Boom.
"Anabella Black and James Potter!"
That was the sound of Annie and James's latest victim.
They were currently giggling and hiding under James's bed as a way of avoiding the wrath of the poor soul they just targeted.
That morning, James's had had the brilliant idea of using one of his Uncle George's joke products, as a parting prank before they left. Annie, being a fellow mischief maker, readily agreed. Despite being sixteen years of age, neither had matured much beyond the age of twelve. They still pranked unsuspecting friends and family members, they had not grown out of the habit of finishing each other's sentences and they most definitely still got into heaps of trouble, both at home and at school. There were inseparable, even five years later, where there was one, the other wasn't far behind.
They wouldn't normally prank James's Mum, she was an intimidating woman, but she had evaded their escapades for a while now, so they thought it wise to reintroduce her to the world of pranks. It was not wise, they individually decided, as they were both dragged by the ear, out from under the bed, as James had given away their hiding place away by sneezing, down the stairs and were now face to face with a furious Ginny Potter.
A warning, dear reader, I'll give you.
Don't ever, cross Ginny Potter.
Especially, when her hair is bright green, sticking up in all directions possible, is covered head to toe in soot and generally looks as though she's just been dragged through a hedge backwards.
"Care to tell me exactly, why my hair isn't ginger?" She asked, her face set into a stern scowl.
James, being the idiot that he is, could not take his Mother seriously when she looked the way she did, so he decided to say something stupid. Which did not help the situation.
"We thought the colour looked good on you." He said, smirking. "Now, we're not so sure."
Annie inwardly face palmed at her best friend's shear cluelessness. Even she knew that you never, ever insult Ginny Potter, let alone after you've just pranked her. She thought she might hit James, she decided against it, but then again, it probably would've knocked some sense into him.
"Oh, you did, did you?" She asked rhetorically, turning her head to glare at Annie as well.
"It was James's idea!" Annie blurted out, raising her hands in surrender and pointing to the boy next to her.
"Hey! It was not!" James protested.
All the racket they were making had alerted the rest of the household, as Albus, James's younger brother, came into the entrance hall, where they were all stood bickering, of Number 12 Grimmald Place. Annie's Grandfather, Sirius, had left Harry, James's Dad, his childhood home and Harry had renovated it, with the help of Ginny. It was no longer dark and shabby or filled with an array of dark magic and cursed objects, as it had been for decades, maybe even centuries. The walls were now a deep red, with bits of gold here and there, the furniture was comfy and the photos of each of their childhood's adorned all manner of mantel pieces and walls. It was now a calm, happy home, filled with lots of laughter and love and had housed the Potter's and Annie for a great many years.
Albus took one look at his Mother and immediately put his hand to his mouth in order to stifle his laugh. The boys' younger sister, Lily, soon appeared and did the same as her brother had done.
"What do you mean it wasn't your idea?" Annie said, her hand on her hips. "You were the one who said, and I quote, 'why don't we prank my Mum, with the joke product I got from Uncle George the other day'."
"Yeah, well, you went along with it." He argued.
"Only because you said-" She was cut off by Harry.
"It's both of your faults, now, just apologise to Ginny." He said calmly, ever the referee.
The teenagers sighed reluctantly, and turned to Ginny.
"Sorry Ginny." Annie apologised first.
"Yeah, sorry Mum." James said shortly after.
Ginny's face softened, no matter how much they pissed her off, she could never stay mad at them, or any of her kids for that matter.
"It's ok, now go and get your stuff ready, we leave in half an hour." She said as she watched them smile and race up the stairs.
She chuckled, shaking her head and muttering 'Scourgify', the green in her hair reverted back to it's original flaming red and the soot lifted off her and disappeared into thin air.
"Are you two ready yet?" She questioned, as she turned to look at her other children.
"Yeah." Was the reply from both.
Ginny was by no means surprised, that her youngest children were ready and her eldest were not. It was normal for James and Annie to do things last minute, and they were usually the ones everybody else had to wait for, whenever they tried to go out anywhere. She was sure Annie never used to be like that, her guess was that James had corrupted her in mores ways than one. Ginny loved Annie as if she were her own Daughter, and was extremely glad that she had become such good friends with James. She was honoured when Annie had come to ask her for, things like, boy advice or when she had got her first period. It was things like this that reassured Ginny that Annie had settled and felt comfortable around her and everyone else in the Wotter family.
