A/N: Yes, she is back in only a week! I'm gonna try to update more regularly for you guys from now on, but no promises, school comes first, you know how it is. On a different note, I now have a Beta, she has reviewed every chapter of this story and always has some great constructive criticism to offer, ladies and gentlemen, it's CrazyMuggleborn44! Without her, this chapter would be riddled with stupid mistakes, you rock!

As always, I have some chapter dedications, but first, I have a response for a very enthusiastic reviewer who review anonymously. To J. Moran, I'm so glad you're enjoying my story so much, I'm glad your friends like it too, you should tell them to review me also. In answer to your question, I mean to stay as close to cannon as possible, but this is indeed and Alternate Universe, much more to the fact that they didn't have e-mail when the Marauders actually went to school (1970s) so this time line takes place about the year 2004. Hope you continue to enjoy the story, CM44 and I will be sure to look hard for grammar mistakes in the future!

Chapter Dedications: CrazyMuggleborn44, mekio777, Lemynx, Athena of wisdom, indescribable music, and J. Moran. Thanks for all the feedback.

Chapter Seventeen

The next morning, before most of the house woke up, Rain quickly made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast. She walked into the nearly empty Hall and sat down in her usual seat at the Gryffindor table and waited impatiently for the rest of the Marauders to show up.

As students entered the Great Hall, those who didn't know Rain very well stared at her in confusion as to why a Slytherin would sit at the Gryffindor table. One Ravenclaw student walked past Rain's spot and tentatively greeted her.

"Hi, Rain."

Rain looked up at the girl and suddenly recognized her.

"Hi, Emily," Rain said with a smile.

"Why are you sitting at the Gryffindor table?" Emily Snow asked.

"I always sit here for breakfast and dinner," Rain replied, keeping an eye on the entrance for the Marauders or the Slytherin fifth year boys.

"Why? Don't your house mates get upset with you?"

"I don't care what my house mates think of me or my actions to be perfectly honest," that came out blunter than she had intended. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean," said Emily. "When someone doesn't like you, you learn to ignore them."

"Exactly," Rain agreed.

"Hey, Emily," called a Ravenclaw boy. He came over and stood next to her. "Why're you talking to her?"

Before Emily could respond, Rain cut in. "That was very rude! What was your name? You see how I asked your name instead of calling you him to your face?"

The boy glared at her.

"This is my friend, Randall Onager," Emily stepped in. "Randy, this is Rainnina Bone."

"You just leave Emily alone," Onager said to Rain in a snide voice.

Rain suddenly had to fight the urge to throw a fist in his face. "Man I thought Slytherins were bad enough, now I gotta deal with Ravenclaws too!" Her accent slipped as she started to get angrier.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Onager snarled.

"It means, you're being as big a prat as my house mates!" Rain shouted, standing to her feet.

The Great Hall was almost filled with breakfast goers by this point and Rain hadn't yet noticed that the Marauders had arrived.

"You know what?" Rain said, fed up. "I'm sick and tired of this, let's just get it all out there."

Emily Snow and Randall Onager, along with anyone who could hear the argument looked at Rain in confusion.

She stood up on the bench, towering over everyone. She had no idea where this burst of confidence was coming from, but she wasn't going to waste it.

"Excuse me," she called in a loud voice. People turned to look at her, curious and confused. "Some of you may already know me, my name is Rainnina Bone. I want to get rid of some rumors flying around about me and perhaps make my life a little bit easier." By this time she had the attention of everyone in the Hall, even the teachers were listening. "As I'm sure all of you know, I'm a Slytherin fourth year. What many of you don't know, however, is that I am a Muggleborn." At this, murmurs went out across the Hall, but Rain continued over the voices. "And that obviously comes as a shock to everybody, and I can almost understand that. What I don't understand, however, is why everyone is treating me like a pariah. Excuse me if I sound like I'm complaining, but I get that some wizards are prejudice against Muggleborns and I know I can't change that, but come on people! I'm well aware of my house's reputation, but I am not my house's reputation, I haven't done anything to deserve your hostility, so can a girl please get some peace?"

