“James, wake up already!”

James Potter groaned and rolled over, ignoring that whiny, little nagging voice at the back of his head…

“JAMES!”

Mrs. Potter’s voice, magically magnified to three times its normal volume boomed into James’ ears. His eyes flew open in a panic, and with a muffled scream he fell out of bed onto the floor.

“Serves you right,” said the figure looming above him. “I’ve been trying to get you up for the past half hour. Get dressed before Sirius eats all the cinnamon rolls.” The mention of his best friend and breakfast had James up in a flash. He shoved his glasses onto his nose, grabbed the cleanest dirty shirt he could find and shook out his rumpled, slept in jeans. He snapped his fingers and a house elf appeared.

“Clean my room!” he shouted, before sprinting out onto the landing. After dashing through the Potter Mansion’s many rooms and hallways, James came to a screeching halt on the landing that led to the kitchen.

“DROP THE ROLL.”

Sirius Black let a smile twitch on the corners of his mouth. In his hand was the last of Allie Potter’s famous cinnamon rolls. She was a lousy cook in general, but her cinnamon rolls were a thing of legacy. Or at least that was what Sirius thought.

“What roll?” he asked innocently. “Oh! You mean this roll? This sweet, sugary, hot, delicious-“

James made a lunge for the cinnamon roll and missed when Sirius moved at the last second. He somersaulted onto the floor and got back to his feet. Pandemonium ensued; James scrambled around the kitchen trying to tackle Sirius, Sirius scrambled around the kitchen trying to avoid James, knocking over several chairs, kitchen supplies, and sending food flying every which way. Mr. Potter, who had been calmly reading The Daily Prophet, continued to do so, occasionally lifting his paper or scooting his chair to make room for whoever dashed by.

“Enough!” Mrs. Potter walked into the room and immediately the two friends froze. She saw the cinnamon roll in James’ hand and sighed in exasperation. “Dear God, James, it’s as if we never feed you. There are fresh cinnamon rolls in the oven. Sirius, dear, would you grab the milk out of the fridge? Thank you sweetheart. And why didn’t you stop them, Richard?” she directed the last question at her husband who was still sitting at the table reading the paper with a mild expression on his face.

“I’m sorry, dear but I was just reading this fascinating article on the Wizengamot election results.”

There was dead silence in the kitchen for a full minute. Then the words sunk in…

“Lemme see dad!”

“Honey, what does it say?”

“Did you win, Mr. Potter?” The noise had reached decibel level when Mr. Potter shouted loudly over his wife’s anxious voice and James and Sirius’ jibber, “I can’t tell you if you all don’t SHUT UP!” The noise died down immediately. “Much better. Let’s see here, Percival Peeves, umm, twelve votes. Lacy Hunter, eight votes. Harold Limington, twenty votes. Terrines Lisa Kensington, twenty votes. Richard Potter, thirty votes.”

“YES! DAD WON! DAD WON! DAD WON!” shrieked James. Sirius was grinning from ear to ear and Mrs. Potter looked faint.

“Well, this calls for a celebration then. Dear, what do you think about dropping by Diagon Alley before we drop the boys off at school?” she asked weakly.

“Pretty please?” begged Sirius. He dropped to one knee and put on his most adorable you-can’t-refuse-my-every-wish-face.

“Yeah, pretty please?” James joined Sirius on the floor and pouted. Mr. Potter laughed.

“Why not? Allie, dear, would you please call up the house elf? We’ll have to swing by the Ministry so that I can make my acceptance speech, but the boys won’t mind being in the Daily Prophet would they?”

“Wicked!” exclaimed Sirius. With amazing speed, he and James woofed down the rest of the cinnamon rolls, sprinted back up to James’ room and got dressed in clean clothes in record speed. A word to the house elf sent their trunks on their way downstairs and in less than fifteen minutes, the entire Potter family-plus Sirius, minus Mr. Potter who had gone ahead by Floo to check that everything was ready- were waiting in the grand entrance hall waiting for the chauffeur to bring the Wizard car up the rainy drive. Mrs. Potter brushed invisible stray hairs away from Sirius’ shoulders as James fiddled with his new wand.

“Are you ready, Madame?” The chauffeur had arrived.

Mrs. Potter looked around her the last time, doing the loving check over that all mothers mysteriously know, and finally said, “Yes, I believe it’s time to go.”

And so began Sirius Black and James Potter’s greatest adventure.

---

Lily Evans passed the brush through her hair one more time. Amazingly enough, her hair had abandoned its usually tangled state to become one beautiful mane of curls. Not.

She had at first just shampooed and conditioned. When that had failed, she stepped it up with a quick twenty minute hot-oil treatment. Nothing. The attack on her hair became ferocious; she used mousse, detangle spray, and electro-shock therapy (long story). When she had laid her hair down on the family ironing board and the iron barely made a dent, she knew. It was one of those weird “magic” things again. Sighing, she wrapped her hair in a scarf and started walking.

After a while she came to a quaint country house just a third of a mile away from the Evans’ own home. She stepped onto the cliché “Welcome” mat and rang the doorbell. The door cracked open and dark violet eye peeped out through the tiny space. It was one of younger Healey children.

“Hi, Lily!” she was attacked by a flying blur of blonde hair and tan skin that had exploded out of the house.

“Glad to see you too, Christie.” She wheezed. “Is Marie here?”

“Uh huh!” Christie grabbed Lily’s hand and began to drag her through the house. “Wait ‘til you see what I got yesterday! I got a brand-new toy broomstick, Lily! And guess what? It goes up to four feet! Isn’t that cool? You’re so lucky you’re old enough to go to Hogwarts, Lily! You’ll get to ride real brooms.” She stopped smiling. “You have to go alone from here, Lily,” she said solemnly. “I’m not allowed to go into Marie’s room anymore. I stole her broom and I crashed it through the window yesterday. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, Christie.” Lily patted her head and hid a smile at the younger girl’s antics. “You’ve been a great help. Why don’t you go see if Hailey wants to play Quidditch?”

Christie brightened and then ran off to find her twin.

Lily took a deep breath before charging the door. She made a dive for it, grabbing a pillow on the way down to protect her from the darts that made up part of Marie’s homemade alarm system. She landed in a crouch and then tackled the nightstand and threw the clock across the room. It broke and activated the bowling ball that swooped down from the nearby closet door on a thin string. Lily dodged the ball then ripped apart the covers where one of her best friends, Marie Healey was giggling from underneath the sheets and tickled her mercilessly.

“Okay, okay, what do you want?” she gasped.

“We need to Floo to the McGuire’s. I’m having a bad hair day.”

“It can’t be that bad. You realize that if we Floo to the McGuire’s, her sisters are going to be all over you! You’ll end up looking like a one of those Barbie dolls that you gave my sisters. Besides, they’re all the way in Switzerland.”

Lily sighed. “Good point. We don’t have enough time for that. What have you got?”

Marie smiled and Lily automatically backed away. “I don’t trust that smile, last time you smiled like that, Bridget’s hair caught on fire.”

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing this time.” She coaxed Lily onto her vanity table chair and flipped on the lights. Marie untied Lily’s hair scarf and grimaced. “This is going to take awhile.” She snapped her fingers. “I’ll have Dad pick up your trunk and we’ll go to Platform 9 ¾ together!”

“Brilliant.” Lily relaxed as her best friend played with her hair, twisting it and spraying various potions onto the unruly tangled curls.

She leaned her head back and began the countdown to the Hogwarts' Express and the adventure of a lifetime.

---

Three giggling, gossiping girls, and no escape hatch. Bridget McGuire rubbed her temples and tried to bring her raging headache back to a dull throb. She silently cursed the inventor of Wizard cars. He had excluded one, crucial detail to the McGuire’s one of a kind, special designed Wizard car. Or maybe two. A mute button that worked on teenaged girls if they got too loud, and an escape hatch if they got too out of control. At the moment, they were both. Bridget loved her stepsisters, but they were always so, so what? You get like this too, around your friends, her conscience reminded her. She inwardly cringed, she hated it when she, it was right. She took one deep, calming breath and then listened in the conversation.

They were talking about Beauxbatons, their boarding school. She slumped down in her seat and resumed rubbing her forehead. Wife Number Two had been French and of course, her darling daughters had to go Beauxbatons. Where wife Number Two was now, no one knew. After the divorce, she had disappeared somewhere in Canada, taking with her a cool 1.2 million Galleons, but leaving her three teenaged daughters. Wherever she was right now, Bridget hoped she felt the raging pain in her forehead that she did. She couldn’t take it anymore. She scooted up to the driver’s seat, and tapped the shoulder of their chauffeur.

“Excuse me, Henry? Any chance you have a headache potion close by?”

“Certainly, Madame.” He pushed a small button and a cabinet popped out next to the Wizard’s Wireless.

“Thank you, Henry.” She closed the divider between the driver and the main body of the limo. She grabbed a carbonated water from the mini-fridge and a headache potion from the small medicine cabinet. A snap of her fingers and it sunk back into the wall. She leaned back onto the leather seat and gulped the potion down. She gave a small sigh of relief and after taking a few sips from the carbonated water, put it back into the mini-fridge and smiled approvingly. One of the things that she liked about Wizard cars, (or in her case Wizard limos) was that the inventor had installed Muggle features such as the mini-fridge and the limo form, but kept classic features such as the Wizard’s Wireless.

She checked the limo clock and then started to play with her new puppy. It was a gift from Papa; he had gotten special permission from Professor Dumbledore so that she could bring her Corgi, Bisou to school. As she rubbed its soft belly she reflected that it was actually probably not such a good idea. She was already branded as a spoiled brat because of her stepsisters’ notorious party girl reputation, and the fact that she was arriving in a Wizard limo probably wouldn’t help. At least she would already have friends. She smiled fondly as she remembered Lily Evans, Marie Healey, Alice Reeves, and Claire Collins. They were her best friends in the world and she loved them to death. She sighed; they were probably going to be split up. Her cousin Claire would probably be in Ravenclaw along with Alice. Lily would no doubt be a Gryffindor and Marie was destined for Hufflepuff as were all the rest of her family. As for me, I’ll be stuck in Slytherin. Stinky, smelly, snobby, sardonic, stupid, slimy, slut-nosed, Slytherin. Oh joy.

She felt the car come to a halt and lifted Bisou into her carrier. She double-checked the car to insure that none of her belongings had been scattered during the long ride from Switzerland to London. Why Papa had to take the entire family on a business trip with him the week before school was beyond her. She took a deep breath and stepped outside into the train station. She started walking up to the platform barrier and stopped.

“Everything all right, Madame?” queried Henry.

“Henry, will I like Hogwarts?” She stood with her back to him so that he couldn’t see her trembling.

“Finest school there ever was, Madame. Went there myself, I was in Hufflepuff. Take my word for it, Madame, you’ll love it there.”

“Thank you, Henry.” Bridget straightened up and walked straight through the barrier with Henry at her heels. “My friends will meet me on the train, Henry. Thank you for your help.”

He tipped his hat and said, “It was a pleasure, Madame. See you on your next holiday!” and left her alone on the platform. Bridget sized the scarlet steam engine up. It was going to take a while for her to get her trunk up, so she seized the trolley and wheeled it to the nearest entrance. She grabbed one end of her trunk and lifted it onto the train. She quickly found an empty compartment and started hoisting her trunk up to the rack.

