I checked my trunk for the second time and sighed. It was the end of the semester and students were going back home for the Christmas holidays. I tried not to think about the end, but more of the start, where my cousin Zoe will be coming over for two weeks.

"If you need anything Izzy, send a letter." Marlene said. I nodded and hugged her.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it." She smiled and we all walked downstairs. Everyone was in the Common Room, talking excitedly about the Christmas holidays.

"There you are!" I turned around and the Marauders walked over to us. "Evans, go out with me?" James asked.

"No!" Lily said loudly and sighed with annoyance.

"Oh fine. Should we be heading to the train?" We all nodded and walked out of the Common Room and to the Hogsmede train station.

I placed my trunk on the train and looked at the others. "Anyway, I have to go. Prefects get their own compartments." Lily stated.

"Show off." I muttered. She glared at me playfully.

"Hopefully I can see you guys before you leave." She hugged Alice then Marlene and finally me. "Bye!" Lily ran off.

"Yeah, I better go too." Remus stated, grabbing a book from and chocolate bar from his trunk.

"No! You're staying with us!" Sirius exclaimed and grabbed Remus's arm.

"Padfoot I have to-"

"No! Stay with us!" Remus sighed as Sirius hugged his arm. The others and I laughed.

"Sirius-"

"No! Please Remy?!" I snorted.

"Remy?" I asked.

"No you cannot call me Remy." Remus said.

"Whatever Remy." He glared at me and sighed.

"Sirius!"

"Yeah come on Moony!" James joined in and grabbed Remus's other arm. "We might not see you after the train ride then we'll have to wait a month-"

"You two are so dramatic!" They both pouted. "Fine!"

"Yes!" James and Sirius yelled in unison and grinned. They dragged Remus onto the train with Peter behind them. Marlene, Alice and I glanced at each other before following.

We found a compartment as the train started moving. I sighed and grabbed my book and glasses. "You're going to read the whole time?" Peter asked me as I put my glasses on.

"What's wrong with reading?" Remus asked disapprovingly as he took a bite out of his chocolate bar.

"Come on Fall, socialise." James stated. "What are you doing for Christmas?"

"My cousin's coming over for two weeks. Nothing much." I shrugged and opened my book.

"What's your cousin's name?"

"Zoe."

"What's she like?"

"Why do you keep asking about my cousin?"

"She could be a secret death eater for all we know-" I glared at James, who cleared his throat. "Because..."

"She's nice okay? She's my best friend..."

"Is she hot?" Sirius asked. I threw my book at him and he ducked.

"No you cannot hit on her!!" I yelled.

"Aww." Marlene sighed silently.

"Hey, I have more books!" I warned.

"I'm good." I glanced at Marlene, who sighed and pretended to be interested about something outside.

"Anyway, we're complete opposites. She dates a lot of guys, I don't. She loves the colour pink, I hate the colour pink-" I continued.

"See I told you we should've changed her hair to pink." Peter whispered to James and Sirius.

"And if you did I would've killed you."

"Yeah purple was fine." Sirius said, eyeing me carefully. James nodded. "And what else?"

"She doesn't read much and I read a lot. She flirts with a lot of guys and I obviously don't."

"So like a female version of Sirius." Alice concluded.

"Nah, Sirius is more annoying." I stated. Everyone laughed, except for Sirius who frowned.

"What?! I'm not annoying-" Sirius said. We all laughed again. "You're all mean."

"Remember that dog in Hogsmede?" Marlene asked suddenly. Sirius grabbed Remus's book and pretended to be reading it, though it was upside down. I looked at him with confusion.

"Yeah, you were playing with it and it looked like it loved you." I stated. The Marauders all glanced at Sirius for some reason with amusement.

"Yeah." Marlene smiled. "It was really cute-"

"Thank you." Sirius said suddenly. We looked at him. "I mean if the dog could talk it would say thank you and also say that you are beautiful..." Marlene blushed. Remus facepalmed and James shook his head slightly while grinning.

"Thank you..." Sirius smirked and winked at her, making her blush even more.

"Sirius can I have my book back?" I asked, reaching out for my book. He looked at me and grinned.

"No. You threw it at me." Sirius stated, grabbing my book.

"And I want it back."

"But I don't want to give it to you. You might throw it at me again."

"I'm not going to throw it at you." He raised an eyebrow. "I'll throw something else at you if you don't give me my bloody book!!!" I shouted, glaring at him. The Marauders jumped.

"Okay here!" He gave me my book and used James as a human shield. "Don't hurt me!" I smirked at him.

"Aww is Sirius Black scared of a girl." Everyone else snickered.

"No! Of course not!" Sirius crossed his arms. "I don't like you."

For the rest of the ride, Sirius, James and Peter were discussing pranks and Christmas holidays in hushed voices, Remus was listening but reading at the same time, Alice was rather quiet, Marlene was staring out the window probably thinking about Sirius and I had almost finished my book.

"Hey Isabel, can I borrow your book when you're done?" Remus asked. I looked up.

"You sure, you want to do that?" James questioned, glancing at me.

"Well the book is interesting." James and Sirius rolled their eyes.

"Yeah you can borrow it." I answered and handed him my book. "But if you break it in anyway I will kill you." Remus nodded.

"Got it. Thanks." The train stopped and I could see Platform 9 and 3/4 outside.

"We're here." Alice said cheerfully.

We grabbed all our stuff and walked off the train. I was about to grab my trunk when I heard a familiar voice.

"ISABEL!!!!" I turned around and saw a girl with straight blonde hair, next to a woman who also had blonde hair, but darker. I smiled widely and ran up to her.

