A War of Nerves

CHAPTER 7: Of Family

"Words they come an' memories all repeat/ I lift yo' head while/They change the hospital sheets/And I would never lie ta you/No, I would never lie ta you/I felt you long after we were through/When we were through."

"That was beautiful Lily!" Ginny said, clapping. Lily laid down her guitar and smiled, almost sadly. "Who was it about?"

She shrugged, "Oh,"...Snape..."no one."

Ginny frowned and gave her the 'We'll talk,' look. Then she turned back to her studying. "Merlin! Why couldn't Snape be a bit more lenient about this whole potions final. An aging potion...with no notes!"

Lily chuckled as she studied the chords that Morgan had sent to her. "Make up some good lyrics and we'll play them at the ball. Did you finish the one about me?" Lily had made one about Morgan, doubtful if she would sing it at the Yule Ball though. The truth was, Lily was pouring her soul into this song. This was going to be the song she sang, the one and only, for the person she couldn't have...and didn't even want her. She sniffed back a tear and went on.

Harry and Ron were watching the two speculatively from their chess game. "What are they talking about do you think?" Ron asked as he moved his imposing looking bishop to Harry's rook.

"Us," Harry said without a second thought as he winced over the brutality in which his rook was attacked.

"I wonder what Lily's friends are like," Ron said.

"What you mean is, are any of them hot. And I'd answer with, I don't care," Harry answered.

Ron seemed semi-pleased with this and went back to the game.

The last test was taken. The last student had left the classroom. The last ray of sunlight disappeared under the heavy afternoon clouds. And the first snowflake fell. But it wasn't the last.

Unfortunately for Lily, she had to be outside when it decided to get really heavy. Lily was waiting for her family, her four greatest friends in the world, and she was freezing her ass off.

"Come on, come on, come on!" she shouted with a shiver. Not all the coats in the world, for she even had Hagrid's on, were going to keep her warm. It is snowing. That means it is less than twenty three and a half degrees outside (A/N: Yeah, in the Fahrenheit. That is zero degrees for those of you who get to use the easy measuring system. Bastards... ::stomps off to calculate what 95 degrees is in Celsius::) and far too cold for sane people to be out in, she thought spitefully, you guys are gonna get it.

And then Ron, Harry, and Ginny came out in only their school robes.

"Sick! Y'all are sick!" Lily muttered.

"Lovely weather don't you think, Harry," Ron said standing next to her.

"Absolutely spiffing, Ron."

"I'd have to agree, it is rather brilliant the way the cold northern winds sweep the snow back and forth, isn't it," Ginny chimed in.

"Y'all are so out o' my fan club!" she shrieked, stomping off to the bottom of the entrance way stairs.

Ron laughed and followed her, sort of sickened by the way Ginny and Harry were acting.

"We're going to go get some hot chocolate Ron, want any?" Harry called after him.

"No! I wouldn't want to interrupt your snogging session," he muttered, almost tripping over a hidden object in the now three inch high snow.

Lily laughed as he came over and she patted a bench she had cleared off. "I'm so 'cited, Ron," she almost whispered. "These people have been my family fo' a year an' a half almost."

Ron smiled. He was now more at ease with the fact that she was from the future, that she was Harry's daughter. He tried not to thing on it too much though. "You've been living here that long?" he asked.

"Well," she conceded, "It must be closa' ta two years now. Boy, time flies..."

"For you I guess it does," he mumbled.

But before she could answer, a large horseless carriage approached the school. It rolled to a stop and he turned to look at Lily, she had large, pearl-sized tears in her eyes.

The first person that stepped out of the carriage was Steven. He was immediately followed by four girls talking excitedly and pointing. They were dressed, in his opinion, and probably Lily's too, very in appropriately for the weather, all in pants and short sleeved shirts.

The first girl that came out was a tall, striking, platinum blonde. She wasn't nearly as tall as he, but she was a good six foot. As she approached, he could see she had a suspicious looking tattoo on her left arm and brilliant green/blue eyes.

