Disc.- So if you've been unaware of it this whole time, I do not own Harry Potter! Crazy right?

This Story…- So this story has a pretty specific niche and I'm so glad it gets as much love as it does! Also, I've decided on Vi's animagus form. Pet, however, won't have one due to the inclusivity of that branch of magic. However, all the training will mean that she will have an easier time of learning mind magics I think. Also, when I think of Violet's nickname I think of pronouncing it as 'Vye' (like saying one might be vying for attention) rather than 'Vee'. Also also, thirteen to fourteen year olds? Perverted little assholes. Are they going beyond snogging and maybe a few innocent fumbling gropes? Not in this story they're not, not until they're at least sixteen and even then it probably won't be actual sex, just so you know now. But we hop from their fourth year to their fifth.

As for the whole Sirius and Petunia thing I'll say right now that they'll get together sometime after they graduate. Not during the school years though.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I feel like time is just moving so quickly…" Lily sighed on their way back to Hogwarts, making idle doodles on the recent notepad she'd gotten for the habit. Pet herself never understood the doodling thing, having never felt the need to desecrate her work with idle scribbles. "Sometimes it feels like we never see our parents at all."

"That's because as soon as we're home you're out of the house." Pet answered her dryly.

"I think it's important to keep in touch with the muggle side, that's all."

"We just got a color telly, Vi and I are keeping up fine. While spending time with mum and dad." she was fighting not to snap out on the girl but usually it was Vi who defused these situation and she had gone off somewhere with Snape as soon as they set their trunks and the cats in their compartment. It's been almost three hours since then and frankly, Pet was amazed she hadn't yet hexed that redheaded twit.

"But it's not just the telly! It's not just watching people on it, even if it is color now. We need to, to interact! You know, somewhere where we can't just use magic to fix all our problems."

"But we can use magic to fix most of our problems. Our muggle ones anyways. Imagine never having to pay for heating oil again by using charmed blankets and charming the windows to make sure no drafts get in? Where a fire could warm our whole house? Never having to waste money on too many cleaning products because we have wands and spells to do most of that. Cooking or making more space where there's none to be had, saving more money for a larger home together."

Those were the things that plagued Pet the most when they went back home. How spells and potions and wards and all sorts of other things they could use would make things easier on their parents. And sure, technically Pet and Vi could cast a few helpful spells (Vi had acquired a delightful book about household charms, spells and enchantments) they had to be a little bit careful. The traces on their wands might be off but the Ministry was able to see who used magic where in an area. Small things were best and potions they could do as much as they wanted but they had to be a little more careful about waving their wands. She wasn't sure how Vi protected the magic they did do actually. She'd been working on something lately, with Snape but she refused to tell Pet what. Just that it would be most helpful. While she was distracted, Lily sighed and frowned.

"I wish we could just move them into the magical world but what could they do there? Almost all of the jobs use magic…"

"They don't need jobs in the magical world if they live there. Squibs live there and some of them have jobs in the muggle world."

"But they're probably really alienated right? And how awful must it be to live in the magic world but not do any magic?"

"They wouldn't move there anyways. Uprooting now would be foolish." came Lily's answer in the form of their youngest sister slipping in, Snape like a looming dark shadow behind her. "Besides if they did that, all of our hard work would be for nothing."

"Your hard work? What do you mean? Is this about that project you were working on?" Lily asked, curious as the two black-haired teens took their respective places.

"Yes." Snape answered cautiously, looking at Vi. She nodded.

"We've been buying more foci. I told you before about how they can be used in wards didn't I?"

"Wards?"

"You mean to put wards around our house." Pet was quick to realize, quickly becoming more animated. "What will it do? How will it work? How would you even find out how to set it up, I mean when we read about it before it was incredibly complex and-"

"With wands, it's incredibly complex. With foci like stones we can create a very rudimentary ward set that would be overlooked by the Ministry because natural foci appear all the time and sometimes they create natural barriers in places completely by coincidence."

"Its purpose," Snape picked up, "Would be incredibly simple since we can't do much anything else. Protection from thieves and unwelcome guests mostly."

"As well as keeping away any potential pests, since most animals can feel magic in an area. Our companions will be fine of course."

