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┄┄ .•* 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏 *•. ┄┄

𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬

────── *•. ⚡︎ .•*──────

Sirius had broken free of his mother's grasp as soon as they stepped on the platform, and taking his trunk, he had sped in the direction of the train, immediately boarding it and walking off in the direction of the Marauders' compartment.

He and his friends had named themselves as such after finally completing the map and discovering their animal forms for their other project—the only key ingredient they were missing was a bloody lightning storm. Sirius was pretty proud of his Animagi form—Peter not so much; though it was bloody hilarious.

He greeted his mates, sitting down next to Prongs, down by the window, his hand twitching to the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He wouldn't smoke at the moment—mainly because James would get pissy and lecture him about it.

A yelp outside of their compartment interrupted whatever Remus was about to say, and frowning, the four boys opened the door and peeked their heads out of the door.

"Lily we're early!" a voice said a bit down the carriage and Sirius saw a blonde curly-haired girl scowling at Lily Evans.

He, of course, knew exactly who the girl was. Annora Hale. She was sort of James' little sister, spending summers with his family, and she was for sure Evans' little sister. Which would usually mean he would spend time with her, but for some reason, she always avoided the Potters when he was there and rarely spoke to him when she spoke to James.

She was also one of the only girls in Hogwarts who seemed to not care how good-looking he was. In fact, her attention always seemed to be on his perfect brother. And her group of snakes. And then there was the fact, she was a Slytherin.

"What about it?" Lily snapped back, handing her trunk to the girls in her compartment.

"Lily, you just broke my record, " Annora said calmly. "Three years! Three years of arriving just in time. And then I stay at your place and I'm early."

"I still don't get how that's a bad thing, " Lily said with a frown and much to Sirius's amusement Annora groaned.

"First, mom will be pissed at you for breaking the record, and now she can give you detention," Annora said and Lily pursed her lips. "Second, Barty will get the two Galleons he wanted because he made a bet with me I would arrive early this year! Third... I'll tell James you have a crush on him!"

This comment made James's lips twitch and Sirius was about to grab him by the back of his robes when he saw Lily's face scrunch up.

"The toerag? Getting here early is really messing with your head, isn't it?" Lily asked sighing and Remus and Sirius snorted, while Peter laughed in amusement. "Fine, next time we'll get here later."

"All I ask," Annora said solemnly before pecking Lily's cheek and swirling her fingers. "So long, Lils! Bye girls!" she called out the inside of the compartment and set off in the direction of her own, subsequently passing through the Marauders' compartment, making them tumble back so they wouldn't be caught eavesdropping.

That only resulted in a mess of limbs on the floor and Annora looking at them amused. She spared Sirius a glance before turning to James.

"Going for another year of wooing Lily, Jamie?" she asked him and James grinned wildly.

"Well, now that I know I have a chance," he said cockily and Annora's lips twitched. "Nora, where's Liv?"

"She'll apparate to Hogwarts," Annora replied with an excited smile. "Do you think it'll be weird? Having her around, I mean."

"Your mum is wicked, Nora, but yes maybe a bit." James laughed as Annora's face fell into a slight pout. "Don't worry, though, from what I've seen she might be the best DADA teacher we've had until now."

"Yes, but it's my mother. Dear Merlin, help us all."

With that, she was out of the compartment and the boys—who had detangled themselves were gaping.

"Did she say dear or deer?" James asked the lot of them and Remus waved it off.

"She said dear, you're imagining stuff, " he said and sat down again, taking out a book.

"What are you doing, Remus?" asked the voice of Lily Evans by the door.

"Alright, Evans?" James asked smugly, running a hand through his hair. Evans' eyes spared a glance to Prongs' mess of a hair, and with a scrunch of her nose, Lily ignored him.

"We have to go to the prefect's meeting," she told Remus, and his eyes widened.

"Of course, I forgot," he said and darted to his feet joining her and walking away from the compartment.

"It's no problem, " Siruys shouted after him, "Leave us just like that! No one cares about you anyway!—Moony! Come back!"

Remus ignored him but down by the carriage a door opened and the face of Barty Crouch Jr. peered over.

"Shut your bloody trap, Black!" he yelled before pulling his head back and closing the door of the compartment and looking back at his friends. "Your brother is a jerk, Reggie. I was trying to sleep!"

"Don't have to tell me," Regulus mumbled as he played with the shoelaces on Anora's sneakers—she was sitting on Rebastan's lap, her feet propped up on his.

"What are we, chairs?" Bas had asked and Annora had only kissed his cheek and nodded.

"The best ones."