“Need help?” A dark haired boy was watching her from the hall as she struggled with her trunk.

“Yes please,” she huffed as she gave the trunk another shove.

“James! Get your lazy butt over here, some girl needs our help!” He turned to face Bridget. “Oh, and by the way, the name’s Sirius Black.” He shrugged a shoulder at the boy who had just joined them, “and this is James Potter.” All three of them heaved and the trunk slid onto the rack smoothly.

“Thanks.” She swept her bangs off to one side and held out her hand to Sirius. “Bridget McGuire.”

“McGuire? Is your father Gus McGuire?” asked James. He shoved his glasses up his nose and heaved his trunk next to Bridget’s.

“Yeah.”

He nodded. “That’s cool. My parents went to fundraiser your mom hosted last summer. The one in Wales?”

“Oh, yeah! I heard that there was supposed to be dragons there!” Sirius said excitedly.

“There were! It was so awesome! We got to see the dragon tamers perform!” exclaimed Bridget. “You should’ve seen it! They flew the dragons right over our heads!”

“Are you serious? That’s fantastic!” said James.

Bridget nodded fervently. “The dragon part was fun, but the rest was boring.” She pulled a face. “No kids to play with.”

“That stinks.” Sirius shoved his trunk in the overhead and plopped onto a seat. “I was supposed to go, but mummy dearest put me under house arrest.” He pulled a face, “I don’t think she was too happy when I locked Reggie in a cupboard. Little bugger should’ve known to keep his nose out of my business.”

“Was that before or after you threw darts at your uncle Cygnus’ portrait?” asked James.

“After.”

“So when did I break the china? I thought that was why you got in trouble, because you took the blame.”

“So after I threw darts at uncle Cygnus, I locked Reggie in the cupboard because he was going to tattle, and then when mum started screeching for me, you broke the china so that I could hide, then Kreacher-the mangy rotter-turned me in.”

Bridget snorted. He was obviously either ecstatic about Hogwarts, or just plain hyper. Before they knew it, they were all cracking up. She clutched her sides as she tried to contain herself, but the one little snort turned contagious. They all started cracking up, just laughing at themselves.

“You guys are weird.” Then she started laughing again.

“Look who’s talking!” Sirius joked between laughing fits. He suddenly sprang up. “Who’s hungry?”

“ME!” yelled two voices. They sprinted out the compartment and raced each other down the corridors.

Bridget suddenly stopped laughing. “Damn! I totally forgot!”

“What?” Sirius turned around. James stopped a little bit before him and panted.

“My friends! I promised that I would meet them on the train!”

“No problem. We’ll find them, ma’am!” Sirius mock-saluted her and started back down the corridor yanking open doors and startling occupants.

“Sirius, wait! You don’t even know what they look like!” Bridget braced her back against the wall and slid down the wall laughing. Sirius and James ran back to her and braced their hands on their knees and gave in to another laughing fit.

“Um, can we help you?” Two boys had peeked out of their compartment at the commotion.

“No, we’re o-“ Bridget started, when Sirius cut in front of her saying, “Actually, we’re looking for our friend here, Bridget’s friends. You want to help?”

“Yeah, sure!” responded the taller boy of the two. He had sandy hair and amber eyes that were framed by gaunt cheekbones. The other boy was short, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He was a bit chubby and looked out of breath.

The taller boy held out his hand, “My name’s Remus Lupin.” His hand trembled tentatively and he started to withdraw his hand when Sirius grabbed it and pumped it up and down enthusiastically. “Sirius Black! This is James Potter and Bridget McGuire. Who’s your friend?”

“I’m Peter Pettigrew. I’ve heard all about the Black family! Your family is legendary for…” he trailed off at the look on Sirius’ face.

“Let’s leave my family out of this okay?” Sirius asked. He rubbed his hands together. “Okay, Bridget, what are your friends’ names?”

“Lily Evans, Marie Healey, Alice Walters, and Claire Collins.” She ticked off the names on her fingers and added, “They should all be in the same compartment. They were saving a space for me before you two came along.”

Sirius swept a dramatic bow. “Sirius Black and James Potter, troublemakers at your service.”

Bridget giggled. “Very well then! Go find my friends!”

“With your leave, Madame! Me, you, and Remus will search the middle part of the train, James and Peter can take the back!”

And so Bridget McGuire met the four boys that would turn her life upside down.

Marie sighed and checked her watch. And then remembered that she didn’t have one. But she didn’t need to know the time to know that Bridget was late. Lily came into the carriage, looking a bit disgruntled. Her hair was disheveled and she had the look of a cat that had its tail stepped on.

“Did you find Bridget yet?” she asked. She was genuinely worried; it wasn’t like her to not show up.

Lily shook her head. “Nope. I did however, get knocked down by these two complete idiots!” She collapsed onto a seat and began rummaging through her leather bag for her knitting needles.“I mean, who do they think they are? They run me over, ask if I’ve seen you two then dash off without so much as a thank you! Honestly, I hope I’m in a different house than them!” She shook her head huffily and began counting stitches before throwing the bundle of yarn aside and glaring at it. “And I have no idea why my mother gave me knitting needles for a present! Do I honestly look like a knitting sort of person? I mean-”

Marie and Claire giggled; once Lily got in a rant, she stayed that way for hours.

“Miss me, ladies?” Bridget leaned against the doorway to the compartment. Lily’s mouth dropped and her eye started twitching.

“YOU.” She pointed an accusatory at the people in the doorway.

“Yes, darling, it’s me. Remember? Best friend, resident tofu slinger?” Bridget said, a bit confused.

“Not you! Those two!” She motioned at the two dark haired boys.

“Oh yeah! I almost forgot! I’d like to introduce you to Sirius Black,” the one standing directly behind Bridget nodded his head and smiled, “James Potter,” the one with the glasses gave an even broader grin.
“Remus Lupin,” the tall, sandy-haired boy out in the hall gave a small wave. “And Peter Pettigrew. Guys, these are my best friends, Marie Healey, Claire Collins, Alice Walters and Lily Evans.” Each girl gave a small wave in return.

“Wait,” Lily was growing more and more confused. “You know these people?”

“Yeah! They were the ones who helped me find you guys. There a problem or something?” Bridget shoved her own glasses back up onto her nose and swept her bangs out of her face.

Lily slouched down in her seat and said huffily, “No. Nothing.”

“Oh, okay then.” She suddenly brightened. “Why don’t we all sit together? We can squeeze.”

“Yeah!” Sirius bounded into the compartment and plopped himself down on one of the seats. “I’m famished! He sat down next to Alice and held out his hand. “The one and only Sirius Black at your service, ma’am.” He winked and turned to Bridget. “Whaddya got?”

“Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Licorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, you name it, I got it. Daddy was feeling a bit guilty of making his baby girl go all the way to Switzerland, so I got a bit of pocket money.” She smiled wickedly and pulled sweets out of her pockets and tossed them into the middle of a vacant seat.

“Ahh! Gimme!” Sirius whined and reached for a Pumpkin Pasty.

Marie snatched it away. “No way am I letting you eat all that sugar.” She stood up and began grabbing sweets and stuffing them in the rubbish bin. The can ate up the sweets immediately, sparing nothing. After it was done, it started coughing up wrappers that Sirius picked up with a dazed expression on his face.

“She did not just do that.” He blinked several times before stating, “You’re insane.”

“Marie, you feeling alright?” Bridget waved a hand in front of Marie’s face. “We’ve been waiting for years to be able to chock down on chocolate on our way to Hogwarts and you don’t want any. What’s the matter? Are you feeling alright?”

“We swore off sweets this summer while you were gone, Bee.” Claire said apologetically, nervously twisting her sweater in her lap. “Marie told us about this new de-toxic lifestyle and it sounded kind of cool.”

“Sorry.” Lily looked determinedly at the floor.

“Well, I’m not. All that sugar’s bad for you.” Marie said stubbornly.

“You’ve been getting sort of chubby lately Bridget.”
Bridget felt as if Marie had punched her in the gut. “Okay, that’s it then. I can take a hint. I’m leaving. You guys in?” she asked the other four. She looked fiercely at the girls and decided that she didn’t feel so nasty about leaving them after all. Marie was holding a Muggle Tupperware full of tofu in her hands and Lily was looking a bit warily at her bag of carrot sticks behind Marie’s glowering back.

“Enjoy your food.” She said smirking, before Marie slammed the door shut in her face. She took a deep breath. She hated fighting with her friends and she could already feel the tears creep up on her.

“Peter, I hate to break it to you, but dolphins aren’t fish.” James was shaking his head as he helped lug the trunk down the corridor.

“They are too!” Peter protested. “They can swim! That means they’re fish.”

“I can swim,” Sirius reminded him, “and I’m not fish.”

“But you live on land. That’s different.” Peter said. “Believe me, I read it in a book somewhere.”

“But that makes no sense! I can swim as well as a dolphin. Well, okay, not as well, but that doesn’t count 'cause I don’t have flippers.”

“You live on land!”

“I can swim!”

“YOU LIVE ON LAND!” Peter shouted.

Sirius shook his head sadly. “You, my friend, are a piece of work.”

A couple hours later the five were sitting in their compartment. Peter was reading The Daily Prophet to which he claimed that he was an avid subscriber. Remus, James, and Sirius were all betting Chocolate Frogs on various topics such as: whether or not James could hit Marie with a glob of pepper-flavoured Bertie Botts Beans that they had mashed up to look like tofu (he missed; he hit Lily’s hair instead and had to run for his life), who would win the next game of Exploding Snap, and how long would it take before Bridget broke down and took her nose out of her bloody book to have a good cry.

James reached for some Pumpkin Pasties and tossed them on the pile.
He leaned forward and whispered inaudibly to everyone but Sirius, “Subtract another thirty minutes from my bet.”

Sirius shrugged and secretly scribbled it on the back of a Licorice Wand wrapper.

The cards suddenly exploded and left James coughing dust and smoke as Sirius rounded up the cards for another round.

“You okay, Bridget?” Sirius asked. She had been sitting in a corner by the window determinedly keeping her eyes on her book, ignoring and declining all his insane requests.

“Yeah.” She put down her book and popped the cap off a water bottle. She inhaled then took a deep swig.

“Okay, then when you want to tell us what’s bothering you then-” Sirius said slyly returning his gaze to the cards in his hands.

Bridget blurted, “It’s Marie.”

“That was fast,” Sirius said in an undertone to James. James snorted and gave his cards to Sirius and raked in all of the sweets onto his lap.

“I have no idea what has gotten into her! I mean, she has Lily eating veggies! And Lily is the most fierce, loyal, outspoken carnivore I know! You guys would love her! And Claire, Claire is usually so smart and realistic! She doesn’t think about the group sticking together that much; she usually picks the right choice!” She was absolutely fuming now. She was gesturing wildly with her hands, splashing water everywhere.

“Alice Walters is one of the most hilarious people you’ll ever meet! She’s always tripping over her feet, or helping someone else up off the ground; she’s sweet and kind and thoughtful. This whole tofu thing is so confusing!” Bridget took a deep breath before letting it out slowly.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with Marie. We’ve all been best friends since we could talk. I don’t know why she’s choosing to act like this. I don’t know if it’s jealousy, or maybe she feels like I’m ignoring them, but it’s not fair! Papa always has to drag us off for one event or another and-” She took another shuddery breath. “I feel like I’m being a bad friend, I don’t know what I did wrong. It’s just not fair! And the worst part is, is that I feel bad for abandoning them just because you guys have already been great friends to me and I feel guilty about liking you guys more than them now and-”

Sirius shook her shoulders. “Relax. You’ve guys have got history together. And nothing can erase that. Marie was just being a (Sirius swore here) things will get better. Believe me.”

