Turn Me Green, Kiss Me Pink

Chapter - 4

The Aftermath

"Lily, wake up! It´s 8:30!" Isabella said, pulling her curtains open to a flood of sunlight. Angela threw her legs over the side of her bed and yawned with her face in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. She looked around blearily and fixed her tired gaze on the figure pulling on black, uniform robes that was Isabella.

"It´s so early..." she whined, rubbing her eyes and standing up. Lily sat up suddenly and almost fell off the bed because her legs were so tangled up in her blanket.

"We have classes, don´t we?" she asked urgently, wide-awake as she pulled her hair back into an untidy ponytail.

"Yeah, but calm down, not until ten. They´re delayed, remember?" Isabella said, looking at their alarmed faces with amusement.

"But I thought we were getting the day off...Really?" Angela asked, raking a hand through her tangled blond hair and standing up.

"Oh yeah, Dumbledore announced it at the end of the ball yesterday..." Lily remembered distractedly, taking out her robes.

"But Angie here ran off with Remus before that, right?" Isabella said, a sly smile on her face as Lily turned around to grin at her. Angela ignored them and started pulling out her robes.

"Anyway, did you see Charisma this morning?" Lily asked Isabella eagerly.

"No, they all left before I was up. Don´t worry, we´ll see her in Transfiguration, it´s what we have first today. I´m starving. Let´s get down to breakfast," Isabella added, seeing that Lily was dressed and Angela was brushing her hair, her robes out on her bed.

"Save me a seat, I think I´ll take a quick shower now," she said, putting down the brush and walking briskly towards the showers. Lily and Isabella shrugged at each other.

-:- -:- -:-

The Great Hall was crowded with tired students at 9 AM as Angela walked towards the Gryffindor table, her heart sinking at how scarce empty seats were. She smiled at Isabella, who had saved a seat for her between herself and James. Pulling out her chair, she looked up and groaned inwardly when she saw Remus seated across from her, in between Lily and Sirius, watching her sit down with a blank look on his face. She gave him a small, uncertain smile that he arched an eyebrow at and sighed as Lily talked about the ball.

"Here, Angie, I don´t want my sausage anymore..." she paused to say, forking a fried link onto her plate. She looked at it for a second, picked up her fork and knife, and daintily sliced it into bite-sized pieces. Isabella watched her, giggling.

"What?" she asked, pressing her fork into one of her perfect pieces and bringing it up to her mouth.

"Nothing, Angela, nothing..." she said, still laughing, but now it was directed at Sirius. Angela put down her utensils, picked up her napkin and was dabbing at the corners of her mouth when she looked up. Sirius was chopping up his own sausage into tiny pieces, chewing each morsel slowly and carefully and then cleaning his mouth with his napkin exaggeratedly. He caught her eye, and she snorted mid-chew, spitting a mouthful into her napkin as they all laughed. Remus smirked at her.

"Guess what I saw last night when I had to go to the Hospital Wing?" he started, watching her look startled for a second and then gulp the drink in her goblet.

"What?" James asked after taking a heaping spoonful of cereal, milk dripping down his chin. Angela instinctively handed him a napkin, calling him a pig, and he sloppily wiped his mouth and placed the used material on her plate. Glaring at him, she continued to eat around it.

"Why were you at the Hospital Wing?" Lily asked, glancing at Angela, whom Remus was staring at coldly.

"Just a couple scratches," he answered, pouring some water down his throat but not taking his eyes off a fidgeting Angela.

"So what did you see?" Isabella asked, also looking from Angela to Remus and then sharing a curious glance with Lily.

"McGonagall and Pomfrey were with some kid with a horse´s head." He brought his fork up to his mouth and started chewing. "Pomfrey didn´t fuss, she healed my arm and gave me some nasty potion to put on for later."

"Well, that´s a first," Sirius muttered thoughtfully.

"You saw some kid with a horse´s head?" Angela asked, looking at him skeptically while she drained a goblet full of pumpkin juice and filled it up again, arching a thin, cool eyebrow at the annoyed look he was giving her. They both looked a bit startled when James, Sirius, Isabella, and Peter (sitting on Isabella´s other side) burst out laughing. Lily smiled.

"That must´ve been Snape. I heard some kid tried to transfigure him into a horse but all he got was the head," she explained.

"Some kid? Lily, that was Sirius! Honestly, where were you?" James said, as Remus turned to grin at his friend.

"Really? Wish I was there...What´s your punishment?"

"McGonagall took my wand. Thirty points from Gryffindor. Detention for the next two weeks," he answered shortly. They stared at him for a minute, surprised at his grim response. He looked around at them all, then broke into a huge grin, and they went back to their food, relieved. "You should´ve seen his face when I took out my wand."