There came a loud crash from upstairs, in which both adults and both children winced, each hoping it wasn't something of theirs that had made the sound.
"James! You dolt!" Annie yelled, reprimanding James.
James laughed.
This was followed by a smack sound and a yelp.
Annie had just whacked James for being a prat.
Eventually, about an hour later, the family had arrived at Kings Cross Station, saying goodbyes took an extra ten minutes, as they had met up with the rest of the Weasley clan. But James and Annie were now sat in the same compartment, on the Hogwarts Express, that they had been five years ago, waiting for Dom and Lucy.
They arrived shortly, Dom looking as moody as always and Lucy, who was seemingly a lot more cheerful than she had been two days ago when Annie and James had seen her at the Weasley Back to School Bash.
The Weasley Back to School bash is a sort of tradition in the Potter/Weasley family, it involves Grandma Molly's delicious food, lots of talking and catching up, and in James and Annie's case, it's an excuse to wreak havoc.
"Is it true, that you two, turned Aunt Ginny's hair green? Or is Lily talking a load of shit." Dom asked as she flopped onto the seat opposite Annie, next to the window.
Annie and James looked at each other and sniggered, both extremely proud that James's cousins, and probably the rest of the family, already knew about this morning's events, despite the fact that it happened only a matter of hours ago.
"Well?" Lucy questioned, joining Dom in mutual curiosity.
"Now, now, you know we don't prank and tell." James said, trying not to smile.
It was not working.
"Bollocks. Your constantly making it known when you've down something you shouldn't have." Dom spoke, snorting.
It was true, whenever they caused mischief, they preferred for people to know it was them, that had caused such havoc. You would think, that when people reacted like James's Mum had done that morning, they wouldn't want it known that it was them who had created the mess, but no, they didn't really care for consequences.
"We do not!" They protested in unison.
Both Dom and Lucy raised an eyebrow each, shutting them up.
"We'll take that as a yes, then." Dom said.
At this point, Lucy was still smiling like a maniac, so Annie, being as nosy as she was, decided to find out what had got her friend in such a good mood.
"So, what's got you so chipper, Lucy?" She asked, coyly.
"Yeah, you've been really happy ever since the other day." Dom inquired, until the realisation hit her. "Oh wait! Is it because of that dude you told Annie and I about?"
Lucy blushed the colour of tomatoes and shrunk into herself, hiding, embarrassed, behind her ginger locks. Whilst, James jumped up and exclaimed.
"What dude?!"
"Oh, calm down, you twit." Annie said, pulling him back down onto the seat.
"No, I will not 'calm down',"He mimicked, badly, Annie's voice as he said this. "why is there a dude?"
"James you don't have to worry about it, I'm not happy because of a boy." Lucy interrupted, glaring at Dom for bringing the subject up.
On more than one occasion, has James become protective over his female family members, especially when it came to boys, and almost every time Annie had to calm him down.
"Ok, good." James deflated, satisfied.
"Well then, what's got you so happy?" Annie asked, confused.
"I submitted an application for a summer internship, at Turn Table Records," Lucy replied, unable to keep the smile off her face. "and I was accepted, I start the summer before our seventh year."
The news rendered all three of them speechless, when the initial shock had worn off both Annie and Dom squealed, catapulting themselves at Lucy, squashing the poor girl as they congratulated her. James, who had stuck his fingers in his ears so he wouldn't go deaf, smiled broadly and praised Lucy, once she was given some space to breathe.
Turn Table Records, was one of the most famous record labels in Wizarding Britain, and has managed the likes of Celestina Warbeck and The Weird Sisters, it also happened to be where Lucy aspired to work.
During the celebrations, the compartment door had, unnoticedly, slid open, and there standing in the doorway was William Finnegan, or as everybody usually called him, Will.
"What's with the squishing of Lucy?" He said as he sat next to James, who had now noticed the arrival of his friend.
"She applied for summer internship, at Turn Table Records, and got accepted." James said, highly proud of his cousin.
"Wow, that's awesome!" He exclaimed, then turned to the aforementioned girl. "Well done, Lucy."
She smiled shyly and thanked him.
It was then that Annie and Dom had realised that Will was now in their compartment.
"Oh, hey Will." Annie said, smiling at him, as she sat back down and propped her feet up on James's legs, he didn't seem to mind, as he placed his hands on her shins.
