This is where the real fun begins...hehe

2 years later, 1949 (third year)

Euphemia Black sat on the grass outside of her home on the last day of August, right before her third year at Hogwarts, her long brown hair flowing out behind her in the breeze as she stared down at the streets below her.

Sunshine was lighting up the entire city and the breeze that swept about was rather warm, much to her pleasure. She smiled to herself as she shifted, so that she was sat crossed legged and she ran a hand through her hair, ruffling it so that it was swept over to one side.

The sight she saw next brought a smile to the face of the thirteen year old and she immediately stood up, for she had seen both a rather tall boy and a blonde girl a few metres away from where she was up on the hill and she immediately slid down the hill on her backside, using her hands to move her along the grass. She really was just a kid.

"Clover! Justin!" she called happily and the two kids in front of her span around and Euphemia was taken by surprise.

They had both changed considerably since they had all last played together (possibly just before Mia went to Hogwarts, they had swallowed her story about her going off to a boarding school in Scotland - after all, it was partly true).

Clover had grown from the small little girl into a young lady of eleven and she gave Euphemia a delighted smile before running to hug her whilst Justin waved at the girl a little hesitantly, looking exactly like your classic boy teenager.

Euphemia couldn't help but notice that the two seemed rather solemn that day and she was actually rather curious as to what had gotten them both into such a melancholy mood but she didn't know whether she had the right to ask.

However, Justin seemed to pick up on her curiosity and he showed her to a picnic table that was situated in the middle of the square. Mia felt rather nervous as she knew 12 Grimmauld Place was on this square and so her family would most likely see her talking to the muggles which could not be good at all.

"Is anything the matter?" she asked them, pulling up the hood of her jacket so that you could only see the back of her head as she slid onto the bench, opposite Justin and Clover, who looked like they needed to tell her something serious or to interrogate her which immediately made Mia nervous.

"I had the idea of asking you a question, actually. Because Justy and I have just found something out and we believe it might relate to you," Clover piped up and Euphemia couldn't look at her without still seeing the small 7 year old girl that she had met all those years ago when she herself was 9.

"What is it?" Mia asked them with a smile and she saw the brother and sister exchange a look that she couldn't quite interpret before they started talking to her.

"You know how you went to boarding school in Scotland a few years ago?" Justin asked her hesitantly, looking apprehensive. Euphemia nodded, wondering where this was going...

"What was it called?" Clover finished her brother's sentence for him as he seemed to have wavered.

Mia opened her mouth, ready to spew out some lie about it being some posh boarding school for girls called St Claire's but both of the faces in front of her were so serious that she felt obliged to tell the truth.

"It's called Hogwarts," she eventually said, carefully and vowing to herself that she would not reveal anymore information, only the name but the name alone seemed to be enough to Clover and Justin, for Justin buried his head in his hands and Clover's mouth fell open before she started jumping up and down in something that looked like excitement to Mia, though she couldn't figure out why.

"So it's not a practical joke then," Justin mumbled into his hands and Euphemia furrowed her eyebrows in utter confusion as Clover grinned from ear to ear.

"It was my birthday yesterday and I got a letter from a mysterious man who arrived on our doorstep," Clover started babbling, excited, and Euphemia felt her heart lift as she gaped at her so called muggle friend in amazement.

"He told me that I was witch and that there was a school for witches and wizards like me, a school called Hogwarts," Clover carried on excitedly, her face shining with happiness and at this point, Euphemia was infected by her contagious excitement and she also started smiling as well, delighted.

"I didn't believe it at first, I mean - how could my little sister be a witch? But then I remembered you, Mia, and how you disappeared off to school every year and how mysterious your house always seemed," Justin continued as Euphemia and Clover embraced, the eleven year old shaking with disbelief and anticipation.

"I thought I'd check that it was actually genuine, we thought it was a practical joke, see. But now it's true, the school does exist and Clove is a witch," the teenage boy sighed and it was obvious that he was struggling to get his head around it all.

What Euphemia didn't get was that Clover had muggle parents and muggle brothers - Justin and their other brother Joshua - and muggle borns were not allowed in Hogwarts due to the strict rules that they were just mistakes and the magic could not be risked or exposed to the muggle community.

Muggle born children were often left alone, unbeknownst of their powers and some were also oppressed and turned into obscuris

"But....you're a muggle born..." Mia muttered to herself, the teenage girl was utterly confused and befuddled and it didn't help that both Clover and Justin stared at Euphemia blankly.

