Here's the second part to what was supposed to be Chapter Thirty-Three! Sorry about the slight delay again, but I think that the 2,070 word chapter below is enough compensation. Please enjoy
Ursula stood still a moment before she walked back towards Gryffindor Tower. It was Ben's first concert, a Christmas Concert, that night. It was to be a final goodbye before break and everyone went back home. Ben's friends knew how nervous he was about performing in front of the school so they had something planned for their fire-haired friend. She found them in the boys' dorm; Ben had already gone down to warm up.
"Finally! We though Snivellus kidnapped you or something!" Peter exclaimed when she walked in.
Ursula laughed loudly when she saw the scene she had entered. No longer was Elyse the only red head in the room; they had changed their hair color to match the vibrant red that Ben had. To say the least, red was not their color.
"Lookin' good Pete. Now, redify me," she commanded to either Remus or Elyse, the two best in charms. Since Remus was still in the process of changing James's hair as it was being as stubborn as usual, Elyse walked over and commanded Ursula to sit on one of the beds.
She started waving her wand around her and slowly, Ursula could see her thick, curly raven locks turning red. It was an odd feeling, seeing your hair change like that. After Elyse was done, she stood in front of Ursula to admire her work. She nodded appreciatively ,
"It suits yeh. I like it." She decided.
Ursula raised an eyebrow and went to look in the mirror. When she got a look at her new hair color, her eye brows went up in shock. It did look good. She turned back towards her friends and had to stifle a laugh when she saw her brother. He looked ridiculous.
"Okay guys, everyone have their robes?"
They all held up the black robes that had some…slight modifications to say the least.
James clapped his hands together, "Everything's set. I sent Peter down to reserve seats for us while we Remus and Elyse started on our hair." He explained for Ursula's sake.
"Let's rock and roll people. It's show time." James said with a roughish grin on his face. He wasn't the only one; all of them looked quite pleased with themselves. Their dear friend Ben would be in for a rude awakening.
Ben rocked side to side on his feet. He peaked around the corner to looking into the Great Hall. The concert was to start soon and the Hall was slowly filling up. He felt a trickle of sweat go down his face, there were a lot more people here than he thought there would be. A lot more people there meant a lot more people comparing him to his sister.
Yes, he was a White. His dad was the Minster for Magic. He was a Gryffindor. He was the little brother of Annabelle White; but he wasn't her. Everyone expected him to be a hot headed, bold, outspoken, prankster, athletic Gryffindor. In essence, they are quite the opposites (except the prankster and being sorted into Gryffindor thing) when one considers them.
"Everyone attention!" Flitwick said from in front of them, clapping his hands together to get their attention.
Ben snapped out of his thoughts and focused on the tiny professor.
"Tonight is your first concert of the year!" He exclaimed, jumping a little bit "Do not feel any stage fright. Everyone that is coming to listen is going to be there because they love music. But if there is someone here for the wrong reasons, let me know, I'll show them a trick or two." He joked, brandishing his wand and swishing it around his head.
The choir laughed, Professor Flitwick's skills were legendary. He chuckled along with them before he spoke again, "This is the spirit! Let's go out there and give this school the best concert it's ever seen!"
The students cheered before they lined up to enter the Great Hall from behind the head table. He followed the boy in front of him until he was in his place. He turned to look out in the audience and panic over took him. The entire crowd was filled. He had only performed for his family and his close friends before. He was about to panic when something red caught his eyes. His jaw dropped to the floor.
Sitting in the front row were six Gryffindors all with bright red hair. They were holding back their laughter at the face he was making but once they were all able to control themselves, they jumped from their seats and they surprised him again.
On their black robes were giant enchanted letters that spelled out GO BEN! They stood up proud at their work with the letters that changed from red to gold at random intervals and they started cheering Ben on while clapping their hands. By now, most of the audience, who had been waiting quietly and patiently, turned to look at the group that was causing a ruckus.
Warmth filled his heart as he held back the loud laugh that was threatening to burst from his lips. Suddenly all the fears he had about performing seemed to slip from his body and he sang his heart out for all of Hogwarts to hear and if they didn't like it or they thought it was girly, well bully for them.
The concert went by extremely fast for Ben. It didn't seem like Silver Bells was long enough and he was convinced they could have sang more than twelve verses for The Twelve Days of Christmas but alas, the concert ended and Flitwick led them back to the room so they could hand in their choir robes.
Flitwick stopped to talk to him.
"I saw you're friends today Mr. White. They are quite skilled at Charms yet they never seem to pay attention in my class." He said with a teasing smile.
Ben laughed, "They do sir, trust me. The talking- yeah, that's them debating something you taught us. They just pick up on things quickly."
Flitwick chuckled as he started to walk away, "I suspected so when I had to correct myself when I said the levitation charm can't be used on multiple objects at once. I'm sure one of my books and my glasses are up there somewhere. Ah well, have a wonderful break Mr. White."
Ben wished him a happy holiday before he ran out to the hall to find his friends still waiting for him. James smiled widely when he walked closer,
"There's our little violin boy! Wicked job, mate." James congratulated him with a pat on the back.
Ben couldn't respond since he was doubled up laughing. His friends were still in their letter robes and their hair was still the same color as his own. It was just too ridiculous to look at.
"Sorry guys," he wheezed out once he got control of himself. "It's just too much. You look like fools"
Sirius moved some of the red hair out of his eyes, "It got you to calm down didn't it?"
