September , 1972

"Reesa!"

I laughed and raced towards Lydia, giving her a bone-crushing embrace. All around us students boarded the Hogwarts Express and after we pulled away, we boarded it as well. We found an empty compartment and Lydia began to tell me all about her summer and how next year her brother might be attending Hogwarts as well, if his letter comes.

It wasn't long before we were met by Marlene, and then Lily and Severus. I gave Marlene and Lily each a hug and a nod of acknowledgement to Severus, who simply crossed his arms and kept the neutral expression on his face.

Marlene and Lily told Lydia and I about their summer and they only finished when we were half way to Hogwarts. When they stopped, Lily turned torwards me and asked how my summer was.

When she did, I immediately thought about my judgemental doctor,—who kept on repeating I was overweight—my overly concerned mother, my snobbish sister, Veronique, and my okay-ish brother. When I thought all about these things, I knew they wouldn't provide much for conversation, so I simply said,

"It was great," I lied with a smile. "Ghislaine is in her sixth year and so she'll be graduating next year. Mother and Father are super excited. Also, over the past month, Mother and Father have become closer friends with the Blacks."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "You're Purebloods I assume?"

I nodded. "But Mother and Father aren't from English Pureblood families. Still, the Blacks seemed to be awfully nice."

"Which branch of the Black family?" Marlene asked.

"Mostly Orion and Walburga Black," I replied. "I haven't really talked with them, but they seem okay, I suppose."

At that, Marlene began to give her opinion of the Blacks, which wasn't entirely good. Lydia listened with wide eyes while Lily and Severus had a whispered conversation I couldn't hear. So I simply relaxed until we reached Hogwarts. Once we arrived, we all put on our robes and we filed into the main hall for the Sorting. As I sat there, I recalled my Sorting just last year and I vowed to not waste this year by being obsessed with something I can never be.

The sorting began and I was drifting off until I heard: "Black, Regulus!"

I looked up and glanced at Sirius, who watched as the young boy approached the Hat. I heard that he was Sirius's brother and I wondered where he'll be sorted.

Sirius's face was filled with—not disappointment—but resignation when the Hat shouted Slytherin. James comforted his friend but I quickly looked away. I wondered how their different sorting would effect them. I was lucky. Ghislaine was the only one in a different house and she was in Hufflepuff, the nicest house. But despite being a Slytherin in my heart, I knew Gryffindors and Slytherins didn't get along very well, so I kept on wondering.

When the sorting ended, we had the feast and then we retired to our rooms. When we arrived at our dorms, Lily and Marlene collapsed on their beds with exhaustion, while I took time to undo my hair and get dressed.

"You know, you're very proper, Reesa," Marlene said from her bed, her blond hair sprawled on her pillow. "Actually taking time to get ready for bed and all that."

"My family wouldn't agree with you," I replied with a bitter smile.

"Yeah, but I like you better," Marlene said. "If you don't mind me saying, Veronique is kinda stuck up."

I gave Marlene a large smile before I pulled her off her bed and into a big hug. "I love you!"

0000000000000000

October, 1972

The first month of classes was a breeze. I spent all my free time with the girls—and Severus who always tagged along as well as some other Slytherins like Malfoy—and I always made sure to be in the know of all the pranks the Marauders—that's what they called themselves—pulled off. Some of them were just plain mean, like covering Severus in glitter, but others—I had to admit—were hilarious.

I was victim to one of these pranks—not the funny ones— when I was walking with Lydia to the eating hall for dinner. Lydia and I were talking about how hard DADA was when all of a sudden Lydia tripped. I was too slow to catch her and when she fell, something fell from the ceiling.

I became covered with some sort of digusting liquid and I hears Lydia shriek from the floor.

"Cerisa!" She cried out. "Oh no!"

My eyes were kept close to keep the liquid out but I soon wiped them so I would be able to see whoever was laughing. When the liquid was clean from my eyes, I looked down the corridor to see Sirius and James laughing while giving Peter and Remus high-fives. Beside me, Lydia stood up and looked positively irritated—and you never want to see a Hufflepuff more than irritated—but she couldn't be more angry than I was.

"Boys!"

The Marauders looked at me and I saw the smirk that Remus tried to hide. Meanwhile, when Peter saw that Lydia was there, his eyes widened.

"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry Lydia! You weren't meant to be here!"

I looked at Peter before turning to Sirius and James. "And was I meant to be here?"

"No," Sirius said before bursting with laughter.

Not having the patience to deal with them, I grabbed Lydia's arm and spun on my heel and walked back towards the main hall. If I had to eat with disgusting slime all over me, so be it.

While I walked away, Sirius shouted, "Welcome back, Kaiser!"

Despite my now fading anger, I couldn't help but smile.