About Time

By Saturday morning, the only thing people would talk about was the game.

The Great Hall was abuzz with chatter of who would win: Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Mia didn't bother joining in on any of the conversations, until she heard Sirius say, "I'm certain Ravenclaw is going to win. Slytherin doesn't stand a chance."

She turned to him, with a mischievous look in her eyes and said, "Would you be willing to bet on it?"

He turned his head towards her, his eyes showing his surprise that she was joining into the conversation, and excitement at being challenged. "Yes, Kitten, I would. What do you have in mind?"

"If Ravenclaw wins, I'll do your homework for a week. If Slytherin wins, you owe me a favour. Any favour." They were staring each other down at that point, and all their friends were silent to see if Sirius would agree or not.

Smirking, he put his hand out and said, "Deal."

Mia shook it with fervour. All their friends seemed a lot more interested in the game now, even Lily who was planning on bringing a book with her to the game.

James turned to Mia and said, "So, Mi, what are you going to use your favour on?"

Sirius gave a yell of indignation. "Thanks for having confidence in me, James. Means a lot."

James threw his hands up, as if protecting himself. "Nothing personal, mate. I've just known Mia for way too long, and she would never make a bet without being certain she would win."

The group chuckled as Sirius paled a bit at that.

"Just out of curiosity, Kitten, do you know what you're going to be using your favour on." He paused for a second. "If you win, that is."

Mia laughed lightly, choosing to say, "Wouldn't you like to know?" He was probably panicking now at what she would want the favour to be. Little does he know that she wouldn't be cashing it in for a few years.

"Can I join on the bet, too?" Peter asked, turning to Sirius instead of Hermione.

"No." She said shortly, grabbing another piece of bacon and turning her attention to Lily.

He sculked a bit, but was quickly distracted when James started making more guesses as to what might happen during the game.

Once they all finished eating, they made their way towards the Quidditch pitch. Even though the game was Ravenclaw against Slytherin, all four sections of the audience were filled to the brim. Mia could feel the excitement pulsing around her. In her original time, a game like this would never have attracted such a big crowd. She could only remember a turnout like this in Gryffindor v Slytherin games, or the finals for the season.

The stairs up to the seats tired Mia more than she wanted to admit, and she was determined to start running. Soon. maybe she could convince Marlene to go with her?
She was snapped out of her thought by Jamie, who pulled her down to sit with him. Mia noticed that Sirius took the seat on her other side and Remus next to him. Due to lack of space on their row, Lily, Marlene and Peter sat behind them.

The autumn chill was slowly getting underway, and at that altitude, the wind was biting them. Mia was glad she had her cloak on, but still felt a little bit cold. Sirius apparently noticed that, and undid the scarf from his neck and tried handing it to her.

"Sirius, there's no need. Honestly, I'm fine. I'll warm up as the game progresses," She tried.

"Nonsense, Kitten." He wrapped his scarf around her neck, giving her a smile. "See, now you don't have to wait to be warm."

Mia tried to convince herself that the blush that spread across her cheeks was from the cold of the wind.

James looked over the interaction with a weary look. He knew that Sirius was always flirting with different girls and that sooner rather than later he would develop a reputation, but considering that this was Mia, he hoped he didn't need to worry. She was his sister after all, and Sirius was becoming his brother.

They all jumped a bit when the speakers sounded. "WELCOME ALL TO THE FIRST QUIDDITCH MATCH OF THE SEASON! TODAY WE WILL SEE A FANTASTIC GAME OF RAVENCLAW AGAINST THE SLIMY SNAKES." They all heard some shuffling. "Ouch! Sorry, Professor. Fine. I MEAN, RAVENCLAW AGAINST SLYTHERIN!"

The houses all cheered, and Mia smiled a bit, being reminded of when Lee Jordan used to commentate on the Quidditch matches in her first life.

"WE CAN SEE THEM COMING OUT NOW. FOR RAVENCLAW WE HAVE: HIGGS, DIGGLE, DAWLISH, EDGECOMB, GUDGEON, LANDELL …… AND CROUCH!"

The cheering coming from three out of the four houses was almost deafening, and Mia almost put her hands to her ears to protect them.

The commentator waited for the cheering to die down before continuing. "AND FOR SLYTHERIN WE HAVE: LESTRANGE, HOBDAY, WARRINGTON, KETTLEBURN, PARKINSON, AVERY ….. AND BURKE!"

There were still cheers for the Slytherin team, but nowhere near as much as there had been for Ravenclaw.

Mia couldn't help the shiver that went down her spine at the name Lestrange. She never had a positive encounter with any of the people from that family, and truly hoped that she wouldn't even cross with this boy during her years at school. She assumed that he was Rabastan, and Bellatrix had already left school and would probably marry Rodolphus as soon as she possibly could.

Luckily, no one noticed the change in her demeanour, believing that she was still getting accustomed to the change in temperature. She shuffled a tiny bit closer to Jamie, to try and get a bit of comfort and drive the horrible memories away. He just put an arm around her shoulders and tried to heat her up a bit more.

As the captains shook hands and shot off into the air, Mia realized that this was the first time that she attended a Quidditch game that Harry wasn't playing in or watching with her. She felt sad at the thought but quickly pushed those feelings down, instead of focusing on the mini explanations that Jamie and Sirius were giving her when they could.

Apparently, Ravenclaw's chasers and beaters were better, and Slytherin's seeker and keeper were better. It made for a pretty even game, which made things equally more interested and frustrating for all of those watching.

"OH SHIT - sorry, Professor - THE RAVENCLAW KEEPER WAS ALMOST THROW OFF HIS BROOM BY A BLUDGER. BETTER BE CAREFUL OUT THERE MATES, SEEMS LIKE NEITHER TEAM IS WILLING TO LET THIS MATCH SLIP BY."

