September 1st found them on Platform 9 ¾ ready for board the train to Hogwarts for the last time. With Anna staring wide-eyed at the large red engine Tabbitha followed close behind James to get on. Inside it wasn't long before they found the rest of the small group of friends; Sirius, Remus and Peter who all greeted them upon entry.
"So James, you gonna finally tell us what this big surprise is," asked Peter excitedly as he sat at the edge of his seat.
With a grin he glanced around the compartment before pulling out a badge from inside his pocket. "Dumbledore made me Head Boy this year," he smirked, holding up the badge so that they all could see.
"No bloody way. Lily's going to have a fit," laughed Sirius, in that bark of a laugh of his.
While Remus just shook his head with sigh, "he's gone absolutely mad making you head boy of all people."
"Oh, why's that, Moony," asked James, shoving the pin back into his pocket.
"Because you're you, Prongs," he said, rolling his eyes.
"Aw, you're not jealous. Are you, Moony," laughed James, throwing an arm around his friend's shoulder as he, Peter and Remus sat on one side while the other three sat on the other.
"You found me out. I'm jealous of James Potter for getting Head Boy and not me," he said, pushing the now laughing boy's arm off of him.
"Oh come off it, Moon, it's not that big of a deal. Besides, I'm sure Lily made Head Girl, which only means one thing, ayyy," he said, waggling his eyebrows as he playfully poked the other boy in his ribs.
At this point the train had already begun rolling down the tracks. While the boys talked of all the mischief they'd get into Anna listened intently, chiming in every now and again, Tabbitha read a muggle book she'd found while out shopping with Lily the day before. They'd already bought all of their supplies for the year along with Anna's and had decided to have a girls' day for just the two of them, which consisted of shopping for books and eating lunch a small muggle cafe in London. She could still remember the conversation they'd had concerning a couple of mischievous boys.
For once the sky wasn't leaking and there were only a handful of clouds hanging above them. Maybe that's why they'd chosen that day to walk around muggle London. It had practically rained nonstop since the funeral and both girls were more than happy to accept the sunshine, no matter how minimal it was. At that point it was already past noon and both girls were starving. Having passed by a quaint little cafe they decided to stop there for lunch. Once they'd ordered their food though, Lily decided that was the perfect time to bombard her with a question she wasn't looking forward to.
"So, what's going on between you and Sirius," she said, as she took a delicate sip of the cola that she'd ordered.
"For the hundredth time, Lily. Nothing is going on between us," she huffed, ignoring her own drink in favor of leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed.
"Oh come off it, Tabby. You can't really expect me to believe that there's absolutely nothing going on between you and the womanizer Sirius Black. He did ask you to move in with him next summer, didn't he," she said, as she leaned forward in her own chair resting her arms on the table.
"Yes, but only temporarily till I could get job and find a place for myself and Anna."
"Is that what he said," asked Lily, raising one brow in question.
"Nooo, but-," she was quickly cut off by Lily before she was able to finish her retort.
"No buts, Tabbitha. Either Sirius Black likes you, or…," she said, pausing for dramatic effect, "he likes you. There's no other way around this, love. Face it, boys don't just ask girls to move in with them if they don't have any feelings for them."
"Oh yeah, and what about you and James? You sure there's nothing there, Lily?" At that point the food had arrived as they paused to thank their server before Lily sputtered out an 'absolutely not'.
"Besides, everyone knows that he likes me. I, on the other hand, don't ever plan on returning said feelings," she said, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
"Why not? And don't give me that he's insufferable, annoying, a prick, a right arse at times…,"
"Ok ok I get it. What's your point," she huffed, clearly agitated by the direction in which their conversation had gone.
"My point is, dear Lily, you two are meant for each other, and maybe this year you'll realize it. Now, what do you say to betting on how long it will take for the Marauders to get detention," she added at the end, quickly diverting the topic from their love lives, or lack thereof.
"Hmmm," said Lily, as if in thought, "two days."
"Alright. I say seven," said Tabbitha, with a little more confidence than necessary, but Lily didn't need to know that.
"What does the winner get," asked Lily, taking another bite of her almost finished sandwich.