"Are these comfortable?" Regulus asked looking at the shoes on her feet and Annora nodded.

"So comfortable, " she said. "I could buy you ones for Christmas."

"Mother would kill me if she found out, " Regulus snorted.

"They're just shoes Reggie, you can use them when you're not with her, " she said and Regulus shook his head.

"She'll find out."

"And? Just tell her to shove—"

"Smoke, anyone?" Evan asked, stepping in before their conversation broke into an argument just as the train started moving, taking a pack of cigarettes out of the inner pockets of his robes.

"You still have those?" Annora tilted her head amused—understanding the meaning of the interruption and not wanting to push it any further—and Evan nodded.

The lot of them usually stirred away from unpleasant conversations where their points of view clearly opposed. Annora knew it was because if someone crossed the line—the line that she so many times played with, the line that at times Evan lifted to try and peer on the other side—there could be no turning back for them.

"Couldn't exactly be caught smoking in my house," Evan said as he passed along a cigarette to Annora, the only one extending her hand.

"That's why I do it on the roof, " Annora said with a shrug; she clicked her fingers, making a little flame appear on the top of her index finger, and quickly lit her fag, placing it in between her lips. Inhaling and exhaling, letting a cloud of smoke grow around her face and subsequently Bas's who started to cough and pushed her off his lap.

Annora fell on the floor with a thud, looking up at the four boys chuckling and exhaling more smoke. "Assholes."

"It's arseholes, Annie," Regulus said taking the cigarette from her hands and taking a drag.

"If my mother heard you say that, " she muttered and they all looked back at Bas when he exhaled a sigh.

"Did I tell you I'm—"

"—in love?" all the other four finished and Rabastan scowled but nodded.

"Yeah, we've heard it, " Annora huffed getting up and sitting on Barty's lap.

"Since the first year," said Evan, his lips pressed together as he glanced at Annora.

"And I must say, it's not cool, man," Annora said, pointing the cigarette Regulus passed her at him. "You can't have a thing for my mother!"

"I'm not going to act on it," Bas huffed, his lips twitching. "But a bloke can dream."

"Oh God, no," Annora groaned.

"Fine, but I'm absolutely flunking Defence this year," Bas said with a dazed look, "Professor Hale."

Annora grimaced at her friend, who seemed to not be paying attention anymore, and took another drag of her cigarette.

"Can you stop smoking in front of me?" Barty asked; Annora exhaled and frowned at him.

"What's with you?" asked Regulus.

"Evans caught me smoking last year," Barty mumbled and then shuddered. "For a muggleborn, she can be quite gruesome."

"What did she say?" Annora asked with amusement.

"She got into this rather detailed description about holes in your throat and blackened lungs. . . . I'm not smoking again."

The other four snorted.

"I'll give it a week," Evan announced and Barty scowled.

"Way to have faith in me, Rosie."

"It's true, Bartemius," Evan replied, his lips curling into a smirk as he put the cigarette to his lips. Barty scowled.

They heard the lock on the compartment door sounding and in a haste Evan threw his fag on the floor, covering it with his foot, and Annora threw hers out of the window clearing the smoke around them.

"You do know the smell is still here, right?" asked the voice of Remus Lupin as he peered inside the compartment. Annora snorted but covered it up with a cough.

"I dunno what you're talking about, Lupin," she said with an oblivious look and the boys nodded.

"You know how pressed Lily and James can get about your smoking. Don't let them catch you, Hale," he said, throwing a fleeting smile their way before closing the door.

"And that is why Lupin is my favorite lion," announced Evan.

"You don't even know him," Bas pointed out.

"Exactly, " Evan said with a nod. "We don't know him and he still acts mildly friendly towards us. He's not that prejudiced against us snakes."

Annora had half a mind to tell him he was no different from the Gryffindors. Evan was quite the prejudiced jerk when he wanted, and most of the time he joyfully took the job. But it was the first day back and she didn't have the patience to get mad at Evan just yet.

"Nah, that isn't true," Barty snorted. "He only tolerates us because of Reggie and Annie. After all, they have siblings in his house."

Regulus didn't answer that comment. Annora did, smiling happily at the mention of Lily, and for the most part—when she felt kind enough to admit it—James.

"That and Lupin's sweet," she said with a smile. "Not to mention handsome."

"Do you have a thing for Lupin?" Barry gasped and Annora rolled her eyes with a huff.

"I thought you still had that crush on Elijah Moon," Bas said with a frown.

"I don't have a thing for anyone," Annora huffed. "Besides Moon's pinning after Isadora Payne."

"Isn't she the one always starting at Barty?" Evan asked blankly and they all nodded.