Mia laughed as Sirius became increasingly more nervous as the game went on. At that point, the score was tied at 80 each.

"You regretting our bet now?" Mia asked.

Sirius hid his worry, putting on a smirk and saying, "Never, Kitten."

James chuckled on her other side. While he didn't like Slytherin either, he knew it was a stupid move to bet so much against them loosing. They might be a bunch of tossers, but they know how to play Quidditch.

"ANOTHER POINT FOR RAVENCLAW, DAWLISH JUST SCORED YET ANOTHER GOAL. WILL SLYTHERIN MANAGE TO KEEP UP?"

Sirius grew visible cockier at that. Apparently, that one point was all he thought he needed to win the bet.

The game was wearing on and Mia felt tired. They had already been there for hours, and there was no sign of the stitch. They were too evenly matched, the only way to end this was for one of the sneakers to catch the little flying ball that would determine the final score of the game.

"AND ANOTHER ONE FOR SLYTHERIN. THEY HAVE TIED BACK UP AGAIN AT 180 EACH- WAIT. WHAT IS THAT. THE SEEKERS SEE THE SNITCH. BURKE IS RUSHING TOWARDS IT, WITH CROUCH RIGHT BEHIND HIM. THEY ARE DIVING. BURKE IS ALMOST THERE - WHAT! BURKE JUST PULLED A WRONSKI FEINT. I REPEAT: A WRONSKI FEINT. I DO HOPE CROUCH IS OK. BURKE CATCHES THE SNITCH. SLYTHERIN WINS!"

Even if the other houses didn't like Slytherin that much, the crowd went wild with what they just witnessed. Mia had seen a Wronski Feint before a couple of times, and every time it made her shiver with the anxiety of what if.

Putting those thoughts aside, she turned to Sirius with a smirk.

"What are you going to use it for?" He asked, looking pale as he examined her smirk.

She opened her mouth to answer, but instead turned to James and asked, "Jamie, could you please explain to me what the Wronski Feint is?"

James, happy to annoy Sirius and talk about Quidditch at the same time, launched into a quite in-depth explanation of the move, complete with a history of it. Sirius stayed behind for a second as they walked towards the stairs, contemplating what the little witch would make him do.

"Honestly, Jamie, if you put half as much effort into your studies as you do Quidditch, you could be at the top of our year."

"Yeah, Jamieeeeee." Sirius mocked, throwing an arm around his best mates' shoulders.

James shoved him off and said, "Mi, I have told you a thousand times before and will tell you again now, studying will never be as fun as Quidditch is."

Mia rolled her eyes but smiled as he started giving her a breakdown of the game, with Sirius chirping in once in a while with his opinions.

"I could totally pull a Wronski Feint," bragged James.

"You're a chaser, Jamie, not a seeker."

"So? That doesn't mean that I couldn't do it. Players sometimes do things outside of their designated position."

Mia paused for a moment. "Well, I guess so. But it's still too dangerous, so you shouldn't."

"Awn, Jamie, she's worried for your safety. Don't worry, Kitten, I'll be there to catch him if he were to fall, just like I did you," Sirius smirked in her direction, while James gave him a friendly shove.

"You want to join the team as well, Sirius?" Mia asked.

"That's right, Kitten. You are looking at Hogwarts' brand new Beater for next year."

Mia scrunched her nose. "Are you sure you're strong enough?"

Sirius threw his hands to his chest in mock outrage. "How dare you? Just because of that comment I will go towards every single bludger that I see to hit them off."

"Honestly, you boys will be the death of me. Remus?" Mia called to the boy that was a few paces behind them, in deep conversation with Lily. "You don't want to join the Quidditch team as well, do you?"

He gave her a small smile. "Don't worry, Mia. That's not for me."

She gave him a satisfied smile. "Good, can't think of what I'd do if another one of my boys got put in danger like this." She missed the blush that rose to both Sirius and Remus' cheeks at the mention of them being hers, and Mia was too busy explaining all of the dangers that pertain to Quidditch.

"Do you want to know if I want to join?" Peter asked her.

She barely spared him a glance before continuing on her lecture to Sirius and James, who were both already regretting having mentioned this at all. If this was what she was like now, they didn't know how they would handle it when they were actually on the team.

"Don't worry, Mi," James said in an attempt to calm his sister down, "I'm too good of a flier to get hurt in some stupid way. Sirius on the other hand..."

"Hey!" He yelled, earning a giggle from Mia. "You wish you could fly as well as me you wanker."

"As entertaining as this is, boys, I am not interested in having to hex you both for some stupid testosterone contest of who can fly better. Besides, we all know that I'm the best flier here." They all laughed at that, changing the course of their conversation as they made their way to the common room.

When they were all sat down by the fire, Mia finally felt warm enough to take off her cloak. She didn't take off her scarf, though, something that Sirius took notice of.

James and Remus were sitting down on the floor, playing a game of Wizard's Chess while Marlene and Peter watched. Lily and Mia were spread out of the armchairs, each reading a book the thickness of a head. Sirius was simply bored after such an eventful afternoon.

Mia already knew what he wanted when she sensed him approaching, but decided to play along. "Kitten."

"Yes, Sirius?"

"Can you tell me what you're going to use your favour on?"

She pretended to ponder for a moment. "Well… No."

"Come onnnnnnnn, Kitten. pleaseeeeeee ." He gave her his best puppy dog eyes, and she tried her best to ignore how her heart skipped a beat.

"I don't even know what I'm going to use it for, Sirius." She tried.

"Fine. fine. If you don't want to tell me I'll have to figure it out on my own. The least you can do is entertain me, though. I'm bored."