Of course they didn't know what a muggle born was - she mentally face palmed.

"What's one of them?" Clover asked curiously, tilting her blonde head to one side innocently.

"A witch or wizard who have non magical parents - like yours," she explained to Justin and Clover.

"They're not allowed in Hogwarts yet, though there is hope for the future that they might be able to receive an education there soon."

Upon hearing what she said, Clover's face was immediately downcast and Mia felt extremely bad that she was the one that had caused that, her heart wrenching awfully.

She was about to open her mouth to apologise when Justin whispered something in Clover's ear and her eyes brightened.

"The thing is..." she said, leaning forward so that she was very near to Euphemia, her face almost touching hers.

"I'm adopted," she finished and shock ran through Mia as she gasped, her eyes widening.

It did make sense, actually, because both of Clover's parents and both of her brothers had brown hair whilst she was the only one with blonde hair and blue eyes.

She just couldn't believe that she hadn't worked it out before and she jumped up so that she could hug Clover tightly.

Due to Clover being adopted, this now meant that it was a possibility that she had wizard parents or at least one wizard parent and she wasn't a muggle or muggle born as Mia had originally thought.

That made her delighted because now the vivacious and lovely Clover could come to Hogwarts with her and she could show her the ropes and everything...look after her like a big sister.

Euphemia had never had the chance to be an older sister to a younger sibling at her school because of a tragic event that had occurred a year ago, when Marius Black, her adorable and loving brother, had not received his Hogwarts letter....

Euphemia ran down the stairs of the Black Manor on the morning of 30th November which happened to be her dear brother Marius' 11th birthday, which meant he would be getting his Hogwarts letter and could finally come to school with Mia.

She couldn't help but be excited, she had always been close to her brother and she couldn't wait to be a great sister to him at Hogwarts and look after him until it came to the point where he got sick of her and brushed her off.

Euphemia ran into the living room, which was just off the grandiose front porch, which was more like an Entrance Hall really.

Marius was sat in the middle of the room, grinning excitedly as he ripped open some of his presents whilst Cassiopeia and Arcturus cooed over him, big smiles on their faces because, as far as they were concerned, their heir was finally going to make the family proud.

Mia smiled at her brother and gave him her own present - which was a pair of necklaces, two hearts which were engraved with the words 'brother' and 'sister.'

The idea of the necklaces was that Marius wore the brother half of the heart, Mia wore the sister half of the heart and they could connect up nicely.

"Gee, thanks, Euphemia!" Marius exclaimed and he gave her a big hug before opening some more presents, absolutely excited out of his mind.

But there was one thing the entire family were waiting for and everyone kept looking for the owl that would surely soon fly in with the Hogwarts letter that they were all awaiting.

Unfortunately for Marius, no such letter arrived even though Cassiopeia, Arcturus and Euphemia were all on the lookout for the owl.

Marius soon became downcast as Arcturus stormed off to his office to draft a letter to Hogwarts, demanding to know why his son had not received his letter yet.

"What if my letter doesn't come, Mia?" Marius asked her sadly on the evening of his eleventh birthday and Euphemia felt her heart wrench for the boy as a pang echoed low in her stomach, wrapping her arms around her little brother who was looking genuinely scared and upset.

"Don't say that, boy!" Cassiopeia snapped and she pushed the siblings apart, "You know that if you end up to be a disgraceful Squib, you will be out on your ear!" she told him furiously and, as if on cue, Arcturus entered the room with a letter in his hand, looking incredibly angry.

Marius didn't see the look on his father's face but he did see the letter and his face lit up, "My letter! It's come at last!" he cried out joyfully and launched himself at his dad, who held the letter out of his reach and Marius' smile slipped off his face.

"I want you out," Arcturus snarled and Mia's mouth fell open as she started shaking her head in disbelief. This couldn't be happening.

Marius looked in confusion at his parents, his mother had her hand over her mouth with her eyes widened and Arcturus looked like he wanted to kill him.

And, as he leapt towards his son, Euphemia jumped in front of her beloved brother.

"No!" she shouted and she spread her arms to protect him but Arcturus simply pushed her aside.

"Marius Black, you filthy Squib - you are a disgrace on this household and I WANT YOU OUT OF THIS HOUSE!" Arcturus roared as Cassiopeia held him back by holding onto his arm desperately.