"Yeah. Well, I´m done. I haven´t seen Charisma yet..." James muttered, pushing back his chair and searching up and down the table.

"I have to look over my Transfiguration homework, I´m sure I´ll have to do it over. I really wasn´t concentrating when I did it yesterday..." Lily sighed as James got up and left. She put down her fork and stood up slowly.

"Great, I´ll copy yours," Isabella said casually.

"Yeah, and then I´ll copy yours," Sirius added to Isabella, and she nodded with consent.

"Good lord, didn´t anyone hear me say `I´ll have to do it over´?" Lily said exasperatedly as she walked away from the table and out of the hall.

"That´s fine, Lily. We all make mistakes!"

"Yeah, who cares? As long as you did it..." Isabella and Sirius called after her as they scrambled out of their chairs to follow her out. Just as Peter moved over and sat in Isabella´s previous seat, both Remus and Angela stood up to leave, Remus walking off at his normal speed a few feet in front of Angela, glancing back at her from the corner of his eye. She grit her teeth in embarrassment at the idea that he probably thought she was following him, quickened her pace, and brushed past him unmistakably at the door, turning at the closest corner, no matter where it led.

-:- -:- -:-

"Ugh. I have to pee..." Angela whispered, pointing her wand distractedly at the quill they were supposed to be transfiguring into an umbrella and shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Really bad..." Professor McGonagall was in a particularly bad mood today. After the Sixth Year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws filed into class, she had returned Sirius´s wand and scolded him aloud once more regarding the reason it was taken away in the first place, and the class broke out into laughter, cheers, and enthusiastic chatter. Fuming, she lectured them for at least ten minutes on the dangers of incomplete human transfiguration, the consequences of such rule breaking, and inter-house relations, or rather, civility. Now, she had bid them each take out a quill and transfigure it into a water-repelling umbrella within twenty minutes, at the end of which she would inspect and grade their work as a test.

"Hmm...I wonder why?" Isabella said in mock thoughtfulness. "Surely it couldn´t have been the three goblets of pumpkin juice you swallowed at breakfast!"

"Perhaps..." Angela answered, a strand of her hair curled tightly around her forefinger nervously at the thought.

"Yes, I´ve always thought that it´s good to test your bladder like that," Lily said matter-of-factly after kicking Amir´s chair in front of her for replacing her wand with a version made of licorice when she wasn´t looking. She found her wand under the table, put a freezing charm on the replacement, and shoved it down the back of his robes.

"I agree," Angela answered, the tip of her finger turning blue as she twisted it tighter in her hair.

"But it looked like you and Remus were just having a staring and drinking contest. In that case, I´d say you won at drinking... I´m not sure about the staring though," she continued, looking concerned when he jumped and twisted in his chair.

"I don´t know what you´re talking about..." Angela denied, concentrating hard on her quill.

"Staring contest? It looked more like a who-can-make-the-other-more-nervous contest. But no matter. The question is, why would you two engage in such an activity?" Isabella inquired, smirking at Lily over Angela. They were completely ignoring her now as they tried to pry the truth out. She ignored them and gasped in surprise and relief when a black umbrella with blue trim appeared on her desk. She quickly shot some water onto it to see if it was repelled and grinned happily when it bounced off the umbrella, spraying both Lily and Isabella. They squealed, and she smiled. She always did work wonderfully under pressure. She raised her wand.

"Yes, Miss Heathers?" Professor McGonagall called, fixing her with a beady gaze. Students looked around at her in surprise because she rarely raised her wand.

"May I please use the restroom?" she asked clearly and politely.

"Have you finished your assignment?" the professor asked skeptically, peering at her over thick-framed glasses that rested at the tip of her nose.

"Yes, professor."

"Show me." Angela opened the umbrella and held it out over her. Professor McGonagall pointed her wand above it, and heavy drops of water pattered an inch off the dome-like surface and bounced off to spray the pupils surrounding her. After performing a drying charm, she gave Angela a thin-lipped smile and gestured for her to go. She left for the bathroom across the hall with a smug smirk, noticing that only James sat idle, twirling his wand thoughtfully and pointing it at his umbrella here and there, decorating it with glittery streaks and spots.

Five minutes later, she crossed behind a row of students, a few frantically glancing at the hourglass that signaled three minutes left and others waiting for the time to be up. Almost stumbling over a bag, she cursed and walked quickly back to her chair, looking back to see who it belonged to. Charisma. She turned back to see if her friends were done but then did a double take. Her eyes widened as she stared at the bag.

