Chapter 9:

October was rapidly coming to an end and suddenly it was the 1th November, Sirius and Marianne's routine didn't change that much since the meeting with Remus and James-
The only exception was that now Remus would sometimes seek her company during their visits to the library. She enjoyed talking to the calmest of the Marauders, he was always kind to her and explained parts of the curriculum with which she had problems.
When she admitted that she struggled in Charms, he suggested to ask Sirius for help, after all he was a charms prodigy and he would surely help her if she asked.

And so Marianne found herself with Sirius as her Charms tutor, which really helped her as soon as she had a good grasp of the theory. Sirius showed her short cuts and other useful tricks to make the subject easier for her.
In compensation she started to work with him on his potioneer skills, after he had confessed to her that he wanted to become an Auror after graduation.
Sirius would need good results in Potions for that to happen and while he was achieving the bare minimum for the job Marianne still thought that it was better if he had a solid grasp on the material instead of a slightly shaky one.
And like this the weeks passed until they were a week away from the beginning of the Winter holidays.

Marianne would take the train home while Sirius, Remus and James would stay. On the days before she finally went home, Marianne searched the RoR for a pensieve, as well as some journals with extensive security charms on them, she had that idea after another frustrating day where she only could remember one part of a story.

The evening before her train ride home she sang some Christmas carols for the Marauders and promised to write and after that the four indulged into the cookies brought from the kitchens.
Those meetings had been happening always during Peter's detentions so that he wouldn't get suspicious, the Marauders couldn't tell why but their gut told them to keep Marianne a secret from their friend and the rest of Hogwarts.

For that Marianne was thankful, because the atmosphere in the castle had taken another nosedive for the worse and Marianne wasn't sure if she could have survived it if the Slytherins had concentrated on her for fraternizing with their enemy number one.

The train ride home was unexciting; Marianne sat with three of her fellow Hufflepuffs, who were talking excited about their plans for the holidays. At the train station she was picked up by Michael, their father had been called for an emergency and would be occupied for the next two days.

The two Abbott siblings used the time to catch up, Michael told her about his work while Marianne only talked to him about the general happenings. Michael seemed to have sensed something because he began to prod her until she finally relented and told him about her secret friendship with Sirius Black and her hidden potion lab.

Michael wasn't sure how to answer to that, of course his sweet little sister had to befriend the most notorious playboy in Hogwarts!? Now he would worry about her even more, and this time not only because the tension in Hogwarts between the fractions had grown and would continue so, but because she would probably get her heart broken by the older Gryffindor.

Michael sighed but decided against forbidding her to see him again; this would only increase her stubbornness he was sure. No as hard as it was, he would have to let her make her own mistakes.
Instead of thinking about Sirius infamous reputation he concentrated on the fact that she had set up her own potion lab and was now experimenting on her own potions.

Intrigued he started to ask about her successes and with a giggle and small smile Marianne took out a brown journal and handed it over. In there she had neatly written down any potion she had experimented with plus the outcomes of those potions.

Michael couldn't help himself but pat her on the head and tell her how proud dad would be when he came home the following day. The rest of their time together they talked about generic topics before they ate dinner and relaxed with some books in the drawing room.

The next day Marianne was finally able to greet her father and spent some time with him. Just as Michael predicted he was elated about her experiments and even made room for her in the potion labs.
They spent the first two days relaxing and recounting their last months before Marianne finally brought up her courage to ask her dad about Wizarding publish companies.

Slightly confused he told her that she would have to talk to the owner about publishing a new book. After some soft prodding Marianne brought her collection of children stories for her brother and father to read.
Both were very surprised because they didn't expect something like that from her. After finishing with the stories Thomas decided to contact one of his old colleagues about his daughters work.

Only a day after sending a copy per owl, the chief editor wrote excited back that they would publish her book as soon as possible and that it had only reaped positive results from the staff. Excited about the good news Marianne spent most of her days giggling or skipping through the house while her closest relatives were watching her amused.

The book landed in the shops five days before Christmas and from the enthusiastic letters from the company it had been an instant hit with magical families everywhere.
As a consequence her father even opened an extra account for her and the first time she visited she was astonished of how much money she had made in the first week alone. As a reward for herself she changed some of the money into muggle currency and spent the day surrounded by non magical Christmas shoppers.

The trip to muggle London finally gave Marianne an idea for a Christmas present for Sirius. James would receive some muggle chocolate and a muggle pranking book while Remus would get an extended copy of the Ancient Runes encyclopedia that he had been drooling over for the last month.

In the window of a second hand shop Marianne found a motorbike model of the machine that Sirius had owned in the movies, a 1959 Triumph Bonneville T120, in whites and reds. It came with a second headlight and the original boxing. The motorbike was nearly 15 inches long and 7 inches high.

Back at home she roped Michael into enchanting the front light to play a record of Sirius' favorite song, sung by her. Sirius would only have to tap the front light once with his wand to play it or interrupt it.
After some further thinking she duplicated the reserve front light and recorded four more songs for him. Happy with the results she called it jokingly the prehistoric magical ipod.

On Christmas day the Abbotts spent the day like usual, after an extended breakfast they opened their presents and then spent the rest of the day as family doing one thing or another. Marianne had always loved this time of the year.

