Chapter 14

"Are you excited to see your family, Adria?" asked Lily as the five girls sat in the comfortable compartment aboard the Hogwarts express, the train had left Hogsmeade station just under half an hour ago, leaving the girls time to get situated. Of course, Adria was rather comfortable in her seat with the girls, but she knew at some point sooner or later she would have to make the journey to the compartment at the end of the train where the boys sat.

"Extremely," she nodded, a wide grin on her lips as she looked up from the book in her hands, "are you?"

"Yes," Lily smiled, "but I'm kind of dreading Petunia."

"Don't worry about her, Lils, don't let her ruin your Christmas." Marlene piped in, placing a comforting hand on the red heads shoulder.

"I won't," she sighed, propping her book against her knees, "it's just- I wish that she understood that I'm not any different, y'know?"

"We know, Lils," Adria sighed, "it must be tough."

"I wish I had your siblings," Lily commented, "Well I wish Petunia was like your siblings, do they even care?"

"That I'm a witch?" asked Adria, waiting before Lily nodded to continue, "Well, yes, but in a different way, they're fascinated with it, and a little bit jealous that I get to go to Hogwarts. They're always saying I should make the most of it, and all, but I don't really know what they mean."

"Maybe they mean to prank everyone," A new voice entered the compartment, owned by Sirius who took a seat next to Adria.

"Or maybe they meant not to disturb everyone," Adria shrugged, "guess we'll never know."

"What do you plan on doing over the holidays?" Adria asked Sirius, she was already facing him as her back leaned against the wall of the train. She watched Sirius think for a moment, a small frown on his lips as he pulled his legs onto the seat.

"Hide in my room," he scoffed, "nothing else to do."

"What do you mean, aren't you spending it with your family?" asked Adria, thinking back to the time when he punched Regulus and wondered if he didn't have a great relationship with all of his family, and not just his brother.

"Not really," he chuckled as though it wasn't a big deal, "I'd rather just count down the days until I return to Hogwarts."

"That's no way to spend the holidays," Adria frowned, as much as her friends disapproved, seeing as not one of them greeted Sirius as he entered the compartment, she was his friend. They made a deal to be friends, and she rather enjoyed his company, she would never want to see her friends have a terrible Christmas, especially when it was her favourite holiday.

"It's not a big deal, really." Sirius shrugged, "I have nothing else to do, anyway."

"That's just unfair," Adria sighed, shaking her head slightly, it did put a damper on her mood that Sirius wasn't going to have a worthy Christmas, but it made her wonder what his family was actually like.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Mary piped in, "right Sirius?"

"No," Sirius shook his head, "it's really not."

"You don't have to lie just because I'm upset about it," Adria rolled her eyes, she gave Mary a look, to which she raised her arms in defence and turned back to her muggle book which Adria lent her.

"Adria, I'll be fine, I've put up with my family for my whole life, another Christmas won't hurt." Sirius chuckled, he knew that his friends hated his family, it was rather obvious seeing as he did as well, but they hadn't cared so much to become upset about what he done at home, like Adria did, it took him by surprise.

"But Christmas is about spending time with people you love-"

"And I'm sure I'll do that when I'm older, but for now I'll just have to bear my family." Sirius sighed, patting the girls knee before getting up from his seat, "I should get back to the boys, I was only stretching my legs." He forced a grin onto his face before exiting the compartment.

"Why are you so concerned, Adria?" asked Dorcas, pushing herself up from the floor and taking the seat that Sirius previously sat at, she leaned herself against the other wall, so she was facing Adria.

"Because it's just unfair, isn't it?" Adria sighed, "he's my friend, and I wouldn't want any of my friends having a terrible Christmas."

"Ads, you hated him like two weeks ago!" Marlene exclaimed, a laugh of disbelief escaping her lips.

"Yes, but we're friends now, I'm friends with all of them now, they're actually rather great company." Adria grinned.

"Are they the reason you weren't in classes last week?" asked Lily, resulting in a speechless Adria as she tried to find the right words.

"We were only having some fun..." Adria trailed off, a slight redness to her cheeks as her four friends looked at her in disbelief, that Adria of all people had skipped classes.

"You told me you weren't feeling well!" Marlene exclaimed, whilst Mary and Dorcas nodded. Lily sighed disapprovingly, shaking her head at the girl.

