Turn Me Green, Kiss Me Pink

Chapter - 5

Mysterious Arrivals

"What is wrong with her?" James yelled irritably after slamming the door behind him. He kicked a stray shoe and sent it flying, right at Sirius´s head.

"Hey!" he said indignantly, ducking it and watching as it hit the wall behind him. He picked it up and stuffed it under his bed. "Oh thanks, I was looking for that," he added airily until he saw the agitated look James was giving him. They looked up momentarily as Peter walked in and placed himself on the edge of his bed, eyeing James worriedly.

"What happened? Elena Robinson was saying something about Lily...Did I miss something?" he asked in his paranoid way. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Catfight. Lily and Charisma," he grinned. Peter´s eyes widened.

"No way! I missed a fight? A girl-girl fight?" he asked, looking at James. "What happened? Who won? Lily--"

"Lily is crazy. I don´t know what the hell is wrong with her! She´s so...so...stupid...and..." James trailed off.

"Amateur? Not very good at covering up her tracks?" Sirius provided, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"What happened?" Peter said impatiently.

"She´s not amateur, she´s just an idiot. You know what Charisma told me?"

"What? Where is Charisma anyway?"

"Will someone tell me what happened!" Peter wailed.

"Hospital Wing. Pomfrey wouldn´t let me stay. Anyway, she told me Lily told her that she likes me."

"Lily likes you?"

"When?? When did this happen? What happened?" Peter whined in vain.

"Yeah, I know, I didn´t believe her either, but then she told me everything Lily told her."

"Which was...?"

"A whole load of lies. She lied about us being more than friends, about how supposedly we went out for a while before Charisma got here, and she told me that Lily threatened her before she gave her the potion."

"What potion? What are you guys talking about!!! What happened??" Peter said before Sirius could comment. They stared at him. "Fine! If you guys don´t tell me, I´ll just ask someone in the common room!" he yelled before stomping out and slamming the door behind him.

"What´s his problem?" James asked, looking at the door with a bemused expression. Sirius shrugged.

"Dunno. So what are you going to do about it?" he asked.

"I don´t know...? I think I need to talk to Lily about it...I mean, even though she likes me and all, she still shouldn´t go around poisoning people just to get my attention," James said arrogantly.

"She doesn´t like you, man," Sirius said suddenly.

"Huh?" was James´s startled reply.

"You don´t need to talk to Lily, you have to talk to Charisma." He sighed at the dumbfounded look his friend shot him. "C´mon, you don´t really believe her!"

"Why wouldn´t I believe her?"

"Because you´ve known her for like two weeks tops, and you´ve been friends with Lily for like four years..." he started exasperatedly. "Look, this is Lily we´re talking about. You know she doesn´t do stuff like this, she wouldn´t do this."

"Oh yeah? Then tell me why she put that potion in Charisma´s hair. Explain that to me," James challenged, crossing his arms with a smug look.

"Exactly what she said. Charisma gave her the potion. Lily found out that she hexed it. Lily decided to get her back. Simple."

"Well why didn´t Lily just go tell a teacher that she thinks it was hexed? Or me, or you?"

"Would you have gone to a teacher?"

"No, but Lily´s a... a.... perfect prefect--"

"You´re so bloody stubborn," Sirius cut him off with.

"I´m not being a stubborn git."

"I didn´t even call you a git, I said stubborn..."

"Whatever! I´m not being stubborn, then."

"Yes, you are, if you weren´t you´d see that this is all Charisma. Why would she give Lily that potion anyway? And where the hell is Remus?" he added, waving his hand towards Remus´s empty bed.

"I don´t know. But if he was here, I´m sure he´d take my side," James said bitterly, stuffing his head into his pajama top. Sirius snorted.

"Really, do you honestly think that Lily likes you?"

"Why wouldn´t she like me!" he answered, looking mildly injured.

"She just wouldn´t. She doesn´t act like it."

"Well...yeah...but she could like me..."

"Nah, I don´t think so..."

"What´s that supposed to mean? Okay, she probably just made up all that stuff to annoy Charisma, but she could like me. Anyone would like me!" James declared indignantly.