Following her were two twin girls. Both were very short, only 5'5 he guessed. They were talking loudly and gesticulating towards the castle and lake. Bother were blonde, but not nearly so snowy white as the first. And both had coal black eyes that seemed to sparkle with mischief. Great, female Freds and Georges, he thought sarcastically.

The last, but certainly not least in his mind, was a dark featured girl. She was a little shorter than Lily, but more, if possible, curvy and graceful. She had long tightly curled black hair, paler than the winter moon skin, and sharp, attentive, pale green eyes. And she was, for lack of a better word, mysterious to the point of evil. And she didn't smile like the rest of the girls, she was solemn and had a morbidly sarcastic demeanor. A perfect Slytherin, Ron thought. He didn't like her.

"LLLIIIIIILLLLYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the blindingly blonde one shrieked, pelting faster than Ron thought was humanly possible in snow, right at Lily. Lily barely had time to stand up before she was tackled down into the snow again by the tall blonde, then by the two shorter blondes. The dark girl only cracked a smile and stood back a few feet.

All at once Ron felt as though his ears, and probably Lily's too, were bombarded by three different voices talking and laughing all at once.

"And I was so sad when you left-"

"Did you know that Kelvin and Mandy-"

"And I cried and cried-"

"She punched Hermione, did she tell you that-"

"Conan still wont come to our-"

"And cried and cried and I'm really sorry I hit her but-"

"It was craziness when you were gone Lil-"

"Pure, unadulterated craziness-"

"And then Jackson Koves had to sing in your place-"

"It was never the same-"

"And Hermione turned 'I Want You' into a-"

"And with Viktor Krum-"

"Hey!" the dark one yelled, quieting everyone, much to Ron's distress, he wanted to hear about Viktor Krum.

Her hand was resting on her pneumatic hips as she said, "I did not authorize this dog pile. You are acting like children. And I'm cold. So we are going in."

She turned to leave and all the girls followed quickly. Ron had always taken Lily for the leader of the group, maybe he was wrong.

"Raja!" Lily shouted as she caught up with the dark girl. The girl half turned and Ron could see a wisp smile on her face.

Lily faced the girl head on and the dark girl seemed to soften a bit. Then she threw her arms around Lily tightly and didn't let go for a long while. When she did let go, Ron saw her wipe a tear from her eyes. Then all five girls headed up the steps to the school, talking the whole way. Ron reluctantly followed, feeling a bit out of place with Lily's old friends.

But they got in the hall and things got better...kind of.

Ron looked around for Harry and Ginny, but saw no sign of them.

"Where is every one?" the tall blonde asked.

"Oh, um, packin' mos'ly," Lily answered. "They're gettin' ready fo' their Christmas break, mos' people don't stay here."

Ron became uncomfortable as the eyes of the many girls, but not the dark one, fell on him.

"Oh, an' this is Ron, y'all," Lily added. "Ron," she said to him, "This is Brigid," she said, pointing at the tall blonde, "these two are Katie an' Gwen," she said, hauling a thumb in the direction of the twins, "if ya get confused, call 'em Matson, they answer ta

it." Then she pointed at the dark girl, "This is Morgan," she said.

Morgan extended a hand and he took it, "Pleasure, Mr. Weasley."

He didn't have enough to be offended because he was attacked by the twins. They walked straight up to him and began poking him and examining his biceps, which he was very proud of.

"Hm, so this is a Weasley," one started.

"Mimi, said they all had red hair," the other said, completely ignoring him.

"Hm, I want one."

"Me too."

"I thought you wanted Conan?"

"Oh, yeah...Sorry cute Weasley boy," one finally said to him.

"Yes, but it was nice to meet you," the other said.

Then they simultaneously stuck out their hand. He shook them both quite quickly as he had begun to blush.

"Oh, Mimi told us-"

"-all about that too."

"Cute little habit in my opinion."

"Didn't she say there were more of them?"

One punched the other's arm, "They graduated dumb ass."

"Oh, yeah..."

"And you have Conan, what do you care?"

"Oh, yeah..."

"You're dumb!"

"Hey, I re-"

"Shut up!" Morgan said, putting her hands over her ears. "You two have been at it for hours, just shut up already!"

