"Then Professor Sprout asked me, 'Did you forget your head as well?' and I said, 'No, but I'm pretty sure I forgot my ear or something,'" said Corey as he explained to James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and I what had happened when he'd forgotten to bring his textbook to Herbology class.

The boys burst out laughing and I did as well, despite my attempts to conceal my amusement.

We were once again monopolizing the entire couch in the Gryffindor common room. Remus, Corey, James and I were squashed on the couch while Sirius and Peter sat on top of it.

"You are becoming quite cheeky, you know that?" I said disapprovingly to my brother, chuckling nonetheless.

He grinned right back. Corey really enjoyed the attention he got from the older boys, who thought he was funny and always listened to the stories he had. He was beginning to get on quite well with my friends.

James ruffled Corey's hair. "You're going to prank with us sometime," he told him.

"Woah, no, you are not bringing my intelligent, innocent brother with a very good reputation among teachers into your prank life," I said immediately, holding my hands up.

"Why not? We brought you into it," Sirius pointed out.

"Just because I helped you guys with a prank once—"

"Twice," Remus corrected.

"—twice, doesn't mean I'm involved in your life full of pranks!"

"What did you help with?" Corey asked me. "I would've thought you'd ruin a prank if you got involved with it!"

"Hey! That's not..." I trailed off, deciding I wasn't offended by what Corey had said. "OK, actually, that's pretty plausible... but it didn't happen. I actually helped these idiots a lot and made their pranks ten times better. I taught them how to do non-verbal spells to Transfigure the food in the Great Hall into Flobberworms last year."

"Can you teach me how to do non-verbal spells?" Corey asked.

"Maybe."

"So what other prank did you help with?" he said to me inquisitively.

"Remember when everyone turned into McGonagall?" Peter asked. "She helped us with that prank. And I'd have to say that it was, by far, our best prank yet."

"Yeah, and she didn't even get in trouble for either of these pranks," Sirius complained, pointing at me with his thumb. "Has never gotten a detention in her life... How is that even possible?"

"I've never had a detention either," said Corey.

"Even I've gotten detention, and I'm supposedly a prefect," said Remus.

"Supposedly? You are a prefect!" James yelled.

"Yes, but we can all agree that I'm not a very good one... I never get you guys in trouble for anything!"

"I don't know many people who have never gotten detentions in their entire lives," said Sirius, pretending to stroke his invisible beard. "It's a Reynolds family thing?" he suggested.

Corey and I looked at each other and snorted.

"Yeah, right," I said sarcastically. "Because Ainsley's never had detention before."

"Ooh, what'd she do to earn a detention?" James asked.

"You say it like it's a reward, something you have to earn," I said, rolling my eyes. "Well, for your information, Ainsley's reasons for getting detention aren't the same as your reasons. She doesn't care enough to prank people because she's too lazy. She doesn't talk back to teachers or show up late to class. The detentions she's gotten were for handing in homework assignments late... or not at all."

"Huh," said Peter. "She may look a lot like you, but she doesn't sound similar to you at all. I thought she was smart like you."

I hesitated. People always told me that they thought my sister would be just as studious as I was, but that wasn't true in the slightest. In fact, more likely than not, siblings were quite the opposite of each other. None of the Marauders had siblings except for Sirius, who, at least, understood how different they could be from one another.

"Siblings aren't necessarily alike," Sirius muttered under his breath.

I pretended I hadn't heard him.

"She's... kind of smart... I think," I said, glancing sideways at Corey. "Anyway, we didn't even know about these detentions that she got last year until this summer. She sometimes waits to tell Mum and Dad about the bad things that she's done until they've long passed, so that she can pass it off as a joke. It actually works surprisingly well. My little sister doesn't care about very much."

"She's also our dad's favourite, so he doesn't get mad at her the way he gets mad at us," Corey said.

"The way he got mad at me for wanting to be an Auror—that never would've happened with Ainsley," I added. "She even wants to go to Romania to study dragons and other creatures eventually, but he thinks nothing of it. Doesn't get mad at her for wanting to do something with her life."

"To be fair, he probably doesn't believe she'll ever go through with it," said Corey, frowning. "I'm not even sure if she will."

"Romania, you said?" Remus asked. "That's interesting. I haven't heard of many people who wanted to do that with their lives."

"That's awesome! Maybe I'll do that!" said Peter.

"Pete, you hate Care of Magical Creatures class. You failed it," Remus pointed out, shaking his head with a slight grin on his face.

"Oh. Right," Peter replied, blushing. Something caught his attention just then, and he turned even redder and fell over the side of the couch, onto the floor. A few Gryffindors whirled around to see him groaning on the floor.

I looked over to see Marlene walking in, looking at Peter weirdly.

"Peter, are you all righ—woah!" Sirius fell over the side of the couch as well, causing a few people to look away from Peter and at him instead.

"Sirius, why'd you do that? You didn't actually fall, that wasn't an accident," said Peter hurriedly, getting up from the floor and brushing himself off.

