The Next Morning - Arabella's POV

I wake up at six thirty in the morning and I shower and change into my robes.

I blow dry my hair and I brush it out again before pulling most of it up, leaving my bangs out to frame my face.

I go to walk out of the bathroom but I run into the wall.

"Arabella, are you ok?" I hear Marlene asks worried.

"Yeah." I murmur as I walk out of the bathroom.

"Woah, you look amazing without your glasses." Lily says to me.

"Can you see?" Marlene asks me.

"No." I say quietly.

"Here." Lily says handing me something that feels like like glasses and I put them on. "How about now?" Lily asks me and I nod.

"I can't see without these, I mean, I can, but I'll run into everything." I murmur and Lily nods.

I head down stairs to see James sleeping on the couch. I walk over and prod him gently, making him stir.

"James, get up, breakfast is in 10 minutes." I say quietly and he groans.

"Alright." James mumbles and gets up half asleep, he stumbles upstairs and after fifteen minutes, James comes down with Sirius who is complaining about having to get up to early.

"Aren't girls supposed to take forever in the bathroom?" Sirius asks me and I look up towards my dorm room and nod.

"My roommates." I say and James nods.

The three of us head down to breakfast, only seeing half of the Gryffindors, and they're falling asleep in their food.

"Why are you wide awake?" Sirius complains to us.

"I always get up at six thirty and its around seven something." I say to him and he nods with a sigh.

"And I get up early, usually. Mum doesn't like me over sleeping." James says to him and he groans as we sit down.

We eat breakfast and then head to class.

"You three are late because?" Professor McGonnagal asks us.

"We got lost." I murmur and she sighs.

"Well you didn't have a guide so I can't blame you." Professor says to us and we nod. "Take your seats." She orders us and we nod.

I sit down next to a first year, Gryffindor boy with dusty brown to light brown hair, and a scar on his face, he's rather tall for his age too.

I take notes during class and I find this actually pretty fun.

I notice the boy next to me glancing at my notes occasionally and I get rather curious of him since his hair is just as unruly or more unruly than James, is he from a rich family like us? How did he get those scars? Why are his hands twitching?

After class I follow James and Sirius in the hall, in complete thought.

"Hey, hey, Bella, Bella."

I look up surprised and James sighs.

"You were so deep in thought." James says to me and I nod.

"The boy I was sitting next to in class, his hands were twitching." I say to him and both boys look at me confused. "Not to mention, he had a scar on his face, it looks like it wasn't treated well after he got it because its discolored." I say and Sirius' eyes widen.

"Was his scar cool?" Sirius asks me and James just looks at him like, 'Bloody Hell is wrong with you?'

I look taken aback. "Scars, are cool?" I ask confused.

"Come on, just tell me." Sirius says to me and I shrug.

"I mean I guess? But I wouldn't know much about cool things." I say to him with a nervous smile.

"James, we need to find that boy and make friends with him." Sirius says as he puts his hands on James' shoulders.

James sighs. "If we can find him." James says to him and Sirius cheers.

"It won't be hard, he's just around that corner next to us, he's spying." I say to James and he looks over shocked.

"I didn't see him, how did you see him?" James asks me confused.

"Because I'm facing his direction." I say to James who laughs nervously.

The boy disappears as Sirius and James go to look for him.

"I, guess I'm on my own then?" I ask nervously and confused.

"Nope." Marlene and Lily say as they walk up next to me.

I look at them startled. "Where did you two come from?" I ask them confused.

"We were also observing you three, to make sure the boys don't pick on you." Marlene says bluntly.

"They wouldn't d-"

"Now come on, let's go to class before they get back." Lily interrupts me as she locks arms with me.

"I-I," I stutter confused as we start walking.

We get to potions class and I don't know how to talk to them since they're very, outgoing.

"So, Arabella, why do you think you got put in Gryffindor and not Slytherin?" Marlene asks me.

"Because she can't handle the pressure of being one of the best." Lucius says to her with a smirk as he walks past. "That, and she's too weak, emotionally and physically, she wouldn't last with us."

"Now take that back Lucius, with a little care and nuturing, she'd be a very beautiful flower, like Lily." Marlene says to him with a frown.

"And where will she get that may I ask?" Lucius asks her smirking.