"What?" Isabella asked with concern as Angela grinned slowly and then bit her lip. She followed her gaze and stared for a moment before gasping and nudging Lily. Lily looked over at where Charisma´s bag was sitting at her feet. All around were small, brown tufts of hair. It looked like a scene from a Muggle barbershop, she thought, except no one had cut her hair. Just then, Charisma ran a hand through her dark brown locks tiredly, and small, choppily cut curls cascaded down to the floor.

"The potion..." Lily muttered, unable to take her eyes off the mess on the floor. She turned to look at Charisma´s face. She looked calm as she passed a note to James, who was sitting a few seats over. "She doesn´t know."

"Do you want to be the one to tell her?" Isabella asked her excitedly.

"Are you kidding? She would accuse me if I was the one to tell her," Lily answered, surprised that she would propose such a thing. Angela shook her head, a pale eyebrow raised as her black eyes bore into Lily´s imploringly.

"Not if you do it right," she said mischievously. Lily looked confused.

"Merlin, being a Prefect has really gotten to you, hasn´t it? I can barely remember the days when you actually had a brain for this kind of thing," Isabella muttered, rolling her eyes. She probably would have thrown her hands up in the air in frustration, but since they were in class, she refrained. "It´s very simple, Lily. Just tap Charisma or something, look really sad for her, and whisper so too many people don´t hear it. You can´t get into trouble, you have a clean record and no reason to do it. She´s not Snape or anything, nobody knows you hate her. Hurry and make up your mind, because if you don´t tell her, I´d love to," Isabella finished. A small bell tinkered from McGonagall´s desk, and she stood up, along with a levitated notepad and a quill hovering above it. Silently she made her way up and down the rows, testing their work.

"Okay. I´ll tell...But not now, she hasn´t shed enough," Lily whispered under her breath before Isabella´s work was examined.

-:- -:- -:-

"Angela!" a cool voice called from behind them. She continued walking, but Isabella turned her head to see who it was.

"It´s that git, Malfoy. Let´s run for it before he tries to get us back for Snape... I haven´t seen him around for a while," Isabella whispered after recognizing the pale, blond wizard with gray eyes. Angela shook her head urgently and turned around.

"Lucius!" she exclaimed with a composed smile identical to his. She waited while he strode towards them and then kissed him twice on each cheek alternately, trying to stop Isabella from gaping at them all the while by winking at her several times. She got the message, closed her mouth, and raised an eyebrow with slight curiosity in her best Angela impression. He ignored her.

"We haven´t seen each other in ages...since Christmas to be exact! I wonder, is it our schedules?" he asked in a surprisingly amiable way.

"Schedules? Oh Lucius, I haven´t forgotten that vow we made, and I´m sure you haven´t, either. We decided to avoid each other!" she added for Isabella´s benefit while Lucius´ smile faded somewhat. "But forget that, how are you doing?"

"Splendid, darling, though I´m not happy that there are only two months left until I graduate and leave Hogwarts. I´ll miss the times I had as a young Slytherin, and it´s such a misfortune you could not join us in it. I hardly know you, Angela, but I want to play brother! Now, I have news; there will be celebration this summer."

"Really? But it isn´t time yet. Danette has three years..."Angela answered, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"No, no. You´re right, it´s not time, but we shall have a wedding nonetheless, and the celebration is mine! Narcissa and I are engaged." At this Angela laughed with feigned delight and took both of his hands in hers.

"But Lucius, you have no limits! Why so early?"

"And why not? We both graduate in June, and I´ll have a job at the Ministry secured. We´ve decided the sooner, the better. I don´t think you know Narcissa, do you?"

"No, I´ve never had the pleasure," Angela lied with a sidelong glance at Isabella, wondering if Lucius had completely forgotten the brief period when Sirius and Narcissa had dated the year before or if he was just having them on.

"Then you must be acquainted. Why don´t you join us at dinner tonight? You will be missed amongst your friends, but surely that would not hinder your presence." It was creepy, Isabella thought as she watched the two profiles that faced each other across from her holding hands, how they both raised an eyebrow and smirked identically at the exact same time.

"Of course they wouldn´t, would you Isabella?" she replied. Lucius turned to Isabella for the first time and scrutinized her with cold eyes and an unpleasant smile plastered on his no longer amiable face. She put on her coldest smirk, raised her eyebrows and resumed her exaggeratedly snotty Angela impression, one that she taunted her with on an almost daily basis.

"Angela, darling, why ever would we hold you back from such an opportunity? It is important that you meet Narcissa as you will be very close in the future; it matters not what we have to say." Lucius stared at her, unfazed.

