A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. I would like to apologize for any typos that you guys may have caught throughout the story. I write really late at night and although I go through the entire chapter before uploading it on to FF, sometimes I miss a couple mistakes. Special thanks to those who have added me to their Favorites/Story Alerts. I've said it before but ya'll are awesome. Happy reading! XO

Chapter 18

Dear Dad,

So, I'm sure you've heard about my latest detention from Professor McGonagall. Yeah, four days of it for dueling with Malfoy in the corridor. Can you believe it? I guess I kind of had it coming because I was actually looking to get detention. Anyway, Professor McGonagall came up with a way to keep me out of trouble. She asked me to tutor a couple first years a couple days a week in Transfiguration. She also said that mum was a tutor when she was at Hogwarts. I think Professor McGonagall is trying to turn me into mum instead of you. I doubt it'll work. Uncle James had too much of an influence on my behavior. Anyway, how are you? How's Bandit? I miss that little guy. How's Remus? I know there's a full moon coming up. Be safe that night. Tell them both I say hi. Oh, and the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are coming on Friday. Professor Dumbledore and the other professors have gone crazy cleaning the castle. Well, I should be getting back to Muggle Studies. I think Professor Burbage can tell I'm not actually doing work.

Love,

Annie

Annie finished up her letter and rolled it up. She could feel Professor Burbage's eyes on her as she placed it in her bag. She straightened up and looked down at her book as she tied her messy hair up in a ponytail. They were supposed to be labeling the parts of various vehicles, and thanks to her father's weird obsession with muggle modes of transportation, she had finished the task early and was now sitting at her desk with nothing to do. Professor Burbage got up from her desk called the class to attention.

"Now that you've all had the chance to work on your own, who would like to come up to the board and label the parts of a motorbike for rest of the class as an example?" she asked looking around the classroom. No one raised their hand. "Anybody?"

Annie rolled her eyes and raised her hand. "I'll do it," she called from her seat in the back of the room.

"Very well, Annie, come on up."

Annie got up from her seat and walked to the front of the room with her own diagram in hand. She picked up a piece of chalk and went to work on the oversized one drawn on the board using her parchment as reference. When she was done she walked back to her seat and leaned her elbows on the desk. Professor Burbage looked over her work and turned to the class smiling.

"Very good job, Annie!" she praised. "You must have studied your book very hard."

Annie smiled too. "Actually, Professor, my dad has a motorbike and a weird obsession with muggle vehicles. He's the one that taught me all this."

Professor Burbage laughed as did the rest of the class. "Ah, of course. Now who would like to come up and brave the labeling of this car?"

After class, Annie ran up to Gryffindor tower to drop off her bag in her dorm. When she arrived, she found Harry and Ron just coming down the stairs to the boys dormitories.

"Hey, wait for me!" she said as she ran past them on the way up to her room. Before she walked into the room, she heard Lavender, Parvati, and Hermione having a heated discussion. She stayed outside the door and listened in.

"She isn't disgusting!" yelled Hermione. "She's just a little messy. She can't help it!"

"Yes she can, Hermione!" Annie recognized Lavender's voice. "She does it on purpose. And you act like it doesn't even happen."

"Lavender's right. Annie is a complete slob. Do you know what I found in the bathroom? A pack of Gummy Owls! That's them right there on her bed!" yelled Parvati.

Annie couldn't stand listening to them talk about her anymore so she opened the door to the dormitory and Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati jumped. She walked over to her bed and threw her bag on top, and picked up the Gummy Owls.

"Thanks for finding my Gummy Owls, Parvati," she said taking one out of the pack and popping it in her mouth. "I was wondering where I left them."

"Annie, how long have you been listening?" asked Hermione looking a little embarrassed.

"Oh, just long enough for Lavender to call me disgusting and Parvati to call me a slob." Annie sat down on her bed and munched on her candy looking slightly amused. "Ladies, if you have a problem with my habits, I suggest that you come and talk to me about them instead of bothering my best friend."