"It will also," Snape said slowly, looking to Lily with a sort of concern. "Let us perform simple spells without the Ministry knowing."

"The natural magic of a foci-based ward would protect us. And since we're in the muggle world, it won't really be noticed. If this were to be attempted in the magical world this kind of ward would easily be torn down."

"Which is why we've spent so much time and effort to hoard as many of those stones as possible on the off chance a magical might wander by. It will fortify the ward as well as-"

"Acting as a sort of camouflage on top of it. It takes a few very special stones to work like that and we had quite a time trying to find ways to make them work together the way we wanted them to."

"That's…That's amazing!" Lily burst, completely awed. Pet was less enthused. They couldn't just throw those rocks together, they needed a ritual to make a ward that would camouflage another ward. She'd been reading up a lot since the summer they got those stones. Jewels, gems, crystals, whatever they were. They needed a ritual and while she wouldn't bring it up in front of that twit, she certainly wouldn't be letting them off the hook.

She also felt a sharp pang of hurt. Why didn't Vi come to her about it? Why him?

xXx

The easiest answer was potions. Pet was no slouch at the subject but Snape was a veritable prodigy. Their ritual needed dangerously complex potions and a lot of magical power to be set up. Vi, Pet knew, would be giving the brunt of the magic. Even if, Pet grumbled to herself, Snape had fairly…Strong magic, Vi was something else and she and he both knew it. So much power was needed for their ritual, in fact, that it's been known to be fatal.

Fatal. This was the real reason Pet was excluded from this project. Because Violet could die. In exchange, their wards would be powered on for the next half decade and they would be able to freely use casual magic as long as there weren't any random muggles watching. It would also protect their home and family from anyone seeking to do harm by issuing a warning to the inhabitants of the house.

"You've gone barking mad." she murmured to herself faintly after forcing information out of them. Then fury quickly took over her senses and she swung her gaze to a quiet Snape. "You want to get my sister killed?!" she bellowed and was glad for Vi's forethought to put up a few privacy centered spells in the empty room she'd dragged them to after dinner.

"This ritual is perfectly safe for her," he hissed back, eyes sparking and before she knew it, both had wands out and pointed at one another. It was, of course, a completely nonchalant Violet that wandlessly took them as they slapped into her hand.

"Both of you stop that. We've got more important things to do than squabble amongst eachother." she chided them both. "And like he said Pet, I am perfectly safe. I would never recklessly endanger my life for something like this, we would have found a different ritual. Have some faith please."

"What's in it for him then?"

"We'll be doing it for his house as well." her eyes glinted sharply.

"But…His parents are…" people meant to do harm would be more or less confounded and feel the pressing urge to leave the area the ward affected. Considering his parents relationship, it was…

"We have it under control." she said and once more, Pet felt a tingle of fear. There was something about the way she looked, the way she said it. Very rarely would Vi get like this but since that first outburst years ago, it occasionally happened. She shivered before letting the issue drop. She might have been headstrong and she might be a leader but if it came down to it, she would submit to Vi without batting a lash. It's just that usually Vi was perfectly content to have Pet lead. Perfectly content to follow. "We should get to the dorms."

And that was the end of that.

xXx

Pet watched Vi shoot a spell in the busy corridor and hid a vicious grin when she saw the targets. Black was especially aggravating to her but Potter was on Lily's case all the time now and while Pet didn't care about that so much, any excuse to knock those damn Gryffindors down a peg was reason enough to her. It could also be that they targeted Snape fairly often. It didn't help that he had a tendency to spit back acerbic insults and more than once did Vi intervene. He just didn't seem to learn that goading them wasn't a good idea. Pet personally chocked it up to stupid male pride. And just stupidity in general.

In this particular instance, it was a disgusting result.

"The bat bogey hex." Vi whispered, something fond in her voice.

"I want to learn it. Immediately."

"Of course Pet."

"Was that you?" Snape mumbled as he joined them, having slunk away from those four in the confusion. They'd been harassing him for spending time with Lily again.