"Please - Arcturus, can't we talk about this?" she pleaded with him and Arcturus threw her off as well, anger emanating off him in waves.

"I WANT HIM OUT, NO QUESTIONS CASSIE! HE IS A SQUIB AND YOU KNOW WHAT WE DO WITH SQUIBS!" He pointed his wand at the now crying Marius and made him fall to the floor, screaming the house down as Mia sobbed madly in the corner.

Marius writhed on the floor in pain as his vocal chords were ripped apart by his screams whilst pain stabbed at every bit of his body.

"Stop it!" Euphemia screamed, tears pouring down her cheeks as she saw her brother in so much pain and she grabbed Marius' shoulders, who was shaking.

She started pulling her brother off to his room, hoping her parents weren't serious when they said Marius had to get out.

But of course they were - the Blacks had to disown any Squibs from their families and so, a mere hour after Marius had been tortured, his suitcase were packed and he was taken out of the house.

"What will he do, though?" Mia had asked tearfully and her parents had simply shrugged, obviously not caring despite having brought up the kid from when he was newborn.

What kind of cruel parents chucked out their own kid?

Marius was burnt off the tapestry the day after and Mia couldn't erase the image of her crying brother walking down the hill, suitcases in his hands as he looked hopelessly around.

And she couldn't help him, all she could do was clutch her necklace and cry herself to sleep. So much for getting to be a big sister at Hogwarts.

It still hurt Mia even now, more than a year after it even though she knew her cousin Alphard had taken in Marius, seeing as he had always had a soft spot for the kid and she knew that her brother was safely living with Alphard, much to her relief. Didn't stop her missing her brother terribly though.

But now she had Clover that she could call a little sister at Hogwarts and take her under her wing which was absolutely great and she hugged Clover even tighter.

Justin had sloped off long ago, no doubt sour that he couldn't go to Hogwarts as well and he probably felt a little left out of the conversation as Mia was now telling Clover loads of things about Hogwarts, in a hushed whisper though so that only the two girls could hear.

"Which house do you think I'll be in?" Clover asked her in a whisper, her face alight with interest as a gleam in her blue eyes showed just how excited she was to be having this conversation.

"Judging off your personality, I'd say Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw," she told her and Clover clapped her hands excitedly.

"I agree," a quiet familiar voice from behind the two girls said, taking Euphemia by surprise and her mouth dropped open when she saw that Albus Dumbledore himself was stood in Claremont Square, his robes to the floor and his auburn beard just as long as it had always been and Clover gasped at the sight of the wizard standing right in front of her.

Mia was also surprised about how obvious Dumbledore was being, he was dressed in his wizards hat and robes, not a hint of discretion whatsoever.

"Sir!" she gasped, "What are you doing here?" she asked and Dumbledore smiled at her benignly, a twinkle in his eye.

"I've come to take Ms Clover Paris to Diagon Alley, of course," Professor Dumbledore answered as if it were obvious and Mia turned at that point to see that Clover's mother was stood in the door of their terrace house, her arms crossed as she looked slightly skeptically at Dumbledore and Euphemia, as if scanning for an answer before she threw up her hands and said, "Just take her - return her at a sensible time, please," she told Dumbledore, who then asked her whether she would like to come along or not.

"I trust you, it's fine," she answered and turned back into the house, adjusting her housewife turban as she did so.

Mia raised her eyebrows a little at how easily the muggle woman let her daughter go so willingly with a strange man who was claiming to be a wizard and Dumbledore seemed just as surprised as the two exchanged baffled looks.

Clover also looked shocked but simply shrugged and looked up at Dumbledore happily, "Do you have a magical carpet to get us there?" she asked excitedly and Dumbledore let out an amused chuckle, stroking his beard.

"Alas, no. A much faster way of transport. If you would please," he gestured to his arm and Clover looked confused.

"He's going to take you via side along apparation, it's like moving from one place to another by simply turning on the spot," Mia informed her in a whisper and Clover's eyes widened as she looked at Dumbledore in shock who nodded with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.

"I won't see you until the train in September now," Euphemia told Clover and the latter threw her arms around the former, burrowing her blonde head into Mia's shoulder as the two girls embraced.

Clover finally let go with a radiant smile and walked forward to grab onto Dumbledore's arm and in a flash, they were gone.

