Chapter 3:

The week passed by quickly and before any of us knew it we were already in Platform 9 ¾ saying good-bye to our parents. Marlene was hugging her mother at one side of the train, Mary McDonald and her sister were talking heatedly, Wood was lazily saying good bye to his family and James and Black were saying good-bye to a very emotional Andrea Potter.

"You sure you got everything?" My mother asked the twins for the fifth time.

"Yes, mom, calm down. We will be fine," Christian said as he pulled her toward him and hugged her.

"I know, take care of your sisters, all right? All of them," My mother sniffed.

She had been very worried since The Prophet published an article about Voldemort's forces getting stronger and about many dark marks appearing around places where muggle-borns lived.

"Let's have one last hug, all of us," She opened his arms and we all stepped in, Delilah, Ariadne and I, even Dad.

"Love, you'll see them at school tonight," My father said once we broke apart.

"Yes, I know," She nodded as she leaned into him.

Dad put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, making me smile. It wasn't every day that they acted this way but when they did it I thought it was adorable. Ariadne and Christian got into the train first, already talking to their friends. I stayed behind ad waited for Lily. Delilah tugged at my sleeve nervously.

"Can I stay at your compartment today?" She asked me, biting her lip.

"Why, sweetie? What about your friends?" I asked her.

"They'll be fine without me," She pouted.

She looked very nervous, her hazel eyes were widened and her bottom lip was starting to quiver. I could tell she was about to cry, The Prophet's article had clearly scared her. I knew she shouldn't have read it but we had been playing the piano together, something we did every noon when we were home, and Christian had brought over the paper with a worried look on his face, Delilah had read it over my shoulder. She didn't sleep that night.

"Fine, you can be with us," I smiled. "Look, there's Lily."

"How's Fabian?" Mary asked me halfway to Hogwarts.

I turned my eyes from the window and looked at her. Mary wasn't pretty, her face was rounded and her brown eyes were too big. Her hair was a dull brown. But what she didn't have in looks she had in personality. She was nice to everyone and smart and saw all the good in people.

"He's... fine, the ministry is sending him in a lot of missions. He graduates next year but they need more numbers, it's mainly for precaution," I explained carefully, not wanting my little sister to get more scared.

Lily nodded, understanding my problem. Marlene shot a glance at Delilah who was once again biting her lips. We fell silent after that, knowing that we couldn't talk about the upcoming war with a twelve-year-old girl with us. I let my long hair loose and turned to my sister.

"You want to braid my hair?" I asked her as I turned so she could face my hair.

She immediately started to braid my hair in a French fish-tail braid, which, considering the amount of hair I had and how long it was, was going to take her at least ten minutes or more. Around the time she was halfway down my skull, we heard some padding in the train hallway coming our way. A few seconds later, the compartment door opened and in came Remus Lupin, James Potter and Sirius Black.

"Remus!" I exclaimed.

I tried to get up and hug him but my sister wouldn't let go of my hair and one tug from her and I was sitting down again. Everyone laughed at my expense but it was okay because I ended up laughing as well. Remus came to me and hugged me, sitting down next to me. I had missed Remus; apart from James, he was the marauder I was closest to. We automatically engaged in a conversation about his prefect duties and what we'd do once we graduated next year. I wanted to be a writer for The Prophet or maybe simply write books, my parents wanted me to be an auror but the idea didn't really convince me. Remus wasn't so sure about his future; he was convinced that once we graduated he wouldn't have a future at all because of his furry little problem.

"Hey, where's Peter?" Mary asked, looking around the compartment.

"He wanted a chocolate frog," James explained.

Peter Pettigrew was a chubby kid who was friends with the three boys. I personally didn't like him; there was something about him that didn't make me feel good. They boys usually made fun of him but he didn't seem to care. Mary shrugged and went back to her book. I glanced over at James; he was longingly looking at Lily, who was looking outside, and still hadn't talked to her or asked her out. I smiled, knowing that he was putting our plan in motion. Black was flirting with Marlene, who was stupid enough to flirt back. I couldn't believe him; he had a girlfriend for Merlin's sake, unless he had broken up with Regina already.

"Done," Delilah announced as she finished my braid.

"Thank you," I smiled at her, playing with the end of my braid.

"Can I do your hair now, Lily?" She asked the redhead who nodded vigorously.

Apparently nobody was able to say no to this girl. I wasn't sure if that was good or not. Lily and I exchanged seats and Delilah started braiding Lily's red locks. When the train pulled up Delilah went with her friends, apparently not needing me anymore now that we were safely in Hogwarts territory. The eight of us got into one of the carriages that were pulled by Thestrals, a species of horses with wings that only had bones and leathery wings and that could only be seen by those who had witnessed death. I was able to see them, although I had never seen anyone die. Professor Shirtcliff, my Divination teacher, said that was because I'd see a lot of death in the future. She also had this crazy idea that I was a seer so I didn't take her seriously.

