A/N: Hullo:)

(I'm sending hugs to you all through my phone. Are you getting them?)

This is the last of the pre-written chapters. Everything else I'm going to come up with, so it's not exactly going to come one after another anymore. I worked all weekend and on Monday and was able to put all six chapters up but this might be the last one just for a little bit.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this fic but I know where I want it to end up so that's all the direction I really need I hope.

Part of this chapter seems a little improbable, but I want to establish just how amazing of a witch Dia is before moving on to things like the Order of The Phoenix and then some other things I want to bring up. So it's important.

Please review:) I love you all:)

Harry Potter and all of those characters belong to the fantastical JK Rowling.

Music recommendation: Somebody by Bonnie McKee

XOXORose

-DdLM-

"My rooms?"

"Yes dear, your rooms. Boys, go help Pop carry everything up. Dia and I are going to talk." James and Sirius both gave me one last concerned look, and James mouthed 'good luck' before they disappeared back downstairs. "Alright. Now that they're gone... how's Lily? I hear a lot about her and Sirius always teases James about her and knowing my son, which I do, I want to make sure that he's not really doing anything to bother her."

I let out a relieved laugh.

"She's fine. He annoys her quite a bit, but he annoys everyone quite a bit. He isn't stalking her anymore. He stopped that in fourth year."

"Oh good! Now, would you like to have some fun? Normally I wouldn't do this to poor James, but you've had an awful night and I'm sure that he deserves it." My eyes go wide and quickly nod my head. She gives me a mischievous wink and I realized, in that moment, where he got his love for pranks. "JAMES FLEAMONT POTTER!"

James poked his head out.

"Yes mum?"

He looked green.

"What is this that I hear about you stalking some poor girl?"

I peeked at him from behind Mrs. Potter's back and wiggled my fingers at him. He glared at me.

"Nothing, mum, really. It's not true."

Mrs. Potter started laughing and James, who just realized what was going on, glared at us both.

"Now finish carrying everything up and get to bed. Both of you."

Sirius popped up behind James.

"Yes, mum."

It scared me sometimes how alike the boys really were.

Mrs. Potter lead me to a tall white door with an ornately carved handle and opened it.

"This is where you'll be staying, love."

There was a sitting room in the very front with a sofa, a table, and some poufs, with an abundance of pillows. There were two more doors at the back of the room, and both of them were open just enough for me to see inside. The bedroom held a king-sized bed with black silk sheets and a gold comforter and millions of black and gold pillows. The bathroom was completely white tile with a full bath, and the sink sat at the end of a long marble counter. It was bigger than the bathroom in my dorm. Everything was either white, black, silver, or gold.

"These are all for me?"

"Of course! Feel free to put things up on the walls, too, and fill up the dresser, because if you'd like, we'd love to have you back for the summer as well."

I hadn't even seen the dresser. It's tall and black with gold handles and sat right next to a full length mirror.

"Thank you. I'd love to. You don't know how much this means to me. Everything is so big! This is just for the guests? This is so much nicer than my room at Arrington Manor. All of the bedrooms are like this?"

Mrs. Potter looked sad.

"Of course, your's is quite a bit cleaner than the boys' rooms, and I might have been expecting to whisk you away from home at some point, James, Sirius, and Remus, when he was over, were talking about your home life and even requested that I have a room ready!"

"I haven't called Arrington Manor home since before I started school... Hogwarts has always been home. If it weren't for the ball I would stay for the holidays."

She looked even more troubled at this, but I didn't hear it when she spoke.

"Alright. Now, you rest up, I'm going to let you three go out to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade tomorrow to go Christmas shopping, because I know that the boys haven't done it yet and I need someone to watch them so I can finish decorating. Every year on Christmas we have people over for lunch and open up the guest rooms for them to stay if they want. The Lupins usually do, and the Pettigrews, but the Pettigrews are on vacation, so I took the liberty of inviting a few of your friends, and was going to open it up to you as well, but didn't really get the chance to at the ball."

She smiled at, a sad sort of smile.

"Goodnight, dove."

"Goodnight."

-DdLM-

"Dia! Come on! Let's go! Mum said we can't leave until you're good and ready, so wake up and be good and ready, already!"