The two smiled at each other knowingly and one said, "Our mission in life."

"Ah, if it were only so easy."

It struck Ron as odd that Morgan should have an English accent when all the other girls were obviously Americans.

"Bitch! Ya didn't!" Lily practically shouted.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea!" Brigid said enthusiastically.

"But ya let 'im butcha' my baby!"

"It was Raja! Raja did it. She was all, 'Oh, it'll be okay! He'll do fine!' And then they come, and then what happens?"

"Raja!" Lily said, turning to Morgan, "Ya let Jackson Koves at my brain chil'!"

"You weren't there," Morgan said smugly, "And he did fine. He butchered nothing."

"He did do rather well," one twin said dreamily.

"Only because he fucked you-"

"I don't want to hear this! I don't want to hear this!" Brigid was saying loudly with her hands over her ears.

Ron had no idea what any of this was about, but he really didn't want to stick around. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he turned to leave, and ran straight into Dumbledore.

"Ah!" Dumbledore said loudly enough to gain every one's attention. "My musicians! They have arrived!"

The girls turned to face Dumbledore as he swept in with his purple robes trailing behind him. He sure knows how to make an entrance, Ron thought.

"Oh, Albus!" Lily exclaimed, "I was just goin' ta go find ya! I wanted ta intra'duce ya ta my band an' check on the 'quitment. I wanted a quick rehearsal 'fore Saturday night."

"That sounds splendid, very good idea," Dumbledore said.

"Oh, and these are my friends. Albus Dumbledore; Katie and Gwen Matson, Brigid Kells, and Morgan Estellan."

They all nodded their heads with the exception of Morgan, who inclined hers. To Ron, Dumbledore's eyes seemed to sparkle a bit brighter at this as he smiled at them. "Now, if you'd like," he said, "I'll show you to the stage. All your belongings have been moved into the guest quarters near Lily's, and your instruments are on the stage as we speak."

Morgan raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"And Mr. Weasley," he said turning to Ron, "if they allow it, you are certainly allowed to be present during their practice."

"Oh, yes Ron," Lily practically squealed, "Ya can test what it sounds like from all over the Great Hall! Lead on, Albus!"

They took off down the halls of Hogwarts and landed in the not-so-familiar-now-that-there-was-a-stage-and-Christmas-decorations-and-different-seating Great Hall. Ron looked on in wonder as he took in the view. A set of Muggle drums that looked very complex, three guitars, and a table that seemed to have several record players and buttons on it.

"Everything is run by magic," Dumbledore explained, "but works how the Muggles intended it to. No wires, but microphones, and those sound amplifying things."

"Amplifiers ya mean," Lily asked.

"Exactly. Now I would watch, but I want to be surprised, practice hard!" he said, practically skipping out of the Hall.

The girls ran (except Morgan) to the stage and began doing something with their instruments. Ron was only familiar with bits of Muggle technology, but this was way out of his realm of expertise.

He walked to the front of the stage to wait for someone to tell him what to do.

"This is perfect!" Brigid said, playing a solo on her newly set up drums.

"It is adequate," Morgan said from behind the tables that Ron still had no idea what did.

"Oh-"

"-you're such a spoilt sport," the twins said, checking some plugs on their guitars.

Lily must have seen Ron looking confused because she turned to him and said, "Ya look like ya've no idea what is goin' on." She sighed and said, "I play the 'lectric guitar," and she displayed her guitar, "Katie an' Gwen play the bass," and they demonstrated with a deep, low strum of their guitars. "Brigid plays drums," and Brigid, did another fast solo, "an' Raja operates the turn tables. They're like rhythm an' sound synthesizers," as she said as a rhythmic scratching sound came out of the tables that Ron thought was positively repulsive. "I know it sounds bad by itself, but with percussion, it's great.

"What I want ya do," she continued, "is move 'bout the hall while we're playin' an' tell us what it sounds like when we're done, 'k?"

Ron nodded.

"Now," Lily said to her friends, "I wrote a song ta some chords that Raja sent me. I want ta start off with it, but we won't play it in the performance, I just want ta test y'all. It is the one she called 'My Hard Rock Symphony Twelve.' But I like to call it 'Amphetamine,' after my dear friend Raja.

