Chapter 31

"You're not weird, Alina," Adria sighed, the two siblings at across from each other in the common room of the Gryffindor tower on the day after classes had started, classes had already finished for the day, and Adria wasted no time to retrieve Alina so she could know all about how her day went.

"Yes I am!" Alina exclaimed, her eyes welling with tears that she wouldn't let spill, her much shorter, lighter brown hair, different from Adria's fell over her shoulders, almost hiding her features from view but Adria could see quite clearly that she was upset, "they look at me like I'm this...this alien!"

Anger bubbled in the pit of Adria's stomach, her long, darker brown hair which she had styled into a loose braid fell down her back, and swished when she shook her head furiously, her eyes narrowed into slits at the thought of anyone hurting her sister, "You are not an Alien, or anything strange, or weird, or odd, you are Alina and you are full of love and kindness and whoever cannot see past that is not worth your time!"

"Love and kindness won't get me friends, Addy," the girl pouted, her voice trembling as the first tear spilled, running down her face slowly as though the first drop of a storm to come.

"It'll get you the right friends, Alina!" Adria exclaimed, "now please, stop crying Alina because your pretty face shouldn't be the victim of tears unless they are of happiness!"

"I can't," the eleven-year-old whispered, hiding her face from her sisters view as she let out a sob she was unable to hold back, the sound rang through Adria's ears painfully, her sister meant the world to her and she never ever wanted anything to hurt her, it felt like a stab in her stomach knowing that her sister was miserable.

"Alina, you should never be upset over such prejudices!" Adria sighed, leaning forward and gently pulling her hands away from her face, "you deserve to be in Slytherin, if the hat chose Slytherin for you that is where you belong, who cares if you're a muggleborn, we are too young to have to deal with something we aren't able to control, please, Alina, do not worry."

"I've only been here a few days, three days and everyone hates me already," the younger of the two whispered, her throat aching with the knot that formed and her hands shaking with sadness, "I want to go home."

"Don't say that, Allie," Adria whispered, shaking her head with a tear of her own spilling from her eyes, "Hogwart's will be amazing for you, no matter what house you are in you don't need friends in that house, I have friends in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw as well as Gryffindor."

"But none from Slytherin," Allie sighed, choking back a sob as she looked away from her sister.

"Well no, I don't," Adria said truthfully, "but Lily does, and Lily is a muggleborn." Although she wasn't overly fond of Severus Snape, he was a perfect example.

"But who would want to be friends with me?" asked Alina, "I thought maybe I would get into Hufflepuff."

Adria let out a soft laugh, her eyes widening slightly with disbelief shining through, "so did I, I didn't think I was right for Gryffindor, but my friends have showed me over the time that I've know them that I belong here, and yes there are times when I still think maybe I should be in Hufflepuff so you know what I am? I'm a Gryffinpuff." Alina giggled through her tears, her eyes squinting as she let a faint smile fall on her lips.

"So, does that mean I'm a Slytherpuff?" asked Alina, pulling her hand from Adria's grip to wipe her tearstained cheeks.

"Or a Hufflerin?" Adria suggested, frowning when it didn't sound good when she said it aloud.

"I think Slytherpuff," Alina whispered, "are you sure that I'll make friends, Adria? Promise me."

"I pinky promise," Adria stuck out her pinky, watching Alina reluctantly wrap her own around it, "you already have friends, Alina, you have me."

"That's a little bit embarrassing," Alina muttered, earning a scowl from Adria.

"Embarrassing or not, you still have me, and Sirius, and Lily, and Remus, and James, and Peter and Dorcas, and Mary, and Marlene-"

"I think I get it," Alina giggled.

"Good because I was running out of friends," Adria grinned, wrapping her arms around Alina in a tight hug, "all I'm saying is, you don't have to make friends straight away Alina, but you know what happened to me, I don't want you to be in third year with no friends, because my friends are the best thing to ever happen at me here at Hogwarts."

"Oh she loves us!" Adria heard behind her, she rolled her eyes as she pulled away from Alina to see the boys grinning down at the two of them.

"I'm having a hard time telling which one's Adria," James joked, taking a seat on the armchair near the fire.

"The pretty one," Alina said quietly, Adria turned to her with a frown, noticing Alina hiding her face from her with her hair, she moved the light brown locks from the younger ones face.

"You are beautiful, Alina," Adria whispered.

"Not like you, Adria, over the past few days I've heard your name a billion times just passing people in the hall!" she exclaimed. Adria frowned, rather confused about who could possibly know her name apart from her friends, she turned to Sirius who took the seat beside her.

"Who knows me?" she asked, her head tilting slightly whilst the boys scoffed.

"Are you kidding, Adria?" asked Peter, leaning against the arm chair that James sat on, "everyone!"

"Oh shush Peter, that's not true," she laughed, nudging Sirius for agreement but he nodded instead.

"He's right, Ads," Sirius muttered, "every class I go into all I hear is people talking about you."

"And what are they saying?" she asked, an anxious feeling rising in her stomach and the faint beat of her heart quickening.

"It's not bad things, Ads," Remus chuckled, "everyone just wants to know you."

"That's not true," she laughed, the braid she had styled in her hair falling over her shoulder when she shook her head.