"Sirius! Get out of my room! I'm only wearing a nightie, go away!"

"Oh, I don't mind. Really."

"Get out, Sirius!"

I chucked a pillow at him and he dodged it, scampering - seriously - out of my room and, thankfully, shutting the door behind him. I took a quick shower, charmed my hair dry, threw it up in a messy bun, slapped on some makeup, yanked on a pair of jeans and somehow managed to pull an old sweater down over my chest. It used to be two sizes too small, but now it's too big. That had never happened before. I didn't necessarily get heavier, just taller.

Constantly.

"Alright. I'm ready. I just need to stop at Gringotts and get some money before we go to any shops." James looked at me incredulously.

"Mum would be scandalized! She's already got a coin purse ready for you."

Mrs. Potter peeked out of the kitchen and tossed me a small leather bag to tie to my belt loop.

"Don't forget your wand. Your magic seems to falter when you're tired, and when you're spending the day with those two it won't take long!" I stretched out my arm towards the staircase and my wand flew into my hand. "Okay, dears, be careful. Have a nice day. Don't cause any trouble, boys, and don't offend anyone. I don't want you missing or dead. Any of you. Remember that if you get into trouble, so does Dia, and I think she's had enough trouble for a while." She gave each one of us a pointed look. "Now shoo! Out of my house!"

James and Sirius looked at each other, glinting eyes and grinning, and I started to feel dread pool in the pit of my stomach. That couldn't be good. Nothing was ever good when they acted like that.

"Yes, mum!"

Even Mr. Potter, who was sitting at the table reading the Daily Prophet, looked up in concern when they started talking in unison like they did before someone got pranked.

"Be careful, Dia, dear. I'm worried about those two. And if they get captured, you get out of there, okay? There's no saving them. They've obviously got something in store, it'll be their faults. Now, boys! If your antics get Dia captured, you had better get her out of there. Got it?"

"Yes, mum."

-DdLM-

We made it to Hogsmeade safely by floo.

"Alright, boys! What's first?"

They looked at me, at each other, and then back at me again.

"Zonkos!"

I bit my lip, thinking. I had been planning on splitting off from them and going there to get their gifts.

"Okay. I'll look around, but then I'll go get your gifts. Can't have you looking over my shoulders while I'm shopping for them!"

I was going to buy something from Zonkos, and act secretive about it, and then slip away. They might try follow me for a while, but I could loose them pretty easily. Then I'd actually get their presents. I'd probably just get Remus' present while they were watching. The full moon was just a few days before, so I wanted to get something really nice for him, while he's feeling not so great over the holidays. Maybe a basket full of sugar and chocolate. A stop at Honeydukes should do it.

"No... Of course not..." James tugged Sirius' arm to get him to start walking. He looked like he wanted to start following me around now. James was strangely, actually showing some restraint. Sirius kept glancing back at me, suspicious, making sure that I didn't run off.

"Bogey brain. I'm not going anywhere yet!"

He stuck his tongue out at me.

"Men really are just giant children, aren't they?"

"And women are secretly dragons!"

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Zonkos was packed with last minute shoppers like us and incredibly loud, so it was pretty easy for me to shout an excuse just a bit too quiet, point in a random direction, and then disappear that same way. James started to protest, but I was already gone.

I found some parchment that insults everyone who reads it for modifying later, some disappearing ink that only disappears when you embarrass yourself - and appears on all of your clothes until you do, dragon fireworks that fly around your victim's head for a day, water that squirts into your victim's eyes and makes them see in kaleidoscope vision for an hour, and a potion that makes it look like you have no hair whenever you look in a mirror. Those are my presents for myself, but I hide them, looking around, and acting cautious. I spotted them numerous times, following me and watching me, but pretended like I didn't see them.

It was hilarious.

