Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Late June 1977
Potter Manor
"Mum this isn't fair!" Ophelia Potter yelled as Euphemia Potter made her way down the stairs followed by a long trail of books.
"You never leave your room, Thea. This is madness!" Euphemia called back as she made her way into the ballroom, where a large chest capable of holding the mass of books was pushed against a wall.
"Well, sorry I'm not James and that I don't go out with my friends every minute. My books are my friends. I have fun reading," Thea explained.
"Well you can have fun with real people too, Thea," Euphemia said triumphantly as she securely locked the books away, "slow down, darling, you're already graduating Hogwarts early. It's unheard of! I doubt that any more studying will possibly make you better."
"But I wasn't studying mum! Studying implies review and intent to apply it to an examination, but I was learning! Did you know that Merlin came up with a whole theory about undetected legilimency--" Thea explained.
"I'm sure he did darling, but I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to learn about it, but make some friends first!" Euphemia implored, "your books will be locked away and don't try and get James to unlock for you. I've already spoken with him. You will have to fill your time with other things. Perhaps with Remus? He's a superb conversationalist."
Thea gave her mother an annoyed look.
"No ifs, ands, or buts. I'm decided," Euphemia said.
"What's going on?" James Potter asked as he walked into the ballroom, followed by three other boys: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin.
"What we talked about," Euphemia said.
"Oh? So forcing Thea to interact with people that she doesn't want to because she spends too much time learning. Right, sorry, how could I forget?" James said sarcastically, clearly on the Ravenclaw's side.
Thea stuck out her hand in James's direction, "see! I'm not the mad one here!" she exclaimed.
"It's for your own good," Euphemia said, "and James, if you want to play quidditch this year, I suggest you choose your words more carefully."
He shut up and ushered his friends out of the room, not wanting to risk anymore threats. He then went back and grabbed Thea's hand, dragging her out of the room.
"Hey! What's this for?" Thea protested.
"Hold on," James said as they entered the safety of his room.
Once they did, the three boys, who had made themselves comfortable, looked up.
"Hello," Thea said awkwardly with a small smile.
Sirius nodded curtly, Peter smiled and Remus waved slightly.
"Look, mum won't bother you if she thinks your spending time with us. You can read the books in here if you'd like," James offered. Thea squeezed his hand thankfully and immediately went over to his bookshelf.
"No offense, James, but I don't particularly fancy learning about quidditch plays," Thea said over her shoulder.
"Well that's all I've got Thea," James said. Then she felt someone tap her shoulder. Peter, who had gotten up, was holding a book in his hand.
"It's a muggle book. My parents have been trying to get me to read it for ages, but it's not quidditch," Peter offered.
Thea took the book out of his hand and sent him a quick smile.
"All Quiet On The Western Front," she read aloud.
"Oh that's a great book," Remus piped up.
"Thank you, Peter," Thea said, looking at him kindly.
"'course," Peter replied with a slight smile as he sat back down with the boys.
Thea settled herself on James' bed and started reading. She noticed that they hadn't started talking yet like they normally would. She looked up and saw Sirius Black quickly advert his eyes.
"I don't really care what you guys are talking about, you know," she said as she went back to her book, "I won't tell Lily about your pranks."
Slowly, their conversation started up and they talked about everything from the summer to new products at Zonko's to how Puddlemore United was doing that year.
Meanwhile, Thea was at the front with Paul and Kat. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't notice the boys calling her name.
"Thea!" James eventually yelled. Her head snapped up and she saw all the boys go 'woah'
"What?" she asked.
"You were sort of glowing and floating. It was quite strange," James said, stumbling over his speech a little.
"Merlin. Really?" Thea asked as if it was an inconvenience rather than something amazing, "not again."
"Not again!?!" James exclaimed, "you mean this has happened before?"
"Well, yes, James. What do you think I do all the time? Study for potions exams? No, of course not," Thea replied back.
"How does the ministry not know about this?" James asked, bewildered. Thea just smirked slightly in response.
"Who wants cookies?" she asked. Peter immediately raised his hand and she smiled. She nodded her head in the direction of the door and he followed her. Eventually all of the boys joined them in the kitchen.
She did it the muggle way, finding it to be therapeutic, so her apron was very messy with flour and some melted chocolate.
When she brought the cookies out of the oven, the boys dive bombed her trays. Within a minute or so, all of the cookies were gone. They were gooey and delicious.
"This are amazing, Thea," James moaned as he chewed on his third one.
"I might have to marry you if you can bake like this," Sirius said as he slung an arm around her shoulder.
She giggled a little bit and shook her head.
"Boys," she muttered.
Dare she admit it, she was actually starting to enjoy their company.
hello!
fun fact: my favorite book is all quiet on the western front ( yes, i did pass 10th grade english )
