A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait! You know when people tell you to get a life, yeah? Well, I tried it, and my advice is to not! It's absolute torture! I'll try to update again soon to make up for it. Oh, and I deleted my other story- there was too much that wasn't related to the books, but I might do another story with the same characters, just different circumstances. Also, this might be a tad different than the other two chapters? I think my writing changed. Adeline and Lucas will be included next chapter, promise! One more thing- thank you for the reviews! There's only two, but they're what finally motivated me to write another chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world or any of it's characters. (I wish.)

Chapter 3

"Look, there she is!"

"That's the Black girl everyone's been making a fuss about? She's puny!"

"She looks so much like her brothers, especially Sirius! I just wish she'd also gotten sorted there, I would have made a lot of money..."

"I still can't believe she got sorted into Ravenclaw, of all places! Even Slytherin is more respectable..."

Maia ignored the stares and whispers of the rest of the student body as she walked to breakfast, pretending to be engrossed in the book one of her nicer roommates had let her borrow after she had feigned an interest in it. Instead of gratefulness the young Black found her opinion of said roommate rapidly falling, as the book proved neither informational or even a good distraction despite all the excited rambling the girl had done about it.

It did, at least, give her something to look at for a long period of time without gaining any more unwanted attention, though she knew its ultimate use had failed when a quiet set of footsteps approached, slowing their pace down to match Mai's own sluggish walk. A hand shot out to gently tug her robe, and she held back a sigh, closing the book and any pretense it might have served.

She didn't argue when the hand pulled her down a different corridor and into an abandoned classroom, her only reaction to the new space being a small frown at all the dust. Wasn't there a spell for cleaning that? Wasn't she at a magical school? She briefly considered asking one of the teachers about it before outright dismissing the idea; it was too much effort for something with no guaranteed solution, and much too early. Besides, if it continued to be a problem she could always find a way to fix it herself, right?

"Well?"

Maia jerked, forgetting the other person in the room and gave her a blank look. "Well what?"

~.~

"You know what!" Adeline screeched, not sure whether she wanted to hex her friend or cry at her nonchalant attitude. She had just ruined everything, years of planning, and all she could do was stand there and yawn?! Adeline didn't care that that it was just a part of her friend's personality, that she might honestly be confused at the outburst- Maia must have known what she was doing when she chose, and she chose wrong! "Ravenclaw? Ravenclaw?! Do you even know what people are saying, how this will affect people, how it affects me?! Do you even care?"

A sluggish blink before a small once over with the eyes. A tilt of the head. Another slow blink. "I don't understand. Are you ill?"

Adeline couldn't take it anymore. "You're ill in the head! Everybody's right, you're acting just like your stupid brother-"

"What does my family have to do with this?!" Maia snapped, showing the first sign of actually caring since the conversation started. Adeline couldn't help but feel happy about that, that she was finally able to get under her skin after all Maia had done to her.

"Are you deaf?! Blind?! You know, they're all Slytherins, you're supposed to be a Slytherin like Regulus or-"

"WELL I'M NOT HIM, NOW AM I?!" Adeline startled at the shout, staring. Maia never shouted. But now, here she was, glaring and yelling and looking like she was about to cry- it was the most emotion Adeline had ever seen her show. A distant part of her brain reminded her that, wasn't that a good thing? Hadn't she been trying to get the other girl to show more emotion since she met her? Wasn't this what she wanted? "I'm not my mother, I'm not my father, and I'm most certainly not a carbon copy of one of my idiotic brothers! Did you think that was it, that because we share a last name, I had to follow in one of their footsteps? That I can't make my own choices?!"

It took a moment for Adel to realize that Maia had stopped shouting, that she was waiting for a response. When she tried to give her one though, nothing came out. Maia scoffed, and when she spoke again it was quiet and far colder than her usual lazy drawls, making Adeline wonder how they let the argument carry this far. Was it her fault?

"I thought you, of all people, would know better. The hat put me in Ravenclaw because that's where I belong, and anyone who can't accept that isn't worth the dirt on my shoes."

With one last pointed glance at Adel Maia left without another word, and Adeline had her answer.

~.~

"Come on, please? It'll only take a few minutes! You don't even have to show me, you could just lend me the map!"

"I'm busy, and even if I wasn't I don't know what map you're talking about!"

"You showed it to me just last week!"

"Oh, you mean before you called our pranks- what was it- stupid and idiotic? Do you know what he's talking about, Pads?"

"Not a clue, Prongs!"

Henry let out an exasperated groan, hardly even noticing as the last two members of the infamous marauders joined them as he nervously looked around the hall- with no other first years in sight. "I'll be late!"

"You better hurry then, shouldn't you?" Remus chipped in, walking up to the trio.

Peter nodded. "Professor McGonagall doesn't like it when people are late, just ask your brother."

Henry inwardly cursed his brother and group of friends, who proved to be no help whatsoever, darting as fast as he could to where he thought his first class might be. There was a prefect assigned to show them their classes, of course, but Henry had a nagging feeling that the girl prefect assigned to do it held a grudge against his entire family, courtesy of his brother, and the glare he received was more than enough persuasion to avoid her. Desperately sprinting around turns and up stairs, he was starting to wonder if that was really the best decision.

When he finally reached the right room after an agonizing talk with one of the portraits that lectured him on punctuality and honoring his family name, class was already in full session, making his entrance all the more noticeable as the professor stopped mid lecture to give him a stern glare. "Finally decide to join us, Mr. Potter?"

Henry shrugged, resisting the urge to ruffle his hair- he knew by watching his brother do it how stupid it'd make him look. "Sorry, Professor. I got lost."