"Nah, I don´t think so..." Sirius repeated, smiling at how annoyed he was getting.

"What´s that supposed to mean! You like her, don´t you?" he said, throwing his robes into the laundry basket and staring at Sirius with a look of dawning realization that wiped the smile off his friend´s face.

"No! No, I don´t like Lily! I like Isabella!" Sirius started huffily. "And that´s all!" he added, pulling on his own sleepwear. "Okay??"

"Okay, okay....You know she hasn´t noticed, right?" James asked in a pitying tone. "Hasn´t noticed at all..."

"She has too noticed."

"Nope, didn´t you see her at the ball?"

"I don´t want to talk about this," Sirius stated gruffly, climbing into his bed. "The point is, Lily doesn´t like you, Charisma´s making it all up, and the sooner you dump her the better. What do you say?"

"I don´t want to talk about this," James repeated peevishly, lying down on his own four-poster and pulling the duvet cover over his head.

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"You know I´m right."

"Sod off."

"See? You just won´t admit it."

"Yeah well...you won´t admit that your *tactics* soooo don´t work..."

"Screw you."

"Go- go...to-to... heeell," James responded between a loud yawn.

"You," Sirius belched loudly, "...first." They lay still for a moment and then both broke into sudden laughter.

"Quidditch practice first thing in the morning," James reminded Sirius, turning on his stomach.

"Yeah I know. G´night."

"´Night."

-:- -:- -:-

"Remus?" Angela called nervously as soon as she stepped out of the trapdoor. The rooftop looked empty so far, and she walked towards one of the benches. "Remus...? Ugh, great. He left," she added to herself. She turned and was just about to slump miserably onto the bench when she noticed him lying straight across it on his back, sound asleep. One arm was bent behind his head and the other hung off the bench. She smiled at the thought that if she hadn´t turned she would´ve sat on his face and picked up the arm that was hung over the edge gently. She stared at him for a moment. How could you not wake up when someone actually picks up one of your limbs? She shook her head and remembered how heavily her father slept.

As though for effect, she bent his arm at the elbow and placed the palm on his chest. Still no response. She picked it up again and this time placed it on his stomach. She glanced at his face to make sure he was still asleep and then, giggling with uncharacteristic nervousness, she lightly felt his stomach until she found his navel and poked his index finger into it. That done, she stepped back and took a good look at her work, smiling and biting her lip to keep from laughing out loud.

"Are you done yet?" he asked suddenly, shocking her completely as she watched the hand move itself up to rub his tired eyes. He gave her an amused yet annoyed look, and she started to laugh hysterically, eventually tripping over his shoes, which were at the foot of the bench, and falling on her face where she tried to sit up, failed, and took to gasping for breath. Remus stared at her, taken aback, and he shot up when she fell to the floor. He grinned and, thinking that this would make him look like an idiot if it didn´t work, kneeled next to her and commenced tickling her sides and her stomach mercilessly.

"Stop!...No... please, Remus... stop it..." she gasped between peels of laughter, clutching her stomach and rolling around in every direction, trying to get his hands off her. He stopped and waited with a smug smile on his face while she caught her breath. She stood up for a moment and gave him a very serious look that distracted him long enough for her to lunge at him, knocking him over onto his back. She pinned him down by straddling his knees and marveled at her own daring as she tried to get him back in vain.

"I´m not ticklish," he explained after a minute of her poking his stomach, sides and even venturing up to his armpit. He smiled at her innocently, and she laughed again, embarrassed.

"Okay, now that I feel like a complete idiot..." she got off him and sat back against the bench, "You wanted to talk...?"

He followed suit and sat next to her. "Uh... yeah. About yesterday..." He stopped when Angela started giggling, "What´s so funny?"

"Oh, I don´t know..." She laughed harder, "I´m sorry about your arm..." she said when she´d regained her composure. She sighed and turned to look at his confused expression. "I went kind of hysterical, didn´t I?"

This time he laughed, and she smiled hesitantly. "Yeah, you really did. Anyway, I do like you. A lot. And I-"

"What? What did you just say?" Angela asked incredulously.