Since her book wasn't teaching her anything she didn't already know, she decided to grant his request. "And what would you like me to do to help you get rid of your boredom, Sirius?"

"Well," he said, giving her his famous smirk. One well-thrown chess piece by Jamie had the smirk and that train of thought disappearing. "I don't know. You seem to like books so much, so why don't you tell me a story?"

"Oh! Mi!" James yelled. "Tell the one about the Chamber of Secrets! Or the troll! Or the dragon!"

She could see how Sirius' eyes lit up at the prospects. "So, Sirius? Which one would you like?"

He took a moment to consider the options. "I guess the dragon one could be cool."

James immediately left his game, much to the indignation of Remus, and came to sit by Mia as well. He was visibly excited at the prospect of hearing this story again, and Mia loved seeing him like this. Remus followed James because even though he was enjoying the game he couldn't deny the giddiness he felt at the prospect of a story. Peter and Marlene came over as well, having nothing better to do now since the game had clearly been put on pause.

Mia waited for everyone to get situated before beginning. "Well, James mentioned that the story is about a dragon. But it actually is about a heist."

Mia told the story about how the three thieves broke into Gringotts, stealing precious items from centuries old safes and escaping on the back of an Ukranian Iron Belly. She marveled at how easy it was to tell the story now; when she had gone through all of that, half the time she was sure they weren't going to make it out alive.

By the time she was done, the clocks sounded the hour, letting them know it was time for dinner. She got up from her chair, while all her friends, except Jamie who had already heard the story before, just sat there gaping up at her.

"Well? Let's go. I'm hungry and I could really use some Shepherd's pie right about now." They all got up mutely, and followed her out of the portrait hole and to the Great Hall.

Their shock wore off right as she started eating, and she was attacked by all of them at once.

"You should write books for a living."

"That was wicked."

"It really was great, Mia."

"I want to ride on a Ukrainian Iron Belly."

"What happened to the trio?" Sirius asked silently, locking silver and whiskey eyes.

"I told you, they escaped on the back of the Iron Belly with the items that they stole." Mia tried to answer.

"I mean after that. After they escaped. What happened to them?"

Mia can't remember the last time she was at a loss for words. She wasn't sure what part of her story she should tell, or even if she should tell a part of her story. That was the point where it got personal, and she wasn't very sure how to get out of it.

She put on her best smirk and answered, "They fell in a lake. They had no clue how to communicate with the dragon or stop it, so they jumped and fell into a lake, while the dragon got to ride off into the sunset."

Most of their friends accepted the answer, especially since the dragon ended up free, which is a very Mia thing to want. She knew Sirius didn't though, as she still felt his eyes on her while she finished eating her food.

Once they all finished eating they went back to the common room, to play a game of Exploding Snap. Most of them didn't last long; every time someone was eliminated, they just took it as an opportunity to call it a night and headed upstairs. This cycle continued until it was just Mia and Sirius in the common room, with James having left for his room just a couple of minutes before.

"That was a really good story, Mia." He said at one point.

"Thanks. It was one of Jamie's favourites growing up."

"I can't help but feel like some part of it is missing, though. Like after the end. I just don't think the trio would ever steal again, but I'm not sure if they really did get their happily ever afters."

"Hmm. I'm not sure either. I guess we need to wait and see." She told him.

After a yawn from her, they decided to call it a night and head back to their respective rooms.

Right before they started climbing the stairs Mia said, "Oh!", making Sirius turn towards her. "I completely forgot. Here."

She started taking off the scarf he had given her earlier, but his hands stopped her. "Keep it, Kitten. It looks better on you anyway." She looked up at him as he spoke, their eyes meeting again, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

"Thank you," She said, but neither of them moved, his hands still on hers.

Suddenly, he shook his head and stepped back. Mia felt a bit cold then, from the lack of his warmth. "Can I ask you one last thing, Mia?"

She smiled at him. "Of course."

"What are you going to use your favour on."

Mia just laughed. "Good night, Sirius."

"Good night, Kitten."

-

The days passed and Mia found herself sitting at her table at the library with Lily and Marlene. Remus was going to join him, but her boys played another prank on Snape and he knew Lily would murder him on site if he came anywhere near them.

"I honestly don't know how you and Potter are related, Mia. you are literally the only person to who he is always kind to." Lily muttered angrily.

"I can guarantee you we are related, Lils," Mia said with a laugh. "We just inherited different qualities. He got the Potter hair, looks and lack of sense. I got the Potter brains and manners."

"He's just so frustrating. Who does he think he is, pulling pranks on innocent people." Mia bit back the remark that Snape is not in any way innocent, contrary to what Lily so clearly believes.

"Yes, yes, we've heard it a thousand times. Potter is the Devil and Snape is a saint. Whatever. Are you guys finished with your work? I really want to go outside, it's a Friday we shouldn't be spending our time in the library of all places." Marlene told them while trying to fold a paper aeroplane.

"Yeah, I'm done. Lily?"

"You two go ahead, I need to finish this, and I promised that I'd meet Snape after."

The two girls nodded and waved goodbye as they left the library. They were on their way to the big tree by the Black Lake, where there was enough shade for Mia to sit and read, but enough sun for Marlene to tan.

"Do you think she will ever realize that he's not as innocent as she thinks?"

Mia didn't need to ask who Marlene was talking about. "I think he's very special to her, being her first friend and who introduced her to magic, so that creates some sort of fog around his bad actions. If he doesn't stop soon, he will do something that even she can't brush aside."

Marlene nodded, taking the words in. "I just hate how she glorifies him. He hexed James this week and he ended up in the Hospital Wing! And last week Sirius was almost the one who ended up there."

"I know," Mia said, "I hate how he treats my boys. He will get what is coming for him, though, and Lily will not be able to pin it on James."