Her father was gifted with an old journal of a potioneer of the 16th century that she had found in the RoR and Michael became an antique white peacock feather quill with matching ink bottle to add to his collection.
He had been collecting quills since he had been 15 and Marianne was glad that she had found that particular quill in a second hand shop in Diagon Alley. With a quick reparo and some preserving spells the abrasions were hidden and the beautiful piece would make a good addition to his growing collection.

Both had been very happy with their presents and in return Marianne received her own copy of Moste Potente Potions as well as an extended Potion kit. Happy and itching to experiment with the new ingredients Marianne nearly missed the pile of the Marauders.
James had gotten her the lyrics and notes of a very popular wizarding band while Remus had send her a book about obscure plants and their properties. Sirius present was in comparison small, the box had been tiny, but the content made her happier than any other present she had received.

It was a delicate silver bracelet. On it were already four charms, a guitar, a cauldron, a music note as well as a tiny dog. The moment she put it on she could feel the protection charms starting to work.

Sirius must have worked on this for a long time because the sheer power that she felt attaching itself to her magical core was astonishing. He had included a letter with the exact properties and while she felt the bracelet adjusting to her magical strength she read through it.

Beside the anti-theft and preserving charms he had also included a powerful shield charm into the dog. She would have to concentrate on the thought of the shield and channel her magic through her hand to activate it.
Furthermore was a poison detection charm incorporated in the tiny cauldron, it would activate the moment she brought the fluid to her mouth so that she could work undisturbed at her potions.
On the guitar and the music note were respectively cheering and warming charms.

Sirius explained in the letter that the bracelet was partly powered by his charms but would start to siphon magical power from her to stay in top condition. Marianne started to realize the complexity of her present and the time that Sirius would have had to have spent on charming it for her, she couldn't help but blush and smile happily. She was unaware of how both her father and brother watched her while she contemplated her bracelet.
Unbeknownst to them they both thought the same, this was not one of the cheap protections charms the shops sold for a galleon in Diagon Alley, no this was made with specifically her in mind by a powerful charms prodigy.

Later that day Thomas took his oldest child to the side and asked him plainly "Do you know from whom she got that bracelet?"

Michael winced, of course their father had taken notice of Marianne's behavior and the thoughtful present, he shook his head and sighed before he answered "No, but I have a suspicion."

"So?" Thomas asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sirius Black."Michael said slightly chagrinned.

At that Thomas firstly furrowed his brows in confusion before his eyes widened "Isn't that the notorious playboy you have been complaining about last year?"

Michael could only nod while Thomas groaned. Great, of course it was Sirius Black's present that made his daughter this happy.
His son filled him in on what Marianne had told him about their meeting and continued friendship while Thomas indulged into a glass of Schletters Fine Whisky and listened.

The Abbott patriarch acknowledged that they shouldn't interfere with this relationship, at least not at the moment; it would only drive Marianne to rebel against them. At least the Black heir seemed to take his friendship with his daughter serious, from what Thomas had seen and felt from the present it wasn't some cheap thing that Black would be able to spread between his conquests to appease them. No it was something with more meaning. Even so, from now on he would have to keep a close eye on his daughter's possible prospects he had thought that he would have some more time before that happened. Fact was that he wanted only the best for his little girl and she was now changing into a young woman as much as he liked to deny that fact.

During the holidays Marianne spent a good deal of her time in the pensieve that she had nicked from the RoR, it helped her memories about the songs and books of her old world, as well as her recollection of the Harry Potter books.

The day after Christmas Marianne had decided that she would interfere with the time line of this world, she just couldn't let her best friend rot in Azkaban for something he had never done! Also Harry deserved to grow up with his family and have a nice time at Hogwarts, she wasn't quite sure how she would solve the Dark Lord problem but she still had 3-4 years time to destroy the Horcruxes and find a solution for the Death Eaters.

During the Winter holidays Marianne's and Sirius owls were nearly constantly on the move, carrying letters from one owner to the other, sometimes only to recount the latest prank or how Marianne had spent her day. She also got letters from her fellow Hufflepuffs and Remus but nothing as intense as her letter contact with Sirius.
Her brother and father were slowly realizing that this friendship between her and Sirius Black was far more serious than they had imagined.

A week before she took the train back to Hogwarts Marianne had her first book signing, she had been quite nervous the last few days and had barely eaten. That morning her father had finally interfered and had handed her a calming draught. So that she would survive the next 4 hours without fainting or a nervous breakdown.

At Flourish and Blott's there was a surprising big crowd waiting for her, as soon as she saw all the excited children she relaxed a bit. She was glad that she had made them happy, even if she still felt a tiny bit guilty about stealing the ideas of other authors, but slowly and steadily she came to accept this fact, nobody would ever know that the ideas weren't from her, so no harm done.
She spent the next few hours signing books and thanking the parents and children for their compliments.

She didn't know it, but the easy way she handled the children endeared her even more to the parents, who thought that she was adorable, sitting behind the giant table, dwarfed by copies of her books with flushed cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes.

Marianne recognized some of her fellow students, most of them came with younger siblings and looked at her wide-eyed when she signed the books for them. The book signing was finished at one o'clock and after that the Abbott family ate lunch in one of the better restaurants in Diagon Alley before returning home.

With the book signing Marianne's Winter holidays also came to an end and before she realized it, she sat in the train back to Hogwarts. Arriving in Scotland it was like she had never left, Sirius and her fell right back into their routine from before, both thanking each other for their respective present.