"Hush, Peter, I was just trying to draw the attention away from you," said Sirius to him quietly, just enough so that we could all hear. He ran his fingers through his own hair.

"Whew, thanks."

"What else are fellow Marauders here for than to make sure they look more embarrassing than you do in front of the girl you fancy?" Sirius said.

Corey later said he was going to head up to the boys' dormitory and I was just about to go to my own dormitory when Cal, Elliot and Kate cornered James to talk about Quidditch.

"James, when're you holding Quidditch trials?" Elliot, who had been the team's Keeper the previous year, asked.

"What? Guys, come on, you know you don't have to try out," said James. "No one graduated and I'm assuming that you all still want to be on the team, so there are no free spots left. Where's Pattie? She still wants to be on the team as well, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, of course she does, I talked to her about it," said Cal. "So we actually aren't having trials at all this year?"

"Guess not," said James indifferently. "Besides, we've got the exact same team as last year, when we won the Quidditch Cup. Everything worked so well last year that I don't want to ruin it all by changing anything about the team."

"Yay!" said Kate.

"Oh, by the way, the first practice is probably going to be this weekend, when trials would've been held. Since we've already got our team, I thought I'd get you guys practicing early this year. I'll let you all know," said James.

"Great. Thanks mate," said Cal as they all went their separate ways.

Sirius sat up fast. "Why didn't I know any of this, Jamesie?"

"Yeah, me too," I said.

"Because I just made it up now," said James smugly. "But a captain must be decisive and seem like he knows what he's doing... which he definitely does..."

"I don't think he does, actually," said Sirius. "I think he's a complete fraud."

James glared at him.

"And he sucks at Quidditch."

James's eyes became thin slits.

"And his hair is ugly."

"You did not just say that, Padfoot!" James yelled as Sirius bolted away to escape James's wrath. The bespectacled boy chased after his best friend with a roar that sounded quite like a mix between a boar and a lion.

***

"I'd simply like to know," said Professor Atkins, drumming her fingers impatiently against a desk, "how the five of you got to learn it so quickly."

We were in the middle of our second Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year, and the rest of the class was still practicing non-verbal spells (and struggling a great deal). Remus, Peter, Sirius, James and I, meanwhile, sat at our desks, completely bored. Occasionally, when I knew the teacher was watching, I'd use a non-verbal spell to make my textbook float, just so she knew that I had perfected them and no longer needed any practice.

"Professor, we've already told you, it's simply because we're wonderful, eager students who are determined to learn," James said politely.

"Mhm," said Atkins, obviously not believing a word. I was beginning to like her and her persistence. I could admit that she hadn't yet done anything that made me feel she was a bad teacher. She talked to James and Sirius on their level, but still was able to come up with quick retorts and not let them trick her, which I admired. "I don't understand what the big deal is... I would simply like to know who taught you. That can't possibly lead to any of you getting detention."

Sirius sighed. "Fine. I suppose we ought to give credit where credit is due." He glanced at me. "She taught us." As he pointed at me, my eyes widened and I gritted my teeth and shook my head at him.

Atkins's eyes followed Sirius's finger to look at me. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It's all right, Bianca, you didn't do anything wrong," said Sirius, shrugging. He turned back to our DADA professor. "She taught herself how to do non-verbal spells at the beginning of fifth year, and then she taught us as well."

"Is that so?" Atkins asked.

I nodded, looking down modestly.

"Oh, yeah, she sure did," James boasted, grinning. "She's been doing non-verbal magic for a long time. But that's not all she can do: she can also do wandless magic with basically any spell."

Atkins looked even more shocked. "Wandless magic? As in... you do not need a wand to perform your spells?"

"Well... yes," I spluttered.

I turned around, placed my wand on the desk behind me and grabbed my textbook, placing it directly in front of me. I pointed my finger at the book, thinking in my head, Wingardium Leviosa. The book levitated into the air, then settled back down.

Professor Atkins watched my every move in shock. "That is amazing! Did your previous Defence teacher know you could do all of this?"

"Oh, yes, she knew for sure," I said. "But she didn't like it. She hated when I used wandless magic in class, and she always told me not to do non-verbal whenever we had Duelling Club."

"Ah, that's right... I've heard from other teachers that the particular one you had last year was not exactly... well, er... competent..." said Atkins evasively.

"Professor McGonagall obviously didn't like her. That much was certain," said Remus.

Atkins chose to ignore this and turned back to me. "Well, though I haven't a clue why a teacher wouldn't find a student with these abilities absolutely extraordinary, I can assure you that I will not react the same as she did. The fact that one so young could have learned how to do wandless magic without having been taught by a teacher... that's definitely something!"

I smiled.

"That's not even the best part... she's even a year younger than all of us," Peter interjected.

As the Marauders continued to boast about me to the Defence professor, my face turned a deeper and deeper crimson. I was afraid that Atkins would think I was conceited and arrogant (even though I wasn't bragging because the boys were doing it all for me), but it seemed as though she had already gained a respect for me.

I knew at least that she would be a better teacher than Professor Blitherworth.