Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from Harry Potter by our dearest JK henceforth is not mine.

(Also, thank you for even clicking on this. Especially with a summary as pathetic as this one.)

***EDIT: This chapter has been edited slightly from the original. I'm going through each chapter and redoing them. It's mostly fixing spelling or grammar errors, and reworking sentences so they sound better, as I am un-beta'd.***

Smoke, fog, hooting, meowing, chattering, laughing, even squealing.

Violet was almost overwhelmed by it all.

A hand came down on her shoulder.

"Vi," her dad said, moving to help her lift her trunk onto the train, departing in only a few minutes. "Enjoy your year, ok? Promise me won't get caught up in what happened with your mum."

Vi smiled and nodded. She always smiled, even when she didn't feel like it. Especially when she didn't feel like it. It was easier to block unhappy thoughts out that way.

"I'll miss you a lot," Violet said, after they'd heaved the trunk through the trains door. Violet stepped up and clung to the side of the doorway, still facing her dad.

"I'll miss you too sweetheart."

"I'll try to write once a week."

"If you don't have time, don't fret about it, okay? Focus on your schoolwork. And enjoying Hogwarts. You'll love it. I know you will."

They hugged each other tightly as the train whistled. Stragglers on the platform rushed onto the train and kids hung out of windows waving to their parents. Violet stepped back as the door shut. Through the window, she gave one last smile and a wave. Her father responded in kind, happy to see some genuine excitement showing in Violet's face.

The train began to move, gaining momentum, before speeding off.

Violet dragged her trunk down the corridor, people rushing past her. A few of the older ones glanced at her curiously as they passed, not recognizing her from previous years. Every compartment she past was full or had people who immediately stopped talking to stare at her with wide eyes, which gave Violet the feeling that she wouldn't be welcome. She hurried past them as well.

Eventually she came to a compartment with only four boys guffawing at something, with room for at least two more people. Feeling hopeful at the sounds of laughter coming from inside, and unwilling to walk any further down the train with her heavy trunk, she knocked on the compartment door and slid it open.

"Um, hello," she said as the four of them turned to her. "Sorry, but you guys are the first compartment with an empty spot that I've come across and I don't have anyone to sit with. Could I sit in here?"

"You can have whatever you want," the boy with shaggy dark hair seated at her right said suggestively, grinning widely. Violet's lips twitched. She appreciated a nice pick up line every now and then, no matter how awful.

"Ignore him," the one next to him, with round glasses and shockingly messy hair, said. "But sure, come in." He noticed her trunk. "Do you need help lifting that? You're kind of small." He suppressed a grin at the last bit.

Violet rolled her eyes but smiled. "A bit of help would be nice."

He and the first boy lifted up her trunk onto the rack above and Violet took a seat. "I'm Violet by the way. Or just Vi. Whichever."

"Remus." The pale boy next to her with sandy coloured hair and tired, dark eyes.

"Peter." Across from her, with mousy brown hair, darting eyes and a pointed nose. He looked also looked just a little heavier then the others.

"Sirius." The boy with longer, shaggier hair then the others and a reckless grin.

"James." The lanky one with glasses and messy, windswept hair.

Sirius and James took their seats again and the four of them openly stared at Violet.

"You don't seem like a first year," Remus said after a moment.

"That's because I'm not," Vi smiled. "I'm a sixth year."

"That's our year! Why are you here so late?" Remus asked.

Violet hesitated. "We had to move from France, partly because of my dad's job. He was a British representative for the Department of International Magical Cooperation in France. But he put in for a transfer back to Britain."

"Why?" James asked.

Violet hesitated for a second, wondering how much she should relay. "My mum died." Violet said, rather bluntly. The four marauders' looked shocked at her casual tone. "Quite recently actually. I suppose Dad would say that's the main reason we moved. Our house seemed ... strange ... without her and neither of us wanted to stay. I used to go to Beauxbatons but it seemed too far away to be from Dad now. And he always said Hogwarts was the best time of his life so when Professor Dumbledore offered me a place …" she trailed off and shrugged.

There was silence in the compartment as the marauders took this in.

"Sorry about your mum," Peter said after a moment.

Violet smiled tightly at him. "It's alright." Another silence. Violet hated the idea that they were pitying her so she changed the subject. "Dad was telling me about the Hogwarts house system the other night. What house are you guys in?"

"Gryffindor," James said proudly, puffing out his chest a little. "What was your Dad in?"

"Ravenclaw," Violet answered.

"Any idea what you want to be in?" Sirius asked.

Violet shook her head. "I don't know. I figure I'll just go with whatever I get put into."

Sirius was about to reply when the trolley lady came by. "Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked, opening the compartment door.

"Want anything?" James asked the group, standing up.

"Cauldron cakes."

"Chocolate frogs."

"Licorice wands."

They spoke all at once, to Violet's amusement.

"What about you, Vi? Want anything?" James asked.

"It's alright. I'm not that hungry."

"Rubbish. You look like a Pumpkin Pasties kinda girl," James said.

Violet let out a surprised laugh. "How'd you know that?"

"I have an eye for these things," James replied seriously, before turning around and ordering.

"FIRS' YERS! FIRS YERS THIS WAY!"

A giant man was calling, swinging a lantern, in the drizzling rain.

Violet looked at him curiously. There had to be some giant blood there or something …

"- good question." Remus said, cutting into Violet's thoughts. "Do you have to go with the first years to get sorted?"

"Um, Professor Dumbledore said in a letter that I had to get up to the castle as soon as I could so I could be sorted before the first years in private."