“How the hell do you know?” Bridget asked. She slumped against James’ shoulder and he patted her head sympathetically.

“He’s Sirius Black. That means he’s a best friend, psychic, and therapist, all in one.” James said simply.

“If your friends have half a brain all put together, they’ll realize that Marie is being petty and jealous because, as it was just announced in the paper yesterday, the McGuire family’s old Wizarding Stock on the World Wide Gringotts Bank, WWGB, has just fallen five points forcing the Healey family’s stock points to hit an all time low, making them the sixth most profitable company in England and forty-third in the world.”
Remus put down his hand of cards and asked, “What are you talking about? We don’t talk WWGB-whatever that is-speak, Peter.”

Peter explained, “Mr. McGuire-in a completely brilliant financial move- demolished one of his smaller companies put the entire stock up for sale. The prices went up in record timing and finally sold out to the Healey family. However, as soon as they bought the company, prices plummeted dramatically.” He shook his head in regret. “People don’t trust the Healey brand anymore. Mr. McGuire then sold all his remaining stock off to the WWGB Goblin Committee- or the WWGBGC for short- and pulled out quickly just as the market nearly crashed. But don’t worry, it’s back up again. That all happened this summer; nearly destroyed the economy at first, but then it came back stronger than ever. Everyone else came out richer except for the Healey family who sold and ran, right after the stock went down, and just before the stock went up.” Peter snapped The Daily Prophet taut and disappeared behind the headlines.

“Wow, okay! Great, thanks Peter! I still don’t understand anything you just said, but I’m guessing that Bridget’s richer than Marie!” Sirius clapped his hands together. “So now you know why your friend Marie is having a bit of trouble coughing up whatever hairball she’s swallowed.”

“Still doesn’t solve much, does it though. I have no idea how to approach this.” Bridget moaned.

“Ignore it. Ignore the fact that your father just nearly bankrupted the Healeys and just pretend like it didn’t happen. Convince her that you know why she was mad at you. When you hug and make-up just say, ‘Aw, Marie, I’m so sorry that you all felt abandoned over the summer’ and that sort of stuff. Believe me, you’ll both feel better for it, and you’ll get sufficient payback.”

“Actually, I think now we have to give the shrink title to Dr. Lupin over here,” James said, nudging Remus in the side.

Bridget broke into a grin and suffocated Remus in a hug. “Thank you so much!” She pulled back and then grabbed the cards off the table. “Marie won’t know what hit her. Now, as an apology for being so sluggish, I believe I owe you some games of Exploding Snap?” She shuffled and bridged the cards in mid-air.

“I’m in!” Peter said quickly, and tossed his newspaper aside.

“There’s the brave Bridget that we’ve known for all of three hours,” Remus said grinning from ear to ear.

“And we already like you,” said James punching her on the shoulder.

“Aw, same here you softies.” She said laughing. She truly felt as at home with them as she did with Lily, Marie, Alice and Claire. Actually it felt better.

Maybe that’s what my old friendship needed all along. New friends.

An hour later, Marie poked her head in and said stiffly, “We’re arriving in another half hour. Bridget, come with me.”

Bridget felt her blood begin to boil. Marie had crossed the line; no one was going to order her around today.

“No. You’re being a bitch and right now, I’m sick and tired of your attitude. You’ve been nothing but mean for the five minutes I’ve been able to spend with you, and those five minutes have been enough. You, Alice, Lily, and Claire and all those other guys can do whatever the hell you want. I’m staying here.” She put her hands on her hips. If Marie wanted a fight, she could come and get it.

“Yeah, right. With all these boys?” Marie scoffed. “C’mon, just come with me and we’ll work it out.”

Bridget took out her and wand and pointed it at Marie. She was royally pissed now and no matter what it took, she was going to remind her that Bridget Lisa McGuire wasn’t someone Marie could step on; making-up and apologizing could wait until later.

“No. Now get out before I hex you to the next century.”

“You don’t even know how to make tea with that thing.” Marie scoffed.

“Newsflash, I’m not a Pure-blood for nothing. And as Daddy’s little girl,”
She glared at Marie to make sure she got the threat; “I’ve learned a few nasty little tricks.”

Marie just huffed and stormed out of the compartment.

“Well done. I hope you don’t plan on talking to her ever again, but good job.” Sirius said, mildly impressed. “You looked just like my cousin Bellatrix if she had ever been a decent person, wore glasses, and was a skinny looking grasshopper.”

Bridget shot a death glare at him. “It’s not funny! What if I’m Sorted into Slytherin because of that?”

“It’s a just a joke! Don’t kill me woman!” He mock pleaded and threw himself at her knees. He gave her a wounded puppy look and said, “I’m too handsome to die.”

Remus snorted into his robes as he pulled them over his head. “Please kill him. His ego’s big enough.”

James, Bridget, and Peter started laughing as the train slowed to a stop at the station.

---

Whoa. Remus was in complete shock. His mum and dad had told him about Hogwarts, but he had never imagined that it would be like this.

Ghosts floated around, more kids in pointy black hats that he had seen in his entire life, and he had just witnessed a hat sing a song about the next seven years of his life.

Right now, ‘Whoa’ pretty much summed up everything.

They had made it okay across the lake. It was silently agreed on that Bridget would ride with James and Sirius, protecting and distracting her from the death glares that came from a select few girls. They had waited nervously in the hall, until Professor McGonagall had come out to take them inside and introduce them to the Sorting Hat.

The Sorting started out with this kid called Avery-something, who the Hat promptly whisked away into Slytherin. Was it just Remus’ imagination, or was the Sorting going faster now?

The first boy tripped up to the stool and dropped the Hat on his head.

“Axel, Dwight!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Beale, Allison!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Belairia, Porscha!”

“SLYTHERIN!”

“Black, Narcissa!”

“SLYTHERIN!”

“Black, Sirius!”

Sirius walked up to the Hat and eyed it warily. Remus could tell that he was doubtful of letting a Hat decide his future to say the least. He lifted it up and with an exaggerated sigh, shoved it on his head.

“GRYFFINDOR!” The Hat announced. Sirius took off the Hat and after smirking at the bewildered Slytherin table, proudly stalked off to Gryffindor, where he was slapped on the back by some older students he had encountered on the train.

“Bolton, Todd!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Christian, Adrian!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Connor, Clive!”

A tired, sickly looking boy with a rash on his skin limped up to the Hat and tried it on.

“Doesn’t look like he’ll last long.” Remus muttered to James.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“Collins, Claire!”

Bridget’s friend from the train walked up to the Hat, stumbling on the hem of her robe several times on the way there. She took the Hat from McGonagall then placed it tentatively on her head.

“RAVENCLAW!”

Claire looked relieved as she handed back the Hat and walked to the Ravenclaw table. Remus glanced at Marie. She looked ready to hack the Hat to pieces and feed it to the Giant Squid.

“Dawn, Rae!”

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“Eiffel, Devin!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

Remus watched the Hat sort Lily Evans and Fern Freeman into Gryffindor, Holly Freeze and Cara Fuller into Hufflepuff and Jack Hausen into Ravenclaw, when he heard:

“Healey, Marie!”

She sauntered up to the Hat and shoved it on.

“SLYTHERIN!”

“Like we didn’t see that one coming,” James whispered in Remus’ ear eliciting a snort from Remus.

“Healey, Morgan!”

A girl who looked sickeningly like Marie sauntered up the Hat and tried it on.

“SLYTHERIN!”

“Howard, Jill!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Jaxley, Taryn!”

“SLYTHERIN!”

“Jerome, Miles!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Karl, Brendan!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Kelpie, Amy!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Lestrange, Rodolphus!”

“SLYTHERIN!”

“Lien, Cassie!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Lien, Tom!”

“SLYTHERIN!”

“Lupin, Remus!”

Remus gulped and walked nervously up to the Hat. All rationale left his thoughts. What if he wasn’t accepted? What if the Hat told him he couldn’t go to Hogwarts because he was a werewolf?
Let’s get this over with, he thought and closed his eyes tightly as he dropped the Hat onto his head.
It had barely been there five seconds when the Hat screamed:

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Remus was stunned happy. The Hat hadn’t even said anything to him! He grinned and passed the Hat off to Bridget who was looking a little green around the gills.

She shoved the Hat onto her head with a ‘You-win-some-you-lose-some’ expression.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Remus applauded with Sirius, Lily, and two girls named Rae Dawn and Fern Freeman, along with the rest of the Gryffindor House as Bridget sprinted down to where Sirius and Remus sat.

“Pettigrew, Peter!”

Peter stumbled eagerly up to the Hat and crammed it on.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“Potter, James!”

James walked up, put the Hat on and sat on the stool and tightly gripped the edges. Remus couldn’t help but envy him; he had to admit that only James could make a totally nerve-wracking experience look totally cool.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

He handed it to Evan Rosier (who the Hat Sorted into Slytherin) and ran to where they were sitting.

“Snape, Severus!”

“SLYTHERIN!”

“He looks a bit twisted,” Bridget muttered in an undertone to those at the table. There was only one way to describe Snape- greasy. He had long greasy hair, a big, greasy nose and his robes were a bit frayed around the edges.

Lily scrunched up her face and picked a chunk of Bertie Botts she had
found in one curl from her hair. “Ew, yeah.”

Bridget turned to face her. “Ew, what? Your hair or that Snake?”

“SHH!” Remus quickly cut off Bridget and patted a distressed Lily comfortingly on her shoulder.

“Tern, Wesley!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Trails, Quinn!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Traung, Zsa Zsa!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Traverse, Liam!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Walters, Alice!”

The girl who had been with Marie, Lily, and Claire on the train walked nervously up to the Hat.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Lily cheered while Bridget, still a bit put off at the girls, sat back and half-heartedly clapped.

Finally, when McGonagall called the last name, (“Yi, Courtney!” Ravenclaw) Dumbledore stood up to talk.

“I am sure you are all ready to pass out from starvation, so as always I have only two words for you: dig in.” Dumbledore clapped his hands once, than sat down.

Food appeared on the table and the newly sorted first years gasped with delight. Delicious, mouth-watering treats and entrées were quickly dished out onto plates and consumed.

After the feast Professor Dumbledore gave out announcements and sent them off to bed.

While stumbling along after the Prefects, Bridget yawned deeply. “I am so screwed.”

“Why?” Sirius was walking beside her, looking as wide-awake as he probably did at three in the afternoon instead of at eleven at night.

“Um, Bridget, can we talk to you?” Lily tapped her on her shoulder.

“Yeah, listen I’m sorry.” Bridget said quickly. She had decided long ago that she was better at fighting than apologizing and while this was uncomfortable for her, she had decided to get it over with quickly and as soon as possible.

“We’re sorry too. Friends?” Alice asked hopefully.

“You always are, and always were.” She pulled them in for a quick hug.

“Now who’s going to help poor me get around the castle?”

“Yeah, what’s with that? A little spoiled there, McGuire!” James said and nudged Bridget in the side. “We’re not here to wait on you hand and foot you know.”

