September 1, 1976
11:01 am
Hogwarts Express

The Marauders were more ready than ever for their sixth year at Hogwarts. The last year had been full of mischief and pranks that McGonagall had thought she had seen the most of, and then they proved her wrong with the amount of damage they caused.

Sliding into their compartment on the Express that not another soul would dare to go into upon the fate of severe targeting of pranking for the rest of the year, or at least the first few months, they were already full of things they planned to do to make the lives of students and professors more entertaining for better or for worse.

"What color do you reckon changing Snape's robes to will make him the most like a tomato?" James asked thoughtfully as he shut the glass compartment door behind him with a click. "Purple or orange?"

"He already looks like an albino tomato," Remus pointed out in a mild tone. "A dehydrated, albino tomato."

"What do you think, Pads?" James asked, turning to his best friend curiously. "You're the one who- not again."

The three boys all turned to him with a sigh.

Sirius had his forehead pressed against the glass window of the Express as the scenery flew by, watching the lush, mossy hills and towering mountains pass by with unusual observance. He was always the first to insult Snape, so this was most certainly something very recent.

Or, to be exact, recent to the previous night at the Leaky Cauldron.

"He's thinking about that southern girl again," Peter declared, having heard James say it earlier. "Aren't you?"

Blinking a few times, Sirius snapped back to reality and shook his head.

"Nope," he said firmly. "What girl?"

"Sirius, come on," James teased with a wide grin as he poked his friend in the side. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I don't even know what you're talking about," Sirius said with a falsely snooty tone, holding his chin up to James.

He opened his mouth to say something else and then closed in in reconsideration.

Remus and James exchanged a grin, the balloon swelling in Sirius's head with the pressure of wanting to get it all out ready to pop at any second. Sure enough, Black tried to bring her back up as casually as possible.

"I mean, it was probably just some stupid dare or something," he shrugged, looking between his friends, hoping they would confirm this. "Besides, all women love me. She probably just couldn't resist."

"Yea, no, I definitely do not think that was it," Remus said, still in a mild tone like he was only half listening. "She said 'you're my boyfriend.' I think some dude was bothering her and she probably just wanted to get out of trouble."

None of them could deny that this was highly possible.

"Okay, maybe that's true," Sirius muttered, then brightened. "But none of this really matters, because there is no chance that I'm ever going to see her again. She had a southern accent. She was probably just visiting family briefly, not staying."

"Right before school starts?" James scoffed with a raised eyebrow. "Tough chance, mate."

Remus glared at James scoldingly, giving him a silent message that they needed to just leave this alone before Sirius never stopped talking about it.

"And it meant nothing," Sirius repeated to himself.

"Right," James said, nodding along with Remus, who was doing so very forcefully.

They might have changed their minds if Sirius had mentioned the tiny, important detail that he had kissed her back.

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September 1, 1976
8:47 pm
Great Hall

Anneliese wasn't too worried about making friends.

At least, that's what she told herself as she paced back and forth in front of two enormous carved oak doors that led to the chamber she had been informed by a stern looking witch was called the Great Hall.

Bit of a stupid name, she thought to herself. They don't have much of a flair for adjectives here.

When she had attended Ilvermorny, she had made fast friends with many of her peers, the best being Leo, who she absolutely adored. Now, though, everyone here had been tightly knit for years. It was much easier to create bonds when no one knew each other, and this was quite the opposite.

The muffled sounds of students talking inside were driving her mad, just wanting to get the scope of the place already. One thing that was far different from Ilvermorny that she noticed while waiting already was that instead of a pale, icy blue for all of their torches, Hogwarts was lit by ones with golden flames.

The shadows they cast were completely different, and Anneliese couldn't decide if she liked them yet.

Suddenly, an icy feeling went through her as her stomach was being rolled up with a cold, wet rug and squeezed tightly. The feeling passed as quickly as it had come, but there was now the most peculiar sight in front of her.

There was a fat little man who appeared to be a ghost with a twisted, cherubic smile that was full of false innocence and very genuine wickedness. He seemed like he wanted to cause trouble with his newest prey, and Anneliese saw this about him immediately.

"Ooh, an ickle little American!" he squealed, doing somersaults in the air in front of her with delight. "Peevsey-"

"Peevsey needs to learn that he can't always trick everyone," Anneliese interrupted with a smile instead of annoyance. "How long have you been a poltergeist here?"

Out of all the years that Peeves had been floating throughout the corridors of Hogwarts, he had been screamed at, scolded, and been cast hexes towards to no end by students and professors alike trying to stop his mischief.

But never once in his life had one of them cared to ask about himself until now.

"I have been here since 993, almost a thousand years," he said proudly once he got over his shock. "And there has never been a peaceful day here since."

The ghost and the girl were both so intrigued by the other that neither noticed the enormous doors open, making them visible to the entire hall.

"I hope that we can work on that together then," Anneliese told him with a bright smile that somehow made her freckles more apparent. "Alliance?"

Peeves hesitated for a moment at her tan, extended hand with skeleton bones tattooed on it.

"What's in it for me?" he asked suspiciously, running a hand down his pudgy face as if there was a beard there.

"You get an excellent partner," Anneliese said confidently. "I assume causing all of this mayhem on your own can get a tad exhausting. Am I wrong?"