I waited in line, handed the clerk a galleon and two knuts, and slipped away. I headed over to Honeydukes next, which was also packed. I walked around, grabbing a box of chocolate frogs, some sugar quills, and some lollipops that are charmed to taste like your favorite flavor. Once I got up to the counter I got some fizz-sticks, some firecracker dots, and some salamander chews. I was horrified when I was offered a salamander chew in first year, but was pleasantly surprised when they just tasted like a mixture of carrot cake, pumpkin pie, and marshmallow fluff. After debating with myself for a minute or two, I decide to also get some strawberry poppers - my favorites -, and chocolate wafer tubes covered in popping candies and filled with strawberry cream. Lily liked fizz-sticks; candy sticks the fizz up when they get wet and fill your mouth with bubbles, and Peter, apparently, liked the firecracker dots. They taste like lemons and explode in your mouth without hurting you... somehow. I've never enjoyed the feeling, but Lily had convinced me to like the fizz-sticks.

Then I stopped in at Gladrags to get each of the boys a pair of socks that whistles whenever you walk past a pretty girl. They'd stopped following me by this point so I ducked into Tomes and Scrolls. I got Sirius a history of pranking and a guide to pulling the perfect prank. I decided to wait on getting anything for James, though, until I could get to Quality Quidditch Supplies in Diagon Alley. That seemed even more his speed than pranking.

I walked around for a while, bags in hand, and looked for them. We had forgotten to set up a time and place to meet at. I finally found them sitting at a table in the Three Broomsticks, and they waved me over to them.

"Boys."

"Dia."

Oh, dear Merlin, they're talking in unison again. That's not good.

"Find anything good?"

Oooh...

"A few things. You two were pretty hard to shop for, but I found a few things."

They both held their breath in anticipation.

"You really want to know?"

They nodded their heads emphatically.

"Well, I found these books, and I think you'll really like them. They're history books."

The looks on their faces were priceless.

"Next time don't try to play me for a fool."

The waitress came over and we ordered some sandwiches, some butterbeer, and some chips. We chatted idly as we ate, then found a floo and went to Diagon Alley. I dragged them to Flourish and Blotts to get some books, supposedly, and then snuck away to Quality Qudditch Supplies where I get a broomstick care kit for each of them and Quidditch: Through the Ages for James. By the time I'd finished they had noticed that I'd gone, but I made it far enough away from the shop that they didn't know where I had been. We got ice cream from Fortescue's and then just walked around. There was a flower vendor, and I got a bouquet for Lily, Jay, Tracey, and Marlene, shrunk them, and suspended them in crystal domes. I inscribed a little message to each of them in gold ink.

"Now I just need one more thing for Peter. I don't really think that one roll of firecracker dots is enough."

James duplicates the roll, and then again, and then again.

"How's that?"

I rolled my eyes, but I was grinning.

Something at the next cart over caught my eye.

"Oh! Look at that frame! I wish I had a picture to put in it…" The clock chimed five o'clock. "Merlin's beard! We've got to go!" I turned around and started to walk away. After a few meters the boys still weren't following me. "James! Sirius! Come on! Your mother will have our heads! We were supposed to be back half an hour ago!"

They ran to catch up, and we were almost to the floo when a group of men blocked our way. I couldn't see their faces. They were all wearing skeleton masks.

"Death Eaters! In Diagon Alley?" A woman behind us started going into hysterics and shoving her kids behind her. One of the Death Eaters moved his hand towards his wand and I disarmed him.

"Go! All of you! Get inside!" People scattered and locked themselves in the different shops. In no time at all it was just the three of us facing ten Death Eaters.

One of them tilted their head.

"I'd heard you were good. I wasn't expecting that good. I mean, come on. She's just an Arrington. They're worse than the blood traitors. At least they can think for themselves!"

Another Death Eater summoned his wand and handed it back to him. He launched another curse my way and I blocked it. It shot off in another direction and shattered a window. I stretched my fingertips towards my wand, but before I could grab it he hit me with the cruciatus. When he gave me a break I used that split second to lift him off the ground. I yanked his wand away from him, tore off his mask, and slowly rotated him.

"You! I know you! At Hogwarts you could never think for yourself. You just copied everyone else. Makes sense that you're still just following someone's orders! You're a follower! You've been allowed to lead this little group, you feel so special, but you aren't! Not really. Voldemort doesn't care about you. You are his minion! You mean nothing to him! You've been defeated by a sixth year, and an Arrington to boot!" In five minutes flat, and with a little help from James and Sirius, I had them strung up on street lamps in full body binds.

"Come on. Let's go home."