"It was one day, and I didn't miss anything!" Adria exclaimed, "we weren't even doing work!"

"Did the professors find out?" asked Dorcas, her eyebrow raised from across the seat, Adria shook her head silently.

"I told them I wasn't feeling too good," Adria shrugged, "it won't happen again, Lils." She chuckled, looking over at a frowning Lily.

"Was Remus there too?" she asked, knowing that Remus was actually quite responsible compared to his friends.

"Yeah," Adria nodded, "He was trying to persuade me just as much as the others where."

"What did you all do?" asked Mary, closing the book on her knees to focus much more on the conversation.

"We went to Hogsmeade," Adria shrugged, she felt rather embarrassed that her friends where so shocked, she didn't think it was that hard to believe that she was one to skip class.

"Hogsmeade!" the four repeated in unison.

"I don't see what the big deal is!" Adria groaned, throwing her head back which resulted in her hitting it off of the window, "like I said, I didn't miss anything in classes, and I had fun!"

"Oh, that makes it all okay," Lily scoffed, "as long as you had fun, who cares about education!"

"Okay, you know what, it really isn't a big deal!" Adria laughed, grabbing her book and making her way to the door of the compartment, "I'll be with the boys if you need me."

The hallway of the Hogwart's express was rather busy when she left the girls compartment, she tried her best to manoeuvre through students, but she ended up falling right into the back of someone, "Sorry!" she squeaked, helping the boy up.

"Oh no, my fault," he chuckled, shaking his head as he picked himself up, "I'm Milo," he stuck his hand out after dusting himself off, and fixing the glasses that Adria had made fall from his face.

Adria grinned up at the boy who almost towered over her and grabbed his hand to shake, "Adria."

"I actually know who you are," he said truthfully, "We are, uh, we're in the same Arithmancy class."

"Oh!" Adria gasped, "I'm sorry, I'm not so good with names and faces," she tried her best not to seem embarrassed but it was rather hard in the company of a stranger, which resulted in the red tinge that flooded her cheeks for the second time.

"Well I better get back to my friend," Milo said, pointing behind him, "unless you would like to join us?"

"Oh, really?" she asked, she wasn't so good in the presence of strangers, but Milo seemed rather nice. He was a Ravenclaw, which she noted from the blue and bronze that gave colour to the black robes he wore, similar to hers adorned with red and gold. Her friends where only Gryffindor's, and she thought it would be rather exciting to have someone to know outside of her own house, so instead of shaking her head no, she done the exact opposite and with an enthusiastic nod said, "yes, that'd be lovely."

Milo beamed as he lead the way to the compartment his friend was, starting up some chatter with Adria to which she replied as best she could. She had to admit that she wasn't the best when it came to conversation, of course she was comfortable with her friends and could speak for hours on end with them but she was rather reserved, seeing as she had only just bumped into Milo, quite literally.

"We have arrived!" Milo exclaimed, causing Adria to giggle as she followed him into the almost empty compartment, except from one boy who was from Hufflepuff. His eyes widened when he seen that Milo wasn't the only one to return, and tried best to keep his composure when he saw Adria's face.

"This is Finn," Milo said, taking a seat opposite of the blonde-haired boy. Adria followed his lead, and directed a kind smile at Finn who was trying his best not to stare too much.

"Well, Finnegan," he stuttered, sticking out his hand rather abruptly, "but my friends- well friend...Milo, he calls me Finn."

Adria grinned, seeing as Finn seemed rather shy at least she could relate to him, "I'm Adria." She said, taking his hand and shaking it.

"I know-" he cringed, watching Adria's eyebrows furrow slightly in confusion, "I mean it's nice to meet you, we're in the same Herbology class." She watched his cheeks flush red with embarrassment, and thought he reminded her slightly of Peter. The two looked completely different, Peter was small, round and rather chubby, with brown hair blue eyes whilst Finn was skinnier with bright green eyes and light blonde hair, if Adria was being completely honest she thought he was rather pretty.

She thought Milo was too, both of them where handsome to her, which she would never admit, but she thought Milo reminded her a lot of James with his messy brown hair that was just a little shorter and the black glasses that shielded his face, and because of this did it make Adria feel slightly weird that she thought that he was in any way attractive.