The students and professors watched in shock as this new girl shook hands with the poltergeist that had never once respected a student or staff member in his entire life.

"Isn't that.." Remus started, his green eyes wide and a crooked grin on his face at his friend's luck. "Isn't that the girl from the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Nevermind if she kissed Pads," James muttered in awe. "I have been trying to get Peeves on our side for six years."

"Shut up, both of you," Sirius said insistently. "I have to process this."

James and Remus exchanged an amused glance at the dramatic boy before looking back up to the front of the Great Hall where Dumbledore was standing.

"I would like to introduce our new student, Anneliese Callaway," he repeated for the third time as she had been talking to Peeves.

It was only at this third repetition that Anneliese noticed that the doors had opened and she saluted Peeves hastily, who did so back, before walking into the room with a slight nod of her head as an apologetic motion.

Anneliese Callaway, Sirius said to himself again as he watched her walk past the Gryffindor table without noticing him or any of the Marauders. Who just somehow made an alliance with Peeves within her first few minutes of being here.

Although Anneliese appeared to be just a slightly smiling face on the outside, so much more was going through her head.

The most prominent thought was that she had no idea how Americans were considered dramatic when she had to literally walk down the middle of a crowd of hundreds of judgemental teenagers. Hopefully these British people wouldn't be full of too many surprises.

Her converse didn't make a sound against the stone as she looked warily at the stool she was to sit on in front of the entire school before she knew that the longer she thought about it, the worse the nerves were going to get.

Just as she sat on the hard oak wood and turned to face the rest of the school, her eyes caught a boy sitting at one of the two middle tables immediately.

All of his features were unforgettably intense, with pale white skin and jet black hair that starkly contrasted that. His metallic eyes of silvers and greys seemed to be the thing that brought the two opposite colors, the middle ground the severity.

The two of them quickly broke it apart, considering it a one sided accident that neither would take anything away from.

A heavy weight was placed evenly on her head as the smell of dusty old leather and libraries filled her nose. A second later, a voice just as old and dry as the smell suddenly invaded her head.

I haven't had to sort a transfer student, no less an American in years, it grumbled. You are tricky ones, a new complex layer about you to get through. Have no fear, although I already detect little in you, that I will sort you into the proper house.

"Well at least it's not all that likely you'll be put in the same house," Peter said, looking to James to see if his statement was correct.

I don't like you in my head, Anneliese thought right back. I know you can hear me.

So is there something you have to hide? the hat asked. Something to do with your muggle parents, perhaps? How you landed in that orphanage?

Just hurry up with this already, Callaway persisted. I really don't think it would be a good first impression if I threw you across the room.

Let's see then, the hat said in a contemplative tone. Plenty of spirit, boldness as we can tell..

"There's just no way she's going to be put in-"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Well shit."

Anneliese's dark blue eyes were being forced by everything in her not to look at Grey Eyes as she sat down by a redhead girl that had kindly waved her over.

She never had the intention of seeing him again, only to get her out of that one bad scenario.

"I'm Lily," the ginger said, holding out her hand for Anneliese to shake. "It's lovely to meet you."

"Nice to meet you as well," Anneliese said with a smile before one of her arms was grabbed by a dark haired girl who suddenly switched sides of the food covered table to sit next to her.

"Marlene Mckinnon," she said brightly. "Southern people seem so nice."

The girl next to Lily groaned and held her head in her hands from second hand embarrassment.

"My name's Alice," she introduced herself begrudgingly. "Don't mind Lene, she has no filter whatsoever. We've gotten used to it, but I suppose you have to for the first time now as well."

"What's your blood status?" Lily asked abruptly, and then realized how it sounded when she had just been about to warn Callaway about Malfoy and Lestrange. "Not because I care about that sort of-"

"Then why'd you ask?"

Anneliese didn't know how things rolled here at Hogwarts, but back home, she had never tolerated any shit because she was muggleborn.

A low whistle came from down the table, and the four girl's heads turned in near unison.

It was Grey Eyes again.

"Those idiotic boys call themselves the Marauders," Marlene explained as she slid onto the top of the table. "The one with the glasses is James Potter, blondie is Peter Pettigrew, tall boy is Remus Lupin, and the good haired one is Sirius Black."

"Who names their child after an adjective?"

James snorted.

"The Blacks," Alice responded as they turned away from the Marauders again. "Most dramatic family you've ever met, all their children are named after stars."

"Who're the other kids?" Anneliese asked, trying to get a lay of the land as she glanced around the huge room.

"Just that depressed looking boy, yep, right there," Marlene pointed, steering Anneliese's finger in the direction. "Little brother to Sirius by a year."

"What's their deal, these Marauders?" Anneliese asked suspiciously. "Whenever a group of boys gives themselves a name, it's a band. And these don't seem like that type."

"If I had to choose one adjective, it'd be arrogant," Alice said honestly. "What about you guys?"

"Clever," Lily said, her gaze focused on the boy with the glasses in particular.

"Funny," Marlene said finally after a few moments of consideration.

They all turned to Anneliese.

"They look like they think the sun comes up just to hear them crow."

Grey Eyes wasn't going to let that one slide even if he only half knew what it meant.

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