"There, Lucius! I shall join you, and you must save me a seat. Across from Narcissa, please, I like to face someone when I talk to them." She glanced at her watch, "Oh, we have to go, class starts in only ten minutes."

"Yes, you have Divination now, Severus and Craig mentioned that Sixth Year Slytherins and Gryffindors have it together - a most unfortunate combination. I´ll see you at dinner then." They smiled at each other and parted in opposite directions.

"Angie, what the hell was that?" Isabella exhaled as soon as he was out of sight. "I cannot believe you just agreed to sit with him at dinner!"

-:- -:- -:-

"And she just left?" Peter asked. Remus nodded bleakly as he leaned back in his chair, his head supported by his elbow that stood on an armrest, jaw propped up on his fist.

"Blimey, I never thought Angela would do that to you," Sirius said after this second repetition of the story.

"Me neither..." James muttered. "Why didn´t you just tell her you like her? It was the perfect opportunity."

"I don´t know...She wouldn´t let me..."

"You´re such a wuss, Remus. You´ve wanted to ask her out for like a year now, and you screwed it up just like that," Sirius added, snapping his fingers for emphasis.

"Yeah, she wouldn´t have scratched your arm off if you´d told her," Peter added.

"And she would´ve explained whatever she said about having two years."

"And you could´ve been off snogging right now. Really, I think that was one of the stupidest--"

"Well, I didn´t tell her, so just shut up about it, will you?" Remus interrupted Peter irritably. "Just help me figure out what to do now."

"Uh, you talk to her about it, duh."

"Yeah, tell her you like her."

"And that you forgive the whole arm thing."

"She´s not going to listen to me now that she´s spent a whole day thinking over how I said I didn´t like her," Remus pointed out sadly.

"Then take her on a guilt trip. She practically tore your arm off, didn´t she?" Sirius suggested, scowling.

"Yeah, and tell her you´ll forgive her if she tells you what that other path you saw leads to," James added excitedly.

"And then you can tell her that you like her," Peter put in.

"Uh-huh, and then she´ll have to explain herself."

"Or you can guilt her with the arm again and make her tell you what she was talking about."

"You can still see the scratches, right?...Good."

"Show it to her."

"Tell her it hurts a lot."

"Say that you´ll have scars forever!"

"Remember to ask where the other passage goes."

"Figure out if there´s a way to get out of wherever you were besides kicking the bench."

"Who cares how you get out, pay attention to how you get in!"

"Yeah, I can´t believe you forgot."

"You couldn´t have forgotten, you´re just not telling us."

"Yeah! C´mon, tell us how you get in!"

"We can add it to the--"

"You guys suck when it comes to advice, you know! Maybe I should ask Lily or Isabella if she´s said anything to them. What am I talking about, of course she has, and they´re probably on her side, too. I guess I´ll just talk to her at dinner..." Remus said, interrupting their flow of ideas and distracting them from thoughts of the secret passageway.

"At dinner?" James uttered dubiously. "With us around?"

"A perfectly romantic setting...Lily can play the harp, you two´ll sing, Izzy can shower them with petals, and I´ll hold her down with the full-body-bind..." Sirius commented dryly.

"Well... I figure, with you guys around, she can´t run away with my arm..." Remus explained, ignoring Sirius while the others laughed.

"Oh yes, she can - We don´t know what Angela Heathers is capable of. Anyway, it´s not a good idea to have us around," James said, waving his hand as though dismissing the thought.

"Why don´t you tell her to meet you at that place again so you can talk there. You could pass her a note or something," Peter said suddenly.

"Yeah! Yeah...that´s a good idea... I think that´s what I´ll do. Thanks, Pete!" Remus said thoughtfully, and Peter beamed.

"Yeah, and James can ask Charisma what she had to do with it all. I wonder if she helped her plan the whole thing..." Sirius added rather spitefully.

"Plan what?" Charisma asked, throwing him a defensive glare after looming out of the shadows, something they discovered she did very often. She leaned against the back of James´s chair while they stared at each other, unsure of what to say since they didn´t know how much she´d heard.

"Well..." Sirius started hesitantly, looking around at his friends for support. Remus was staring at Charisma, sizing her up. Peter had already begun his nervous, incoherent stuttering, rapidly turning red, and James fixed him with a look of the same shock and apprehension he felt. "Well...um... oh, look! It´s time for my detention. See you all at dinner!" he said much more brightly than he normally would have, leaping out of his chair and walking quickly towards the portrait hole. He slowed down when he got to it since there were fifteen minutes before he was due at Filch the Caretaker´s office and turned to see that James had promptly grabbed Charisma in a messy and uncomfortable-looking kiss, Peter had already fled, and Remus had summoned parchment and a quill to write his note with. Sirius turned back towards the portrait hole and noticed small clumps of brown hair stuck on the frame and under his shoe. His eyes followed the trail back to where they had been sitting, and when another unmistakable tuft cascaded down to the floor, realization dawned on him.