Marlene saw Mia's smirk and turned to her. "Oh, no. That look is way too similar to your brother's for my liking. What are you planning?"

"Nothing… yet."

Marlene shook her head and sat down on the grass. "Just don't get caught. Would be a pity to lose my best friend."

Mia gave her a shining smile, which she returned, and they both fell into a comfortable silence as they enjoyed their respective activities.

She tried to focus on her book, she really did. She usually had no problem completely immersing herself in whatever she was reading. But apparently, this one book did not want to be read. Instead, Mia's eyes kept drawing to the boys running by the lake, as to avoid getting splashed at by the giant squid.

She remembered, then, her plans for exercise. She knew it would come in handy in the future, and not just for her.

"Marlene," Mia said after a while, nudging her with her foot. "Marleneeeeee."

"What?"

"Do you want to start running with me?" Mia asked, and almost laughed at the look on Marlene's face.

"Running? As in for fun?"

"Yeah. It would be good to build up some endurance, don't you think? We wouldn't die every time we needed to go to astronomy. Also, it would get you into great shape for Quidditch next year." Mia tried.

Marlene took a couple of seconds to think about it. "Fine. But we are starting easy."

Mia gave her a smile. "Deal?" She said, putting out her hand.

"Deal," Marlene said, shaking hands with her friend.

Mia already started planning everything; the route, the clothes, the warm-ups and cooldowns. In her past life, she knew a lot of people that liked to run, and she knew it involved a lot of different things. Would she manage to transfigure some clothes of hers and Marlenes to what they needed or was she going to need to order some through the mail? She really needed to look into that.

As the sun started to get lower in the sky, the two girls made their way back to the castle. The rest of their evening was pretty quiet, with the exception of Filch running into the Great Hall yelling something about dungbombs, which her boys seemed a bit too clueless about.

"Dungbombs?"

"I don't know anything about any dungbombs?"

"What even are dungbombs?"

Mia gave them a look that she knew exactly what they had done, and as they smiled at her she just went back to her chocolate cake.

-

A couple of days later, they were all sitting on the Gryffindor table enjoying their lunches when Sirius arrived, evidently fuming.

"Woah, Sirius, mate, what happened?" James asked his friend.

"I was talking to Travis - you know Travis, that fourth year - and apparently Gryffindor does this huge Halloween party every year."

"I don't see the problem with that. It's it a good thing?" Remus asked.

"Ah, but I'm not finished! The party is only for fourth years and above. Normally, I wouldn't be too irked, but can you believe they would not make an exception for us? We are the life of any party!"

James held in a laugh. "Don't worry, mate. Our Halloween is going to be great. Mia probably has the entire day planned out already."

Mia blushed as Sirius smirked and inquired, "What?"

"She loves Halloween, always has. Plans out the entire day weeks in advance to make sure everything is perfect, and it normally is." James explained as he stuffed some more mashed potatoes in his mouth.

Mia feigned shock. "Normally? I'll have you know that Halloween is always perfect when I'm in charge." After so many horrible Halloween's in her past life, she decided that this time around she would make the best out of every single one of them, and it's always really fun.

"Hmmmm. Interesting. Will it be better than the party?" Sirius asked.

She swatted his arm. "Of course it will be better than the stupid party."

Remus laughed at that, saying, "Honestly, Sirius, are you really doubting that Mia isn't going to be the best at something?"

She could hear the teasing tone in his voice, so she gave him a small smile and noticed the tips of his ears turned red.

"I'm glad someone has faith in me at least. You will all be getting itineraries the day before Halloween. That will tell you if you have to be anywhere specific at a given time." Everyone laughed at that, except Mia and James, and when the others noticed they stared questioningly at Mia.

She just shrugged. "I told you, I love Halloween."

At that, she and Marlene got up from the table, heading off to their next lesson.

As soon as they were out of ear range, James gave a small snort. "Well, this should be fun." At Sirius' confused glance, he expanded. "You questioned Mia's skills. Now she will make sure you never question her again."

Sirius blanched a bit at that, but the rest of the boys just laughed.

-

It wasn't hard to get into the good graces of the owner of Honeydukes. Mr Flume is a family friend, so when Mia popped out of the passageway and explained who she was, he and his wife took a great liking to her. They even helped her get some butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks.

The hard part was taking all of the goodies back to the castle. She had a couple of kilos with her at the least, and since she didn't want to let her boys know about the passage just yet, she had to take it all back herself.

She was halfway back when she realizes how stupid she was being. Ron's voice floated through her head asking, "Are you a witch or not?". She immediately got out her wand and cast a featherweight charm on the bags and shrank them, putting them in her pocket.

It was a wonder she didn't think of it earlier. Now it would be much easier for her to store the bags until the following evening.

When she got back to the castle, she only needed to make one more spot before heading up to the common room.

Mia made her way towards the kitchens making and repeating a mental list of all that she needed to ask for up until the moment she arrived at the painting of the fruit bowl. Pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, chocolate cake, popcorn, chips, cookie- "AHHH!"

"Sirius!" She yelled, hitting him. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

He grinned at her. "Ah, my dear Kitten," she really hoped he couldn't see her blush, "if I hadn't, how would've I have managed to get you to show me the kitchens."

Her eyes widened as she noticed the situation. "Oh, you sneaky dog. I can't believe you did this."

He knew she wasn't mad because she was smiling and her eyes were bright. "Come on, Kitten, it was smart. I know you're proud of me."

She didn't answer him, and simply tickled the pear on the painting and stepped back as the painting swooped open. She smiled softly at the look of wonder on Sirius' face as they stepped inside the kitchen.

A house-elf stepped forward to greet them. "Hello, master! Hello mistress Mia, it is nice to see you again!"

"Hello, Nobby, it is lovely to see you too." She told him with a smile.

