'Just go over and wake her up!'

'No, I don't want to! Why don't you wake her?'

'Why should I? She's nothing to do with me!'

Noa was jerked back into consciousness as the voices in her room got louder. She was not a morning person, and she wanted to know who the fuck had woken her up at a ridiculously early hour. Opening her eyes, she took in her surroundings, getting more and more confused. She was in a four poster bed with deep red hangings closed around her, blocking the rest of the room. Looking closer at the bed clothes, she saw a crest with a lion in it embroidered on the red material. She realised that she was at Hogwarts as the memories from the previous day flooded back into her brain, alongside the realisation that she had her first official day of school today. Outside her hangings the argument carried on as a third voice spoke.

'Will you to just grow up! I'll go wake her up, although I'm pretty sure all that noise you two were making already did!'

'How fitting - you're just desperate to make a friend. Well, you know what they say, one slut attracts another, so I'm sure you two will be BFFs in no time!'

That did it for Noa. Not only had these people rudely woken her up, they had then gone on to bitch about her - hell, they'd never even met her. She sat up, swung her legs over onto the floor and stood up, pushing the hangings aside to meet the gazes of three girls. The two that were facing her were obviously the ones who had been bitching about her. One of them had hair similar to hers, but lighter in colour and was natural instead of being dyed like Noa's. She had vibrant green eyes that looked slightly embarrassed at having been caught. Next to her was a shorter girl who could only be described as a classic beauty; wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and an hourglass figure. The only thing that marred this was the expression on her face - she looked like she could smell something awful. This was directed towards the third girl, who was much closer to Noa and was the one who had been about to come and wake her up. This third girl was absolutely stunning; she was the definition of sultry, with dark eyes and hair the colour of coffee beans that cascaded down her back in soft waves. This made Noa feel slightly self conscious; she knew she wasn't looking her best, having just got up and with yesterday's makeup still on. She shrugged this off however, and focused all the anger she was feeling at the two girls by the door.

'First of all, you don't know me, so don't go around judging me. Secondly, I'd rather be a bitch than a prissy little girl with a stick stuck up her ass. Oh, and by the way, it's a rookie mistake to get caught bitching about someone.'

With that Noa turned around and pulled her trunk out from under her bed where she had shoved it last night, intent on ignoring them whilst getting ready. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the blonde girl start to reply, but the red head stopped her, and they left the room in silence. The third girl, however, made no move to leave. Instead she sat down on the bed opposite to Noa's, and started inspecting her nails. Noa sighed, she just wanted to be left alone after that harsh awakening.

'Did you want something?' Noa turned and asked the girl.

'Thought you looked lonely but whatever, but you should know that lessons start in half an hour, so if you want breakfast you should probably go down soon.'

The girl stood up and started to walk towards the door. Noa suddenly realized that this girl was the first one who had been nice to her since she arrived at Hogwarts, and in return she was being a bit of a bitch. Also, this girl intrigued Noa; with those looks and attitude she should have been really popular, yet earlier the other girls had made her out to be a friendless loser.

'Hey, wait up. I'm sorry for being abrupt, I'm not really a morning person and those other girls kinda pissed me off. I'm Noa Prewett.'

She smiled at the girl, who walked back over towards her slowly.

'It's okay, I probably would've acted the same way if I was you. My name's Marlene McKinnon.'

Noa opened her trunk and started sifting through her clothes, trying to find something suitable to wear.

'So who were those girls?'

'Unfortunately they're our roommates; Lily Evans was the one with red hair and Mary MacDonald was-'

'The bitch?' Noa interrupted her, making Marlene smile.

'I guess you could say that!'

Noa finally picked out leggings with thick white and black vertical stripes, a gold tight fitting tank top, a looser black tank top that had a ribcage in white on it to put over the other one, and leopard print heeled ankle boots. She grabbed a chunky gold necklace to finish it off, and decided that she was going to leave her hair down, before going into the bathroom to change and put on some light makeup. All the while she chatted to Marlene, who started to loosen up as the conversation carried on, and turned out to be quite similar in character to Noa.

Once she was ready, she grabbed her black shoulder bag and shoved all her books in it using an undetectable extension charm, as she didn't know what lessons she would have that day - hopefully McGonagall, as head of Gryffindor, would hand out their timetables when they got downstairs. Noa and Marlene then quickly walked down to the Great Hall, as they had less than ten minutes until lessons started.

'Ugh, slow down Marlene! These shoes were not made for running in! How much further?'

Noa and Marlene were currently hurrying through the dungeons of the castle to get to the Potions classroom, fifteen minutes late after taking longer than they should have eating breakfast.

'Just around this corner', Marlene called. Noa had no idea how she managed to get ahead; she too was wearing heels and was strolling along, yet she was ten meters in front of Noa.