She narrowed her eyes, studying him for any sign of lying. "Any more 'getting lost', Mr. Potter, will land you in detention with your brother- and that goes for everyone here, so you two can stop your snickering since you made the same mistake."

The Slytherins quieted down at that, and Henry blushed ashamedly when she turned back to him. "Yes Ma'am."

With a sharp nod she resumed teaching, leaving him to find an empty seat. The class was mostly full, but there was a curious lack of students around a certain ebony haired Ravenclaw that was studiously copying down notes. He hesitantly approached, and when she didn't say anything in protest, sat beside her in the back of the classroom. It wasn't until she shifted her head just a little to get a better view of the board that he recognized her.

"You're the girl from the boat!"

She blinked at him in apparent surprise, turning to get a proper look at him for the first time since he entered. "So I am," she observed.

Henry grinned but she turned away, going back to ignoring him in favor of her notes. The grin began to slightly fade at that, and he got ready to start taking notes. Then he stopped, because when did his ink become a flashing neon pink? His eyebrow twitched. He was going to kill his brother! Taking a deep breath, he turned to his new desk partner with another smile. "Hey, do you think I could borrow some of your ink?"

She raised an eyebrow, but when there was no forthcoming explanation dipped her head and pushed her ink to rest in between them, lips slightly upturned in bitter amusement. "Following in your brother's footsteps?"

Henry took a moment to process that before his face heated to red. "No! I'm nothing like him, I-"

"Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall snapped. "Something you'd like to share with the class?"

Realizing he'd started raising his voice, the blush only deepened as he sunk down into his seat. "Er- no ma'am. Sorry professor..."

He heard a soft snort and saw his partner biting her lip to hold back a laugh. He scowled and, unable to resist the childish temptation, stuck his tongue out at her. The girl gave an amused huff, rolling her eyes before resuming her note taking. The rest of the class was spent in peaceful silence, the sound of quills scratching parchment the only sound to fill the room. When class ended, all the students were relieved to be done with it, packing their things and leaving in a hurry. When the girl he sat beside began to leave, he had to call out, hoping the professor wouldn't give him detention for raising his voice now that class was over.

"Hey, wait!" She stopped, and upon seeing it was her he was calling after, waited patiently for him to run up. He held the ink jar out to her. "You left it on the desk."

She smiled- not a smirk, not a simple upturn of the lips, an actual smile. "Keep it, unless you'd like to ask to borrow it from someone else every class. Besides it'll probably do you more good than me."

Henry tried to make sense of her words, not wanting to take her ink- especially remembering how serious she seemed when taking notes, when she flashed him a view of said 'notes'.

Henry stared.

Doodles. Doodles, everywhere, hardly leaving any white left on the parchment. Doodles of animals, doodles of people, doodles of buildings and strange patterns. Doodles, doodles, and more doodles. That's all there was.

"You-!"

She giggled before taking it back, giving him a backwards wave and leaving him dazed. She was a Ravenclaw, right? But then, all those times he thought she was taking notes- he couldn't help it. He laughed, and that was the moment Henry decided he wanted to befriend the strange Ravenclaw girl. Come to think of it, what'd she say her name was?

~.~

Was this really the right thing to do?

Maia bit her lip and pushed on, smiling and laughing with the others around her as her housemates told them stories. Whether or not they were actually good stories, she didn't know, her eyes darting back to the Slytherin table every now and then. And occasionally the Gryffindor table. It'd have been easier if they weren't on opposite sides of the hall, but she thought she was managing well enough. That is, until someone had to nudge her in the side again.

"Hey, did you hear him?"

Maia blinked. "Oh, I'm afraid I didn't. Could you repeat that?"

The third year grinned, seemingly not taking any offense at her lack of attention. "Well, you're the sister of Regulus and Sirius, right? What was it like growing up with them? They're polar opposites! Sirius is a loud prankster, while Regulus is some quiet model student- they must have fought a lot, huh? Which one do you get along better with?"

Which one would you choose, if it came down to it?

Maia closed her eyes and counted to three, reciting random information. The boy from earlier is the younger brother to James Potter, heir of the Potter family. The Potter family was known for generations for their skill in warding, information they have recorded either in their private library or at Gringotts- they're also the family that helped Sirius, but left Regulus when they knew he had to be going through the same things and-

"It's hard to say. Excuse me, I forgot I told somebody I'd meet them outside..."

~.~

"-and it turned out to be filled with pictures! A Ravenclaw, doodling throughout all of class! She drew everything, animals and these weird patterns and I think she might've taken a few notes, but it also looked like it was just practice calligraphy."

James rolled his eyes, reaching for another rock to throw into the lake. "Don't you have your own friends to bother? Besides, I thought you were mad at us?"

Henry shook his head. "No, I'm only mad at you- and maybe Sirius. You're the ones who most likely came up with the idea, anyways!"

James elbowed him in the ribs for that, getting a laugh out of Peter, but Sirius was strangely quiet. Remus looked confused. "Patterns?"

"Yeah, like.." He shoved his brother aside, grabbing a stick before hitting him with it when he pulled him into a noogie. "Stop that, I'm trying to show Remus something!"

When he was finally free of his brother's clutches he began using the stick to draw in the dirt, the four leaning in close to see what he was drawing. When he was done, nobody said anything for a while until Sirius took the stick from his hands.

"You mean like this?"

He drew something similar, but slightly different beside his picture- connected circles with strange symbols surrounding them. Henry nodded, excited. "Yeah, just like that! But there were tons, and they were all just a bit different. What do you think they're for?"

But Remus shook his head, giving him a serious look that wiped most of the eagerness away. "Henry, those aren't just patterns- those are runes."