Little Red |Sirius Black|

The Marauders better watch out- Arianna

"Arianna, you'd best hurry up we have to leave in 2 minutes or we'll miss the train!" Frank called out.

"Coming!" I shouted back as I shoved the book I was reading into my backpack. I hurried around my room making sure I hadn't left anything behind.

"Hey, we need to leave like, now." said Mandy as she peered through the door.

"Merlin's beard Ari, were you reading again?" she said and I turned towards her to see her looking at the book that was still halfway out of my backpack.

"Psh no!" I said, without much conviction. Mandy raised an eyebrow at me.

"Okay maybe." I said sheepishly. She sighed and put the book inside the bag properly.

"I swear, the Reaper could be at your door and you'd make him wait till you finished your book." she muttered, as I began dragging my suitcase towards the door. I grinned in response.

"I've got it honey." Frank's dad William said to me as he levitated my suitcase outside. I smiled as I thanked him.

It was almost comical how wrong I had been about Frank's family, about my family I corrected myself, smiling. It was refreshing to find myself thinking about the word family with a positive connotation, after years of loathing the word.

When I had entered the house for the first time, I was beyond apprehensive but slowly I began noticing how differently they behaved. They were respectful towards everyone, their speech unflinchingly kind.

Our family consisted of Frank, his parents and our grandfather. Grandpa Algie, as I liked to call him, was a jolly old man, who for the most part, was relieved to find his granddaughter finally home.

"I was sure I'd never see you in this lifetime, darling, and for once I am absolutely delighted to be wrong." he had said to me when I first saw him. The library where he spent most of his time had soon become my favorite place in the house. He'd tell me everything about our family, and childhood stories about Uncle Bill and my mom. Apparently our family was a part of the 'Sacred Twenty Eight'. It was supposed to make us nobility of the wizarding world or something. After years of being a brown girl in a freshly desegregated America, the idea of being looked up to felt a little surreal to me.

"Vera looks pissed." Mandy's voice interrupted my recollection as we walked out the door to where Vera was standing.

"Took you long enough!" Vera huffed, as she got into the cab that would take us to King's Cross Station. Mandy and I shared an amused look before sliding in next to her.

"So are you guys ready to mess with the Marauders' heads?" I asked, deciding to change the topic. My plan seemed to work as Vera and Mandy forgot all about their previous annoyance and nodded excitedly.

Pranking was our version of soulful girlfriend bonding. Instead of doing regular bonding stuff that most people do, we preferred messing with other people and annoying them. We were some of God's special little people, as our neighbor Mrs. Cooper used to say.

 And the Marauders were our next targets.

During the vacations, Frank had decided to introduce us to some Hogwarts students before we started there. We were first introduced to Molly Prewett, the current head girl of the school, and her younger brothers Fabian and Gideon, who were in our year. The twins look extraordinarily similar, and despite knowing them for a whole summer, the girls and I could never tell them apart.

A week later, we were visited by Lily Evans, Remus Lupin and Alice Fortescue. Lily and Remus were both Gryffindor prefects and extremely nice.

I had a nagging suspicion that Frank had a little crush on Alice and that she reciprocated his feelings, although in a really subtle manner. Lily seemed to notice as well because as soon as Frank and Alice were out of sight (Alice had wanted to see the terrace and Frank had happily obliged), she started talking about how we need to get the two of them together.