"Huh? Uh... I like you?" He blushed as he said it.

"Yeah, that."

"Um... well, I like you..."

"Oh, no you don´t... yesterday...you said..."

"Yeah I know. I was a complete git yesterday, I´m so sorry," he apologized sheepishly.

"Are you serious?" she asked, not quite able to believe what she was hearing. His face fell.

"No Angie, I´m Remus. Honestly, I thought after all that happened you´d at least remember my name-"

"Oh, shut up," she interrupted, regretting the hated pun that they all had a tendency to use inadvertently during important conversations. Then she grinned, letting what she´d just heard sink in as her heart raced in excitement.

"So you like me, huh?" she asked, suddenly giddy.

"Yes. Anyway, I would´ve told you yesterday and all, but... you know..."

"I went kind of hysterical," she finished with a startlingly happy smile, unable to look apologetic because of how elated she suddenly felt. "Go on..."

"Um... that´s kind of it..."

"Oh. How... short."

"Hey! It was just supposed to be a simple Declaration of ...erm... Like...and you know, apologies..."

"Yeah, okay," she looked up at the dark sky, graced with an eyelash of moon and a handful of stars. "What time is it?"

"Um..." he looked down at his wristwatch, "Wow...eleven fifteen... what took you so long?"

"Well, besides the fact that I was witness to a bit of an...I dunno, argument? Izzy just gave me the note..."

"Eh, maybe I should´ve given it to just Lily or something... or James... or Sirius... or Peter even. Anyway, what did you mean, `argument´?" he asked. Angela blew air out of her cheeks and gave him a resigned look.

"Ugh... it´s one of those horribly stupid things that end up as disaster..."

"What are you on about?"

"It´s a long story...You see, that new girl, Charisma, has it in for Lily...She thinks Lily likes James for some stupid-ass reason, and so, she´s been insulting her and like clinging to James-"

"Yeah, we noticed...She was getting annoyed yesterday when we wouldn´t let her in on our next prank..."

"Yeah. And she always pops up when James is around us now. So anyway, last night she gave Lily what she claims was hair anti-frizz potion, but we were suspicious so Lily didn´t use it, and instead, she put it on Charisma´s pillow. Actually, we all did it together, but we´re blaming it on Lily. So anyway, today we found out what that potions does."

"What?"

"It was hair-loss potion."

He laughed at the sudden image of a bald Charisma, and Angela grinned despite the trouble it caused.

"Yeah, I know. She´s been shedding by the chunk all day. Anyway, just now in the common room, she and James realized that her hair was, you know, falling out and all. So she comes up to Lily and accuses her and Lily, completely ignoring my wise counsel, didn´t deny it. Now, Charisma´s in the Hospital Wing, James stormed off on Lily, and then Lily yelled at Isabella and stormed off on us, and here we are."

"Oh...so James is on Charisma´s side?"

"Yeah. But I wouldn´t worry, I´m sure they´ll see how stupid this is, and he´ll dump her or something."

"Hmm." They sat in awkward silence for a minute, unsure of what to do next. Angela stared desperately around her for something to say, and her eyes landed on the night sky, clear and picturesque.

"It´s a nice night," she commented blandly, wanting to hit herself over the head with a frying pan for being unable to think of anything remotely interesting to say. She went on instead, "Doesn´t the moon look nice?"

Remus started and looked up at the apparent subject of conversation. She didn´t know about him, did she? No, he thought, surely she would´ve run by now. He studied its shape tonight. Not near to being full at all, and thereby harmless to him, he answered honestly, "It does tonight. I don´t fancy going back to the common room right now, you?"

"Huh? Oh, um... No I... Izzy´s trying to talk to Lily right now, and I don´t want to be a part of that," she answered, a bit startled by his abrupt change of subject but then dismissing it when he spoke.

"Yeah... I think I´ll be forced into that if I go down right now, too..."

"So we stay here?"

"Yep." More awkward silence followed, and Remus shifted so that his legs were outstretched in front of him.