Parvati and Lavender stared at Annie, each girl with a hint of red on their faces.

"Well, we do have a problem with your habits," said Parvati. "Lavender and I hate the way that you leave your things all over the room. Just the other day I found your Herbology book under my bed!"

"And I found one of your shoes in the shower!" shrieked Lavender. "You're absolutely atrocious!"

Annie laughed and stood up. She threw the pack of Gummy Owls aside and walked toward the door and turned around just as she reached the threshold. "Lavender, you are so right. I am atrocious. And thanks for finding my Herbology book, Parvati. For some reason I keep losing that one. From now on I'll try to keep my things in my own space. Are you coming, Hermione? Harry and Ron are waiting down in the common room."

Annie and Hermione walked out of the room leaving Lavender and Parvati standing in the room in stunned silence. As they came into the common room, Annie spotted Fred and George talking to Harry and Ron. George spotted Annie and lifted her off of both feet and planted a kiss upon her lips.

"Okay, okay, enough of that you two," said Fred as George placed Annie back on the ground, both of them giggling. "I'm hungry."

"What took you so long anyway?" asked Harry as the group made their way to the portrait hole.

"Oh, just Parvati and Lavender being bothered by my messiness of course. So what else is new," Annie answered climbing out of the hole and into the corridor. "Honestly, I've known they were bothered by it since first year but since they never said anything about it to my face, I just kept it up to annoy them." Annie flipped herself upside and started to walk on her hands down the corridor.

Fred and George laughed and Harry, Hermione and Ron rolled their eyes.

"Everything you do is to annoy them, isn't it?" asked Ron watching Annie out of the corner of his eye as her feet came dangerously close to hitting his head.

"Freddie, Georgie, hang on to my feet will you?" asked Annie as they came to the top of the steps. Fred and George grabbed Annie's feet that were still stuck up in the air and helped her down the stairs on her hands. "And to answer your question, Ron, yes, I always do things to annoy them."

"I swear you're going to make yourself sick. You should see your face," Hermione said shaking her head at her best friend. Annie flipped herself back over onto her feet at the bottom of the steps.

"Better?" she asked stretching her arms over her head and then grabbing George's hand. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and they walked to the Great Hall.

When the group of kids reached the Great Hall, Annie wasted no time in digging into her food. Harry watched her eat with great gusto and started to fill his plate.

"Why are you eating so fast this time?" he asked.

"Are you forgetting that I have detention with McGonagall tonight?" she reached across the table and picked up Harry's hand. She pulled it toward her and looked at the watch upon his wrist. "I've got ten minutes to eat all of this," she said giving the arm back to its owner and gesturing to her food.

"You've got a darling girlfriend," Fred said to George who smiled.

"That I do, Freddie," answered George, winking at Annie who giggled. "Anyway, any idea when you would be done with your detention?"

Annie shook her head, her mouth too full to say anything. She looked at Harry and tapped her wrist, indicating that she wanted the time.

"You're still good," he answered.

Annie swallowed her food. "Good. Hey, I almost forgot," she said digging into her pockets and taking out her letter to Sirius. "Can you send this to dad for me?" she passed the letter across the table to Harry who took it and put it in his pocket.

"Sure." Harry looked down at his watch. "You've got five minutes."

"Shit," said Annie scooping the last of her food into her mouth. She stood up from her chair, kissed George on the cheek and ran out of the hall.

Once she arrived at Professor McGonagall's office, she ran a hand through her hair and knocked on the door. She heard the professor's voice telling her to come in and she opened the door to find her teacher seated behind her desk and Malfoy already set to work.

"Evening, Professor, Ferret," she greeted, nodding to each person. Malfoy scowled and turned back to his work of polishing silverware.

"Good evening, Ms. Black," she said ignoring the "Ferret" comment. "As you can see, the house-elves have brought up some of the silverware for you to polish. You may join Mr. Malfoy over there." Professor McGonagall gestured to Malfoy and the silverware.