"Oh shit..." he whispered, staring wide-eyed at a tiny spot on the back of Charisma´s head that would soon be completely bald. His eyes scanned the rest of her once-thick mane, taking in all the strands that were considerably shorter than normal and others that looked as though they had a bit chopped off by a very unskilled barber. He noticed Remus looking at him curiously, grinned at him hastily, and walked out of the common room wondering if Lily knew what that potion had done.

-:- -:- -:-

"Oh good, you´re here. Narcissa, this is my cousin Angela. Angela, this is my fiancée," Lucius introduced as Angela sat down across from Narcissa. She gave her a small smile that was returned with a surprised look from the pretty Witch with wavy blond hair. Lucius sat down next to his girlfriend and proceeded to introduce a few of his friends that were sitting nearest them. Angela smirked coldly in turn at Severus Snape and Craig Pierce, the only two she recognized from her year, and Hunter Warren and his twin sister, Sadis.

"It´s great to finally meet you. I´ve heard so much," she said to Narcissa, spooning potatoes onto her plate and digging in daintily, trying to look comfortable. The shock at seeing her slowly wore off Lucius´s friends, and they, too, started eating, throwing suspicious glances at her between bites.

"Did he?" Narcissa answered, beaming at Lucius. "I hope nothing bad. It´s funny, I haven´t heard a thing about you from Lucius. I didn´t even know he had a cousin here until tonight!" she exclaimed, giving him a pointed look. He chuckled, and his friends all looked up interestedly.

"Angela and I had made a deal..." he started to explain.

"Actually more like a vow, or an oath...or an agreement," Angela interrupted casually.

"Yes. Well, Angela and I agreed that it´s best that we avoid each other during the school year since our crowds don´t exactly..."

"Mingle," she prompted, glancing coolly at Severus Snape (sitting at Narcissa´s right) and Narcissa´s friend, the Warren Sister, sitting next to him, both of whom glared at her whenever she dared open her mouth. Lucius gave her a strained smile that showed clearly his agitation at her interruptions. "You know... Gryffindors and Slytherins..." She smiled back and dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin.

"Yes. They don´t... `mingle´. We had this conversation on Christmas at the Park, no? We learned we were cousins then. You know, Severus, that the renovations at Malfoy Manor were completed last November and that we moved south when it was. We were invited to a Christmas Party at Heather´s Park, and I just assumed that they were some neighbors until I bumped into Angela there. We were, of course, shocked and horrified, but then, our parents explained that we´re related. First cousins on my father´s side--"

"And on my mother´s. We´d never met before because the Malfoys lived in their townhouse in Scotland. I remember my mother mentioning her brother, but our families are so large, and I´ve never had much interest in such affairs, especially about relations I imagined I´d never meet," Angela cut in, ignoring the look of impatient annoyance Lucius was giving her. She stole a quick look at her watch as she raised her fork to her mouth. Five minutes. She had only been here for five minutes. She smiled when Lucius´s friends all laughed at something he said and glanced longingly at her friends, facing each other and laughing two tables away.

"Isn´t that right, Angela?" Lucius smirked, watching her start out of her thoughts. She blinked for a second and then answered coolly, wondering what he was talking about.

"Of course."

-:- -:- -:-

Isabella dragged her feet through the Great Hall towards the middle of her long house table to where her friends sat. She threw herself down on a chair and, using the silverware that jumped into her hand at sensing her temper, attacked the steak that was placed generously on her plate by Lily. After four huge bites and a long drink of apple cider, she sat up straight and stared at everyone tiredly, allowing Lily to pat her back.

"It´s okay, honey. You´ve worked hard, and I´m proud," Lily said, beaming at her. She shot her a murderous look and found enough satisfaction when her smile withered away to smirk. The boys gave her amused looks.

"Worked hard?"

"Where have you been?"

"Where´s Angela?" they asked simultaneously.

"I have been working hard. In the past four hours, I have completed two weeks of late assignments that I´m going to hand in on Monday," she said with a superior smile and then looked at Remus. "And how the bloody hell am I supposed to know where Angela is?" she said, not unkindly.

"You´re sure?"

"Of what?"

"That you don´t know."

