Amelia, Alice and Frannie lounged in the shade of a tree on the edge of the lake on the Hogwarts grounds, reviewing the O.W.L. they had just finished.
"That wasn't so bad, considering we have yet to have the same Defense Against the Dark Arts professor two years in a row," said Amelia.
"That's because they were all competent professors," Alice remarked. "Of course, that's probably also why they don't return. Too many dark wizards out there these days looking to jinx the opposition."
A commotion drew the three girls' attention along the shore of the lake.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
"Oh, look who's at it again," Alice said in exasperation. "Potter and co. I really wish you had beaten that arrogant toad in the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor match, Frannie. He needs to have his head deflated a bit."
"A bit?" Amelia exclaimed. "Try a lot. He needs a second broom just to get his ego off the ground. Potter thinks he's the greatest." She rolled her eyes.
"Greatest gift to witches, you mean, Amelia," Frannie said dryly. "Half the girls who see him simply swoon over him. It's sickening. It's just as well he's obsessed with Evans, otherwise he'd leave a trail of broken hearts behind him."
"You think this is better?" Alice asked. "He probably only does stupid stunts like this to attract her attention. And the more she scorns him, the more outrageous he acts."
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily Evans shouted again.
"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," Potter said earnestly.
"Take the curse off him, then!"
"Oh, I love to see someone tell him off," Amelia said. Alice and Frannie shushed her as they watched the Slytherin boy get to his feet.
"There you go," said Potter reluctantly, "you're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus – "
"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!" Snape yelled angrily. The three Ravenclaw girls gasped.
"How dare that little – " Frannie sputtered.
"Fine," Evans replied coolly. "I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."
"Apologize to Evans!" Potter roared.
"I don't want you to make him apologize," Evans snapped. "You're as bad as he is!"
"What?" Potter yelped. "I'd NEVER call you a – you-know-what!"
"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down the corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."
"Can we make friends with her?" Alice asked, only half facetiously. "I want to congratulate anyone who can tell Potter how it is to his face like that."
"I thought that Snape kid was friends with Evans," Amelia remarked. It was certainly an odd friendship, Gryffindor and Slytherin having a long standing rivalry, but she had always seen Snape and Evans studying together in the back of the library.
"Well, they're clearly not friends anymore," said Frannie , watching the Gryffindor girl storm away as fat-head-Potter called after her.
"Can we go study somewhere quieter?" Alice put in. "I want to study for Transfiguration next, and we won't be able to concentrate over here."
"We were arrogant little berks, sometimes," Sirius commented. "But I miss these days."
"Life was simpler," Amelia agreed. "Everyone was still there, we were safe, and we knew what we were supposed to do."
"Even if we didn't always do it."
"I can't really blame you and James for hexing Severus. He and his Slytherin friends were all up to their eyes in the Dark Arts."
Sirius looked away. "That wasn't the only reason I didn't like the little slimeball. He was just – so much like my family. And I hated anything that reminded me of them. Not that he didn't deserve some of it, but what I really was doing was lashing out at anything associated the 'Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.'" He snorted. "Got me into trouble more than once."
Amelia watched the gray mists reclaim the Hogwarts grounds.
Two teenagers entered the pub, grinning broadly. Amelia shook her head as Sirius ordered two Jack'o'Fires.
"What's a Jack'o'Fire?" James asked quietly as they collected the drinks and sat down.
"Pumpkin juice and firewhiskey," Sirius replied. "It's pretty good."
James nearly choked on his glass.
Sirius laughed. "Never had firewhiskey before, Prongs? Loosen up. You've been of age for over three months now. "
Amelia calculated the date. So that made this what? The beginning of the summer after sixth year? She nearly choked on her laughter as she realized what memory this must be.
James sipped at his drink, gaining confidence as he became acclimated to its bite.
"May I join you?" a young wizard asked, coming up to their table.
"If you buy us a round," replied Sirius nonchalantly.
The lighting in the pub wasn't the greatest, but Amelia thought the newcomer was Avery. She surveyed the room. Mulciber and Rosier sat in the corner, watching their friend.