“Well then I hope that you don’t mind seeing me ever again. I’m going to get lost in the castle and in three months time you’ll probably see my body wasting away in some dungeon…” Bridget moaned.

“Can’t find your way out of a paper bag, eh?” Remus asked. “No worries, I can’t either.”

“More like she can’t find her way out with a map, compass and three neon signs saying, “THIS WAY”. She’s absolutely hopeless. Her maid helps her find the breakfast hall in that mausoleum she calls a home. I don’t even live there and I know my way around better than she does.” Lily said.

“Okay! Okay! I think that we’ve all illustrated how the wrong way Hitachi’s came to be!” Bridget snapped. “I can’t help it!” She said
pleadingly.

The Prefect turned another corner and Peter groaned. “How much further is it? I’m ready to pass out!”

Clive Connor, the boy in front of him stopped and Peter accidentally knocked into him, knocking Clive down. “Oh, I’m sorry! You okay?” Peter pulled him to his feet.

“Yeah, fine. Hey! We’re here. Look’s like there’s a line though.” He said, unnecessarily pointing out this random fact. “Hey, do you guys mind if I sleep on the floor?” Clive asked. He absently scratched his arm.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “Um, why?”

“I’ve got a bad back, and it’s usually better if I kip on the floor. Sorry if you guys think that it’s strange or anything, but…”

“Wha-”

“Hey! No problem.” Remus cut in front of Sirius and stepped on his foot.

“Yeah, um, do you have a sleeping bag or how are you going to do this?”

“Sleeping bag. I can’t wait to get out of this place though! It’s so depressing.” Clive changed the topic quickly and stepped through the portrait hole. However, if he had been hoping that the rest of the Gryffindor boys would support him in this, he was sorely mistaken.

“You can’t wait? Well, hope you didn’t get your hopes up, because you’ve got another full seven years ahead of school, you know.” James said. He stepped through the portrait hole and waited for Sirius to come in after him.

“Yeah, but mum said that as soon as dad released custody, she’d take me on her safari in Africa.” Clive said, his eyes shining with excitement.

Sirius shrugged. “Cool.”

As soon as the last person got into the common room, the Prefect made introductions and showed them where their rooms were. Remus, Peter, Sirius and James all raced towards their new dormitory.

“I call that one!” Remus yelled.

“I got this one!” Sirius jumped up onto the bed closest to the window.

“I call this one!” James yelled.

“Sweet! Ha ha! I guess I lucked out then!” Peter joked.

“Um, you got the one near the door, Pete.” James pointed out.

“Yeah, but look who you’re sleeping next to.” Peter smirked and pointed to the sleeping bag situated between James and Sirius’ beds.

Unbeknownst to them, Clive had already set up his sleeping space on the floor.

“Aww, man!” Sirius groaned and flopped down defeated.

James groaned, “It’s gonna be a looonngg night.”

---

“If you want to live, you’ll pass over the coffee.” Bridget glared at a bunch of seventh years sitting next to them; she wasn’t sure if it was her bedraggled state or her evil glare that made them give up the coffee jug, milk, sugar, cream and donuts without a fight.

Her first night at Hogwarts had just passed, and Bridget was already convinced that the Gryffindor girls were all eventually going to kill each other.

First, they had fought over the good bed by the window. Or as they put it, “diplomatically discussed territorial issues.” Territorial issues my ass.

Then came the gossip, the whispers, and the giggles, the late night trips to the bathroom to wash off a face mask or to re-braid hair. Then, just when Bridget thought that things could not possibly get any worse, the light had flipped on and Dawn Rae screamed at Fern Freeman to shut up and to stay away from Sirius Black and how come Fern thought she could be so dam special, because wasn’t it obvious that Sirius liked her?

Then Lily and Alice had joined in the brawl, complaining about beauty sleep, something about it being three o’clock in the morning and cats.

After that, it had taken Bridget about ten minutes to get out of bed, stare each girl down until they were sitting quietly on their beds and give a small lecture on how there was a time for everything, and how now was a time for sleeping, not fighting. She then falsely informed them that Sirius probably didn’t even know that they were alive, and that all his attention was focused on Marie Healey.

She had then picked Bisou up off the floor and pulled her in for a cuddle. Needless to say, the angry whispers that punctured the night were music to Bridget’s ears and she quickly fell asleep.

But apparently, like some members of the Insomniacs Club like to say, sleep is for the weak. Fern, Dawn, Lily and Alice were up at the crack of
dawn, primping and preparing for an exciting day of- oh boy! Lessons!

It wasn’t until eight thirty when they had all left the room, giggling and chatting, when Bridget had dragged herself out of bed, dragged a brush through her hair and rolled out the door, looking like a train wreck. Then, as Bisou had been running excitedly by her ankles in the common room, she had tripped over the Corgi and landed face down right in front of the boy’s staircase. And to make matters worse, Sirius had chosen that precise moment to go down to breakfast and had tripped right over her.

“What a great way to start the day,” he had groaned.

“Rough night?” Bridget had asked as she rolled over.

“Yep.”

“Me too.”

“Finally! The weekend! A time to relax, breathe and catch up with our friends after being separated for so long…”





“Shut it, Sirius; first of all, it’s only our, what? Sixth week of school? Second of all, in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve only spent every past waking moment with you!” James said grumpily while rolling up Clive’s sleeping bag. Clive had declared that he didn’t need it. His mother was picking him up in another week to take him to Africa, and apparently, they slept under the stars there, in the freezing cold weather, without sleeping bags. Needless to say, the boys were having trouble understanding Clive.





“I’ve got popcorn!” Bridget sang and sauntered into the room. She held a large bowl of popcorn in one hand and a pitcher of pumpkin juice in the other. She sat down and plopped the bowl in the center of the room where they were “making camp.” Sirius had lugged down a mattress and the others brought down their comforters off their beds. Scattered around the center was various bowls of sweets and candies and a blank sheet of parchment on a clipboard.





“I call the court to disorder!” Remus joked and sat down and grabbed the clipboard.





Peter made a face. “That one was a dud.”





“You got a better one?” Remus asked and tore off a piece of Chocolate Frog.





“Well, no…” Peter said slowly.





Sirius cut across, “Well, then, listen to this one-





So, two men were sitting next to each other at a bar.





After a while, one guy looks at the other and says, ‘I can't help but think, from listening to you, that you're from Ireland.’





The other guy responds proudly, ‘Yes that I am!’





The first guy says, ‘So am I! And whereabouts from Ireland might you be?’





The other guy answers, ‘I'm from Dublin, I am.’





The first guy responds, ‘Sure and begora, and so am I! And what street did you live on in Dublin?’





The other guy says, ‘A lovely little area it was, I lived on McCleary Street in the old central part of town.’





The first guy says, ‘Faith, it's a small world! So did I! So did I!’





‘And to what school would you have been going?’





The other guy answers, ‘Well now, I went to St. Mary's of course.’





The first guy gets really excited and says, ‘And so did I!’





He then says, ‘Tell me, what year did you graduate?’





The other guy answers, ‘Well, now, let's see, I graduated in 1964.’





The first guy exclaims, ‘The Good Lord must be smiling down upon us! I can hardly believe our good luck at winding up in the same bar tonight! Can you believe it - I graduated from St. Mary's in 1964 my own self!’





About this time, a guy named Vicky walks into the bar, sits down, and orders a beer. Brian, the bartender, walks over to Vicky, shaking his head and mutters,





‘It's going to be a long night tonight!’





Vicky asks, ‘Why do you say that, Brian?’





‘The Kelly twins are drunk again.’





They all burst out laughing. James was holding his sides and hanging off his bed he was laughing so hard, Peter looked ready to die from lack of oxygen and both Remus’ and Bridget’s faces were bright red.





“Oh god, that’s a good one.” James laughed.





“Yeah, well, it’s takes a genius!” He stood up and gave a flourishing bow. “So anyways, let’s get to business!”





“Whose turn is it now?” Peter asked. Sirius scanned the list of Slytherins.





“Um, we’ve gone through them all actually, I believe Snape the Snake was the last one on our list…” Sirius said frowning.





“Are you kidding me? Well then, on to the big leagues.” James exclaimed excitedly. A maniacal gleam appeared in his eye.





“This time, we’re going for something big! Something huge! A group prank on all the Slytherins. Let’s go…”

---

“Where’s Bridget?” asked Lily. She looked up from her textbook and gazed despondently at the blank wall across from her. “This is just sad. It’s a Friday night for God’s sake! We should be out partying! Watching a Quidditch match! Sprinting down the hall in our nightgowns singing the Canadian national anthem! Something other than, than- studying.” She looked around in disgust at the girls. Rae and Fern were taking turns practicing turning matchsticks into needles, Alice was mouthing the incantation to a levitation charm and Lily herself was doing homework.





“She’s in the boy’s dorm again.” Rae said with a certain amount of disgust. “She’s been practically inseparable from Sirius, James, Remus and Peter. It’s improper if you ask me.” She gave a small sniff of disgust while her facial expression showed that she wouldn’t mind spending some quality time with the “cutest guys on the face of the whole earth”.





“Oh that’s just great! I wonder what they’re planning this time.” Lily groaned. “I feel bad for that Snape kid.”





“Ew, Snape the Snake?” Alice made a face.





“Yeah, that’s the one.”





“Nasty.” She rolled over and tossed her book over on the side table and replaced it with a Witch Weekly issue.





Lily felt like crying. She had never felt so torn apart before in her life. She hated Marie for making Bridget mad at her, she hated Claire for ignoring her, but most of all she hated Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and James Bloody Potter. She tried to ignore the nagging tug of jealousy that wrestled with her emotions. Bridget hadn’t spent one Friday night with the girls. She was always running off, breaking curfew or sneaking into the Gryffindor boys’ dorm room for overnighters. Nasty rumors flew all around Gryffindor Tower about Bridget. Lily had overheard one of the seventh years suggest that Bridget was taking turns- She shuddered. Nasty.





“I’m going for a walk. Anyone in?” Lily walked over to her trunk and pulled out one of her favorite dingy sweatshirts.





“Nah, it’s got to be about minus five degrees outside.” Rae speared another needle on her pincushion.





“Okay then, fine. See you all later.”





She sprinted down the hallways, checking over her shoulder for patrolling Prefects, teachers, and worst of all, Peeves. She strolled about a bit in the courtyard before deciding to take a lap around the lake. Lily crossed her arms over her chest and shivered. Rae wasn’t kidding when she said “minus five degrees”.





The night was chilly; the air was sharp and crystalline. It was a horrible night to be out of the castle. She was one-fourth of the way around the lake when-





“Oof!” She tripped and went sprawling onto a bed of small, sharp rocks.





“S-s-sorry.” The lump stammered.





What the? She pushed herself up and turned the lump over to find, Connor Clive huddled up in a sleeping bag.





“Connor! What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing? You’re going to freeze out here!” She exclaimed. She was absolutely horrified to see him lying outside. “Did Black kick you out? No? Well then, who? Potter? Lupin? Pettigrew? McGuire?” She rattled off the names of the current occupants of the boy’s dormitory.





“No one! This is great training for when-” The rest of his speech was cut off with a hacking cough.





“You’ve obviously hit your head on something, Connor. C’mon, let’s go see Madame Pomfrey.”

---

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT YOU FOUND HIM SLEEPING OUTSIDE?!”





Lily had no choice but to cower before the awesome power and rage of one Madame Pomfrey.