The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement at the new school year to come and at the sorting. Everyone always made fun of the poor terrified first years, that every year got smaller. As the first-years stood waiting, the Sorting Hat sang his song. Each year the song changed and this year was no exception. Although it was slightly darker than usual, it sang about dangers and dark times to come and how a united house was stronger than anything. I couldn't help but feel it was right, that Gryffindor would be more united than anything the next couple of years, that there were going to be great changes between all of us.

We gained twenty Gryffindors, Huffelpuff got three more kids, Ravenclaw gained another ten and Slytherin got fourteen new kids. Gryffindor and Slytherin hadn't gotten so many kids since my first year. Was history going to repeat itself with this new group of young witches and wizards? Was somewhere in there a new Meredith Potter, waiting to be the person everyone talked about? Was there another pack of friends waiting to be like the Marauders? My eyes travelled to the teacher's table at the end of the Great Hall, my mother was sitting next to professor Slughorn, our potions teacher, her hair was in a bun at the top of her head and her robes were a dark red and ochre. Next to Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall sat. She looked as stern as always as she politely held a conversation with Professor Sinistra; Professor Flitwick was busy with a piece of pumpkin pie.

I noticed ProfessorShirtcliff was absent, and in her usual spot was sitting a young man in his mid-twenties. He had short brown hair and fair skin; he wasn't talking to anyone, clearly uncomfortable with the fact that he didn't know anyone yet. I wondered what had happened to Professor Shirtcliff but didn't give it much thought, at least now I wouldn't have a teacher running after me and telling me to embrace my gift. One I wasn't even sure was real and one that I most definitely did not want to embrace. I wasn't hungry so I simply watched everyone eat.

"Welcome, welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. First, I'd like you to know that Professor Shirtcliff has left us; she has decided to take a new job at Beauxbatons. In her place, we have Professor Grace; he has come all the way from America. Welcome, Professor Grace," Dumbledore signalled to the new professor who got up and smile at the room full of students. We clapped politely.

"Mr. Flinch would like me to remind you all,"—Dumbledore said once the clapping was done.—"that the Forbidden Forest is indeed forbidden and that, thanks to some students, the list of forbidden items has been rewritten," He paused and his twinkling eyes travelled to where we were sitting.

I smirked over the table at James who sent me a grin and reached across the table to high-five Black, who was sitting two seats down James. Marlene and I giggled, it was no news that we were all trouble-makers; the only thing that kept Dumbledore for kicking us out was the fact that we were good students and well, we were his favourites. I turned my attention back to the Headmaster that had started speaking again.

"Also, I would like to reassure you all by telling you that Hogwarts is one of safest place in Great Britain and you can all tell your parents there's no where better for you. Dark times are coming, strange things are happening but you can always trust your teachers," He said, his eyes going once again towards us. This time, however, they made direct eye contact with mine. A chill ran down my spine, that only happened when something very bad was about to happen.

"Now, why don't we go to bed? It's a new school day tomorrow," He finished and we took that as our cue to leave the Great Hall.

The next morning I woke up with a smile on my face and earlier than usual. I loved Hogwarts and I had missed it greatly. I made my way to the bathroom with my school uniform under my arm and took a nice long shower. The good thing about getting up early was that I had the bathroom all to myself. Once I was done in the bathroom I took my school bag and pulled it over my shoulder, taking my Gryffindor robe and walking down the stairs that led to the girls' dorms. The Common Room was void of any living form, all of its sofas and chairs unoccupied, so I made my way straight to The Great Hall for breakfast. I walked happily down the corridors and into the Great Hall, momentarily pausing when I noticed that the Gryffindor table wasn't as empty as I thought it'd be. Three of the four Marauders—Pettigrew was probably still asleep—sat in our usual spot, leaning over a piece of parchment. I heaved a sigh and walked up to them, already dreading the prank they were most likely planning.

"Good Morning, boys," I said as I sat down across from James.

"Is everything in your kingdom the way you like it?" James joked and I rolled my eyes, a smile tugging at my lips.

"Actually, yes," I replied.

The parchment that Black was currently holding caught my attention, at first I had thought it was the Marauders' map—a map they had created with every little room and hallway of the castle and that showed every person who was there. I wasn't even supposed to know it existed but I had stumbled over it and James had to show it to Me.—but now that I was closer I could see it was actually a different parchment. It had what look like a blueprint of a classroom and many doodles around, as well as some writing here and there.

"What's that?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.

Black moved so I couldn't look and kept scribbling down into the parchment. I turned to Remus, who was sitting right to my right, and lifted an eyebrow questioningly. Around us, more people started to fill The Great Hall, anxious for breakfast. Some were half asleep, others wide awake.

"It's a new prank, you know, the back-to-school prank," Remus explained in his usual calm voice.

