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hi. I just wanted to say a few things about this story that you should probably know beforehand so I don't have to add a million things in the author's note or do the classic Clunky Exposition and Explanation thing. none of these are spoilers.first of all, the first few chapters of this are shit. they just are. I was quite young when I started writing this and my skills were not exactly fully-formed. I just wanted to say this so you don't start reading it, go what the fuck this is shit (I do the same if I have to look back it's embarrassing), and stop reading. please just bear with them and then you'll get to the good shit. I do intend to rewrite them but fuck knows when that will be.UPDATE 08/07/22: I am in the process of going back, rewriting, fixing things, changing things, etc. but I will be doing it in bits so I apologise for any inconsistencies with the story between now and when I finish changing what needs to be changed.please for the love of christ take the things that happen in this fic with a grain of fucking salt. people are not perfect and neither are these characters. they are going to fuck up and do questionable things and it might not get addressed until much later on. just trust that if something concerning happens I will explore it properly at some point.while im on this topic, I need to mention that they have sex. yes they're 15 at the start of this fic. yes that is a bit weird. yes I am going to explore this later on as carefully as I can. yes I myself am at that age so no im not sexualising teenagers. no there is no smut in this at all. once again just bear with me here.it swears. a lot. I don't censor cos who can be arsed realistically.most if not all of the main ships in this fandom (im talking wolfstar, dorlene, jily/flowerpott) will happen they're just gonna take a while to get going. just trust the process and all that jazz. this isn't a spoiler its literally in the tags lmao.most of the characters are poc. deal with it lmao. some of yous fancasts are so white its boring. (ruth is jamaican, james is desi, sirius is chinese, remus is ugandan-jewish and welsh, dorcas is somali and lily is lebanese)I know the sirius is east asian headcanon is controversial so I'll change it if anyone feels uncomfortable with it. the only reason im keeping it is that a lot of people who actually are east asian in this fandom like it (the first time I heard of it was from ashes-and-ashes on tumblr who is east asian herself).james also has adhd. it's a pre-established thing, it's not really a plot line at all so it'll only get brought up when it's relevant, just thought I'd say now so no one's confused as I have no idea when it'll get explicitly mentioned or talked about.this fic plays into a few stereotypes that I wasn't aware of until long after I created the plot points. the main one being the fact that ruth is black and her father isn't around. I was literally 11 when I made this up and I had no idea this stereotype existed. however now I know better (thank fuck). im not going to change it for the only reason that it's for the plot (its actually quite important but more on that later). so im just going to apologise for that in advance.I wanted to make this as canon as possible when I first started this, but now I don't care. I am throwing all caution to the wind and letting you know now: THEY DO NOT DIE AT THE END this is going to have a happy ending or so help me godalso The Prank doesn't happen. why? I don't like it, it feels horrifically out of character and this is my story next questionI have a social media version of this as well if you're interested!! I started it more recently and its got some plot stuff that I would ideally like to have in the earlier chapters of this version. ill put them in here if I ever get round to rewriting this. anyways maybe consider checking out that one for the plot stuff if nothing else lmaoI will be updating this if I think of anything else that yous need to know beforehandright now that's out of the way lets fucking begin.

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Lauryn Brinai as Arabella Ruth White yiulanau (instagram) as Sirius Black Marlon Pendlebury as Remus Lupin Devy Jones as James Potter Lewis Capaldi as Peter Pettigrew I don't know how to describe her but a combination of urdeargf (tiktok) and Bree Kish as Lily Evans bbygimtihal (tiktok) as Dorcas Meadowes Staz Lindes as Marlene McKinnon Olivia Cooke as Alice Fortescue Mukasa Kakonge as Kingsley Shacklebolt Dominique Moore as Melanie Jaelle Przemyslaw Cypryanski as Filip Slys Michelle Chantelle Hopewell as Ruth's Mum (Jocelyn White) Amandla Stenberg as Rhea White Sayeed Shahidi as Luke White Katie Braatvedt But Specifically This Photo Of Her as Serafina Romano
https://pin.it/2g6K1ynpizzapizza_nisa (instagram) as Idania Arangoyuukiau (instagram) as Regulus BlackElle Fanning as Pandora

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I woke up that morning to see sunlight streaming in through my window, blinding me as I looked at my watch to see what time it was: 10 am. Exactly 1 hour until I should be on the train to Hogwarts. I quickly changed into a white t-shirt, a pair of black jeans and a black jacket. My trunk was neatly packed into the corner of my room, ready to go. Something soft brushed against my leg. I looked down to see Sooty, my black kitten, whom I had got during the summer to 'teach me some responsibility' according to my mother. I stroked him before entering the bathroom and seeing my mane of hair in the mirror. I wasn't even going to attempt to brush it out. Instead, I closed my eyes and imagined my hair in Dutch braids with gold highlights. I opened my eyes to see my hair looking exactly like that. Oh, the joys of being a metamorphmagus. I could change my appearance at will, which is awesome and useful for pranks. I brushed my teeth and put on some mascara and red lipstick. I wanted to annoy as many teachers as possible the second I got back to school. Namely, Minnie.I ran downstairs to find my mum making scrambled eggs for breakfast. Oh hell yes. "Hi, Mum," I said cheerily."Oh, hello Ruth, dear. I was wondering when you would come down. Now, your breakfast is on the table. You have toast with Marmite, tomatoes and scrambled eggs." she kissed my forehead, which, unlike most people my age, I did not find embarrassing in the slightest. I was just about to sit and eat when I was hit by two leopard cubs. This wasn't dangerous at all. Am I crazy? Yes, but these not-so-big cats were actually my younger brother and sister. I loved the twins, their names were Rhea and Luke and were absolute mayhem. I may or may not have had a bad influence on them. They were 10 years old, meaning that they would be coming to Hogwarts next year.They transformed into their human forms to greet me, "Bella!" they chorused as they literally tackled me to the ground. I heard my mum sigh in exasperation. And why are kids animagi, you may question? Everyone in our house was, apart from me. My metamorphmagus abilities meant that I could transform into an animal without having to be an animagus. Some call it bad parenting on my mum's part, but she believes that we should do whatever the heck we want. This includes being animagi. As long as we're registered. She doesn't want us going to Azkaban anytime soon.I think that now would also be a good time to mention that I have a range of different nicknames. Most people call me a variation of Arabella. Only special people call me Ruth. It's not that I favour one name over the other, I just want people to know I have favourites. No one has ever been allowed to call me Ruth as soon as I have met them. I have to completely trust them first. So, as you can imagine, not many people call me Ruth."Hey! You aren't going to get any hugs if you don't let me stand up." I reasoned. They instantly let me go - they were suckers for hugs. And I do give pretty awesome hugs if I do say so myself. I hugged each twin before attacking my food. I checked my watch again. 10:45am. Where did that time even go? It's not like I spend that long on my makeup. I wolfed down my breakfast before heading upstairs, grabbing my trunk, and coming back down again, cradling Sooty in my arms. He purred as I stroked the top of his head, he loved it when I did that. "I'm all ready to go, Mum!" I called. I did a quick check to make sure I had everything. Yep. All good.Mum put on her coat, "OK, everyone grab my arm," we all did so, "In 3, 2, 1!" Crack! We instantly apparated, disappearing from the house and reappearing in the alleyway we always went to when going to King's Cross Station. We couldn't risk any muggles seeing us. We exited the alleyway to come onto a very busy London street which I believe to be called Euston Road. My watch read 10:53 am, which meant that we had only 7 minutes until I had to be on the train. We broke into a run, and it wasn't long before we were in the station. I loaded my trunk onto a trolley, which I had been dragging the whole time, and we reached the barrier, the barrier to Platform 9 and 3/4.I took a deep breath and ran into the wall. Mum and the twins quickly followed behind me. I pushed my way through the bustling crowd until I reached the door. "Oh, honey, I'm going to miss you." Mum sighed. I hugged her before turning to the twins."Bye!" they said. I kissed each of them."I'll see you at Christmas then, yeah?" I asked."Of course, darling. Now go, before you miss the train." We shared one last hug goodbye, "Owl me as soon as you can!"I put my luggage and Sooty on the train, hopped on and waved adieu to my family. I shut the door and made my way through the corridors to find our usual compartment. Sooty trailed along behind me, staying firmly attatched to my leg. It wasn't long until I found it. I settled on a theatrical-ish entrance. I opened the door but remained hidden so they couldn't see me."Hello? Who's there?" a squeaky voice called whom I assumed to be Peter's.I slid into the view of the four boys, "Ruth!" they exclaimed with big grins on their faces. Sirius looked like he had just been given free rein of a toy store."I'm back!" I said in a sort of sing-song voice..

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"I'm back!" I giggled. I attempted to heave my trunk up on to the shelf, only or it to be taken from my grasp and lifted onto the shelf with ease. "Why thank you, Remus, darling," I smiled sweetly, before turning to the others, "At least one of you is a gentleman," I growled."Sorry, Ruth." They mumbled as if they were half their age. I smiled to myself before taking a seat next to James."So! What did you do over the summer?" I tried to start a conversation."I found out Lily's address!" James exclaimed."Oh, good Lord." I put my head in my hands."What?" James looked genuinely confused."I don't think that stalking Lily will help you in your impossible mission to go out with her," I explained as if talking to a toddler."Does she know?" Sirius asked."Not exactly," James admitted."Merlin help you," I muttered."How on Earth did you find it?" Sirius questioned."A magician never tells his secrets.""But you're not a - ""Ruth, just leave it." Remus interrupted.I crossed my arms and sulked like the mature 15-year-old I am. Suddenly, I remembered about my other friends and got up to leave."Where are you going?" James and Sirius asked me simultaneously."I'm just going to see Lily, I'll be back in a bit." James opened his mouth to speak but I beat him to it, "Absolutely not!" I called, answering his unasked question. It was too early in the year for his Lily bullshit. I ran down the corridor of the train, almost missing the girls' compartment.I looked around the compartment before saying anything. Marlene was painting her nails a bright neon pink, Lily was plaiting Alice's hair, Alice was sitting patiently while reading One Thousand Magical Herbs And Fungi and Dorcas was polishing her new broom. "Hello, darlings!" I greeted. The girls looked at me blankly before realising who it was."Oh my goodness, Ari! I was wondering where you were!" Lily exclaimed.The girls attacked me with hugs and I laughed, "Girls, girls, girls! I can't hug you back if you don't let me breathe!" They loosened their grip on me and I wrapped each girl in a massive bear hug. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I give awesome hugs. We all let go and I took a seat in between the window and Marlene."Ladies, we have a situation!" I announced the second I sat down. Everyone immediately paid full attention to me. "This concerns a certain James Potter. Over the summer, he learned an address. The address of dear Lily here." I stated. "He's been stalking me?!" Lily exclaimed, her face almost the same shade of red as her hair. "For how long?!""I have no clue." I replied simply. At that moment, James appeared in the doorway."Bismillah," muttered Dorcas."I heard my name! Oh, hi Evans! Go out with me?" he greeted cheerily.Lily groaned in frustration and slammed the compartment door in his face. "Well, that escalated quickly." Alice giggled, despite Lily's anger.We chatted for a while, talking about our summers, life in general, Marlene's new boyfriend because the rest of us are single pringles, you know, girly stuff. Around an hour later, Sirius interrupted us."What do you want, Sirius?" I sighed."You said that you would be gone for a bit. It has been over an hour and you have not returned. I have come to collect you." he said patronisingly.I rolled my eyes and followed him out of the compartment, giving the girls a quick wave. "What was the real reason why you brought me back?" I asked."I was bored," he answered. When we got back to the boys, I noticed that James had fallen asleep."Hey, do you want to wake him up?" I asked, nudging Sirius.He looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Of course." We both pulled our wands out and shouted, "Aguamenti!", and James woke up drenched from head to foot in the water."What the hell was that for?!" James yelled. I quickly dried the seat before sitting down. "You were taking up the entire seat! Besides, Sirius was bored." I explained. James grunted and used a charm to dry himself off. I pulled out a pack of Exploding Snap cards from my jacket pocket and turned to face Sirius. "I, Arabella Ruth White, challenge you, Sirius Orion Black III, to a game of Exploding Snap. Do you accept?" I asked."I do." he rolled up his sleeves as if we were about to have a fistfight. Remus put his book down and snatched the cards from my hands to deal them out between us (He had started to referee our matches last year after a particularly aggressive fight that broke out after Sirius beat me for the fifth time in a row. He cheated and he bloody well knew it.). James and Peter stopped whatever they were doing to watch.Remus finished giving them out and started the match with one word, "Begin."

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"We'd better get changed, we're almost at Hogwarts." Remus pointed out, finally looking up from his copy of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them."Alright then, everybody out!" I said, shepherding the boys out of the compartment, "I'll call you back in when I'm done." I shut the door, pulled down the curtain and got my trunk down to get changed into my uniform. However, my definition of 'getting changed into my uniform' is changing my top into the dress shirt, putting on the robes and attempting to tie my tie, which I always seem to fail at. I left on my skinny, black jeans and red converses (this is where my Gryffindor house pride starts to show.) because since when did I ever follow the rules? I put in a pair of large, gold, hooped earrings and reapplied my red lipstick (again, house pride.) before letting the boys back in.They were all in at least half of their uniforms, and all with tied ties. I gave my irresistible puppy eyes and gestured at my tie. Sirius immediately did it for me before sitting down. James and I burst into laughter and the others gave us strange looks."How come you fall for that every time, mate?" James sniggered."Do you know how hard it is to resist her puppy eyes? It's literally impossible!" he exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. We had about 10 minutes left on the journey, and I was getting fidgety. I do that when I'm really hungry/excited/tired. Finally, I decided to change into some sort of animal because it is more fun when I am an animal for some strange reason. Where I had been sitting, was now a slightly smaller-than-average Rottweiler. I jumped down off of the seat and barked to get the boys' attention. They straight away started petting me because I have to say, I am pretty cute as a dog. After a few minutes, I changed back so I could actually talk to the boys."When will we be able to do that?" Peter asked curiously."All in good time, my friend," I answered wisely. "Did you guys want to try to become Animagi this year, then?" I asked, looking at the three boys (Remus didn't count seen as he is a Werewolf, and the reason they were going to attempt to become Animagi in the first place). They nodded their heads in agreement, looking at me eagerly. "Well, I did some research over the summer with the help of my mum and I know exactly what you need to do." Just as I was about to explain, the train came to a stop and everyone started getting off.I grabbed my handbag and jumped off the train with the others. I had to literally hold onto the boys so I wouldn't lose them and get lost in the sea of students. This earned me a couple of cat calls but I ignored them and focused on not getting trampled to death. James ended up giving me a piggyback to make things easier - I enjoyed towering over other people. We reached the carriages and I jumped off of James and straight onto the carriage seat."What's gotten into you?" James asked."What do you mean?" I asked back, confused."You're being really playful all of a sudden," he explained.I just shrugged and we soon arrived at the castle. I hopped off the carriage and skipped merrily inside the great, oak doors of Hogwarts. I was the first person to enter the Great Hall and I ran straight towards my seat. Yes, I have my own seat, and if anyone sits in it, someone's going to get hurt. I am very possessive. As I sat down, I looked around and the seats were slowly being filled. Finally, once everyone was in their seats, Dumbledore stepped up to the golden, owl podium and silence fell around the hall."Good evening, students!" Dumbledore greeted, "I'm glad to see you all back here for another splendid year at Hogwarts. I would like to welcome our new first-years, who will now be sorted into their houses." He stepped down from the podium as a bunch of nervous first-years were led into the hall by a stern-looking McGonagall. My stomach rumbled loudly and I instantly wished that they would hurry up. It seemed to go on forever until the last child sat down at the Ravenclaw table and Dumbledore stood up to speak again. "Now I shall not delay your dinner any longer. Let the feast begin." I cheered along with James and Sirius who were all longing for food. Everyone stared at us but I was too busy piling up my plate with food.By the end of it, I had eaten so much that it was hard to believe that I hadn't exploded already. Magic, eh? We trekked up to the Fat Lady's portrait and slipped inside the common room. Luckily, there was no need for the password seen as there was a large group of first-years and prefects that were all going in at the same time.I flopped straight onto the sofa, so stuffed with food I felt as if I was going to burst. Remus rolled his eyes at me before sinking into the armchair next to me. I noticed James, Sirius, and Peter climbing through the portrait hole, trying hard to not step on anyone's feet. Sirius plopped down next to me, "Budge up, Merlin how much room do you need?" I reluctantly moved to the end of the sofa and Sirius moved also so James could sit. Peter sat in the other armchair looking quite unsure of what to do with himself."So!" Sirius began, looking at me eagerly, "Back to the Anima-""SHHH!" Remus and I exclaimed, wary of other students walking past. Sirius gave us a questioning look. I gestured to any on-lookers in the common room and he understood. "Tomorrow, after class," I whispered, indicating when I would talk to them about how they would transform into Animagi.I checked the clock. It was almost 8 o'clock. I decided to go in for an early night so I could catch up on my sleep. I said goodnight to the boys and made my way up to the girls' dormitory.