"Would it have been anyone else?" Pet scoffed. She didn't care how well he got along with Vi, she would never like him. Of that, she was certain. They carried on to class after Snape glared at her, keeping close to Vi's side. She hated that they were apparently so familiar now. That in classes they paired together as often as not. Pet was even getting the stomach-churning suspicion that it wasn't just about how well Vi does in classes to ensure a good grade but because they genuinely enjoyed spending time together. And that was just awful because Pet didn't like being separated from Vi. Vi was her closest and best friend, her confidant and partner.

Oh sure, logically she knew they'd drift a little bit, spend more time with other people as they got older but why him? Why not Morty or Marty or Diane? Why not Marlene or Macy? Why Snape? He was Lily's pet, the sniveling little bastard! Pet had never and would never like Lily's followers. Snape was her biggest follower and right behind him was Potter. Vi shouldn't be dragged into it. Vi should never be dragged into it, never again.

Pet knew what it was like, being befriended and then ditched for Lily. And Snape would choose Lily over Vi in a heartbeat, Pet knew it. Vi offered him protection, information, a familiar and a spot as her friend. And he would forsake it all if Lily so had the whim. The twit never would but it was the principle of the matter. Despite Vi's amazing generosity and her care, the time she put into him and the effort he would cast it all away for Lily. She could see it whenever the gangly bastard looked at their redheaded sister. And Pet hated him for it. She trusted Vi to look after herself but that didn't mean she didn't want to ward off anyone who'd callously throw her baby sister away.

She would never trust Snape with Vi because he would abandon her for Lily. He might have some loyalty to Violet now but his ties to Lily were too strong.

xXx

"Wicked scar," Morty whistled and Pet rolled her eyes as the dark skinned boy ogled her sister later in the year. It was just warm enough for them to dip into the lake a bit now. She swatted the boy away from Violet who hummed as she stood next to her.

"Should we dive in from that overhanging rock there or should we just go from the shore?" she asked and Pet contemplated that, eyeing the rock in question. A few of the Ravenclaw boys were jumping off already, flipping and twisting and generally being show-offs. She scoffed to herself.

"We can show those boys a thing or two." Pet decided as she grabbed Marlene to join them. Among their group, Marlene and Violet were the most athletically inclined but Pet liked to think she wasn't too bad with keeping up with dance practice. Marlene grinned at the sisters before darting up the rock, Vi close behind but Pet took a little more time to herself. By the time she got up with the rest, Marlene was already whooping and throwing herself over the lake, curling up and making a disproportionately large splash. "How dull." Pet scoffed, pushing herself to the edge and performing an elegant swan dive after a quick somersault down. She surfaced in time to see Violet jumping off backwards, use her closeness to the rock to forcibly eject herself farther out and twist beautifully several times before slipping under the surface. She grinned, quickly making her way over to her sister's landing point and giggling as she surfaced, pushing her errant bangs back. The rest of her hair was in a tight bun at the back of her head just the same as Pet's was.

"How did I do?"

"Nice execution but I think you could have been a bit flashier." Pet shrugged and Vi snorted and they giggled together before Marlene burst from the water, attaching herself to Pet's back.

"Attack of the water 'Claw!" she howled and Pet growled before they ended up more or less wrestling in the water.

"Marlie, you little-!"

Vi was swift in wrapping herself around Marlene in a snug hold, making the cackling mocha haired girl release Pet. "Violet, you naughty thing you! Ganging up isn't nice!"

"She never did say she was nice." Morty sniggered as he quickly approached, Marty swimming along just behind him.

"Even if she's an absolute cupcake most of the time." Marty went on with a grin, the brothers easily disentangling their tiny friend from the rambunctious other girl. "C'mon, you can climb all over me instead."

"Shove off." his brother scoffed, easily flinging a compliant Vi on his back to tread away from his twin who gave an ungraceful squawk of indignation and took off after them. Pet rolled her eyes before turning to Marlene.

"Feel like staging a rescue?"

"Absolutely!"

xXx

"How long have you been in the water?" came the question and Pet made an aborted noise of aggravation, opening her eyes where she was floating lightly near the shore. One either side were a relaxed Macy and sunbathing Diane. Over them stood Lily, Snape right behind her.

