A Different Life

Draco and Susan were told about the three-headed dog and how it appeared to be guarding something, probably whatever Dumbledore had asked Hagrid to fetch from Gringotts. They were very curious about it, but as they didn't have any more information, they couldn't figure out what could be hidden at Hogwarts, other than that it was valuable, dangerous, or both.

The group of six decided that they needed a name to call themselves. After some discussion and five silly names that only five-year olds would use, they decided on the Junior Marauders. Even though they weren't going to get into the kind of stuff the Marauders did and only Beth was related to the old group, it was the only name they all liked. However, they did play one prank on Pansy and Tracey, which was turning their robes pink and yellow and having the words "dog-face" flash in green on the back of Pansy's robes and "hag' flash in red on the back of Tracey's. Everyone, even a number of Slytherins, got a good laugh about it, and the Weasley twins said that whomever had done the prank showed potential.

Professor Snape glanced at Beth as Pansy and Tracey ran out of the Great Hall. Beth was laughing along with the other students, but there was nothing about her that said she might have had anything to do with the prank. He sighed and looked away, because the last thing he wanted to do was pry in her mind to see if she had done it, even just the surface thoughts.

The first Quidditch arrived. Beth being Seeker was supposed to be a secret, but somehow the news leaked out. None of the members of the Gryffindor team had said anything, and neither had Beth's friends, so she guessed that someone must have seen her at a practice. Most of the people in the study group told her that they thought she would do brillantly, but a majority of Slytherins said they'd be running around under her with a mattress.

The day of the match, Beth felt butterflies in her stomach, but managed to eat some toast and drink a cup of milk. Her friends encouraged her, and the Gryffindor first-years surprised her with a banner made from a sheet that Ron's pet rat, Scabbers, had ruined. It read "Beth Potter-Black for president!" and Dean Thomas, who was good at art, had drawn a roaring lion chewing on a snake. Hermione had then done a charm so that the lion flashed different colors.

Natalia, Sirius, and Remus showed up to watch her play and sat with Professor Snape, Flitwick, Sprout and Sinstra. They waved to Beth as the Gryffindor team walked out to the pitch. Beth returned the wave and then waved to her friends, who were sitting together at the opposite side. Ron and Neville waved the large banner and Susan and Draco had on red rosettes. Wood and the Slytherins captain, Marcus Flint, shook hands and then the balls were released on Madam Hooch's whistle. The teams then took off into the air and game play started.

Lee Jordan, best friend of Fred and George, was the commentator. He was rather biased against Slytherin, and sometimes said things that didn't have much to do with the match, like how Angelina Johnson was rather attractive. Professor McGonagall sat next to him and had to yell at Lee or threaten to take away the megaphone every so often.

Gryffindor scored first. Beth did a few loop-de-loops to let off her feelings and then focused her attention back on looking for the Snitch. When she saw Hagrid join her friends, she waved to him.

The score was forty to twenty when Beth spotted the Snitch. She went streaking after it, and the Slytherin seeker, Terrence Higgs, followed her. Beth had almost reached the Snitch when Flint appeared and - WHAM! She spun off course, holding for dear life. Most of the crowd, other than the Slytherins, booed and Madam Hooch angrily called a foul. In the row in front of Ron, Dean shouted, "Send him off red, ref! Red card!"

Hermione leaned forward and said, "Dean, this is Quidditch, not football. People don't get sent off when they foul badly in Quidditch." She then explained what a red card was to her friends.

Alicia Spinnet took the penalty shot, but in the confusion, the Snitch was lost again. Lee Jordan had a hard time staying unbaised when he commented on what had happened and McGonagall shouted at him twice. Sirius was shouting over what happened and Natalia had to speak sharply to him before he stopped and settled for muttering angrily. Snape and Remus didn't looked pleased over what had happened, either, but they kept their mouths shut.

Beth continued the search for the Snitch and suddenly felt her broom jerk. She frowned, because it wasn't supposed to do that. Her broom jerked again and then bucked. She held on tightly to the handle, wondering what was wrong.

