The Other Uncle (a sequel)

Once a Marauder

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I apologize of this isn't my best work. I had a lot of writer's block with this chapter. That's why it's also a bit short.

A few hours later in the common room, Anna looked up from her book to survey the Gryffindors. A few had managed to fall asleep and were now slumbering sloppily on the scarlet furniture. Two first year girls, a pair of blonde best friends slept leaning on one another on a couch. A boy with messy chestnut colored hair who Anna recognized as Joshua from one of her classes sat with his legs crossed on the soft red carpet with a girl's head in his lap smiling softly. Anna grinned mischievously at that, having guessed long ago that he had a crush on Maria. They were so cute together.

She noticed that a large amount of the awake students had their hands covering their mouths to muffle their giggles and their eyes trained on the other couch where Fred and George were squirting shaving cream into the hand of their brother, Percy Weasley while he was napping a scarlet recliner. She sighed and remembered the time James had decided to try that on her once before after she had fallen asleep studying for McGonagall's exam. He had thought it was funny until she had dyed all of his Quidditch uniforms neon green with pink polka dots.

That was the last time James Potter pranked Anna Evans.

With a soft, nostalgic smile, she shook her head and looked back at her novel with a small yawn. By the time she turned to the next page she heard a 'Splat!', followed by a groan. Soon enough the irate prefect was on his feet lecturing the the group of Gryffindors as if it were a federal offense to prank him. The Professor had to stifle a giggle at the sight. After all, she had been the one to give the boys the shaving cream in the first place.

Once a marauder, always a marauder.

*Time Skip*

Anna was sad to hear that Neville was going to be severely punished for his mistake. It wasn't like he had intended for the passwords to fall into Sirius' hands. She'd tried her best to persuade Albus and Minnie to lighten his sentence but they remained stubborn. Since Neville seemed to be the person to have suffered the most from Sirius' little stunt, Anna decided that she would do her best to help him through his slump.

The poor Gryffindor was miserable. Everyone had been forbidden to give him the password to get past the Fat Lady (who had agreed to go back to her job of guarding the entrance as long as she had a team of security trolls protecting her), which meant he was left sitting outside the door until someone let him in. And even if the students were aloud to tell him, the majority still held grudges against him for allowing a murderer into the common room. Minerva had banned him from Hogsmeade. And, as if those punishments weren't bad enough on their own , he was also given detention. Originally, he was going to spend his detention with McGonagall or Snape, but Anna managed to pull a few strings and made it so she, Remus or Professor Sprout would have him for their detention, depending on which teacher was available on the days he had detention.

But the worst penalty Mr. Longbottom had to face came in the form of a crimson letter he receive the following morning at breakfast: a howler from his grandma.

Anna had to wince in sympathy as she munched on her banana-nut muffin. Being sent a howler was the magical equivalent of having your mother burst into the school cafeteria while you are eating, yank you up by your ear, and start berating you through a megaphone about something stupid you did. It was a mortifying experience that gave all the ammo a bully needed to terrorize a kid for at least a month.

Next to her, Severus rolled his eyes at his friend's pitying expression, "I'll never understand why you're so fond of that boy."

"It's because she's not heartless like you Severus," Remus curtly replied, "Why do you always have to pick on poor Neville? He's got enough bad luck already without you always making life difficult for him."