"Since noon." she grunted. Her two friends would leave this interaction to her no doubt.

"Where's Lettie?"

"Vi is still faffing about with Marlene. And probably Albert."

"I'd say Albert is more chasing around Marlene to be honest." Macy sighed dejectedly.

"What does that boy see in her?"

"Probably her knockers. She's already got cleavage you know." Pet snorted just to watch Lily and Snape sputter.

"Then why do the twins hang around Vi?" Diane asked slyly. On her left Macy grinned, feeling better talking about Vi rather than Albert's attraction to Marlene.

"Probably her bum."

"She does have a nice bum." Diane nodded sagely. Pet wasn't going to argue- she wished her own bum as was fit as Vi's sometimes. "I think they just like competing over the girl who could tell them apart."

"That's also a good theory."

"You're both forgetting her stunning personality." Pet sighed and both girls hummed.

"I'd think that'd be a secondary reason really."

"Are you two still standing there being useless?" Pet turned her attention back to her less favorable sister and Snape. "What do you want?"

Used to these kinds of remarks, Lily was entirely unperturbed and smiled at her widely. "I was actually wondering if we could study together."

"We're a little busy." Pet replied snidely, settling again.

"Well maybe not right now but later?"

"Lily." Pet huffed.

"Something going on?" Vi asked suddenly and Pet sat up to look at her tan sister. Just behind her Marlene was sniggering, lips swollen and glancing back at where a dazed Albert was being harassed by the twins.

"I think the better question is what went on back there. Marlie?"

"Albert." she said smugly and Macy sent the girl a dark look. "To be fair, I suppose I might have teased him a little too much. Poor boy," she cooed and Diane snorted.

"You don't know what remorse even is Marlene."

"Enough about me, what's the lion and Snape doing here?"

"Severus, Lily?" Vi turned to them.

"We wanted to know if you might want to study together later." Lily said brightly and Vi glanced at Pet. Pet clenched her jaw.

"We've got our schedule packed for the next week in study groups and extra credit work. This, frankly, is the only time we'll be relaxing for the next two weeks."

"Oh…But why are you studying so hard?"

"Fifth Year? Tests? Hello, we're Ravenclaws! We have so much pressure to do well!" Macy answered her, irritated from Marlene's earlier words.

"Fifth year?" Lily frowned in confusion and Snape winced at the reminder. "But the tests then are so far away, the end of next year!"

"You hang around Snape all the time and you still don't seem to understand, even a bit, the sheer ferocity Ravenclaws are capable of when it comes to our studies."

"Violet!" came the call and they looked back to see Morty and Marty tread water to get close enough to stand and grin down at the girl. "Albert got snogged."

"I was there when it happened." she told the boys, turning away from them to face the two boys and cocking a hip out.

"Definitely for her bum," Diane stage-whispered and Vi sent back a long suffering look before turning back to the boys.

"Yes well we were wondering that if you were to snog one of us, which would it be?"

"Were I to snog one of you, I would likely snog the other too." Vi answered simply. "As it is, I'm not very interested in snogging either of you."

"Why not?" Morty pouted, exaggerating deep hurt as he slung an arm around her slim shoulders.

"I think of you both as particularly annoying cousins and I don't condone incest."

"Lettie!" Lily cried, scandalized as Marlene burst into hysterical laughter, Macy choking on her own and Diane nodded knowingly. Pet rolled her eyes laying back down to lounge.

"How disappointing." Marty sighed but his grin belied it. "Is there anyone you'd like to snog?"

"Like I'd tell such blabbermouths who I want to liplock with."

"So much pain! Are you saying you don't trust us?"

"I trust you fairly well. But I also trust you'll tell anyone and everyone if I ever told either of you a secret."

"She knows us so well."

"We're her favorite cousins after all."

"Does that mean you're Pet's cousin too?" Diane asked them with a smile.

"Eugh. No thank you, we'll just take Vi-Vi here."

"I would be offended but the feeling is mutual."

"The important part is that there's someone Vi wants to kiss." Marlene reminded them. "And it's not those two or Albert."

"How do you know it's not Albert?" Macy frowned.

