Just like I promised in the last chapter, here is chapter nine. This is not my most recent update you could say since I added a one-shot spin off from this story. It was an idea that was stuck in my head that connected to this story but it didn't really fit the time line. So I published it under She's My Hero. Please go check it out and leave your thoughts. If you like that one, then I might add more like that.

Thanks to DobbysArmy for being the most faithful reviewer I have ever seen on this website. I greatly appreciate your thoughts at the end of each chapter; no matter how few or how many.

I haven't owned Harry Potter for the last eight chapters. Is anyone else picking up a trend here?

It was five o'clock in the morning. The Gryffindor Tower was dead silent for all of her students were fast asleep in their beds. That is, all except three. Three red heads moved as silently as they could down the boys' stairs from the seventh year dorm.

"I still don't get why girls can get up our stairs but we can't get up theirs." Fabian complained.

Annabelle gently smacked him on the back of the head, "It's because there is a thing called Chivalry. It's one of the qualities of our house; look it up in a book."

"But I hate reading!" He whined.

Gideon snorted, "More like he can't. OUCH!" Fabian pushed him in the stone wall.

"Remind us again why we are doing this again?" Fabian asked. Gideon glared at his twin and rubbed his right arm.

Annabelle rolled her eyes at the pair. She gave Gideon a quick kiss on the lips and then explained to the other Prewitt, "Because, it's not every day your little brother turns twelve and you can do magic."

"Very true, my love," Gideon said.

The three slowly opened the door to the first year's room and waved their wands around. The twins smirked when they were done.

"They are going to kill him."

Annabelle snorted, "After they kill us."

Ben groggily opened his eyes and when his mind started to wake up; he realized that it was September 25th. It was his birthday and he was now 12.

There was a loud explosion, scaring all the boys in the room awake. Brightly colored confetti started falling from the ceiling and balloon appeared out of now where and practically covered the room. When the chaos ended the boys were sitting up in shock in their beds.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER!" Annabelle's voice was amplified in the room. Then the Prewitt twins were heard singing a ghastly rendition of Happy Birthday.

The three boys in the room turned and glared at Ben. Expecting to be kicked out his room, Ben squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for the yelling that was bound to be directed at him.

"Why didn't you tell us it was your birthday?" James asked outraged.

"Yeah, we would have done much worse than this if we had known!" Sirius added.

Ben opened his eyes and looked at them shocked, "You're not mad?"

"Oh, don't get us wrong, we are mad as hell." Peter said. "You have ten seconds to run. Ten. Nine."

Ben shot out of his bed and ran out of the room. Behind him he heard the other boys scramble out of their beds and they chased him down the stairs. He had almost gotten to the portrait door when he was tackled from behind.

He struggled under James but his attempts were futile. Sirius and Peter both joined the struggle and pinned Ben down on the ground. James was sitting on top of him while Peter and Sirius were holding his arms down.

Ben had no idea what was about to happen when suddenly,

"What in Merlin's name are you doing to Ben?" Ursula asked. She was still wearing her night robes and her hair thick, curly hair looked very similar to Bellatrix's hair.

"We had an interesting wakeup call this morning." Sirius explained to his sister.

"Woot 'appened?" Elyse asked. She was dressed different than Ursula. She was wearing muggle pajamas her red hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

"His sister and her friends left him a birthday wake up call."

Elyse started laughing but Ursula glared at Ben, "Why didn't you tell us it was your birthday? None of us got you anything!"

Ben shrugged as much as he could lying on the ground with his arms pinned down, "I didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

Her glare intensified and he shirked her glare. There were footsteps behind them and then there was laughter.

"And you thought they would kill us first. Looks like you wrong Annie." Fabien teased his brother's girlfriend.

Ben used his friend's distraction to his advantage and squirmed out of their grip. He jumped to his feet and ran behind Ursula and Elyse.

"Are you hiding behind a pair of girls?" James asked him mockingly.

The now twelve year old gave him an incredulous look, "It's not any pair of girls."

"All girls are the same," James scoffed.

Elyse raised her eyebrows and looked mad, "Would yeh like teh repeat 'hat, James?"

He took one look at girls' fierce glare and stared back defiantly but he notably didn't move any closer to them.

Gideon tapped Fabian on the shoulder, "Look at that, they already have them whipped."

His twin nodded in agreement. Annabelle turned sharply and glared at the twins, "What did you say?

"Nothing."

The group of first year Gryffindor's had just walked into Charms when Ursula realized someone was missing.

"Where's Remus?" She asked.

James, Peter, and Sirius looked at each other for the answer, panicking that they lost their friend. Ben calmly put his books down on his desk and answered,

"He didn't look good yesterday so he probably went to the hospital wing."