"Alright girls, lets see what y'all are made o'," she said into the microphone, "One...two...one, two, three!"

It started off as a guitar solo by Lily, and she opened her mouth and a rough, sexy sort of sound came out of her mouth.

"She came out west/To find the sun/She lost her name/But found a new one/Morgan goes to school all day/But at night in the neighborhood/They call her/Amphetamine."

And then the rest of the instruments joined in. It was hard. It was loud. It was the greatest thing Ron had ever heard.

"She is perfect in that fucked up way/That all the magazines/Seem to wanna glorify these days.

"She looks like a teenage anthem/And she looks like she used to be happy with/The girl inside.

"She looks so bored sometimes/She has that super pale skin/And those soft green eyes/She looks like she/Could have been happy/In a better life.

"She came out west/Just to break away clean/From her family and her friends/And a little girl's dream/All she wants to do every night/Is sit beside the window/And listen to the sirens.

"She is perfect in that fucked up way/That all the magazines/Seem to want to glorify these days.

"She looks like a teenage anthem/And she looks like she should have been happy/In another life/In another life.

"She came out west/Just to break the spell/After three long years/In a marriage from Hell/Six months clean/Living sober and right/The doctors tell her/Everything will be alright.

"Yeah, you just take your pill/And everything will be alright.

"She looks like a teenage anthem/She looks like a magazine girl/She looks like a teenage anthem/Like she used to be happy/In another world/Like she could have been/Happy in another life.

"In another life/Happy in another life.

Then it seemed to slow down to a sad, depressed melody.

"Met her at a party/And I drove her home/She is the saddest girl/That I have ever known/Yeah she wakes up/In the middle of the night/Just to say that/Everything will be alright/Morgan smiles at the moon and says/Everything will be alright.

"Yeah I tell myself the same damn thing.

"Everyday.

"Everything will be alright."

(A/N: That was Everclear's 'Amphetamine' from their album, So Much for the Afterglow. The bit in the beginning of the chapter was 'The Background' off of Third Eye Blind's self titled album.)

Ron was stunned. He had just heard the greatest music in his life. Sure he listened to wizarding music, but he had never heard anything like that. That was Muggle music? It was awesome, better a thousand times over wizard's music, even the Weird Sisters. He found himself clapping from the far corner of the Great Hall enthusiastically.

The twins bowed, smiling, Morgan smirked, Brigid laughed a little and Lily spoke to him in the microphone. "Ron, how's it sound?"

"Perfect!" he shouted.

"Good, now get out of here, ya can't hear all our songs, it would spoil the fun tomorrow! Now scat!" she said into the microphone.

Ron smiled and left the Great Hall, this was going to be the king of all Yule Balls.

Lily wiped the sweat from her forehead and set her guitar on its stand. "I think that's 'nough fo' today, y'all."

"Yeah," Brigid said indignantly, "I'm starving!"

Lily rolled her eyes. She was convinced Brigid had a hallow leg the way she ate.

"What time is it?" Morgan asked.

"Almost dinna' I'd guess," Lily said nonchalantly.

"What is the deal with the ceiling?" Katie asked.

"Yeah," Gwen added.

"Oh, that," Lily explained, "it reflects the sky outside, pretty cool, eh?"

"Sure," Raja said as she turned off her equipment, "but really, I'm hungry. We haven't eaten forever. Let's get some food."

Lily nodded, she was hungry too, and led them out of the Great Hall. The school had chosen a different dining area while the Great Hall was decorated. Besides, it was only one meal, most of the first, second, and third years were leaving tomorrow anyway, them and everyone not going to the ball. Lily walked in and saw that they were actually quite early, and only Ginny, Harry, and Ron were at the Gryffindor table, talking in hushed voices.

"Hey Harry! Gin! I want y'all to meet my friends," she said excitedly as she approached them. Harry and Ginny stood up, but Ron leaned back against the table coolly. Lily had a feeling that Ron didn't like Morgan. "These are my friends," she said, introducing them to everyone in turn. Ginny smiled brightly as she shook everyone's hand, even Morgan's, but Harry, like Ron, took an almost instant dislike to her. Lily frowned inwardly, they would need to be talked to.