"It´s getting a little chilly," Angela said in response to the breeze that blew her hair into her face, hiding her grin. She was, of course, quoting from the typical scenario and was torn between hearing his answer and the shameful desire to hit herself with that frying pan once more. He chuckled.

"Here, take my cloak. Oh wait, I don´t have one," he grinned and looked down at her, "Now what?"

"What do you mean? Work with what you´ve got, fool."

"What, you want me to take my robes off?" he asked, staring at her in disbelief when she shot him an expectant look. "No! Then I´ll be cold."

"So what? I´m a lady."

"And?"

"How un-gentlemanlike of you. You should be hexed." He rolled his eyes.

"I wonder where we´d be now if I´d pretended I was ticklish."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, kept you on top."

"Uh! I don´t believe you!" she puffed in mock-indignation, slapping his arm.

"Oh no, the lady has been slighted!"

"That´s not getting you any closer," she warned. He smiled wryly and, putting his arm around her shoulders, pulled her to him. She snuggled up to his side and positioned her head on the crook of his shoulder while he rubbed some heat into her arm.

"Better?" he asked, smiling at how ironically warm she was making him feel.

"Mmm... much...Is this all we´re doing?" she asked tiredly.

"Well, I´m sure we can think of something..." he answered with a suggestive smile when she looked up at him.

"Could you be suggesting that we...?"

"What?" he prompted innocently. She gave him a sly smile before closing her eyes and tilting her face up, guiding her lips towards his. He tilted his head back amusedly until he felt the cold stone of the bench-seat on the back of his neck and felt her punch his arm lightly.

"Hey!" she cried, hitting his chest in annoyance. He threw his head forward again to see her looking at him through narrowed eyes but with an unmistakable smile on her face. "You asshole," she added mildly.

"What? I didn´t do anything..." he denied with a straight face.

"Exactly... Hmph! That was so Isabella-like."

"It was not."

"Was too. I´m thoroughly annoyed now."

"Don´t be."

"I´ll go back to the common room," she threatened, making no effort to move.

"No, don´t go. You won´t have any fun...and you´ll leave me up here all alone and with no exit."

"You just have to say `I want out´ to the floor and the door´ll open," she waved impatiently at the trapdoor that appeared a few feet away from them ate her words and it disappeared. "But never mind that. Do something to make sure I don´t kick that arse after I get some sleep."

"Now why would you want to kick my arse?" he asked, lowering his face slightly to better inhale the scent of her hair.

"Oh, honestly. I thought you liked me...just what are you doing?" she asked of his sniffing, tilting up her head to face him. He grinned widely.

"Your hair smells nice."

"Er, thanks... I, um, wash it," she said awkwardly, not used to feeling his hot breath on her. She watched his disturbingly light brown eyes rove around her face before locking with her own for a moment, and then she closed them as he pressed his lips against hers. Her heart flipped over, and she felt the blood pounding in her ears as she wound her arms around his neck and tried to sit up into kneeling. Stumbling on the folds of her robes, she felt his hand grasp her waist and his fingers dig into her hip to keep her from collapsing. He slowly eased her back to sitting, her legs tucked under her, and his stomach twisted into complicated knots when he slipped his tongue in and she pulled his head down closer. She clutched at his hair almost desperately, and they refused to let go.

They pulled apart when breathing proved necessary, and she sat back facing him. His flushed expression broke into a lopsided grin, and she smiled distractedly, staring transfixed at his eyes. They were a light, golden brown - almost amber - and she was surprised she´d never noticed the color before, as she couldn´t recall seeing anything like it.

"Oh good, I can finally cross that off my to-do list," he interrupted her thoughts. She blinked several times, tearing her eyes away from his for a moment before she smiled slyly.

"Ah, well I was hoping we could knock something off of mine too..." she said almost regretfully. He frowned at her sudden mood change.

"And what´s exactly would that be?" he asked curiously, absent-mindedly rubbing her fingers.

"Oh you know, a night of endless snogging."

He grinned, and they did just that.

-:- -:- -:-

"And then he bought me this."

"Ooh!"

"Is that silver?"

"It must have cost a fortune!"

"Oh, you´re so lucky!"

