Leah stepped into the Great Hall, all eyes on her, which was an unusual sight. Reagan, who was now thirteen, was by her side, and Elaine, who was now eighteen and had left Hogwarts, had given Leah her good luck bracelet, which had a golden snitch charm on it. Leah played with the snitch charm with her finger while she walked through the Hall with Reagan. Reagan had been sorted privately quickly before their departure back at the beginning of Leah's fourth year, and she was a Gryffindor. 

Professor Dumbledore had quickly set up an authorised Portkey back to Leah's house, and Leah and her sisters were transported to their house, where they found their pacing mother, with dried tears on her cheeks. 

Her mother told them that the Death Eaters had captured their father, and when he wouldn't tell them where his wife was, they killed him. 

Leah and her sisters were shocked and extremely sad, and wanted nothing more than to curl up and cry. But the her mother explained that they had to go on the run because the Death Eaters were now tracking them. So they traveled around the world, with the four girls being homeschooled by their mom. 

Luckily, Leah's poor mom only had to homeschool three kids, Elaine, Leah and Reagan, because Christina was done her education, and Francesca was still only six. 

Christina White was giving instructions to her mom on where to go, as Christina worked at the Ministry's Foreign Affairs department, so she knew all the different wizarding governments and best places to hide. 

Finally, Mrs. White decided that she didn't want her children to live on the run, so she sent them to a wizarding orphanage where they would stay during the summers until the next Hogwarts year started. Now that Elaine was out of Hogwarts, she was going to help out at the orphanage until the end of the year when the seventh years were going to take their NEWTS, so that Elaine could take them with the seventh years so she could get enough credit to get a job. 

Francesca was now eight, and was staying at the orphanage with her older sister. 

So then this was where they landed. 

Leah ignored all the eyes of everyone else, and searched for one person: Alice. She and Alice had to stop sending letters to each other after a while, and Leah had lost contact with Alice for over a year. 

Reagan decided to sit down next to a bunch of third years, and Leah smiled at her and waved. Leah kept walking down the table until she saw Alice. Exactly as she looked before, just taller. 

Leah's heart blossomed at the sight of Alice, and she said, "Alice!" 

Alice turned around and her eyes widened at Leah. "LEAH!!!!!!!!!!" Alice exclaimed, then got out of her seat and ran towards Leah. Leah smiled and followed Alice to their usual seat. 

When they were sat down, Alice looked at Leah and said, "Oh wow Leah, you look so pretty!" 

Leah blushed. "Thanks. My hair got longer." 

Alice shook her head. "No, not just that, your face! You definitely look different." 

Leah took a few moments to mull this over. 

"Yeah, maybe I do."

                                          ╔═══°∴,*⋅✲══〖✰〗══✲⋅*,∴°═══╗ 

"LEAH!" 

"Leah, hi!" 

"Oh hi there!" 

Leah squeezed between the crowd inside the corridors as everyone hurried to get to their common rooms, and it didn't help that every ten seconds a new boy would come up and introduce themselves. 

Alice tried her hardest not to laugh at the boy's not so subtle attempts at flirting. "Excuse me, I wanna get to the common room!" Leah said exasperatedly. She shot a helpless  look at Alice, and Alice shrugged. 

"Please? PLEASE!" Leah shouted, and then the grumbling boy left her alone. As they were enjoying some peace and quiet while walking to the common room, Leah had some time to think about herself. 

Had she really changed that much? Obviously she got older, but prettier? Pretty enough that boys actually wanted her? That was a bit of a stretch. Past Leah would have curled up into a ball and hidden until everybody was gone, but sixteen year old Leah must have gained some confidence from traveling the world with her family for two years. 

"Ali, am I sleeping in the same dormitory?" Leah suddenly asked, as a thought occurred to her. Professor Dumbledore had admitted Leah and Reagan back into Hogwarts right away, but she still didn't have all the details. 

"Oh yeah." Alice responded, as Leah saw the portrait coming into view. The fat lady was napping in the picture, her head laid back on a fancy pink pillow. Her dress was different from the last time Leah had seen her. 

"It's just been Lily, Marlene and I, we missed you." Alice added. Leah smiled. She remembered Lily, Marlene McKinnon, Alice and herself having fun sleep parties until late at night. Then Leah remembered something else. 

