When with Rome {Sirius Black}

33.1 Diagon Alley

Barbara awoke to Lily yelling at someone in her room. It didn't take the tired Royal to figure out who she was yelling at.

"What the bloody hell are you doing in here, Potter!?"

"Well, this is my sister's room, you know-"

"That does not give you the right to come in here!"

"Evans, relax!" Oh, so Sirius is in here, too. Great, I have to deal with a ginger and two idiots rather than one.

"James, what are you doing?" Barbara asked him groggily. Normally, Barbara didn't care; but she only asked for the sake of her best friend. She knew that Lily would rip James in pieces in a heartbeat, especially in the morning.

"I was going to come and wake you up because we are going to Diagon Alley today." He smiled sheepishly and walked towards his sister's bed. Without warning, James picked up the somewhat amused Barbara, who was too tired to fight back. Instead, she just accepted it.

"Prongs since you're carrying your sister can I carry Evans?" James stopped, and turned to face Sirius. Lily was too annoyed to say anything, and Barbara looked at her as if to say cool it hot head.

The boys carried the girls down the stairs, Lily the only one protesting as she was in James's arms. Euphemia exchanged a knowing smile with someone behind Barbara, because the young woman saw the look being given. "Mom, this isn't what it looks like. Lily and I were kidnapped and it's too early for us to do something about it."

"Mhm, that's how it works. Anyways, dears, eat breakfast and then get dressed for Diagon Alley, you are going to apparate there with Barbara."

James and Barbara exchanged a look. Their parents were getting old, which made apparating everywhere harder. Instead, they used floo powder when absolutely necessary; but it still rattled their bones. The twins were nervous whenever their parents wanted to go out. So Barbara became the one to apparate her parents and brother to wherever they needed to go. James and Barbara were extremely familiar now with the setup of Diagon Alley because they always ran the errands for their older parents during the summer. Otherwise, Angel usually helped them out; but she was staying in Hogsmede during the summer.

Once all of the Hogwarts students were in Diagon Alley, the group decided to head to Gringotts for money and then Flourish and Blott's for their school books. James forced Lily to promise that they would go to the Quidditch store right after they finished their school shopping. Barbara could tell that her best friend regretted making that promise; and Sirius could too, which was why he laughed.

"Evans, such a tease!" Sirius laughed heartily, ignoring Lily's death stare.

"Shut it, Black."

"Yeah, Black," James mocked, "she's teasing me, not you!"

"I wasn't aware you could rattle them both, Lils," Barbara whispered with a smirk on her face. She knew what was coming right after she said that; and the young witch closed her eyes when Lily whacked the back of her head.

"I hate you, Lily."

"Well, good thing the feeling's mutual."

"Speaking of hate, I can't go to te Quidditch store to save you, Lily." Barbara looked at the ground, trying to avoid one of Lily's best death glares yet.

"And why not?"

"Yeah," Sirius chimed in, "why not?"

"After yesterday's events, Dumbledore told me that he was given instructions to send me to Ollivander's without company."

"You sure you don't want any?" James asked innocently. Barbara knew there was an undertone of worry, however subtle he tried to make it.

Tensions were on the rise in the Wizarding World. The Dark Lord's followers were everywhere, watching and waiting to pounce and harass individuals away from the crowds. No she was safe– even kids in the same House would harass Muggle-borns, half-breeds, and blood traitors. Barbara knew James only wanted to protect her; but she also knew that she could make it a few meters to Ollivanders without the assistance of her brother, who needed to look after her Muggle-born friend and blood traitor crush.

The Goblins in Gringotts, though intimidating, greatly respected any old Wizarding family, and the Potters were no exception. A young, new Goblin by the name of Griphook was now permanently in charge of the Potters' vault; because a Goblin was assigned to a vault for life when it came to older families.

"Hi, Griphook! After we stop at our vault can we stop at Black's vault? He has his key."

"Of course, Miss Potter. Follow me." He jumped off his stool, and walked over to one of the carts. While everybody else was climbing in the cart, muttering obscenities because they knew how dizzy they would be, Barbara watched them with a smirk on her face.

The others gasped as Barbara's wings were suddenly visible. They towered behind her— Barbara being a little over five feet tall and her wings being a little over eight feet. Her black wings with their golden crowns stretched out behind her; and Griphook had to duck when the young Royal took off above the cart.

"Ready whenever you are, Griphook!" Barbara called above her friends. She watched them with amusement as they registered that she would be flying to the vault.

As soon as the cart left, Barbara flew through the multiple tunnels, making sure to do some loops, spins, and twirls. She loved showing off how much she's improved, and also wanted to make her friends and brother jealous that she didn't have to take that crazy ride to the vault.

When they arrived at the vault, James, Lily, and Sirius launched themselves out of the cart and tried not to throw up. Meanwhile, Barbara noticed another Goblin about to enter the vault.

"Gredry, what brings you here?" Griphook asked the other Goblin.

"I must give the vault a little more money because of Miss Potter's paychecks. I understand that the bank is giving you a paycheck for being the youngest Auror?" Gredry turned to Barbara. She nodded her head in confirmation.

"Oh, um, in that case... how many galleons exedra are there? We were stopping by to get some money for Diagon Alley." James asked politely.

"Well, I can tell you this will be enough for both you and your sister at Hogwarts and Hogsmede, including your books." He said matter-of-factly.

"That's perfect! Thank you both. Griphook, do you mind taking Sirius to his vault and then meeting the others here to pick them up?"

"Of course, Miss Potter." The Goblins bowed their heads. It was a bonus to Barbara that other creatures respected her for her Royal blood. She couldn't imagine how frightened she would be of the greedy creatures.

Once she was back at the entrance to the vaults after packing the coins, Barbara saw that her group of friends were finally coming back. She noted how Lily was gripping onto her brother for balance and not Sirius.

Sooner or later they're going to get married and have a kid and that kid is going to do wonders and maybe be an Auror or something, maybe a Quidditch player by day and crime-fighting Auror at night.