Ursula looked cross, "He's my partner and we're starting a new spell today." She complained.

"Excuse me,"

The dark haired girl turned and saw Lily Evans looking up at her from her seat, "Alice decided to work with Marlene today. You could work with me if you want to."

Ursula smiled and quickly sat down in the offered seat, "Thanks Lily. I didn't want to get stuck with a Slytherin."

Now it was Lily's turn to look cross, "All Slytherins aren't bad! Just a few of them are bad people."

"No offense Lily, you have been in the magical world for about a month. I've grown up surrounded by Slytherins."

"That's just your family though—" Lily started to argue.

"It's their friends and acquaintances too. They all think that people like you shouldn't study magic. They think you are better dead than alive just because your family hasn't been magical for hundreds of years. Find me a Slytherin that doesn't believe that and I'll take back what I said." Ursula asserted, shocked that such an intelligent girl could be so naïve.

"Severus Snape." Lily named. "He's the one that taught me all about Hogwarts. He's a good person."

Ursula looked at her disbelieving, "I highly doubt that Lily. Slytherins are extremely cunning. They can make themselves look like saints one minute and the devil next."

Flitwick walked into the room silencing the entire class.

"Today we will work on the levitation charm. It's a fairly simple wand movement. Swish and Flick. The spell is pronounced Wingardium Leviosa. Repeat after me. Wingardium Leviosa"

"Wingardium Leviosa" The class said back lazily.

"Wonderful! Please send one member of your group to get a feather to practice on!"

Without saying a word, Lily got up from her seat and returned with two feathers seconds later. Ursula could tell that something was bothering her, but she couldn't name it. Lily wouldn't look at her and spent all her time meticulously working on the wand movement.

"What's wrong with you?" Ursula asked, not meaning it to come out harshly.

Lily just shrugged, "I just don't like it when people judge other people before they meet someone. Severus could be a perfectly wonderful person and you would never know because you're friends with Potter." She sneered the last name.

Ursula looked rightfully chastened. She had done nothing to stop her brother and her friend from bullying Severus in Transfiguration yesterday. But then she thought of the times in potions a week ago when Snape 'accidentally' spilled a potion on James and Peter and they were hospitalized for a day.

"Let's call a truce. You won't talk badly about James and I won't talk badly about Snape, deal?"

Lily nodded with a smile and held her hand out for Ursula to shake, "Deal. I don't want to mad at you since we live in the same dorm."

The rest of the class went by smoothly. Lily would ask Ursula questions about the magical world and she would try to answer them the best she could. But by the end of class, Ursula couldn't believe that someone so innocent looking could cause someone's head to implode with questions.

Later that night all the first year Gryffindors were sitting together t o share a meal. It was technically the first time they had sat as one since their sorting almost a month ago. Alice and Mary were questioning Elyse about some muggle magazine they saw over summer break. The boys and Ursula were talking about the most recent Quidditch match in which the Harpies won an upset game against Puddlemere United. Marlene and Lily were talking about a potions assignment that no one wanted to do except them.

Still, there was one member of the year, not noticeably missing. Ben had been watching the door the entire night waiting for Remus to walk in, but the boy never came. But someone else did walk up to the group.

A small mix of sixth year and seventh year Gryffindors plus a single Hufflepuff all stood up and walked towards the end of the table. Leading the group was Annabelle who had a vanilla cake covered in strawberry frosting with the words "Happy 12th Birthday Ben" in neat handwriting. Behind her, Frank, Gideon, Fabian, and Benjy carried small parcels.

Ben turned as red as his hair. His friends laughed at his expense when Annabelle gave his a hug for the entire hall to see followed by a kiss to the cheek.

"Happy birthday little brother. I know you can't really use these here, but…"

Ignoring the stares of his year mates – and half the school – he opened his presents. In one of the larger boxes was an intricately carfted metronome. On the back in gold plating was his name written in calligraphy Benjamin William White. The other packages held scores of new violin, piano, and vocal charts. He looked at them shocked that his sister would go out her way to find all the pieces he had mentioned over the summer. He stood up and gave her a hug.

"Woot did she give yeh?" Elyse asked.

Ben turned red at all the scrutinizing looks. He held them out for her to take and the rest quickly strained their necks to get a good look.

"Music?" Sirius asked slightly confused.

"Really?" James asked disbelieving.

"You can play this?" Ursula asked shocked as she looked at the page that was practically colored in with music notes.

"Wicked," Elyse breathed under her breath.

Ben took them back, "I'm going to go back to the rooms. Thanks again Belle." He grabbed two pieces of cake and started to walk away before Annabelle pulled him back. She ruffled his hair, allowing him to call her that horrid nickname.