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The way I woke up that morning was far from graceful. It wasn't until I opened my eyes that I noticed I was on the cold, hard floor of our dormitory. I sat up slowly, yawning as I was not used to waking up this early. I looked around the room and the girls were all getting ready for school. Great. Dorcas was looking at me somewhat guiltily but looked away as soon as I caught her eye.
Oh.
That's why I was on the floor.
"Who pushed me out of bed?" I sighed, already knowing that that was what had happened. I raised an eyebrow at the girls as I got up and started getting ready myself.
"Marlene did it!" Alice pointed at her, earning a glare in her direction.
"Och, flin me under the fucking bus, wa don't ye?" she all but yelled in her thick Scottish accent.
"Language," Lily warned darkly. Stupid Lily with her stupid prefect bullshit and stupid innocence.
"Marlene, I can't believe you would betray me like that!" I put my hand over my heart in mock offence. Of course I could believe that, she's the only person who is brave enough to cross me.
"Dorcas told me tae in the first place! She said ye had had enough beauty sleep!"
"Oi! Those weren't my exact words! I just said she needs to get a move on, that's all!"
"Awe rite honey but you're foolin nobody."
I sighed and started getting dressed into half of my uniform because since when did I ever get fully dressed? I decided on a pair of denim blue bell-bottoms along with my dress shirt, Hogwarts robe and some white platform shoes. What can I say? I want to make an impression on our first day of lessons. To add to this, I applied some makeup in our shared bathroom. Namely, silver glittery eyeshadow, bright red lipstick and thick mascara. I also put in my trusty gold hoop earrings and I let my hair fall naturally. I admired my reflection in the mirror and, I have to say, I looked fabulous.
Exactly what I was going for.
I saw Lily give me a disapproving look to which I responded with a sweet smile as I grabbed my bag and left the dormitory. Clearly, the boys had decided to not wait for me and head straight to the hall. How nice of them.
I made my way down there, my heels clicking on the stone floors of the school. A lot of people stared in my direction as I walked, most of them being mesmerised first years who couldn't believe someone would actually dress like me on the first day. I earned a few wolf whistles from a group of boys standing at the side of the corridor. A couple of them were pretty cute, not gonna lie, so I winked at them and carried on. I finally reached the Great Hall and entered with a swish of my robe because I'm dramatic like that. I sensed a lot of eyes on me but I just wanted to sit down and eat because I'm a hungry bitch and nobody comes between me and my food.
I found our table and, just as I thought, the boys were already there. I sat down between Remus and Sirius, opposite James and Peter, with another swish of my robe, "So kind of you to wait for me," I said, my voice dripping in sarcasm.
"It's not our fault you take forever to get ready," James said, shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
"Well I'm sorry darling but it takes time to look this fabulous," I started piling food onto my plate, knowing full well I wouldn't eat it all.
"We got our time tables before you got here," Remus interjected before James could retaliate. He handed me my timetable and I thanked him quietly, studying the slip of paper carefully.
"What day is it?" I asked, genuinely not knowing what lessons we had today. I heard an exasperated sigh from my left which I could only assume was from Remus.
"It's Tuesday," Peter piped up. I smiled at him gratefully and went to check what we had today.
And then I screamed.
"What is it now?" Sirius asked, seemingly already bored of my dramatic antics.
"We have fucking History Of Magic first," I groaned, rolling off of the bench and flopping onto the floor on my back like a corpse, "I am dead. Don't come to my funeral."
"Miss White, what on earth are you doing on the floor?" a familiar voice from above demanded.
"Is that you God? It's just you sound a lot more like Minnie than I imagined," I said, earning a few childish giggles from the table.
"Miss White, please get off of the floor," Minnie said, giving me a pointed look.
"Alright, alright, I'll get up, don't fret," I stood up and returned her glare with a immature smirk, "How may I help you, madam?" I curtsied politely and heard more snickers from the boys.
"You may help me by somehow giving me the strength to put up with you five this year," she said. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, Minnie.
"I can try but no promises," I smiled and sat back down to finish my breakfast.
"I trust you all had a good summer?" she inquired. I felt Sirius tense up next to me so I grabbed his free hand supportively. A chorus of 'yeahs' came from the rest of us, however Sirius only nodded, gritting his teeth.
Minnie seemed to catch on to this, "Well, you all know you can come and talk to me in my office if there is anything you need to get off your chest. I shall see you later," she walked off back to the teacher's table.
"You OK, dear?" I asked, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. He replied with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. I left it at that, not wanting to press the matter further. Letting go of his hand, I quickly ate more of my food as the boys had almost finished theirs.
We talked a bit more before making our way to the cursed class that is History Of Magic. Honestly, I will fail this on purpose if it means I don't have to take it next year. Although knowing me, I wouldn't have to make myself fail. Professor Binns had actually made a seating plan for once this year and, after seeing that I was sitting next to Sirius and behind Remus, took my seat. I don't know what the point of the seating plan would be if he was going to sit us near each other anyway but oh well. It's not like I'm complaining.
Sirius immediately started chatting up the girl sitting behind us which reminded me that I now had to find a boyfriend as soon as possible. Not because I'm needy, but just because it's fun having a new boyfriend every other week. Don't judge me.
Binns started calling out the register and as I'm usually at the end somewhere, I didn't really pay attention. Except an eerie silence had fallen over the classroom after he had called the first out the first name, "Idania?"
Nothing. The name seemed familiar but I wasn't sure where from.
"Idania?"
Still nothing. It still wasn't ringing any bells.
"Idania Arango?"
And that's when the name clicked. I had never properly met the girl before but I had definitely seen her in a couple of my classes through the years. Her navy blue hair meant you could always spot her in a crowd. And if that wasn't enough to single her out, she had a shit load of piercings in her ears and nose. But I couldn't help but recall that she never really spoke.
Oh.
I had never heard her speak.
Oh shit.
I had never heard Idania speak because she couldn't speak.
Because she was deaf.
Fuck.
I frantically looked around the room to find this mystery girl until I realised she was sitting right in front of me, next to Remus. I leaned over the desk to lightly tap her on the shoulder. Her head whipped round to face me and I just pointed at the teacher. Her eyes widened in panic and a deep blush flooded her tan skin. She sheepishly turned back round and raised her hand. Binns sighed and continued with the register and the class resumed their conversations. Idania turned back to me, touched her chin with her fingers and brought her arm down so her palm was facing up. She mouthed something as she did this and it took her a couple of tries for me to understand that she was thanking me. I smiled kindly back at her, waving my hand as it to say 'no worries'. She seemed a bit flustered as she faced the board once again.
Of course I didn't want her to feel too embarrassed so I caught Remus's attention, "Hey, Remus! Remus!"
He reluctantly looked at me, "What do you want Ruth?"
"Could you try having a conversation with Idania so she doesn't feel too uncomfortable?" I felt quite bad talking about her when she was right there and I felt even worse when I told myself that she couldn't hear me.
"And how do you suggest I do that? I don't know sign language," he replied.
I rolled my eyes at the boy, "Darling, it's not hard. Just write something on a piece of paper and show it to her! She's deaf, not an alien."
He nodded somewhat nervously at me before doing what I had said. Why was he nervous? She doesn't bite. Or at least I don't think she does. I just put it down to him being a socially awkward peanut and watched him pass the note into her line of vision. She hesitated before reading whatever Remus had written. She gave him a look of almost childlike joy before writing a reply.
This repeated for a few minutes before I nudged Sirius and whispered to him, "Look at the pair of them!"
"Aw that's cute," he murmured back, completely blanking the girl he had been talking to, "Is that the girl from earlier?"
"Idania? Yeah, that's her."
The sweet exchange went on like that for the rest of the lesson. One would read and write their message while the other would take down notes and actually try and participate in the lesson. She must have been interesting, as she somehow managed to distract Remus from the lesson, which was a near impossible task, even for me and the boys. Both of them appeared to be sad when the end of the lesson came. Remus gave a small wave and Idania returned it pitter-pattering her fingers up and down, like one of Sirius's girlfriends would do to get his attention. He blushed lightly as she raced out of the room.
"Remus has a crush!" I said in a sing song tone, skipping up to him. The other boys caught up with us and we started walking to our next lesson. While Sirius and I kept teasing the poor boy, James and Peter were confused as fuck as they had been sitting on the other side of the room and had no idea what had happened.
"Any of you care to explain?" James raised his eyebrows at us.
"Remus is in loooOOOOOOOOoooooooove!" I grinned, twirling around and letting my robe flare out like a ballgown, "He was definitely chatting up Idania!"
"I was not chatting her up! We were just having a conversation!" Remus tried to defend himself but none of us were buying it.
"Isn't she the deaf girl?" James asked, cocking his head to the side.
I rolled my eyes, "Darling, there's more to the girl than her having one less sense than you."
James looked incredibly guilty after this and I smirked to myself. Well at least I had something to gush about with the girls now. Who could imagine that? Remus Lupin having a crush. I couldn't blame him. Idania seemed to be very intriguing and she must be quite bold to have her hair that colour. I didn't even know if that was allowed, even though I made my hair have different colours from time to time.
Anyway, this was going to be fun.

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The sight before me was one I never thought I would ever see in my entire fucking life.My boys in the library. Reading. Quietly. I would have thought I was in an parallel universe if it hadn't taken Remus and I almost an hour to convince the boys to come. This was only to double check the information my mum had given me about the Animagus process as I wouldn't put it past her to either forget or give us the wrong instructions. They had argued we could easily do it in the common room but I didn't want anyone to eavesdrop on us. I am not going to Azkaban any time soon because that place looks crusty as fuck. James had faked a note from a teacher so we could get some books from the Restricted Section on the subject. He is dangerously good at fraud. So, while Peter, James, Sirius and I researched in near silence, Remus appeared to be reading a muggle book of some sort. I frequently looked up from my book to Remus, growing more and more confused. On top of reading an irrelevant book, he also kept doing strange hand and arm movements every 10 seconds. In the end, my curiosity got the better of me and I just put down my book and stared intensively at my strange friend until he looked up at me."What are you looking at?" he snapped at me, clearly not appreciating the interruption."You, darling. You're reading a book that has nothing to do with our research and you keep flapping your arms around like a drunk seagull. Sorry for being a tad confused," I said simply. I earned a glare from Madame Pince at the volume of my voice but I just ignored, more interested in Remus's explanation."Umm, I don't know, it's kind of weird. You might judge me," he muttered, staring down at the table to avoid my gaze, quite uncomfortable with my sudden confrontation. I instantly felt sorry for him and how insecure he could be sometimes, and I was kind of guilty for inducing this but I was still determined to find out was he was doing."Darling, you could pull out a pair of maracas, put on a pink feather boa, jump on the table and start screaming at the top of your voice and I still wouldn't judge you. What are you doing?"He hesitated before answering, "Well, you know how I've been communicating with Idania by writing things down?" I nodded, indicating he should continue. It had been 3 days since that fateful lesson when they started having a conversation and they had repeated this today as we had had History Of Magic again, "Well, I had an idea while we were talking, so to speak. I decided that I would try and learn sign language to surprise her," he mumbled the last part so I could only just hear him. He looked up at me, waiting for whatever rude comment he was expecting me to make.Much to his surprise, I broke out into a huge grin and clasped my hands tightly, "No way! Really?"His eyes widened in shock and a small smile began to form on his solemn face, "Yeah, I wanted to try and be a bit more inclusive with her so what better way to do that than to speak, or rather sign her language?"I squealed with delight, clapping my hands excitedly and practically jumping up and down in my seat. Cue another glare from Pince. I knew this was a big deal as Remus could be a stone cold bitch if he wanted, especially with strangers. It was only when he cared - deeply cared - about someone would he actually make an effort with them and therefore do things like this. Being the introvert that he is, caring about someone he had only known for mere days was pretty much unheard of. Idania was one special girl and she didn't even know it. That, however, lead me to other conclusions. Did Remus like her? Did she like him? Had I accidentally started a romance that would bloom for years to come? OK, I'm getting ahead of myself but it was certainly a possibility. I turned around to face the others, who were somehow oblivious to our entire conversation."Guys, guys, guys!" I exclaimed, causing them all to look at me with a mixture of annoyance and interest, "Remus has something to tell you!" Was it cruel of me to force Remus to explain this himself when I could? Probably. But I'm evil like that and he could be worse if he wanted.Remus gave me a look of frustration, as expected, and awkwardly explained the situation to the boys. A lot of screaming, mainly from James, ensued which resulted in us getting chucked out of the library. Mysteriously, a message appeared on a wall in one of the corridors reading "Pince is a stuck up slag" the next day which may or may not had something to do with me.We returned to the common room and went straight up to the boys' dormitory to chat and to put our books away for when we needed them later. We had only just sat down when I gasped, having remembered something very important. The boys looked at me questioningly so I announced, "I need cake."I was met with blank stares and a sigh I assumed was from Sirius, "When do you not?"I gave him a pointed look and explained why I needed cake so badly, "It's Freddie Mercury's birthday today!"Still, the boys were unresponsive until James piped up, "Who's Freddie Mercury?" That question alone made me want to jump off of the Ravenclaw tower. Instead, I decided it was my responsibility to educate these idiotic crumbs I call friends and enlighten them with the glory that is Queen.I took a deep breath and began an unnecessarily long yet fast explanation, "Freddie Mercury is the lead singer of my favourite band in the entire world, Queen. Queen also consists of Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon and they all are immensely talented but kind of underrated. Freddie is as camp as it gets and has an amazing sense of fashion. He is a fucking savage when it comes to interviews but he is actually so sweet it makes me cry. His singing his otherworldly and if anyone wants to talk shit about his teeth then I legally have to murder you on the spot. His 29th birthday is today so I have to eat cake in his honour."Everyone's jaw dropped simultaneously at how much I knew about him but James still looked rather confused."He's the one that looks a bit like Sirius," I added, gesturing to a poster I had stuck up on the wall last year. Since I slept here half the time, I therefore had the right to put up any posters I wished. The one I was pointing to in particular was the white picture from inside the Queen II vinyl. James seemed to recognise Freddie now, as did the others, but Sirius looked a bit smug."So you're saying that I look like the lead singer of your favourite band?" he asked."Quite clearly, yes," I nodded slowly, not sure where he was going with this."Do you think that this guy is handsome then?" Oh for fuck's sake Sirius. I couldn't say no, obviously, but I didn't want to add fuel to the fire that is Sirius Black's ego. I simply stared at him rather aggressively to which he returned with a look of triumph."Back to my original point, I still need cake," I repeated, looking around to see if anyone was willing to go to the kitchens with me."I could probably do with some chocolate, in whatever form that may be," Remus suggested. I smiled at him gratefully."Can I come?" the small voice that belonged to Peter squeaked, going red with embarrassment for whatever reason."Of course, darling, the more the merrier," I reassured him. When the other two had made it clear they were staying put so they could talk about Quidditch, I all but skipped down to the kitchens with Remus and Peter not far behind.

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"If Remus doesn't hurry the fuck up then I'm leaving."On any other Friday night, what I would need would be to blow off some steam after a long week. What I would need would be to have a party. What I would need would be to make out with my latest victim/boyfriend. What I would need would be to get absolutely shitfaced. But no. Not on this Friday night. Oh no. On this Friday night, while I wanted to be doing something worth my energy, I was waiting for one of my dickhead friends to come to the Gryffindor common room as he apparently had some amazing news.Amazing news, my arse.I swear on my record player, that boy is walking a fine line of either being my friend or getting fucking smacked. A very fine line. About as fine as a grain of salt. Speaking of salt, Remus was getting a shitload in his tea tomorrow morning if he didn't get here within the next minute.I'm such a great friend, aren't I?"I'm serious, this better not be a joke," I huffed, slouching against the boy whose lap I was currently sitting on. Rick or Dick or something like that. All I could remember was that his face was vaguely reminiscent of a young David Bowie and honestly, I like that in a guy. He softly caressed my thigh with his thumb and pressing a rather wet kiss to the back of my neck. The thought was there at least, even if the hand on my leg was getting a bit too far up for my liking.Peter gave me a pointed look, "You need to calm down, he's only a couple minutes late.""What about the time we were, what, 5 minutes late to lunch? You looked as if you were going to have a mental breakdown right there and then," James smirked, no real malice behind the statement. It still made Peter blush furiously to which James only ruffled his hair."You just want him to hurry up so you can shag your friend in a broom cupboard," Sirius said, sounding like a disappointed father."Darling, you're a fine one to talk, or are we going to let go of the incident where Filch locked you in a cupboard while you were fucking some girl last year?" I retorted, only resulting in a staring contest between us. OK, so maybe we were both, let's say, experienced in that department. Was it a good thing? Probably not. Was it legal? Oh, fuck no. The law was just something that happened to other people really. This only started in the first place because of a extremely impractical bet that was made in our third year."Sirius Black, you whore.""I am no whore! I am as pure as Jesus Christ himself!""If you're as pure as Jesus then Ruth is bloody God.""Fuck off Peter.""I'm good thanks.""Sirius, I have not let you go just yet, young man. I know the walk of shame when I see it.""Yeah from all the guys that you've made traipse out of our room after an interesting date.""Fuck off Peter.""Whatever. I could still get more shags than you.""You wanna bet?""Alright then."Whoever got more shags by the time we left Hogwarts got 100 galleons from the loser. Which is bad because I don't have 100 galleons. And I reckon Sirius doesn't either. Hence why we were both so keen to win. Although if I'm honest, if I managed to keep whatever would be left of my dignity in tact by the end of our seventh year, that would be enough for me. Not that I would ever admit that to Sirius. "Oh, look here he comes," James nodded in Remus's direction, who was now making his way through the common room to us. The statement did, however, put an end to the rather childish staring contest that Sirius and I had refused to back down from. Until now. Dammit Remus."You took your time," I raised my eyebrows at him as he stood before us, "What the fuck is this all about then?" We all looked at him expectantly, practically drowning in anticipation."I have some news," he said, taking a deep breath."No shit Sherlock," Peter interjected, voice dripping with sarcasm. Remus glared at him before continuing, "I trust you all know Idania," he began slowly, as if he wasn't sure how he was going to deliver his apparent news. Unfortunately, he had chosen to be friends with a bunch of impatient bastards who had no concept of waiting for someone. Sirius exaggerated a yawn and James looked at the watch he wore for the sole purpose of looking like, and I quote, "a smart hot guy but not too smart to be considered stuck up"."Anyway, there has been an interesting development," he said, taking a painfully long time to get to the fucking point. After saying this, he gestured behind us and we naturally turned our heads to look. Except there was nothing there.Remus what.I turned back to him and was about to ask him this when I noticed that he was now accompanied by a certain blue-haired girl. How the fuck she got there that quickly and that quietly, I would never know. I clutched my chest and breathed heavily, grabbing onto David Bowie-lookalike for support, "Is it too much to ask for you to go one day without almost giving me a heart attack? Just one day, that's all I ask."Idania of course looked rather confused, bless her, and Remus quickly signed for her. Realisation dawned on her face and she breathed shortly through her nose, which I assumed to be how she laughed. This drew my attention to her nose and now I could see her properly, I had the chance to admire her nose piercings properly. She had two silver studs in the left side and a matching ring going through the middle of her nose which reminded me somewhat of a bull. Her hair was styled in two French braids, so loose that I was terrified they would fall out at any given moment, coming to a bun at the bottom of her head. This also allowed me to also see her ear piercings in all their glory. She had two crystal studs in her right ear, meanwhile in her left, she had a hanging moon and star with a chain dangling from the bottom of it, three studs not unlike the ones in the other ear, two rings on the side of her ear and a stud and ring near the entrance of the ear. That was a lot of piercings but she pulled it off fabulously. She was probably breaking more rules in her appearance alone than I had all week and I did not like that, no matter how fucking amazing she looked.Idania started signing rapidly and Remus thankfully translated for us, "Err, she says seen as Remus here is taking far too long, I'll make it easier for you all," this resulted in a look from him that clearly screamed 'what did I do to you', "Remus and I are going out!"I fucking knew it.Thank God I didn't have to spend the entire year watching them make heart eyes at each other but continuously deny the other liked them back. We interrogated them for a while, discovering all the important details such as who asked who (she asked him), when it happened (yesterday) and when their first date would be (tomorrow). They happily gushed about the blooming relationship, much to my delight, but I couldn't help but notice the almost uncomfortable look on Sirius's face when he thought no one was looking.*************"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Sirius practically yelled, staring at the book in his hands."Sorry but that's the first step," I shrugged, smug as hell that I didn't have to go through that. He was currently staring at my notebook that had clearly written the step by step instructions for becoming an Animagus.And the first part?Keeping a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month.A whole month.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.I didn't have to do that and you can bet I wouldn't let Peter, James and especially Sirius forget it."It's not that bad, you can still talk and drink and eat," Remus pointed out from his hospital bed, "It will just take a lot of getting used to.""The only thing you can't do is kiss," I said in a sing-song voice that really did not help with calming Sirius down, "Such a shame, isn't it? No sex for a whole month. Guess I'll just have to have as much as possible so you can't catch me and win the bet," I smiled as sweetly as I could and Sirius probably would have smacked me there and then if Remus wasn't giving him what we sometimes call the teacher's glare.He had to settle for a simple, "Fuck off Ruth.""That's exactly what I intend to do, darling," I said, trying ridiculously hard to not laugh. Luckily, James and Peter returned from the greenhouses with the mandrake leaves before Sirius could retaliate and before Remus could scold me again. Even when the full moon was a mere minutes away he could still snappy. Perhaps now even more so. James started handing out the leaves - we had a few spare in case, Merlin forbid, we needed them."So remember what my mum said," I reminded quickly as I could see Minnie and Poppy coming over to collect Remus out of the corner of my eye, "As soon as we see the full moon, everybody put their leaf in their mouth, OK?" Everybody nodded and hid their leaves as the teachers came closer. Remus grimaced when Minnie said grimly, "Come now, Lupin." I shot him a sad smile as he trudged out of the hospital wing. Even though this had been happening every month for near enough 10 years now, I still felt a strange sense of melancholy and maybe even guilt. I hated having to watch one of my best friends go through the mental and physical pain that came with being a werewolf and not being able to do anything about it. I guess we would just have to wait together and hope and pray to a God that may or may not exist that he would be OK.

