A/N: So, as I hope most of you know, I was late in updating last time, so here is an early one! I'll update again this Friday, and then it'll be regularly weekly again.

Chapter Five:

Sirius woke up with an entire gallon of freezing cold water being splashed onto his head. He spluttered, blinked and rolled frantically out of his bed. Then he shot up in a sort of odd defensive position, as if he was trying to come off as some kind of karate master.

James stood a few feet away from him, laughing cheerily with a plastic bucket in his hands.

"What was that for!?" Sirius exclaimed, looking down at his soaked pajama shirt. "Bloody hell, it's freezing!" He rubbed his arms, trying to muster up some warmth. He glared at his friend. "Stop laughing!"

"It's pretty funny," James told him, with a grin still on his face. "You're taking a shower anyways. Now hurry up, we're leaving in about an hour."

"Leaving where?" Sirius looked extremely disorientated. How he could still look half-asleep after having icy water dumped on his head, James couldn't understand.

"Where?" James rolled his eyes as he dropped the bucket onto the floor and kicked it into a corner. "To Hogwarts, that's where."

Two girls walked side-by-side, one wearing a baggy orange shirt and black sweatpants. Round glasses framed her eyes, making her face look unnaturally small. Her hair was in a tangled mess, wrapped up in a messy bun at the back of her head.

The other girl looked around the same age, wearing a grey shirt and black pants. She looked in a lot better shape than her sister, and she told her that.

"Rina, why do you dress like that?" Kaylie asked her. "You wear such pretty clothes at home. Why don't you dress like that at school?"

Rina gave her twin a sideways glance. "What's the point? No one notices me anyways. Why would you dress a beetle up in a tux if no one is going to be looking at it?"

Kaylie blinked. "Why beetles?"

"Why not?" Rina smiled. "Anyway, I dress like this because there's no point in dressing nicely for me. I only do it at home because it makes mum all happy. No one looks at me at school though, so why should I put myself in such uncomfortable clothes?"

"Maybe people would notice you if you'd stop dressing like that." Kaylie shook her head as she looked down at the too-short pants that Rina was wearing. "Honestly, Rina. Where did you even get that?"

She shrugged. "Besides, I don't want to attention."

Kaylie gave her a look of sympathy. "It's not good to live your life like that. You should be more outgoing like big sis."

Rina made an odd sound in the back of her throat. "Yeah, well big sis is naturally awesome. I can't help being like this." She pulled at the ends of her shirt. "I'm fine with being alone."

Her twin gave her a sad smile. "Well…maybe if you try to be a bit more outgoing, you'll realize that you actually like attention and-"

"No!" Rina snapped out. "Who would want to be friends with me?"

"I would!"

"You're my twin sister, you don't count." Rina scowled. "I'm weird, a nerd, anti-social-"

Kaylie hit her sister with her palm in the back of Rina's head. "Stop talking like that! You may be weird, but the good kind of weird. You're different. Unique. Special." Rina rolled her eyes, but Kaylie continued anyways. "A nerd? So is studying a bad thing now? Is getting good grades not acceptable?"


"And anti-social?" Kaylie shook her head. "If people could just see the real you, you would have tons of friends. Maybe even more than big sis!"

At that, Rina actually laughed. "No way! This is my seventh year, our last year at Hogwarts. I haven't made one friend in seven years. What makes you think that I'll suddenly get some this year?"

The Hogwarts Express chimed, signaling for everyone to get onboard. The twins pushed their trolleys faster, and then dragged their luggage up the steps of the train and into an empty compartment.

"This year will be your year, Rina," Kaylie assured her as they sat down across from each other.

Rina smiled at her. "Whatever you say."

She looked outside the glass door of the compartment and into the narrow hallway. First years were running down the pathway, with grins on their faces. Returning students were meeting up with their friends, laughing, joking around. Rina saw a bunch of seventh years pass by, and she recognized every single one. She knew the name of everyone in her year, yet barely anyone knew her.

A few Hufflepuffs passed by and then double-backed when they saw Kaylie. They grinned and waved at Rina's sister, and slid the door open.

"Kaylie! Hey, how was-" A girl with short blonde hair snapped her mouth shut when she noticed Rina, with her tangled hair and weird-looking clothes. "Um…"

"Go ahead with your friends, Kaylie," Rina told her sister with a small smile. "It's fine."

"Are…are you sure?" asked Kaylie, looking unsurely from the blonde girl to her twin. When Rina nodded her consent, she gave her a grateful smile, grabbed her luggage, and switched compartments.

Rina could hear the blonde girl whisper, "Why are you friends with someone like her?"

Before she could hear Kaylie's reply, the compartment door closed. Rina was alone.

