"Thank god you guys are back!" James shouted dramatically as the trio came into the Gryffindor Common Room through the portrait of the Fat Lady. She'd nearly talked their ears off and Vidalia finally had the sense to tell her how majestically beautiful she was. Between flattered gasps, she barely heard Peter tell her the new password to allow them entrance.

"You act like you had the worst time with me," said Sirius, sounding genuinely offended.

"Remus, we've been so bored!" James exclaimed, completely ignoring the fifth member of their group. "You can only prank Snivellus so many times before it gets dull."

"I told you to leave him alone," Vidalia said, shaking her head disapprovingly.

"Oh, 'Dalia!" James said, throwing his arms around the smaller girl. Vidalia squeaked out a gasp as James' affection winded her. Vidalia managed to escape Potter's grip and she nearly fell back into Remus.

"What is with you?" she giggled. "Too many sweets?"

"Perhaps," said James.

"Definitely," said Sirius, with an expression that resembled that of a worn out mother. "He's been driving me bonkers all day waiting on you guys to get back."

"Well, I have presents," said Vidalia and she sent a smile to Sirius and James. James grinned widely and Sirius gave her a smile.

"You didn't have to get us anything, ole Owl Eyes!" said James.

"What kind of nickname is that?" Remus laughed.

"Yeah, I think I like 'Dalia better."

"It's 'cause you got, y'know, crazy yellow eyes."

"James, you're digging yourself deeper into a hole, mate," Sirius said.

Vidalia ignored any further comments from James and turned to her trunk to rifle through it for the remaining two Christmas presents. She pulled out the wrapped box for James and the flat parcel for Sirius and handed them out. The group shoved their way over toward the plush sofas and sat down. James dug into his first and immediately got riled up again as he took in the sight of the miniature quidditch pitch.

Vidalia had even done some last minute alterations to give it the Gryffindor colors.

"Oh, this is awesome," James said. "Mini Gryffindors are gonna crush mini Slytherins!"

"Glad you like it," said Vidalia.

She turned so she could watch Sirius open his. He smiled as he pulled the record out.

"It's a music plate!" said Vidalia excitedly. "It's actually called a 'record'. The Muggle in the shop I went to had no idea what I was talking about."

"Oh, wow," he said, grinning as he read all the songs on the back of the record cover. "Fleetwood Mac. Never heard of them."

Vidalia shrugged. "I haven't either, but apparently they're groovy."

Sirius let out a sort of giggle. "I'm excited to listen to it."

•

Life seemingly got back to normal as classes started up again. Vidalia kept a close eye on Remus, worried he has some sort of enemy at Hogwarts that no one else knew about.

January fell into February and February fell into March. With March came slightly warmer weather, causing the snow around the grounds of Hogwarts turn into a slick mush.

James found this absolutely amazing, as he was able to lob mud balls at Slytherins, most particularly Severus Snape. Lily Evans tried her hardest to get James to back off, but nothing was going to persuade James to leave the kid alone.

With a ruffle of his long, black hair, James would take Lily's words as almost a challenge and he and Sirius would try even harder to get Snape worked up.

One day, nearing the end of March, Vidalia found herself alone as she walked down to the Black Lake for a nice moment alone. Only she was surprised to see Snape himself there.

Vidalia felt a tad bit of anxiety rise in her. She wanted to keep things peaceful with other students. Quietly, she neared Snape, putting on her nicest smile.

Severus Snape heard her approach and he looked up as she got within just feet of him.

"Hullo," Vidalia greeted. Snape met her gaze through his long, greasy black hair. Her eyes were a bright yellow, not at all intimidating as opposed to Snape's, which were dark.

"Get away from me," he sneered.

"Look, uh, Severus, I don't want to be enemies with you. I'm sorry my friends—"

"I said to get away!" he snapped. Vidalia jumped, taking a step back. Snape got to his feet instantly, his books clamoring to the ground. "Don't talk to me! You are friends with my enemies and are therefore my enemy, too."

"No, we don't have to—"

"You stand by and watch them bully me. You do nothing. We are not friends."

"But—"

"I wouldn't want to be friends with a freak like you, anyway."