"Ugh, it´s not fair, James never-"

"Yes, yes, it´s beautiful. Now why don´t you all get down to breakfast already?" a voice - Isabella - interrupted crossly. Angela turned onto her back, slowly, as to make no noise. She didn´t quite want to get up yet, and any sound coming from her bed would result in a rather rude awakening from Isabella. It was best to lie low, stay quiet, and stare at the deep crimson hangings until her friend went down to breakfast.

"Oh Isabella, don´t be so grumpy. It´s really a nice necklace, you know," Vanessa said with awe. She was obviously enthralled by the said necklace, and since Isabella had interrupted Charisma when she tried to express her annoyance at James, Angela deducted that it belonged to Giselle.

"I said it was beautiful, didn´t I?" was Isabella´s irritated reply.

"Yes, but you didn´t mean it," Charisma piped up with a laugh. Angela pondered the current state of her hair.

"It´s alright. I´m sure she gets stuff like this all the time," Giselle said to her friends, the envy evident in her voice as she added to Isabella, "That´s how it is when you go out with someone like Sirius."

"Mmm, yeah. However did you manage to keep him? And for nearly two years!" Vanessa swooned. Angela could practically see Isabella roll her eyes.

"Oh, he´s so cute!"

"And funny."

"And he´s brilliant, did you see his grades?"

"I know, I know. I´m so very lucky, now why don´t you all ponder the mystery of Sirius down at breakfast?" Isabella said briskly. They all giggled and allowed themselves to be pushed out the door by Isabella, judging from the slam.

"Angela, get up," she said. Suddenly, the hangings were pulled aside and her covers thrown onto the floor, and Angela was left curled into a ball, squinting through the sunlight.

"Izzy!" she cried, blinking rapidly, "I´m cold!"

"It´s bloody April! What are doing with two blankets?" Isabella pointed out, picking up the heap of covers and depositing them at the foot of her bed.

"I need them!" she exclaimed indignantly.

"You do not need them!" Isabella countered, now grabbing her ankles and yanking her feet off the bed and onto the floor. "It´s April, not January. It´s warm and sunny, not freezing. Merlin! It makes me wonder what you´re trying to hide under there."

"Oh, very funny," Angela grumbled sarcastically, extending her hands and allowing Isabella to pull her up to a sitting position.

"Are they gone yet??" a muffled voice called from the direction of the bathroom.

"Yes, Lil´. I drove them out. Now get in here, Angela´s finally up!" Isabella yelled back.

"What do you mean, `finally´? It´s only eight-thirty!" Angela muttered, while the door to the showers opened and Lily appeared in her bathrobe.

"Lily, what was that? You´re not going to hide from her, it´s sad," Isabella said, as soon as she was out.

"I´m not hiding... I just didn´t want to see her face this morning..." Lily mumbled, not looking her in the eye.

"Right, you better not do that every morning, okay?" she said sternly. Lily rolled her eyes and rummaged through her trunk for her robes.

"Anyway," Isabella said, turning back to Angela who was still rubbing her face wearily. She bounced heavily onto her bed and finally settled when Angela glared at her. "So, Miss Heathers. Just where were you last night, huh?"

"Yeah, care to tell us what took two hours?" Lily asked slyly. "Could it have something to do with a certain Mr. Lupin?"

Angela tried to glare at her too, but couldn´t keep from grinning.

"Aha! A smile! So what happened?" Isabella said, laughing. Lily came over and plopped onto the foot of the four-poster, knocking the blankets to the floor.

"He told me that he liked me and... we kissed," she mumbled, a faint blush creeping up to her cheeks.

"What was that?" Lily asked, cupping the back of her ear and leaning forward slightly.

"We kissed," she repeated, pulling on some socks.

"Sorry, honey. You´re going to have to speak up," Isabella said, playing along.

"I said, we kissed." Angela said in a normal tone, finally standing up and walking over to her trunk.

"What?" Lily asked, flashing her a mischievous grin.

"Ugh, you heard me! We kissed!!"

"I didn´t quite catch that..." Isabella added. They exchanged mirthful looks.