"What can Nobby help you with today?"

"Well, I actually need to make an order in advance. But could Sirius and I have some tea and biscuits for now?"

"Right away, mistress, right away!"

Mia led Sirius to the small seating area at the back of the kitchens and quickly went to tell one of the elves what she needed and for when.

"I can't believe you actually kept all of this from me for months!"

"I didn't keep it from you. I just wanted you to find it on your own. I'm actually quite impressed by the way you did it." Mia told him, thanking Nobby for the tea.

"Who would've thought, Mia Potter, calling Sirius Black smart." He smirked at her, but still poured her some tea and put a bit of lemon and honey in it.

"Thank you," she said, surprised that he remembered how she took her tea. "I also didn't call you smart, I just said I was impressed."

"Ah, same thing." He smiled at her and they fell into a comfortable silence.

"I actually did have reasons beyond midnight cravings to find this place, you know." He told her, gesturing to the kitchens.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it's my birthday in a couple of days, and I obviously need my party to be well catered." He tried to sound snobby, but Mia just fell into a fit of laughter.

"Ah, yes, your birthday. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't monopolize the entire week before it."

"Nah, much better to have one explosive day than to drag it out for a week and have it be less fun. Oh! Explosive! Fireworks! We need fireworks!" He looked like a small child on Christmas day with how excited he got.

"I'm not sure if you can get fireworks with so little time left before your birthday." She paused for a second, remembering she had to be responsible. "Besides, it wouldn't be very safe to have fireworks going off in the common room."

"Who said they would be going off in the common room?" He asked with a smirk. "As for the first concern, don't worry your pretty little head over it, I'll manage."

"If you say so," she said with a very unladylike snort.

They finished off their tea and started back to the common room.

"Are you going to share with me what you ordered for tomorrow?"

"You already found out one secret today, Sirius, you don't need to find out another one."

He huffed a laugh. "Can I at least know what we will be doing tomorrow?"

Mia gave him a sideways glance. "You will be getting an itinerary today along with everyone else. It is not very detailed, as to not give much away. But it will definitely be a lot of fun."

They arrived at the portrait and gave the Fat Lady the password (mulled mead), then entered the common room.

"But Kitten! I'm your favourite one of our group, shouldn't I get to know just a bit more than the rest?" He gave her his best puppy dog eyes.

"Hey! I'm Mia's favourite," James protested.

Marlene snorted. "You wish, Potter."

"Well," Mia started, "you're all wrong. Remus is my favourite." She plopped down on the couch next to Remus and laid her head on his shoulder. She couldn't see, but the top of his ears were tinted red and he had a smile on his face.

Sirius pouted. "Fine, but we both know you're lying. Besides, you did call me smart so I'll find a way to get you telling the truth soon enough."

"I did not call you smart! I said I was impressed." She tried.

"Ok, I'll tell everyone the truth. She called me a genius." Mia threw a pillow at Sirius, who caught it with ease and smirked down at her. "Ah, so the Kitten is finally showing her claws."

Mia ignored him. "Oh! I have everyone's itineraries here with me. Please be at this place and at that time."

She handed them out, pausing for a second at Lily to ask if she was going to spend time with Snape instead. "No, I'll be with him in the morning, so I should be free by this time."

Sirius gave out a big laugh as he saw his itinerary. "And you say I'm dramatic! Couldn't you just have told us to meet at our dorm after dinner?"

Mia rolled her eyes at him, turning to Marlene and Lily instead, "Wanna head outside? There should still be a while of sunshine left."

Marlene gave her a bright smile, and they left the common room for their tree by the lake, leaving her boys behind.

-

By dinner the following day, Mia was buzzing with excitement. She planned out an amazing night that would set a standard for the years to come.

She had warned her friends not to eat much during the feast. She knew it was quite hard, she had admittedly struggled with it herself, but it would be worth it by the end of the night.

Mia left dinner a bit earlier than everyone else in order to set up the dorm to be exactly how she wanted it to. It took her a while, but she managed to get everything to be perfect, and hoped that her friends would think so as well.

When the time was right, she opened the door to the room and found all of her friends (plus Peter) waiting outside to be let in. She opened the door a bit wider and allowed them to step into the room.

They were all quietly looking around, and Mia liked to think it was due to the surprise. She had charmed bat origami to fly around the room. There was a table she transfigured which was overflowing with food, sweets and butterbeer. In a corner, she put a chest full of costumes and fun props for them to wear throughout the night, but also managed to get Lily's polaroid for them to take pictures as well. And right in the centre, she made a small tent with floating lights, full of cushions inside where they could sit, talk, play games and do whatever they wanted.

Sirius was the first to turn to her with a smirk on his face, "Wicked!"

The girls congratulated her on how lovely everything looked, while Remus commended her spellwork. Peter didn't even say anything, he just headed towards the sweets.

James turned and said, "This looks great Mi! Reminds me of the small castle you made dad build that time for Halloween."

Mia smiled at the memory. "Thanks, Jamie." She quickly turned to everyone else. "Alright, everyone! Please help yourselves to any costumes you would like from the chest and any food you want from the table. Once you're done, go to the tent so we can get started!"

Everyone spread out to do their own thing. Lily decided to put on the devil horns and grabbed the pitchfork, which honestly matched her hair really well. Marlene went for the boring option, putting on some Quidditch glasses and getting a beater's bat. Jamie, seeing what Lily was wearing and wanting to piss her off, put on some angel wings and even found a halo in there. Remus put on the vampire cape, and Sirius got a skeleton mask. Mia had a very muggle witch hat on. Peter decided not to dress up.

They all got some food and sat down, ready to truly start the evening.