"Ugh, when did you get here?" Dom spoke, rudely, glaring at the new arrival.
"Just now. Why, did you not want to see me Dommy?" He asked, patronisingly, in all efforts to piss her off.
Dom huffed, crossed her arms and turned her head to look out of the window, staring distantly into the passing scenery. They had long since left the station, making there way, slowly but surely, up to the Scottish Highlands, towards their sixth year at Hogwarts.
Dominique Weasley did not like William Finnegan, and William Finnegan did not like Dominique Weasley.
Or, so they said.
They were always arguing, although it was more like bickering or petty disputes, and constantly threw insults at one another in order to provoke the other. Ever since Will had joined their little group back in first year, when he had been sorted into Gryffindor, and had met James, as they shared a dorm, Dom and Will had despised each other.
Will, was the Son of Seamus Finnegan, who owns the company Finnegan's Fireworks, and like James, was one of the most desirable boys in their year. He had dark blonde, almost brown, hair, piercing ice blue eyes, a body fit for a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which was what he was, and, just like his father, had a thick Irish accent and a knack for blowing things up.
Nobody knew why they didn't like each other, it was just one of those things that just was, as in, it would be kind of weird if they got along. Everybody had their suspicions though, Annie and Lucy thought that they were hopelessly in love and were too stubborn to admit it, which was a popular opinion, whilst others bought their 'act'.
After Will's surprise appearance, the time went fast, as it always did, and it wasn't long until the train had pulled into Hogsmeade station, meaning, they had arrived.
Now, dear reader, I shall spare you the details of their journey up to the castle, which was the same as it had been for the last five years, and I won't bother describing the sorting ceremony or the delicious food, as it too, was the same as it had always been.
So, instead, I'll skip to the Gryffindor Common Room later that evening, where Annie and James took up the length of the plushy sofa, their position was the same as they had been on the train, except it was James with his legs on Annie's. Lucy was sat comfortably, curled up in an armchair by the fire, Will was in the other armchair on the opposite site of the coffee table and Dom was spread out across the floor, her excuse being she was to full to move. They were all recovering from the masses amount of food they had just inhaled at the welcome feast.
"Ugh, I feel like a balloon." Dom grumbled from the floor.
"Me too." Annie said, as she tried to put her feet up on the coffee table, but she decided it was too much effort and gave up.
There were several grunts of agreement from the rest of them.
"What's everybody taking for NEWTs this year?" Lucy asked, in an attempt to make conversation.
"Potions, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, DADA, and Astronomy." Annie sighed, listing the subjects off on her fingers.
"Same as Belle ." James replied, pointing lazily at Annie, to which, she whacked him in the face with a nearby cushion for calling her that.
"Yeah, same as Annie, minus Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy." Dom answered.
"Same, except no Astronomy." Will answered, yawning.
"What about you Lucy?" Annie asked.
"Transfiguration, Potions, DADA, Charms, Ancient Runes, Herbology, Divination and Muggle Studies." She said quietly, already anticipating what they'd have to say.
Their reaction was that of "Merlin's beard, Lucy" or in Dom's case "Bloody hell, you're an absolute nutcase", though it was all said with a lot of love.
"I think I'm gonna call it a night." Annie said, rubbing her eyes.
"Good idea." Dom said, as Lucy nodded.
"Good night boys." All three of them said in unison, getting up and heading upstairs to their dorm.
"Night." Came the reply.
The next morning, the girls woke up and were greeted with an overly cheerful Bethany Carter and an equally as cheery, Sasha Robinson, the final two people that made up the Gryffindor sixth year girls dorm. They were bustling about, getting ready for the first day of lessons, when Annie was awoken by Lucy, who then went to try and get Dom up, which is a difficult task.
"Fuck off." Dom mumbled into her pillow.
Lucy poked her again, it was useless, so she shook her instead, whilst Annie grabbed her uniform from her, yet to be unpacked, trunk and made her way to the bathroom.
After she had had a quick shower, she performed a drying spell on her hair and got dressed, then exited the bathroom. Lucy, even ten minutes later, was still trying to coax Dom from her bed, so, Annie, deciding that Dom had slept for long enough, yanked the duvet off and pulled Dom, by the ankles, off of the bed, where she hit the floor with a thud.
Dom groaned into the soft, scarlet carpet beneath her, as she pushed herself up onto her arms, then sat back on her knees and glared up at her supposed 'best friends'.