"She didn't care when I kissed Albert." the dark haired girl told her and Macy scowled, looking away. She turned speculative blue eyes to Snape who tensed immediately under the look. "She has been spending quite a lot of time with Snape though hasn't she?"

"Don't even joke about that." Pet reprimanded sharply. "For all any of you know, it could be Wildsmith or Powell or Rowle or Warrington. He might not even be in our House or our year."

"Claus Vane is pretty dreamy." Diane giggled and well, no one could argue with that. Just a year above them and possibly one of the most handsome boys in Ravenclaw. Maybe even the school. Pet sighed just thinking about him, as did Macy and Marlene.

"Ran Li in Slytherin is pretty good looking too." Macy contributed and yes, the Slytherin was. And possibly one of the most laidback Slytherins they'd ever had to deal with in classes. As she recalled, Vi had only worked with him a handful of times through their school years, mostly staying with either her or Snape.

"But he goes through girlfriends so quickly." Marlene huffed. "I certainly hope it's not him you'd like to play tongue wrestling with."

"Don't be obscene." Marty scoffed.

"If I were being obscene I'd have said something much worse."

"Worse?" Lily squeaked. Were she and Snape still there? Morons.

"I could have said something like, someone she'd lift her skirt for or who she'd go on her knees for or who she'd go without knickers for or who she thinks about when she polishes her pearl-"

"Stop please!" Lily's voice was so high Pet was surprised it hadn't broke. "Are you always so- so-"

"Perverted? In words and mind only really. I'd bet she's only snogged a few boys." Macy told the red faced redhead. Marlene shrugged and didn't deny the claim.

"All raging teenage hormones." Vi reminded them, well used to the girl's typical fantasizing. "It'll likely only get worse until she reaches young adulthood. It should balance itself a bit more by then."

"As though you're not full of hormones too."

"I'm not broadcasting that I am." she shot back. "It's all a perfectly normal process Lily, Severus. I don't understand why you're both so flustered about this still."

"Remember when you mentioned seeing all of the unintentional- what was it again?" Pet smiled innocently, delighting in the small dying noise Snape made.

"Erections. All the unintentional erections one sees in class. For males, they tend to happen fairly often and likely with no real reason."

"They just pop woodies you mean." Marlene sniggered, pointing at Morty and directing their attention to his crotch. He scoffed, turning his lower body away from the gazes with a notably calm manner even if his face was burning in embarrassment. "I think that one was from staring at Vi's bum though."

"It is not!"

"I'll agree with Dearborn on this one." Marty told his brother seriously.

"Traitor!"

"I'm sure if I were a boy," Diane began consolingly, "I would have one too if faced with Vi's bum in her swimming costume. And I don't think you have room to talk Marty since you've been staring at Macy's legs for the past three minutes."

"Oooh," Marlene grinned wide as Marty and Macy both flushed red, pointedly not looking at the other.

"I'm just- I'm gonna go." Lily muttered, whipping around to speed walk away from them, Snape quick to flee behind her.

"That was the most opportune timing." Vi told Morty who mumbled under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I really wasn't staring at your bum…"

"Yes you were." Vi said bluntly. "I don't particularly mind. I like my arse too."

xXx

By the time they were getting onto the train to head home for the summer hols, Vi had ended up kissing the MacDougal brothers on a dare. (Pet had been made to tell Sirius Black that he had nice hair. It was an awful game and she had been witnessed telling him through grit teeth the next day. He'd been confused but of course pleased because he was a narcissistic git who preened under compliments). To be fair, Diane had to lick a portrait (said portrait was very disgusted), Macy had to confess to Albert (Marty had looked a little disappointed) and Marlene…Marlene had to kiss Vaisey on the lips since she'd been the one to give Pet her dare of making her actually pay a compliment to Black. They really needed to do away with this tradition of truth or dare the week before they went home.

"You know, since you've said it Black has worn his hair down." Marlene said casually in the doorway. Lily hadn't found them yet, so Marlie had opted to stay with her until the chit showed up just because she liked to fluster people and Lily was an easy target.

"Probably hopes to get more praise shoveled on him." Pet scoffed.

"He's been harassing the boys that talk to you, y'know."