As Ben escaped from all the judgmental eyes and he felt mixed emotions. Appreciation that his sister went out and spent all that money for his hobby and embarrassment that everyone would make fun of him. He could be the best runner and best flyer in all of Godric's Hallow but the second people found out he sang and played the violin, the teasing started.

When he got to his room he quickly but carefully put his new music and metronome at the bottom of his trunk.

Deciding that he shouldn't spend his birthday alone in his room, he decided to check up on Remus in the infirmary. Most of the students were still at dinner so he quickly got to the hospital wing.

"What's wrong with you?" Madame Pomfrey asked him the second he walked in. This was her second year working here; the last nurse had been driven out by the Prewitt twins who would come in with fake but extremely gory looking injuries. But it seemed the they had met their match in Poppy Pomfrey.

"I'm here to visit Remus Lupin if you'll allow it."

She shook her head harshly and went back to organizing some medicine bottles, "I will not allow it. Go back to your dorm, young man."

So nice wasn't going to work.

"Please, Madame Pomfrey, it's my birthday and I just want to see my friend. He's been gone all day. I brought him a piece of my birthday cake." He tried quilt tripping her.

"No."

Maybe bargaining?

"I promise I will only be here for a short time. If he wants me to leave then I will. Anyway, I'm not afraid of catching whatever he has."

She seemed to be cracking, "Mr…"

"White. My name's Benjamin White."

Pomfrey sighed and turned to get a good look at him, "Of course, Miss White's little brother. If I know her at all and you are anything like her, you aren't leaving until you see him."

"Yup."

"You have thirty minutes before curfew. You must be back in your dorm by then, do you understand."

"Crystal, thank you." He said with a smile. He walked farther into the infirmary and he saw Remus sitting up in bed, hunched over a book.

Ben grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it over to the bed. It made a loud almost screech like sound that scared Remus.

"What are you doing here?" Remus asked, pulling the blankets up to his neck.

Ben shrugged, grabbing a piece of cake and starting to munch on it, "What a way to greet a friend on their birthday. 'what are you doing here'. I feel the love, mate."

It just so happened that the light hit Remus's face in just the right way that a bright new scar was vivid across his cheek. Ben's eyes widened and his fork froze mid way to his mouth.

"Merlin's sagging nuts, what happened to you?"

"You see—interesting story. I was umm…there….um…" Remus stuttered. "When I was on my way to here, a Ravenclaw knocked into me and I fell half way down a flight of stairs." The explanation came out too much like a question.

Ben had a look of 'I-will-believe-that-for-now' displayed blatantly across his face.

"Okay. Want a piece of cake?" Ben offered.

"What type is it?" Remus asked, glad that his answer had (temporarily) pacified his friend. He sat up a little straighter and let the blankets fall down to his waist. The t-shirt he was wearing covered his upper arms and stomach, but the bulky bandages were still visible beneath the shirt. Plus the scratches were plain as day on his arm.

"Vanilla cake with strawberry icing."

Remus made a face but took the offered treat.

"Do you have a problem with my cake choices?" Ben asked, teasing him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do," Remus shot back. "There's no chocolate. It's a mortal sin."

Ben laughed and soon Remus joined in. The next forty minutes were spent between the boys making jokes about their classmates and some (failed) attempts at mocking their teachers.

Remus was wiping tears from his eyes when Madame Pomfrey walked over. She had a soft smile on her face when she saw Remus smiling so brightly. The boy had seemed so depressed earlier. She gently placed her hand on Ben's shoulder,

"Mr. White, it's past curfew."

Ben got a panicked look in his eyes and he jumped up from the chair, "I am so sorry Madame Pomfrey, I promise this will never happen again and—"

She dismissed him with a wave of the hand, "It will be too late if this never happens again. Here is a pass to get back to Gryffindor Tower. If Mr. Flinch stops you, just show this." She handed him a white piece of paper.

Ben quickly said goodbye to his friend before running to Gryffindor Tower, not wanting to deal with the mean caretaker. He had heard horror stories of kids getting hung by their toes for being caught out past curfew.

He was almost to Gryffindor Tower when there was a soft meow. Ben would have never told anyone about the not so manly scream he let out, thinking that it was Mrs. Norris. It was just a pet that ventured out of its owner's house.

No one would have ever known. If of course, James Potter wasn't wandering around the hallway under his invisibility cloak.

The cat may have caused his heart to skip a beat but seeing James's smirking, floating head in the middle of the hallway gave him a full blown heart attack. If he wasn't so shocked, he was sure that he would have screamed again. Or passed out. Either one was a distinct possibility.

All he knew was this: He was never going to live that down.