I loved Remus, not in the I'm-in-love-with-you way but in the I'm-the-little-sister-you-never-had-and-am-happy-t o-fill-the-space kind of way, and I loved how he was always the calm one of the group, the most responsible. It had a lot to do with the fact that he turned into a wolf every full moon. That predicament forced him to be calm, to be a wallflower. He never attracted more attention to him than necessary. That reminded me; in two days was a full moon. How would he do? I had discovered his little problem last year, when we started to study werewolves profoundly. Remus almost had a heart attack when he found out I knew.

"Are you ready for...you know? It's two days away," I whispered to him, not wanting anyone to hear us. He visibly paled and put down his fork, which had been halfway to his mouth.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," He whispered back. "Just don't go to the Forbidden Forest."

I nodded. So he went to the Forbidden Forest to turn. It seemed logic, it was full of dark creatures and one more werewolf wasn't going to look suspicious, besides nobody was supposed to enter it, which meant there wouldn't be any innocent students around for him to accidentally hurt. The doors of The Great Hall opened again and in came a sleepy-looking Marlene McKinnon and Lily Evans. Lily's hair was combed and cascaded down her back, catching the natural light and shining. They walked up to us, well, Lily walked and Marlene dragged her feet, and sat down. Lily to my left and Marlene next to James.

"Here's your schedule," Lily told me as she handed me a rectangular piece of paper with all my classes in it.

"Thanks, I've got Charms first," I read as I took a bit of my French toast.

"Me, too," Remus smiled at me as he examined his schedule.

Lily shook her head sadly, she had Charms after lunch. Everyone was the same so it looked like I'd be sitting next to Remus at Charms. I borrowed James' Schedule and put it beside mine and Lily's. The three of us had Transfigurations, Potions and DADA together. In fact, one look at Remus' schedule told me that he was also with us at DADA, right after lunch.

"I have DADA after lunch as well," Marlene said, excited.

Well, it looked like we'd all be together for once. Unfortunately, that's where our happiness ended because apart from DADA and one free period we didn't have any classes the six of us together. Mary and Peter sat down as well and I asked for their schedules. Now I had seven schedules sprawled in a straight line in front of me. I had Transfigurations after Charms with James, Lily and Peter, then I had Ancient Ruins by myself—and probably Black, although I hadn't asked for his schedule so I didn't know.—after that we had a free period and then I had Divination with Mary, Marlene and James. After lunch Lily, Remus and I had History of Magic, and then all of us but Mary and Peter had two hours of Herbology, my least favourite subject. That was only today's schedule, the rest of the weeks we were all scattered around topics. It looked like the teachers had thought it'd be wise to not put more than three of us together in many classes. A wise choice, I had to admit. I gave everyone their schedules back and looked at the time, I had fifteen minutes to get to the Charms and the Charms classroom was at the other side of the castle.

"We should get going; I don't want Professor Flitwick to give us detention the first day," Remus said as he got up.

I followed after saying goodbye to the guys. I involuntarily glanced at Black's way, who hadn't talked since I had sat down for breakfast, waiting for his usual comment toward me but got nothing. With a frown, I took my bag and quickly walked toward the end of the table where Remus was waiting for me.

"You shouldn't worry about padfoot not talking to you, he's been moody lately," Remus commented after a few minutes in comfortable silence.

"What? I'm not worried," I shook my head.

Remus spared me a look and laughed, shaking his head. Some students turned to us at the sound; it wasn't common to see Remus Lupin laughing loudly when not accompanied by the other marauders.

"Why are you laughing? I'm not worried, I've never been and I won't," I snapped at him, not likely the way he was laughing at me.

"Sure, I'll act like I believe you," He threw an arm across my shoulders, a small smile still etched to his face, "you do know that this whole thing between you and padfoot is ridiculous, right? Even Prongs believes it is, he just doesn't dare to tell you."

I chose to ignore him and we kept walking in silence, his arm still slung over my shoulders.

"Remus, where did your nicknames come from?" I asked.

I had never really understood why their nicknames were so weird. Moony I understood, with the moon problem and all, but Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail? Where the heck did those come from? Remus' paced slowed down a little and I slowed down with him, looking curiously up at him.

"Their patronuses," he shrugged like it was no big deal but the tenseness in his face told me there was more to it than that.

The res of the week not much happened; classes were boring as ever, Fabian wrote to me almost every day, some times I even got more than one later at the same time. James hadn't pestered Lily about going out with him or declared his love for her at all the entire week, which I considered a huge progress. Lily hadn't paid much attention to it yet but I knew she had noticed. Poor Regina, who, I had discovered, was from Ravenclaw, had been cheated on twice but she didn't know yet. As for the rest of the group, Mary had an argument with Marlene, again, and Peter was already struggling with potions.

