The first year at Hogwarts had gone by without anything significant happening. Lily continued to spend time with her best friend, Severus Snape, a bright but introverted Slytherin student. At the same time, Marlene and (Y/N) often spoke to each other and swapped notes during classes they attended, slowly building an inseparable friendship. Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter had quickly built a strong friendship, eventually branding themselves The Marauders and priding themselves on their mischievous antics. Throughout the first year, they successfully proved themselves to be a collection of nuisances. The four of them had found themselves raveled in a prank war with another student, although they couldn't tell you who it was, mainly because the person had successfully remained elusive.
At the same time, James had grown fond of tormenting Snape, although nobody knew why. He had, however, recruited Sirius and Peter to his course. Remus often became the voice of reason, although it hadn't changed anything. Isolde had bonded with Lily, Marlene, and (Y/N) quickly, finding common ground with them so much so that she was often seen in the Great Hall with the three girls during breakfast, lunch, and dinner and had taken the time to explore the massive castle with them. Allegra had joined them but soon branded them boring and stayed in the common room; she only joined the girls if they were in the Great Hall. Unfortunately, Allegra had yet to find her own set of friends due to her judgemental and entitled attitude and the need to control everything and everyone around her.
At the end of the first year, Hufflepuff had won the House Cup, and Ravenclaw had been crowned Quidditch Champions. The train ride home was filled with talks about summer plans and promises of friends writing to each other. Those with older siblings were reunited for the ride home, whereas those who didn't were soon reunited with their families when the journey to Kings Cross Station ended.
The second year was when things started to heat up. After a comment or two from James about being mischievous, he'd found out who the mystery opponent was in the prank war. (Y/N) had hidden herself rather well at first, a sneaky jinx or curse here and there, normally when going from class to class. Occasionally, she'd switch his books or transfigure something. She hid well enough that he'd never suspected her until she made it obvious. (Y/N) had successfully caught James with the Bat Bogey Hex but had tripped over several things during her escape attempt. From then on, there was no quiet time or peace when the two were around.
"I swear, one day I'm gonna catch her," commented James, as the second-year Gryffindor and Slytherin students left Charms class that afternoon; the last class of the day was the ever-boring History of Magic with the droning Professor Bins. The ghostly man could bore anyone to death, himself included. Most students barely paid attention; some messed around while others inevitably fell asleep.
Remus chuckled loudly to James' oath, and he'd long since worked out what (Y/N)'s secret was. She was different from everyone else. Plus, he knew the odds were very much against James. He'd only catch (Y/N) if and when she wanted him to. The same went for anyone else who attempted to catch the mischievous girl quickly becoming the Bane of Hogwarts. She was quiet, almost innocent, appearing to those who didn't know her, but those who saw her true personality shine knew she was anything but. Gifted with curiosity, she often used to experiment with potions and spells, intelligent beyond her years, clumsy, and mischievous like no other.
"I've got detention with her later on," announced Sirius, recalling the separate incidences in potions that had landed him and (Y/N) in detention. "Slughorn wasn't thrilled when she stumbled over something and knocked everything off the shelves, even less pleased when she managed to turn her cauldron into dancing green goo," he laughed. Poor Slughorn had been mortified when (Y/N) had tripped and caused such a mess, but he had understood it was due to her clumsy nature and that it hadn't meant any harm. On the other hand, the cauldron was harder to explain; Slughorn was unsure whether she'd neglected to listen or had gotten bored and experimented with the different ingredients available.
Sirius had landed a month's detention after ignoring all instructions and mixing the ingredients at the wrong time. This resulted in an acidic sludge-like liquid that melted through everything, destroying the cauldron and bubbling through the thick wooden table, blackening the stone floor below.
"What is it with you and (Y/N)?" questioned James, noticing how Sirius had taken a liking to the mischievous witch; many times since returning for their second year, had he purposely gotten detention when she had. Like the quidditch team, Sirius hadn't shown any interest until he learned (Y/N) had signed up for the tryouts, aiming to earn the position of Chaser. Remus had noticed, too, but said Sirius had met his match and was likely just curious about her Metamorphic abilities; after all, it was rare to come upon someone with those specific abilities. It was so rare that hardly anything was known about them.
"Sirius and (Y/N) sitting in a tree," started Peter, a wide grin stretched across his lips; it quickly faded the moment he looked to his left, where Remus, James, and Sirius had diverted their attention. Walking quietly along with the four boys was (Y/N). A wicked grin of her own painted on her lips as her sapphire eyes shone with the familiar mischievous gleam. With a cheeky wink, she ran to catch up with Marlene, Lily, and Isolde just ahead of the boys. As she did, her regular midnight locks began to turn dark purple. The change quickly sparked most Marauders to question which charm or spell she had used to get her hair to do such a thing. Once again, Remus chuckled, recalling the year prior when he learned (Y/N)'s secret she'd told him after accidentally discovering his. Both had agreed to keep the other's secret.
"Hey, James," called Allegra Smith from behind the group of boys. A bright smile was plastered across her lips as she called for one of the boys she found herself with an innocent crush on. There was no end to the times she had told her roommates how brave she thought James was; she'd also written about him in her little journal. Unsurprisingly, the four boys turned; Allegra was alone; most avoided her, especially the girls with whom she had a competitive streak, often one side.
"To the earlier topic," spoke Sirius, his wicked grin coming to his lips as his fluffy, dark-curly hair blew in the breeze. "Miss-Flirts-A-Lot has a better chance at achieving her yearly goal than you do at catching (Y/N), James," laughed the eldest Black brother. Remus soon laughed loudly again, seeing the truth to the statement, even when Allegra's goals appeared to be causing endless drama and proclaiming she was the most powerful witch of the second year.