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I don't often receive owl mail. I just don't. No idea why. My darling bastards of siblings can never be bothered to write to me, claiming that if they send me loads of letters then we'll have nothing to talk about when I get home. Which is fair enough. Even if it does seem a bit rude. But oh well. What are you going to do?The only good thing about it, however, was that when I did get owl mail, it was always about something important. Some of my favourite letters have been from Rhea telling me that she never intended to speak to Luke ever again, only for her to reverse this statement only one day later; one from Mum telling me that the lady who owned the chippy on the pier had had a baby; and one from Luke telling me that said baby had shat on the carpet of his bedroom and that he now had to share with Rhea.So, going by this logic, every letter I will ever get while at Hogwarts is guaranteed to be either important, amusing or both. This means it's worth my time. I reminded myself of this when I acquired my first letter of the year on a misty Friday morning which just so happened to be Halloween. As it was a Friday, I was naturally exhausted after the long week we had had (our OWLs must have been catching up with me). This was why I felt the need to remind myself that I absolutely had to read this letter. It could remodel my entire life my life for all I knew. The untidy bordering on illegible handwriting on the envelope clearly told me it was from Mum. I ripped it open and not one but two things were inside: a short letter from Mum and a small parcel which was the unmistakable size and shape of a single vinyl record.
Hello Ruth,
I actually apparated to just outside the school gates to owl this to you as it couldn't wait any longer. This morning Queen released a new single and you'll find it enclosed in the envelope. It's called Bohemian Rhapsody and the B-side is called I'm In Love With My Car. God knows what inspires them to make these songs. Steve from the record shop down the road says both songs are superb and that you'll like them if not love them. No news as to when the album is coming yet.
I hope everything's been going alright at school. How is the "project" going? Please tell me you've started by now, it's not fair on Remus to keep him waiting for this long. Sorry for not owling you sooner but to be honest, nothing much has happened in the two months you've been gone. The only thing really worth noting is that someone tried to shoplift some things from the shop so I threw a bucket and spade at them. They haven't come back since.
Luke and Rhea send their love of course, not that they would ever admit it in the presence of the other. Trixie from next door also asked me to check up on you as she hadn't seen you much all summer. I can't wait for Christmas so you can come back, thankfully it's only less than a couple of months. I'm slowly losing my mind without anyone else here to have an intelligent conversation with.
Love you lots,
Mum xxx
Fuck yes, Mum.She is an actual savage and I love that so much. Only she would get away with throwing kids toys at thieves. Sounds like he deserved it though. What kind of crackhead would assume they could steal from my mum and get away with it. I made a promise to myself to reply to her after lessons had ended for the day.But on a more important note. Queen released a new single.Two new songs.Holy shitting fuckity fuck on a crumpet.FINALLY NEW MATERIAL.AFTER A FUCKING YEAR.YES.The gods must have been smiling at me that day for this was a glory that not even Clotho could have foreseen. I unwrapped the record, more carefully this time as to not scratch it, and, true to Steve's word, there was the vinyl: Bohemian Rhapsody. Whatever the fuck that meant. Sounded pretty epic though."Are you OK Ruth?" Remus asked, mock concern lacing his voice. He'd given up on trying to teach us how to stay alive years ago, now he merely observed and occasionally saved our lives. Honestly, bless that boy. However, it wasn't until he had asked this question that I realised this wasn't the first time the boys had tried to get my attention since I received the letter."I'm fan-fucking-tastic, darling. Never been better," I grinned."Now here's the thing, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not," Peter chuckled, causing me to lightly whack him around the back of the head."No, you bloody wanker, I am genuinely joyful.""Well that's new," Sirius muttered, earning him also a small smack. I would never properly hit any of my friends unless they had absolutely betrayed me. Which was unlikely."What's so good about this letter then?" James asked earnestly, just a tad confused.I smirked at him, "If you come and bunk this lesson with me then you'll find out."So that's how the boys and I ended up in the Room of Requirement, listening to Queen's latest song, instead of being in Divination.At some point during my first year, I found out about the Room of Requirement when I overheard a conversation between some 7th years. Upon discovering this, I promptly went to the room's location, wishing for a space for music. A bit vague, I must admit, but at the time, I had merely been searching for a place to keep my record player and vinyls. The room itself was not as plain as I first visualized. Many wooden, modest-sized crates and boxes filled to the brim with my records were scattered around - more of an organised mess than you might expect. Each crate was dedicated to a certain artist who I loved: Queen, Elton John, David Bowie, The Beatles, etc. My scarlet, black and gold record player sat proudly on top of a dark oak cupboard that existed for purely decorative purposes. A grand piano stood on the other side of the spacious room next to a throne of sorts that I felt was necessary to have. A crimson, old-fashioned sofa was positioned at the back of the room with an identical ivory one opposite it. Fairy lights were tangled in just about everything in the room, adding to the general aesthetic rather than any form of assistance. If anything, it was more of a nuisance but I would never sacrifice the atmosphere it presented.The boys plonked themselves on the leather sofas as I crouched down, carefully placed the record on the turntable and adjusted the speed from the usual 33 RPM to the 45 setting. I put the needle on the rim of the record and sat cross-legged on the floor next to the speakers. I loved to have them right next to my ears whenever I listened to a record for the first time. Especially when it came to Queen – it didn't escape my attention that the sound often went from one speaker to the other. I closed my eyes softly when I heard the familiar crackle that always made me grin like an idiot. There was something about focusing on just my hearing and giving my other senses break. That was how music was supposed to be – for your ears.
Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?
The strong harmonies rang throughout the room, almost echoing.
Caught in a landslide

No escape from reality

Open your eyes

Look up to the skies and see
The piano started to creep in, gradually getting louder as the song progressed.
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Freddie's effortlessly recognisable voice sung alone for a moment, only for the harmonies to make a comeback.
Because I'm easy come, easy go

Little high, little low
The lyrics filled both of my ears, left then right. It was so stereotypically Queen; it was like their seal, their stamp, their trademark that said 'Yeah, we did that'.
Anyway, the wind blows

Doesn't really matter to me, to me
The repetitive notes of the piano and John's wonderful bass sound played alone for a couple of bars.
Mama, just killed a man

Put a gun against his head

Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Somewhat taken aback by the dark turn the lyrics had taken, I felt goosebumps up and down my arms as a reaction to the melancholic feel of the song.
Mama, life had just begun

But now I've gone and thrown it all away
The song as a whole rose to a crescendo. I could hear the emotion and passion in Freddie's voice – it was almost ethereal.
Mama, ooh, ooh

Didn't mean to make you cry

If I'm not back again this time tomorrow

Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters
The volume suddenly decreased. Roger's drumming became more prominent in this verse.
Too late, my time has come

Sends shivers down my spine

Body's aching all the time

Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go

Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth

Mama, ooh (anyway the wind blows) I don't want to die

I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
The lyrics got darker if that was even possible. The clear, sharp sound of Brian's guitar solo filled every inch of the room. After about half a minute of glorious guitar, all of the instruments were cut short by quiet, staccato piano chords.
I see a little silhouetto of a man

Scaramouch, Scaramouch will you do the fandango
I wasn't exactly expecting a full-on choir that was truly just Freddie, Roger and Brian's voices on top of each other, over and over again. I dreaded to imagine how long that must have taken to record.
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me

Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo,

Galileo Figaro magnifico
The 'Galileo's made me giggle: how the fuck could Roger sing higher than me? I understand that I'm an alto but he's a bloke!
But I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me

He's just a poor boy from a poor family

Spare him his life from this monstrosity

Easy come easy go will you let me go

Bismillah, no we will not let you go, let him go

Bismillah, we will not let you go, let him go

Bismillah, we will not let you go, let me go
A tiny smile crept its way onto my face at hearing 'Bismillah'. It was a word that I had heard Dorcas say on numerous occasions.
Will not let you go, let me go (never)

Never let you go, let me go

Never let me go, ooh

No, no, no, no, no, no, no

Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me

For me, for me
Roger's ridiculously high voice filled my ears once again, even higher-pitched this time around. Louder, more rock-orientated music blasted out of the speakers of the record player. I couldn't help but bang my head along to it. It was like being hypnotised; you couldn't control your movements.
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye

So you think you can love me and leave me to die

Oh baby, can't do this to me baby

Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here
The song quietened down again, not unlike how it had been at the beginning.
Ooh yeah, ooh yeah nothing really matters

Anyone can see nothing really matters

Nothing really matters to me

Anyway, the wind blows
The last line was barely audible but fortunately, I could make out Freddie's voice from my spot next to the speakers. When I finally opened my eyes again, I could see the boys had been straining to hear it. A gong sounded throughout the room, marking the end of the song.I glanced at the boys, wanting to observe their reactions to the near enough six-minute masterpiece we had just had the privilege of hearing."That was definitely worth missing Divination for," Remus chuckled and honestly, that was the best I could have ever hoped for. We spent the next 20 minutes gushing about the song and listening to it again about 2 or 3 times. Only after this did we realise that we hadn't yet listened to the B-side: I'm In Love With My Car. Unsurprisingly, it was written and sung by Roger and was indeed about him being in love with his car. Not quite sure what I was expecting if I'm honest. It turned out to actually be a brilliant song and the boys and I had a blast rocking out to it.Suddenly I had an epiphany. That absolutely, completely, positively could not wait a moment longer.So naturally, I had to tell the boys."Guys, guys, guys!" I exclaimed, everyone turning their heads to stare at me like they were a clan of meerkats, "Remember our Halloween prank tonight at dinner? Change of plan."**********The rest of the day was a fairly normal affair. I could hardly concentrate because my mind was buzzing with thoughts about Queen and our prank tonight. Nothing out of the ordinary then.By the time dinner came around, the excitement was radiating off us in waves. Somehow, this was the first prank we had done all year, which was certainly saying something. Just as Dumbledore stood up from his seat to give one if his famed speeches, I tapped on the table to signify the start of the prank. Peter took his cue and murmured a charm, making all of the candles suddenly blow out and plunging the Great Hall into darkness. Hushed whispers from confused students were suddenly silenced by the sound of a microphone whistling. This meant Remus had executed his part of the plan, now it was time for James's. Being the best at Transfiguration out of all of us, his job was to transform the metal torches at the tops of the walls into various different instruments - guitars, basses, drums, pianos, gongs, wind chimes, etc. Now for my part. I charmed all of the floating pumpkins in the hall so they would sing. Which song you ask? Bohemian Rhapsody, of course, my dears. I smiled when the familiar voices of Queen echoed all around the Great Hall. Once the acapella part of the song was over, Sirius charmed the newly made instruments so they would play their respective parts when needed. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing: even in the darkness, I could make out some facial expressions that could only be described as a mixture of confusion, annoyance, glee and defeat.The song seemed to be over before it had even begun, which was a shame. Everyone applauded as we reversed the spells and Dumbledore actually congratulated us in his speech! McGonagall, however, reprimanded us and gave us detentions for disrupting the dinner or some bullshit like that. I personally believed she secretly loved the prank. Maybe the eye roll suggested this as she trooped back to the teacher's table. Or maybe I had imagined it.Who even knows any more?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Never before had Diwali fell on and around Sirius's birthday. James had joked about it many a time in the past but the look on his face when he discovered the date of the next new moon in Astronomy was one of surprise and amusement. This meant Sirius's usual birthday celebrations - a.k.a. a ridiculous party - would have to be slightly altered. Not that the birthday boy minded an awful lot. He was rather fond of the traditions involved and his face lit up like the diyas themselves. The day before had been spent creating Rangoli patterns on the floor of their room, Kingsley thankfully not minding as it was part of James's culture. Also, as it had been a Hogsmede weekend, we spent the majority of the day following James around so he could buy new things for the Hindu new year. And also to get Sirius's birthday presents when he was too distracted by the games in Zonko's. James's parents had sent a huge box fall of diyas, all varying in colour and size, that had required four owls to carry. Along with it was a lovely heartfelt letter to all of us, reminding to stay safe and revise and all that, but to also have fun with whatever we were getting up to. James definitely teared up at one point but he remained in denial. Silly billy.Now, after knowing James for a good four years, my knowledge of Hinduism was rather extensive, if I do say so myself. So according to James, Diwali lasts for five days with different festivities on each day. This year, it had started on Halloween so as soon as we returned from our epic prank, we quickly set up with the help of a spell or two and then let James do his thing. The same pattern repeated until now, which was the fourth day of the celebrations and James's favourite day, in his not-so-humble opinion.Last night had been spent by setting off as many fireworks as we could possibly do, using the fact that it was Diwali to our advantage. They couldn't exactly tell us off for celebrating a festival, right? Today was the first day of the Hindu New Year so, of course, we had stayed up last night to welcome it properly. This meant we were all a little tired, especially since we woke up a little earlier too.The night to come appeared to be rather busy so, while Peter went to get some breakfast for us all, we set up the new diyas, cleared the ones that had burned out last night and fixed the slightly smudged rangoli patterns. Once James had declared everything good enough for tonight - which, as you can imagine, took quite some time - we headed down for our first lesson of the day.Fucking Herbology.Sirius did, on many occasions throughout that lesson claim that since it was his birthday, he legally didn't have to be there because he was "Sirius McFucking Black and no man can tell me what to do from this day forward".Unfortunately for him, Professor Sprout was no man and in fact a very angry woman who "will still give you detention Mr Black if you continue with that language in my classroom".Suddenly, a petite, barn owl flew in the classroom with a letter in its beak. This could only mean one thing: an escape route. I rapidly tapped on the arms of the boys, not once taking my eyes off of the owl, "Teacher owl, teacher owl, teacher owl, teacher owl."They all snapped their heads up to look at said owl, who was now perched on Sprout's desk. The teacher took the note - the owl took its leave - and she read it carefully, squinting. A look of both gratitude and distaste made its way onto her face. Definitely for one of us, then. The boys seemed to think the same as I was met with excitement and intrigued looks when I turned to them."White!" Sprout's voice boomed throughout the greenhouse, holding up the letter. Groans of disappointment rippled throughout the class and people started going back to their work. She handed me the letter and I opened it without haste.
Dear Miss White,

Please go to my office right away. This is a matter of urgency. You are not in trouble but this does, however, concern your family.

Sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore.

