Saturday 16th January, 1977

It was calm in the library, silent except for the sound of pages turning, the scribbling on parchment, and hushed conversations. There were plenty of students taking up desks, doing homework, studying, or simply satisfying one's curiosity. I looked over my work, eyes squinted as I scrutinised everything I wrote. I'd just finished writing an essay for Transfiguration, and I wanted it to be perfect. McGonagall was known to make kids redo their homework if it wasn't up to certain standards, and I was determined to make this piece of work better than acceptable. I wanted an Exceeds Expectations at least.

Was I completing all of my assignments like they were my O.W.L.s? Perhaps. I couldn't help it though; I was so nervous about it I wanted to just get them over and done with. I thought practise for my O.W.L.s would surely help me complete my actual O.W.L.s to a better standard, so here I was, holed up in the library with a pile of unfinished homework that seemed to be increasing every day. It turned out completing every piece of homework to perfection took a long time.

A commotion at the entrance to the library caught my attention, and I distractedly glanced towards the source of it, only to double take when I noticed Evan Rosier walk into the room, looking rather cheerful. Caius Avery followed, an excited expression plastered across his face as his eyes scanned the room, eventually landing on me.

Then there was Regulus, and I seemed to lose my breath just staring at him. He was marching after his friends with purpose, eyes narrowed to slits as he quickened his stride. I felt a smile tug at my lips at his unamused demeanour. Regulus looked so cute when he was annoyed. When he wasn't annoyed at me that is.

After Regulus was Barty Crouch Jr, because yes, the line goes on. He was trailing after his friends with his arms crossed, his very walk full of judgement as he glared after Regulus, a mix of disbelief and disapproval flickering across his face. Lastly was Pandora Lestrange, walking behind them all with a strange sort of elegance, a small smile gracing her face.

I felt panic pool in my gut when I noticed all of them walking towards me. I wasn't sure what to do. Yes, I said I was okay with Regulus's friends knowing, and sure, I did want to meet them, but a little warning would have been nice.

"Finally!" Rosier said as he arrived in front of me, sitting on my desk and forcing me to hastily remove my stuff lest he ruin it. Rosier continued talking. "It was obvious he was in love with you for ages, but I thought he was just going to mope about forever. I never thought he'd actually do something about it!" my mouth was agape as he talked but Rosier was either oblivious or ignored my shocked state. "You'd better be worth the trouble he's going to be in when his parents find out."

"Shut up Evan," Regulus hissed, arriving next to Evan. He gave me a remorseful look, no doubt about to apologise for his friends, when Crouch interrupted him with a cackle.

"It's true though. Your parents are certainly not going to be happy about this- "

Regulus was swift to turn onto his friend, glaring daggers. "Just shut up will you?"

"OUT!" Madam Pince's voice echoed around the quiet library.

My eyes widened, my mind immediately turning to the large pile of homework I was yet to complete. I tried to stay, almost begging on my knees but the old librarian would hear none of it, ushering me out with the rest of Regulus's friends.

I was starting to understand what Regulus said when he explained his friends were a bit much.

"I'm so sorry," Regulus apologised, sending dirty looks to his friends. "We can find somewhere else for you to study. Is your Common Room- "

"At least she's Pureblood," Rosier mused, interrupting his friend.

Barty Crouch scoffed. "She's a blood traitor."

Avery's eyes scanned me, looking at me up and down before claiming, "I like her."

Crouch and Rosier glared at him and Avery shrugged in response. Lestrange swooped in to save the day, stating that if Regulus was happy with her she was too. Avery nodded along in response.

"I'm Pandora Lestrange by the way," the girl said, holding out her hand.

I shook it, taking a better look at her as I did so. Her hair was a beautiful dirty blonde that seemed to shine, and her blue eyes spoke of mysteries just waiting to be unravelled.

"Y/n Potter," I replied.

"I'm Caius Avery," Avery piped up, "but I go by Avery since Caius is an abomination of a name."

I sent him a cautious smile, trying to remember what Regulus told me about him. The golden retriever friend.

Rosier looked me up and down before sighing dramatically. "I'm Evan Rosier."

All eyes turned to the last unintroduced person and Barty let out an irritated huff, eyes narrowed as he glared at me.

"Barty Crouch," he mumbled, arms still crossed.

I got the feeling he didn't like me much.

Regulus seemed relieved that things were now going somewhat civilly and took the moment to remind everyone that this was to be kept a secret. There were a few eyerolls from Evan and Barty, but aside from that there were no complaints.

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Evan said, waving him away. Regulus scowled and Evan grinned, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Now, why don't we have some fun?"

I glanced at Regulus, alarmed, but Regulus seemed even more worried as he gave his friend a pointed look. "Evan..."

Evan ruffled Regulus's hair, much to his displeasure. "It won't be too dangerous."

Barty snickered, both at Evan's actions and his words. Regulus opened his mouth to shut this whole thing down when Barty sent me a look, as if asking if I was going to let Regulus save me. Wanting to get along with his friends and figuring letting Regulus stop their fun wouldn't help, I spoke before Regulus could.

"Sounds fun."

Evan grinned at me in response and then we were in action, sneaking out of the castle so no one saw a Gryffindor with a bunch of Slytherins. I felt my heart stutter as we reached the Forbidden Forest and it became clear we were going to be entering it. Regulus grabbed my hand and I tilted my head up to look at him, noting the little crease on his forehead as he looked down at me in silent concern.

"You don't have to do this," he muttered in my ear, quiet enough so no one but me heard. "My friends are just being jerks. You have nothing to prove."

I squeezed his hand as I answered him. "It's alright. I'm okay."