The conversation started out, in Lily's mind, easy enough; Quidditch, school, Quidditch, brooms, the international cup, Hermione, Quidditch and the like. The hall filled out soon enough. Lily saw that there were plenty of sixth and seventh years, but maybe only twenty fourth and fifth years put together. People gave interested looks over in her friends and her direction, but only her fellow Gryffindors were brave enough to actually approach them. Not that any seventh years could take advantage of the fact that there were beautiful girls at their table, all of them being tightly paired off. But many sixth and even a fifth year boy tried gaining their attention. The twins managed to scare most of them off, while Morgan simply ignored them until they left.

And then the shit almost hit the fan. Almost being the key word. Malfoy started to walk over to them, but to Lily's relief, Dumbledore stood up to talk, and gave Malfoy no chance. It is better this way, she thought. He can say whatever he wants and expect no retaliation with all these people. Better we confront him after dinner, no teachers, no one to restrain Brigid. Hehehe...

"Forth years and up," Dumbledore said, quieting the room. "As you all know, the Yule Ball is tomorrow!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd, even from the heartily populated Slytherin section. "And," Dumbledore continued, "Our musical entertainment has arrived just this afternoon. The Sinner Sisters are very excited to be here and are to be treated with the up most respect, as they will be staying here for the Christmas break. They are from the top wizarding school in the Americas, Salem's Academy for Witchcraft and Wizardry in Massachusetts, the same school Hermione Granger transferred to. Now I invite you all to eat this wonderful pre-Christmas meal."

People cheered again and began digging in. Lily observed that Ron and Brigid were evenly matched in terms of food consumption ("Y'all are gross!") and they seemed to get along fine together. But not too well I hope, you still have to marry Hermione, Ron.

"This is so much better than Salem's," a Lily heard Gwen say.

"Oh, yes, Salem's wants us all to die of the Bubonic Plague-"

"Or the Ebola Virus-"

"Saves them money you see."

"Y'all are weird, ya know that?" Lily said throwing a pea at each of them.

"Oh, no-"

"You don't want any of this, Lily Po-"

"Merrins!" Katie shrieked over her sister and gave her a dirty look. They talked in hushed voices for a moment and then began eating in silence.

Ron and Lily looked relieved and Ginny and Harry looked confused. Morgan moaned and hit her head with the palm of her hand muttering, "Blondes!"

Brigid was eating happily.

They finished their meal with out a peep from either twin, who both looked ashamed and sorry.

"I have family business to take care of," Morgan said suddenly. Then she stood up abruptly, but gracefully, and made a meaningful trek towards the Slytherin table, most of whom, eyed her with suspicion.

"What was that all about?" Harry said indignantly.

"Family," Brigid almost growled. Her demeanor changed a lot when Morgan left, she was almost hostile towards Harry and Ron. Harry decided she was a very good actor.

"And another thing-" she started to say angrily, but was cut off by Lily.

"Brigid," Lily said with a hint of warning, "I'll do this. Harry, Ron," she said seriously, "I know what yer thinkin'. 'What an enormous bitch, why is she Lily's friend?' Well, that is because she is. I know that Raja comes off rather snooty, but that is jus' how she is. I actually think she genuinely likes ya. She did say Messrs. Weasley an' Potter, which is very important. Had she disliked ya, she would've simply said, Potter an' Weasley. Ya have ta understand that is the way she is, jus' let her get used ta ya, she may even call ya yo' firs' names...after a while."

Ron and Harry nodded reluctantly, both still thinking she was a bitchy Slytherin lover, which she was. And both watched her suspiciously as she walked up to Blaise Zabini, a huge Slytherin seventh year boy.

Who cared if Weasley and Potter didn't like her. She sure as hell didn't. It was important to Lily though, so she supposed it wouldn't hurt to try and get along. But who cared, she was going to take care of family business.