P.S. I have been rather fond of chocolate frogs lately.
Now, unsurprisingly, I had received enough of these notes in the past to know that the whole chocolate frog thing was just a hint for the password. Not very subtle but oh well. The matter at hand was obviously what the fuck this was about. I wasn't in trouble for starters which was, quite frankly, weird. A million possibilities ran through my mind as to what this could be about. It involved my family and was serious. Did someone die? Merlin forbid it but at the current state of the wizarding world, I couldn't help but consider it. It was certainly a possibility, as much as I wished it wasn't."What does it say then?" James asked in an extremely disheartened tone."I need to go and see ye olde Dumbledore. Doesn't say why," I started packing up my stuff to leave."Someone's in trouble!" Sirius said in a sing-song voice that made me want to punch him in the face."No, it clearly says I'm not in trouble, you dickhead!" I yelled as I smugly strolled out of the greenhouse."Bitch!""Twat!""Prick!""Wanker!" I ran out as quickly as I could after that, leaving Sirius to get into trouble with Sprout. That was my birthday present for him. I practically sprinted to Dumbledore's office, every cell in my body bursting with curiosity. Once I arrived, I pretty much fell into his office from pure exhaustion. Exercise and I were not on good terms. I picked myself up from my mostly ungraceful entrance to see two people already sitting opposite the headteacher. "Ah, Arabella, glad to see you received my note. Take a seat," Dumbledore greeted me and gestured to the chair closest to me. I cautiously took it and only then did I get to finally see who I had the pleasure of having this meeting with. None other than the Head Girl and Boy. Or otherwise known as my cousin and her boyfriend. Melanie and Filip. The golden students of Hogwarts. Everybody idolised them and for good reason. Seemingly perfect, they were the Athena and Apollo of our school. Smart but not bookworms. Kind but not pushovers. Beautiful but not vain. So it was no surprise to anyone when the titles they held were bestowed upon them. I, for one, did not believe in soulmates but Melanie and Filip came pretty damn close. Melanie was the daughter of my mother's twin sister. Two years older than me although I think I had corrupted her more than she had me. The type of cousin that you only saw once in a blue moon but when you did, all hell broke loose and you had the time of your lives. I knew very little of Filip but his reputation of being an all-around nice guy preceded him for miles. Their presence was some form of comfort to me because I couldn't possibly be in trouble if they were here too."May I ask what this is about?" I looked around the room for it had fallen silent. Melanie uncharacteristically refused to look at anything other than her lap. Filip was gazing off into the distance as if he was a model. Dumbledore was just being Dumbledore so no changes there, not that I expected any."Melanie, would you like to explain?" the headmaster asked to which the girl in question frantically shook her head."I can't," her voice, no louder than a whisper, broke halfway through. My heart instantly dropped, this couldn't possibly be good. She was usually so strong, so independent. I didn't recall ever seeing her cry so this must be a big deal. Filip grasped her hand and squeezed it tightly."Filip?" Dumbledore tried a different strategy. Clearly struggling with his words, he ended up just murmuring, "Melanie's pregnant."And so it seemed that even the finest china you had ever seen could be chipped. Misfortune would always be lurking somewhere in the shadows, ready to strike at any given moment. Nobody was ever safe from it, not even the few angels who walked among us. Out of all of my friends, Melanie would be one of the last I would suspect of being pregnant. This list of friends included my male friends so that was saying something. But at the same time, who was I to judge her? It wasn't as if I was a virgin either. That ship sailed a long time ago. She was allowed to do whatever (and whoever, if you know what I mean) she wanted. Providing she wanted this to happen. Not the baby but the cause of it. Some people can be absolute twats sometimes but if the father was indeed Filip, surely that wasn't the case.Regardless of how it occurred, they now had to work out what they were going to do about it. Would they be expelled? Arrested? They were both 17 and therefore adults in the wizarding world. They would be fine, right?"Ari?" Melanie spoke up, audibly calmer than before and much more like the Melanie I knew and loved, "Say something please."Only then did I realise that my rather extensive thought track meant that I had not yet said anything. "Sorry, I just- what are you planning to do about it?" That was my top priority for I needed to know how to support her. I couldn't care less about her decision but I did care about her."Wait, you're not mad?" relief visibly flooded every cell in her body like a waterfall. I hated that she had been expecting anger and disgust when I would never be like that towards her, even if I wanted to."Darling, of course, I'm not mad! These things happen, OK? I just need to know what you want to do about it."She bit her lip and exchanged a quick glance with Filip, who had been gradually relaxing since I had first spoken, "We're not sure just yet if I'm honest. I was wondering what you had to say on the matter?""I will support you no matter what," I answered truthfully, "You want to have the baby? You have the baby! I will be that aunt who corrupts it as much as possible and you know it. But if you're not ready then just abort it! No one will hate you if you do, it's just a fetus the size of a grain of rice for crying out loud! It's entirely up to you, my dear.""Well said," Melanie smiled slightly. Dumbledore cleared his throat and we all turned to him."Just as Arabella kindly put it, you do indeed have the choice. The baby won't be due until August and, seeing as you will no longer be at Hogwarts by then and will both be 18, you hold the right to keep it."A long, rather awkward silence ensued, which was understandable given the situation. Melanie's glazed eyes told me she was deep in thought but a small, impatient part of me just wanted to break her from her trance, shake her up and down and yell at her to make a decision. I told myself to shut the fuck up because this was a huge decision to make and could potentially affect the rest of her life. Regardless of her choice, this would become something that would certainly loom over everything for a while at least. Besides, it was easy for me to tell her to hurry up because I wasn't going to be the one to raise the damn child. Or children. Twins were common in our family. Luke and Rhea for example. And my mum and Melanie's mum too."I'm going to keep it," Melanie whispered. I almost missed it due to the voices inside my head. I still didn't believe it."Really?" I asked, sounding a lot more incredulous than I intended."Yeah, I, sorry, we," she squeezed Filip's hand back, "We always knew we would have kids after Hogwarts, so why not get a head start?"I had to admit she made a valid point and, if the look on Filip's face was anything to go by, this baby would grow up having two loving parents. Though, I couldn't ignore my instincts screaming at me to stop her, to tell her that this was a bad idea, to tell her that this wasn't going to go according to plan because nothing ever does. Even while I watched Dumbledore promise to hide the pregnancy. Even while I watched their faces of glee at the realisation that they were going to be parents. Even while I said my goodbyes and left the office. Even then I stayed silent. Because who was I to try and control my cousin's body?*********The second lessons ended for the day, Minnie collected James so she could take him to the Mandir in Edinburgh, as worship and seeing family was an important part of Diwali. He wouldn't be back until after dinner so we spent the time 'studying' to get Remus off of our backs and then set up for the party later on. Without Sirius looking of course. Although I must say getting him to bugger off for a while was easier than expected and may or may not have involved an extreme game of fetch. Let's just say that Snivellus wasn't all that pleased to find me lobbing his beloved textbook down the stairs.All of the stairs.Personally, I found it hilarious but Lily had a slight difference of opinion. Even when I tried to defend myself and call it my other birthday present to Sirius.Regardless, it got one of my crackhead friends out of my hair for a while. We managed to hang banners from the ceiling, enchant a disco ball to whizz around like a not-as-dangerous bludger and cast a spell that meant glitter would just hover in the air to give the common room a glitzy feel to it.Perfect for Sirius's sixteenth birthday. Although that concept alone was a little hard to comprehend. The fact that he had the mental age of a six-year-old was seriously convincing me that his birth certificate was wrong. That would explain a lot except he was still a fucking tall bastard. Although seen as I was only five feet one, everyone was tall compared to me. Apart from Alice, the fucking midget. She may or may not be only half an inch shorter than me but that half an inch made all the difference ('That half an inch made all the difference': title of Marlene's sex tape). Moving on, the party itself started at around 9 so as to give everyone enough time to get ready. In that time, I managed to throw on a silver glittery jumpsuit with flowy legs and matching heels, do my hair and makeup and put on my accessories; all of which take longer than you first expect. An animated look was painted onto Sirius's face when we gave him permission to open his eyes and see what we had definitely put effort into creating for him. 'Permission' seems like a strong word until you learn that we had to hex his eyes shut to prevent premature peeking. We know him too well.We had David Bowie records blasting from my poor record player all night, and while I tried to sneak in a couple of Queen ones every now and then, James just reprimanded me, saying that "it should be up to the birthday boy" and that "I would get my turn in a few weeks anyway". To which I did what I do best and sulked next to the drinks table by myself, thinking of ways to piss James off that I would almost certainly forget by the time I was sober. I was coming up with ways to fuck up the wanker's beloved broom while having a few gulps of what I believed was firewhiskey, when Remus approached me, tension oozing from every part of him. He grabbed the rest of my drink, downed it all in one go without a trace of a grimace, before turning to me and huffing deeply."What's up, buttercup?" Okay, so I might not have been entirely sober enough to deal with can-and-will-kill-you-if-you-do-so-much-as-breathe Remus but I'd be damned if I didn't give it a good go. Besides he wouldn't dare murder me. He loves me but he's bloody terrified at the same time, the same goes for pretty much everyone now I think about it.Okay back to the issue at hand. Remus just gave me one of those looks that pierces your soul so sharply that you have to look down to make sure you haven't just been stabbed. Once I got past that armour of I-know-your-entire-life-story-and-I-would-sell-it-for-half-a-pizza-and-a-milkshake, I found a look of such hopelessness that I found myself unwillingly sobering up slightly, "Darling, what's going on?" I leaned in, knowing full well that he was going to be as quiet as possible with his reply. God, I know too much about these crackheads.Of course, I was right with this assumption as he mumbled, "I got into a fight with Idania," he looked at me with a sorrow that I wasn't used to seeing in any of my friends, let alone at a party.But I could only see red because I don't care you the fuck you are if you hurt any of my friends then you better fucking pray for your life. Jaw visibly clenched, voice dangerously quiet, "Where is she?" My temper was inches away from bubbling over when he didn't respond, "Where the fuck is she, Remus?"I made to move, tunnel vision without even knowing what happened, but he grabbed my arm first, an iron grip from years of stopping me from launching punches at certain people, "No, Ruth. I wouldn't let you even if I knew where she was." He stared at me in a way that was scarily reminiscent of McGonagall and I knew I couldn't just leave him like that."What happened then?" I was trying my hardest to calm down and decided that my best shot was to drink some more."She saw some of my scars and asked where I got them from and I wouldn't say and it just escalated from there. What was I supposed to say? There's nothing you can say in that situation that won't worry her," he sighed and gulped another drink down.I furrowed my brows, concentrating on thinking of a solution, though nothing came to mind. He had a point after all, what do you say when that happens? It all comes down to violence in one way or another and you can never not stress someone out with a cause of pain. "She'll come round if she's worth keeping."A tiny flicker of hope danced in his eyes, minuscule but still there, "I hope to Merlin you're right.""Honey, same," I pushed a cup of something into his hand and grabbed one for myself," But for now, we can get pissed off our asses and worry about this tomorrow. Sound good?""Oh fuck yes."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Good morning, peasants!” I declared as I quite literally swept into Transfiguration that morning, a crown perched precariously atop of my head, my robe billowing behind me. My dearest courtiers trailed along in my wake, begrudgingly carrying my belongings. How generous of them, I thought to myself, as if they had had any say in the matter in the first place. My loyal subjects celebrated my entrance and I gracefully sat down in my assigned seat, feet on the table, chair tipped back at precisely the right angle. I didn’t want to fall and get a concussion, now did I? Especially not on that day of all days.

Now you may wonder what on Gaia’s green earth I am on about, you may begin to question my sanity, you may finally start to piece the clues together and realise I am in fact, a total nutter. About time you did, if I’m completely honest with you, darling. However, like most of my shenanigans, the reason for all this was a well-founded one, if I did say so myself. For Twas my birthday, my sixteenth birthday to be precise, and that meant I got to be queen for a day. Not as long as I would like but hey ho, it was better than nothing. I had all the time in the world to take over the world so being queen could wait for now. Even better than this temporary monarchy, becoming sixteen came with plenty of hobbies I could now I enjoy legally, such as having sex, smoking and drinking wine in a restaurant. As if the law had stopped me before. Following the law is for the weak and my mother did not raise me to be anything of the sort.

Now as a queen such as myself, it is my regal responsibility to keep up appearances, which, to put it simply, meant to look pretty damn fabulous at all times. Hence why I was sporting a magnificent golden crown enchanted to stay on my head for the whole day and matching robe-cloak-thing. You know what I’m on about. Personally, I was rather pleased with my attire. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for one Minerva McGonagall.

An exasperated sigh from the front of the classroom was reluctantly followed by, “White, dare I ask why you are not in proper uniform?” she gestured vaguely at my majestic outfit.

“It would certainly be rather daring of you, professor,” I replied, without missing a beat. A classic raised eyebrow went my way, so I let out a sigh of my own before saying, “Tis my sixteenth birthday, dearest Minnie. If I have to attend lessons on such an occasion, then I must be allowed to dress appropriately.”

“And you consider a crown half as big as yourself to be appropriate for school?” her wonderfully Scottish voice quipped back.

“Why of course ma’am, you see it’s what I like to call my thinking cap,” I grinned broadly at her before joining a giggling Sirius who had gone to great lengths to keep it all in.

But nothing in this godforsaken world, and I do not say that lightly, could have prepared me for Minnie’s response: “Then perhaps it will do you some good.” She turned to the blackboard behind her to begin the lesson I had partly succeeded in delaying.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t doing so well. I clutched at my chest as if I’d been shot, and believe me it felt like I had been, and dramatically fell into the arms of James, as he was the unfortunate soul who sat next to me. I weakly reached up to touch his face as they do in the muggle movies, made a mental note to remind him to fucking shave and heaved out, “Jamie, I won’t last much longer but there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What, my darling? What is it?” he asked, faithfully going along with my foolish antics as always, the poor sod.

“I…love…” I whispered before going limp in his arms as if I was dead.

“Ruth, my love, no!” he hugged my ‘corpse’ while sobbing rather profoundly.

Sirius leapt to his feet (I had to open my eyes slightly for this bit) and declared, “What do you mean ‘my love’? Ruth has been the love of my life since I first laid eyes on her!”

“You foul fiend! Ruth was the second reason for my very existence after Evans, thank you very much!” James too jumped up, leaving me to flop onto the stone floor with an ungraceful ‘ugh’. I could sense Lily’s annoyance from the other side of the classroom.

James and Sirius both grabbed their wands, pointed them at one another, but instead of cursing each other, they used them like fencing swords. Just before Sirius could ‘stab’ James, I myself jumped up and cried, “Wait!” at the same time Minnie yelled, “Enough!”

Naturally, we took no notice of this.

Both boys turned to look at me, only for me to say, “I don’t love either of you. I love Remus!” I pointed at the boy in question who in turn smirked his classic smirk.

He opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by an infuriated Minnie, “I said enough! Sit down, all three of you or it’s detention for a week!” Now I was pretty sure she was only letting us off because she was well aware that if I was given detention on my birthday, I would certainly not go. I’d like to think it was because she loved us dearly, but my mother didn’t raise me to be a liar either. Considering the circumstances, a.k.a. my huge fucking party I had planned for later on, I did what I almost never did.

I sat down.

Not without a snarky “ooooooooh” of course.

Naturally, Minnie wasn’t all that impressed with my reply, “Evans, swap seats with White, please.”

Naturally, I wasn’t all that impressed with her reply either, “Professor, are you seriously going to move me on my birthday?”

“That is correct.”

“Miss, that’s not fair, I haven’t even done anything that bad, we’re all in one piece, aren’t we? Besides, why is it only me that’s getting moved, what’s up with that?”

“You’re not the only one I’m moving, I’m also moving Evans, am I not?” she snapped, not at all pleased with my outburst, “Now please move seats, you are disrupting my lesson.”

I pouted like a little child on the naughty step, grabbed my stuff together and plonked myself where Lily had been sitting, next to a girl who had only started in September, from Greece or Italy or somewhere. I suddenly realised Lily was now sitting next to James, so I felt the need to apologise, “Sorry, Lily!”, I said in a similar manner to a kid who was forced to say sorry to their sibling after hitting them. She just shot me a reproachful look which had me fearing for my life for a second, before turning to the lesson that could finally begin.

Obviously, I wasn’t exactly keen to take part in the lesson, so I opted for attempting to get to know my new desk partner, “You’re the new girl, right?”

I was met with a blank stare and confusion from both parties until something clicked for me: if she had just moved here from another country then she probably didn’t speak much English.

Well shit.

I tried again, simplifying my language but hopefully not sounding too patronising, “Are you new?”

The poor girl still strongly resembled a deer in headlights but nodded, “Yes?”

“What’s your name, darling?” I was determined to get to know this girl, she seemed nice enough and, knowing from experience what it felt like to be the new kid, I felt a strange urge to help her.

She cocked her head to the side in confusion, now looking like an owl of some sort. It was at this point where I gave up and just waved her off, “Don’t worry.” If Minnie was as adamant about me staying in this seat as I suspected, I’d have plenty of time later to try and talk to this girl. Maybe when she knew a bit more English. Or maybe I could teach her some? Well saying that I’m not sure how good of a teacher I would actually be. I’d probably be more of a nuisance than a help.

The rest of the school day carried on in a similar fashion, with the usual jokes played out in a more dramatic manner than usual. Fine by me. The end of lessons couldn’t come soon enough but at last, they were over. Meaning I could finally, finally, open my damn presents.

Well, I say presents, but me being the impatient bastard that I am, I actually opened most of them that morning at breakfast. Which involved about a year’s supply of chocolate, a 10-pack of condoms and no less than three boxes of tea from various posh shops in London. And a hell of a lot of magical alcohol, which was far better than the muggle stuff, but we don’t talk about that. There was only one present left and that was the one from the woman who birthed me. I realise that I have led you under false pretences of sentiment towards my dear mother, and while I do in fact over her greatly, this is not the case. It was actually because our family owl, Bob (don’t ask me why he’s called fucking Bob, Rhea named him), is quite possibly slower than a bloody snail and took the whole day to fly from Cromer to Scotland.

I ran up the stairs to the boys’ dormitory, which is saying something considering I don’t run for anything, and there it was, laying on what was basically my bed when Kingsley wasn’t around, wrapped in shining gold paper, my birthday present. Instantly I got a huge sense of déjà vu, as I knew exactly what it was.

A vinyl record.

Because what else do I do with my spare time these days?

I carefully picked it up, observing it in the stream of November sunlight coming from the window. Judging from the size and weight of it, it was definitely an album, my excitement increasing tenfold. I opened it as carefully as possible to discover that it was indeed Queen’s new album. Their iconic crest was printed on the front in a loud colour scheme of orange and pink. The title was written in black cursive: ‘A Night At The Opera’. The whole thing, though relatively simple in its design, screamed regalness.

I was so mesmerised by it that I didn’t even see the envelope on the bed until I very nearly sat on it. My mum’s familiar handwriting addressed me on the front of it and inside was a card with the most gorgeous watercolour print of the Cromer Pier which had me missing it terribly. I opened it to read what she had written and I couldn’t wipe the grin off of my face.

To Ruth,

Happy birthday, darling! It’s hard to believe you’re 16 now, I still see you as my gorgeous baby girl! I know I can’t see you on your special day, but half term is less than a month away – you’ll be home before we know it!

I’m so proud of you and everything you’ve done, and we all love you very much. Have a wonderful day with your friends!

Lots of love,

Mum, Rhea and Luke xxx

P.S. Don’t tell Mum but I got you a sort of magical cactus from Diagon Alley but I’ll give it to you when you come back – Rhea

P.P.S What Rhea forgot to tell you is that the cactus was my idea, I just didn’t have any pocket money left after going to the sweet shop - Luke

I smiled at the message and at my siblings’ additions at the bottom and found myself missing them more than I anticipated. I put on my bedside table, next to the magical photo us the boys and me which never failed to make me laugh. It was of us knee-deep in the Great Lake, around the July of our third year. James had his back to the camera but still showed his face and his lopsided grin; he was carrying Sirius over his shoulder like a fireman, the latter of which was showing his middle finger to the camera as best he could. Peter was mid-fall in front of them, just seconds before face-planting the water. Remus was to the right of them, trying his best to avoid getting wet from Peter’s inevitable splash, his face all screwed up in an attempt to protect his eyes. I was trying to hoist myself up onto Remus’s shoulders, which wouldn’t have been so difficult if he wasn’t so fucking tall, even at 14 he was a giant. The photo was magical, so we were all moving around as we had been at the time. I was lucky enough to have caught the exact moment I pulled my wand out and cast the aguamenti charm, aiming at everyone’s head but more importantly, James and Sirius’s hair. The photo was an endless cycle of me jumping up, casting the spell and being chased around by everyone before going back to our original positions.