"So I was talking to Lily the other day, and she was telling me about this muggle game called truth or dare. Basically, you spin a bottle and whoever it lands on they get to pick if they want to tell a truth or if they want to do a dare, and the person who spins gets to choose or ask. I thought we could do something a little different." Mia got a bowl, some paper and quills from behind her. "Everyone write some truths and dares on slips of paper, then drop them in the bowl."

She did some herself, then waited for everyone to finish. She had actually gotten this idea from the Goblet of Fire, and how it picked the champions from simple pieces of paper. Except in this case, it would be a bowl she transfigured picking a truth or dare from someone. The spellwork had been a little bit complicated, she'll admit, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle.

"Ok, great!" She said once everyone seemed to be done. "Who wants to start?"

Lily, surprisingly, raised her hand. "I'll go. I've played the muggle version so many times, this seems like it could be fun."

"Would be funner with alcohol, though," Sirius commented, earning a glare from Mia.

Lily just ignored him, putting her hand over the bowl, waiting for a piece to fly into her hand. After a couple of seconds, a neatly folded piece of paper made its way into her hand. She quickly unfolded it and read, "Chug an entire butterbeer in under 20 seconds."

They all heard Sirius laughing and saying, "That was one of mine." With a little too much pride.

Lily just rolled her eyes and went to get a butterbeer. As she sat down, Mia set a timer with her wand, and when Lily nodded that she was ready, she yelled "Go!", and started the timer.

If there was one thing that Mia would never have thought Lily would be good at was chugging butterbeer. But apparently, she had been wrong. In exactly 17 seconds, Lily drank the entire bottle of butterbeer. To say that everyone was shocked would be an understatement.

James apparently could not keep his comments to himself and said, "Who knew, Evans! You would've thought that hanging with Snape would've made your only talents be studying and removing grease stain-"

He didn't even get to finish before Lily full on slapped him across the face. Sirius immediately fell down laughing, barely managing to breathe. Mia jumped forward, examining James' face and asking if he was ok.

He didn't even pay attention to her, though, and was just staring at Lily. he momentarily turned to her and said, "Mi, I think I'm in love."

That only got Sirius laughing louder, and everyone else started joining in. Of all the ways Mia had imagined James falling for Lily, this was definitely not it. She couldn't help the smile that came to her face though, seeing how her brother was looking at Lily with doe eyes (pun intended).

As to get things going again, and to try and calm Lily down as she was visibly fuming, Remus offered to go next. His, unfortunately, was a bit boring, having to hold his breath for thirty seconds. Peter gave a small apology, saying he couldn't think of anything else.

The rest of them were quite fun, though. Sirius apparently has a great American accent, but Mia prefers his regular one, finding it much more attra- normal. It was a lot more normal. It was weird to listen to him in an American accent.

James was dared to put a crown on Mrs Norris, which was certainly the hardest dare of the night. They passed by the party without anyone noticing, and were off on their pursuit before anyone could even think about having a look at what was happening at the party. It was already past curfew, so they had to make sure to get close to Mrs Norris but without getting caught by Filch. And it was quite hard to be that discrete or fast with seven kids piled on sugar.

Mia, ever the smart one, made sure to take James' cloak with them. And thank Merlin she did, because when they found Mrs Norris and James managed - with a good struggle - to get the shrunken crown on her, Filch was already turning the corner. The others managed to get into an abandoned classroom to hide, but Mia only had a split second to throw the cloak on top of her and her twin.

"Mrs Norris! What happened to you? Who did this?" He looked at his cat as if he expected her to answer. "I guess you are a princess, though. My pretty little princess." He picked her up and walked away, giving her kisses as he left.

As soon as he was out of earshot, the twins fell to the ground laughing. The others apparently had heard it too, as Mia could hear them laughing from the inside of the classroom.

"His," Sirius wheezed, " pretty little princess."

They couldn't stop laughing, no matter how much they tried. They couldn't get up either, so they all just sat there in the corridor, with their backs to the cool wall and calmed down.

"Oh, I don't think that I've laughed like this in years," Said James.

"I probably haven't laughed like this in my entire life," Sirius proclaimed.

"Guys," Remus started, "Has anyone else noticed that he calls his cat Mrs Norris?"

No one except Mia and Lily seemed to be getting what he meant by it, so Lily tried to explain. "Mrs Meaning she is married to someone..."

Sirius and James' eyes widened.

"You don't think-"

"Oh, this is too goo-"

"But a cat?"

After a moment's pause, they all started laughing again.

"Well, she is his 'pretty little princess', so who knows what's possible." Provided Marlene.

"Oh, I just got some images in my mind that I did NOT want there." Sirius looked like he was about to throw up.

All of them immediately caught his meaning. "Ewwwwww."

After that, they all just decided to walk back to the common room, again not even looking at the party before going back upstairs.

They finished off as much food as they could, and they all took turns taking care of the polaroid. Mia had even managed to find a way to enchant it so that the pictures would be able to move. Her favourite one was one with her, James, Sirius and Remus, where she was in the middle of them, and they were all smiling. She tucked it into her pocket to put it in a safe place later.

It was nearing one in the morning when they were all just laying down inside the tent, looking at the lights floating on top of them.

"Guys," Lily called, shaking them when they didn't answer. "Guyssss. Let's go to bed. We have lessons in the morning."

No one really had the energy to reply. The girls got up to leave, and Mia did a couple of spells to take down the tent and turn off the lights and the bats.

Right as they were leaving, Sirius grabbed Mia's arm and said, "You were right, by the way, this was better than the party ever could've been."

Mia smiled at him, softly saying, "Good night, Sirius."

"Good night, Kitten."

"Night Jamie!" She yelled from the door, getting a grumble as a response.

With one last smile at Sirius, she went with her friends to their dorm to finally get some sleep.