"Oh, bloody hell! WE KISSED!! WE KISSED!!" she bellowed, standing up. "Happy?" she asked redundantly, as they were doubled up with laughter. She couldn´t keep from smiling at the sight and crossed her arms to achieve a more bothered look.

"Oh, Angela... That´s great, that´s great..." Lily said, gasping between peals of laughter. Isabella wiped a tear from her eye.

"What happened? What did he do? Where´d you go, anyway?" Isabella asked intently.

"You know that note you gave me? He told me to meet him, and so I did, and at first he was asleep - you should see him asleep, he looked so cute - and then I woke him up. Then he told me that he likes me... and then, well, we kissed."

"We got that part... how was it?"

"Great... I don´t know... okay, this sounds really stupid, but... well, it felt like this is what I´ve been waiting for, you know?" she said uncertainly.

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "I should have expected an oh-so-deep-Angela reaction," she said, smilingly before sighing dramatically. "This is going to hurt."

"It should," Angela stated meanly, "Go on..." she prompted. Lily was staring at the covers with a calculating look.

Isabella took a deep, theatrical breath.

"I´m sorry," she said, breaking into a smile. "Sorry, about all I´ve said about you two..."

"It´s okay," Angela responded with a smirk.

"You know, I think you´ll be Remus´s first girlfriend..." Lily said, looking at them thoughtfully.

"Really?" Isabella exclaimed, looking astonished.

"Yeah, I noticed that, too," Angela added, furrowing her brow.

"Well, of course you noticed. You´ve practically been his official stalker for the last three years -"

"One."

"Three."

"One!"

"Two."

"Ok, fine, two."

"But really? He´s never had a girlfriend?" Isabella asked again.

"Yeah, I thought he might be gay or something... I mean, girls do like him..." Lily added.

"Hey! My boyfriend is not gay!" Angela cried indignantly.

"Aww, look at yourself, all defending him! Angela´s finally gotten herself a boyfriend, hasn´t she?" Isabella added, nudging and winking at her several times just to annoy her.

"This is so great!"

"I know... I think the best part about last night was when I woke him up and he started tickling me... It was just proof that he wasn´t mad at me anymore..." Angela said somewhat dreamily.

"Mad? Why would he be mad?"

"Yeah, it´s about time you tell us."

"Er... tell you what?" she tried to deny.

"What happened at the ball with you two. Don´t bother denying it." Angela bit her lip. She didn´t want to talk about that evening now that it was over - it was too embarrassing. She still couldn´t believe the way she´d acted and she wished she could go back and rehearse before she´d done it. Even reciting from note-cards would have been better.

"Okay, well," she sighed heavily, "You know that hedge over at the Astronomy tower? Well..."

-:- -:- -:-

Lily stomped into the library, red-faced and fuming, a notebook and text clutched in her arms. She meandered through the tables and chairs, scanning for an empty seat and growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of. She glared at the windows where sunlight poured through, casting long, rectangular patches of light on the tables and chairs. Why was the library so damned crowded when it was a beautiful day out? She just couldn´t study in the common room with all that racket Sirius and Remus were making with their newest invention, and after telling them off heatedly, she had hoped to find solace in the only place that´d never failed her. Now Lily cast her eyes over the tables crowded with lower classmen, most talking and a few fanatically studying for their final exams that were to be administered in about a month´s time, and clucked her tongue at them, receiving several frightened looks. Resignedly, she pulled out an empty seat between two Hufflepuff First Years and slammed her books down on the bit of empty table space, making a few students jump.

"Are you studying?" the little girl next to her asked when she opened her text to the page she had marked and began reading intently. She shot the beaming blond a vicious look, wondering how daft someone could get.

"Yes," she replied through gritted teeth, and noticing that the girl still watched her, "You?"

"I have a transfiguration test next period," she replied, pointing to her own text, laid open in front of her. "What are you studying for?"

"Transfiguration."

"Ooh, so am I."

Grunt.

"What year are you in?"

"Sixth."

"What´s your name?"

"Lily."