I reluctantly turned away from the treasured photo, picked up the album and turned to run to the Room Of Requirement so I could listen to the artistry I held in my undeserving hands. Somehow, my close good friends beat me to it; there they stood in the doorway, carrying my dear record player between them with wide grins on their faces, not altogether dissimilar from the one James sported in the photograph.

I wondered for a second how the vinyl got itself onto my bed, and how the boys knew they had to get my record player, but then I realised my mother must have told them in advance. She may have been a Hufflepuff, but I do sometimes think she would have made a fine Slytherin. Surprise kids, I don’t have a prejudice against the entirety of Slytherin house, just the ones who are, quite frankly, dickheads. Not my fault if that’s the majority of them.

They popped my dear baby on the floor and sat down various surfaces: the floor, their beds, Remus’s lap (*cough cough* Sirius *cough cough*). I ever-so-carefully removed the vinyl from its sleeve and placed it onto the turntable, only touching the outermost edges so as to not get grease into the grooves of the record. Now, I can’t be ruining it already.

“I hope you know we love you enough to carry that thing all the way here,” Sirius whined, mopping non-existent sweat from his forehead using’s Remus’s poor jumper. The audacity he had to refer to my precious record player as ‘that thing’. I didn’t hit him, which is very unlike me, but I refused to sink to his level. Twat.

“Thank you darling but I think, in the midst of wanting to show off your varying levels of strength, you all forgot you could simply levitate my baby here,” I flopped onto Remus’s bed (by far the cleanest one) as Peter repeatedly smacked James with a pillow, “What did I say, James? What did I fucking say?”

Poor James just groaned at him to stop, arms up in a quite frankly pathetic bid to protect himself. He looked at me helplessly, but I just shook my head with a cheeky smirk on my face, “Nope, you got yourself into this mess, I’m not getting involved.”

Sirius, on the other hand, was laughing so much that Remus had to move him from lying against his chest to having his head in his lap to prevent him from hurting himself. I was half-convinced that Sirius was in fact having a heart attack but at this point, I was not nearly drunk enough to put up with his bullshit. Oh yeah, forgot to mention we each took a shot after breakfast seen as it’s my birthday, only increasing our chances of getting alcohol poisoning within the next weekend or so. But let’s be honest, I’m only using my birthday as an excuse to drink more alcohol at eight o’clock in the morning.

A few more smacks and one case of concussion later, we had all calmed down enough for me to play my goddamn record. Suspense hung in the air as the tiny crackles of an unused record sounded, followed by a crescendo of lightning-fast piano. Definitely not what I expected from a song entitled ‘Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To…)’, until Brian’s slightly menacing guitar burst through the speakers. The rest of the carried on in a similar fashion, fancy piano and angry guitar combined with lyrics I could only describe as savage. I made a mental note to look at the enclosed lyrics later on to see what exactly Freddie was singing, as even for my standards it was rather mean. I also couldn’t help but wonder who this was dedicated to and what they had done for Freddie to sing about them in such a manner. Must be quite the dickhead. Maybe someone like Snivellus. You can’t get much worse than Snivellus.

The next song was called ‘Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon’ and I couldn’t help but giggle throughout it. It felt very vintage, the singing was distorted somewhat, but it seemed more as if they were taking the mick out of the genre. It was a little thing, hardly a couple of minutes long, and soon transitioned to ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, which I distinctly remembered from the B-side of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. That song will never fail to make me laugh. How a man can be so attached to his car, I’ll never know.

Those comedic masterpieces were followed by ‘You’re My Best Friend’, which I fell in love with within the first five seconds. The adorable little piano, the adorable little lyrics, the adorable little bass, okay I could go on like this for hours, but the point is that I loved this song and would gladly be its friend, were it a person. Yeah, I may have been a tad tipsy, might have had something to do with the shots we took between lessons on top of the one at breakfast. I had wanted to maintain a state of slight tipsiness throughout the day. Moving swiftly on.

‘39’ was next, and it was safe to say that I wasn’t expecting any of it. At first, the guitar made me chuckle, then the realisation that it was just vocals, guitar and fucking tambourine, and then the fact that it was almost certainly a county song about space. Brian was singing, of course it was Brian, and I seemed to have forgotten how talented a singer he actually is. And a songwriter because let’s be real, there is no way in hell that anyone in the band apart from Clog Man wrote this.

‘Sweet Lady’ came after that, which contrasted ‘39’ so much that it basically gave me whiplash. To be honest, I should have seen that coming seeing as that was how Queen seemed to work, a heavy rock song followed by something completely different and so on and so on. You’d think you’d grow tired of constantly changing styles but somehow Queen pulled it off magnificently, as they did with pretty much anything they set their minds to. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, don’t get me wrong it was a cool song, just not quite my cup of tea. I felt a little bit guilty about not liking it, but I forced myself to remember that I didn’t have to like every song on the album in order to be a fan.

‘Seaside Rendezvous’ was the next song and the last one on side A. I found it very quirky and much more to my liking. I could easily imagine myself going for a stroll down the beach back at home while humming this. And potentially dancing to it down the pier. Although I would look quite the crackhead as no one else would be able to hear it; but since when did I care about looking like a twat? I was already friends with plenty of twats, I stopped caring years ago. Somewhere in the middle of the song, there was a part that sounded like an orchestra of some kind, but I could tell Roger had something to do with the woodwind section, which led to some rather interesting images in my mind. Make of that what you will. The tap-dancing part made me laugh because I highly doubted that any of them could actually tap dance, leading to me wondering how to the fuck they did that. My brain also thought it was necessary to conjure up some cursed images of Brian tap-dancing in his clogs. Fucking hell, what was wrong with me?

As quickly and carefully as I could, I flipped the record onto the B-side, which started off with ‘The Prophet’s Song’. I was so naïve to think that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was long; this bad boy was all of eight minutes and basically a musical on its own, worthy of the likes of the West End or Broadway. The absolute artistry of the lyrics and the music quickly made it one of my favourites so far, which was saying something as I loved the whole damn album anyway. There was a good couple of minutes of straight acapella, mainly just countless overdubs of Freddie singing ‘no I know’ at various different pitches; then Roger and Brian joining in for a chorus of ‘la la la la la’. It was strangely creepy, and I had yet to figure out if that was their intention.

That then flowed almost seamlessly into ‘Love Of My Life’, a melancholic ballad that was as beautiful as it was sad. It didn’t take me long to work out that it was a harp rather than an acoustic guitar, I grinned at the mental images of Brian learning the harp for the sake of this one song. Surely if he’d known how to play it all along, he would have shown off his musical prowess much earlier. Naturally, the next song flipped this whole vibe that had just been created on its head. ‘Good Company’ was its name and it involved a whole band created solely by Brian’s guitar. It seemed funny to me, but I didn’t know why. A bit like with ‘Sweet Lady’, I wasn’t all too sure if I like it or not. I did notice Brian singing again; it was nice to hear his voice on the record more, not to diss Freddie or Roger in any way, shape or form. Now I wanted to hear John sing and we would be good to go. The last proper song on the album was, of course, the absolute masterpiece (or as Sirius liked to call it, ‘an utter fucking bop’) that was ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Considering the sheer amount of times we’ve listened to the record since it came out, it wasn’t all that surprising that we knew all the words off by heart. This was including playing all five minutes and fifty-five seconds of it while James was in the shower, so he didn’t spend hours in there and use up all the hot water. The rule was that he had to be out by the time the song had ended, or we would send Lily the picture we had of him with his hair all wet. And he would die before he consented to such a thing. Trust me, it’s not a particularly flattering look on him. I had to remind them to resist the urge to jump around when the rock bit came on, you know what I’m on about, so as to not damage the vinyl already. The last track was a guitar rendition of ‘God Save The Queen’, which was outrageous as it was excessive. Just layers upon layers of guitar, I would forever be impressed by Brian’s skills. Sirius, however, was still moaning over his restricted movement. “But why can’t we jump? It’s so much more fun that headbanging alone,” Sirius whined like the petulant child that he was. I had to give him at least some credit, he may have an impressive amount of muggle knowledge, but he was still a pureblood and a Black at that. He could be so naïve sometimes. “Darling you have to understand that it’s a sensitive little thing. If you jump, so will the vinyl, which will scratch it and it will jump at awkward times,” I explained, to which I was met with blank stares as if I was speaking in bloody Welsh. I sighed, perhaps a little more dramatically than necessary but if that doesn’t some up my whole life then I don’t know what does, and tried again, “Like with my Sheer Heart Attack record? Where it jumps during Brighton Rock and Killer Queen?” “Ohhhh,” understanding washed over his and James’s faces because let’s be honest, if you think Sirius is oblivious then clearly, you’ve never met James. “Yes, ohhhh,” I repeated, taking the mick out of the stupid buggers. Hey, it’s my birthday, I’m allowed to do whatever I want. Which reminded me of the party I had planned for later. Well, I say party, it was going to be more of a ball than anything. A birthday ball, if you will. What can I say, I have a flair for the dramatics, sue me.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Throwing a birthday ball might just have been my best idea thus far, if I did say so myself, and it hadn’t even started yet. I was gradually walking through the doors of the Great Hall, embracing my dramatic entrance for every little millisecond that it was worth. All eyes were on me, as they should be since it was my birthday and I bloody love attention, and suddenly I understood what brides must feel like when they walk down the aisle. The train of my sparkling golden gown trailed along behind me, leaving a stream of glitter in my wake. It had been both a style choice and a way to infuriate Filch when he had to clean it up. Have fun with that, you miserable bastard. The Great Hall was decorated from top to bottom in gold, gold streamers, gold glitter, gold balloons. It was akin to the Emerald City from The Wizard Of Oz but, well, gold. Anyone who was anyone was among the crowd watching me, providing they were at least a fifth year; I didn’t want little kids at my birthday party, thank you very much. The only ones I would even consider would be Rhea and Luke, but they weren’t at Hogwarts yet and right now, I was grateful for that. As far as I could see, everyone had a glass of amber-coloured liquid in their hand, which I assumed was butterbeer for the far majority of people in the hall. Some minuscule part of me wanted to squirm under all of the attention, but I suppressed it as best as I could. I had a reputation to keep up, after all. You may be wondering how on earth I got access to the Great Hall for my birthday party, and honestly, I can’t blame you for pondering such a thing. It had been a complete stroke of luck which had come in the form of good old Minnie McGee. I’d been explaining my plan for the ball to the lads during one breakfast back in September, yes my plans for it have been in the works for that long what are you going to do about it, and Minnie had overhead while she was walking past our usual spot. I’m quite sure she has some kind of hearing superpower, even though that particular sense should be decaying with her old age rather than growing. And just in case you’ve somehow found this, naturally, I mean no offence, Minerva, so please don’t give me another detention I really don’t want one please and thank you. She’d then gone on to offer the Great Hall for the party but with three conditions. One, she could go and bring Dumbledore as her ‘date’, two, we served nothing stronger than butterbeer and three, we actually worked hard for our OWLs which were just around the corner. Initially, we all thought that she was joking but it turned out that she was deadly serious (naturally Sirius had interrupted her with his classic pun) and that she was, in fact, rather looking forward to going to a party for the first time in a while. James had then asked if she was on drugs, because quite frankly this was one of the nicest things she had ever done for us, and she came very close to whacking him upside the head for even suggesting such a thing. But she never actually denied it, so I still secretly think she does weed. I don’t know about you, but I can most certainly see it. Now, as you’d expect, I was rather disappointed at Minnie’s suggestion of a near total absence of alcohol, but it hadn’t been long before Sirius, always searching for an excuse to drink to the point where I often wondered if he was addicted, had suggested something quite marvellous: an afterparty. Such a seemingly straightforward idea quickly turned into something so much more. We decided to hold it later on in the night in the Room of Requirement, and only the elite people knew about it and, subsequently, invited. And by ‘elite’, I mean the male specimens I call friends, the females who I love and cherish and a couple of other people. And that was bound to be very much alcohol-fuelled. As long as I had that to look forward to, I could endure a much more age-appropriate evening, just not for too long. Finally, I reached the platform where the teachers would usually sit during meals, and bear in mind that I had been milking the moment for way longer than necessary, so this did take some time. I cleared my throat for effect before speaking in an impossibly posh voice, “Thank you all for attending my ball this evening. I won’t talk for too long because I would hate to bore you to tears, I’ll leave that job to Professor Binns. Now, Minnie, don’t look at me like that, we all know it’s true. Look, even Dumbledore agrees with me and you can’t argue with Dumbledore. Moving on, I would like to say a couple of things so entertain me for a moment. One, if any of you are caught drinking anything stronger than butterbeer, then I will happily leave you to face the wrath of our dear Minerva on your own, I have no intention of arguing with any teacher tonight.” A few giggles rippled throughout the crowd as well as a few pouty faces from people who were doing a shockingly awful job at hiding mini bottles of firewhiskey behind their backs. It wasn’t my problem, I did say this on the invites I sent out, if they chose to go against that then they would deal with the consequences, not me. I continued, “Two, I hope you all enjoy yourselves tonight and remember, it ends at precisely eleven o’clock, which means don’t hang around. Frank and Alice, I’m looking at you.” The couple in question blushed furiously and Alice gave me a death stare that could rival the one I get from Remus when I gather enough courage to steal some of his chocolate. I then clapped twice to signal the official start of the ball and music began to blast from the speakers I’d linked up to my record player which was enchanted to start playing a record whenever I clapped my hands. It took a second, but people were soon dancing and mingling and doing whatever else people do at parties. I made a beeline straight for the boys but ignored their greetings, instead, I grabbed two, I wasn’t sure which ones, and, hoping that they were all following if they weren’t being dragged, marched over to the drinks table. I let go of whoever I had been holding to pour myself a much-needed butterbeer, but in a wine glass because I’m classy like that, leaving two boys to rub their arms in pain. “Bloody hell, Ruth, you could have just asked us to come with you, that really wasn’t necessary,” Remus muttered as he got his own drink. “Why is your grip that damn strong?” James pouted, whining like the little child that he is. Sirius just smirked evilly, “I think we all know where she gets her practice with her grip.” Naturally, I wasn’t going to have that, so I swatted him on the arm as if he was a fly, but then I decided that that just wasn’t enough, so I kicked him in the shin. Not too hard because I was feeling nice for some strange reason, but you get the idea. He then howled suspiciously like a dog, causing us all to give him strange looks that pretty much read dude what the fuck. Sirius, then desperate to change the subject to literally anything else, went on to ask, “Ruth, are Snivellus and his mates supposed to be here? Because I don’t have a problem with physically throwing them out,” he shrugged. I sighed, knowing my response wasn’t going to be immensely popular amongst the group. I muttered quietly, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes, “I invited them.” As expected, I was met with outcries and protests from the cloud of testosterone surrounding me, such as but they’re such pricks and why would you want to infect your own party with the human equivalent of the goddamn plague, so I was quick to defend myself, “I didn’t want to! It’s just that Lily said that she wouldn’t go if I didn’t at least give Snivellus the option. But then I worried that he’d hang around Lily the whole time, and I wasn’t going to allow that, so I invited a couple of his friends too. I didn’t think they’d actually show up though,” I peered over Peter’s shoulder to observe him talking to Lily, grimacing at his choice of outfit if you could even call that monstrosity an outfit. I’d specified in the invites that you had to wear muggle ballgown-wear and you had to make it yourself using magic. I guess blood supremacists don’t even want to wear muggle-style clothes these days. They really are that shallow and it surprised me how Lily couldn’t see that.Sirius huffed and made a comment that sounded like it should have come from James’s mouth instead of his, “Fine, but only because Lily is a treasure and I’m also terrified to death of her.” When he was met with blank stares for the second time in five minutes, he blushed furiously, only just clocking what he had just revealed. I smirked at him, “Since when were you such good friends with my dear Lily?” It was just a widely accepted fact that the girls weren’t huge fans of the boys, and while those attitudes weren’t reciprocated by the other side, it was practically unheard of for the girls to be anything more than civil with the boys. Well, only if you don’t count Lily and Remus’s strange friendship. I’d often promoted a union of sorts between my two friendship groups, holding out in my firm belief that some epic bonds could be formed if they just tried, but I was usually shot down with objections of but they’re arrogant toe rags. I think that that’s complete and utter bullshit but each to their own, I guess. I just carried on in the hope that one day they’d come round and see how silly they were being. While James was appearing to have a mental breakdown right there and then, Sirius slowly explained, “Since a couple of weeks ago? I went down to the common room because I couldn’t sleep and I found Lily and she looked quite upset, so I asked her what was wrong, thinking she would just tell me to piss off or something, but she just burst into tears and she told me a lot of stuff that I won’t tell you because I think it’s private. Anyway, long story short, we had a rather profound conversation at two in the morning, followed by a couple of games of chess because neither of us wanted to go back to bed. We’ve had some rather thought-provoking conversations in Charms because we sit next to each other this year. She’s actually really cool.” I grinned broadly at him, “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you for four whole years!” We then high-fived because why the fuck not. Remus gave us a look of wholehearted betrayal, which is understandable because he had been assisting me in my quest to get them to appreciate Lily properly, so I gave him a high-five too, and so did Sirius. Then Peter and James high-fived for no reason other than they were feeling left out, as they should be. So, we all looked like fucking crackheads already but that was to be expected of us. “Anyway, just because Sniv is allowed to be here, doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to fight him the second he does something fucked up, right?” Sirius asked. “You and I both know you’ll fuck him up regardless of whether I allow it or not, so yes, yes you can. In fact, please do.” *************** By around midnight we were drunk off our asses in the Room of Requirement, the civilisation of the ball long gone. It was total carnage, although you probably worked that one out for yourself, but it wasn’t all bad seeing as my two friend groups don’t try to murder each other every five seconds when under the influence of my lovely friend alcohol. Most of us were sprawled out on various sofas, still in our ball attire, with Hunky Dory playing on my record player at a much lower volume because our drunk asses couldn’t deal with too much noise. I was lying on a sofa with my head in Marlene’s lap and my feet in Dorcas’s while James and Peter shared a sofa. Alice and Frank were, as I had predicted earlier on, making out in some darkened corner, thinking that they were being subtle because no one was gawping at them. In reality, the only reason we all refused to look was because they were being more than a bit gross and no one wanted to see that, to be frank. Pun absolutely intended. Dorcas didn’t drink because of her religion, which meant she was the only sober one in the room, and that meant it was her job to make sure we didn’t get ourselves killed or anything like that. Lily was actually a bit tipsy, but only due to Sirius’s incessant nagging that she was missing out on the finer things in life. I mean there were certainly finer things than knock-off elf wine we smuggled in from Hogsmeade, but Lily didn’t need to know that. Meanwhile, Sirius was stumbling on a table he’d conjured for this exact reason, wearing Marlene’s stiletto heels and ranting about society’s many problems as he usually did when drunk. Tonight’s topic was for discussion was feminism. “But why is the world like this? We shouldn’t just accept it for how it is! Shouldn’t we try and change it or something?” he slurred, finishing his drink and promptly refilling it with his wand. Several amens could be heard from almost everyone in the room, as is what happened every time Sirius made a point. It was strongly reminiscent of the church service my mum would drag me along to from time to time. “Sirius, not that I don’t agree with you, but maybe you should get down before you break your neck?” Lily suggested, looking at him in sheer terror. He just pouted down at her, “I will only get down when the patriarchy falls, and you girls don’t have to live in fear of boys who have the audacity to call themselves men!” “If a boy comes anywhere near me, I’ll just smack him round the face, I don’t give a shit,” I piped up, swinging my hand around as if I was actually punching someone, and coming very close to actually hitting Marlene in the face. “That’s alright though because self-defence and shit,” James grinned at me, running over to clink his glass against mine, then running back to his sofa and sitting down as if nothing happened, leaving me confused, to say the least. “Has anyone seen Remus?” Sirius suddenly changed the subject. When all he got in response was shrugs and confused looks, he started walking up and down the table like it was a catwalk, shouting, “Remus! Remus, where are you, you little shit? Remu-” he suddenly fell straight off of the table but stood up and brushed himself off as if he hadn’t just nearly died, “Reeeeeeemuuuuuuuus!” “I think he’s with Idania. I don’t know where though,” Peter offered. Marlene and I gave each other a knowing look and bumped arms, “I think we all know what they’re getting up to,” she raised an eyebrow at me suggestively. “Ooooooh, Remus you saucy boy,” I snorted, making James cackle so much that he fell off of his chair and also making Lily fake-vomit so much that I was seriously expecting her to actually throw up right there and then. I think it’s important to update you on the whole Idania-Remus situation. It’s been a tricky one, I won’t lie to you about that. They only started talking again a couple of days ago, making it nearly three weeks of silent treatment from both parties. Even I thought that that was a bit much, and we all know that I can be a dramatic little shit at the best of times. After copious amounts of persuasion from us, way more than would have been necessary if he wasn’t a stubborn bastard, a rather miserable Remus had finally apologised for some things he’d said in the heat of the argument that he hadn’t really meant. He didn’t disclose exactly what he’d said, but I have to be honest, I was just glad that he got over himself and talked to her because it was painful to sit behind them in History of Magic while they were being that damn ridiculous. Not only had he said that he was sorry, but he’d wanted to do something for her to show her how sorry he was. He’d done some research, which meant he’d spent twelve hours straight in the library. James, forever the mother hen of the group, was far from pleased to find out that he’d missed two whole meals, so naturally, that had led to him lecturing poor Remus on the importance of eating properly. He argued that that it doesn’t matter that it’s for love, you need to eat, for Merlin’s sake, which was saying something when you remember how James was a closeted romantic himself. He’d eventually found a spell that was a variant on the translation spells Peter was rather fond of for uncomplicated pranks. Usually with those spells, you speak whatever you mean to say in English, but when it comes out, everyone hears the language you’re cursed to speak. This one, however, worked with sign language; he would say what he wanted to say, and his hands would automatically sign what he’s saying. It didn’t solve everything, he still had to keep studying the language so he could understand Idania, but it was a sure start and a massive help for the both of them. According to Remus when he’d returned to tell us how it went, she’d been so grateful that she’d almost started crying, though she denied it every time we asked her about it. While I had been simultaneously amusing and horrifying my friends with mental images of Remus doing unholy things, Sirius had been on a mission to find him and seemed to have returned triumphant. At some point, he must have left the room even though I had no memory of seeing him leave, as he was now dragging Remus behind him by the hand, who was dragging Idania somewhat gentler. “I found them!” he proclaimed with a stupid grin on his face, in a way similar to how a child would announce such a thing. “Yeah, no shit Sherlock,” Peter muttered with no actual malice behind his words. “You’re welcome, Pete,” Sirius bowed but then stumbled forwards, crashing headfirst onto the ground. He didn’t bother getting up, choosing to sit cross-legged on the floor once he got his bearings. Lily plonked herself down next to him and gazed at him quizzically, “Why are you saying, ‘you’re welcome’, when you’re the one who wanted to know where they were?”He covered her mouth with his hand to prevent her from speaking, “Shhh, Lily-flower, shhh.” She scowled at him while Marlene mouthed ‘Lily-flower’ at me in confusion. I just shrugged, desperately trying not to laugh at James who was clearly dying of embarrassment while trying to hide from Lily. We once heard him murmur the nickname in his sleep during our second year, and even though he hasn’t said it since, we refused to let him forget it. Lily must have licked Sirius’s hand or something for he retracted his hand as quickly as he would if he’d had an electric shock, wiping it on his trousers while staring at her in disgust and betrayal. Lily didn’t show an inch of sympathy towards his pain. “So, what were you two actually doing?” Dorcas asked, directing the conversation back to Idania and Remus. Idania smirked evilly and looked up at Remus, looking awfully glad that she didn’t have to be the one to explain. I still thought they hooked up finally, but Remus didn’t look nearly as mortified as I imagined he would. Remus opened his mouth to speak but Lily cut him off, “I can smell weed.” “How the fuck do you of all people know what weed smells like?” I laughed. She glared at me in a way that had me quaking in my heels, “Please, you know what Cokeworth’s like, so you can trust me when I say I know what weed smells like.” I had to give it to her, that town wasn’t exactly the poshest in the UK, and I would know seeing as I used to live in the damn place. We locked eyes for a second, then slowly looked up at Remus and Idania’s slightly guilty but overall chilled-out faces. Well shit. Once it clicked in my head as to what they had been doing, I started giggling uncontrollably for a good minute, and everyone else started looking at me really worriedly. I can’t say I blamed them if I’m honest, I did look like something of a lunatic. I quickly put the spell that Remus had found on myself, suddenly feeling really bad that Idania probably didn’t have much of an idea of what had just been said. “Idania, how dare you corrupt our sweet, innocent Remus?” I laughed, shaking my head like a disapproving parent. “Excuse you, Remus hasn’t been innocent since before he met us,” James grinned lopsidedly. “I wasn’t that innocent before I met you,” the boy in question tried to defend himself, only to be met with about seven people saying, ‘you were’. “Anyway, that’s beside the point. The point is you smoked weed?” I asked incredulously. “Don’t look at me like that!” he said, “It’s not that big of a deal, no one really cares about that kind of thing these days, well not in the muggle world at least. Live a little, Ruth.” “That doesn’t make it any less weird that it’s coming from you, mate,” James shook his head. “But here’s the question nobody else is brave enough to ask, apparently,” Marlene raised a finger and then pointed it at the couple, “Is it nice? And if so, may we have some?” Most of us, excluding Dorcas and Lily, made some sort of noise of agreement to which Remus just laughed, “Well, it’s Idania’s, not mine, so it’s up to her really…” he trailed off, leaving his girlfriend to make up her mind. I didn’t actually know much sign language, except for the odd word or phrase I’d picked up (naturally fuck off was on of them), but whatever Idania had signed in response put a devilish smirk on Remus’s face that was all too familiar, “I think that’s a yes, just not too much. Ida doesn’t think you’ll be able to handle it.” The girl in question lightly breathed through her nose, which I’d come to learn was her laugh. I gaped at her with mock outrage on my face, “I am offended but at least I’ll get to try some, right?” A couple of blunts went round during the next however long we were high for, while Lily and, to some extent, Dorcas looked on disapprovingly. I think it’s safe to say that the concept of time was non-existent for the rest of the night. I have to say it was one of the most relaxing yet insane experiences I’ve ever had, and it wasn’t long until long after it had worn off did I start to wonder how Idania had access to that kind of thing. She must have been even more of a badass than we first thought. When I had first started holding parties like these last year, I had made an offer to Dorcas which had involved me making drinks that had no alcohol in them but still had the same effect. She’d been grateful for the suggestion, but she’d pointed out that doing that kind of defeats the whole point of not drinking alcohol in the first place. We’d then settled on making non-alcoholic drinks that still tasted like their alcoholic counterparts but had no effect whatsoever, and we were constantly trying different recipes. Word caught soon after we started, and our non-alcoholic drinks were in almost as high demand as the alcoholic black market I’d created with the boys. They proved to be popular among students who either didn’t want to or weren’t allowed to drink, but didn’t want to miss out on a party or something like that, as well as older students who needed a form of stress relief from their exams, but didn’t want to develop some kind of addiction. I couldn’t blame them, seeing as they used to drink a lot as a really unhealthy coping mechanism. I’d much rather they drink something else, so I was glad to have been of service. As you can imagine, the business really boomed around springtime. “You know, trying to keep track of you all is like herding a load of cats,” she huffed, taking a sip of her not-quite-firewhiskey. “Hey, Dorcas,” I mumbled in the most serious voice I could muster, which was quite the feat considering I was both drunk and high at that point. She leaned in to listen, only to hear me say, “Meow.” Her brows furrowed sceptically, “Meow?” I nodded, not breaking my composure though I desperately wanted to just dissolve into giggles like a child, “Meow. Because you said we’re cats.” Dorcas sighed with a resigned look on her face,” Sure, Ari.” A chorus of meows sounded throughout the room, much to Dorcas’s confusion and exasperation. I could only imagine what it must be like to have to deal with all of us unaided when we were like this.