She turned to the sickly boy lying nestled in blankets. “And you!” She lowered her voice to a furious whisper. “And you! Actually thinking that you could handle it! Well, just last week you were in here recovering from a bad case of the Muggle chicken pox! AND the week before that you decided it was a good idea to go and bond with one of Professor Sprout’s Venomous Tentaculas! Do you have a death wish, Mr. Clive?!”





“Baby!” Lily turned around to see who she presumed was Connor’s mother, sprint across the room and engulf her son in a hug. “That’s it darling! We’re taking you out of this school. It’s far too dangerous for a boy like you; Mummy will take you to Africa!” She hugged him tighter. “Sweetheart, can you imagine it? Africa! The weather will help improve your health by thousands!” She let go of Clive, who was now looking positively joyous, to shake Lily’s hand and engulf her in a hug.





“Oh, so you’re the angel who brought my son to Madame Pomfrey here! Professor Dumbledore told me all about you! Thank you so much! You saved my baby’s life!”





“Mum!” Connor complained.





“Oh, sorry dear! He hates it when I embarrass him in front of his friends,” Mrs. Clive whispered in an undertone to Lily.





“Oh, well, ha ha, it’s no problem.” Said Lily weakly, a bit embarrassed by the situation. She wasn’t about to break it to Mrs. Clive that she- along with the rest of the Gryffindor house- thought Connor a bit, well, odd.





“Oh! And thank you so much for looking after Connor, Poppy. It means the world to me that a friend is looking after him at Hogwarts.” She gave Madame Pomfrey a hug. “I got that beautiful letter that you sent me. I swear if you weren’t such a good Healer, I would send you to a publishing company so fast!”





Madame Pomfrey chuckled and shook her head good naturedly. “Writing was never really in my blood, Caitlin. I’m much happier here. Come, Miss Evans; we’ll leave Mr. Clive and his mother alone.” She ushered Lily through the door to her office.





“Madame Pomfrey,” Lily began hesitantly, “I was wondering if, um, you know what the matter with Remus’ mum is. He wouldn’t tell us why, or what’s bothering her, and he looked a little beat up when he came back, and I was just wondering-”





“Oh, Mrs. Lupin just catches a little bug once in a while, no need to worry Ms. Evans.” Madame Pomfrey said hurriedly. “Quite common, now please scurry along back to your House. Needless to say, your dorm mates are probably very worried about you. Oh here, take this note; if Mr. Filch bothers you just hand him this and explain you’ve been performing a service to the school.” She ushered Lily out of her office and out of the hospital wing. “Goodnight, Ms. Evans.”





“Goodnight.”

---

The next morning Lily was up early after a long night of regaling the girls with tales of her rescue of Connor. They chattered as they made their way down to breakfast; Lily noticed that Bridget was curiously absent from their group.





They sat down at the Gryffindor table and were about to chow down when she saw a group of extremely tired looking Slytherins walk in and sit down. Almost simultaneously, James Potter appeared at her elbow and plopped down next to her with Bridget and Sirius on his right side.





“I’m absolutely starved. What are you having, Evans?” James said as he nicked some bacon off her plate.





Lily ignored him and instead asked, “Where were you last night, Bridget?”





“In the boys’ dorm; we had some stuff to talk about.” She said vaguely as she shook cinnamon into her oatmeal. “I heard about Connor- bummer. Good for you though!” She seemed strangely overly occupied with her breakfast.





Black nudged Bridget in the side and whispered something in her ear. She grinned, pulled out a mirror and made a show out of arranging her hair. Lily shot a discrete look at Remus; he looked oddly pleased, but his expression was hidden more than Black’s whose face showed outright glee.





Lily craned her neck to see who the object of their amusement would be this morning. She absolutely hated it when they pulled cruel pranks on people. She didn’t really get it- why did they think it was so hilarious? Sure, they had gotten tons of attention for it already, but it wasn’t like it was a way of life. Lily spotted Severus walking into the hall.





Oh no… Severus had been the brunt of many of Black and Potter’s cruel jokes. Unfortunately, he had deserved them… It was time to take action.





“Why can’t you just leave him alone, Potter!?” She got up and turned him around so that he was facing her. “Why him?”





He gave a wolf whistle. “Oh la la! Evans and Snape! You got a thing for greasy Slytherins, Evans?” Snape froze and Lily blushed a violent shade of red.





“Evans and Snapey, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Wow, Evans, guess we know who your Valentine’s going to be in February!” He laughed enjoying the look of embarrassment on her face. Lily turned an even deeper shade of red.





“Why do you have to be such a git, Potter!” She slapped him clear across his face.





“Grow up, Potter.” She snarled.





“No need to, I’m only eleven. I’m as old as I want to be right now, Evans. Now how about you just simmer down? It seems to me that you’re the one overreacting.” He turned away from her and kept his eyes trailed on Snape. Lily was fuming. She picked up her plate and stormed over to the other side of the table, Alice following in her wake. Claire caught her eye from over at the Ravenclaw table and raised an eyebrow. Lily merely nodded and kept her eyes on her food after that. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. I can’t believe I just did that. She ate a piece of toast and ignored the curious stares from her fellow Gryffindors.





She was about to get up and leave breakfast when she heard an awful screeching sound. She whipped around, only to find the entire Slytherin House in the act of having the all the benches pull out from beneath them. Many of the girls were moaning and trying to brush the food off of their robes, while the guys started swearing quite colorfully. Lily couldn’t help but stare at Potter and his friends. How on earth had they managed to do that? She couldn’t believe that they had charmed the benches to pull out from underneath the Slytherins just as the last person sat down at the table. It was a rather impressive piece of magic, she had to admit. Many of the other students started to clap, and soon the applause was tumultuous.





A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I just finished all my applications for highschool and they were all murder :( So anyways, just a nice lovely filler chapter about the Marauders and Bridget's relationship with them and such.

The year passed by quickly and steadily. Bridget, Peter, Remus, James, and Sirius soon became inseparable through their pranks and antics. Bridget’s friends caught on quickly to Bridget’s friendship with the four boys and were quietly resentful of them. Lily held an exceptional hatred for James in particular, but no one really knew why. The five girls were drifting apart and it seemed like there was nothing they could do about it. Spring lost its bounce; the days seemed dead. Even James and Sirius accepted the stormy mood that enveloped the castle.

About two weeks into April, they were all shocked to see Connor’s smiling face on the front page of the Daily Prophet.

Under the title “Twenty Found Murdered in South Africa”.

The date was April eighteenth and it was Bridget’s birthday. Needless to say, there were no celebrations that day.

Exams came and went, and so did the time. But on this rare, sunny day somewhere in Scotland, the Marauders (as they had been dubbed by Professor McGonagall) were in the library of all places. Rarer still, was the fact that they were actually in there for something other than pranks and homework. And the rarest factor of all was that they were in the library and Remus was nowhere in sight. But as Sirius defended it, it wasn’t as if they were causing mischief by forging a teacher’s signature to get into the Restricted Section.

“Pass me that book over there will you, Bridget?” James asked.

“Peter-” she began.

“You get it. I’m busy over here!” he protested.

“Fine!” She reached over and passed the book to James.

“Now, that wasn’t too hard for the little princess, no?” Peter asked.

Bridget stuck her tongue out at him. “Humph.”

Peter resumed his job of meticulously copying down information onto several different charts. He frowned and scratched out another date onto the calendar.

“Sirius, when’s the next full moon?” he asked casually.

“Why?”

“Because Remus is a werewolf.” He said this with such finality that Sirius didn’t need to see the calendar to figure out that Peter wasn’t joking.

Fear and concern was etched on every face.

“Full moon is tomorrow night. I’ll follow him,” Bridget said. “James will be too obvious even if he wears the cloak. Remus always seems to know whenever we’re under it. Sirius, no offense, but you know you’re rather loud. And well, Peter, you’d fall asleep. I’ll go. I need to see this for myself.”

“Okay.”

---

Bridget crept silently down the deserted corridor. She thanked God that her escapades with her fellow Marauders almost always landed her in the hospital wing. It was the only familiar place to her other than the Gryffindor common room. If Remus had been anywhere else in the castle, she would’ve been lost. She heard footsteps and hid behind a suit of armor. Dusk was settling in, and the moon was due to rise at any second, she noted.

Madame Pomfrey led Remus down corridor after corridor. Bridget hoped that she would come back as soon as Remus was done; there was no way she would be able to find her way back by herself.

They were outside now. Wait, why were they heading towards the Whomping Willow? Madame Pomfrey shot a spell at a knot on the violent tree and it suddenly froze. While she and Remus descended into a small tunnel that had appeared, Bridget seized the opportunity and sprinted the ten yards to secure a good hiding spot in roots of the tree. She settled herself down in the crack in between two large roots and pulled some shrubbery closer to her. She had barely enough time to duck behind the bushes before Madame Pomfrey exited the tunnel. The matron scurried back into the castle as quickly as she could. As soon as her retreating back was out of sight, Bridget stretched out her legs and waited for something to happen.

Then she heard it, the bloodcurdling cry of someone who feels constant, agonizing, crippling pain. The sound ripped through her head like a gunshot.

More crying. The cry was softer now, more muted. She bristled; the sobbing cry now sounded more like a snarl. Her breath came and went in short, shallow breaths. Nothing seemed to be working right. Her brain screamed at her to run, but her legs refused to move. She quaked with fear as the snarls became more and more ferocious and hostile. Silence. She quickly pulled her legs up to her chest, and rocked herself back and forth, back and forth. She squeezed her eyes closed and blocked out the sounds of Remus’ snarls and howls. Bridget rocked and rocked, until she finally found comfort in the illusive shores of the land of sweet dreams.

---

“And you said that I was going to fall asleep.” A voice startled her awake. Why was the world so fuzzy? She tried to sit up, but her throbbing temples wouldn’t allow it. Pain took the form of a sledgehammer on her head. Where was she? And why couldn’t she see? She felt around with her hand until she made contact with her glasses. She shoved them onto her nose and squinted up at the three boys standing above her. Peter was grinning like a fool, glad to have caught her off guard. Sirius for once looked very serious as he stood there, arms folded. James handed her a mug of coffee and sat down on the ground next to her.

“Thanks,” she managed to croak out. She took a deep sip of the rich, black liquid. It was like whiskey for a drunkard. She grabbed the mug with two hands and chugged it down.

“You know if you keep drinking that stuff every morning you’re going to be shorter than Peter, right?” James smiled, took the coffee cup away, and replaced it with a bowl of oatmeal.

“Where are we? H- how did you get me out from under the Willow?” Bridget asked. They were sitting on the floor of a classroom that Bridget didn’t recognize. The room was covered in deep red wall paper and had small, round tables scattered around the room. The carpet was black and so was everything else. All of the tables, chairs, shelves and the desk were black.

“We’re in the Divination classroom in the highest tower,” Sirius said and made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “This is Professor Redlines’ classroom. You know the wacko with the beret? I guess he actually teaches here.”

Peter brought over some pillows and James plopped his book bag down and opened it to reveal… breakfast. Bridget was starving; she grabbed a muffin and took a big bite.

“Believe me; getting you up here, up all those stairs, wasn’t easy.” Sirius took a bite out of an apple from James’ bag.

“We already visited Remus in the hospital wing.” Peter informed her.

“Oh.”

“Sorry,” Peter mumbled. “Did you want us to wait for you to wake up?”

