January 11, 1977
7:58 am
Hospital Wing

As the morning light streamed through the narrow, arched windows of the hospital wing, Anneliese was hit directly in the face with the beam as a very sudden wakeup call. She had fallen asleep on top of the covers with a slouched back and arm dangling off the edge of the bed, along with an oddly heavy pressure at her feet.

Dark blue eyes fluttering open, Callaway was shocked to see James still passed out at the foot of her bed.

It took her a few seconds to remember the midnight visit the past night, and her neck whipped around to see that the clock on the rickety table read that there were only two minutes until eight o'clock.

"James!" she shouted, throwing her legs out of bed. "JAMES POTTER!"

The dark haired boy nearly toppled off the bed onto the stone floor with shock, scrambling to find his glasses as he stood up far too quickly for having just come back to consciousness.

"Quidditch," he fumbled, that being the longest sentence he could make out. "Quidditch, quidditch, quidditch."

"Yea, I gathered that myself!" Anneliese exclaimed frantically. "We need to be on the pitch in two- one minute now, come-"

"What about your shoulder?" James interrupted, slowly coming to his senses after the brief daze of confusion. "We can't have an injured Seeker."

Moving two fingers inside the wide neckline of her sweater, Callaway looked down to see that Pomfrey's magic had done the trick. The bruise was almost completely faded, with just a patch of light purple on her tan skin replacing the dark patchwork that had been there only hours ago.

"And?" James asked impatiently, eyes flicking to her shoulder. "Is it healed?"

"It's good enough," Anneliese replied, quickly lacing up her quidditch boots that she still had besides her bed from when she had taken them off directly after the match. "Come on, who team is going to be waiting on us."

The two quidditch players were so busy sprinting out of the hospital wing that they didn't notice the pair of fifth years that had been about to enter to ask Pomfrey a question.

And from afar, Potter and Callaway's little awakening could have been interpreted very differently than what actually happened.

What the two Gryffindors had just seen combined with the spiralling rumors going around about Anneliese, the fifth years decided that they were going to have a fun time with this one.

January 11, 1977
9:56 am
Gryffindor Tower

Sirius was in a bit of a sour mood after the previous night, both from having gotten about three hours of sleep and making the stupid decision to not go and with them. His pride had once again gotten in the way of what was best, and he hated himself for it as he jogged down the stairs that lead into the Gryffindor common room.

Almost immediately, he was met by a dozen whispers reaching his ears.

Now, Black was very used to having much of the Hogwarts gossip be about him, but it was almost always about something good that made him look more attractive and desirable.

Something about the way that people avoided his eyes unless it was with pitying glances, though, made him feel ever more uneasy than he had been before.

Deciding to just ignore it and that it was too early for this, Sirius pushed his way through the groups of people and made his way to the portrait hole to get some breakfast.

Just as he was sitting down next to Marlene and Remus, though, a comment from two Hufflepuffs behind him made him feel both confused and very, very angry.

"Yea, I heard that she scored the highest in the class," one of them said excitedly. "I'm honestly so happy for her, I just want to know what the actual score was."

"Couldn't be anything higher than Callaway's body count."

"Woah," Marlene said, having heard as well as she grabbed the Hufflepuff's sleeve. "What the fuck did you just say about A?"

Sirius, Remus, and Lily turned around as well with threatening glares.

"You haven't heard?" scoffed the taller one. "Apparently some fifth year Gryffindors were going to the hospital wing this morning and saw Callaway in one of the same twin beds with Potter. Sorry about that one Black, but maybe you should've hexed her a little harder."

"Oh my fucking god," Remus said with disgust. "You two have no idea what the actual hell you're talking about, so go run off and tell your friends that that's a bunch of complete bullshit."

The Hufflepuffs looked disbelieving at first, but then they saw Sirius's lethal expression and got the hell out of there for their own safety.

"Okay, what the fuck was that?" Black asked quickly. "Rumors like that don't just come out of nowhere, they have to have seen something."

"Last night while we were talking to A, James just fell asleep," Lily said with a sigh. "And of course, with all of the rumors going around, everyone's assuming that something else happened. I'm starting to agree with her dirty minded British whores saying."