Draco focused his binoculars on Beth. "What's wrong with Beth's broom? Why's she bucking like that?"

"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked her?" Neville whispered.

"Can't have," Hagrid said, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark Magic - no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

At these words, Hermione seized Hagrid's binoculars, but instead of looking up at Beth, she started looking frantically at the crowd.

"What are you doing?" moaned Ron, grey-faced.

"I knew it," Hermione gasped. "Quirrell- look."

Ron grabbed the binoculars. Quirrell was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Beth and was muttering non-stop under his breath.

"He's doing something - jinxing the broom," said Hermione. "And in the row in front of him, Snape and Aunt Natalia are looking at Beth and muttering as well. I bet they're doing the countercurse, which is keeping Beth from falling off for now. But I don't know if it'll be enough." She bit her lip and frowned.

Susan got up. "I'll take care of Quirrell." She made her way to the opposite stands and got to the row behind Quirrell. When she reached him, she stumbled. As she fell, she knocked into Quirrell, causing him to lose eye-contact. "Oh, I'm sorry, Professor!" exclaimed Susan in a falsely concerned tone. She then hurried back to her seat, ignoring his muttered curses.

Beth, who had been about to swing off her broom, was able to control things again. After making sure that everything was all right again, Snape and Natalia stopped muttering the countercurse. Sirius and Remus let out sighs of relief.

Several minutes later, Beth saw the Snitch again and went after it. She reached it and stretched out her hand. Before her fingers could close on it, however, it flew into her right sleeve and fluttered against her arm. She hovered in place as she reached in her sleeve with her left hand and drew out the Snitch. She waved it triumphantly as Lee Jordan shouted out that Gryffindor had won, two hundred and thirty points to fifty.

After changing, Beth's friends, parents, and Remus, hugged and congratulated her. "You did excellently," said Natalia, smiling proudly. "If your birth parents were here, they'd be proud of you. But I'm sure they're proud of you up in Heaven."

"Thanks, Mum," replied Beth. "What was the matter with my broom?"

"Quirrell was jinxing it," said Susan flatly. "I went over and knocked into him though, so his eye-contact with you broke."

"So he was the one doing it," said Natalia, frowning. "The second I realized what happened, I began doing the countercurse. Severus was doing it as well. Otherwise you would have definitely been thrown off your broom, Beth."

"But why would Quirrell want to jinx my broom?" asked Beth.

"We don't know," answered Sirius. "But Severus is going to keep a close eye on him. And we'll speak to Dumbledore and McGonagall about this and they keep an eye out as well. Now, I'm sure Gryffindor is going to want to celebrate the victory, or you had better go, Beth. We'll see you later."

"Wait," said Beth. "Mum what was it you discovered that you said you'd tell me later? Mia said it might be because you're -"

"Bethany, why are so so curious to know?" asked Natalia.

Beth looked her adoptive mother over carefully and exclaimed, "Hermione was right! I am going to have a younger brother or sister. You know, Mum, those robes don't hide the fact that your waist is a little thicker. Since I doubt you've gained weight, the logical explation is that you're going to have a baby."

Natalia sighed. "All right, I am pregant. I'm due in early April. I also did the spell that tells me the gender."

Beth considered and decided that she did want to know the gender. "So what is it? A boy or girl?"

"Both," replied Sirius. "It's twins. Emilia and Owen have agreed to be godparents."

Hermione blinked. "My parents are going to be the godparents?"

"Yes," said Natalia. "Well, actually they're going to be godparents for the girl. Remus and Tonks will be godparents for the boy. Sirius and I agreed that the Junior Marauders can have the honor of naming them. So discuss some names among yourselves and send the ones you all agree on to us. Just don't pick names that are too odd, all right?"

"Okay," said Beth. The adults went to speak with Dumbledore and the Junior Marauders went inside. Instead of just a party for the Gryffindors, it was one for the study group, as many of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs wanted to celebrate Gryffindor's victory. The study room was crowded with students, and the tables covered with refreshments that the Hogwarts house elves provided. Beth had a great deal of fun.