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Okay, so quite clearly this isn't a chapter. This is just one long author's note but please read otherwise a lot of things won't make sense. I wanted this chapter to be up by the end of June. Right now it's the beginning of July (somehow) so clearly, that didn't work out. I've planned out a schedule in which I should be able to provide at least three updates a month, one for each of my series. I've only written 300 or so words of this chapter, which is very bad for my standards for myself, considering I've been trying to write it for 11 days. I had planned what would happen in this chapter, but I had absolutely no inspiration for it at all. I've been in this place before, and when that happened it took me 14 months and a whole re-writing of the entire storyline for me to find my inspiration for it again (some of you may remember this). I don't want a repeat of that, so I decided to skip this chapter and come back to it whenever I feel like writing it again. It's not fair to keep you all waiting when I could just carry on.I will tell you what should have happened in this chapter, so you won't be hella confused later on: the boys become animagi and they all leave Hogwarts for the Christmas break.I'm going to start writing the next chapter tomorrow, and I plan to have that up soon. Thank you for understanding, and if one day this note is replaced by the chapter that should have been, we will never speak of this. Ever. Okay toodles.

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Ruth had her face pressed right up to the glass of the tiny kitchen window, making it smear up from her breath, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She curiously watched her cat, Sooty, cautiously interact with the much larger cat from down the road, circling each other in a manner that would be rather ominous if the former wasn’t a quarter of the latter’s size. Sooty was almost completely obscured by the overgrown grass that was screaming to be cut; Ruth wouldn’t have even known he was outside if it wasn’t for his extraordinarily long tail poking through. “Ruth, why are you sitting on my poor washing machine?” her mother came in, half amused, half concerned, “You’re going to break the damn thing.” She gasped in mock offence and turned round to look at her, “Are you trying to say something, Mum?” She gave her a knowing look and said, “You know that’s not what I meant. Now, you didn’t answer my question, what on earth are you doing on my washing machine?” She jumped off before Jocelyn could chastise her any further, “I’m waiting for the boys. We were saying about going down the pier or something today so we could give each other our presents, and I’m waiting for James’s parents to apparate them all to our garden. And they’re taking forever,” she pouted, elongating the last word way more than necessary. “Well, what time did you tell them to come round?” Ruth thought about it for a second before saying, “Around one o’clock, I think.” She raised an eyebrow, “And what time is it now?” She looked at the ground and mumbled, “Half twelve.” “Well, there you go. You have half an hour, and you haven’t even got dressed yet,” she pointed out. “But-” “No buts. You’re not going out in your dressing gown so go and get dressed,” she said, playfully swatting Ruth with the tea towel and chasing her out of the kitchen. She laughed maniacally as she ran out of the room, “But Mother, I am dressed,” she said, taking off her dressing gown like a stripper. “Then why are you wearing your dressing gown?” Jocelyn asked exasperatedly. “Because it’s bloody cold!” Ruth grinned. “Language,” she muttered, shaking her head with a smile but sobering up when she noticed Ruth’s face fall, “What’s up with you?” She faltered for a moment, caught off guard by Jocelyn’s quick observations, “Mum, did you, erm, did you hear about Melanie?” she grimaced with the fear of treading grounds such as those. Her cousin hadn’t mentioned anything about who she had told about the pregnancy, so for all Ruth knew, Jocelyn didn’t have a clue and she was about to get Melanie into some serious trouble. Luckily for them both, Jocelyn’s face softened with understanding, “I heard. Your aunt told me all about it a couple weeks ago.” “What do you think about it all? I mean, Christ, Mum, she’s only seventeen,” Ruth sighed, running a hand across her hair with an anxiety that she hadn’t even realised she had been suppressing. “Come here,” she said, taking Ruth into her arms and holding her for a moment, “She’s going to be okay. She’s not alone, remember that. She’s got your aunt and us and that boyfriend of hers. She’ll be fine.” A sudden knock at the window followed by four familiar faces made both Ruth and her mum look up in surprise, followed by a disappointed laugh from the former when she noticed that Sirius was only wearing his signature leather jacket, with no hat, scarf or gloves. She opened the kitchen door to let them in, hugging each of them as they entered.Jocelyn smiled at the group before winking at her daughter, “I’ll make myself busy, then. Have fun today,” she said as she left with her steaming cup of tea. Ruth grinned before turning to the boys, “Sirius, darling, it’s December, not June. Where the hell is your coat? And don’t tell me you’re too cool to actually keep yourself warm,” she added before the boy in question could say anything. “Leave it, Ruth, I’ve been trying to talk some sense into him all morning, he won’t listen,” James sighed dramatically, sounding scarily like an exhausted mother. “I won’t listen? You’re the one who nearly strangled me with that damn scarf!” Sirius exclaimed, looking desperately to the others for back-up, only to be met with shrugs. “You dress appropriately for the weather, or you face the consequences,” James deadpanned, before bursting into laughter from the miffed expression on Sirius’s face. “God, you really have become your mum, haven’t you?” Peter smirked, holding back his own laughter. “Shut up, Pete!” he whined, stomping on the ground petulantly. “Now you’re my brother,” Ruth snorted. ************* The fresh air bit at their noses as they made their way down the bustling high street, bracing themselves against the crisp December wind. Sirius was still the only one not wearing a coat, the rest of the group bundled up in their Gryffindor scarves which may or may not have been the only scarves they owned. Except for fifteen-year-old-grandmother Remus, who absolutely had a worrying obsession with anything you could make via knitting and the like. Peter had been positively swallowed up, and between his hat that looked about two sizes too big and his scarf, you could only see his eyes and the top of his nose. “It’s a bit nippy out here, lads,” Ruth said, just as an icy gust of wind hit them, bringing tears to eyes, and actually making Peter stumble a little bit. As Jocelyn said at every possible opportunity, the wind was always stronger at the seaside. “Is it really, Ruth? Gosh, I hadn’t noticed, thank you for telling me,” Remus glared at her, which would have been tenfold more menacing if half of his face wasn’t concealed by windswept hair. “You are most welcome, dear Remus,” she grinned, sticking her tongue out at him in defiance. “Children. Actual children,” Sirius muttered in a tone not at all dissimilar to that of an exasperated father. “Says the one who refused to put his scarf on because he’s a stubborn bastard,” James said pointedly. “Oh, you’re still going on about that one?” “Always, my dear boy, always. I’m already making sure my best man’s speech mentions it at least twice,” he said proudly. “He’s gotta find someone to marry first,” Peter pointed out, voice muffled from under his scarf. “And what’s that supposed to meant, Pete?” Sirius rounded on him, forgetting completely about James’s strange obsession with his lack of winter clothing. “Well, I don’t know but it might have something to do with the fact that you’ve never had a girlfriend for longer than three weeks,” Ruth shrugged. “Oh, that’s rich coming from you, Ruth,” Remus laughed, “But she does have a point, Sirius.” “Why are you all ganging up on me, it’s very rude,” he huffed, “Anyway, it’s not my fault that I want to win the bet me and Ruth started in third year.” “Darling, you’ve always had the option to pull out and admit that I am proud to be the biggest hoe that Hogwarts has ever seen,” she said with as much faux innocence as one can muster while talking about sex. Sirius was silent for a moment before pointing out, “Wait, hang on, I’ve had a girlfriend for longer than three weeks. I went out with Emmeline Vance for about five months!” “You mean you were on again, off again with Emmeline Vance for about five months,” Remus raised an eyebrow. “You’re both gonna end up clapped as anything by the time we leave,” Peter mumbled as they walked through the threshold of their destination: Ruth’s beloved record shop.Cromer’s one and only record shop was a favourite haunt of Ruth’s. If anyone wanted to find her during the school holidays, the record shop would be the first place they would go to, the second being the arcade on the promenade because they have the best games darling, and the third being the beach. It never seemed to cross anyone’s mind to look for her at her own home; it was a generally unspoken rule of sorts in the town that seeing Ruth at her house was as rare as seeing a double rainbow. It was the place where a good part of her pocket money went to, and the owner was incredibly grateful to have such a loyal customer. Ruth just told him to consider himself lucky that his was the only establishment in walking distance of her house that supplied her with her vinyl obsession. And oh boy, did he do just that. The White family were responsible for a good twenty per cent of his sales. They filed into the shop, instantly taking off their hats when the somewhat aggressive heat hit them. The limited daylight spilt in through the floor-length windows that flanked the door, highlighting the records on show. The shop itself was rather small, with only two aisles running straight down to the till. They were separated by cases upon cases of albums, packed like sardines into their crates and sorted semi-alphabetically. Posters adorned almost every available space on the otherwise dull walls, looking over the customers with a keen interest. Underneath them were further crates, these ones pushed back against the walls and full of singles, which were ordered even more haphazardly than the albums if you could believe that. Ruth made her way down one of the aisles, leaving the boys to browse artists that they barely even knew. At the back end of the shop sat the counter, behind which sat the owner, Steve. Steve was a rather short and stout man who had the grave misfortune of looking around a whole decade older than he actually was. That was more so to do with the way with which he held himself, and the fact that he wore those glasses that had a chain attached that you only see on elderly men, than his physical appearance. He had a terribly receding hairline that seemed to creep back every time Ruth came into his shop. She reckoned that he’d be completely bald by the time she left Hogwarts for good. He always seemed to wear the same attire, consisting of loose-fitting trousers and a grey t-shirt that always had a stain that Ruth would rather not enquire after. His fingers were coated with a nicotine stain that you only get after smoking for a good few decades, teeth and fingernails tinted yellow. His smile was warm, and his eyes lit up like a match when he noticed Ruth walking up to the counter, “Arabella, good to see you!” “You too, Steve, how’s everything been these past couple of months?” she asked, leaning on the counter with her elbows. “Not bad, not bad,” he said, “A lot better than this time last year, that’s for sure. Thanks, by the way, for the advert in the newspaper suggestion. Business has gone up a great deal since then.” “Well, I couldn’t let you give up the shop that easily, could I? Nah, you’ve supplied me with the very best music these past few years, it was the least I could do,” she beamed.He smiled gratefully at her before glancing at the boys behind her, leafing through bands they’d never even heard of for the most part, “I see you’ve brought your mates at last.” Ruth snorted as they all poked their heads up and waved at the same time, each one oblivious to the other, “Yeah, I thought I might as well, I’ve been putting it off for too long.” “One of them your boyfriend?” he winked, laughing at Ruth’s mortified expression. “No! God, no, that’s a horrible thought,” she shivered, recoiling in disgust. “What’s a horrible thought?” Sirius asked as he sauntered up to the counter. “Your face,” Ruth muttered as he swatted her shoulder, mouth agape in shock. “How rude! I can’t believe you would say something like that!” he gasped before turning around and whining, “James! Ruth’s being mean to me!” It was then James’s turn to gasp in disappointment, “Is she? Oh, come here, I’ll protect you from the meanie,” he said in the most motherly voice he could muster, opening his arms and hugging Sirius while glaring at Ruth. She stared at them in disbelief, looking at Remus and Peter for guidance, only to be met with shrugs. She resolved to simply shaking her head in exasperation and turning to the ‘new releases’ section of the shop. ************* “You know what we should do,” Ruth said, holding up a chip to emphasise her point, “We should go on a gang holiday when we’re older. Just go travelling for a couple of weeks or something.” They were currently sitting on the beach which, as you can probably imagine, isn’t the most pleasant of experiences in the middle of winter. The harsh wind nipped at their faces and Peter’s nose was crimson with the cold, but they found themselves sitting there anyway, watching the teal waves advance and retreat under the December mist that lazily rested on the ocean’s surface. They were sharing a couple of bags of chips that they’d bought from the chippy just around the corner from Ruth’s house, trying their best to shield them from the prying seagulls circling the skies above them like hawks. Peter audibly gasped with excitement, “We should get one of those caravans that muggles used to drive all the time in the sixties.” “Yes! And we could charm it so it’s bigger on the inside like the tents they have at the Quidditch World Cup!” James added, ecstatic just to have been able to chime in with a Quidditch reference, let alone about the actual holiday. Sirius grinned stupidly as they high fived, making Ruth cringe and groan like an embarrassed daughter having to watch her parents kiss. Though, once she thought about it, that analogy was pretty accurate, perhaps more than she would have liked. Remus held out his hands in suspense, something he always did when he’d thought of a master plan, “Two words. Tardis. Caravan.” The sounds that then erupted from the group could not be described as human, more like a group of over-excited seagulls. Once they’d calmed down, which took more time than it probably should have done, James suggested, “We should go to France so Sirius can show his French off!” Sirius glared at him, muttering under his breath and by doing so, proving James’s point, “Putain de chienne. Je ne me montre pas, vous seriez tous perdus sans moi.”“Oui, oui, er, baguette,” Peter snorted, rubbing his arm when Sirius hit at him playfully. “Right, well,” Remus cut in before they jumped at each other’s throats, “Presents? The whole reason we’re here?” “Gosh, Moony, here I was thinking that you were here because you wanted to see us and enjoy our company, but no, you just want your damn chocolate,” Sirius huffed. Remus blinked at him for a second before asking tentatively, “Moony?” “Moony,” he nodded. Remus pinched his brow and sighed, “I’m going to regret asking but why?” “Werewolf. Moon. Moony,” he explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world. He raised an eyebrow at him, “Do I get a say in this by any chance?” “No. I’ve thought of names for all of us, actually. I’m Padfoot, Peter’s Wormtail, Ruth is Silverspot and James is Prongs,” he counted off his fingers before nodding resolutely. James smirked, eyes gleaming and Ruth already knew what he was going to say, “Am I Prongs because of my big–” She slapped a hand over his mouth and glared at him menacingly, “Finish that question and I swear to God, James, I will slap you into next year.” “Sirius, I think you’ve had far too much spare time on your hands,” Remus said while James and Ruth engaged in a very mature staring competition that lasted all of ten seconds. “Yeah, five days without us and you’ve given us all nicknames,” Peter added, looking rather concerned for his friend’s mental state. “Do you want me to change yours to Massive Knobhead?” Sirius asked with a scarily fake smile on his face. James cut in before any fighting could ensue, “Okay, let’s get on to the presents, shall we?” Sirius just shrugged and made a noise of vague agreement, while Peter just looked rather relieved to avoid conflict. ************* “Sirius, will you keep still!” It was the fifth time that Remus had had to utter those words in the past two minutes, much to everyone’s annoyance and to Sirius’s amusement. “Keeping still is for wimps!” Sirius announced with a stupid grin on his face before ruffling his hair once again. “My fingers are gonna fall off from the cold at this rate,” Peter scowled, shooting daggers at Sirius with his eyes. Remus had given him a polaroid camera for Christmas after he’d been going on and on about wanting a muggle one all year, and he’d been trying his best to get a photo of the others for what felt like hours. “Sirius stand still or I will petrificus totalus your sorry ass,” Ruth groaned, and James had to suppress a cheer when Sirius finally, finally, did as he was told. Peter took the photo as quickly as he could and waited patiently for the photo to develop, grinning when the image came into colour. “Let us see, then!” she exclaimed impatiently, holding her hands out like a baby would and snatching the photo from Peter. “Oi, careful, I did not wait that long for Sirius to stop moving for you to just rip the bloody photo in half,” Peter huffed, re-joining the group with a false reluctance.James grinned when he got a look at the photo, “Oh, Pete, that’s a bloody good photo. You should be a photographer or something,” he said, ruffling Peter’s hair playfully as the boy’s face flushed red. “He’s got a point, Wormtail,” Remus mused, watching Sirius’s face light up at his use of the nickname, “It is a good photo. Though it’s weird having us stood still for once, I’m so used to us being in magical pictures.” “I like it,” Ruth smiled, glancing at the boys affectionately, “I think it makes it even more special,” she paused for a moment, inhaling the very essence of that moment and relishing in it, “Happy Christmas, lads.”

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Christmas comes and goes, New Year's too, and suddenly it's 1976 and I find myself shivering on Platform 9 and ¾ as I wait for everyone else to arrive. The Christmas holidays were spent in much the same fashion, rotating between seeing the boys, the girls and my actual family. A pretty good holiday, all things considered. However, the start of term has, as it always does, come round far too quickly for my liking. While I am, at first, rather proud of myself for being early for the train for once in my life, the novelty of it all soon wears off when I realise I now have to spend the next ten minutes essentially in the Arctic fucking circle, listening to my mum's nagging and siblings' moaning. I suddenly find myself missing when I used to leg it down King's Cross with only a handful of minutes to spare, but I know that no promise to my mother of I'm going to be better from now on, I'm a responsible sixteen-year-old now don't you know would actually make that particular minor miracle come true. "Are you sure you've got everything?" Mum asks me for at least the fourteenth time this morning. I'm not entirely sure, I lost count after the fifth. I supress an eye roll, knowing she means well really and in all likelihood is doing it just to wind me up, and say "Yes, mum." Mum looks at me knowingly, "Okay, but you can never be too sure. Remember that time when you were in your third year and–" "And I nearly forgot my wand, yes, we all know the story, we were all there, you don't need to bring it up," I sigh, glaring at her very maturely and leaning further towards her when she reciprocates. Our impromptu staring contest is soon cut short, however, when I suddenly feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder, practically dragging me round to look at whoever has disrespected my personal space so brazenly. Naturally it is none other than one James Fleamont Potter, flanked by Remus and Peter. However, being the dramatic prick that I am, I clutch at my heart for good measure, "Jesus Christ, mate, are you trying to send me to an early grave or what?" "Now, why on Earth would I want that?" James asks with his trademark lopsided mess of a grin, pulling me into a hug before I can nag any further. I reciprocate it all the same – I'm dramatic, not rude – doing the same with Peter and Remus as I ask, "Sirius not here yet?" What I don't like are the dark clouds that gather on my friends' faces upon hearing my question. The smile that has crept onto my face at seeing them slowly dissolves, and I can feel my brows furrowing in concern against my will. Something about Sirius Black that may surprise you is that he's actually very punctual, most likely down to his borderline aristocratic upbringing. His being late to a good chunk of his lessons is more to do with our influence and our very purposeful choice to take the long route to lesson wherever possible. It is extremely out of character for him to be late when we're not with him, especially if he's with the Blacks. "We thought he'd be with you," Peter murmurs unsurely, eyes darting around the platform as if he'd be able to spot him amongst the ever-growing crowd. I try to fend off the panic that is quickly polluting my mind. Something else you need to understand is that the first day of term is rarely a peaceful occasion where Sirius Black is concerned. Or rather where his mother is concerned. That woman's cruelty knows no bounds, a fact that is becoming clearer with each term. "He's definitely here somewhere. Maybe he's already on the train?" Remus suggests, apparently having located Sirius's scent or voice or any semblance that he's here. There are moments when I'm thankful for the heightened senses Remus gets from the wolf. I nod slowly, shoving the panic aside in favour of trying to keep the group together, "Yeah, well if we head to our normal compartment then at least he'll know where to look for us." I don't have much