"See you at Hogwarts then," Euphemia mumbled to the spot where Clover and Dumbledore had just vanished.

~~~

"Fleamont! Hurry up and get down here or you're going to be late!" Mrs Potter yelled up the stairs, her wand in her hand as she quickly cleaned the banister, which had sticky fingerprints all over it, no doubt from her youngest daughter Olivia.

"Don't call me Fleamont," Charlus said through gritted teeth as he descended the stairs, his trunk levitated in front of him, despite his mother's glare as she scolded him for using magic out of school.

"So what? They'll just think it was you or Dad," Charlus replied cheekily with a grin and the man in question, Mr Potter, chuckled and ruffled Charlus's hair appreciatively at the joke.

The Potter household was a house of laughter, fun and love filed to the brim with warmth and happiness so that you immediately felt as if you were welcome the second you walked through the front door.

Speaking of front doors, Charlus made his way towards the door with his trunk bashing the sides of the walls, leaving his mum to 'tsk' as she batted him over the head irritably.

"Teenage boys these days," she muttered underneath her breath and Charlus simply replied, "You know you love me," with an infuriating grin.

A squeal of laughter sounded from above and the three Potters that were downstairs all looked up the stairs in a mixture of wonder, curiosity, amusement and exasperation.

You can probably guess which emotions came from which people, Mr Potter and Charlus were exchanging smirks as Mrs Potter shook her head in a mixture of exasperation and slight amusement.

The noise had in fact come from the spiralling blonde girl that slid down the newly cleaned banister at that very point, her new tights helping her go even faster and Rochelle Potter sped down the banister as fast as lightning, in a blur of blonde hair and a navy blue skirt.

Rochelle managed to somehow land on her two feet as she staggered at the bottom of the stairs and Mr Potter caught her, laughing at the ten year old who was acting as if she was drunk or something.

"Where's Olivia?" Mrs Potter immediately asked Rochelle and the girl shrugged, her messy fishtail plait bouncing on her shoulders.

"I think she followed me," she added and Mrs Potter's eyes widened in horror because, soon enough a smaller version of Rochelle collided with her mother and almost fell to the ground if Mr Potter hadn't lazily flicked his wand and made his little daughter levitate.

"Awww Dad! You spoiled my fun!" Olivia pouted and crossed her arms, sending a little glare in her father's direction who simply shrugged and let her fall to the floor with a bump, whereupon the joyful four year old started laughing happily, her chubby fists pounding on the floor as Mrs Potter shook her head with a sigh. Her children would be the death of her.

"Can we just go already?" Charlus said impatiently from the front door, he had enjoyed the show as much as anyone but he really was going to be late now and he didn't fancy missing the train.

Mrs Potter looked at her watch and cursed, scooping up Olivia and motioning for Rochelle to grab her father's wrist as she got hold of Charlus and span on the spot, disapparating immediately from the Potter household.

The family arrived with a jolt on Platform Nine and Three Quarters straight away and Mrs Potter detached herself from her thirteen year old son, who was already wriggling in her grip.

Mr Potter took Olivia from her, bouncing his little girl up and down in his arms as the four year old clamoured to climb onto his back.

Rochelle was looking around a little wistfully - the ten year old had another year to go yet, until she could attend with her beloved brother and she couldn't wait. She adored him and looked up to him something special.

"I don't want you to go," she scowled, crossing her arms and looking scarily like Olivia did earlier that morning.

Charlus sighed and gave his ten year old sister a hug, squeezing her tight before he pulled away to shake his father's hand and pat his shoulder, where Olivia was actually straddled, her neck craning to see the train that was emitting steam thicker than Granny Potter's stew.

"Charlus!" Olivia squealed and jumped from her father's shoulders into Charlus' arms, miraculously managing to land perfectly well in her brother's arms which was definitely a sign of accidental magic, Charlus noted with a small smile.

"I don't want you to go," Olivia said in a pouty voice, crossing her arms and trying to scowl, mimicking her sister almost perfectly.

A bark of laughter sounded from Charlus at his sister's funny attempt at taking the piss out of Rochelle.

The girl who was actually being imitated whacked Olivia playfully on the head and Olivia simply chuckled loudly, her gorgeous green eyes squinting as she covered her chubby cheeks with her cute little hands, trying to suppress her giggles.

"Come on you three, stop messing around," Mrs Potter said affectionately from behind them, where Mr Potter had an arm around her lovingly.

"Yeah, I'm going to miss the train," Charlus added and gave one last hug to Olivia, who was still chuckling, and pressing one last kiss to Rochelle's forehead before he dumped the four year old in the ten year old's arms and walked away, waving to his parents.

