Day Before Christmas Break Begins

7 pm

Gryffindor Common Room

The sound of Messalina laughing filled the mostly quiet common room. The Marauders were doing their homework for once, and most of the younger kids were packing their things to go home. Remus looked over at where Fabian and Gideon were playing a rather intense game of wizard's chess, both of their ties wrapped around their foreheads.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I was you Lina-"

"Yeah, you still have to go to Dad's Christmas Party."

"You're the ones who get to spend that entire evening with Aunt Muriel and Aunt Tessie!"

"At least we're at home!"

"And they won't want to jump us!"

"Don't remind me! Spending an entire evening in his office surrounded by stuffy old men who want to fix me up with their rich proper sons."

"Poor poor Lina, rich boys do want you don't they?" Gideon asked with a triumphant grin as he managed to beat Fabian who immediately demanded a rematch.

"I don't want a rich boy! Merlin, all everyone here cares about is getting a boyfriend! I want to go on an adventure!" The boys were silent as Messalina stood up and turned around revealing that she was wearing Fabian's quidditch jersey. Remus sighed and went back to his essay occasionally hearing shouts from the trio in the corner.

Messalina stood beside Samuel Prewett, hardly listening as he talked to a man and his wife. "And this is my adopted daughter Messalina Lucien."

"Pleasure to meet you, I have heard a lot about your work-" Messalina decided that if she couldn't leave then she might as well have fun charming people like her real parents had taught her long before. It tended to get interesting results.

"Lina dear, Mr. Drake just returned from Egypt! If you want to talk They're going to be leaving soon!" Mrs. Prewett called and Messalina turned to her 'mother' and nodded before turning back to the couple in front of her.

"Do please excuse me, I've always wanted to go to Egypt." Messalina smiled charmingly at both of them and walked away.

xXxXxXxXx

An hour later Messalina inwardly groaned as she watched two boys with dress shirts, ties and pants stare at her hungrily. She looked down at her lace orange dress, it was tight on the top and flared out at the bottom with her plain black heels.

There was nothing overly suggestive about it but the boys were looking at her as if she was standing there naked. Wrapping her arms around herself she went off in search of Mr. and Mrs. Prewett.

xXxXxXxXx

"Remus," Hope began as she began to cut her pancakes. "Do you know someone named Messalina Lucien?"

Remus choked on his piece of toast and took a few gulps of tea to get it down. When would they have seen Lina and talked to her?

"Remus?" Lyall asked moving his chair back in case his son needed him.

"Um yeah, why?"

"We met her at the Christmas party at work yesterday. She came with Samuel and Gwen Prewett." Lyall added, scooping eggs into his mouth.

"Very charming girl, we barely got introduced but I could tell that she could smile at anyone and get what she wanted, right Lyall?"

"Definitely, I guarantee you there were some boys that went home upset it wasn't a ball yesterday." Remus breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "You should've come last night Remus, it was quite fun."

"Lina's in my year, she's in Gryffindor too." Remus stated ignoring his father's last comment.

"Really? I would have pegged her as a Slytherin with the last name." Lyall mused before taking a sip of his tea.

"She's been disowned for a while Lyall, Gwen and I talked about it last year." Hope looked to her son. "Don't the Prewetts have two other kids your age?"

"Um there's Fabian and Gideon, they're both seventh years."

"Oh is it eight already? I'll see you at six, Hope, Remus." Lyall got up, kissed his wife on the cheek and hurried to the fireplace.

"That Messalina is very pretty, you should go out with her." Mrs. Lupin said after checking to make sure her husband was gone, wasting no time in beating around the bush. For the second time that morning Remus choked on his food before giving his mother a surprised look.

"MUM!"

"What Remus? She's charming, she's in your year, she's in Gryffindor."

"Merlin mum!"

"What time are the boys coming over?" Hope asked, standing up and collecting her and her husband's dishes.

"An hour or so why?" Remus asked warily as he stood as well.

"I didn't get to catch up with them on the platform that's all." Hope said innocently as she began to wash the dishes.

xXxXxXxXx

Sirius Black stumbled out of the fireplace first, landing flat on his face, James Potter landing right on top of him. "Remus, love your friends are here!" Mrs. Lupin called before glancing towards her son's room and hurrying to the boys. "Do you two know a Messalina Lucien?"

"Yeah Lina's in our year why?" James asked as he got off of his best friend helping said best friend up.

"I met her at Lyall's work yesterday, charming girl."

"Lina? Charming?" Sirius snorted. Before Sirius could continue Remus appeared in the living room a confused look on his face.

"Mum?"

"Have fun love," Mrs. Lupin kissed her son on the forehead and hugged him. "Write often, who am I kidding? Write once at least this time Remmy."

"Bye Mum! Potter Manor!" Remus stated before disappearing into the flames with his friends.

Messalina shrieked as she leapt over the couch. Fabian was only a few feet behind her as he attempted to grab the letter from her hands. "Dearest Fabian," Messalina began as she ran through the small house. "I adored your Christmas gift, it's too bad that I can't give you mine until we get back to Hogwarts-"

"MESSALINA FRANCESCA LUCIEN!" Fabian bellowed as she raced up the stairs, the red head on her tail.

"That's not even my middle name! Where did I leave off? Oh yeah. I think when we get back we should start telling people about well us! I didn't think there would ever be an uswhat with Lucien and all, but I'm so glad that there is! With all my love..." Messalina trailed off as she abruptly stopped running staring at the big loopy name written on the parchment. "Madeline Shatter."

Messalina turned around tears forming in her almost black eyes. Shatter was the reason that none of the girls had talked to Messalina for the better half of her first year. The blonde teased Messalina when she could and Lina had always thought that she had had the upper hand, what with the twins on her side and all. How could Fabian be going out with the likes of her when he knew how Messalina thought about her?

Fabian watched in horror as Messalina dropped the letter, seeing it fall slowly to the floor. He went to put a hand on her shoulder but the girl jerked her arm out of the way a lone tear running down her face. "Don't look at me." Before running up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door.

Messalina Lucien hugged her adopted mother and boarded the train alone for the first time in four years. She passed a compartment with a sneering Madeline Shatter, another with Lucius Malfoy yelling at his quidditch team, and yet another filled with laughing Marauders.

She reached the end of the train and found no empty compartments so she chose one with a boy who looked to be a first year. She couldn't go back and sit with the Prewetts, it would ruin her week-long streak of not talking to them.

"Do you mind?" The fifth year asked and the blond boy quickly shook his head.

"N-no."

"Great, thanks." Messalina levitated her trunk on the rack and sat down, putting her legs on the bench across from her. "I'm Messalina Lucien."

"I know-I mean I'm Murphy Callaghan." He said with a strong Irish accent. Quiet fell down upon them until the first year couldn't take it any longer. "I don't mean to be rude but where are your friends?"

And that was how Messalina Lucien, one of the most popular fifth years in Hogwarts, ended up telling a teeny first year nobody Ravenclaw everything.