia smiled and said, "Sirius Black, I don't need and man to protect me, but I would like someone to talk to."
The group walked through King's Cross and finally reached the platforms. Bellissia was handed a ticket by Mr. Lupin. She looked at it and sighed.
"Great, I got a bogus ticket. Where did you get these, Mr. L.? I'll go trade it."
"Bella, why do you thing it's wrong?" asked a grinning Mr. Lupin.
"Because some idiot made it read 'platform 9 ¾'. It's no big deal. Messed-up tickets get filtered through the sub system in the NY all the time..."
"It's not wrong, watch James."
James perked up and casually sauntered up to the wall between 9 and 10. He leaned against it, ruffling his hair, and—was gone. Sirius smiled at the look of surprise on Bellissia's face.
"Come on," he said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the place James had
just disappeared from. Bellissia rolled her eyes, but followed suit and was soon standing sandwiched between James and Sirius.
"Uh, we better more or..." but James didn't even get to finish.
"ARG! Move out of the way!" Remus shouted as he pitched forward and fell on James who slammed into Bellissia who lost her balance and grabbed Sirius around the neck. The unsuspecting Sirius lost his footing and his legs slipped out from under him. To his (pleasant) surprise, Bellissia fell into his lap. Right at that moment they noticed Remus's parents standing next to the barrier, laughing. They all looked at each other and cracked up as well. Bellissia and Sirius chuckled and looked at each other. All of a sudden they became very aware of the other's presence and Remus glaring at them. Bellissia stood up quickly, blushing a little. Antonia flashed her a lop-sided grin. Mr. Lupin cleared his throat.
"Well, you kids better get on the train, find a compartment." They all found their trunks and started toward the Hogwarts Express. "Boys," Mr. Lupin called out. Remus, James, and Sirius all turned to look at him. "Take care of Bella." They boys all promised. Bellissia ran back toward Antonia and gave her a hug.
"Courage, mio dolce, I love you. Now go, have fun and write to me. You always know where I am," Mr. Lupin clapped her on the shoulder and gave her a small push in the direction of the train. Remus linked his arm with hers.
"Come on," he said as he pulled her and her trunk into the big red train. He pushed them past wide-eyed first years, and jaded third, new prefects, to finally the compartment containing James and Sirius. They, however, were not the only occupants of this eight-seater. There was a pudgy boy next to Sirius, a pretty, petite, blonde girl across from him and next to James, and an angry-looking redhead reluctantly sitting on James's other side. Upon their arrival, the blond broke into a huge smile which illuminated her whole face, and scooted over so the seat between her and James was open. Remus sat down and gestured for Bellissia to take a seat as well. She plopped down next to Sirius, across from the redhead, who discretely flicked her eyes up and down Bellissia and gave her a reproachful look when she was the low neckline. Bellissia grinned. Her mother had always told her to flaunt what she's got while she's got it.
"Well, everyone, this is my dear cousin Bellissia, she just came to live with me and my parents this summer from New York City," Remus introduced. "Bellissia, that's Lily Evans across from you, Peter Pettigrew on Sirius's right, and next to me here is Annette Canterby." Bellissia smiled at each one of them, but she smiled extra big for Annette, because, as she remembered, that was Remus's girlfriend. She also seemed to be her best bet for a girlfriend. Lily seemed too...stuffy for her. Peter Pettigrew was an odd boy. She didn't take an immediate liking to him, but as he was her cousin's friend, she thought she should give him a chance. The compartment was soon laughing and talking about school and how they spent their summer. Bellissia grew increasingly colder. Sirius noticed her discomfort and offered his sweater, but she refused. Finally, she announced she was just going to go change into her robes and school uniform. They all waved her out and pointed her in the direction of the ladies' room.
She had only given Antonia her sizes and trusted her with buying the clothes. The skirt was ungodly long (past her knees!), so she took out her wand and shortened it so it was now, in total, about six inches long. She also cuffed her white collared shirt sleeves until they hit just below her elbows. She hung her tie loosely around her neck, and threw her black robes around her shoulders. She then walked out into the corridor and made her way back to her compartment.
"My my, a newbie. What's your name, sweetheart?" Bellissia heard a low voice say. She ignored it. She was used to catcalls and whatnot back at home. She continued, unworried, until she felt a cold hand grab her arm. She whipped around to see a tall boy, about her age, with greasy black hair and a crocked nose. With surprising strength, he held her against a wall. She fought his grasp, but he only tightened his grip. "I asked you a question!"
"BELLA! SNIVELLUS, get your hands off her RIGHT NOW!" Sirius roared.
Snivellus, or Severus Snape, as she soon found out, made the wrong decision to loosen his grip for one second. In his momentary laps, Bellissia seized the opportunity to knee him as hard as she could in the crotch. He fell back onto the floor. Sirius sent a stunning spell his direction and ran over.
"Oh. My. God. Are you ok?" Sirius questioned, with a worried look in his eyes.
"Yeah, I'll survive."
"In that case I see you've met Snivellus. He fills the roll of the greasy git."
"I gathered that much." She took off her cloak and folded it into her arms; she was no longer cold. She began to walk back to the compartment. As she walked Sirius could not help but notice how her skirt teetered threateningly, just teasing him with the prospect of seeing what's underneath. Why did this girl drive him so crazy?
"Sirius, my knight in shining armor, are ya coming?" He nodded and followed her into their compartment.