"I'm sorry," Adria sighed, "I'm not good at remembering names and faces, well I'm not used to it. I didn't have any friends for a long time, and well now I do, so it's a little bit odd for me to remember everyone's face." She rambled on, letting out a small laugh. Both Milo and Finn smiled at her as she talked, as though they were encouraging her and she thought it was rather nice, "I would like to call you Finn, if that's okay?"

"Of course!" Finn exclaimed, beaming at the girl, "does that mean that we are friends?"

"Well, I'd like that," Adria nodded, a grin on her lips, "but we need to be friends, too." She said, looking at Milo who nodded.

"Oh yeah, of course." He said, a small laugh escaping his lips as he leaned against the wall of the train.

"Are you excited for Christmas?" asked Finn, rather shocked still that Milo was able to talk to the pretty girl, and wondered what he done for her to talk back. He wasn't used to other people, and would much rather stick to just Milo, but he knew about Adria, and was curious about her, just like mostly everyone in their school year. Of course, if you told her that she'd probably think you were lying.

"Oh, yes!" Adria grinned, wide eyed as she thought of the holiday that was occurring in just a short amount of days, "so excited, I love Christmas!"

"Me too!" Finn laughed, "I think it's my favourite holiday, but I do love Halloween."

"Me too!" Adria gasped, "I love Halloween, I used to think that Halloween was my favourite holiday, but I think I prefer Christmas that little bit more."

"Well, you get presents!" Milo piped in, earning laughs from the two.

"So, what's it like, being a Gryffindor?" asked Milo, "I'm curious about the other houses, and seeing as I know about Finn's house, I'd like to know about yours if it's okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Adria laughed, "It's just normal, I think. The common room is wonderful, it's so cosy and I'd spend my life there if I could, but there's a lack of plant's, I've noticed. I love Gryffindor, but I think I'm not meant to be in it, y'know. I always thought I should be a Hufflepuff, and I still do, actually, I'm not really brave." She sighed, looking at Finn's robes adorned with Yellow and Black.

"Well, maybe you're a Gryffinpuff." Finn suggested, which earned a look of confusion for the girl.

"A Gryffin...what?" she asked, her eyebrow raised.

He suddenly felt rather self-conscious about his words, seeing as she was completely confused, but when Milo spoke up, it seemed that he shouldn't have worried, "I always thought I was meant to be in Gryffindor, because I didn't think of myself as witty or intelligent, even though Finn tells me otherwise, but I did see myself as brave so we came up with Ravendor, which is a combination of the two."

"Oh!" Adria gasped, laughing at the thought, "I like that!" she grinned, thinking of Gryffinpuff, it was rather amusing.

"Would you be a combination of two houses, Finn?" she asked, a smile on her face as she looked at the boy.

He shook his head, "I may not be pureblood, but I'm pure Hufflepuff." Adria let out a laugh at his response, whilst Milo merely shook his head.

"Are you a pureblood?" Milo asked Adria, his head titled as he asked the question.

"No, muggleborn." She shrugged, "I really don't see the big issue with blood purity, it's a little odd, isn't it?"

"Extremely!" Finn exclaimed, "I'm half-blood, which is great because I get to experience movies, whilst also having magic at home."

"Oh, I'd love that!" Adria exclaimed, "It'd make tidying my room much easier, what about you, Milo, are you pureblood?"

"Nope," he shook his head, "just like you, I'm muggleborn."

"I think there's a lot more muggleborn and half-bloods than there are pureblood's, I really don't see what all the fuss is about, we all learn the same thing, and no matter your blood status, you'll learn at different paces, so it really shouldn't matter." Adria sighed, shaking her head slightly at the prejudices that even students are accustomed too.

"I agree," Finn said, "I'm not too fond of all those Slytherin's who think they're great because of their blood status."

"Oh, me neither." Adria sighed, shaking her head, "although, I do feel rather bad for the Slytherin's who are misunderstood to be bad people, when it's just their house that has a terrible reputation."

"I agree too," Milo nodded, "now enough of all this grown-up stuff, who wants some fudge flies?"

[A/N i seriously couldn't help myself, i had to add some characters not in Gryffindor, so meet Milo and Finn, I love them!

PS. I've added Milo, Finn, Mary, Dorcas and Marlene to my characters page at the start of the book if you want to see them! :)]