-

They were all tired the morning after. Well, everyone except Sirius, because it was officially his birthday week.

While he told Mia he didn't want to celebrate the entire week, that didn't mean that he wouldn't talk about his birthday every waking second. It was honestly starting to get annoying; no one wanted to hear how he was going to have a banner with his face on it.

Mia felt bad that Remus looked guilty every time that Sirius mentioned his birthday. She knew that the full moon would be the day before, and there was no way he could recover in time to be there at the party.

Everyone else, though, was quite excited about the party. Ever since Sirius found out where the kitchens are, he had started making a list of everything he needed to have for his birthday. Mia was just surprised that a cake with his face on it wasn't on the list.

The day before his birthday, Mia knew that Remus didn't tell his friends that he wasn't going to be there.

"Has anyone seen Remus," Sirius asked, right as Mia arrived at the table.

She had to think fast. "Oh! That's what I came to talk to you about! Poor dear, we were walking to the library when McGonagall came to tell him that his mother is sick, and that he needed to go see her immediately. He felt horrible that he would miss your party, Sirius, but he gave me his present so that I can give it to you tomorrow."

Sirius visibly deflated at that. "Oh. I hope his mom is alright. I mean, we can always celebrate with him after."

Mia felt horrible for lying like that, but she knew that the last thing Remus wanted was for his friends to find out his secret. She quickly turned the topic back to the party, and Sirius perked up a bit.

It felt like this night was worse than all the other ones combined. She couldn't handle waiting in the common room and instead went up to stay with Jamie around midnight.

As she walked into the room, she tiptoed softly to James' bed, only to be startled by a voice saying, "Kitten?"

She looked at Sirius and saw that he had a very confused expression on his face. A quick look at the clock said that it was already past midnight. She turned to him with a smile and said, "Happy birthday, Sirius."

He smiled back at her. "Can I ask for something for my birthday, Kitten?"

"What do you want?"

He looked at her with a tired smile, but a mischievous glint in his eyes. "A kiss."

"A kiss? Are you even going to remember this in the morning?" She inquired.

"I think we will have to just wait and see."

Giving him a mischievous smile, she bent down and kissed his cheek. He pouted at that, and she said, "Next time, ask me when you're awake."

"You're no fun." He said, but she knew he didn't mean it.

"Go to sleep, Sirius, you have a big day tomorrow."

"Only if you lay down with me." He bargained.

She granted his wish before she could overthink things, getting under the covers with him. "This should become a yearly tradition," he murmured into her hair.

Mia just laughed softly.

As soon as she felt his breathing even out, showing how he was asleep, she slipped out from his bed and went to her brother.

Somehow, sleep didn't come as easily as she would've thought after she left his arms.

-

The next morning, she woke up before everyone and quickly went to her room to get ready for the day. She was out of her dorm before her roommates even woke up.

Mia took her time walking to the Hospital Wing, trying to think of how she is going to tell Remus. She knew he wasn't going to like her knowing, but she hasn't cared about what others thought for years now.

Madame Pomfrey was at the door, and as Mia came in the older woman tried to steer her away.

"It's ok, Madame Pomfrey, I know." Pomfrey looked visibly more relaxed at that, and let Mia go see her friend.

Remus was asleep when she arrived by his bed but woke up at the sounds she made while sitting down in the chair next to his bed.

"Morning, Remus."

Mia doesn't think she has ever seen Remus look that scared. "Mia. What. Um. I don't know what you think I'm here for. But. um."

"It's ok, Remus. I know." She echoed the words she had just spoken to Madame Pomfrey.

"And… and you don't think I'm a monster?"

Mia's heart shattered. "Oh, Remus, of course not. I could never think that of you. I know you wouldn't even hurt a fly."

"But.. but... I become this horrible thing-"

"Let me stop you right there," Mia said with a harsh tone that shut him up immediately. "I will not be judging you on what you become during a couple of hours once a month because some horrible person decided to bite you when you were young. And besides, if we are going on the fact that you become a horrible thing once a month, I'm pretty sure that James would say that I'm a monster too."

She was glad to get a laugh out of him at that. "So you don't hate me?"

"Of course I don't hate you." She said, getting something out of her bag and handing it to him. "Here, have some chocolate, it should make you feel better."

He smiled at her, "Thank you." A look of panic crossed his eyes. "The boys! Sirius!"

"Don't worry, I handled it. They think you're with your mother who has fallen ill. Sirius is a bit upset that you will miss his birthday, but you can just make it up to him another day."

He looked at her with a strange look in his eyes. "I really don't deserve you, Mia. Thank you so much for everything you do for me."

"Oh hush," she said, "eat your chocolate."

Remus looked puzzled for a moment while taking a bite of his chocolate. "How did you figure it out, though?"

"You might be fooling those morons, but did you really think I wouldn't notice the signs?"

He looked a bit sheepish at that. "Yeah, I should've thought about that."

Mia looked at the time then got up. "As much as I would love to stay here talking to you all day, I really need to go get some breakfast. I'll be back later to keep you some company."

"Thanks again," he said, with his mouth full of chocolate.

She gave him a smile and a wave goodbye.

Mia didn't even need to be in the Great Hall to know that the celebrations for Sirius' birthday had begun, the noise did it for her.

She couldn't help the smile that took over her face as she looked at the scene before her. Sirius seemed to be sitting on some sort of balloon thrown with a crown on top of his head. James and Peter were in front of him, laughing loudly at something he said. Marlene and Lily were sitting a bit away, but she could still see their smiles at the scene.

Mia sat next to Sirius, giving him a big hug and saying, "Happy birthday!"

When she pulled away, she saw a glint in his eyes that she wasn't sure if it meant that he remembered the previous night, or if he was just happy with all of the attention he was getting.