"Really?"

"Yes. I think my dad told him I didn't want a big fuss."

Sirius, who'd been listening, darted forward to an empty carriage before a couple of nearby Hufflepuffs could claim it. "Come on then. Let's go!"

Violet laughed. "Why are you so eager?"

"I want to know what house you're in!"

"It seems like you want to know more then I do," Violet told him, as he took her hand and pulled her up into the carriage.

"Miss Bryce," an unfamiliar voice called from across the magnificent Entrance Hall. Violet looked around, and stood on her toes to see past James, who was a lot taller than her. A impressive, stern looking witch with ramrod straight posture was approaching her. "Miss Bryce, I'm Professor McGonagall. I'm here to take you to your sorting."

"Right. Yeah." Suddenly she was rather nervous.

"Can we come?" James piped up.

"Can you -" Professor McGonagall started.

"Yeah. We like her."

McGonagall regarded him, almost in disbelief. "No, Potter. You cannot come. It's best we just hurry this along because the first years will -"

"But Professor if you have to meet the first years, then how will Vi be able to find her way back?" Sirius asked.

McGonagall tutted. She could see they weren't going to let this one go. And Black had a point, she reasoned begrudgingly. "One of you can come. Work it out between yourselves now. Miss Bryce, let's move quickly."

As McGonagall and Violet began hurrying away, Sirius shouted "DIBS" and pushed James back into Remus and Peter as he moved to run after them.

In Professor McGonagall's office there sat a tattered looking hat that looked oddly as if it had a face. Violet felt some more unexpected nerves begin to bubble up inside her now. What did sorting entail exactly? No one had mentioned it to her. She looked at Sirius, who was standing beside the armchair she was seated on, for reassurance.

He smiled at her encouragingly, remembering when he was first sorted. He'd had no idea what to expect either.

Professor McGonagall lifted the hat by its tip, and said, "Hopefully you'll be sorted quickly, like Sirius was. I remember almost as soon as I put the hat on, it shouted 'Gryffindor'."

Violet felt the hats brim drop, covering her eyes.

Hm.

A voice in her head.

You definitely have a craving for justice that the Hufflepuff's always have … but you feel just a bit too ... hard for them. Ravenclaw … smart - yes, curious - yes. That could be a fit. But you're a bit too reckless. Gryffindor seems like a good choice … you've got nerves of steel and you're brave and resilient. But then there's Slytherin … you're driven, ambitious … and you're quite good at hiding things. Almost cunning in how you hide your mothers actions … that doesn't necessarily mean you belong there though. Hm, the hat said again, sounding almost amused, you are a tricky one.

Violet listened to the hat but made no comment. She didn't want to influence the hats decision in anyway. Her mother was sorted by this hat too and she needed to know how similar she was to her mother. And for that she needed there to be no bias.

You do have a rather strong set of values, morals, that you abide by though, it pondered. And it doesn't appear that you would break them for anything. Whether those values are all good and true doesn't matter too much in the end. I think the fact here is you'll stick by them so long as you believe in them. So I'll put you in-

"Gryffindor," the hat announced decisively.

Violet and Sirius found James, Remus and Peter quickly at the table, close to the door.

"Gryffindor?" Remus asked hopefully.

Violet grinned and nodded.

After the feast, James, Sirius and Peter led her up to the Gryffindor tower. Remus had gone ahead to help fulfill his prefect duties, with a pretty, smiling red-haired girl who had greeted him with a friendly hug.

James sighed when he saw her.

"Who's that?" Violet asked him.

"Lily Evans. The love of my life."

Sirius coughed and Violet looked at him. "James' feelings are un-reciprocated and thus she is not actually the love of his life."

"Yet." James said sharply.

"Yet," Sirius agreed. "He's fancied her since first year and he's been asking her out every day since third year but she's always said no. But she does like him. Sort of."

Violet scoffed. "Sort of. That's promising, I guess."

James stared at her for a second. "Hey, you're a girl Violet."

"I am," Violet nodded seriously, as both Peter and Sirius snorted.

"You'll likely be rooming with Lily and the other girls. You could put in a good word for me, couldn't you?"

"I could," Violet nodded slowly. "For a price." A sly smirk appeared on her face.

James pursed his lips. "Name it?"

"Well I don't know what my price will be yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something good." Violet replied.

Sirius laughed, shaking his head. "I'm glad you chose our compartment to sit in."

"The feeling is mutual, Sirius," Violet told him.

"Babbity Rabbity," James said to the Fat Lady portrait. It swung open and they entered into the Gryffindor common room. There was already a warm, crackling fire in the fireplace, giving the room a homely feel.

"The girls dormitory is up that staircase. There should be a sign saying sixth years on the door if it's anything like ours. We'd come with you but boys can't go up there. There's an enchantment on the stairs and we haven't figured out a way around it yet." Sirius said.

"Oh, ok. Well, thanks guys. I'll see you in the morning, I guess," Violet smiled at them before heading up the stairs.

"Definitely," James said. He waited until she was round the corner and out of sight before he turned to Sirius. "She's something, isn't she Padfoot?"

The image of Violet's blue eyes and defined cheekbones, framed by thick, long blonde hair, danced around in Sirius' head. "I do have eyes Prongs," he retorted.

Peter chuckled, following the bantering pair up the stairs to their own dormitory.

So that's that! It'd be great if anyone could leave some reviews or something. Even if it's just a tiny little thing like "I read this and I am interested in seeing what happens." or even the opposite. I'm open to anything at this point, really.