That's why I had decided to retire to the library so I could calmly work in my Divination essay. We had to write about palm reading and its qualities, I also had to explain the accuracy and how it differed from tasseography and which one was more accurate. It was late into the night, past curfew, and the library was deserted. I was about to finish the essay when the library's doors opened. Regulus Black, Evan Rosier and Severus Snape entered the room, a scowl in their faces.

"Why are we here again?" Rosier asked loudly.

The other two stopped walking and turned to face Rosier, the light coming from the opened door shining in their faces. Regulus Black glared at Rosier and pointed him with his wand while Snape started to walk around the library checking the tables. I quickly blew out the two candles that were on my desk and quietly put my stuff in my bag. I was near the end of the library, far away for Snape not to realize I had put out the candles and hidden enough so I could see and not be seen.

"Shut up, Rosier. We're not supposed to be here. Do you want to be heard?" Regulus Black said and my breath hitched.

He sounded so much like his brother, my step faltered. Of course, Black's voice wasn't as angry as his but the tone was very similar. They also were physically alike. Regulus looked very much like his older brother and I couldn't help but wonder, would Black look like this if he hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor? Would he be about to become, if not already be, a death-eater?

"It's after hours, Black. Nobody's here," Rosier replied, unfazed. "Isn't that right, Snape?"

"Yes."

The reply came from the area near the restricted section. I followed the voice, now intrigued. Regulus said they were not supposed to be there and now Snape was about to enter the restricted section. They were obviously up to no good. I followed Regulus and Rosier with my eyes and once they were far enough so they wouldn't hear me, I started to walk after them. They unlocked the Restricted Section door and went in, leaving it open. I put my bag over my shoulder and hide my wand between my skirt and my underwear, modifying my sweater so no one could see it.

"Are you sure this will..." Rosier was saying but I couldn't hear well.

"Trust me; I've grown up with magic..." Regulus replied.

I inched closer to the aisle where they were and peeked over to where they were standing. The three of them had their noses stuck into an old thick book that had chains for a book mark, he rim of the pages were gold and the cover was brown leather. I looked down at the bookshelf and saw that we were in section T, aisle 4.

"Didn't your parents tell you it was wrong to eavesdrop?" Severus Snape snapped and I jumped.

My eyes went to them in lighting speed. The three teenagers had removed their attention from the book and were looking at me. Rosier was already halfway toward me, Regulus closed the book and lifted it to put it in the shelf. The title of the book was in French, a language I spoke fluently so it wasn't hard to figure out. Dark Artefacts and How to Conceal Them, V. II well, that was a blunt title. I looked back to Snape and Rosier, my breathing accelerating as fear ran through my veins. Calm down, you're in school, they cannot hurt you here. I told myself but I wasn't naive enough to believe that was the truth. Accidents happened all the time; they could easily hurt me and make it look like an accident.

"Come here," Rosier spat at me as he took my arm and pulled me to the centre of the hallway harshly.

"What did you hear, Potter?" Snape sneered at me, his crooked nose looking almost like a hook from where I was standing.

Snape was shorter than me so it looked kid of funny that he was trying to intimidate me while looking up at me. I would have laughed if it hadn't been because I was actually scared, no, I was terrified of Rosier and Regulus Black.

"Nothing, I was looking for this spell and I saw someone walk up to this aisle, I just wanted to see who it was," I rushed.

"And what was the Princess of Gryffindor doing in the Restriction Section?" Regulus asked, coming up to me and locking his silver eyes to mine.

I involuntarily shuddered when his wand touched my chin. Why did he have to be so much like his brother? This was wrong, so wrong. Rosier pushed my blonde hair away from my neck and leant in, pressing a sloppy kiss in the hook of my neck. I almost threw up.

"You want to know? I was listing the reasons why you're such a suck-ass mum's baby," I growled at him, my anger taking over.

I had this particular flaw: I let my emotions control me. At first I thought that comment was smart but the moment I saw his hand go backwards and then towards my face, I knew it had been a great mistake. My face whipped to the side at the harshness and strength of the hit, blood started to pour from my lip. I had unconsciously bit it and it had split open.

"You'll pay for that, you little whore," Rosier growled and the others laughed.

"Be fast, we're losing time. Just kill her...or, I'll obliviate her," Snape jumped in, pointing his wand at me.

"No, I think the two of us will have some alone time with her Highness," Rosier said as he whirled me around so I could face him. "You go back, Snape."

"Have it as you want," Snape said and my eyes widened.

He couldn't leave me here, he couldn't. I knew he was bad but he had been friends with Lily, he had been my potions partner for our first three years at Hogwarts. We've always hated each other but we had history he couldn't leave me here. I shot him a pleading look but he simply stared back at me, no emotions on his face or eyes. He turned and left, leaving me completely alone with two Slytherins and I could tell their thoughts weren't exactly pure. I was screwed.