The Junior Marauders began spending their time outside of classes and the study group in the Room of Requirement. Sirius and Remus had told Beth and Hermione about the place, it was the one private place that most students didn't know about. They discussed names for the future twins and just hung out, relaxing and talking about things they couldn't really say in the study room without having to worry about someone overhearing or being disturbed. They also began looking for information on someone named Nicolas Flamel.

A couple of days after the match, the Junior Maruaders had gone to visit Hagrid. Beth had mentioned the three-headed dog and it turned out it was named Fluffy and belonged to Hagrid. It had been lent to Dumbledore to guard, and then Hagrid broke off, saying he couldn't tell them. Ron and Draco pressed the matter and Hagrid had gruffly said that it was none of their business and was a matter between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. When Susan said, "Aha, so there's someone named Nicolas Flamel involved!", Hagrid had looked furious with himself for letting the name slip.

After that, the six had started looking for information on Flamel. They'd checked the library and the books in the study hall, but hadn't found anything. Of course, the library was very large, with tens of thousands of books, and they had no idea what Flamel could have done to become famous, so it was no help. It wasn't until two weeks before the Christmas break that Neville suggested they ask the Room of Requirement to provide them with books that would mention Flamel. They couldn't ask the Room to directly give them the information, as information was one of the Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration.

The room provided several books, two having to deal with alchemy. After looking through them, Hermione was the one to discover that Nicolas Flamel was an alchemist that had had created the Philsopher's Stone, a magical stone that could turn any metal into gold and produce an Elixir of Life that would make the drinker immortal. Ron also discovered that Dumbledore had done some alchemy work with Flamel.

In any case, it appeared that what was being guarded at Hogwarts was the Philosopher's Stone. They exchanged looks and Draco said, "You know, it might be Quirrell that's after the Stone. He was the one that reported the troll in the dungeons, after all, so he could have been the one to it in. The distraction would have enabled him to try to get past Fluffy. If Snape hadn't gone to the third-floor, Quirrell might have succeeded."

"But what does Snape -" began Ron. "Oh right, we saw him heading in that direction when we were on the way to get Hermione. But what if Snape has something to do with it? I mean, we never saw Quirrell head for the third floor."

"Snape doesn't have anything to do with it," said Beth firmly. "He's not interested in being immortal or rich. Well, he probably does want enough money so that he can stop teaching and do his own thing, but not in being fabulously rich."

"Quirrell seems to be the more likely candidate," said Hermione. "Especially considering what he did during that Quidditch match. He might even be working for Voldemort." The others, except for Beth, flinched. Hermione ignored it and continued, "Beth's scar hurt for a second at the beginning-of-term feat when she and Quirrell looked at each other. That has to mean something, though none of us nor Aunt Natalia and Uncle Sirius have any idea as what it is exactly."

"Okay, Quirrell's up to something," said Susan. "But Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall, and maybe the other heads of house, know about him and are keeping an eye on him. So we'll let them deal with this."

Ron and Draco hesitated, but in the end agreed with the others.

The Christmas holidays arrived and everyone went home for break. Ron and his brothers were spending it with the Blacks, because their parents were going to Romania to visit Charlie. Percy had been a bit reluctant at first, not wanting to intrude, but Beth had insisted and Natalia had sent a letter assuring him that he wasn't intruding at all.

Sirius and Remus met the Weasleys at Beth at King's Cross and drove them home. Natalia wasn't there. When you were almost six months pregnant with twins, you weren't exactly in a condition to be out much. During the car ride home, Sirius and Remus got to know the Weasleys better and Sirius gave some prank advice to Fred and George. When they arrived, Natalia met them and then the kids went upstairs. There were only two available guest rooms, since Remus was also staying over, and the twins took one and Ron and Percy the other. After everyone was settled in, Beth showed the Weasleys around and then everyone had dinner.