Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated in JK Rowling's books. I just write about them. Annabelle is mine, as in Lace. I wish I owned the Marauders, but am very sad to say that I still do not.
A/N: Okay,so this is my first attempt to post my writing. I hope you all enjoy it. Please comment and let me know if you love it or if you hate it. Here goes...
A New Beginning
It had been three months since Lace met her grandfather and learned the biggest secret of her life. Now she was standing on a platform, looking at a train that was to take her away from everything she had ever known. There were tears running down her cheeks, but she wasn't sad. Lace had always known that she was special, ever since she was six years old and her grammar school teacher caught her levitating Michael Cameron's pencil higher and higher over his reaching hand.
"We'll miss you, sweetie." Her father, Tom, pulled her into a tight embrace.
"I'll miss you, too, dad." Lace whispered to him as they pulled away. In the distance, they hear someone yell, "Five minutes!"
"Bye, mum! I'll write to you every chance I get." Lace quickly hugged her mother and hurried to the train with her trunk.
Lace walked down the corridor looking for an empty compartment, but could only find one in the last car with a young girl sitting alone. "Do you mind if I sit with you?" Lace bit her lip as she looked at the girl with brown hair flowing down her back.
"No, that's fine. I was sitting with James and Sirius, but they got up quickly and ran down the corridor. I'm Annabelle." She said as she picked up her cat from the other seat. "This is Tabs." She said before putting him in his basket.
"I'm Lace. It's nice to meet you. Is this your first year at Hogwarts, too?" Lace began to pull the compartment door shut, but a tall boy with messy black hair stuck his foot out to block it. "Oh, I'm sorry." Lace quickly apologized and let go of the door.
"Not a problem. I'm James," he stuck his hand out to shake hers, "and this is…where'd he go?" He stuck his head out the door and began to look up and down the corridor. "Get in here, you git!" He walked back in and took the seat next to Annabelle. Then a handsome boy with dark hair came in and pulled the door shut.
"I didn't know we had company. I'm Sirius Black. Wonderful to meet you?" He stuck out his hand as he sat next to her. Then, he leaned forward to James and whispered, "Fresh meat."
"Ignore them." Annabelle nodded her head in their direction and looked back out the window.
"A-belle, we resent that. We were merely commenting on how this is Lace's first year at Hogwarts." Sirius pretended to look slightly put out.
"Live it, mate. My dear cousin has always been on to us." James smiled at him, before turning his attention back to Lace. "Are you from a wizarding family? Or muggle?"
"Bit of both actually. My mum's pureblood, but my dad's all muggle." Lace said tucking her legs under her. It was a nervous habit she often had.
"How does that work, then?" Annabelle asked her, turning back from the window. "Did your mum hide it from your dad or was he always aware?"
"He always new, but we lived like muggles. My grandfather wasn't too happy about that risk, but mum didn't care. They had a horrible row and I never met him until he showed up at the house with my letter."
"You look familiar. I swear I've seen you before." Sirius racked his brain trying to remember. "Maybe in a picture or something."
"Mate, you're right. She does look like someone from a picture. Where did we see that at?" James pondered for a moment before the lady with the trolley distracted both boys.
Lace had an idea where they could have seen her, but she wasn't sure about revealing who her family was to people she barely knew. As she turned her attention out the window, Annabelle leaned forward. "Do you have any idea what they are blabbering about? I mean it is possible, they are third years, but maybe not."
"Erm…" Before Lace could say anything the boys came back in and offered them chocolate frogs.
"Albus Dumbledore." Sirius stated.
"What?" Lace looked shocked for a moment before she realized he was reading from his card. "Oh, right," she muttered.
"Wonder what the record is for having the most Dumbledore cards." James pondered aloud. "Maybe we should ask him next time we stop by his office." He grinned at Sirius as the door slid open. "Remus, there you are! We looked all over for you earlier."
"Peter was dragging me down to the fourth car with him. Something about going see some girl. Good grief. I finally got away when Mike Daxley came out to talk to him around car seven." He sat down next to James. He looked at Lace and noticed something oddly familiar, but put it out of his mind. "I'm Remus Lupin."
"Lace Weisberg." She smiled at him. He was just as cute as the other two boys.
"Now, what are we asking Dumbledore?" He asked the boys, picking up a frog.
"The record for the most Dumbledore cards by one person."
"The memories we've had with that man. He's such a nice guy." Sirius stared off into space as if dazed. "Ah, well, more to come. I can only dream." He said as he handed Lace the card. "To start your collection off right."
"Thanks." She stuffed the card in the pocket her coat. "You three see Dumbledore a lot?"
"Loads." Sirius replied. "Shouldn't be long before we see him again."
"We can only hope." James chuckled to himself.
"They get in trouble a lot. Don't let them fool you. My mum told me. It's gotten to the point where the other professors won't even attempt to deal with them anymore." Annabelle told Lace as she searched through the bag of Every Flavor Beans.
"We resent that. He just likes us so much that he wants to see us every so often to keep in touch." James quickly interjected. "Besides. Aunt Mills never like us much anyway. Not after the unfortunate incident with the neighbors' cat."
After a few more moments of silence, Remus pulled out a book from his trunk and Annabelle returned to staring out the window. James stood up and looked at Sirius. "Let's go find Evans." Together the two left the compartment. Annabelle took Tabs out of his basket and closed her eyes.
"Someone's got a secret." Remus was looking sideways at Lace from behind his book. He moved down the seat closer to her. She was staring at him with her mouth open and her eyes wide. "Don't worry. I won't tell. But they'll recognize the picture eventually. A-belle's right. We get in trouble a lot."
"Please don't. Its not like I'm trying to hide it, 'cause I'm not. I just don't know him. After their row, mum never let him see us anymore." She bit her lip, and the door slid open loudly.
"I see that you found her." Remus had a slightly amused look on his face as James sat down next to Annabelle again and Sirius resumed Remus' now vacant spot.
"She slapped me." James was holding a hand to his cheek in awe. "She loves me!"
"Not sure I'd go that far." Sirius said before he quickly followed Annabelle's lead and fell asleep.
"You've got a lot to learn." Remus looked at Lace again before he began to read again.
A/N: Please don't forget to comment and let me know how you feel about it.
Coming up: The start of term feast and Lace's first night at Hogwarts.