Noa slowed down, she wasn't going to go into her first class looking all gross and sweaty, especially one that they were sharing with the Slytherins. From what she had seen yesterday, they were likely to grab any weakness they could see and use it to their advantage, and Noa certainly wasn't going to let them do that to her. Thinking of the event yesterday with those Slytherin boys made her think of the Marauders; she hadn't seen them yet today. Would they still be as accepting of her as they had been yesterday? However, as Marlene called again for her to hurry up, Noa reminded herself that she had another friend.

She finally reached the door Marlene was leaning against and, together, they walked into the classroom. A portly gentleman was standing at the front of the classroom, who stopped speaking as they entered and turned to look at them, along with the rest of the class.

'Miss McKinnon and Miss... ah, you must be Miss Prewett; why are you both so late?'

He looked like a pushover, Noa thought as she tried to think up an excuse quickly. She gave him a radiant smile before speaking.

'I'm sorry sir, I was talking to Professor McGonagall, and Marlene waited for me so she could show me the way.'

'Hhm, alright, I am Professor Slughorn, and it is a pleasure to meet you Miss Prewett. Now, both of you go and find somewhere to sit.'

Noa looked around her for an empty seat; she could see James and Sirius sitting together at the back - the latter waved at her after glancing at Marlene and frowning, Remus and Peter were sharing a desk next to them, in front of the boys Evans and McDonald were sitting together - in fact all of the Gryffindors were paired up. She glanced over at Marlene, and saw that the same thought had just gone through her head. Damn, that meant she had to go and sit next to a Slytherin. She looked over to the other side of the classroom for the first time, and saw a free seat near the front next to a boy with long greasy-looking hair. She groaned silently and braced herself before striding over to him. As she walked towards him, someone grabbed her hand; it was Evan Rosier.

'Hey there beautiful. Shame you didn't end up in Slytherin, but hey, we can still hang out can't we?' he gave Noa a smile that made her want to throw up as she saw the real meaning behind his words.

She wrenched her hand out of his grip and, checking that Professor Slughorn wasn't watching her, flipped him off.

'Thanks, but I'd rather go eat dirt.'

She finally reached her destination, and tapped the boy on the shoulder.

'Sorry, is this seat free?'

The boy looked up at her with an annoyed expression on his face. He shrugged at her and moved his bag from the seat. She sat down and unpacked her things, before turning to listen to what Professor Slughorn was saying.

'- and then you will finish it off next lesson, as it needs a couple of days to mature before you start the second stage. The instructions are on the board; you should be up to number fifteen by the end of this class. Annndd, go!'

Noa looked at the board as the instructions to make a Strengthening Solution appeared. She had made this potion last year at Beauxbatons, so it would be easy. She turned to her partner to ask what he wanted her to do, but realised he had already left and was getting the ingredients they needed. Noa huffed, so he was one of those guys. She lit a fire under their shared cauldron, and poked at it in an attempt to make it heat up faster. Her partner returned, arms full with ingredients.

'Hi, what can I do to help?'

He looked at her as if he had forgotten she was there.

'I don't need your help, you'll probably mess it up anyway. Just sit there and I'll do it.'

Noa let out a bark of laughter, not amused.

'If you think I'm just going to sit here while you do it all, you better think again. I plan on getting an O in potions at the end of the year in our O.W.L.S, so I'm actually going to do something during these lessons, whether you want me to or not.'

The boy stared at her, looking like he was re-evaluating her, before speaking again.

'You can crush the Griffin claw, and then add the Salamander blood.'

Noa was chatting with Marlene as they left Ancient Runes, a class that they shared with the Ravenclaws and had been rather uneventful as the Marauders hadn't been in it. In Potions James and Sirius somehow managed to slip some Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks into Remus and Peter's cauldron, causing all of them to get detention on Friday. Despite all of this, Noa still hadn't managed to talk to any of them, but hoped she would be able to at lunch, which is where she was heading right now. However, at the moment the topic of her conversation with Marlene was the boy Noa had shared a cauldron with in potions, who apparently was called Severus Snape.

'You know he didn't even bother to tell me his name all lesson, the only time he spoke to me was when he told me what to do. I mean, rude much!'

'Don't take it personally, he doesn't speak to any Gryffindors - well, except for Lily Evans, he has some kind of weird obsession with her; apparently they knew each other before Hogwarts.'

By now they had reached the Great Hall, and were walking along the Gryffindor table, trying to find some seats. As Marlene finished saying this a familiar looking fair haired boy turned around from where he was sitting at the table on the right of them.

'Hey, there you are Noa! We haven't seen you all morning! How are you settling in...' Remus trailed off as he caught sight of Marlene.