"Why thank you, Kitten." He said, not going back to his breakfast, and instead looked expectantly up at her.

Mia gave him a look. "You're lucky I brought them with me, Sirius. I could've chosen to give them to you tonight."

He chuckled. "You wouldn't. Now gimme gimme."

"Here is Remus'," she said, handing him a box of cauldron cakes, at which he smiled widely at and set aside. "And this one is mine." She nervously gave him the small box which she had wrapped up in red and gold paper.

He slowly took it out of her hands and tore the paper away. As he opened the box, he immediately looked up at her. "A penknife?"

Mia started twisting her hands in her lap. "Well, yeah. I thought you would like it, considering the amount of mischief you tend to get into. I even charmed one of the blades to open any door. I figured that would be helpful. The engraving of S.B. I just thought it would be charming." She gave him a worried look.

Right as she finished speaking, Sirius enveloped her in a giant hug. "Thank you. No one has ever put that much thought into giving me something before." She saw him blinking fast as they pulled apart.

She started blushing, but didn't get to respond as James then yelled, "Hey! I thought a lot about my gift to you."

"Yes, James, but it was a Puddlemere album. Calm down." They both chuckled a bit at that.

"Just don't get caught," Mia said with a smile. Sirius smiled right back at her.

The day passed by quite quickly after that. She went to her classes, visited Remus at the Hospital Wing, and before she knew it, it was already time to get ready for Sirius' party.

Marlene rushed her through her shower, saying they needed at least two hours to get ready. Mia just chuckled, silently thanking Merlin that at least in this life she didn't have to deal with a nest of a hair before parties.

Marlene did do her hair though, putting a gold ribbon on it. Mia had to say, it really looked beautiful.

If only it were that easy to have picked her outfit, as well. She wanted to wear one of the dresses that she had bought with Ma before coming to school, but apparently, that wasn't "party-appropriate". She ended up borrowing a cute, knee-length dress from Lily, which had flowers all over it.

She couldn't remember the last time that she wore muggle clothes, but she found that she quite missed them. Maybe sometime soon she could go shopping with Lily and get some new clothes for herself.

She happily allowed Dorcas to do her makeup and was happy with the very light way it enhanced her features.

She sat down on her bed, mindful not to crease the dress, and waited for the rest of the girls to get ready.

When they all went down to the common room, the party was already in full swing. It seemed like everyone in Gryffindor liked the excuse to party, as it was so full they could barely get past people.

Sirius did indeed get a banner with his face on it and had even asked one of the older years to charm it so that he would be winking the entire time. There was also a table food of yummy goodies, courtesy of the house-elves, which people seemed to huddle around.

They found Sirius and her brother, at last, dancing. It was quite funny to watch them dance, and she just chuckled in the corner waiting for them to finish.

James was the first to notice her when the song ended. "Mi! Finally! You girls take way too much time getting ready."

She gave James a smile and turned to Sirius, who was staring at us. "The party looks great, Sirius, congrats."

He snapped out of his reverie and gave her a smirk. "Thanks, Kitten. I'm glad you think so."

James put an arm around Sirius' shoulder. "Mate, you definitely have to help plan the party Mia and I are going to have. Our birthday is in March, so not actually that far away."

Sirius gave him a look she could not decipher. "Yeah, that would be awesome!"

She laughed at the pair and went off to find her friends.

The party was a great success. It lasted for hours; everyone was dancing or eating or sitting on the couches telling stories and laughing. It had been years since Mia had gone to a party, and she never had as much fun as she did tonight with her friends and her boys.

Towards the end of the party, she went onto the balcony to get some air. The full moon had been the previous night, so the moon was still acting as a beacon in the sky, illuminating the entire expanse of the Hogwarts grounds and the forest beyond it. It was quite a beautiful sight.

"You look beautiful. Not sure if I mentioned that earlier." She turned to see Sirius walking towards her.

Mia gave him a small smile, hoping he couldn't see the blush on her cheeks. "Thank you. What are you doing away from your party?"

"Same as you, I suppose. I just needed a break from all of my adoring fans." He teased, causing her to laugh.

They stood in silence for a while, then Sirius said, "I remember, you know."

"Hmm?"

"Last night. I remember."

"Oh."

He stepped closer to her. "I know we already started one tradition, but I was hoping we could start another one as well."

"And what would that be, Mr Black?" She teased, turning fully towards him.

"Well, I'm awake now. And I'm asking." He gave her that look again, the one where she couldn't understand. She just saw how his eyes looked like molten silver in the moonlight, and couldn't seem to be able to look away.

"Since you asked so nicely, I think that will be in order." She smiled softly.

Just as Sirius was leaning in and Mia was closing her eyes, a flapping of wings interrupted them. They both turned to look at the owl, who perched itself on the railing beside them.

Sirius didn't seem like he wanted to leave the position they were in, but he still did and went to get the letter that was attached to its foot.

"It's my family's owl," he explained.

"Oh." Was all she said.

He read through the letter quickly, and she saw a smile grace his features. "It's from Reggie. He said that our parents are finally asleep so he could write to me."

"That's sweet of him."

"Yeah." He blinked a couple of times. "I just get worried about him there alone sometimes."

"I'm sure he's fine, Sirius." He looked like he was going to debate her on that, so she continued, "You still have a couple more minutes of birthday time left. You should go and enjoy your party."

"But.." He started, getting closer to her again.

"Traditions can be started at any time, Sirius. Ask me again next year."

He gave her a smile, which she could only interpret as the fact that he took that as a challenge, and went back into the party.

She took another couple of minutes to herself on the balcony, calming her racing heart. Then, leaving the scenery of the Hogwarts grounds behind her, she went back to the party and enjoyed the rest of it with her friends and her boys.