"He harasses everyone and he specifically likes to annoy me, yes. Is there a point to this?"

"Nothing, nothing." Marlie held her hands up with a shrug. Pet narrowed her eyes.

"If you think that dirty rotten toe-rag fancies me, you're delusional. The only person I could see him ever liking that way is his own reflection."

"But hypothetically, just hypothetically! What if he did fancy you?"

"I'd tell him in no small terms that I would never even think of him in a flattering way, let alone look at him and feel something like genuine attraction. He might be a bit pretty but his personality is ugly enough to ward off any starry eyed thoughts. But since the only person he could ever love is himself, I never have to worry about dealing with that."

"How cold." Marlie smiled. Pet rolled her eyes, turning back to her book pointedly. The girl turned her attention to Vi. "But really, who do you want to snog?"

"I'm not telling."

"That just makes me want to find out even more."

"Since you're so interested, one might think you wanted to snog Vi." Diane said then and Marlene went red in the face.

"I don't want to do that with a girl!" she spluttered. Then she paused, looking around at them speculatively.

"No."

"I didn't even say anything!"

"As though we don't know what you were just contemplating." Pet scoffed.

"Well I mean, how different can it really be?"

"No."

"Tuney, Lettie, sorry we're late, we were-" Lily began cheerfully, only to freeze when she was swung around and a pair of lips planted themselves firmly on her own.

"Marlie, no! Bad, bad girl!" Pet barked, sending a mild stinging hex at her fellow 'Claw. The brunette let go of her Gryffindor sister with a satisfied grin, smacking her lips.

"Tastes like vanilla. What kind of chapstick do you use?"

"I- I, what?" Lily sputtered, face red and eyes very wide. Behind her Snape was staring, looking both alarmed and horrified.

"I think I like kissing girls." Marlene decided. "More testing certainly wouldn't hurt of course." she waggled her brows at Lily who immediately backed away and into a still frozen Snape. "No? Shame. I'll have to find some other girl I suppose. C'mon, Macy, Diane! I need help finding my next volunteer!"

"Oi, why are we being roped into this?"

"I think it'll be funny," Diane reassured the other girl and Macy grumbled but got up to follow.

"Are you twits just going to stand there or are you going to sit down?" Pet snapped and the two other teens filtered in and sat heavily, still startled over the recent event. "You act as though you've never been kissed before." she scoffed.

"I…I hadn't."

"…Did you just say you hadn't kissed anyone before now?" Pet asked, incredulous. "Are you actually telling me that Marlene was your first kiss?"

"She'll be delighted." Vi pointed out.

"She'll be insufferable." Pet argued before turning her calculating gaze back onto Lily.

"You make it sound as though it's so easy," Lily grumbled under her breath, embarrassed now.

"It is easy. Why, I had my first kiss when I was eight! Vi had hers when she was ten! How have you never kissed anyone? No- wait no, don't answer that. I don't want to know."

"Eight?! Ten! When were these? Why didn't I hear about it?"

"Well technically, Pet's was under mistletoe and mine was from the boy who used to live down the street from us, the one who moved to Leeds."

"But…But he was four years older than us!" Lily spluttered and Vi shrugged.

"Wait, let me guess…Snape, you've not been kissed either have you? I mean, not that it would be surprising." Pet turned a newly malicious gaze to Snape, lips curling in a rather mean way. His gaze cut away and his cheeks heated up but he didn't seem as riled or mortified as he should have been.

"I…I have," he mumbled. Pet reared back, shocked. Who would ever set their lips on Snape? Certainly not any of the Ravenclaw girls, she'd have heard of it! And since Marlene was Lily's first kiss, that ruled her out…

"Really?"

"It- it wasn't a real kiss, it was just…Some enchanted mistletoe, is all." he slunk down, shrinking into himself at the attention from the two Evans sisters. Pet shook her head, aggravated before turning back to Lily.

"That means you're the last to have your first kiss," she accused.

"It'll be held over your head now. I mean, not as much as how you lost it but still." Vi piped in again, scratching at Cleo's fluffy furry stomach as she purred. "This will be used years from now."