Noa, however, ignored this, and gestured to the seats next to Remus and the other Marauders, who were all shovelling food into their mouths as fast as they could and hadn't realized that there had been an interruption. 'Are these free?'

Before Remus could reply, Marlene tapped her on her shoulder, and when Noa turned around, she saw a strange sight. The Marlene she knew was gone, and in her place was a shy girl, shifting from foot to foot nervously and looking as if she wished the earth would open up and swallow her.

'Hey, I'm not feeling that great, I think I'm going to go to see Madame Pomfrey and see if she can give me something. No', she said, seeing Noa was about to interrupt,' don't come with me, I don't want you to miss lunch, I'll see you later okay?'

Before Noa had a chance to protest, Marlene hurried off, leaving Noa to wonder whether there was history between her and the Marauders and, if so, what it was.

Noa turned back to Remus, who looked much happier and relaxed now that Marlene had left. At this point Sirius stopped stuffing himself and turned around from next to Remus, finally becoming aware that something was going on.

'Noa! You're here! Sit down!' He shouted, spraying half eaten food everywhere.

Noa, half amused and half disgusted, laughed as she sat down between Sirius and Remus, and wiped her face with a napkin.

'You know, you're not as suave as all these rumours make you out to be! I'm surprised you've ever been with one girl, let alone slept with most the year!' Since Noa had arrived last night she had overheard loads of girls talking about the infamous Mr. Sirius Black, who was the apparent heartthrob of the school and known for his one night stands.

Sirius seemed lost for words as the other three boys burst out into laughter; they had all finished eating and were now listening to her.

'I'll have you know that not only am I very suave, I am charming, witty, intelligent and extremely good-looking! Also, not only have I slept with every girl worth it in our year, I've also done it with most of the 4th and 6th year girls, and even some 7th years!'

'Awww, I'm sorry, did I offend little Siri-wiris manhood!' At this remark Sirius dived at Noa, and James jumped over the table to 'protect her honour', resulting in all five of them getting kicked out of the Great Hall, even after Noa protested that it had nothing to do with her.

As they walked towards Transfiguration, Noa realized that she had no one to sit with, since the Maruaders would most likely pair up, and Marlene was in the Hospital Wing. However, when she entered the classroom, she saw that most people were leaning against the walls chatting, which gave her the impression that McGonagall assigned people seats instead of letting them choose. Her assumption was proved correct as the said Professor entered the room soon after them, and started to read names off of a piece of parchment. Most people were seated before McGonagall started to read out names that Noa recognised.

'Lupin and Pettigrew, Black and Evans', this caused James to glare enviously at Sirius,' and Potter and Prewett; I would also like to speak to you at the end of the lesson Miss Prewett.'

Everyone took their seats, falling silent as Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. After giving them a talk about how this year was very important, that O.W.L.S could determine their futures and how she wouldn't accept students into NEWT classes if they didn't get an Exceeds Expectations or higher blah de blah de blah, she set them changing an owl into opera glasses. Again, Noa had done something very similar to this last year - Beauxbatons seemed to be slightly ahead of Hogwarts with their academic curriculum - and she managed to do it on her second go. James too managed it within the first ten minutes, so they had plenty of time to chat while the rest of the class struggled along.

'So, what is up with you guys and Marlene - there was a weird vibe earlier?' Noa couldn't stop herself, she really wanted to know what had happened.

'Marlene was with us earlier? Anyway, her and Sirius hooked up last year, and it was pretty serious - for Sirius at least. She cheated on him, and everyone knew apart from him; since then things have been a bit sore between them.'

Noa mulled over this piece of information for the rest of the lesson; that was probably why MacDonald had called Marlene a slut this morning but, even though she'd only known Marlene for half a day, she didn't seem like that kind of girl. Yes, she looked like the type to have had loads of boyfriends and guys fawning over her, but Noa didn't think Marlene would purposefully hurt a guy's feelings and cheat on him. When the lesson ended Noa almost forgot that she was meant to speak to McGonagall until James reminded her.

'Oi Noa, we'll wait for you outside but don't be too long - We're starving!' Sirius shouted from the door, causing McGonagall to glare at him.

Soon everyone had left the classroom, and Noa went up to the teacher's desk at the front of the classroom.

'Miss Prewett, I just wanted to check that you are settling in well, has there been anything so far that you haven't understood in any of your lessons?' After Noa shook her head, McGonagall continued, 'Good, good. And dear, just one piece of advice, be careful around Mr. Potter and Mr. Black, they have a way of getting into trouble and I would hate for you to follow that path.'