"That's so fucked up," Sirius muttered. "I hate how everyone just assumes the worst in her because of a tiny cut on my neck."

They all knew good and well that it wasn't tiny, but they didn't want to point that out because of how ready Sirius seemed to snap at any moment.

"It'll get better, mate."

January 11, 1977
10:06 am
Quidditch Pitch

Even though the day had started off sunny and bright, things had quickly started to regress into a wild thunderstorm in the middle of their practice. Rain was pouring down so hard on the Gryffindors that none of them could see a foot in front of them, and the January air freezing the drop into hard pellets of ice wasn't helping much.

Even James, the ever determined player, was starting to struggle when his hands felt like they were about to fall off because of cold seeping into his gloves.

None of the players on the team knew about the morning's latest rumor yet because they had all been up too early besides one of the Beaters, who had come slightly late to practice. He hadn't done anything, thankfully, and practice was only disrupted by the weather when James all called them to a huddle.

"Good practice boys- and lady," he said over the rain as loudly as he could. "We need to keep working on that defensive formation if we want to win these last three games, but go get some breakfast for now."

"Here, I can take your broom," one of the Beaters said to Anneliese. "Going over there anyway."

Not being able to clearly see who it was through the hail, Anneliese just gratefully handed him her broom and rushed inside after James. A wave of warmth instantly hit her as she walked into the castle next to Fabian, along with a sigh of relief.

"Hey, want me to take your jersey?" Prewett asked thoughtfully. "I'm going over to the laundry anyways."

Mildly suspicious of the two offered favors in a row, Anneliese just nodded and shrugged off the crimson and gold jersey. As she walked to the great hall in the long sleeved, tight black undershirt and dragonhide pants, Callaway felt like the ice had adhered itself to her body.

"So I'm guessing you got stuck in the rain?" Dorcas asked as A sat down next to her. "Or you just decided to take a shower with all your clothes on?"

"The second option," Anneliese replied sarcastically. "I'm starving, I didn't get to grab anything before I had to get to practice."

Meadowes silently opted not to tell her friend about the rumor going around just yet, she didn't want to spoil her freezing but generally cheery mood. From down the table, Lily got up as James sat down to move over to where Anneliese was sitting.

Remus, Peter, and Sirius had already gone up to the common room to cram for their Potions quiz at eleven, and it was a good excuse for Lupin and Pettigrew to not have to manage their friend's grudge.

"Is your shoulder good now?" Lily asked, taking a sip of morning hot chocolate. "Did Pomfrey's spell work, that is?"

"Yea, just a very small one now," Anneliese said with a smile. "I would have been good at practice if literal bullets hadn't been coming from the sky."

"You know, I will never understand why muggles made those things," Dorcas said with a small frown. "Guns, that is."

"I do," Anneliese replied. "They're much more efficient than wands, and it takes quite a bit of strength to destroy them when you can just snap a wand in half. Plus, it's much harder to stop a bullet than stop a spell. And, once you get a hang of the aim, it really doesn't require much talent to shoot one accurately- why are yall lookin at me like that?"

"Nothing," Dorcas said with an amused glance at Lily, who grinned back. "You're just definitely from the South-"

"Oh, shut up," Anneliese cut her off, but was smiling as well. "I just know things, and you're a pureblood."

"Fair enough," Dorcas grinned back. "By the way-"

Meadowes was cut off mid thought by a very nervous looking second year Gryffindor girl standing behind them with her hands clasped behind her back to try and hide their fidgeting.

"Uhm, Callaway, Remus said that you needed to come to the common room as soon as possible," she said in a tiny voice. "He also said that he has no idea who did it, but it definitely wasn't Black and you shouldn't worry about that part of it."

Anneliese didn't have any time to ask more questions before the short girl scurried off like a scared little mouse.

"Uhm, what?" she asked Dorcas and Lily, who just shrugged as well. "Should we go then?"

The three girls got up, and James, Alice, and Frank followed behind them as well at the odd looks on their faces. It was slowly becoming practice among the sixth year Gryffindors to always make sure that the others, particularly Anneliese, were never alone because of all the vicious rumors going around.