faith in my words, and by the looks of it neither do the boys, but it's the best I can do and we all seem to collectively accept that. I say my goodbyes to Mum and my siblings, pointedly ignoring the concern on her face and only feeling a little bit bad about it, then follow the others onto the train. To his credit, James manages to last a good few minutes of catch-up talk – not entirely necessary considering we only saw each other a mere few days ago – before his frantically bouncing leg stills and he finally speaks up, "I wanna look for him." "James," Remus sighs with a weariness far beyond his years and God, he sounds so much older than fifteen. James doesn't even let him finish whatever point he's about to make, firmly cutting him off, "No because you said he's here, but he might still be on the platform and the train leaves in two minutes and if he doesn't get on in time because of his fucking mother or because he's hurt–" "Okay, James breathe mate," Remus manages to jump in before James can get too worked up, keeping his voice calm, "You and Ruth can go look for him, and me and Pete will stay here in case he comes back, alright?" He looks at James expectantly, watching as he starts to lose some of the tension in his body. Still, however, he fixates on a spot on the floor, refusing to meet anyone else's eyes. Eventually I reach out a hand, rubbing his arm soothingly in an attempt to get him to look at me, "Yeah, come on darling, let's go." I make to stand up and leave the compartment, and I try to hide my smile when he follows suit, seemingly out of the haze of his own anxiety. Shutting the door behind us, we begin to walk down the corridor in our search for Sirius. Our part of the corridor is mostly quiet, it being right at the end of the train, with only the last few stragglers scrambling to get their luggage onto the train before the last whistle blows. We only have to awkwardly shuffle past a handful of students on our way down, and for that I'm grateful. I'm not sure if my patience can take too many snotty first years right now. We're silent for a few moments, James not entirely calm yet and me not wanting to push him, before James finally murmurs, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "Sorry about that." I look up at him – bloody hell, the height difference these days, must be half a foot between us at least – and put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, you don't need to apologise. It's okay, I get it." I mean, Merlin, do I get it. Being scared to death for your friends is an Ruth Arabella Belafonte specialty. For Sirius, for Remus, even for Lily sometimes. It's strange how we've just become accustomed to that kind of terror. Sometimes it's hard to remember that I'm only sixteen. He puts a hand on top of mine and squeezes it with a small smile before finally meeting the worry he must be able to see in my eyes. He sighs, not taking his hand away just yet, "I'm just worried about him, you know? She keeps getting worse and I've had a bad feeling all day and..." he trails off, clearly trying not to think about it too much. He lets his hand drop and I do the same. I nod softly, "We all are, honey. Let's just hope your feeling's wrong." It's a lie and we both know it, but it tastes sweet on my tongue and it's enough to placate my racing heart for now. We go back to walking in comfortable silence for a short while. I think there's a shared understanding between us that any attempt at regular conversation would just fall flat. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, it isn't long until a vaguely familiar figure some way ahead of us snaps their head to look straight at us. James squints, trying to make out who it is, but I get there faster. I'd know that head of hair anywhere. "Is that–" But I can't finish my question as I'm cut off by a desperate yell. "Potter! Belafonte!" "Fucking hell," I manage to mumble under my breath before we both break into a sprint down the train corridor. "Shit," James murmurs as we come to a stop in front of Regulus who is struggling to prop up a barely conscious Sirius against his side. Sirius's eyes are fluttering shut as he wobbles precariously against his brother's shoulder, his arm haphazardly slung around Regulus's shoulders, laying limp as Regulus struggles under the added weight. I can't see any blood – yet, I remind myself – and for that I'm grateful, but I can't help but notice how gaunt his face is. I dread to think about the state the rest of his body must be in. "Can you take him, I can't," Regulus says, shaking me back to reality. James takes Sirius from him with ease, placing a firm grip around his waist to prevent him from outright collapsing. I don't miss the way Sirius flinches at the contact. "You alright mate? I got you," he says softly, attempting to give Sirius a once over to assess the damage. "Alright James?" Sirius slurs, grinning lopsidedly up at him, only receiving an exasperated shake of the head from James. Regulus, now able to stand properly, locks eyes with me, speaking in a painfully matter-of-fact tone, "I think his right leg is injured given how he has been walking but other than that I don't know what's happened. He refused to show me anything," he adds, glaring at his brother who does his best to look innocent but ends up looking more like a drunk playing at being sober. "Sweetie," I say reproachfully, sighing when Sirius gives me no response. Later, I'll lecture him on letting his brother help him, if Remus doesn't beat me to it. But seeing the exhaustion his body is exuding and the miniscule way his face contorts with every breath he takes, I know that now is definitely not the time. It's only when I turn away from him to look back at Regulus do I realise that I haven't been the only one staring. I look at him softly, taking in the worry etched into his features, and say, "He'll be alright Reg, we'll take care of him." Regulus finally tears his eyes away from his brother, and seems to regain some of his composure, giving me a short nod that reveals more care and anxiety than the average onlooker might pick up on. I try a small smile at him, the only thing I can think to do to alleviate any of his worry. Sirius, on the other hand, is trying to escape James's grasp and stand up by himself, "Stop fussing, I'm fine." James, however, doesn't let up, instead mumbling, "Don't you dare." I try not to react to the way his voice breaks. Regulus risks a glance at his brother, careful to not let any emotion show on his face, before locking eyes with me once more. "Thank you," he says stiffly, and then before I can respond, he turns around and sets off down the corridor. I tear my eyes away from the boy, too many questions swirling in my head to even consider at the moment. After a minute or two of awkward manoeuvring, not helped by the fact the train is now pulling out of King's Cross and slowly making its way out of London, it quickly becomes apparent that the best way to get Sirius back to our compartment was going to be to carry him, which naturally leads to James effortlessly sweeping him off his feet bridal-style. "My knight in shining armour," Sirius coos somewhat deliriously, to which James shakes his head affectionately. It's not long until we reach the compartment, James walking as quickly as he can without sending any of us into a panic. Not knowing what we will be dealing with upon reaching the compartment, it's best to avoid getting worked up. That, we know from experience. We all but burst into the compartment – it's only in times like these that I notice how small they really are – only to find Remus and Peter already on their feet waiting for us. James places Sirius on the seat as gently as he can, instantly reaching for something in his trunk on the shelf above. I stand awkwardly in the doorway – there really isn't enough room for all of us to be standing in here – hands going straight to play with the hem of my jacket to try and placate my nerves. My eyes flit towards my friends: Peter, who has visibly paled upon seeing Sirius; Remus, who looks as though he is going to be sick right there and then. Situations like these are no good for his heightened senses. I gesture towards the window, prompting Remus to open it and get some fresh air in. I shake off the initial sense of fucking hell what do I do and, closing the door behind me for privacy, go to kneel by Sirius's head, taking his hand and trying not to tear up at his attempt at a grateful smile. A closer look at his face shows no visible marks, and for that I'm grateful, but his breathing is awfully laboured. "Sirius, sweetie," I say, squeezing his hand gently, willing the anxiety out of my voice. He hums quietly in response; eyelids fluttering shut. Panic surges in my throat, "No, no, come on, keep your eyes open, we both know how this goes." Thankfully, he does, though it seems to take a great effort, and he locks eyes onto me. I smile encouragingly, "There you go, my face can't be that bad to look at, can it?" Sirius attempts a grin at that. I rub his hand with the pad of my thumb, trying to be as soothing as I know how to be, "Sirius, your breathing doesn't sound too good. I need to know if you've coughed up anything you shouldn't have." If he has, his ribs are more than likely broken, which will make this whole operation ten times more dangerous. I thank my lucky fucking stars when Sirius whispers a very raspy no. Just as I'm about to work out what to rule out next, James cries out in victory from above. In his hands are around half a dozen potion vials, and if the way Remus's head snaps round, nose pointed in the air slightly, a good few of them contain dittany. At that point, I begin to wonder if there really is some omnibenevolent god watching over us. Although I suppose if such a being existed, we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. "I knew my mum put some of these in my trunk last night," James grins, "I think four of these are dittany and then a couple of them are nutrition potions." So perhaps God doesn't exist, but Euphemia Potter does. I suppose there is an argument to be made that she is a much better alternative. "Thank fuck for Effie," I mumble, smiling when Sirius hums in response. I look back up to the boys standing above me, quickly assessing what will be the best course of action given our cramped conditions. "Right, James, you give the vials to Remus and Peter, and they can sort out which ones are which. You two might as well sit on the other seat cos there isn't enough room for all of you to be standing," I say, nodding my head towards the seat in question. They do as I say with no argument, quickly getting to work. I look back up to James, "Okay, I'm thinking check his torso first? Then we can work out what's happened with his leg and if there's anything else we need to be worried about." I turn back to Sirius, suddenly very grateful for the button-up shirt he's wearing – I try not to wonder if he's worn it on purpose for this next bit. "Darling, we need to check your chest, can I unbutton your shirt?" I ask, keeping my voice gentle and making quick work of the buttons when Sirius gives a weak nod. I'm met with a sight that I've seen far too many times before, more often than not in this exact compartment. Sirius's chest, littered with scrapes and cuts, painted with the ugly hues of bruises. Blues, greens, purples, colour that don't belong on anyone's skin, blooming like grotesque flowers on his body. Sirius's eyes remain adamantly up, staring at a spot somewhere behind me. I'm trying very hard not to be sick. Or to storm over to Number 12 Grimmauld Place to give Walburga Black everything she has coming to her. One look at James tells me he isn't faring much better. He swallows hard and, with his wand hand shaking slightly, mutters a quick episkey. The skin of Sirius's chest returns to its normal colour in an instant. The contortions of pain on his face begin to smoothen out as the bruises fade and the cuts heal themselves. His grip on my hand loosens too, not that I've even realised how hard he's been holding it in the first place. I almost breathe a sigh of relief until I notice a particularly nasty gash on the side of his body I can't see very well. I have to lean forward to get a good look at it, reaching for James's leg with my free hand to get him to notice. The cut is about an inch in width, stretching from the bottom of Sirius's rib cage to his all too visible hip bone, and given the way dark, sticky blood is oozing from it, it's almost certainly the result of – "Dark magic," I murmur to James, who nods gravely. I really am finding myself having to fight the urge to punch something. Instead, I sigh, "Well, you can clean it at least, then we can get some dittany on it. Pomfrey can dress it properly when we get to school." We both know by now that no healing spell in any of our repertoires will do a damn thing against dark magic. I am certain that one day I'll create one myself. And that is how it goes. For the next half an hour or so, we heal as much as we can. He's clearly been starving, though you don't need to be a healer to work that one out, and is dealt with using a nutrition potion and some of Remus's chocolate. His leg injury is only a sprained ankle, thank Merlin, but none of us feel anywhere near confident enough to try and heal that one, instead collectively opting to leave that to Pomfrey upon returning to Hogwarts. A quick diagnostic spell from James alleviates my fear from earlier: Sirius has knocked his head, but he doesn't have a concussion. Nothing a couple of painkillers won't fix, at least for the rest of the train journey. More importantly for Sirius, however, it means that I finally feel confident enough to let him sleep. It only takes him a few minutes to drift off. It takes much longer for me to finally safe enough to leave his side. I have my theories about how he sustained each and every one of his injuries. Images keep flashing through my mind of that fucking house, his mother, darkness, pain – Nope. Not dwelling on it. My anger does nothing for anyone. Not now. Walburga Black will get her dues, whether that will be from the hand of anyone in this compartment or not. The rest of the journey is spent in relative quiet as we all crash from our adrenaline highs. The boys have slumped onto the seat opposite Sirius at some point, I don't notice when, too busy staring intently at the rise and fall of Sirius's chest. James is sat at the window end of the seat, watching the view outside as the January sun slinks across the sky. Remus is sat sideways at the other end of the seat so that he is facing James and the window. His freakishly long legs mean his feet are laying comfortably in James's lap, not that he's complained. He's reading a muggle book that I don't recognise, the curls of his hair falling forward as he lowers his head to read. Peter is sandwiched between them, Remus's legs practically acting as a seatbelt for him. Clearly, seeing Sirius sleeping somewhat peacefully has set him off too for he is snoring lightly with his head lolled onto James's shoulder. Again, James hasn't said a word about it. I reckon the physical contact is grounding for him, if the way his leg isn't bouncing with anxiety anymore is anything to go by. Exhaustion seeps from every crevice of their bodies. The air is full of it. This is a horrific routine that we've made for ourselves, and we are now reaping the rewards. I can't help but think back to what James said earlier on in our search for Sirius. I'm just worried about him, you know? She keeps getting worse. And it's true, isn't it? By all accounts what we've dealt with today isn't the worst that Sirius has come back from that god-forsaken house with, but generally speaking, the injuries are getting worse. And we've only seen what's left a physical mark. Merlin knows how many hexes and curses and words Walburga has thrown at him. Maybe it's only a matter of time before she goes too far. Until Sirius's malnourished body just can't bounce back from his injuries regardless of what potions he's given. Images flash through my mind of Sirius's lifeless body, collapsed in a heap on the floor of Grimmauld Place, somewhere we can't reach him, can't take him from that wretched house and put him back together yet again – No. It won't get that far. I'll do anything before it gets that far. I just hope Sirius will too. Half-aware that I'm silently spiralling on my spot on the floor, I decide thinking about it right now isn't going to do anyone any good. Naturally the best solution I can come up with for that is not being able to think at all. I transform into a cat in seconds. My metamorphmagus abilities do wonders for situations like these. I leap onto Sirius's seat with ease, curling up on his legs. I vaguely register Remus glancing over and smiling at me, but it's not long before I'm fast asleep. I don't know how long it is until I wake up, but when I do, the January setting sun is streaming in through the window, painting James in gold. He and Remus seem to be engaged in some kind of conversation, keeping their voices low and Peter seems to still be asleep on James's shoulder. I blink a few times to adjust to the light and it takes me a few moments to register the hand on my head. I lift my head up slightly to see Sirius still laying on the compartment seat but awake, alive, his other hand playing aimlessly with his hair. I also vaguely register that he must have moved me while I was sleeping for I'm now curled up on his stomach, just out of reach of the wound on his side, rather than his legs. I carefully stretch my legs out, narrowly missing smacking Sirius right in the face, and it's only at this point that the boys seem to realise I'm awake. I curl back up on his stomach, decidedly quite comfortable where I'm laying with his hand just resting on top of my head. "Comfy there?" Sirius asks and I don't need to look at him to know he's smirking. I don't say anything in response – obviously I can't, I'm a cat – but I do meow a bit and Sirius seems to accept that response. The rest of the train journey is spent in a comfortable quiet, but I don't doze off again. Peter wakes up too at some point, and the next hour is spent by talking about something or other, probably quidditch given the enthusiasm on everyone's faces except for Remus's. I don't know, I'm not really paying attention, I'm too busy focusing on the breathing, alive boy on the seat with me. He's still here. He's still breathing. Of course he isn't going anywhere. I cling onto that sentiment like a mantra for the rest of the trip, and by the time we reach the station, I'm hardly even worried about him. We take Sirius to the hospital wing as soon as we arrive at Hogwarts. James carries him bridal style the whole way there, which isn't strictly necessary given his much-improved state, but Sirius, ever the drama queen, doesn't object. Pomfrey doesn't seem particularly surprised by our arrival – I try not to think about the implications of that too much. She decides to keep him in overnight for observation to make sure that the Skele-Gro she gave him for his leg works properly. Remus, unsurprisingly, stays with him, the two of them sharing a bed that is much too small. No one feels the need to point out that they could just enlarge it with magic. If you ask me, I think they need the intimacy, the physical contact. The notion that this touch is a choice. It's not designed to bruise or cut or scratch. It's there as an anchor, keeping them tethered to each other and to reality. The thing is that Remus and Sirius understand each other on an instinctual level, in a way me, James and Peter probably won't ever be able to. That shared experience of pain and the mind-numbing fear that comes with it. Me and James may be good in a crisis, dealing with the eye of the storm itself almost expertly, but Remus is always there in the aftermath, ready to ride out the waves until the waters calm. And Sirius does the same for him every moon without fail. That bond runs deeper than the blood spilled between them. Merlin help the man foolish enough to ever try and come between them. If me and James are good during a crisis, and Remus is good in the aftermath, Peter is the one who always manages to bring us back to our regularly scheduled programming, so to speak. The three of us leave the hospital wing in a strange trance, trapped in a bubble of our friend's trauma. A bubble which is immediately burst by none other than Peter Pettigrew. It doesn't take him very long at all to start up a conversation about quidditch. Or I assume it's quidditch given the way James lights up. I'm not sure. I'm not really listening. The conversation continues into dinner. I'm content to let the boys rattle on about their predictions for the upcoming season or whatever it is they're talking about. I much rather that than them wallowing in their anxiety. Which is definitely not what I'm doing. At all. I'm not sure when I leave. It's early enough for me to have to wave off the boys' concerned looks, mumbling some half-arsed excuse about going to the dorm for some peace and quiet away from their nattering. I don't hang around long enough to see how they react. I make my exit, leaving my untouched dinner behind. I can't eat. I can't stomach it. I can barely breathe. I can do nothing but think about Sirius. Sirius, half-dead and delirious leaning on his brother. Sirius, bruised within an inch of his life and groaning every time he breathes. Sirius, on the floor of Grimmauld Place, throat torn to shreds from screaming. It's just images of Sirius playing on repeat in my mind, of what must have happened for him to sustain such injuries. For a dangerous moment I think I'm actually going to be sick. I don't even know where it is my feet are taking me until I register the staircase I suddenly find myself stranded on. I grip the handrail tightly when I finally notice it's moving. Eventually it comes to a stop and I'm walking up before I even realise it. It's only when I start to make my way down the corridor that I clock I'm on the seventh floor – not that I remember walking up that many flights of stairs, but I know I'm right because I walk past this rather crude portrait of two nymphs halfway to shagging which, in all honesty, is quite hard to forget. The only upside is that I know the Room of Requirement isn't far from here. Maybe listening to my records wouldn't be such a bad idea. I mean, if Freddie Mercury can't help then I'm not sure who can at this point. I'm only round the corner from the Room when I hear it. Music. Piano specifically. It's faint but it's there. I stop just before I turn the corner, craning to try and work out where the music is coming from. Unless I've finally lost the plot. Merlin knows it's been a long time coming. I start to edge closer to the source of the noise when suddenly the piano isn't unaccompanied. 
Mama, just killed a man
 