She looked out at the window at the families gathered outside. Parents were waving at their children that were sticking their heads out of windows. Rina wished her parents had come, but unfortunately they were busy.

It's not that they didn't want to come. It was just that Rina's older sister had a huge game that day, and since her parents had missed the last one, they made it their top priority to attend the one on September 1st.

Then, she heard the loud voices of two of the famous (or infamous, depending on your opinion) Marauders.

"Help me look for her!"

"No, Lily's over there!"

"She can wait!"

"No, she can't!"

"Prongs, you promised that we'd find her!"

Rina looked to her left at the chaos outside of her compartment. Sirius Black's and James Potter's voice were so loud that she could clearly hear their conversation through the glass door, without having to strain her ears.

"I'll help you look for her, Pads," James told him. "But honestly, let me have some time with Lily. I'll help you look for her later."

"But…you're Head Boy, Lily's Head Girl, Remus is a prefect and Peter is sick so he's not coming to school for another week or so…" Sirius pouted. "Who am I supposed to hang out with?"

James shrugged. Then he turned his eyes towards Rina, who hurriedly looked in the opposite direction.

"Hang out with her," James said, with a grin. He jabbed his thumb in Rina's direction. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Sirius glanced over to where he was looking, and his eyes widened. "That's…"

"Anyways, I'm needed in the Head Boy and Girl compartment," James said. He looked quite proud of himself, as he puffed out his chest, showing off his Head Boy badge. "I get to order the prefects around." He pat Sirius on the shoulder. "See you later, Pads."

He walked off and Sirius stayed in place, staring at Rina. He slowly slid the door open and stepped inside.

"You're….that girl," he told her, pointing his index finger towards her face. He looked surprised her, as if she wasn't supposed to be here or something.

Rina looked up. Was he really going to sit with her until his friends came back? "I do happen to be a girl, yes."

"No, but you're…you're that girl!" Sirius exclaimed, as he sat in the seat across from her. "You were at the bookstore in Diagon Alley that one day!"

Rina stared at him blankly.

"Don't you remember?" Sirius looked extremely excited. Sure, she didn't look like Karissa. But he had found a drawing of hers with the initials K.J. She didn't look like Karissa, but maybe she knew her.

"I…remember," Rina responded. "You picked my book up for me."

"And you, if I remember correctly," Sirius went on, "you didn't even say thank you."

"I did say thank you," Rina responded.

"You did?"

"Pretty sure."


An awkward silence fell upon the two people in the compartment. Then, Sirius broke the ice, saying the words that were running through his mind.

"Do you know a girl named…Karissa?" he asked her tentatively.

Her response made his eyes light up. "Yes."

"Really?" He tipped his head back and laughed, his face looking joyful. "Woohoo! Alright! This is awesome! Can you tell me where she is? House? Grade? Does she even go to Hogwarts?"

"Karissa, as in the Karissa in Holyhead Harpies, the female Quidditch team," Rina elaborated. "She's a chaser."

Sirius' expression went from joyousness to disappointment in a matter of seconds. His mood deflated completely. "But…" He slumped down in the seat. "Damn."

Rina was curious, but she wasn't one to make conversation with a person she didn't know too well. Hell, she wasn't one to make conversation with anyone. She usually ended up weirding them out, boring them or spoke too bluntly and ended up insulting them.

But for some reason, she couldn't help the question spilling out of her mouth. "Who's Karissa?"

Sirius looked up at her with confused grey eyes. "That's the thing, really. I don't actually know."

She found that odd. "Why are you looking for a girl that you don't really know? That's a bit…stalkerish, don't you think?"

"Because she's cool," he responded. "She's got this great personality. Strong and fierce. Adorably shy sometimes." He shot her a look. "And I'm not a stalker."

"Could've fooled me."

"What was that?"


Rina stared at him. Wasn't this Sirius Black? The notorious playboy, lover of all women? Flirting womanizer, snogged almost every girl at Hogwarts…that Sirius Black? Rina thought it was him—it was hard to miss his handsome face. But why was he looking for a specific girl?

"She lacks confidence though," Sirius went on, looking out the window. "Don't know why. I think she's great."

"Does it worry you?" Rina asked him. When he stayed silent, she added, "Because she lacks confidence. Do you get worried for her?"

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess? I don't know." He scowled and kicked his heel back against the seat. "It's just…she made this impression on me, you know?" he said, looking at her.

Rina understood, and she nodded at him silently. Once again, the compartment was filled with an awkward silence. What should she say to him? Ask him why he was still there? But that might come off as a bit rude, and she was trying her best not to be too blunt nowadays.

"What grade are you in?" Rina looked up at Sirius, who had just spoken. "I haven't really seen you around."

Rina cracked a smirk as she looked out the window, watching a forest zoom by.