"That I don´t know what? Oh, where Angela is? No, I don´t know," she said, looking at him curiously. "Why? Oh yeah, I remember now. She´s with Malfoy," she finished, chewing casually.

"What! Lucius Malfoy?" Lily asked while Remus spit out his Pumpkin juice, Peter squealed, and two forks clattered as they were dropped in shock.

"Yeah. He asked her to have dinner with him tonight," Isabella answered, wiping Remus´s spit off of her plate.

"Wow, Remus, you REALLY messed up this time!" Sirius exclaimed while James looked at her in horror. Isabella crinkled her brow.

"I don´t see how. They´re cousins, Angie and Malfoy. Now that they´re engaged, he wants her to meet Narcissa," she informed them.

"Angela and Malfoy are engaged?" Remus and James said at once.

"No, you idiots," Isabella snapped. "Malfoy and Narcissa are engaged. Malfoy and Angela are cousins. Malfoy, Narcissa - engaged. Malfoy, Angela - cousins. Malfoy, Narcissa - engaged. Malfoy, Angela - "

"She already knows Narcissa," Lily interrupted, looking confused. "And since when are they cousins?"

"Christmas. Well, before that, too, but she said they found out they were cousins at some party. And I don´t know what he´s playing at, it´s kind of hard to believe that he didn´t know about Sirius and Narcissa," Isabella answered.

"Actually, not really. We didn´t go out for long, and I don´t even know if her friends knew about us," Sirius answered thoughtfully.

"So they´re related?" James asked. "Angela is related to that nasty Slytherin rat?"

"Yeah, first cousins. I thought she would´ve told you guys, or at least Lily. We saw him right before Divination..."

"We haven´t seen her since," Lily answered.

"Yeah. I assumed she was with you," Remus added.

"First cousins? So Angela is a Malfoy?" James asked with a look of disgusted disbelief.

"Yes, James," she answered exasperatedly, clucking her tongue at his expression. "Oh, c´mon, don´t get all huffy! It´s not her fault she´s related to an evil bastard."

"Hmm...evil bastard?" Lily asked.

"Isn´t it obvious?" Sirius answered, looking at her dubiously. "He´s probably got all the curses in the Restricted Section memorized."

"You think so? I know he´s nasty, but is he really... you know...with You-Know-Who?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Lily, that whole family´s in his Inner Circle," James replied uneasily, glancing towards where Angela was laughing along with half the Slytherin table.

"Yeah. My dad said they pay loads of money to the Ministry so everyone´s too scared to get them into Azkaban," Peter said suddenly.

"It´s no wonder she scratched off your arm, it´s in her blood..." Sirius muttered while Peter nodded vigorously.

"Shut up!" Remus hissed, glaring at him. Lily looked at him curiously, and Isabella arched an eyebrow.

"Your arm?" Lily asked.

"Still seems to be there..." Isabella said, poking his wrist. "What about it?"

"Nothing. Listen, could you guys give this to Angela when you see her?" he answered, digging a hand into his pocket and looking for something.

"Sure, what is it?" Lily asked while he commenced rummaging through his bag.

"A note," he answered shortly, handing her a crumpled up piece of parchment. Lily looked at the tiny ball curiously before handing it to Isabella.

"You give it to her. I have to do work when we get back upstairs, and I´ll forget. Or else I might end up giving her my Potions essay instead."

"Potions essay? Honey, I doubt anyone can mistaken your standard four-foot long essays for this," she answered. Remus pushed back his chair and stood up.

"Whatever, just make sure you get it to her. Tonight," he clarified, slinging his bag over onto his shoulder and walking out with a last meaningful glance towards the boys.

"You wouldn´t know what this is, would you?" Isabella asked them. They shook their heads.

"No idea," Sirius answered. Isabella stared at him for a moment, not sure if he was telling the truth.

"Lily, suddenly, I have the uncontrollable urge to open this. Maybe even read it out loud..." she said slowly, holding up the parchment-ball.

"Yes, Izzy, you should. Do it now," Lily urged her on, catching onto her intentions. James put down his fork.

"Don´t," he said, frowning at them disappointedly.

"So you do know what this is, huh?" Lily beamed in triumph.

"Well... not exactly..." James trailed off.

"But you´ll find out some time," Sirius added cheerfully. He sighed at the glares that he got. "Just give it to Angela, and don´t open it, ok?"

"Or what?"

"Izzy!" James rolled his eyes.

"Just give it to her, will you?" Sirius said, banging his fist down on the table so hard that peas and bits of potatoes went flying.

"Oww!" Lily cried, clutching her left eye while instant tears ran down her cheeks, the result of a stray pea. "My eye!"