“Oh, no; it’s okay. Is he okay?” she asked tentatively.

“He looks horrible,” James admitted quietly. “He wanted to transfer schools when we told him, but we set him straight.”

“We’ve got to do something to help him!” Sirius said passionately. He got up and started pacing the room.

“We’re going to be there for him. Every full moon, every day after. Hell, I’ll sit out all night next to the Willow if I have too.”

“We’ll find out every nook and cranny there is to Hogwarts, we’ll search the Forbidden Forest! We’ve got to make his time at Hogwarts the best!” James added excitedly.

“Maybe we can figure out a way to be with him, during the full moon?” Bridget suggested. “It must be possible. He sounded so lonely down there. Maybe that’s the real pain.”

“Now that we know, we can stop wasting time.” Sirius stopped pacing and lowered his head dejectedly. “No eleven-year-old should have to deal with being a werewolf.”

Bridget sprinted down the empty corridor. She had… five minutes until the Hogwarts Express left without her. She skidded around another corner and looked right, left. Her face fell. She was doomed. Nothing was familiar about this part of the castle; the paintings sneered sinisterly and the heads on the suits of armor watched her every move.

A staircase! She took the steps two at a time. Suddenly, the staircase gave a jolt and started to swing.

“Shit!” She screamed and started to scramble up the stairs before it left the landing completely. But it was too late. The staircase swung completely around to the other side than started to stretch upwards. Bridget stared in disbelief. She really hadn’t seen that coming. Stupid stairs. It continued to get longer and longer until it arrived about three stories higher than the floor it had originally been at. She sighed and started climbing; there was no use now but to find the Headmaster’s office and explain what had happened.

---

“Sock! Robe! Hat! UNDERWEAR! You know, that’s just plain disgusting, Sirius!” Bridget was halfway under Sirius’ bed in the boys’ dormitory, fishing out lost and forgotten articles of clothing from underneath his bed. She got up and stretched out her stiff back. “That’s it, get your own bloody underwear, there’s no way on earth I’m touching that thing.” She gathered her own pile of dirty laundry from off of Clive’s old bed and dumped it in her cauldron. She couldn’t help staring at the bed. The boys had kept it immaculately clean and untouched since Clive’s death and the empty bed kept calling for attention.

“It feels desolate, doesn’t it?” Remus asked softly and put an arm around her shoulder. So he had noticed.

“It shouldn’t stay that empty, it doesn’t feel right. It’s a hole.” She explained. “Mother always said that when someone died, you can’t keep everything unfinished; you have to fill in the holes they’ve left behind.”

“Why don’t you have it then?” Peter suggested. “You know, next year when we come back you can sleep there; sort of like having your own bed. Your own space.”

“Let’s wait until next year then.” She said softly. She stared at the bed for a few moments before continuing. “I’m going to go drop my laundry off; maybe Ollie will do it for me before we leave.”

“You sure that you remember how to get there?” James asked.

“Yeah, hang a left at Hawaii… Honestly, James, I’ll be fine!” Bridget laughed and picked her cauldron back up. “I’ll be back in five minutes, we’ve got to finish packing; the train leaves in three hours.”

---

Three hours… That’s how long she’d been lost in the castle. Pathetic. she thought bitterly. Absolutely pathetic. She couldn’t even find her way around Hogwarts without help from Sirius, Remus, Peter, or James. Wait, was that the kitchens? Bridget felt like jumping for joy. “Thank God!” She tickled the pear and stumbled into the kitchens.

“Hello?” She asked tentatively. The kitchen seemed to be empty. “Heellllloooo!”

“How is I to be helping you, Miss?” A small, green, wrinkled elf appeared at her elbow.

“Oh! Um, do you think you could show me the way to Professor Dumbledore’s office? You see, I got kind of lost and-”

“Please follow me, Miss.” The elf turned and began walking at a brisk pace towards the door. Bridget couldn’t help raising an eyebrow at the elf’s strange attire. It was wearing a miniature business suit with a skirt and polished oxfords. A second, closer look revealed that it also seemed to have bright red nail polish on its fingernails.

“I love that color.”

“Thank you, Miss.” The elf said tersely and sped up the pace. Bridget had to jog to keep up. The elf stopped at the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore’s office and said, “Miss is going to have to find her own way in.” Without further ado, the elf snapped her fingers and disappeared, suit and all.

Bridget rolled her eyes and turned to face the gargoyle. Now, the password…

“Okay then… um, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum! No? Um, licorice wands? Pepper Imps! Jelly Slugs! Chocolate Frogs! Cockroach Clusters!” The gargoyle stood aside. “Ew, really?” She made a face and walked quickly past it… just in case it changed its mind about letting a first year into the Headmaster’s Office.

She came up the oak door and paused once, before knocking and quickly taking a step back from the threshold.

“Come in!” Professor Dumbledore’s voice called cheerfully.

Bridget pushed open the heavy door and took three cautious steps into the office. Professor Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen.

“Hullo, Professor.” Bridget mumbled.

“Why, Ms. McGuire, is that you?” Dumbledore’s head poked out of a black cabinet that was next to a perch Bridget knew belonged to Fawkes. “Shouldn’t you be on your way home? Oh, I’m sorry, how rude of me. May I offer you a butterbeer?”

“Yes please, Professor.” Bridget’s face burned with embarrassment. She’d been in the Headmaster’s office many times before of course, but to miss the train? She was parched and hungry, and the weird little house elf hadn’t offered her anything to eat. And since it was now five o’clock in the evening and she hadn’t eaten since eight o’clock that morning, she was reasonably starved.

Dumbledore handed her an ice cold butterbeer and sat down behind his desk. He drew his wand and with a flick, removed the caps. He held his bottle up and said, “A toast, Ms. McGuire? To the end of another school year and the beginning of summer?”

Bridget smiled and clinked bottles with him. How oddly surreal this all felt. Dumbledore took a quick drink from his butterbeer then set the beverage down onto his desk.

“Now, I assume that you didn’t stay behind at Hogwarts to have a friendly chat with your Headmaster, am I correct?” He said merrily. His eyes really did seem to twinkle perpetually, Bridget noted.

“Well, um, ha ha… It’s a funny story, really, Professor. You see, I was bringing my laundry down to the house elves before I left on the train, Professor, and I sort of… kind of… got lost.”

Dumbledore chuckled, before giving in and full out laughing. “Ah, I’m sorry, Ms. McGuire… Please, I truly am sorry. That’s perfectly understandable. Let’s be thankful that it wasn’t something extremely serious. Like, shoving a certain Slytherin into the Vanishing Cabinet…” He raised an eyebrow and smiled. “You gave Mr. Malfoy quite the scare. I daresay he won’t be trying anything else again.”

Bridget relaxed a bit in her chair and gave a weak smile. She opened her mouth to reply only to be cut off be a sharp rap at the window. Bridget realized with a sinking feeling that it was Theodore, or Theo, Papa’s owl. But didn’t he know that she was supposed to be on the train right now? The owl must have obviously come to the Headmaster after finding no one in the Great Hall. He’s forgotten when I get out of school again. She thought, her face burning. Many a day she had waited outside of her Muggle elementary school waiting for her father to pick her up, long after Lily, Claire, Marie and Alice had left. A similar incident had also occurred around the Christmas holidays.

Dumbledore saw the bird and rose halfway before saying, “Please excuse me, Miss McGuire. It seems that we have an avian visitor on our hands.”

“You can call me Bridget if you’d like, Sir.” She said softly. “The owl’s from my father. I recognize the bird.”

“Really? Then let’s see what this is all about then, shall we, Bridget?” He took the letter from Theo and conjured up a dish of water for it. He handed the letter to Bridget. “You’re correct. It’s addressed to you.”

Bridget took the envelope and ripped it open.

Daughter,

I assume you are doing well. I received your last owl and I am very pleased with your academic performance in your exams. However, your behavior is unacceptable. Fiona is appalled and I am extremely disappointed in you for upsetting your stepmother like that.

Bridget snorted at the idea of Fiona being appalled at her behavior. Bridget had read the reports from her lawyers and private investigators hired by her mother to look after Bridget and her piece of the inheritance. She was constantly updated with information on Papa’s new wives and all other business and legal proceedings. Bridget was even willing to bet that she was the only twelve year old at Hogwarts that knew what alimony and aliquot was and what the difference was between them.

Fiona wasn’t exactly “little miss perfect” from the reports that she had read. Bridget personally thought that being a Muggle play bunny was a bigger mistake than a few pranks. She read on:

Your behavior has distressed her so much that she has insisted that we go to our house in Canada; in the Northwest Territory instead of the one in Ontario since she plans on magically entertaining this summer and we can’t risk any more Muggle sightings. We plan to be gone for most of the summer, so she has kindly compiled a list of summer activities for you while we are gone. I have also owled your grandmother in Taiwan. She has set aside a week for you to visit her this summer. Please be grateful, polite and considerate when you visit. She is a very busy woman with limited patience. I will now close this letter with Fiona’s choice of summer plans for you.

-Cooking camp in Russia

- Summer school in America

- Volunteer work for Fiona’s charity organization

-Visiting your sisters in France

- Elocution and Manners Summer program in London, along with tutoring in French, Latin and embroidery at the Young Ladies for a Better Society Institution.

- Performing Arts Camp in France

I look forward to your arrival at Ellesmere Range next week.

Sincerely,
Gus McGuire

P.S. Your brother had requested that I send his congratulations on your grades and your new acquaintances with the Black, Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin families. He sends his warmest regards and wishes me to inform you that he intends to owl you soon and set up a date to meet up one day.

Bridget stared at the letter for a few seconds. She really couldn’t believe that he had forgotten when school got out.

“Professor, may I borrow a quill and some parchment? I need to reply to this immediately. It seems,” she said tartly while rolling up the letter, “that my father has again, forgotten when I get out of school.”

Dumbledore nodded and conjured up parchment and handed her a quill. “Take as long as you’d like. Now, with your permission, I’ll gather up the rest of your belongings and bring them here. I believe that your trunk is in the boys’ dormitory?”

Bridget’s jaw dropped slightly. “How did you…?”

Dumbledore chuckled. “Did you really think that Professor McGonagall doesn’t notice what’s going on in that tower of yours? We don’t hear all the juicy gossip, but the news of a group of inseparable first year students did manage to get to us. And, unless I am sorely mistaken, there is a rule against boys in the girls’ dormitories… but it says nothing of girls in the boys’ dormitories. So, no harm done.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Not at all; it’s no problem.” He smiled, “I’ll leave you to it then, shall I?”

With a small nod to Bridget, he left the room.

After a moment of consideration, Bridget moved over to the Headmaster’s chair to write her letter. The desk and chair were almost too big for her and her feet barely touched the ground. She scooched the chair closer to the desk and took a phoenix quill from its holder and dipped it into the ink pot on his desk. She eyed the desk drawer apprehensively before yanking it open, snatching a piece of parchment from the stack there and slamming it shut. Bridget let out a breath of relief. She was on pins and needles; expecting an alarm to go off at any second.

She looked around the room as she thought of a reply. She loved the Headmaster’s office; the beautiful antique carvings and delicate silver instruments that were scattered around the office on small tables, the gorgeous lacquered black liquor cabinet in the corner, the oak dresser, and most of all- Fawkes. The plumed epitome of beauty looked at her and cocked his head as if to ask if she was honestly going to take that kind of treatment from her own father. She studied Fawkes and smiled. Trust a bird to know exactly how to reply.

