One of the first things that changed when Éponine became emancipated from her parents, was her sense of fashion. Her days of outdated dresses were over, traded in for the more modern style of the late seventies. Had it been left to Sirius to decide, her entire wardrobe would have been littered with leather, as that had become more of his casual wear choice after ditching traditional wizarding wear.

Éponine dabbled with flared jeans, jumpsuits, and enjoyed the revival of mod clothing. And occasionally, she was tempted by a mini-skirt paired with knee-high boots. Thinking of her parents sometimes, Éponine knew her mother would suffer from a heart-attack if she could see what her daughter dared to wear. However, Éponine had never felt more comfortable in her skin and learned to pick clothing that actually flattered her figure.

With every decision that she was able to make for herself, Éponine gathered more confidence so that she wasn't second guessing herself all the time. Sirius and James were the best role models when it came to teaching Éponine to speak up for herself, rather than waiting until she was pushed to her limits.  One of her favourite things to do in the beginning was just being able to say "no" and not having to worry about the consequences that would follow had she been around her parents. If she didn't like something on her plate, she didn't have to eat it to make a good impression, she simply had to politely decline the offer and be done with it.

And the more freedom she was given, she was able to learn a lot about herself too. Such as things she was actually good at. During her childhood, Éponine had learned to ride horses because her parents bred horses for a living, she learned to play the piano because it appeared "ladylike" somehow, and she spoke two languages. She would often read too but she never felt like she was capable of anything special.

It was actually Fleamont that had encouraged her to try and discover different hobbies, and even if she failed at them, at least she could say she tried.

In the beginning, she remembered her mother's teachings, of presenting herself as the submissive type. Even if she was good at something, it was her duty to make sure her future husband came across as better. She was to keep her talking to a minimum, never having a higher word count than her husband or it would come across as disrespectful. There had been so many rules when she was younger, it was amazing that she could remember half of them.

Of course, Sirius, James, Remus, Peter, and Lily, all got involved to help her try out different hobbies and Éponine learned a lot about herself.

She could play piano, but she was also really good at playing the drums. Lily introduced her to recreational rock climbing and it became one of her favourite things to do on weekends when Lily invited her along. She didn't like cooking but she enjoyed baking, or rather, she enjoyed decorating baked goods.

It was almost borderline depressing to think about how much she had been missing out in life, how much her parents and traditions were holding her back, but every morning when Éponine awoke, she was thankful for the second chance she had given herself.

People that she thought hated her or she was to believe were beneath her, had become her family. When Sirius had reached out to her that day in the corridors in Hogwarts, she would have never suspected that he was willing to help her in such ways. But as he explained later on, if someone was willing to right their wrongs, who was he to judge them?

And even though he had been in his right to call out her previous prejudiced beliefs, maybe it was the guilt of placing unnecessary blame on Éponine that made him help her more than he intended initially. But the more time they spent together, it was clear that Éponine not only relied on him, but Sirius relied on her too.

Coming from intertwined backgrounds, Sirius and Éponine were able to bond, knowing they had been through very similar experiences that their friends could not relate to. Sirius had a tendency to lose his temper if someone disagreed with him in the slightest, possibly overcompensating for his childhood where he felt the need to argue so much with his family. And yet, Éponine had a tendency to look at a situation with a calmer approach, quickly becoming become Sirius' anchor in tense situations.

They were able to confide in one another, whether it was discussing nightmares or the depressing things they had heard in the news, such as the increased attacks on muggle-borns, knowing who were behind the attacks.

But not everything shared or discussed between them resolved their troubling childhoods or the dark times ahead, sometimes they just liked to have fun. Such as that morning when Éponine was going over some French with Sirius and watching him fail miserably.

"Your French is atrocious!" she laughed at him at one point. "You haven't been practising at all, have you?"

"That's not true, I have been practi-" Sirius earned a look from her that told him she didn't believe him for a second. "Alright, so I've been rather busy with other things. But I think you're being a little too harsh. It's not atrocious, just a bit rusty is all."

"Well, to be fair, your pronounciation isn't the worst," Éponine said, " but your grammar is horrible."

"That's rude, Nin."

"But true."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her for a few moments, only to see that Éponine continued to hold his gaze with a playful grin. Eventually, he gave in with a chuckle and rolled his eyes at her.

"Alright, alright, enough with the French lessons, we have places to be. Diagon Alley, getting your school supplies, ring a bell? Come on, get up, get up!"

Éponine had been sitting at the kitchen table initially when Sirius came up behind her, his fingers trailing up the sides of her waist to tickle her until she jumped up with a laugh. She hurried off to gather her shoes and her school list to avoid being tickled any further.

"So how does it feel to be Head Girl?" Sirius asked as the two of them walked alongside each other in Diagon Alley later that morning.