"Gryffindor, obviously." Marlene says to him with a smile and I just look between them nervously, failing to notice a kid sit down at our table.

"I-I,"

"See, she stutters, she doesn't know how to speak confidently like Slytherins, probably afraid of the Howler she'll get from her parents, if she gets one at all, they'll most likely abandon her now that she's in Gryffindor, and a female Genesis." Lucius says to her with a smirk.

I gulp nervously as Marlene fights back. "L-Leave me alone Malfoy!" I say louder than expected and he looks at me shocked, I cover my mouth, scared, but Lily gives me an encouraging look, so I slowly lower my hands and I gulp shyly. "I-I, don't care what my parents will send, if they send anything, you said they'd disown me, and, and, that's fine, I don't need emotionally abusive parents, and I don't need you in my life either, you, you, you bloody wanker!" I say to him and the girls cheer for me while Lucius backs up shocked. "Don't pick on me again, or, or I'll really ask James to make you sod off you daft cow." I say to him and he growls but goes to sit at another table. I look at him in shock as Marlene hugs me.

"That was awesome!" Marlene cheers and Lily cheers with her and I finally notice the boy sitting at our table.

"Oh, this is Severus Snape." Lily introduces us.

"Arabella." I say and Snape nods.

"Its a pleasure to meet a Genesis." Snape says to me and I smile nervously.

"Bella, you were bloody brilliant!" Sirius says to me shocked.

"I knew she had it in her." James says with a proud smirk.

"No you didn't." Sirius calls him out and he laughs nervously.

"I don't want to do that again, it was scary." I whisper nervously.

Sirius and James sit next to us at our fairly large table.

"I didn't know you could insult someone like that, mate." Sirius says to me with a grin.

"That was a big step for her confidence." Lily says proudly.

"Can I take baby steps now?" I ask nervously.

"I don't see why not." Lily says to me.

Class starts and Professor Slughorn singles out James for questions and he answers them perfectly.

I mean, I can understand why, his dad makes a fortune of his potions for smoother hair.

At Lunch

I see a letter get dropped in front of Sirius and he looks worried and then it starts yelling at him and I recognize the woman as his mother, I heard her briefly at the wand shop.

I grab the Howler before it goes too far and I tear it up which shocks Sirius.

"Bad." I say pointing to the torn up letter on the floor.

"That's all she has to say?" The boy from Transfiguration class, asks confused.

"Bad, parents." I say and Sirius hugs me.

"Thank you, mate." He mumbles and I smile at James, who smirks.

I pat Sirius's head and he sits back.

"Now, I'm gonna stomp on the letter for good measure." James says standing up and stomps on it a few times, which makes Sirius laugh and I smile.

A week passes and I only get a letter that says,

Arabella, we disown you, don't come back and don't use our last name, you don't deserve it.

I show James and Sirius the letter.

"And that settles it, I'm sending a letter to Mum and Dad and ask if you can live with us." James says to me with a nod. "And you can't argue Bella, once Mom hears from her circle of friends that the Genesis family kicked out their daughter, she'll take you in anyways, she's always wanted a daughter as well." James says to me and I smile nervously.

"I-I, alright." I say giving up and he grins.

"I know why such a meek, quiet girl was put in Gryffindor now." A Ravenclaw says walking towards us.

"And that would be?" Marlene asks her.

"The sorting hat listens to requests, but I never saw her mouth move, the sorting hat must have thought she wouldn't last in Slytherin, they'd break her too easy, the obvious choice would have been Hufflepuff, but seeing her in Potions class earlier this week, means she has a hidden fire inside her that can only happen in Gryffindor, and the sorting hat chose Gryffindor for her for that reason alone." The Ravenclaw says to us and I smile nervously.

"That's, actually what the sorting hat was muttering to me." I say nervously.

"Really?" Marlene asks shocked and I nod.

"I didn't understand what it meant though." I mumble, nervously and James grins.

"Well, even if she was put in another house, I'd still be her friend." James proclaims and Sirius nods in agreement.

I smile while the Ravenclaw points to her tongue disgusted.

"And another reason, somewhere inside her the Sorting Hat saw that she wanted to be with her friends instead of with people she doesn't know." The Ravenclaw says as she leaves.