Father,
I’d like to warn you that the next time you wish to sound well informed of your youngest daughter’s whereabouts, or anyone else’s for that matter, that you actually know where they are and have the facts- not a scattered version of the truth. I happen to be on my way home as I write this. Hogwarts does not let out next week, but this week. Thankfully, I did not get onto the train on time due to unfortunate circumstances and did have to endure the humiliation of being forgotten at Platform nine and three quarters.

As for Fiona, it’s no use to pretend any longer. I received a letter from your legal department two weeks ago, informing me of your plans to divorce her after this summer. As you may also have forgotten, I inherited my mother’s stock in the company and her right to full access to all the legal records in the company: legal and private. I am a bit insulted that you let this stranger run our household and order around your daughter of all people. I thought that you might have held more personal pride in your family than to let her run things.

This brings me to the issue of Fiona’s order that I abandon Ellesmere Range for the summer. I can’t believe that you actually require me to obey that woman and her foolish commands! Since I have no say in the matter however, I will do as you wish. I will obey only you. I am warning you, I will directly ignore any commands from her. Below is the list of camps you have sent, attached with my commentary.

~Cooking camp in Russia- No. You both seem to have forgotten the Russia is a COMMUNIST country. Remember the Soviet Union?

~Summer school in America- School during the summer? Do you even remember your childhood, Papa? No.

~Volunteer work for Fiona’s charity organization- No. Fiona’s charity doesn’t do any work. What they do is get Fiona drunk enough and get her to convince you to write a rather large check.

~Visiting your sisters in France- Papa, they aren’t in France anymore… school let out two weeks ago. Nice to know I wasn’t the only one this time.

~ Elocution and Manners Summer program in London, along with tutoring in French, Latin and embroidery at the Young Ladies for a Better Society Institution- No. I would kill them all as I made my escape to lock myself up in a mental hospital with all the other poor, normal souls whose parents also made them attend.

~Performing Arts Camp in France- This is probably the sanest idea Fiona’s had since she married you. I will attend on one condition- Lily, Marie, Claire and Alice get to go with me.

Finally, Papa, I hope you will know how disappointed and disgusted I am with your behavior. No matter how much you wish that I had perhaps died during my birth, I am still your daughter and I still love you.

Sincerely,
Bridget McGuire

Without further ado, she attached the letter to the owl and watched it fly off. While she would regret the letter later, she couldn’t help but feel a bit vindicated as she imagined the look on Gus McGuire’s face as he read her letter.

A few minutes later, Dumbledore reentered his office and upon finding her perched precariously in his chair, chuckled, offered her his arm and led her to the Floo. After helping her heave her trunk in the fireplace he gave her a pinch of Floo powder.

“Have a nice summer, Bridget.” He said merrily.

“Thank you, Professor.” Stepping out of the extinguished fireplace for one second, she impulsively reached out and hugged the Headmaster. “Thank you for everything.”

She jumped into the fireplace before he got the chance to respond, threw the Floo powder down and yelled, “Ellesmere Range!” The warm, green flames engulfed her and she couldn’t help laughing at the ridiculousness of her life.

---

Meanwhile, on the train…

James finished scribbling on a ragged, ripped up piece of parchment, rolled it up and handed it to his owl. The owl took off through the window and the four boys watched as it slowly disappeared from sight.

“I cannot believe that she got lost again.” Sirius groaned and leaned back in his seat. “I am so going to take the mickey out of her the next time I see her.”

Remus absentmindedly scratched behind Bisou’s ears. “That might be sooner than you think. We have to give Bisou back to her, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Hey, James, you think your parents will let us Floo to the McGuire’s place?” Sirius asked.

James shrugged, and then nodded. “Yeah, they know the McGuire’s Floo address. Will all your parents be okay with it?”

Peter said sadly, “I can’t. I’m off to summer school right after this. My parents weren’t happy with my exam results so they enrolled me in a few summer courses.”

“That stinks. I’m sorry, Pete.” Sirius patted Peter on the back. “You’ve got to be kidding me on the parents’ thing, James. My mother will be thrilled that I’m finally making ‘the proper connections.’”

“Great. And you, Remus?”

“I’ll ask my mom and dad, they’re picking me up at the station. Besides, they want to meet all of you.”

“Nice! So, we’ll just gate-crash the McGuire’s with the puppy excuse, stay the night there or at least stay for dinner, and then we’ll Floo home the next day.” James rubbed his hands together and smiled.

“I’m not so sure about that, James.” Remus said; a bit worried. “What if they don’t have enough room for all of us?”

“Don’t worry about that, mother,” Sirius said, using his favorite nickname for Remus when Remus was in distress, “Bridget’s a pure-blood. She’s got to have space. And if she doesn’t, who cares? It’s not as if we need a huge castle or something.”

“But we don’t even know where she lives,” Remus persisted.

“Like I said, my mom’s got that taken care of,” James said happily.

“All right. If you say so.” With that, Remus relaxed back into his seat. “Hope Bridget knows what’s coming.”

---

Seconds later, Bridget stepped out fireplace and out onto Ellesmere Range, the centuries old ranch settled in the Scottish mountainside. The craggy peaks of the mountainside were visible even through the foggy mist that enveloped the lower region of the ranch. She sighed, since the Floo network had landed her in the outside fireplace instead of in her father’s study; Gus McGuire was obviously not home. Whenever he was away, her father insisted on shutting off the only Floo-connected fireplace in the entire castle and activating the one that let the person off at the entrance to the ranch. She looked around at the familiar surroundings.

The entrance to the ranch was fairly simple considering the wealth of her family. Two wooden posts about twenty feet high were driven into the ground. Stretched across them was another post from which hung a thin, purposely rusted iron plate. An artist had cut out pieces from the iron sheet so that the sign read “Ellesmere Range” and under that, “McGuire.” Around the words, were several hollowed out dragons surrounded by mountains. For the McGuire family hadn’t accumulated their wealth through the stock market alone, in fact, they were barely connected with the stock market. What the McGuire family was famous for, was their dragons. The McGuire family boasted several centuries of successful dragon entrepreneurs and dragon tamers. They had raised, and in some cases, tamed dragons for wealthy pure-bloods, large apothecary chains, and any other reason you could think of. They had all types of dragons- Antipodean Opaleyes, Chinese Fireballs, the common Welsh Greens, Hebridean Blacks, Hungarian Horntails, Norwegian Ridgebacks, Peruvian Vipertooths, Romanian Longhorns, Swedish Short-Snouts, Ukrainian Ironbellies and some hybrid breeds which only the McGuires and their dragon keepers knew.

The ranch was ridiculously large; it ran thirty miles wide and forty miles long. The land had been accumulated over the years and the family still acquired more and more land each year. The cold, mountainous terrain was the perfect habitat for the dragons in general and for the few that mostly lived in valleys, there was a small valley nestled in the mountains. It was the ideal place to keep several dragons; charms almost as old as the land itself ensured that no dragon could get out or attack any innocent passerby on their way to the castle.

The McGuire family poured all their energy and love into Ellesmere Range, and it showed in the wild, but somewhat tamed beauty of the landscape. Whatever wasn’t situated in the mountains was meticulously taken care of. No unsightly weed was allowed to take root on the road and no animal dropping was left un-vanished by the grounds’ caretaker, Ainsley. If a Muggle had any reason to drive past the ranch, which was sixty miles from the nearest town, they would have thought it was a Scottish version of an American “dude ranch” for vacationers.

It was not a dude ranch of course, but her home. A place of refuge where she could chat with her friends, tease and annoy her sisters, go horseback riding, or race her brother in the mountains. It was a place where she could go on long walks with her father’s dogs and-

“Oh my Godric, I’ve forgotten Bisou!”

---

Author’s Note: Had to leave it off there, for various reasons! Sorry about the long wait- I lost my flash drive!!! *shocked* But, it’s all good, I found it. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review. Even if it’s just one line reviews mean so much to me!

“See you next year!” Peter waved sadly at his friends while his parents ushered him through the barrier to the Muggle world.



“Bye, Peter! Now, let’s find Remus’ parents first,” James insisted. “Then we’ll find mine; they can tell the Blacks where you went, Sirius.”



“Mum! Dad!” Remus was already waving furiously at a couple standing not far off. Mrs. Lupin had deep blue eyes and sandy blonde hair that came to her shoulders, while Mr. Lupin was a tall, thin, aging fellow who looked like an older version of his son. His hair was also brown, but streaked with gray. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin nearly ran over to Remus and engulfed him in a hug.



“Darling! Oh, we’ve missed you so much! I can’t wait to meet your friends; where are they?” Mrs. Lupin was positively beaming as she looked around.



“Right here, Mrs. Lupin.” James stepped up. “I’m James Potter, and this is Sirius Black.” He shook Mr. Lupin’s hand as well. “We’re missing Bridget McGuire and Peter Pettigrew, but you’ll probably meet them soon,” he added.



“It’s nice to meet you boys. It’s nice to know that Remus has friends that he can trust.” He gave the boys a piercing stare.



“We wouldn’t tell anyone about Remus’ furry little problem for the world, Mr. Lupin.” Sirius sounded a bit offended. “What kind of friends would we be if we did that?”



“Good. I’m just checking. You can never be too careful…” Mr. Lupin trailed off and smiled at the boys.



“Mum,” Remus started, obviously eager to change the subject. “James, Sirius and I were going to use the Floo Network to go Bridget’s house and return her pet.” He motioned to the basket Sirius was holding. “We don’t know where she went; she didn’t get on the train and the only thing that we remembered to grab was Bisou - that’s the dog. Can I go? Please?”



“Bridget? Is that the girl you wrote to me about? The one who’s been camping outside the tree once a month since they found out?” Mrs. Lupin raised an eyebrow.



“Yeah, that’s her,” Remus said quickly, his ears tinting pink.



“Well, I suppose if you really want to go… How are you going to get back?”



“Don’t worry, she’s from a Wizarding family and they’re hooked up to the Floo Network. We were just planning to go there, stay for dinner and maybe spend the night.” Remus nearly clapped a hand over his mouth. He hadn’t meant to add in that last part.



“Spend the night? Remus, I’m not sure about this.” Sirius noticed her sudden, small pang of anxiety and quickly moved to placate her.



“Don’t worry, Mrs. Lupin. It’s strictly platonic.” He crossed his fingers in hopes that he had used that stupid word correctly.



“Still…” She glanced at her husband, biting her lip.



“Here, why don’t you talk to my parents?” James asked. “They should be around here somewhere.” He glanced around the emptying platform.



“ ‘Around here somewhere?’ ” A woman had snuck up behind him. “Try behind you, sweetheart.” She leaned over and kissed both James and Sirius on the cheek before extending her hand to Mrs. Lupin. “Hi, I’m James’ mother, Allie Potter. Nice to meet you, Mrs....” She paused uncertainly, glancing at her son.



“Lupin.” Mrs. Lupin confirmed, “Melinda Lupin. This is my husband, Nate Lupin.”



“Again, nice to meet you, Melinda. You must be Remus’ mother.” Mrs. Potter smiled warmly as her arms wrapped around Sirius and James’ shoulders.



“Mum, we need to drop by Bridget’s house, you know, that girl that I told you about in the letter? The one that helped push Lucius Malfoy into the Vanishing Cabinet a few weeks ago?” James said.