"Zoe!" My cousin hugged me and I hugged back.

"It's so good to see you!! Are you dating anyone??" She asked.

"Every time." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm guessing that's a no. So how are you?? What's it like here at Hogwash?"

"Hogwarts. And yeah it's good."

"Any hot boys?"

"Oh my Merlin." I glanced at the Marauders and grinned suddenly. James was annoying Lily again. Lily's going to love me for this. "Actually, I want you to meet someone." I grabbed her hand and dragged her to the others, without saying hello to my mother.

"Oi Potter!!" I yelled and James looked at me.

"Where'd you go Fall?" He asked, looking at Zoe.

"I want you to meet someone. This is my cousin, Zoe. Zoe this is my friend, James." I introduced the two and Zoe smiled slightly.

"So is he single?" Zoe whispered in my ear.

"Don't flirt with him, just annoy him." I whispered back and she nodded.

"So you're Isabel's friend right?" Zoe asked James.

"Yeah and you're her cousin?" James stated. Lily took this opportunity to move away from him and to Marlene and Alice.

"I owe you one." She whispered to me and I nodded.

"Yeah! So what's it like at Hogwarts?" Zoe questioned.

"It's really cool, how's... is Ilvornormy?"

"Ilvermorny. It's alright but I want to know all about here!" James smirked slightly and nodded.

"We have four houses-"

"Which house are you in?"

"Gryffindor. The brave and courageous people-" I leaned against the train and watched them.

"Really? I love brave and courageous men." Zoe smiled at him. I frowned slightly. "You know, they're just so brave." She sighed dreamily.

"I'm glad." James smiled but shifted uncomfortably. Zoe giggled. "And we have Quidditch games too."

"Oh I love Quidditch!"

"No you don't." I whispered, shaking my head. "No flirt-"

"I'm the Captain for our team." James stated.

"Oh that's brilliant!! I love athletic men and their just so..." Zoe looked at James up and down. "I don't know."

"Yeah we're just amazing." She giggled again and nodded in agreement. James moved over to me. "Fall, make her stop..."

"I don't know if I want to." I whispered back.

"Please. I'll do anything."

"Like?"

"I'll get you chocolate."

"Deal." I straightened my back.

"You sound like Moony."

"So are you sing-" I grabbed Zoe's arm and she stopped talking.

"Okay! That's enough now! Zoe! What did I say?" I asked. James sighed with relief.

"You didn't say anything."

"Yes I did now we have to go! Bye James!"

"Bye." James waved at us as I dragged Zoe away from him, unfortunately passing Sirius who was with his brother Regulus Black.

Sirius winked at her and Zoe stopped in front of him, smiling widely. "Hi I'm Zoe-" Suddenly Marlene jumped out of nowhere and in between Sirius and Zoe. She grabbed Zoe's shoulders and steered her away.

"Hi! I don't believe we've met! I'm Marlene McKinnon, one of Isabel's friends." Marlene said quickly, holding out her hand.

"Oh, I'm Zoe." Zoe sounded a bit disappointed but shook her hand anyway. "So you're Isabel's friend?"

"Yep that's me. So, um... have a great Christmas! Bye Izzy." Marlene walked off when we were far away from Sirius. Zoe frowned.

"Okay. That was weird. Should we go back now?" I nodded and we walked back to my mother. Mum didn't look too happy.

"Hello Isabel, how's Hogwarts?" She asked with a cold look on her face. I rolled my eyes. I did not have such a good relationship with my mother too. Because she would just sit around and watch as my father beat me up.

"It was great. How's the Ministry?" I replied back.

"It's good. Now let's go." I sighed as we walked out of King's Cross and to the car which we unfortunately still had. Father had fixed it after the crash, after her funeral and they both acted like nothing happened.

"So what was that guy's name?" Zoe asked as we hoped into the car.

"James." I said, sitting at the front. Zoe was at the back and Mum sat behind the steering wheel.

"No not that one, I know him-"

"You were flirting with him!!" I looked over at her.

"It's not my fault he was hot!!!" I rolled my eyes.

"Well don't try to date him, he's in love with someone else. Like really in love, but she doesn't want to date him because he's really annoying and arrogant."

"Oh really? Well that girl has a problem if she doesn't want to date him-"

"That's my friend you're talking about!"

"Oh sorry. But I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about the one that winked at me then that girl came out of no way and-" I gasped in realisation.

"Oh! Well you should've said so-"

"I just- Every time!" I grinned.

"Yeah that's Sirius Black, James's best friend. But I wouldn't fall in-"

"Black? Black did you say?" My mother asked suddenly. I frowned.

"Yeah so?" She sighed.

"I don't want you hanging out with him." I looked at her with disbelief and Zoe frowned.

"What?! Why?!" I asked furiously.

"The Black family. They have a bad reputation."

"What do you mean...?"

"They are all about blood-purity, all of them. They don't care about muggles, Muggle-borns, half-bloods. All are in one house though, that snake one..." I stayed quiet for a moment. Sirius wasn't like that. I think. And he's not in Slytherin. His brother is though...

"But Sirius isn't like that!" I defended. "Also he's in my house, Gryffindor!! The opposite of the 'snake house'."

"Well I still don't want you hanging out with him. I don't want my daughter to all of a sudden care so much about blood purity!!"

"Mum, he's my friend!! I'm not going to stop hanging out with him because of his family!"
"Well stop being his friend!! He would mostly be trouble!!"

"He's a Marauder of course he's trouble... Look Mum! Guess what?? It's my life not yours! I get to choose who I'm friends with! Not you!!" She shot me a glare but didn't say anything. I sighed with annoyance and crossed my arms for the rest of the trip.