Isabella kicked Sirius under the table and conjured tissues for Lily. "Merlin! Alright, alright, I´ll give it to her..."

-:- -:- -:-

Lily covered her mouth and tried to suppress a yawn. She was tired and planned to get to bed as soon as she finished her Potions assignment. She´d read the same paragraph at least four times already and still hadn´t registered a word of it. Her friends were no help at all. Angela sat next to her on a chair, curled up and her feet under her with an advanced Divination book that she´d borrowed from the library open on her lap, reading it intently. She noticed that this year, Angela was showing a ridiculously intense interest in that worthless branch of magic, and it concerned her because her friend seemed to concentrate lately on only her favorite subject. She never tried to do well in her other classes, either, Lily thought condescendingly.

She looked over at Isabella, leaning back in her chair and reading through the teen´s section of the latest Witch Weekly, a highly successful magazine that was started last year by a group of middle aged witches who clearly had too much time on their hands. There was a sheet of parchment and quill squashed next to her, and Lily frowned at its blankness. Isabella was another case, she thought. She rarely did her homework unless it was for Potions and only really tried to work once she was on the verge of failing. She was a clever, smart, powerful witch and could very well have been a prefect - if she had any ambition. She watched as Sirius, squeezed into what seemed to be the smallest pouf he could´ve found in the common room that was next to Isabella´s chair and looking very out of place with his legs outstretched in front of him, caught a tiny fur ball that had flown through the open window, hurtling straight at the ground near their feet. He untied a letter from the leg of an owl the size of a tennis ball. The eager owl settled onto his lap and hooted up at him, flapping its wings as it tried to communicate something important. Sirius looked at it curiously for a moment, opened the letter, and glanced at it for just a second before he folded it up again.

"Oh, it´s for you," he said, handing it to Isabella. She took it wordlessly and held onto it for a minute while she finished the paragraph she was reading. Then, setting down the magazine carelessly towards her forgotten homework, she unfolded the parchment and frowned at the cramped handwriting. Sirius picked up the now-silent owl, and Lily watched as he pulled out his wand and ran the tip of it gently over its feathers, that familiar glint in his eye as he watched the owl slowly turn into a shining, golden, spotted one with blood-red streaks. The owl hooted at him happily, and he grinned, stroking his handiwork. The shredding of parchment sounded, and Lily saw Isabella throw the remains of the letter she´d received into the fire. She turned to Sirius and raised an eyebrow at the owl.

"Beautiful, dear," she commented in the tone of a mother praising her five year-old´s hideous self-portrait.

"I know. Your brother´s going to hate me. Actually, he´ll think it was you," he answered gleefully.

"Nah, you get to keep that now. I don´t plan to send it back," she said spitefully, then picked up her magazine, flipped it to a page towards the end of the issue, and handed it to Sirius. "I think I´ll get a new broom soon, which do you think I should get?"

"Witch Weekly has broomstick advertisements?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes, darling. We women ride brooms as well, you know," she answered sardonically. Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to Angela, knowing too well the completely pointless argument that would follow with those two. Angela was still reading her book, but now, her eyes were closed, and she was muttering something under her breath, her left hand outstretched, palm down. Lily stared at her and was just about to ask what on earth she was doing when her eyes flew open and her hand pulled back to turn the page. She looked around for Remus, and when she remembered how he´d left at dinner over two hours ago, her gaze fell on James. He and Charisma were sitting squashed in the same armchair, immersed in what looked like the most disgusting kiss ever.

"Keep staring at them, Lily; just a little longer, and she can confirm that you´re madly in love with James and hate her guts," Angela broke in, her eyebrows raised as she looked up at her. Lily squirmed and shot them a disgusted look, noticing that Isabella was smirking at her unpleasantly out of the corner of her eye.

"Maybe it´s true," she muttered, loud enough for her to hear.

"Yeah, she can´t seem to take her lovesick eyes off of him," Sirius added with an innocent smile.

"Oh shut up. Ugh, that´s disgusting. Look, they´re slobbering now!" Lily said, looking away from them.

"Did you see what you did to her hair?" Sirius asked her now.

"Yeah. Wonderful, isn´t it? I think I´ll tell her about it in a minute," she answered excitedly. They watched them for a second and saw James pull away, finally withdrawing his hand from her hair, a bunch of which came off with it. He stared at his closed fist and the dark brown locks protruding from it in revulsion and looked up to see Charisma staring at it as well, looking confused and horrified.

"Too late..." Sirius murmured, giving Charisma a sympathetic look. Lily bit her lip and looked around at Isabella and Angela for support, both of whom were shocked.