"Oh. I´m Mina." This seemed to be the end of her interrogation, so Lily continued to read her text, relaxing her clenched jaw slightly. The transfiguration of a simple inanimate object into a live animal requires maximum concentration. One´s mind must be set on the task at hand only, as any amount of distraction may cause irreversible error.

"No really," she muttered to herself sarcastically.

"Did you say something?" Mina asked, watching her intently. Lily didn´t even bother to look up and answered in a flat, dead, tone.

"No."

"Yes, you did, I heard you... What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor."

"Are you a prefect?" she asked obnoxiously, pointing to Lily´s badge.

"Yes," she replied, her jaw clenched once more.

"Oh, then you must know him," she pointed tactlessly at someone across the table. Lily finally looked up and groaned when she recognized whom the said `him´ was. James was sitting back in his chair, his feet resting on top of the table directly across from her. His face was covered by the huge book that he held up, and when he put it down to turn the page, Lily saw a young girl sitting on his lap, waving his wand around. The girl couldn´t have been older than four, and she had the same smile and hair as James, though its shoulder length spared her the messiness. He looked around and raised an eyebrow when he spotted her staring at him.

"Ugh, it´s you!" Lily said, provoked by the mere sight of him. Ever since that night after the Anniversary Ball, she and James had either ignored each other or behaved rudely towards one another. Three weeks had passed, and things hadn´t improved between them, except that their friends were desperately trying to remedy the rift in their relationship. James and Charisma had teamed up against her, excessively kissing and making a show of their relationship whenever she was nearby. As far as she saw it, he was invading her privacy by appearing at the one place she had found suitable for her studies. The little girl stopped waving the wand and looked at her curiously for a moment before turning up to James.

"Who´s she?" she asked in an innocent lisping voice. He picked up the book again to shield Lily from view and pointed to a moving illustration of a man turning into a horse. The little girl tugged on the neck of his robes, and James was visibly growing agitated.

"Here, Adri, look at that. No! Not her, over here... look, see that unicorn?" he asked, pointing to something in the book and trying to divert his sister´s attention from Lily to the colorful illustrations. Apparently, he was going to ignore her today. The little girl knocked the book carelessly out of his hands and waved vigorously at Lily.

"Hi!" she exclaimed loudly and with great waving of her arms while James bent down to pick up the book that was now on the floor, one hand clasped securely around her waist to prevent her from falling. Lily gave her a thin-lipped smile at first but couldn´t resist broadening it when she grinned charmingly back.

"Hello there," Lily said warmly, giving James a hesitant look when he appeared above the table again. He put down the book distractedly and was just about to settle back into his former position when his sister reached for a quill farther down the table and knocked over his whole bag.

"Adrienne! I told you not to touch that stuff!" he cried exasperatedly as an assortment of quills, parchment, books, and inkpots crashed down to the floor. He sighed and raised her off his lap enough for him to get up, placed her back on the seat, and started cleaning up the mess and apologizing to those around him who were now graced with ink stains. Lily raised her eyebrow at his looking so discomposed and kept herself from volunteering to help him as she normally would have done, reminding herself that, ungrateful bastard that he was, he´d probably find some way to insult or embarrass her. The little girl caught her attention now, as she was staring right at her with wide brown eyes.

"Can you read?" she asked when Lily looked at her, absentmindedly ripping up a piece of parchment half-filled with writing. A smiled tugged at the corners of Lily´s mouth as she recognized the title of James´s Potions essay, which he would surely have to do over now, and she was instantly in a better mood.

"Yes, I can. What about you?" she answered, aware that the obnoxious blond girl who was next to her had just left.

"No, I´m only four years old. I can spell my name!" she declared, pushing the shreds of parchment carelessly away from her and leaning forward in the chair, her chin barely visible above the table. She clasped her small hands together and placed them atop the table, nodding proudly. Lily chuckled.

"Wow, you can? Why don´t you show me over here?" she said, pushing a scrap parchment and quill towards her. The little girl eagerly grabbed the parchment, and Lily watched amusedly as she hastily and almost illegibly scrawled eight letters onto it and pushed it back towards her. She looked at the older girl anxiously, waiting to be judged.