“Don’t see why not. I’ve got their address in my purse somewhere.” She let go of James and Sirius and rummaged in her shoulder bag. “Here, Ellesmere Range, Scotland. I’ll deal with your mum, Sirius, don’t worry. Would Remus like to come? They’ll probably just spend the night there since Scotland’s a bit more isolated than our own home. In fact, how about we get the kids there and we can all come back to my house for some dinner? I’d love to get to know you better.” Mrs. Potter smiled warmly and hugged James and Sirius again.



“Mum!” James moaned, trying to push her away.



“I know! I’m sorry! I just can’t tell you enough how much I missed you boys!” Mrs. Potter said unabashedly.



“I love you, Mrs. Potter,” Sirius said while he smirked at James.



“Git,” James muttered under his breath.



“Thank you, Sirius. I love you too.” She kissed the top of his head.



“Hey! What about me? You know, the son by birth?” James whined.



“Now look who wants attention!” Mrs. Potter teased, ruffling his hair. “Of course I love you, James. Now, Melinda, how about that dinner? I’m starving.”



“That sounds like a fantastic idea, Allie,” Mr. Lupin said, nodding. “We’d love to come over for dinner.”



“Great! Then it’s settled!” Mrs. Potter rummaged in her purse once more and pulled out a small leather pouch and gave it to James.



“Here’s some Floo powder, and a few Galleons - just in case. I want you three to be extremely careful; you know where the Floo station is, Sirius. Don’t talk to strangers, and watch out for those - what are they called? Oh, yes - automobiles. Don’t get run over! Keep your wands on you, I’ll take your trunks - James Potter, what are you doing with that dog? Don’t hold it like that; it’s a Corgi, you’ll break its back. Oh Godric, what am I saying?” She laughed loudly and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I was getting all flustered there! Well, have fun, you three! I want you back before noon tomorrow, understand? Now, let me give you kiss, Merlin knows I’ve missed you.” She kissed James and Sirius on the cheek, ruffled their hair, and then turned to Mrs. Lupin.



“Now, I Apparated here…”

---

“FREEDOM!” Sirius yelled. He flung his arms out before falling down and pretending to kiss the ground. He, Remus, and James were standing just outside of King’s Cross Station, tying to fashion a leash out of the ball of string that Remus had found in his pocket.



“Sirius, please act as if you’re not two yeasr old!” Remus laughed, placing Bisou on the ground.



“I can’t wait to see what Bridget’s place looks like,” James admitted, urging the rest towards the Floo station.

---

Bridget was absolutely petrified.



“I can’t believe I forgot my own dog,” she said slowly. She sat down on the stone hearth and was ready to have a full-on panic attack when-



“Hey, McGuire. Long time, no see.” James, Sirius and Remus stepped out of the fireplace.



“Oh my Godric, James! You have Bisou!” She scooped up Bisou and covered the dog’s head with kisses.



“What’s for dinner? I’m hungry.” Sirius smirked as Bridget engulfed him in a hug.



“You’ll have to work for it,” she leered back. “C’mon. We’ve got a long walk ahead of us.”



Sirius’ mouth fell open. “You mean we have to walk to get to your house? Isn’t this Ellesmere Range?”



“Yes, it’s a ranch. Meaning, our yard is a bit larger than normal. Let’s go.” She jerked her head towards the castle and picked up the handle of her suitcase before setting it back down. “I’m just going to take my wand and have the house-elf come back for the rest of it later,” she said.



An hour later, they were walking through the entry way of Ellesmere Castle.



“My sisters are around here somewhere. Adele! Ninette! Chardonnay!” Bridget called.



Remus snorted uncharacteristically. “Your mum named your sister after a drink?”



“Not my mum - Wife Number Two. She was French, blonde, and crazy, and so, her daughters are also French, blonde, and crazy, but not as much as she was. Adele! Ninette! Chardonnay! I KNOW YOU’RE HERE!”



“BRIDGET!” A female voice squealed. They all whirled around to see a young woman click-clacking down the hall in high heels. She had blonde hair and a smooth, pale complexion. Sirius’ mouth fell open.



“Wife Number Two was also part Veela,” Bridget informed then, pushing Sirius’ jaw back in. “Hi, Ninette!”



“Bridget!” She swooped down on Bridget and pecked her on both cheeks. “Adele and Chardon are getting ready for the party tonight. Lucky for me that I found you though! Papa and that woman are out of town so we decided to have a little fun.” She smiled wickedly and tossed he hair over her shoulder. “We invited your cousin Maria because we didn’t want you to be all by yourself, but it looks like you brought your little friends with you!”



The stars in James’ eyes faded as he scowled. He stuck out his hand, and spoke with an icy edge, “I’m James Potter. This is Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. And we’re not little,” he added.



“My mistake.” She smiled and said to Bridget, “You’re welcome to come to the party, but no alcohol and don’t talk to anyone, okay?” She turned and walked out, her heels click-clacking on the stone floors as she hurried out.



Bridget stuck her tongue out at her sister’s retreating back. “Want to see my room? We can get dressed for the party.”



“As fun as dressing in drag seems, I’ll have to pass on that opportunity,” Remus said.



“Oh, you actually thought we were going to go in normal clothes?” Bridget grinned and clapped sharply once. A house-elf appeared immediately. “Millie, can you please pick up our trunks from the main drive? I’d also appreciate it if an elf could also assist us in picking outfits for my step-sister’s party tonight.”



“Certainly, miss.” Millie the house-elf disappeared and another elf scurried in from out of nowhere to take its place.



“If you would please follow me, sirs and madam. I will escort you to Miss McGuire’s quarters.” The house-elf announced as he or she bowed deeply. Sirius was impressed with the house-elf’s grammar.



“How’d you get it to talk like that?” he murmured in an undertone to Bridget as they followed the house elf up and through the winding hallways of Ellesmere Castle.



She elbowed him hard in the ribs before whispering back, “They have feelings too, you know.” She rolled her eyes and hurried down the corridor.



Ellesmere Castle was very much like Hogwarts. There were a few towers, a main hall, a basement kitchen where the house elves lived and worked, and a lot of twisting, winding passageways. As they walked, the house-elf entertained them by giving them a brief description of the centuries-old fortress. Scottish Wizarding nobility - near the time of Wallace Wallace’s rebellion - built it, but unlike the other castles at the time, it was built for comfort and luxury. It was designed for the nobleman’s pregnant wife, but it was shortly abandoned after the area was over run with dragons. A century later, a wandering sheepherder found it and took up residence in its great halls. The McGuire family line was founded, but they met with little prosperity and much distress. The dragons drove away the few villagers the McGuires had coaxed there, and also devoured most of their livestock.



Their luck turned with the arrival of a poor, but brilliant and handsome wizard who sought the hand of Caitrìona- the daughter of Eideard McGuire. Eideard opposed the match, but he could not see his daughter unhappy, so he set his daughter’s suitor a task. The suitor, whose name was Ian, had to find a way to tame or dispose of the twenty dragons that were destroying the livestock. He set to work. Being extremely bright, he quickly invented a potion to subdue the dragons. Without alerting anyone to what he was up to, one night he snuck up to the lair of the fierce dragoness who was sleeping peacefully. Ian administered the potion without any difficulty, but the dragoness’ mates arrived and attacked and killed Ian.



Caitrìona mourned the death of Ian, but wanted revenge against the dragons who killed her lover. She wanted to take away their freedom and make them obedient, the way she would be made obedient when she would grow up an old maid. From Ian’s notes, she was able to brew huge batches of the potion that kept the dragons subdued and even improved the potion so that it was able to affect multiple dragons instead of just one. All she had to do was light the potion on fire and a thick, heavy smoke would envelope the dragons and make them obedient. A dragon tamer could only control one dragon at a time, but the smoke would immobilize the others while he would slip a golden bridle around the dragon of his choice or administered medicine. Caitrìona died later that year from grief, but the McGuires and their dragon tamers still used the same methods to tame the dragons on Ellesmere Range.



With their newfound wealth, the McGuires were able to make the castle and grounds luxurious. They made away with the drafty, cold halls and modernized the castle. They built stables for huge winged horses, they hired more dragon tamers to help them keep the now over-flowing dragon population in check and built more cottages on the grounds. The castle was the epitome of a more masculine type of architectural beauty, as James, Sirius and Remus saw on their way up to Bridget’s room. They finally reached Bridget’s room that was in one of the towers near the lake. The house-elf pushed open the two heavy oak doors and what they saw made their jaws drop in disbelief.



“Welcome to Casa McGuire,” Bridget joked. It was a small, hexagonally shaped room with tan walls and sandstone fireplace. The dark hard wood floor matched the open-air staircase that twisted almost once around the room before disappearing into a higher level. There were comfortable looking armchairs and a matching couch settled around the fireplace, and there was a large window on every wall except for the one that the fireplace took up. Plants of all kinds were scattered around the room artfully as if the room was more of a showcase than an actual room. There was even a stack of books and magazines on the coffee table next to the sofa and an elf tray were the elves could send up snacks to the room.



“Nice place,” Sirius commented. It all looked unreal, unlived in.



“Thanks. It’s not normally this clean, just so that you know,” she told them. “Let’s go upstairs.”



They walked up the stairs, gawking at the view of the lake and mountains as they went. The staircase was open to the room and ran along the walls, giving them an overhead view of the sitting room. But if they had thought that the sitting room was impressive, her actual bedroom was much more.



The room was the exact shape and size as the one below it, but this time with light pink colored walls, and the windows had sheer, white drapes. A large, queen-sized four-poster bed stood in the middle of the room with white, sheer drapes enveloping it like a canopy. The coverlet was white with pale pink roses and the sheets peeking out from underneath were of a creamy satin. The bed was the most imposing thing in the entire room, with its simple briar vine carvings and dark wood. On either side of it were two matching bed side tables equipped with a Victorian lampshade and alarm clock.



“The bed’s been here ever since the castle was built. They put lots of preservation charms and stuff on it ‘cause it was for the pregnant noblewoman all those years ago,” Bridget explained. The furniture around it was undoubtedly newer, but still old. It looked as if the carver who had made the other pieces had tried to match the design of briar leaves that ran up the posts of the bed, but the design had gone far beyond his own skill. There was a desk in the room along with an old, Asian-looking trunk. Asian art also graced the walls: cherry blossom prints and dragons were placed around the room. The room had also had that unlived-in quality as the room downstairs had, as though the child that had grown up in the room hadn’t played dolls or ever sought solitude there. But one look out the window and the casual observer would see the child’s real room - all of Ellesmere Range.



“The bathroom and the closet are upstairs,” Bridget explained. “There wasn’t any plumbing back when the castle was built so they added an extra room in the attic roof. So, now that I’ve shown you the place, let’s go find some costumes!” Bridget clapped and rubbed her hands together. “This is going to be fun.”



AN: A Floo station is something of my own design. Like a Muggle tube station, it’s public transportation by fireplace for the wizarding population. It’s situtated alongside the Muggle underground in London, so in order to Floo from place to place in London, all you would have to know is the Muggle station name such as “Piccadilly Circus” South Kensington Station” etc. etc. You can also use it to Floo to private residences outside London.



A humongous hug to my fantabulous BETAS, Colores, who is so fantastically fantastic that she’s got me using these flamboyantly happy appellations! AND Abby, abbs866, who read this first. *feels like JK Rowling* LOL