He shrugged his leather jacket on over his muggle clothes and leapt onto the train, causing him to be face to face with an attractive dark haired beauty.

"Well hello there," he smirked, looking her figure up and down and she raised her delicate eyebrow at him, twirling a strand of her dark hair.

"Can I help you?" she asked and he stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and opened his mouth to say something when someone suddenly crashed into him, sending him tumbling into the dark haired girl in front of him, meaning he was pressed up against her. Not that he minded.

She made a non committal noise and Charlus immediately backed away before looking for the culprit who knocked him over.

A sheepish Florean stood there with his hair ruffled, a grin on his face and a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"Sorry to interrupt yet another one of your snogging sessions," he said with a laugh and Charlus had to turn away so he didn't laugh in the girl's face.

"We were not snogging!" the girl protested though she looked as if she wished that they were - it was no lie that Charlus Potter was quite possibly the most handsome boy in the entire school and every girl wanted to be with him - although practically every girl had already been with him or would be with him soon enough if he kept true to his reputation, he was quite the playboy.

"Do you even know my name?" she demanded of Charlus and he looked at Florean, wide eyed, who simply sniggered and walked away, observing from a distance with a smirk on his face, obviously enjoying his friend's struggle.

"Sierra, right?" he guessed and her face went from smiling to scowling, "No."

"Sienna?" Charlus suggested hopefully again, looking completely confused.

"No," she snapped, clenching her jaw and Florean almost choked on his laughter. "Savannah?" he tried again and the dark haired girl's eyes bogged out of her head as she slapped him right across the face.

"My name doesn't even start with an S!" she told him angrily and Florean had to wipe his eyes from the tears of amusement.

She stalked away and Charlus was left stood there helplessly, staring after her whilst he rubbed his cheek.

"What are you called then?" he asked her in utter confusion and she shot daggers at him from where she had walked to, her dark hair swinging round when she span to look at him.

"IT'S VANESSA! AND I MADE OUT WITH YOU IN SECOND YEAR!" Vanessa bellowed and several heads popped out of carriages with varying expressions of curiosity and amusement on them.

"Just Charlus Potter up to his playboy ways again," a fifth year told her friend and the two giggled before they went into a compartment.

That really was his reputation - he was the biggest player in Hogwarts and he was only in third year, he had a girl latched onto his lips every day and practically half of the female population keeled over whenever he walked by, he had stolen the majority of the girls hearts, and some of the boys as well.

Girls went weak at the knees when he smiled, practically drooled when he walked past and his incessant flirting with every single girl that he interacted with was rather charming though some found it irritating.

The other boys in particular found it hard to find a decent girl that wasn't crushing on Charlus or crying over a 'breakup' with him.

Not that Charlus actually had any proper relationships with anyone - all he had were flings or brief make out sessions with girls he flirted with.

Only Eugenia was the exception - she seemed to be the only girl that Charlus actually cared about, probably due to fact that they were friends outside of their on off relationship and he never wanted to hurt her feelings, which was a nice thought.

~~~

Euphemia was walking up and down the train corridors, peering into the compartment doors to see which ones were empty and also which ones that her friends might be lurking in, as she was trying to avoid Walburga.

Clover was following her, hiding behind her friend as she looked around shyly, obviously overwhelmed by it all now.

"Do you think your friends will like me?" Clover asked quietly, ducking her head so that her long blonde hair covered her face which was very unlike the vivacious, energetic and loud girl that Mia knew.

"Of course they will-" Euphemia broke off upon seeing how different Clover was acting, "Hey, what's up?" she asked her in concern and Clover shrugged, "I'm just feeling a little lost....as if I shouldn't be here," she answered, looking down at her feet.

"Listen to me," Euphemia said firmly, placing her hand underneath Clover's chin and tilting it upwards so that the blonde girl had to look into her eyes.

"It may not seem like it when you meet some insufferable people but everyone who has a decent mind in this school accepts anyone and you will always be welcomed at Hogwarts, no matter what your background or blood status is. Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home," she said sincerely to Clover, who's face had brightened and her usual mischievous smile was back.

"You sound like Professor Dumbledore," she chuckled and Mia found that she was rather pleased with that predicament, "I'll take that as a compliment," she smirked back and grabbed Clover's hand so she could find a compartment for the first year.