There was silence in the Hall for a long minute. Then, true to Marauder form, James and Sirius started clapping, Remus followed their example almost immediately, Peter nervously joining them. Emily grinned and started clapping along with the Marauders, then others joined in, some Rain knew from her classes, like Lily Evans and Tipper Andrews, the first year from her flying class, and many she had never spoken to but had seen in the corridors. A few of these students had witnessed Rain being bullied by her house mates but had been too scared to stand up for her and wanted to show their support now.

Rain looked at the head table to see several teachers also applauding her speech. Dumbledore met her eyes and smiled at her in approval.

Then, before Rain could get down off of the bench, the group of Slytherins Rain had been waiting for finally showed up. As students started to notice them, laughter broke out across the Hall.

Lucius Malfoy walked in with his usual entourage, sans two; obviously Crabbe and Goyle had eaten some chocolate for breakfast. The three remaining fifth years looked very scruffy and uncomfortable, but that was not why everyone was laughing. All three of their robes were painted florescent pink and purple and just to match, Malfoy's blonde hair was now a vibrant pink and Thorfinn Rowle's hair was purple. Unfortunately, Walden Macnair's hair was too dark to dye with food colouring, though it did have a slight purple hue.

Rain instantly forgot her anger toward Randall Onager and burst out laughing. Unfortunately for her, she was still standing on the bench and therefore quite noticeable. Malfoy looked up at her with revenge in his eyes, and Rain, not wanting to appear scared, smirked at him challengingly.

When everyone settled and the Slytherin boys sat down at their table, Rain lowered herself into her seat and was quickly joined by the rest of the Marauders.

James thumped her on the back saying, "Remind me to owl your brother and thank him for sending that parcel."

"Sure thing," said Rain. "Dustin would love to get letters from other wizards."

"But Rain," Peter said in an undertone. "Malfoy knows, what're you gonna do?"

"Nothing," said Rain, finally starting on her breakfast.

"But he might want revenge," Peter persisted.

"I'll just keep my eyes open and react accordingly."

"That's it?"

"What else is there?"

"What if he wants to duel?"

"Then I'll take him on."

Peter stared, half in admiration, half worried. "But he's a year older than you, and you're three years behind! You can't win!"

"Wormtail, calm down," Rain soothed. "When it comes to spells, I'm not behind. If it comes to a duel, I can hold my own until a teacher comes and breaks it up."

"If I were you, I'd hide," said Peter quietly.

"Well, you're not me are you?" Rain snapped. "I thought you were a Gryffindor? Have a little backbone would you."

Rain, annoyed with her friend's cowardice, picked up her toast and left the Hall, ignoring James, Sirius, and Remus' calls for her to come back.

She went and sat at the top of the Grand Staircase to eat her toast as it was still a while until class.

Rain looked up when she heard footsteps and was ready to tell the person to bugger off if it was one of the Marauders. She stopped when she saw who it was that had come to see her.

"Oh. Hi, Regulus," she greeted.

"Hi, Rain. Good speech back there," he said. "I would have applauded but none of the other Slytherins were and I don't want any more trouble."

"Thanks, and I understand."

"Were you the one to do that stuff to Malfoy and the others?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"They were being mean to you for hanging around with me."

"Rain!" he whined.

"What?"

"You can't go getting yourself into trouble for my sake like that."

"Why not? I don't think it's fair the way they treat you."

"Then let me deal with it."

"But you don't deal with it, you just sit back and take it."

"There's a difference between taking it and not letting it bother me."

Rain smiled. "Well I did it anyway 'cos you're my friend and I stick up for my friends. Though I hadn't meant to get caught."

"Well you did get caught and I'd watch out if I were you."

"I know to watch myself around every Slytherin except you."

"No, I mean walk around with a couple of people and stay within shouting distance of a teacher, because Malfoy's out for revenge and he's planning to corner you in the corridors. Also, I don't think the dormitories are safe for you anymore. I heard him talking to Rowle and Macnair just now."

"What was he saying?"

"Just that you had better watch yourself and if you ever turned up in the common room, there would be no help for you."

Rain shuddered.

"I think I may have screwed up," she admitted.

"Quite possibly."

A/N: Look at that, five future Death Eaters in one dormitory! Wouldn't wand to live there! You know the routine; R&R!