"What did that little girl say to get you all nervous?" James asked, spraying them all with freezing water droplets when he ran his fingers through his hair. "Oops, sorry."

"She just said that Remus said to come to the common room," Lily relayed. "I don't know, but I've been noticing that our whole table is almost empty."

Sure enough, when the six looked back down the corridor just before they turned a corner, they could make out that the Gryffindor table was unusually empty for this time of day when everyone was normally eating.

"What the hell?" Frank muttered under his breath. "Do you reckon this has anything to do with that stupid rumor this morning?"

"What rumor?" Anneliese asked quickly with narrowed eyes. "What now?"

"Someone saw you and James walking out of the hospital wing together from the same bed and twisted the living shit out of it," Alice told her and Potter sadly. "Yea, it's crazy, I know."

"But like..," James trailed off, immensely confused. "Do I not make it obvious enough that I like, Lily?"

"No, you do!" the redhead interrupted quickly, not wanting the weekly declarations to change into daily ones. "I just think that it's more of an A thing than a you thing."

"Merlin, it must suck to be a girl," James sighed as they neared the portrait hole. "None of this ever happened to Pads when everyone knows that he's slept with so many people."

"Welcome to my world," Anneliese grumbled as they walked into the common room. "I honestly- why is everyone so quiet?"

The sixth years looked around in alarm to see that she was right. The entire common room had gone almost completely silent as they stared at Anneliese, not knowing what her reaction would be to whatever had happened.

Silently, she shoved through the crowd of people around the fireplace to where most of the attention seemed to be gathered to see Remus and Peter standing there in front of the mahogany coffee table with grimaces frozen in the posture.

Her broom was resting there, but it had been completely defiled.

Carvings of words like slut, whore, mudblood, bitch, and hoe were ingrained in the wood, along with much more hurtful phrases that cut much deeper than just those few curses.

Anneliese wrapped her skeleton tattooed hand around the center to read more closely what had been carved, and several jolts went through her stomach.

go back to ilvermorny - it's what's best for all of us

maybe you should just let every guy at school fuck you to make black jealous

get into more of that dark magic, hopefully it'll kill you

The Gryffindors were all waiting breathlessly for her to react.

And truthfully, Anneliese didn't know what to do, either.

She had the obvious temptation to break down into tears, but that clearly wasn't an option because of how many people she was in front of. The only person she had cried in front of at Hogwarts was Sirius, and she planned to keep it that way for as long as possible.

After the misery that came along with the realization of how little she belonged, Anneliese was just purely angry. What disturbed thought would have to cross someone's mind to do such a thing. What satisfaction were they hoping to get?

A confused voice broke her thoughts.

Sirius had been upstairs during this whole series of events, and the absence of chaos and noise from the common room had alarmed him to the point of coming down the stairs. When he descended them and saw so many Gryffindors all around Anneliese, his confusion and then irritation only further grew.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked, slowly walking between a group of fourth years to get to the sort of clearing where Anneliese was standing. "What-"

His observant silver eyes landed on the broom with a sharp inhale.

remus is next after james and sirius, maybe she'll try and sleep with all the marauders before she finally leaves

The breathlessness only grew as Sirius didn't look at Anneliese at all as he slammed the portrait hole behind him.

"Well, I guess he really hates you, then," a seventh year said loudly. "Wouldn't even defend you, would he? Probably wanted to hex you again-"

"Shut up," Callaway said sharply, tossing the ruined broom down carelessly on the orange couch. "Actually, nevermind, please continue. I'm dying to know, does anyone else have something to say to my face? Or would you rather just be a bunch of cowards and hide behind carvings and whispers?"

Not a single person spoke as she scanned the room with disgust.

She was itching to use one of her spells.

"I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave when I came here," she said in a low tone. "Or at least stupidly brash. This just shows what a bunch of little fakes yall are."

Even James had nothing to say.

"Have a good morning," she said with a false smile as she swung open the portrait hole. "And if you have something to say to my face, I'll be around."

They were going to push her to her breaking point.

i wonder where sirius went off to

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