For some reason, this struck a nerve with Vidalia. The normally mellow-mannered girl felt anger rose in her.

"Don't talk to me like you know me," said the girl as she scowled at the boy opposite her.

"Everyone knows you. And everyone knows you're a freak. Why don't you just leave Hogwarts?"

Vidalia shook her head. "All I wanted to do was apologize—"

"Your words mean nothing to me. Now get away from me before I hex you."

Wordlessly, but not without a nasty glare, Vidalia turned away, only to find herself face-to-face with Sirius Black.

"Don't," said Vidalia. She forced Sirius away and they left Severus Snape on his own.

The two made their way across the grounds and they found a low-hanging tree to climb up in.

"You've got to stop letting people treat you like that," said Sirius bitterly as Vidalia stared out across the grounds.

"Who said I was going to let him get away with treating me like that?" she said.

Sirius looked curiously at his friend. "How do you mean?"

"I really wanted to reach out to him, but if he's going to be that nasty to me, he's going to find out how nasty I can be."

Sirius chortled. "I'm sorry to break it to you, 'Dal, but you're not nasty. You're too nice for your own good and everyone knows it."

"Yes, but now I'm not going to stop you and James from picking on him."

"That's your idea of nasty?"

"It's pretty nasty to watch someone get teased and not jump in to help."

"Well, the next time James and I prank him, we won't go so easy on him."

"Don't hurt him," said Vidalia.

"No promises, 'Dal." The two sat in comfortable silence for a while. Sirius noticed Vidalia's ring and smiled. "Does that thing even work?"

"What?"

"The moonstone."

"Oh," she said, looking down at it. "Not sure, but it's pretty. I like wearing it anyway. Kind of takes the anxiety away."

"I'm glad."

Vidalia sent Sirius a warm smile. She shivered after that, bracing the cold.

"Let's get inside. Don't need us freezing to death."

The two climbed down from the tree and they made their way back into the castle. Up in the common room, they were greeted with a comfortable low hum from students who had decided to spend their day inside and chat or study. The fire was going and was keeping the entire room warm and vibrant with a nice orange-y glow. Peter and Remus sat at a table, playing with Remus' chess set and James was chatting with Marlene, just across the way.

Sirius and Vidalia took a seat on an empty sofa and quickly got warmed up thanks to the crackling logs in the fireplace.

Spur poked his head out of Vidalia's pocket, grateful to finally be back inside, and he made his way up to his favorite spot atop Vidalia's curls.

"Hey, buddy," Sirius greeted and Spur let him shake his tiny twiggy hand.

Between the comfy sofa and the flames from the fireplace gently licking her skin, it didn't take long for the young witch to doze off next to her friend.

Sirius watched as Vidalia would start to twitch in her slee every so often. It was almost rhythmic the way she did it. Then, the yelling started, quickly grabbing everyone's attention in the common room. Remus rushed over, Peter hot on his tail, and James was not far behind. The four boys, together, weren't enough to wake Vidalia from her nightmare.

"Someone go and get Prof—" but before Remus could finish his sentence, McGonagall was shoving her way through the crowd of students to get to the young seer.

"Miss Strange," McGonagall pleaded. "Miss Strange, can you hear me?"

But Vidalia's screams were getting louder and louder and students were growing more frantic. Remus desperately tried to wake Vidalia, but nothing, it seemed, could pull this young girl from her own mind.

Suddenly, almost as quickly as it all had started, the room fell utterly silent once more and everyone stared as Vidalia, eyes still closed, pushed herself up from the couch and turned straight to the four boys.

All she said was "betrayal" and then she collapsed again. McGonagall was quick to catch her student and hoist her to her feet.

"You four!" she snapped and Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter all stood at attention. "Please help me take Miss Strange up to the Divination room."

Whispers— ones Vidalia was so used to hearing around her own village— followed the group as they led the girl out of the portrait hole.

Strange.

Wouldn't you think you'd control it better?

How embarrassing.

Poor thing.

And with a grimace at all of her fellow Gryffindors, Marlene McKinnon shoved her way through the whispering students and ran after McGonagall, the four boys, and their dear friend, the seer.