The group, including Allegra, were soon walking up the steps to Professor Bin's classroom, immediately being met with playful whispers, and every student present lined up at the back of the room. Only when everyone had arrived did Professor Bins announce a seating plan, whereupon he began to float to each desk and called the names of both students that would sit there? Despite the protest and loud groans of the students, he continued until everyone had their assigned place and work partner. Some were far happier than others.
Peter had been placed in the front row, directly in front of Binn's desk; Allegra was his partner, much to the dismay of both. Whereas Peter kept his complaints to himself, Allegra huffed and puffed. She wanted to be paired with one of her crushes or be in the back row. Neither of which she got. On the row behind, Lily had been paired with Severus; their simple request for the previous lesson had been considered. In the third row, James was paired with Isolde, the furthest from the window, so James couldn't cause any trouble and was as far from Sirius as possible. Close to them were the pair of Samantha Castro and Jessica Rosier and Georgie Wise and Raya Snyde were close by.
Only two pairs were on the back row. Remus and Marlene are in the middle, and Sirius and (Y/N) are near the window. The latter pair were at least grateful for their view while being bored to tears. As expected, the lesson was long and tedious. Professor Bins droned on and on in his usual monotone voice, so much so that he'd not noticed when the pranks began, and students moved around in what appeared to be a game of musical seats. James' attempt to jinx (Y/N) caught a dozing Sirius instead, although the one he sent Snape's way had found its mark. Severus had answered back with a hex of his own just as quickly; to Lily's dismay, the redhead wasted little time reprimanding both.
Allegra had also attempted to get in on the action, finding herself incredibly jealous of her twin sister, Isolde, in the row behind her, laughing and joking with James while swapping notes folded into origami birds with Lily, Marlene, and (Y/N). Of course, Allegra had attempted to Jinx her twin but had failed miserably when nothing happened. Instead, she embarrassed herself and showed how little attention she had paid in charm class. Although her attempt had gained the attention of Samantha, Georgie, Ulrica, and Jessica, almost as if they had seen something in her.
"How'd you get your hair to change color like that?" asked Sirius upon noticing (Y/N)'s hair changing color again, going from dark purple to a lighter lilac shade. He'd watched it slowly change, noticing she never uttered a single word or touched her wand resting in front of her. Her hair had just changed color as if it had a mind of its own. (Y/N) had been doodling before her hair had changed color, scribbling down what looked like potion ingredients and book titles. Just minding her own business. "A potion or a spell?" he asked, suspecting her hair's changing color resulted from an experiment with advanced magic. After all, she was no stranger to trying advanced magic; even seventh-years would struggle with it; sometimes, she failed. Other times, she surprised everyone when she succeeded.
"Magic," simply replied (Y/N). A yawn escaped her shortly thereafter, although the smallest grin appeared afterward. The mischievous gleam appeared once more when she glanced over to Sirius. A bout of giggles escaped her upon seeing his deadpan expression.
"Are you serious?" he worded in response, although he'd admit he'd opened up himself to the quick-witted answer.
"Nope, you're Sirius," laughed (Y/N) in response, bearing witness as the familiar grin appeared across his lips.
"Okay, I'll admit that was a good one," Sirius casually responded, finding something oddly funny about the response. Quickly, he questioned why no one had thought of such a response before. Not even his quick-minded little brother, Regulus, had thought of it. "What do you suppose old Slughorn will have us doing in detention tonight?" he asked, curious if her line of thought was the same as his.
"Cleaning up our messes probably," replied (Y/N), hearing James loudly proclaim he was in love with Professor Bins, Allegra in front of his and Isolde's desk fuming about something with cheeks the color of beetroot, once again it appeared as she was embarrassed by something. Isolde, on the other hand, laughed loudly; there was little doubt she'd been the one to dare James to yell such a thing if only to see if he would do it. "Or replacing the ingredients we used/scattered everywhere," laughed (Y/N), suspecting it would be boring, although she smiled brightly nonetheless.
"Meh, could be worse," voiced Sirius once Bins had turned his attention back to the chalkboard, at least after he'd scared Allegra into returning to her seat. "We could be sent to do tasks with our dear old caretaker, Pringle," he added, recalling seeing the caretaker continue his crusade against Peeves recently. The mischief-loving poltergeist always caused chaos somewhere in the castle and havoc for students and professors alike. It wasn't unusual for Peeves to purposely send students in the wrong direction or juggle something above a selected group. Occasionally, he'd wind up other ghosts, too; his latest target had been Moaning Murtle in the girl's bathroom.
"Or maybe we'll get the fun of trying to prune the Whomping Willow or polishing the old trophies again," laughed (Y/N), knowing the punishments from Pringle could be far more brutal than just cleaning and helping with maintenance. Pringle had been known to whip out corporal punishments before, anything from a simple night in the dungeons to whipping out the old-fashioned cane. The select few had been sent to retrieve something from within the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid.
"I'll take my chances with the cane rather than trying to prune that bloody tree," spoke Sirius, remembering when the Marauders had wandered too close to it not too long ago. James had been whipped back with a thunderous branch to the ribs, and Peter hadn't faired any better with the long twisting vines. Lucky for Sirius, Remus had pulled him out of harm's way before he, too, was thrown around by the defensive tree.
"Come now, where's your sense of adventure," replied (Y/N), recalling her first encounter with the enchanted tree. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her, although she'd admit she'd come out the losing end. A few nights in the hospital wing, there was a nasty-tasting potion as Madam Pomfrey fixed the broken bones.