"We graduate in a year," Avery said after a few rounds. "Have you thought about what you'll do after Hogwarts?"
"I thought about it," said Sirius.
"And?"
"My parents have plenty of gold," James answered. "We don't need to worry about a job for a while."
"Well, if you were interested, I might know of an opening for two skillful, pureblood wizards such as yourselves," Avery offered.
"Really?" James asked. "Where?"
"Well, I really can't say it here. Troubled times and all that, some things shouldn't be said out loud."
"I've heard some stuff like that," Sirius commented, sipping his drink. "I reckon I've heard quite a bit about this job opening of yours. Most of it sounds like a lot of what my Mum kept on about."
"Oh?" said Avery, leaning forward, a smile on his face. Clearly he was unaware of Sirius' relationship with the rest of his family.
"Yeah, my Mum was real big on pureblood supremacy," Sirius continued earnestly. "Only thing is, my Mum was also a crazy old bat, and I couldn't wait to get away from her. I don't expect you and your 'friends' are any better."
"So you can take your offer," James concluded, "and you can – " he made a rude suggestion.
Avery had just taken a sip and he sputtered as James and Sirius hurried away. Amelia followed as the pair left the pub and headed for a motorcycle parked outside. They were laughing uproariously.
"That was great!" James exclaimed.
"Did you see his face?" Sirius said.
"As if we didn't know exactly what he was offering!"
"Death Eaters? Us? He had to be joking!"
"He must have been blind, is what he was," James scoffed.
"Good point," Sirius agreed. He plucked at his shirt. "As if the phoenix wasn't a dead giveaway."
Ah, their refreshing subtlety. "Everyone" knew Dumbledore's symbol was a phoenix. Ironically enough, at the time there was a line of clothing by Jewel Ravena that was fashionable among the wizarding community featuring phoenix and ravens. "Birds of power," it was said.
"How did you get into the Order?" Amelia asked in exasperation.
They were still laughing as they started the motorcycle and roared away. Amelia found herself pulled along behind them; it was an unusual sensation. At the speeds they were going, Amelia wasn't surprised they acquired a tail. She was only surprised it took the Muggle police so long to notice the speeding motorcycle.
James and Sirius thought it was great. James kept glancing at the pursuing car and grinning. Sirius wore a broad grin as he pushed the bike faster, not slowing even when rounding corners. Amelia suspected the liquor played only a small part. The two teenagers loved doing reckless, outrageous things like this, and they knew very well that Muggle lawmen would be no trouble at all to a pair of wizards. They were both seventeen, after all, and allowed to use magic outside of school. They weren't supposed to use it in front of Muggles, however.
Amelia heard the driver of the police car slam on the brakes as the motorcycle took a sharp corner particularly fast up a narrow side street. The paint on the police car was scraped as it turned down the narrow alley after them.
The street was a dead end, cutting an abrupt end to the pair's high speed antics.
Satisfied they had the "criminals" trapped, the two police officers squeezed their way out and around the car. Amelia recognized them from her father's descriptions. PC Anderson and his pudgy partner David Fisher. Fisher had a more difficult time getting out of the car. Amelia heard the buttons rip off his shirt as he dragged himself past the wall of the alley before watching him accidentally snap the wing mirror off the car.
No wonder James and Sirius were smirking. Amelia couldn't take the two officers seriously; it was hardly dignified for them to have to inch along in the narrow space between the car and the wall. The two boys were clearly enjoying themselves.
"Get off the bike!" Fisher bellowed, glaring at them when they complied. "No helmets!" he yelled, pointing at each bare head in turn. Amelia snorted. Wizards wear helmets? Please, that would be the day. As if a motorcycle could be any more dangerous than playing Quidditch in midair. Those boys practically lived on their broomsticks. "Exceeding the speed limit by – by a considerable amount!" Amelia nearly snorted again. That bike had surely been traveling at a much greater speed than Muggle motorcycles were capable of. Magical enhancement. Probably not entirely legal. "Failing to stop for the police!" he yelled, still listing their misdeeds.