Put a gun against his head
 
Pulled my trigger now he's dead
 It's Bohemian Rhapsody – of course it's Bohemian Rhapsody. But it isn't Freddie Mercury's voice. It's softer, like the singer is being careful not to drown out the piano with their voice. The two combine and echo down the corridor, the stone walls and high ceilings of the castle reverberating the sound. 
Mama, life had just begun
 
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
 My feet are taking me closer to the music before I even realise. I turn the corner onto the corridor I know the Room of Requirement to be on, and there it is, in the same place it always appears for me, except... Except the door's open. No, that can't be right. The whole point of the Room is that it's secret. If there's someone in there, then no one else is supposed to be able to get in. That's just how it works. Except apparently it's not, because the closer I get to the doorway, the better I can see that it's definitely open, and the better I can hear the music. I finally reach the room and I'm not sure I can do anything but stand in the doorway and bear witness to the sheer miracle of this music, this song. Because that's my piano, and now I can finally see it, that's my Room of Requirement. I barely have time to question the implications of this because I can see it's a girl now and she's singing again. She's playing with her back straight and with the tips of her fingers, worlds away from the informal way I tend to play the instrument, but there's a reverence with which she plays. Her head is bowed. As if she's worshipping it. As if she's thinks herself blessed to be in the presence of such an instrument. I think nothing could be further from the truth. I kick myself mentally for even thinking such a thing. I've never seen someone so suited to the piano, and that's not something I say lightly. Her singing is heart wrenching in its softness, like there's a grief which can only be spoken in song. 
Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry
 
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
 
Carry on, carry on
 
As if nothing really matters
 I don't even realise I've sung the last line with her until the piano trails off into loud silence. That should embarrass me more than it does, but I can't bring myself to care because she's torn herself from the piano keys and she's looking right at me like a deer caught in headlights, lips parted in shock. I'm fairly sure my own facial expression isn't much different. I'm half convinced I've just met my piano in human form. She's all pale skin and dark hair, like the keys her fingers haven't left yet. Objectively speaking, the girl is gorgeous. One might even say angelic, if they believed in things like angels. All of a sudden, I seem to snap out of whatever trance I was in. I don't even know how long we've been staring at each other. I think she clocks that at the same moment I do because there's a rosy tint to her cheeks that wasn't there a few moments ago. She looks back down at the piano and I'm already missing her large eyes blinking at me. I can't just leave it at that. As if I can just turn around and leave after that? No, I know I need to say something, literally anything to stop her looking so embarrassed – "You like Queen?" The words leave my mouth without my permission and Merlin's bloody ball sack, I have never wanted to smack myself upside the head more. 'You like Queen?' Of course she bloody likes Queen, you absolute dickhead, why else would she be playing one of their songs – "Who doesn't?" Oh. Apparently that worked then. Now she's smiling shyly at me from her seat on the piano bench, one eyebrow cocked in... amusement? I huff a laugh, looking down for a moment and tilting my head in concession, "Yeah, fair point." I look back at her and I glance at the piano, as if suddenly remember why I'm here in the first place, "That was..." There aren't the words for it. I don't know a single word that would do it any semblance of justice. That part of the song is enough to get me emotional on a good day, but the way she'd played it. It's like she'd been drowning in the melody. Smothered in the lyrics. She could have easily convinced me that she wrote it and Freddie Mercury was nothing more than a thief. I know I've trailed off for too long but she's smiling at me as if she knows what I'm trying to say. "Ineffable," she says after a moment, "It means impossible to describe or express. Maybe that's the word you're looking for." "Ineffable," I murmur, feeling the word on my tongue. If miracles existed, I think that's how they'd taste. All bubbly and bright. Impossible as they may be to describe, they're there. "Yeah, that works," I say, feeling a smile form on my face for the first time since I got back to Hogwarts, "I mean where did you even find the sheet music to learn it?" Because I'm not being funny, if she has sheet music for it, best believe I'm having that because I spent the best part of the holidays desperately looking for it. But instead, she just shrugs, "I didn't. I just worked it out." I blink at her. I'm fairly sure my jaw has dropped like a fucking stone. "You mean you learnt that by ear?" "Pretty much," she smiles, a faint blush growing on her cheeks. "Your name's Ruth, right? We sit together in Transfiguration. I'm Serafina." Oh fuck. No wonder she looks so vaguely familiar when I sit next to her nearly every day. "Merlin, I knew I recognised you from somewhere. Fuck, sorry, I didn't even think," I manage to say, half aware I'm rambling. Luckily for me she quickly saves me from whatever point I'm trying to make, "It's okay. I know you spend too much time throwing paper at Black to pay attention to me. Or McGonagall," she adds as an afterthought. I gape at her once again, "I'm not that bad!" She simply raises one dark, disbelieving eyebrow at me, "Aren't you?" Any defence I may have been able to bullshit my way through suddenly shatters and dies, obliterated by her fucking eyebrow. I stare blankly as her expression turns way too triumphant for my liking until I remember something important. I hold up a hand in protest, "Wait, hold on, I tried to pay attention to you when I first moved seats. You made me think you couldn't speak English!" She lets out a surprised laugh, "Obviously I lied! I'd just seen your little performance at the front of the classroom, and you'd walked in with a fucking crown on your head! I took one look at you and thought 'fuck that'." Ah. I remember that lesson. The day I turned sixteen and promptly decided I was God. I shake my head in amused disbelief, "You little shit." "Didn't work though, did it? Here you are," she shrugs, looking a lot less annoyed about it than she sounds. Suddenly she seems to remember where we are and her eyebrows furrow slightly, "Actually, how did you get in here?" Now this is the question that had been plaguing me a few minutes ago, but that was before I met the impossible girl in front of me. I retrace my steps in my head. "Did you not leave the door open?" She shakes her head, "No. Did you open it?" "No," I murmur, looking vaguely looking around the room, "This is my room actually." "Your room?" "Yeah, well, that's my record player and those are my records," I explain, pointing as I speak. "The piano, the furniture, all of it's how the room looks whenever I come in." "It's always looked like this for me too," she murmurs, glancing around as if seeing it for the first time again, "I assume the throne's yours too?" "It might be," I say, putting on a faux-innocent expression that has her smiling back at me in disbelief. "But you only started in September, right? How did you find this place so quickly?" "Girl in my dorm told me. You know Hestia Jones?" "Oh, yeah, she's in my divination class. She just told you?" I ask increduously. "We're Hufflepuffs," she shrugs by way of explanation and I guess I don't really need to know anything beyond that. "When did you find it?" "First year," I say smugly, only to reluctantly add, "But I had to eavesdrop." She shakes her head in mock disapproval, looking away as a small smile forms on her face. Her gaze lands on the piano once again and she asks, "Do you play?" "A bit. My mum taught me how but our music tastes are quite different," I explain, smiling at the memories of Sunday afternoons spent listening to her play Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin while I danced along. "I taught myself most of the songs I know, so I'm nowhere near as good as you. You have lessons, don't you?" "Had lessons. I don't anymore," she corrects and her smile tightens minutely, "How could you tell?" "Your posture is miles better than mine," I say, and internally breathe a sigh of relief when her forced expression disappears even though it's replaced by one of confusion. "Miles better?" she asks, brows furrowed, "Sorry, I'm still learning English phrases." "It means so much better," I explain, only now hearing her accent, "Sorry, I didn't think. Where are you from?" "Italy," she says simply, and there's something in the way her eyes dull a little bit that makes me think there's a lot more to that story. I open my mouth to say something, not quite sure what, but she cuts me off as she moves on the piano stool to make room for me, "Sit with me, I'll show you how to play the song." I do as she says, because there's nothing else to do, and vaguely in the back of my head I register that 'Serafina' tastes the same as 'ineffable'. But I don't have time to unpack that because she's taking my hands and placing them on the piano with hers laying gently on top of them, and she's showing me which keys to press. And she's singing again.