As we delved further and further into the forest however, I started doubting my earlier words, getting spooked by every sound in the forest, whether it be the snap of a twig or the chirp of a bird. I was on edge the entire walk, eyes darting to every dark shadow or looming tree, when we suddenly stopped.

I looked at our surroundings, finding a secluded frozen over lake and a clump of ice that I suspected to be a frozen waterfall. There were trees surrounding the area on all sides, invisible to the human eye unless you knew where to go, and I wondered how they'd found this place.

I watched as Pandora moved around, collecting rocks before transforming them into ice-skates. I was surprised at how good her transfiguration skills were.

"I still don't see how you can do that," Avery grumbled.

Barty and Evan laughed. Regulus even let out a snicker.

"It's okay Ave, not everyone can be good at Transfiguration." Evan cooed.

"Everyone being you," Barty clarified.

Avery huffed, crossing his arms. "You can't be mean to me, I'm gay."

"I can and I will," Barty informed him, throwing a snowball at the boy.

Avery spluttered and wiped his face of snow, squawking in outrage as Barty and Evan broke into a fit of laughter. Pandora started handing out the ice-skates, giving mine to me with a smile, and I sent a nervous look to Regulus because I still very much sucked at ice-skating.

He moved over to me and held my hand, sending me a soft smile that said, 'I'm here'. I smiled back and we got ready to skate, putting on our shoes and grabbing each other's hands again. We'd skate like we did on Wednesday, hand in hand, going at a slow but steady pace. No one had to know how horrible I was at ice-skating.

Just as we were about to go on the ice though, Avery interrupted us by saying, "shove off Black, I wanna hold her hand," and pushing Regulus away from me, causing him to stumble a few steps before glaring at Avery.

"She's my girlfriend," Regulus said indignantly.

Avery had already taken my hand in his though, and whisked us off onto the lake, skating like he'd been doing it for years. I, on the other hand, had only been skating twice before, and as Avery went faster and faster, I felt my balance go from precarious to non-existent until I felt myself falling forwards, Avery tumbling after me.

We landed on the ice roughly, with Avery's legs sprawled across my stomach as we both tried to gather our bearings. I could distantly hear Barty and Evan howling with laughter and saw Regulus and Pandora skating towards us to help.

"You could have warned me you didn't know how to skate," Avery mumbled as he untangled himself from me and stood upright with Pandora's help.

I sent him a sheepish look as Regulus helped me upright, the Slytherin glaring daggers at Avery. I felt embarrassed for falling, and annoyed with myself for not just admitting I wasn't good at ice-skating instead of making a fool of both Avery and myself.

Regulus and I started skating, hand in hand, like we had the other day. The pace was slow, and the others kept whizzing past us, occasionally throwing taunts at us, but I didn't really mind. It was nice being next to Regulus around people and not having to hide our relationship.

As the others kept flying past, I noticed Evan was missing. I turned around just in time to see Evan throw a snowball. It flew through the air at an alarming rate, smacking right into Barty's face with enough force to make him fall to the floor.

Barty gaped at Evan in outrage before retaliating, grabbing a hastily made snowball and launching it at Evan. After that chaos ensued as a snowball war started, everyone throwing snowballs left and right. I managed to scramble onto land and mainly hid behind a tree, unsure if I should join in or not, until Pandora came up beside me and passed me a snowball, a wicked grin on her face.

I mirrored her expression and gladly joined the fray, throwing snowballs as fast as I could, hitting nearly every target. For all my talk about being bad at sports, when it came to snowball fights I had near perfect aim. I practically lived with four boys for Merlin's sake. Together, Pandora and I managed to gain the upper hand. We were a force to be reckoned with, and we worked impeccably well together.

I knelt on the ground, rolling snow around in my hand when I suddenly felt two arms sneak around my waist and haul me upright. I let out a yelp Regulus threw me over his shoulder and started running off as I helplessly flailed behind him.

Avery, Barty, and Evan all cheered, knowing that with me out of the game they would manage to take down Pandora. I shrieked and wriggled around in Regulus's grip, but he kept a firm hold on me until we were far enough away from the others that I wouldn't be able to help.

Only then did he let me down, and as soon as he did I found his lips on mine. It was a short but fierce kiss, and when he pulled back I found his eyes alight, a content smile on his face. He was obviously pleased with how well today was going, and I was glad that me spending time with his friends was something he enjoyed, because his friends weren't even half bad. I particularly liked Pandora and the strange, mystical aura around her.

We trudged back to the others when Pandora admitted defeat and spent the remainder of the day building snowmen, making snow angles, and in Evan and my case, climbing trees. When it was finally time to leave we all walked back to the castle together, tired but satisfied with a good day spent. We split up when we arrived at the Great Hall and I made my way to the library to collect my homework before going to the Gryffindor Common Room.

I entered the Common Room, intending to spend the rest of the afternoon studying, when I found myself being shaken back and forth by James, who had his hands on my shoulders.

"Where have you been?" he asked, continuing his relentless shaking. "Someone saw you leaving the Forbidden Forest with a group of Slytherins! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do I need to beat anyone up?"

I twisted myself out of James's grip as I tried to come up with a lie that would satisfy everyone.

"I saw them go in and had to follow them because I'm a Prefect," I lied, wincing at my words. It sounded bad, even to me. "It's my job to stop them."

James sighed, shaking his head at me. "You can't just do that Y/n. Groups of Slytherins are dangerous to lone Gryffindors."

I rolled my eyes, knowing I was about to endure a long lecture from Sirius and James on what a stupid idea that was. I found myself not caring much though, as I thought of today and what a good day it had been. Regulus's friends had been nice. I hoped they liked me.

I really hoped they liked me.

A/N:

we've met them!!! finally!!!

thoughts on them??

ALSO NOAH SCHNAPP JUST CAME OUT!!! I'M SO PROUD OF HIM