"We would have loved to stop for a chat," said James politely, "only we were trying – "
"Don't get smart!" Anderson snarled. Amelia wondered what James would have finished with. Something absurd, cheeky, and true, most likely. "You two are in a heap of trouble! Names!"
"Names?" Sirius repeated. "Er – well, let's see. There's Wilberforce – Bathsheba – Elvendork – "
"And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or a girl!" James exclaimed delightedly. Amelia couldn't hold back her laughter. She imagined Lily's face as James proposed naming Harry "Elvendork" instead.
As Anderson sputtered in rage, Sirius picked up the thread of conversation again. "Oh, our names, did you mean?" he asked with a broad grin. "You should've said! This here is James Potter and I'm Sirius Black!"
Amelia stifled her laughter with her hands as she shook her head. Yes, she thought, tell them your names so the Ministry will have absolutely no doubt about which pair of delinquent teenage wizards was having a grand time getting in trouble with the Muggle law. Not that they had actually gotten in trouble, but that was because they got lucky. Although, she was willing to admit, they did have a habit for being lucky.
Anderson had the common Muggle reaction to Sirius' name. That is to say, he didn't believe it. "Things'll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky little – "
James and Sirius were suddenly alert, their attention focused on the dark mouth of the alley, beyond the police car. With identical fluid motions, they pulled their wands from their back pockets.
In the instant they had reached for their wands, the two officers had stiffened, likely imagining more mundane weapons. The Muggles weren't impressed by the wands.
"Drumsticks?" Anderson jeered. "Right pair of jokers, aren't you?" Had Sirius and James not been more concerned with the three wizards approaching on broomsticks, Amelia suspected one or both of them would have felt the urge to confirm that statement. "Right, we're arresting you on a charge of – "
Whatever charge he was going to name was lost beneath James and Sirius' unified shout of "Locomotor Car!" The police car reared up on its rear wheels – right into the path of the three men flying up the alley on broomsticks. The two Muggles lost their ability to remain upright as they watched the three wizards slam into the upended car. As they fell to the ground surrounded by broken bits of broomstick, Amelia recognized the three Death-Eaters-to-be from the pub.
The motorcycle roared to life. "Thanks very much!" Sirius called over the noise of the engine. "We owe you one!"
"Yeah," James said, "nice meeting you! And don't forget: Elvendork! It's unisex!"
Amelia's laughter was interrupted by an earth-shattering crash as the police car reconnected with the ground. The officers threw their arms around each other in fright. They watched with disbelieving eyes as the motorbike took off into the air. Amelia was swept into the air with them, still laughing.
Sirius appeared beside her. He spun around in midair. "Okay, this is officially freaky," he announced.
"Elvendork?" Amelia repeated, trying to catch her breath.
Sirius laughed. "It was the first thing I could think of."
"Were you trying to annoy the officers?" she asked.
"Well, you know, I had a few problems with authority," Sirius replied with a smile and a shrug.
Another laugh escaped. "I'll say. Do you have any idea how much trouble you could've gotten in with that stunt?"
"Oh, a fair bit, I'm sure. Whatever happened to those Muggle lawmen?"
"Now you ask? This was July 1977! You never thought to wonder before now?"
Sirius gave her a blank shrug. Amelia groaned. "Officer Zachary Zeraff arrived soon afterward, as Anderson and Fisher had called in your motorcycle chase. Presumably your Death Eater friends regained consciousness and Apparated away before his arrival. Since Zachary Zeraff was married to a witch, he didn't think his coworkers' tale was insane and used a charmed pendant to call his wife. You and James didn't get in trouble with the Ministry because my mother modified the memories of 'those Muggle lawmen.'"
"Gee, thanks, mate."
Amelia shook her head in disbelief that bordered between amused and offended as a quiet voice pierced the night sky.
"Time to leave, Harry."
"There they are again!" Sirius exclaimed as the night was replaced by the gray mists.