"What the hell did you do that for, I was sleeping." She spoke, frustrated.
"You have to get ready for the school day." Lucy said, crossing her arms over her chest, ever the Mum of the group, and giving her a stern look.
"So, I could've been late, it's not like I care." Dom sighed, getting up off of the floor.
Annie, knowing exactly how to get Dom going, smirked and spoke up.
"But then you would've missed breakfast."
That seemed to catch Dom's attention, she glanced at her bedside clock, seeing that it was 8:30am and knowing full well that breakfast ended at 9:00am, made her move like lightning towards the bathroom, grabbing her uniform as she went.
Annie chuckled, shook her head and shouted just as her and Lucy were making their way out the door, school bags slung over their shoulders and smiles on their perfectly made up faces.
"We'll meet you in the Great Hall!"
"Wait for me!" Came the reply.
"Bye!" Lucy replied, smirking at Annie, who returned the gesture.
"Fuck you!" Was the yelled reply from the bathroom, as they shut the door to the dorm, descending the stairs and making their way to breakfast.
They got to the Great Hall approximately five minutes later, spotting James and Will, they made their way over to the Gryffindor table and sat down, Annie ruffling James mop of hair as she sat next to him, which earned her the middle finger.
"Morning." Will said, his mouth full of cereal.
"That's disgusting, chew with your mouth closed." Dom said as she appeared, sitting on the other side of Annie and opposite Lucy, her damp hair had been pulled back into her usual high pony tail.
"You're disgusting." Was his witty remark.
"By the way," Dom said, turning to look at Annie, who was happily munching on her oatmeal and yogurt combo. "Thanks for waiting for me."
"You're welcome." She smiled and turned to James.
"Did you do it?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy.
"Belle, do you really have that little faith in me?" He asked, smiling coyly.
In answer to his question, she flicked him and crossed her arms, glaring pointedly at him.
"Ouch, Merlin, keep your hair on, I did it!" He exclaimed, holding his abused nose.
"Good, I can't wait!" Annie said, her mood changing, causing her to smile broadly and return to her breakfast.
Sometimes, James thought that Annie was bipolar, how she could go from happy to pissed off and then happy again all within a matter of minutes had always confused him, but then again, she was a girl and girls were confusing creatures.
Not even a minute later, the Slytherins began looking at each other in horror, their hair turning a deep red, resembling the Gryffindor colour almost exactly. Annie looked at James and Will, then James lifted his head and looked over to the Ravenclaw table at Roxanne, a fifth year Ravenclaw and one of James's cousins that they had enlisted to help them, and nodded.
"Hold on to something." Will said to Dom and Lucy.
"Why?" Dom questioned, whilst Lucy did as she was told, as she had an inkling that they were up to no good.
"Would you just do it." He stated, his tone frustrated.
"What if I don't want-" He stopped her protests by grabbing her hands and gripping them to the table.
"Hold on." He practically growled, Dom nodded silently at him.
Almost immediately, all four tables rose, up into the air, due to the Levitation spell that James had put on the Slytherin table, that Annie had placed on the Hufflepuff table, that Will had put the Gryffindor table under and that Roxanne had subjected the Ravenclaw table to. The timing was perfect, as the morning post came in, letters, newspapers, parcels and owls flying in every which way, only adding to the already crowded hall.
The teachers jumped up from their seats to try to take control of the situation, but were surprised to find that the floor had been charmed, to act like a trampoline/cushion, for anyone who was unfortunate enough to loose their balance and fall from the floating furniture.
Amongst all the chaos, a letter had landed in front of Annie and her heart sunk when she saw the dreaded handwriting, that she had hoped hadn't followed her to Hogwarts. She really didn't want to know what they had to say today.
Deciding that she'd read it later, she slipped it, inconspicuously, into her bag, which she had, thankfully, not forgot to put on her shoulder before the fun had begun. Instead of dwelling on what it might say this time, she turned her attention back to the task at hand and laughed whole heartedly at the expressions on the rest of the students' faces.
She turned to James and beamed at him, receiving the same smile in return.
AN:
Ooh a letter! Who do you guys think it's from! Let me know! This chapter is a bit shorter than the first, so apologies, but I do hope you all enjoyed this and feel free to leave some constructive criticism. Stay safe and don't forget to R&R! Until next time, happy reading!
Sincerely,
Purpleslytherin xx