"More like what the loser has to do. The loser has to accept the first date request they get to Hogsmead," she smile triumphantly.
"That's it? Oh, you are on," said Lily, mischief gleaming in her eyes as they shook hands on it. The rest of their day went by smoothly as they enjoyed their time together knowing that being in two separate houses, Tabbitha being Hufflepuff's quidditch captain and having NEWTS that year would prevent them from seeing much of each other. Still, Tabbitha was more than excited for the school year to start, though, she suspected that Lily wouldn't be if she knew why.
A tapping on her shoulder brought her back from the past as she blinked looking up from her book. At her side Anna was poking her arm. "Yes, love," she asked, putting her book down making sure to mark the page she was stopping on.
"Sirius said the trolly should be coming by soon. Can I have some candy, please," begged the little girl, clasping her hands together using her best puppy dog eyes. When she saw Sirius laughing at this she knew that he had put her up to the task. Sending a glare his way, which he only made him laugh more, she looked down at her sister with a sad smile.
"Not this time, love. Wouldn't want to ruin your dinner," she said, as she smoothed back some of the girl's unruly chocolate brown hair from her face. She resembled their mother for the most part, except for her eyes. Her eyes were a steely blue that she'd inherited from their father. Whereas Tabbitha looked exactly like their grandmother had at her age. Being a metamorphagus was just an added bonus as she often changed her hair color. For now though, she was opting for jet black hair tied up in a ponytail with bangs that went straight across her brow while on each side hair hung down framing her face perfectly. As much as she changed her hair, she never changed her eyes. They were the most perfect shade of forest green and she wouldn't have them any other way.
"Awww, but sissy," whined the little girl.
Shaking her head she briefly glanced up at Sirius who was only mildly chuckling. When he caught her eye he just shook his head before tapping Anna on the shoulder effectively gaining her attention. "How about this, on my first trip to Hogsmead and ones after I'll buy you any treat you want from Honeydukes. What do you say to that?"
Gasping she then looked at her sister expectantly. Sighing she let her head fall back for a moment before responding, "yes." Sitting up she added, "but only if you keep your grades up, understood?" To which that did not seem to deter the little girl as she bounced in her seat even more excited for the new year. "Why must you be such a bad influence?"
"It's part of my charm," said Sirius with a wink, to which she just rolled her eyes at.
"Anyways, Anna let's go get our robes on, ok." Grabbing the younger girl by the hand they made their way out of the compartment robes in hand as they looked for a place to change in private.
Once they got back though, they found a fuming redhead screaming at James. "Looks like someone found out," said Tabbitha stopping a few feet away. Barely having to push past them Sirius walked towards her stopping to turn around and watch the happy couple.
"Her face is about as red as hair, I'd reckon," he chuckled, hands shoved in his pockets.
It was then that Lily broke off screaming something inaudible as she threw her hands in the air storming off towards where the prefects were to meet with her and James. Passing by them she shot a glare at both Sirius and Tabbitha followed shortly after by James and then Remus, who just kept his head down. For a moment there was just silence as people filtered away from the scene before Sirius broke it.
"After you," he said, gesturing for her and Anna to take the lead back to the compartment where Peter still sat wide eyed in shock from Lily's outburst. Only nodding her head the girls did just that followed by him as they sat back down. They went back to Tabbitha reading, while Sirius told stories of the Marauders years thus far at Hogwarts. And though she did not like to admit it there was something endearing about the way he was towards her sister. Shaking her head of those thoughts she continued to read even when James and Remus had returned. For the rest of the train ride the boys goofed off with no sign of Lily ever showing up. Once at Hogsmead Tabbitha had to part ways with Anna who seemed terrified, but shuffled through the small crowd of first years to the boats. This was bound to be an eventful year.
Author's Note: Apologies for the extremely late update. Was sick this past week and something major happened today, in a good and bad way. Anyways, only one update today as I have not written Chapter 8 yet. That being said, this is where you, my loyal readers, come in. You decide when and how the boy's get their first detention. Just make a comment and I shall select the one that seems to go best with the theme of this story. Thank you and happy reading!