"She'd be too nervous around Hufflepuffs and especially around the Ravenclaws." Lily says as she sits down across from me.

"I'm already a mess around them." I say to her nervously and Sirius nods.

"She dropped her books earlier when a Hufflepuff tried to talk to her." Sirius says to her and I smile nervously.

"She also completely forgot how to talk when a Ravenclaw approached her yesterday, she was spluttering." Marlene says to Lily and I pull my bangs over my face in embarrassment.

"Seriously?" James asks me and I nod nervously.

"Two days ago, both a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff confronted me after class and asked a million questions of I don't know what since I was about to faint." I say nervously.

"Our poor shy child." Marlene says hugging my side.

This weekend

I sit in the great hall with Sirius, playing a game of magic chess when James joins us and watches us.

"Guys, we need a fourth person for our group." James says to us.

"But who mate?" Sirius asks him.

"Don't know yet." James says to him and I lose the game.

"Ha! I finally win!" Sirius cheers, happily.

"Because I let you, mate." I say to him with a smile.

"I'm still taking this win." Sirius says to me.

We hear cursing and look over to see the boy from Transfiguration class who fell.

"Perfect, Bella, go talk to him." James says to me.

I look at him shocked. "W-what? Why me?" I ask him, terrified.

"Your the kindest and he'll listen to you because you two help each other out in classes." Sirius says to me and I smile nervously.

"A-Alright." I say nervously and I get up and walk over to the boy who is gathering the stuff he dropped.

I help him pick up his stuff and he looks at me shocked.

"I thought you might need some help." I say to him and he looks away embarrassed. I hold my hand out to him and he takes it, I help him up and hand him, his books back. "I was wondering what your name was, I'm Arabella, who are you?" I ask him with a smile.

"Remus Lupin." He says to me, trying to intimidate me by scowling and I look up at him confused.

"What's that scowl for? Are you upset that it was a girl who helped you and not a guy?" I ask him nervously.

He looks flustered for a moment. "I-Its not like that! I promise." Remus says frantically.

"Well, Remus, do you want to come and hangout with me and my friends? You seem like a nice guy, and my friend over there thinks your scars look really cool." I say to him as I motion to Sirius and James slightly.

Remus looks over shocked and then he looks at me. "Alright." He says to me with a small nervous nod.

"Brilliant." I say to him with a smile and I take him to our spot at the table.

"Good job, Mate." Sirius says to me and he holds his hand out to Remus. "I'm Sirius Black." He introduces himself.

"And I'm James Potter." James says to him as he holds out his hand.

"Remus Lupin." Remus introduces himself, nervously, as he shakes their hands.

"These two will be great friends." Sirius says to James.

"Arabella, can I ask you a question?" A Hufflepuff asks me and I look at her nervous and flustered.

"Y-Yes?" I ask nervously.

"Can you help me with Defense Against the Dark Arts class?" She asks me.

"I-I," I stutter nervously.

"So she can only deal with confrontation once a day and think." Sirius says to James who nods.

"Please? You've got the best grades." She asks me.

"I-I," I continue to stutter, getting into a state of panic that feels like I'm suffocating."James help!" I squeak and he laughs as I hide behind him.

"Maybe tomorrow Hufflepuff, she's, only got so much confidence." James says to her and she nods and leaves.

I sigh in relief, slowly calming down. "Thanks." I say to him, meekly, and he grins.

I sit down and talk with Remus while Sirius and James plot.

"Thanks for your help during classes." Remus says to me and I nod with a smile.

"Well you sit right next to me, so I can't really hide any answers or notes from you." I say to him and he nods.

"Well still." Remus says to me and I nod. "What would your favorite class be?" Remus asks me and I tap my chin thoughtfully for a moment.

"I'd have to say Transfiguration, its brilliant." I say to him and Remus nods surprised.

"Alright, Remus, your a very cool guy, join our group." James says to him with a grin as he holds out his hand.

"This isn't a frat group, mate, don't make it sound like it." I say to him with a sigh of amusement.

"I'll join." Remus says after a moment of hesitation.

"BRILLIANT!" James and Sirius cheer.

"Are they always like this?" Remus asks me.

"When they get what they want, usually, you'll get used to it." I say to him and Remus nods unsure. "Thanks for joining our small group of friends." I say to him and Remus nods.
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