"Ali, did James Potter and Lily get together?" 

Alice started laughing. "What?" Leah asked, confused. They arrived at the portrait hole. 

The fat lady woke up at the sound of Alice's laughing, and glanced at the pair. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Leah. 

"Leah White!" The fat lady exclaimed. "It's great to see you once again!" 

"You too, Fa- I mean, you too!" Leah said. 

"Password?" The fat lady asked curtly. "Bah Humbug." Alice recited. Leah looked confused. Wasn't that from a muggle book? 

When the Fat Lady's portrait swung open, the two stepped inside and Leah asked, "Why is the password from a muggle book?" 

While waiting for Alice to respond, Leah took in the sights of the room that she missed so greatly. The fabulous roaring, cozy fireplace, the nice red wallpaper, the comfortable squashy armchairs and couches. The wooden tables were sitting in the corners, and the seats were just waiting to be sat on. The common room was filled with students, aging from eleven to seventeen, talking, reading, laughing and even dancing. 

"Last year one of the students decided to read the Fat Lady a chapter from her muggle book, and the Fat Lady became obsessed with 'Bah Humbug.'" 

"Oh okay." Leah said, taking a seat in a plush, velvet red armchair near the fire. She looked around quickly to make sure there were no crazy boys, then asked Alice again, "You never answered my question about James and Lily." 

"Oh yeah." Alice responded, sitting down on the floor in front of the fire. Two first years who were also sitting on the carpet got up and left. "They haven't, Lily hates him even more than before. And James Potter, that arrogant toe rag, decided since Lily doesn't like him, the way to get her heart is to flirt every ten minutes." 

Leah chuckled. "Yeah, I-" 

Then they came in. The Marauders. Boy had they aged. 

James Potter, with his raven coloured, messy hair. Sirius Black with his smug look and so called, "Fabulous Hair". Remus Lupin, looking shy and had an unhealthy amount of scars and scratches on his face. Peter Pettigrew, his small eyes darting around the common room. 

All the girls in the common room suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and looked the way of the Marauders, including Leah. There was something different about them....something that didn't make Leah dislike them as much as she did before. 

Alice rolled her eyes and yawned, clearly bored by their entrance. 

Leah's eyes followed one boy, and one boy only: Sirius Black. She thought of him differently now, something inside her had changed. She shook it off and took her eyes away from the Marauders, and saw Alice looking at her, a frown etched on to her face. 

"You're not seriously becoming a fangirl, are you?" Alice asked. "Why are you looking at them like that?" 

Leah shook her head and looked at Alice. "I haven't seen them in two years. I'm looking at everybody." 

Alice grumbled in response. 

"LEAH!" Shouted a voice happily, and Leah turned around to see Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon coming towards them. 

"LILY! MARLENE!" Leah exclaimed, then ran forward to hug them. 

"We missed you!" Lily said. "Yeah, the sleeping parties just weren't the same without your bad dad jokes!" Marlene added. 

Leah laughed. 

"Did you hear the news?" Marlene asked Leah, ready to gossip. Lily started to chuckle for some reason. Alice shifted slightly, as if uncomfortably. "Alice has a boyfriend!" 

This news took Leah by surprise. Alice was a hopeless romantic, but she liked reading and listening to other people's relationships, not having one herself! 

Leah turned around and looked at Alice, eyes wide. 

"You didn't tell me this!" Leah said. Luckily, the common room was too busy by the arrival of the Marauders to be nosy and eavesdrop. 

"I thought it wasn't relevant." Alice said in a small voice. "Seeing as, y'know, I haven't seen you for two years."

"Who is it?" Leah asked curiously. She sat down back on to the armchair, her legs crossed. She was very interested in this. 

"Frank Longbottom." Marlene answered quickly. Lily and Alice glared at her. "Sorry." Marlene said, shrugging. "I can't help it." 

"Now, lets go up to our dorm and let me hear all about how this happened." Leah suggested, and all the girls nodded and got up. 

As they were walking up the stairs, she glanced back once at the Marauders, who were all sitting down at a table, their heads together, as if they were thinking. Then she disappeared up the stairs with her friends.