"Something funny?" he asked her, tilting his head to the side. He followed her gaze and looked out the window, as if the thing Rina was smirking at was just outside.

"I'm in the same year as you," Rina responded slowly. "As for a guy who claims to know and have snogged every seventh year, I'd think you'd have at least seen me. At least once." Or maybe not. She never really got noticed anyway, so what were the chances of the most popular guy in school noticing her?

Sirius felt uncomfortable. She was a seventh year? How could he not have seen her before? He really needed to pay more attention to the people in his year. But he still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he had never seen her before. Did they not have any classes together or something?

"What house are you in?" he asked her.



Rina nodded.

"Alright…" Sirius thought for a bit. "Slytherin?"

She laughed, and Sirius found his mood lightening up, just from her laugh. "Do I look like a Slytherin to you?" she asked him.

It was the first time she had actually looked at his face properly, and so Sirius sent her a dazzling smile. She looked away hurriedly, and Sirius' flirtatious smile turned into one of slight affection. Her personality was kind of cute. But not as cute as Karissa's, he found himself thinking. Somehow, it always came back to that.

Sirius leaned back in his seat, folding his arms behind his head. "Well, who knows? You could be a Slytherin. Who knows what sneaky things you have hidden up your sleeve? I bet if you let down that hair of yours, took off those glasses, and changed your wardrobe a bit…" He whistled, looking her up and down. "I can imagine it already. Strutting about the castle with boys at your feet."

Rina offered him an amused smile. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"You're the most ridiculously dressed person I've ever met," Sirius retorted. "Except for McGonagall at four in the morning." When Rina gave him a blank look, he just shuddered and responded with, "Don't ask."

Rina wasn't even offended, because for some reason, when he said that, it didn't feel like the rude teasing that others would throw at her. His sounded purely, and whole-heartedly like a joke. Well, half a joke anyways. She was dressed pretty weirdly.

"I've got it!" Sirius exclaimed, shooting up and snapping his fingers. "Once we get to Hogwarts, I'm going to give you a makeover."

The teenage girl gaped at him. "I'd rather you not."

"Oh, come on…" His sentence trailed off as he realized that he didn't even know her name. "Er…"

"Rina," she responded.

"Rina…" The name reminded him of the nickname he had given Karissa just the day before. Hopefully, he'd get to see her again and call her Rissa and have her hit him in the face in annoyance.

Whoa. Odd. Sirius didn't remember becoming a masochist.

"So, Rina," Sirius went on, as he sat back down in his seat. "Rina, Rina, Rina. I'm going to completely transform you, alright? And you'll be even more beautiful than….than….Aphrodite!"

"Hah!" Rina spluttered on her words, because the idea of her becoming more beautiful than the Greek goddess of love was far too absurd. "No way. I'm not having you give me any kind of makeover whatsoever."

"It'll be fun, I promise!" Sirius assured her.

Why would he even want to be associated with her? Rina couldn't understand. "Is this some kind of farfetched pickup line that you're trying out? Because just letting you know, it's not working at all."

"I'm not trying to get a snog from you." Sirius rolled his eyes. "Unless you turn out to be some kind of ultimate beauty and I just can't keep my hands off you. Now that I think about it, if we're doing this makeover thing we should probably find some private room, you know? One with a lock, so—"

"I still haven't agreed to this," Rina interrupted him. "Besides-" This time, it was her sentence that had gotten cut off by Sirius' childish exclamation of, "OH MERLIN, THE FOOD TROLLEY!"

The seventeen year old boy rushed out of the compartment, pulling a fistful of coins out of his pocket.

Rina looked wearily at him as Sirius just about ordered everything that the food trolley had to offer.

Questions littered her mind. Why was she here again? Why was she talking to Sirius? How come he was looking for Karissa? Why did he offer to give her a makeover? Was she even going to agree to this preposterous idea of getting a new look?

The answers would have had to wait, seeing as Sirius was trying to shove some pumpkin pasties into Rina's mouth, as she laughed along with him.

A/N: Wowzers. Chapter Five is done already. Whooppee!

Thank you again for all the amazing feedback you guys have been giving me! Be sure to check in on Friday for a new chapter!

And...reviews please? I want to hear your thoughts on the story! Any predictions? Anything you might want to see happen? Suggestions, questions, comments? Please leave a review!

Preview of Chapter Six:

He looked Remus straight in the eye, and said, "Kick me in the balls."


The two Slytheirns toppled to the floor unexpectedly, and some of their fellow housemates accidentally tripped over them, their faces hitting the floor with a smash. Rina smiled.


It wasn't, "I can see Karissa again!" but instead, the words "Why would Rina lie to me?" escaped from his mouth.