"You´re so screwed," Isabella supplied helpfully.

"Deny it," Angela muttered quickly as Charisma stomped towards her angrily, James following behind her and staring at the back of her head. He glanced at Sirius, who looked up at her as she passed and pretended to look shocked, his eyes wide. Isabella went back to her magazine, Angela to her book, and Lily looked up from her Potions text to fix Charisma with a mildly curious expression.

"Yes?" she asked when Charisma stopped to stand in front of her, glowering with her hands on her hips. James followed and looked at her worriedly.

"You should go to the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey could probably make it grow back. Let´s go," he suggested, reaching for her hand. She pulled away and spoke, not taking her eyes off of Lily.

"What is your problem? Are you that pathetic?" she asked evasively.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked curiously, closing her book with a snap.

"The potion," she answered, pushing James´s hand away impatiently. "You put it in my hair."

"What potion?" she continued, deciding that it was best to take Angela´s advice.

"The one I left for you yesterday."

"What about it?"

"Charisma...let´s go to the Hospital Wing... C´mon..." James urged, his eyes darting from Lily to Charisma in confusion.

"You put that potion in my hair."

"No. Actually, I put it on your pillow," Lily answered, smiling thoughtfully. She was aware of the stunned look Angela gave her and the way Isabella was shaking her head disapprovingly. "Go on and rat on me."

"What? Lily, you did that to her?" James asked, astonished. He looked from one to the other suspiciously. "What´s going on?"

"Yeah, it was Lily. She gave me a potion, and this is what it did to my hair!" Charisma said indignantly.

"Oh really? I seem to remember it a little differently, Charisma," Lily retorted, turning to James and fixing him with a sincere look. "Before the ball, Charisma gave me some hair gel potion, and Angela saw her add something to it, so I put it on her pillow. She gave me the potion."

"Why?" James asked, looking at them as though they´d sprouted horns. Charisma opened her mouth to answer.

"She told--"

"Charisma thinks I´m jealous of her," Lily blurted out, interrupting Charisma´s response.

"She is!"

"She thinks I like you and that I´m trying to sabotage your relationship."

"She told me! She told me she likes you! She said she... Ugh! Did everybody see my hair like this?" Charisma cried suddenly, placing a hand gingerly on her head. She turned on her heel and made her way towards the portrait hole, where she stopped to glare at Lily. "You know this is war, don´t you?" she hissed though gritted teeth before walking out and slamming the portrait behind her.

"Damned wuss," Lily muttered, staring after her. "Fine! Go after your stupid girlfriend, you great big prat! You´re such a moron!" she called as James followed Charisma out after giving her a long, calculating look. She sank deeper into her chair and stared at her friends, clenching and unclenching her fists, her nostrils flaring as she took deep breaths angrily. Sirius exchanged an amused look with Angela at her outburst, and half the common room was staring at them curiously. Isabella looked at her accusingly and was just about to open her mouth when Lily turned on her.

"And you! Don´t even start! If it wasn´t for you, I wouldn´t even be in this mess. `Hex her, Lily! Show her who´s boss!´" she imitated in a shrill voice before getting up and stomping towards the girls´ dormitory, leaving them to stare after her. A cool draft blew in through the open window into the stunned and silent common room and knocked Isabella´s bag off the edge of a nearby table onto the floor, the sudden noise an invitation for talk once more. Isabella sighed, and Angela joined her on the floor, gathering quills and parchment while Sirius righted her bag and cleaned up the spilled ink with flicks of his wand.

"Well, I know I don´t sound like that..." Isabella muttered, referring to Lily´s mimic. "I suppose we should go talk to her..." She picked up a crumpled piece of parchment and was just about to throw it in the wastebasket when she remembered. "Oh! Angie, I´m so sorry I forgot. This is from Remus," she said apologetically, handing it to Angela.

"What? You didn´t give it to her yet?" Sirius asked, aghast. They watched Angela open the note and frown at them as she read it.

"When did he give this to you?"

"Dinner." Isabella crinkled her brow. "Why?"

"Dinner? That was...that was three hours ago..." she muttered distractedly, getting up and walking quickly towards the portrait hole without another word.

"Wait! Where are you going? I don´t want to talk to her alone..." Isabella called after her. She waved a hand at them impatiently, closed the frame behind her, and re-read the note, this time unable to bite back a smile at the hasty scrawl.

Angie,

Meet me at the other side of the astronomy tower, or whatever you call that place we were in yesterday. We need to talk, and I have to take back a couple of things I said...Try to hurry, I´m not sure if I remember how to open the mirror...

Remus