"I already told you, Rosie," Barty said with a smug smile, puffing out his chest. "It's because I look good."

"Or because half the time you have your skin painted green," Regulus snorted.

"That was one time!"

***

Annora looked up at the sky of the Great Hall with a small smile and then turned to the staff table, seeing her mother talking to McGonagall excitingly as she ate. Annora couldn't help but feel happy for her mother who was finally accomplishing something of her own, though she couldn't help but be suspicious her mother was only doing that to be close to her.

She remembered when her mother told her she was taking the job. They had just arrived home from dinner with the Evans and slumped down on the couch, a pint of ice cream each as they watched television. Olivia had promptly broken the news in the middle of an action scene.

"Mum! That job is cursed," Annora had exclaimed and her mother grinned.

"So what?"

"One of my teachers died two years ago with Dragon Pox. Do you wanna die?"

"I'm not going to die, Annie," Olivia had said with a scoff, before pointing her spoon at her daughter, "I've worked hard for this and Fleamont vouched for me in front of Gandalf—Dumbledore."

It was true. A year back, Olivia had accepted Euphemia and Fleamont's offer to help her get a hold of proper wand practice again and help her achieve her dream. It had only taken two years for her mother to accept their offer, though, thankfully, their friendship and honorary place in their family Olivia had accepted long ago. The Hale women were gathering adopted family members through life.

Annora had sat up straight on the couch, eating a spoonful of chocolate ice cream before she narrowed her eyes at her mother, "Are you taking the job just to be close to me?"

"Trust me, darling, if I could I would send you packing to Ilvermorny, just so I could teach at Hogwarts alone. But because you have deranged grandparents, sending you there would be as good as giving you up to them." Olivia shuddered.

"You could just teach in France or something."

"But I won't," Olivia had said promptly. "I'm quite happy torturing you at school."

"At least tell me you won't live at Hogwarts."

"Nope. I'll be spending as many nights as I can away from the castle. Full days of work are enough. Besides, I still have to help Joe and Euphemia wanted some help with some properties they have in America, she said I could help. Gandal—Albus said it was no problem."

Well, if Dumbledore says so, Annora now thought as she turned her eyes away from her mother with a proud smile, that immediately faded when she saw Bas's dazed gaze. She glared at him and grabbed her water goblet throwing it in his face.

"What was that for, Annie?!" he asked as he glared at her. The other three laughed.

"I thought you might be in need of a cold shower, you bastard. Stop staring at my mother!"

"It's not my fault," Rabastan said, he gestured his hands to the tables around him, where Annora saw multiple people gazing at her mother with the same look. She gagged. "Professor Hale is the most dashing teacher Hogwarts has ever had."

"Shut up, Bas," Barty muttered as he looked down at his food longly. "Not even your infatuation with Annie's mother can tone down my hunger. Thus, it is properly annoying."

"Barty you have to eat," Regulus said pushing Barty's plate towards him. Barty kept on looking over at the plate with longing eyes, yet he huffed and shook his head. "Evan, please tell him he has to eat!"

"What am I? His mother?" Evan scoffed as he buttered a piece of bread.

"Why aren't you eating?" Annora frowned at Barty and he glanced at her.

"Father says I'm too skinny, and I don't have strength," he said with disdain and they frowned at him. "So I'm proving just how skinny and dead I can be."

"Dead?" Regulus asked choking on his pumpkin juice.

"Yeah," Barty said with a nod. "If I don't eat, I'll end up dying."

"That's why you should eat," Rabastan said in exasperation. "Come on, I know you want it. And as soon as you do, the sooner I can stare at Olivia—"

Annora threw water at him again.

Bas glared. "The sooner I can stare at Professor Hale. You have to eat Barty!"

Barty shook his head.

"Honestly!" Evan huffed, grabbing a spoon from the table and filling it with whatever he found first on Barty's plate, and holding it out in front of Barty.

"I'm not a baby, Rosie!" Barty said with a huff.

"I know. I'm not feeding it to you, I'm gonna shove it down your throat," Evan said as if it was obvious and gestured to Regulus.

The latter nodded and grabbed Barty's mouth, forcing it open before Evan shoved the spoon in his mouth.

"Ine! 'INE!" Barty mumbled through a mouth full of food before swallowing and shoving another spoon in his mouth. "Fine! I'm eating, now shove off!"

"What about your father?" Annora asked and Barty shrugged.

"I'll find another way," he said resignedly.

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A/N:

I know they're like fourteen years old and smoking, but I feel like it fits the characters, besides put in mind that it's the 70s and it's not unusual for kids to smoke in Europe (as bad as it is).