Finding no fault with his logic, he laughed once again before throwing his arms around Elyse's and Ursula's shoulders,
"And how did the lovely ladies like the concert?" He asked them as they started towards Gryffindor Tower.
"I loved it." Ursula said before Elyse went into a long description about all of her favorite songs. Out of seemingly nowhere, another red head joined the group.
Lily started when she saw her year mates in their unusual looks. She stared at them, whatever she was going to tell them dying on her lips.
"What do want Evans?" James asked her after a moment.
Lily seemed to gather herself and she glared at James, "I was here to get Ursula, Potter. McGonagall can to the Tower to talk to you but you weren't there."
"Is she still there?" Ursula asked, ducking out from under Ben's arm.
Lily shook her head, "She told me to bring you to her office. I don't know what it's about." Lily added when she saw Ursula open her mouth again.
Ursula shrugged and turned to face her friends, "Sorry guys, I'll see you later tonight, okay?"
The all nodded and continued their way to Gryffindor Tower. Lily led her towards the Transfiguration rooms. They were silent for a good minute before Lily started to talk,
"Ursula, may I ask you something?"
Ursula looked at Lily oddly, "I thought we were past the formal acquaintance stage after living with you for two years?"
Lily just rolled her eyes but she remained serious, "I know that you're having some family problems, especially with your little brother-"
"Which one?" Ursula quipped.
The muggleborn girl looked confused for a moment, "You're older than Sirius?"
Ursula puffed her chest out slightly, "By six minutes." She said proudly, hoping to somehow distract Lily with the direction the conversation was going.
"Weird," Lily muttered before she refocused on her previous thought, "but as I was saying, I was wondering if you wanted me to talk to Severus and ask him to keep an eye out for your brother?"
Ursula shook her head adamantly, "No, I don't want Snivellus anywhere near my brother."
Lily stopped and put her hands on her hips,
"Listen, I know you and the rest of your lot doesn't like Severus, but you need to look past that. Would you rather have my friend, the boy that taught me all about magic, influence your brother or do you want Mulciber to get buddy-buddy with Regulus?"
"That's not fair! How about we compromise. Have Snape promise that if he will just keep on eye on Reg and stop him from joining any future Death Eaters, okay? I don't want him influenced one way or another."
Lily smiled and nodded, "I think that can be arranged. Oh, one more thing…"
"What could you possibly want?" Ursula asked with mock annoyance.
Lily chuckled before continuing, "I just want you to know that if you ever need a place to go to over Summer holiday or Christmas Break, you can always owl me. My parents would love to have you and Sirius over since I don't think you would leave your brother. I guess I would just have to deal with Sirius. And here we are, Professor McGonagall's office is right here. Toddles." She waved and disappeared around a hallway.
Ursula stared gobsmacked after her friend. Shaking her head, she opened the door and walked into McGonagall's office.
"Professor…?" Ursula asked the seemingly empty room.
All of a sudden, a cat jumped from a bookshelf and landed as her Transfiguration teacher. Ursula jumped back in shock and surprise, "BLOODY HELL!"
"Watch your language, Miss Black." McGonagall said in a stern voice but the corners of her mouth were twitching upward ever so slightly. "I happen to have good news for you."
"What?" Ursula asked.
This time McGonagall really smiled, "I went to speak to Dumbledore about you're and your brother's situation and we came up with a solution. We just needed to hear back from someone and I just got the post back a few hours ago."
"What did it say? Who was it from?" Ursula asked quickly.
McGonagall laughed softly before saying, "All I can say is this; you are going home for the holiday. The person taking you will explain everything. It will be a surprise."
Ursula nodded and was about to leave when McGonagall spoke again,
"Oh and Black?"
She turned around and waited for her teacher to speak. McGonagall had a slightly lopsided smile on her face, "You're hair is quite an interesting color. It suits you."
Ursula's barking laugh was heard down the hallway.
The next day, Ursula and Sirius were anxiously waiting to find out who they were going with for the holiday. They couldn't figure out who would be able to bend the rules for them and take them from Hogwarts if they weren't their parents.
James had tried to reassure them while devouring a chocolate frog, "Don't worry about it. If it's some distant wackjob cousin or something, just tell them that you're best friends' dads are a former Auror, an obliviator, and the Minister or freakin' Magic. They won't mess with you then."
To say the least, when they stepped off the train and onto the bustling platform, they weren't sure who to look for. They wandered around the platform until they decided to stand towards the of the platform until whoever was going to take them showed up. The crowd was rapidly thinning when someone shouted from behind them,
"SIRIUS! URSULA!"
The spun around and their eyes widened at the sight in front of them.
"Surprise!"
They stared a little longer until Sirius broke out of it first and exclaimed, quite loudly,
"WHAT THE HELL?"
So who is it? I want to hear your guesses! If you don't want to guess, still leave a little review so I know that you like that story. There have been a lot more reviews lately and I love it but I still wish more people would review! I know people are reading this (more than 2,000 hits) but only about five different people have left a review at some point in the story. Just pointing it out.
Lauren- Irony: I was plotting this chapter out and I was trying to figure out how to include a little bit of Lily in this chapter because I left like I was ignoring her when I decided to check fanfiction. I saw your review and laughed a little at the irony. I want to assure you that Lily will become a much more dominate character in the story once they get older. It will be a natural progression, but don't worry, she will be a main character later on.