"It is!" James exclaimed, nodding, "you're much more popular than you think!"

"See," Alina muttered, "told you."

"Well we've only been back for a few days, Allie," Adria smiled, "everyone just needs to get to know you a little more."

"Exactly!" the boys agreed.

"And also," Adria sighed, something she had been doing a lot, "what other people think of you doesn't make you a good person, you make yourself a good person. Love and Kindness matter, Allie, because it gets reciprocated and you end up with the best friends you could ever have!"

"Aww thanks, Adria!" Sirius grinned, throwing his arms around her in a side hug.

"I was talking about the girls," she joked, earning a small laugh from Alina whilst Sirius pouted, his head leaning on Adria's shoulder as he frowned.

"I thought love and kindness matter, Ads," he huffed, "you aren't being at all kind."

"It's payback for when I met you four last year," Adria shrugged, grinning slightly as she squeezed Alina's hand reassuringly.

"That was last year!" James exclaimed from the armchair he sat on, "c'mon Ads, learn to let go!"

"What happened?!" asked Alina, a sly glint in Sirius' eye when he realised that Alina had no knowledge of their pranks.

"Well, us four boys have maybe dabbled in a few pranks-"

"That are-"

"Cruel, Humiliating and she doesn't condone them!" the four boys said in unison, earning a scowl from Adria whilst Alina covered her mouth to hide her giggles.

"Anyway," Sirius grinned, slinging his arm around Adria who simply glared at him but made no move to remove his arm, "when Adria was a shy little third year near the start of last year, just after she made friends with Lily Evans, myself and Mr Potter came up with a brilliant prank-"

"It was terribly humiliating, actually," Adria huffed.

"I agree," Remus said, "it wasn't funny at all."

"Fine, it was cruel and all but if we hadn't done it, you'd probably not be our friend, so..." Sirius trailed off, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"And what would you do without me in your life?" Adria joked, turning slightly to look at Sirius and squeezing his cheeks in her hand.

"Well there would be no point in living," Sirius shrugged, earning an eye roll from Adria who turned back to her sister that eyed her and Sirius suspiciously.

"We tricked Adria into falling into the black lake and she was covered in dirt and water and hated us for so long," James said, rolling his eyes at Adria and Sirius, whilst telling Alina the story. Alina burst into a fit of laughter at the thought, covering her mouth in any attempts that Adria didn't notice, but she did, clearly.

"This is why you're a Slytherin," Adria grumbled, throwing a couch cushion at her, which she managed to catch.

"That wasn't very nice!" Adria heard behind her, she turned watching her four friends walking down the stairs from the girl's dormitory, all of them throwing her a knowing look, and Mary gesturing to Sirius beside her, which he couldn't see.

She grabbed the cushion behind her, throwing at Mary who ducked quickly, turning back around she caught Remus' eye, who smirked knowingly before going back to his book, "what's that look for, Remus?" asked Sirius beside her, eying him curiously.

"Wha- oh nothing," he grinned, his eyes trailing to Adria whose face had heated up a considerable amount, "nothing at all."

"Adria, we are practicing tomorrow for try outs," James announced as the four girls joined them, much to Lily's dismay, "did your parents get you a broom?"

"They did," Adria nodded, "and I was actually able to explain the game to Benji!" she smiled widely.

"That's great!" James beamed, happy that someone he was so close with could actually join him on the team.

"When is try outs?" asked Adria, "I know that the games start some time in November, but are try outs around then, or sooner for practice?"

"Sooner for practice," James nodded, "end of this month, start of next month, I think."

"I think I should just ask Finn," Adria chuckled, rolling her eyes as James threw her a look.

"Who's Finn?" Alina asked, she had wrapped the blanket that her and Adria shared only around herself now, much to Adria's dismay as she was rather cold.

"My friend, in Hufflepuff, remember?" Adria said, "I thought I told you about Finn and Milo!"

"Oh yeah," Alina nodded, "I remember now, the blonde haired one, pretty or something?"

"That's the one!" Adria nodded.

"You think Finn's pretty?" asked Sirius, turning his head to look at her as she shrugged.

"It was an observation," she noticed Mary and Dorcas exchanged looks and tried to supress the urge to roll her eyes, "I think a lot of things are pretty."

"She does," Alina nodded, "once called a dog pretty."

"That dog was beautiful!" Adria exclaimed, turning to her sister with a glare, "it was all black and just god damn adorable."

"Do you think I'm pretty?" asked James, a cheeky grin on his lips as he traced the outline of his snitch.

"Sure James, you're pretty." Adria chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"What about me?" asked Remus, a smile on his lips as she nodded.

"Yeah you are, Remus," she mimicked his smile as one by one her friends asked if she thought they were pretty, to which she said yes for all of them.

"What about me?" muttered Sirius, nudging her head with her nose to make her turn to face him, she looked up at him with a smile as she asked, "what about you?"

"Do you think I'm pretty?" he mumbled, she faked a look of concentration as she stroked her chin as though she was thinking and finally spoke,

"Nah," she shook her head, grinning at him whilst her shake of the head turned to her nodding, "Of course you are, Sirius, don't act as if you don't know." She poked his nose, which he scrunched up with a grin adorning his lips.

"Of course I know," he smirked confidently, "but it's nice when you tell me."