"Yes, Professor," Annie said joining Malfoy at the table. She picked up a cloth and dipped it into the polish and started her work. Three never-ending hours later, they were dismissed from the office and went back to their common rooms without any word to each other.

The morning of the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang was a very tense one. The Professor walked around the castle sending cleaning spells left and right at the statues and paintings alike. The castle was never seen to be this clean. After their shortened Potions lesson the students of Hogwarts dropped their bags off in their house dormitories. Annie and Hermione rushed down the stairs into the common room talking excitedly. Professor McGonagall was standing by the portrait hole dressed in her finest cloak.

"Everyone, please settle down," she called over the chatter of the Gryffindors. "First years up front, please. Tuck in your shirt, Mr. Weasley and Ms. Brown, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair!"

Annie looked over at Lavender who removed a rather large bow from her hair as she frowned. Suddenly she felt two hands tickle the sides of her waist and she gave a small shriek. Annie turned around to find George standing behind her laughing. She stood on tip-toe and wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned down to kiss her. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly and the two broke apart.

"Follow me," she turned on her heal and climbed out the portrait hole.

The Gryffindors followed Professor McGonagall down into the Entrance Hall and out the double doors to join the rest of the school. Tiny Professor Flitwick was busy setting the Ravenclaws into neat rows and Professor McGonagall started to do the same. As she split up George and Annie, Hermione laughed at her pout. Annie elbowed her and watched as Professor stood waiting at the top of the stairs by the doors. He was looking up at the stars as if he was expecting something to drop out of the sky.

"Do we know how Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are getting here?" asked Harry looking around toward the entrance to Hogsmeade.

"Dunno, mate," answered Ron. "Maybe the train?"

"The train won't go as far as their schools. It only comes to Hogsmeade Station and Kings Cross," explained Hermione. Harry and Ron gave her quizzical looks. "What? I read about it in Hogwarts A History."

Annie laughed. "Of course you did."

"Ah," said Professor Dumbledore pointing toward the sky. "I believe the delegations from Beauxbatons are arriving."

All heads turned to where Dumbledore was pointing. A large carriage was being pulled through the sky by colossal Palomino horses. It landed with a soft thud on the lawn and a boy hopped off of the carriage and opened the door. A woman even taller than Hagrid stepped out and made her way to Professor Dumbledore, her students following in her wake.

"Professor Dumbly-dore, you are well I 'ope?" she asked as he bent forward and kissed her outstretched hand.

"Yes, my dear Madame Maxime. Would you like to wait for Durmstrang to arrive or would you like to warm up inside the castle?" he asked looking up at the vast woman.

Madame Maxime looked around at her shivering students and smiled back at Professor Dumbledore. "I theenk we will warm up," she said. Professor Dumbledore bowed the guests inside the castle and the doors shut behind them.

"A flying carriage? Now I've seen everything," said Annie shaking her head. "Do you think Durmstrang will have a one of those things too?"

Her question was answered when they heard a loud squelching sound as if someone had pulled the plug out of the Great Lake. A ship's bow could be seen appearing out of a massive whirl pool and soon an entire ship was now docking itself on the shore. A man walked down the plank of the ship followed by the students of Durmstrang.

"Albus!" said the man walking toward Dumbledore. He wrung his hand in a tight grip and shook firmly. Annie could tell in the moonlight that he had a pointed beard and nasty, gnarly teeth. "How are you? Viktor, Viktor come here into the warmth." The man pulled one of his students forward into the light and she heard Ron gasp. "You don't mind, do you Albus? Viktor has a slight cold."

"Of course not, Igor, of course not," said Dumbledore smiling. "Please, come in and warm up."

Professor Dumbledore guided them inside the castle and then took the lead as the students of Hogwarts re-entered the castle.

A/N: So I kind of figured Annie would probably take Muggle Studies instead of Divination. I like to think that she has the same rebellious attitude that Sirius has toward the rest of the Black Family and he would have taken Muggle Studies as well. Oh yeah, this is the longest chapter I've written and I hope you enjoyed it. XO