Noa was dismissed after that warning - which she promptly dismissed, and left the classroom, looking around for the Marauders. Damn it, looked like they'd decided to go to dinner without her, and she was going to have to walk into the Great Hall alone. Noa sighed and set off, when suddenly someone jumped on her from behind and she found herself on the floor. She twisted her body around to see who was on top of her, and found herself face to face with Sirius, with less than an inch of space between their noses.

'Urgh, get off me you fat oaf- you weigh a tonne!'

'I take offence to that!'

'I'm sure you do, but I'm being serious, get off me!'

'You're not Sirius, I am!' He said as he rolled off her.

'Worst pun ever!' Noa got up, and it was then that she realised that the other three boys were staring at her and Sirius with exactly the same expression on each of their faces.

'What? C'mon I'm so hungry, let's go eat dinner!'

Noa groaned and rubbed her eyes, before dipping her quill back into her pot of ink and scratching out another sentence. She picked up her ruler and measured the essay again - it was still only 7 inches and it had to be at least 12. What else was there to say about the uses of a stupid Strengthening Solution?! She looked around her at the other Marauders; they had taken over the best sofas in the common room next to the fire to do their 'homework'. At the moment only her and Remus were actually doing work; Sirius and James were playing exploding snap while Peter watched on and shouted encouragement. As she watched, James lost and the result was a pair of very singed eyebrows. Noa flung her essay to the side - she couldn't be bothered to finish it tonight, and it wasn't due until next Monday anyway. She thought about going up to her dorm to see Marlene - she had come back from the Hospital Wing half an hour ago and, seeing Noa with the boys, had gone straight upstairs - but really couldn't be bothered to get up right now. As she just lay there, she heard two pairs of footsteps coming over towards her. She opened her eyes to see two gangly ginger haired boys, otherwise known as Fabian and Gideon Prewett.

'Hey there mini Prewett!'

Noa hit Fabian affectionately in response.

'How's life going? Anyone mistaken you for a first year yet?'

'Will you two ever lay off the short jokes - I'm 5 ft 2". Just because you two are giants...' she trailed off, glaring at them.

'Anyway, we need to talk to James and Sirius, so-'

'Alright, I'm leaving, it's not like we're related or anything!' She shouted over her shoulder as she walked up the girl's staircase.

When Noa entered the room it looked like no one was in there but, on closer inspection, she could see a strip of light under the bathroom door, indicating that the light was on inside and that someone was in there. Noa shoved her work back into her bag, kicked off her shoes, and sat on her bed with her legs crossed as she waited. Ten minutes later Marlene came out of the bathroom; she had washed all her makeup off and her eyes were red and slightly puffy, as if she'd been crying. She refused to look at Noa, and instead climbed onto her own bed. They both sat there for a while, neither saying anything. Finally Noa spoke.

'Is it true Marl?'

Marlene didn't need to ask what she meant. It was obvious that the Marauders had told Noa what had happened.

'Everything you've heard is true. He was nothing but a gentleman to me - apparently I was the first girl he ever cared about, and I ruined all of that. I won't blame you if you want to leave now and go back downstairs to be with them, after all they are everything I wasn't - kind, honest, truthful - but there is something you must know. I was in love with a muggle boy who was three years older than me, and I honestly thought he was the one. I trusted him enough to tell him what I was last Christmas; he ran off and before the week was out he had made out with my 'best friend'. When I got back I got with a lot of guys - I didn't want to remember him, and thought that that was the way to go about things. I lost all my friends, and was labelled a slut by everybody - in this school, believe me, once you've been labelled, you keep that label for life. I came to my senses over Easter, but no one believed I'd actually changed when I came back to school, and that's how it's been ever since. I haven't told anyone else all this, but I wanted to make a fresh start this year and-'

At this point Marlene couldn't keep the tears in anymore, and started sobbing silently. Noa went over to her and, sitting next to her on the bed, gave her a hug. Here was a girl who was just as broken as Noa herself, but without any friends to help her through it. Noa was sure of one thing though; she would be there for Marlene and help her recover, just as her cousins - and now the Marauders - were doing for her.

A/N: First of all, I would like to thank everyone who's read this. I would especially like to thank BeardyBob for reviewing; it makes my day when you guys review and it motivates me to write faster so please review!

Secondly I just want to say that after this there will be much longer time gaps between chapters (as the story spans over three years and I'm not gonna write a chapter for every day!), sometimes up to a month or two. These first two chapters were all about establishing the relationships between the different characters and introducing my OC.

Also, I know that Marlene's story doesn't really seem believable as she was only 14/15 at the time it happened, but Lily and James got married as soon as they had left Hogwarts at 19, and they all come of age at 17 instead of 18 so hopefully that makes it seem more realistic. (And these things do happen sometimes)

If you want to see a pic of Noa's outfit google 'The Kahn game Aria Montgomery'

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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