Lily's dismayed expression was enough to sate Pet and she settled back, glancing out at the changing scenery.

xXx

"Did you see anything?" Pet asked her sister intently.

"I got the impression of a…Bipedal? Fluffy animal."

"Progress! Fantastic!" Pet exclaimed with an excited grin, quick to scribble the vague details down. "Just think," Pet sighed happily, "It's only a matter of time before you're shifting your entire physiology to that of an animal! Incredible!"

"Magic usually is." her sister grinned at her ruefully. Pet, unfortunately, was unable to harness an Animagus form. Still she would go through all the exercise with her sister because it was still a form of training and she didn't want Vi to do it alone. Dangerous enough they were doing it alone. But they could handle it, Pet was sure!

xXx

The sloth bear was…Well, it was cute. It was hard to look at it and think it was vicious or really capable of mauling someone. A lot like Vi, actually. But Pet had researched this bear and it was possibly one of the most ruthless and violent bears, just below the sun bear in that respect. She wondered what that said about her little sister besides the obvious.

xXx

"What's that?" she asked, a few days before they were due back to school.

"A letter." Vi hummed, giving the fierce looking eagle owl that delivered the letter an owl treat. She had been keeping them on hand lately.

"Who is it from?" she asked next because that wasn't an owl she recognized. The eagle owl sent her a cold look before swooping off, Vi watched it leave idly before turning to the letter nonchalantly, opening it with the knife she had in hand.

"Regulus."

"Regulus? Who's Regulus?" she frowned. Surely she would have noticed if her sister were around someone else?

"He's a Slytherin."

"And what is he doing sending you letters?"

"I volunteered last year to do tutoring remember? He's going to be my pupil and I wanted to know what he needed help with in a bit more depth."

But that's right, Fifth Year they were allowed to volunteer to tutor for other students; it gave them extra credits. Pet had denied it, given that she knew she was going to be a Prefect and would have enough on her plate, not to mention all the more studies she would need to do this year in addition to all of her extracurricular classes. But she was determined she would do them all.

Well that and she wasn't the most patient of teachers.

But that was besides the point!

"Oh. Will you be doing that while I'm busy with Prefect things?"

"I tried to keep our schedule as close to that as I could." her sister assured her. "It'll be a busy year for everyone in our House." she sighed. Pet huffed, leaning against her sister for a moment before turning back to her potion.

xXx

"Did you get cuter?" Marlie asked bluntly of Vi when they visited on the train. "I don't know what it is, Vi, but I really wanna snog you right now."

"Don't." Pet warned the girl who only shrugged, blue eyes still intent on her little sister.

"It's the socks I think." Macy said thoughtfully. "And the uniform too, Vi never wore her uniform before." And Pet considered that. It was true; before she'd just wear her school robes closed.

"And she looks delicious. The socks are an especially nice touch." Marlie complimented the thigh-high white socks that matched her pristine button up school shirt, tucked into the skirt she wore high on her waist. She wore a blue bow in place of the usual tie. It was the same way Pet wore her uniform.

"I wear the same thing besides the socks." she pointed out.

"But there's something unusually appetizing about the way she wears it! Something…Erotic."

"It's because before all she wore was the loose school robes." Diane told them easily. "This change is pretty big by appearance. And Marlie has decided that girls are totally something she's into, as we all know by her unnecessarily explicit letters that no one asked for."

"So she can expect more responses like that?" Pet didn't even want to go into the letters she and her sister had gotten over the summer from the dark haired brunette on her exploits over the hols.

"Oh, I wanna be there when Morty sees it! You know how he fancies her!" Marlie sniggered in response to that and Pet rolled her eyes. "Actually, did Snape see it yet?"

"What are you bringing him up for?" Pet snapped, a wave of irritation flooding through and their three friends shared glances which she only scowled about. "He. Is. Lily's."

"Well maybe, but…"

"Well he does spend as much time with Vi as with her, if not more."

"Only because she's in the same House!"

"Alright but did he see her in it yet?"

"We came straight here after changing, before they got back to the compartment." Vi supplied helpfully. Pet sent her a look for that.

"So he hasn't. I want to be there for that too. Oh, if we're lucky we can show her off to Claus Vane!"