She walked meaningfully towards Blaise. He hadn't seen her yet, The oaf, and she saw him looking past her and back on the Gryffindor table. Trying to get a better look at Brigid probably. If he only knew. But she turned around quickly to check, and saw his eyes making contact with a cute little blonde girl, perhaps two years younger than her, maybe older. She looked back at Blaise and noticed his eyes were blinking in patterns. Morse code! I didn't even know that was used in the wizarding world any more! Though Hermione might know it...but she doesn't count.

But then he made eye contact with her and he stopped abruptly, putting on some steel for show.

"Blaise," she said in a cold emotionless voice.

"Cousin Morgan," he said cordially, making sure to enunciate the 'cousin' bit. "Sit, please. It has been ages since we've seen each other."

That meant 'I've missed you, how are you?'

"I've been thinking the same thing," -I've missed you as well- "Has it been so long since summer?" she said politely, taking a seat next to him and ignoring the stares she was getting from the other Slytherin.

"Unfortunately, the school year came only too soon. How is Salem's?" -What have you been up to?-

"The same; stressing and dull. The Fires seem to think they could have the run of the school, but with their top chaser, Lily, gone, we took them down easily enough. The Winds are up for the first Quidditch cup in seven years."

"Yes, I'm afraid we have the same problems with the Fire's counterparts, the Gryffindors, you must know Merrins was sorted there? But we could grab the cup this year. But you've now thrown the problem of Merrins in our court, thanks."

"No problem. And yes, Lily wrote me telling me about your sorting hat, primitive if you ask me. I was disappointed, she would have made an excellent Slytherin. She was an Ether at Salem's you know."

"Yes, Dumbledore said as much. And he-"

But before Blaise could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by someone.

"And who do you think you are?"

Morgan turned around slowly and calmly, she would expect no less from a Slytherin, and came face to face with Adonis himself. The boy was a pale white with hair to rival Brigid's and steely gray eyes that shone at her maliciously. He was tall, not quite as tall as the Weasley boy, but, tall nonetheless, and was well muscled. This was almost better than Black. And he seemed like he would be fun to play with for a while.

"I think I'm Morgan Estellan, but if you have some godly information about who I really am, please, I'd love to know," she said sarcastically, but with out any trace of emotion. He started it.

"Draco Malfoy," he said, ignoring her previous statement.

She raised an eyebrow in a way she knew he would find irritating and waited for him to talk again. When he didn't, she said smartly, "I'm sorry, was that suppose to bow down or something?"

Of course she knew the Malfoys and their attitudes, they were a famous wizarding family even in India, but not so much in America. But she reminded herself, her family was just as old, just and purebred, just as powerful, influential, and rich, and just as historically Slytherin as his.

He sneered, but to her, seemed to be enjoying her game. "I wouldn't expect anything different from a friend of Merrins."

Yes, I suspect you don't get along with Mr. Malfoy here do you Lil, she thought. She wouldn't let him see her ruffled by his nasty statement about her or Lily and stayed cold and emotionless.

"And I wouldn't expect anything different from a Malfoy," she said with an innocent flicker of her eyelashes. "Tell me, was there something you wanted Mr. Malfoy? You seem to have interrupted my cousin, Blaise, and my conversation. We've not seen each other since we were visiting our mutual Uncle Ollivander, you see."

Morgan was positive she saw a wave of relief pass over his silvery eyes before they turned to steel again. She flashed him a 'to die for' smile, using Lily's words, and said in her most sexy voice, "Have a nice evening Mr. Malfoy. I hope you can find yourself to the dance."

Then she winked none too secretly at him and turned back to Blaise and continued their conversation as though they were never interrupted.

"You were saying about Quidditch..." she prompted. But what she really said was, 'I win. Raja-1, Draco-zippo.'

An hour before show time, Lily could be seen sitting casually on the stage talking with her friends. Ginny could be seen putting on her new red dress, compliments of Lily ("I hated that dress anyway."), which she had charmed to seem like it had flames on the bottom of it. Harry and Ron could be seen playing a game of chess trying to waste time in the common room, along with all the other males of Hogwarts whom it only took twenty minutes to shower dress, and then wait what seemed like endlessly for their dates to make last minute preparations.