When her school letter had arrived with the list of supplies she would need for her seventh year at Hogwarts, a celebratory letter paired with a "Head Girl" badge had also been included. She didn't announce it right away, keeping the badge hidden for a few extra moments as she tried to take it all in. After two years of serving as a prefect, it wasn't guaranteed that she would be chosen among the other prefects.

"How am I supposed to feel about it?" she countered with a shrug of her shoulders. "Happy, I guess."

"You guess? It's a major accomplishment!"

Éponine turned her head to look at him with a small smile. "How is it a major accomplishment if someone like James was able to become Head Boy?"

Sirius snorted loudly. "You know, I'm telling him you said that."

"Go ahead, I needed to get back at him after he put salt in my tea instead of sugar."

"In his defence, Nin, he's done that to himself. He has a hard time telling the two of them apart for some reason. Thinking he might need to get his glasses checked again or something. Anyways, yes, you're supposed to be happy about it. You've worked really hard over the last couple of years. Your O.W.L.s scores were fantastic, not to mention, your N.E.W.T. scores were phenemonal, although I'm going to take credit over those since I've taught you everything I know. You're welcome."

"Yes, it had absolutely nothing to do with me spending hours in the library or asking for extra help from my professors. I owe everything to you, Sirius," she said wrapping her arms around his, " you're my hero!"

He beamed proudly. "Thank you."

While she had said it sarcastically and while all the credit didn't fall on Sirius' shoulders, she did owe a great deal to him and his help. There were nights where he joined her in the library, along with Remus, James, and Peter, and they would spend hours helping her if she was unsure. It seemed a lot of the academics came naturally to them, leaving her slightly jealous. But she appreciated all the help she could get during those times.

As for her new position as Head Girl, Éponine wasn't completely against the idea, in fact, if she was being honest, she thought she deserved the position. She wasn't pushing herself harder than ever for nothing.

Their first stop of the day was Flourish and Blotts where Éponine would be picking up a couple of books for the upcoming term. As soon as they walked in, she pulled the list from the pocket of her skirt. Rather than asking for help, Éponine wanted to take her time looking around the bookshop and see if any titles outside of her school textbooks caught her attention. Sirius wasn't much for reading, and he told her he would be back in a few minutes, claiming he was headed to another shop to check something out.

She didn't mind as she started wandering down a couple of the aisles, scanning several book titles.

Truth be told, Éponine knew Sirius was up to something. He and James couldn't whisper to save their lives, and she had overheard them the other night discussing throwing Éponine a little party to celebrate her becoming Head Girl. It was Lily's idea first, and they were planning on inviting Gian as well if his parents allowed it. She had a sneaking suspicion that wherever Sirius had ventured off to involved party plans, but she didn't dare to admit that she was aware of it.

She could hear the excitement in his voice, along with James, and they were clearly doing something nice for her. So when the time came, she was going to make an actress out of herself and pretend to be surprised and she was sure, whatever they had planned would be unforgettably fun.

One title managed to pique her interest at one point "Scream Queen- The Memoirs of a Banshee." She pulled it from the shelf and started looking over a few pages, but it left her to think of the time where she told the story of the "Rosier family rumour" and suddenly, she didn't feel like reading it anymore.

Returning the book to its original place, Éponine decided not to waste anymore time and went to collect her required textbooks. The first book on her list was Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts by Galatea Merrythought. It didn't take her long to find it, as it was set out in the open for students to easily find. She quickly grabbed herself a copy and started to search for the second title on the list when she came to a screeching halt.

At the end of the aisle, was Regulus.

Over the last couple of years,  no matter how manys they had come upon each other, Éponine still was unsure of what to do whenever she saw him. Any time in the past where she had attempted to speak with him, Regulus didn't bother to listen, he would just leave. She didn't see that changing, not after what she witnessed embedded on his arm. She had to tell herself over and over that she was looking at a lost cause.

Although she couldn't ignore the butterflies that errupted in her stomach every time she looked at the lost cause. Something in the back of her mind held onto a sliver of hope that one day Regulus would come around. She had witnessed the kindness in his heart before, she knew what he was capable of, if he could just break away from the traditions of Toujours Pur, he would be free.

And even if he didn't share the same feelings for her as he did before, she wouldn't care, as long as he was safe and happy.

But fate had a sense of humour that day as Éponine heard her name called from behind. Immediately, the voice of Sirius returning brought her and Regulus to look over and see Sirius approaching with ice cream in hand. He was just about to announce that he had gotten her a cone when his eyes fell on his little brother in the distance.

Stuck in the middle, Éponine lifted her school list over her face resolving to her childhood conclusion that if she couldn't see them, they couldn't see her.