Pet paused, thinking about handsome, charming Claus Vane and she felt her cheeks heat up pleasantly. She saw the dazed look come over Macy's face and a little giggle from Diane. Vi perked up briefly, considering it.

"I do like eye-candy." she told their friends. And what eye-candy Claus Vane was! Glossy black curls, beauty mark by his eye, sparkling dark eyes and boyish face. And he played Beater, so his shoulders, his arms, his back were all powerful and distracting. And his arse was also quite pleasant to look at.

"You should try out this year too." Macy threw in and Pet looked at her incredulously. "What? She would be accepted in a heartbeat you know! Practically guarantee our wins with her, Vane and that sixth year."

"Randall Selwyn." Diane corrected. "How could you not remember his name?"

"She gets too distracted by his…Everything else." Marlie sniggered, words dripping in innuendo. Macy flushed but didn't give her an answer and cleared her throat pointedly.

"Point is, I think Vi would be a perfect choice for Seeker."

"Well yeah, but with everything else going on?"

"I think I will."

"What?"

"I like being Seeker." Vi shrugged. "I also tend to get really competitive about it and I'd love to knock Potter down a few pegs."

Torn, because Vi was already doing so much this year but she also really, really wanted to see her trump Potter and knock him off his fucking pedestal, Pet bit her lip.

"I guess if you can handle it…"

"Of course, Pet." she smiled winningly. "Now don't you need to get going for the Prefect's meeting?"

"Oh! God, the time passes so quickly with you lot." Pet sighed before trotting off.

xXx

Pet was so totally unimpressed by the gawking going on that was aimed at her little sister during Ravenclaw Quidditch try-outs. Not that she could really blame them; she was still surprised her Animagus form wasn't a Granian, even though the chances of getting a magical being or beast as an Animagus form were slim to none-whatsoever. Lily's excessively tight grip on her arm wasn't helping her mood any either.

"She's going to crash!" her redheaded sister near-shrieked in her ear.

"For fuck's- she knows what she's doing!" she snapped at the other girl who looked as horrified as she had a minute ago at the sort of, kind of dangerous maneuvers their little sister was doing. But Vi was a miracle-worker on a broom so Pet felt only pride. On the redhead's other side, Snape looked green. Behind her, Marty and Morty were still cheering her on, Marlie even louder on her other side. Diane watched but mostly out of friendly obligation and Macy was busy staring longingly at where Claus Vane was down on the ground of the pitch watching with the rest of the Ravenclaw team. Or maybe she was looking at one of the other boys, Pet couldn't much tell.

Needless to say, Vi made it on the team.

xXx

Between her own Prefect duties and workload, and Vi's tutoring and Quidditch practice, Pet felt like they had barely seen eachother at all and now here her sister stood telling her that immediately after Christmas she'll be swept off to that Regulus boy's home?

"He needs the tutoring, Pet. If he doesn't bring his grades up, he's in danger of losing the potential Lordship of his family."

"I thought his grades were going well?" she demanded, baffled.

"Yes, but not well enough for his mother's tastes. Especially given that his brother was just blasted from the family and now all of the pressure is on him."

"I don't care about him or his family! I care about you apparently swanning off for hols!"

"Pet, please. I'll be reimbursed for my time spent there," she said in a low voice, reaching out to hold her hand. "Quite generously."

Pet struggled between thoughts. On one hand, this could be a useful investment; on the other, she wouldn't be seeing her sister for the majority of the holiday. Eventually, the long run advantage of putting this potential money into savings won out and she sighed in defeat.

"You'll owl me?"

"Of course I will."

"Have you told mum and da?"

"I did."

xXx

She worried for her sister when she had left. She was also incredibly aggravated because in Vi's absence Lily got the convoluted notion that she was lonely and started bugging her more. "So who is it she's tutoring again?"

"Some Slytherin, said his name was Regulus." she grunted, trying to ignore her sister. "I think he's a year under us."

"Regulus? Wait, as in Regulus Black? Sirius Black's little brother?"

She froze, dropping her fork to turn her unblinking gaze onto her sister. "…Excuse me?"

XXXXXXXXXX

This chapter is definitely shorter I think?