But Lily was one of the only five girls at Hogwarts not getting dressed up for the Ball. Granted in a couple of minutes, Morgan, Katie, Gwen, Brigid, and she would leave to put on their stage costumes and make up.

"So we've finalized everything then?" Morgan asked.

"Yes, the seven songs, startin' with 'Thanks a Lot' and endin' with 'The Background.' I'm really 'cited 'bout 'Background' y'all. I worked really hard on it," Lily said in a single breath.

Morgan rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever, I still say we should have done 'Amphetamine' instead of 'London,' but what do I know? Anyway, we need to get dressed."

The twins nodded mutely, getting up from their pre-performance meditation. Brigid got up from her seat at the edge of the stage and followed them silently.

They got dressed in relative quiet.

The twins wore their shoulder length blonde hair down, their identical black, long sleeve shirts, black mini skirts, and black combat boots.

Brigid threw on what she called her 'little black hoochie shorts,' a black skin tight tank top, and black half boots, throwing her hair in a messy pony tail. Her shirt was selected because it openly displayed her extensive tattooing on her upper arms and gave her the option of wearing her spiky bracelets and many rings. She also put in all her earrings, Lily noted there were a few more than the last time she saw her.

Morgan put on her skin tight black leather pants, and a black shirt with metallic silver designs on it. She left her hair down, and, much to her chagrin, if Lily hadn't reminded her, she would have forgotten to put on her black spikes. She let her waist length spiral curled hair down, not wanting to deal with it.

Lily wore her traditional black mini skirt and black leather trench coat. She had altered it so if she buttoned it, it became like a shirt, and she had removed the sleeves, feeling too restricted to play the guitar in them. She had on knee high boots that were displayed by the large slits that went to her skirt hem. And as always, she put on her Jackie O glasses and left her thick black hair down.

All the girls wore very dark make up, especially Brigid, and dark lipstick.

(A/N: In case you aren't an actor/musician/whatever, you have to wear loads of make up on stage, or the lights drain your color.)

When they were done, it was only ten minutes till show time.

"So, is anyone nervous," Lily said, starting her pre-show pep talk.

Everyone, even Morgan, nodded their heads.

"Good," she continued. "Ya should be. If ya screw up, people will laugh at ya. Remember, ya have ta really perform t'night, ya have something ta prove. Hell, what am I talking 'bout? I don't care 'bout you, I have somethin' ta prove here! So if ya won't do this ta prove somethin' fo yo'selves, do it fo' me, I have ta finish the year here."

"Very 'pep' like, Lil," Morgan said dryly.

"Hey, I'm just tellin' it how it is," Lily said in a light voice. "But seriously y'all, ya've nothin' ta worry 'bout. This happens every pre-show, I'm not really sure how ya managed when Jackson was here-"

"Brigid did it," said a smiling Katie.

"She didn't do half bad-"

"Except for the part where she threatened to wound us with our own guitars if we sucked," Katie added thoughtfully.

"That was definitely a different one," Morgan said.

Lily looked at Brigid and she shrugged, "Hey, we played them perfect."

Lily pretended to shift uneasily, earning a slight chuckle out of the twins.

"But seriously guys. We're the best like this. We're gonna kick ass, an' Hogwarts is gonna be talkin' 'bout it fo' centuries ta come! Now let's go and wait nervously for Albus to introduce us! Group cheer!"

This earned many groans from the girls.

"Not again-"

"You'd think she drinks pure Pepper Up in the mornings-"

"Naw, she only drinks coffee-"

"Same diff, same diff!"

"Group cheer!" Lily shouted. She put her hand in the middle of the circle and reluctant hands followed, "One, two, three..."

"Valkyries!" the five said in unison.

Before they had the chance to be nervous, the voice of Dumbledore was heard through the curtains talking to the students.

"Never heard of being fashionably late I guess," Morgan said sarcastically.

"Sh! Albus is talkin' Raj!" Lily said.

"...the girls from Salem's have graciously decided to perform for us. And now, the Sinner Sisters!"

The curtains opened with the girls in their places, albeit barely, but in their placed none the less.