"Adrienne?" Lily asked, glancing at her for approval, and the girl nodded. "That´s very good. I´m Lily."

"Lily? Oh... did you know, my brother can read too," she said, smiling, swollen with pride. Lily smirked.

"Well, I should hope. He´s certainly older than four," she said sardonically. James came up above the table again and slammed his bag back on the table.

"Now just who are you talking to?" he asked playfully, picking his sister off the chair, setting himself on it instead, and settling her on his lap, all the while tickling her. She laughed hysterically, and he stopped.

"My new friend Lily," she answered, pointing across the table. Lily threw him a stony look and was confused to see him return it with a facetious grin.

"Oh good, by the sound of that voice I could have sworn it was Filch," he said, sounding dramatically relieved.

"James!" Lily cried, surprised that he would act nasty even with his little sister around. He was not a good example at all, especially being a prefect.

"Filth?" Adrienne asked, confused.

"Never mind that. Let´s go back to the book, and don´t look at her for too long, it´ll burn your eyes out," he warned matter-of-factly, covering her eyes with his hand while she wriggled around, giggling.

"James, please. Don´t be so bloody immature," Lily said through clenched teeth, glaring at him and trying to keep her cool. She hoped no one around them was listening to their conversation.

"Yes, quite. What´ve you done now, dear?" a voice asked amusedly from behind them. Lily looked up, and James turned to see a middle-aged woman with jet-black hair, wearing dark green robes. Adrienne raised her arms, and the woman reached over and picked her up.

"Nothing, Mum," James replied with an angelic smile.

"I don´t believe that for a second. McGonagall just finished letting me know exactly how you and your friends have earned that record for detentions. I´ve never seen Minerva so rattled. How do you explain that, James? You need to be serious about your behavior if you want to be Head Boy next year, and you know you´ll regret all those years of hard work if you don´t -" Mrs. Potter continued while James rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I never do anything serious, Mum, the teachers just have it in for me, can´t imagine why. Anyway, are you done? Because I can´t watch Adrienne for much longer, I´ve got Quidditch practice in ten minutes -"

"That´s alright, you won´t be going," Mrs. Potter interrupted, waving a hand for him to shut up. She looked as though she would continue and threw a suspicious look at the students around them. Her gray eyes locked with Lily´s, and suddenly, the prefect felt as though she was intruding on something. Giving Mrs. Potter a small smile, she packed her bags without hesitating, vaguely wondering why on earth she was the one leaving. If they wanted to discuss something, couldn´t they find another more private place? She continued on with her task and moved towards a bookshelf behind the table, curious as to what Mrs. Potter was doing at Hogwarts in the first place.

"Nice girl," Mrs. Potter commented, nodding at Lily as she left the table smiling and disappeared amongst some bookshelves.

"You wouldn´t know," James snorted. Mrs. Potter raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Pretty girl then," she amended, her eyes twinkling. James opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "But that´s not the point. You´re coming with us - to Hogsmeade - your father´s waiting there. We need to talk."

"Uh... why?"

"We´ll tell you when we get there, come," she added, waving her hand towards the door.

"What are you on about? What´s going on?" James asked apprehensively, giving his mother a serious look.

Mrs. Potter sighed wearily and bit her lip. "Do you remember... what we discussed this summer? About a certain possibility?" James nodded slowly, and she continued, "Well, it turns out that it´s become very possible, probable actually. And tonight, well... tonight, we´ll all spend together," she finished vaguely. She reached over and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, looking very uncomfortable as she tried to balance Adrienne on her hip. He licked his lips and sighed when she offered him her hand.

"C´mon, let´s go," she beckoned to him. He packed his bags carefully and didn´t even notice the now destroyed Potions paper he had been working on earlier. They walked silently out of the library, occupied with their own thoughts.

Lily emerged from behind the bookshelf, confused as ever as her eyes followed three figures towards the exit. She went back to the table and opened her Transfiguration text. Staring at it intently and giving everyone else the illusion that she was studying, she thought about what she´d just heard. What was going on?

-:- -:- -:-

Angela raised an eyebrow at the tentacle that shot up from the lake, picked up a cracker, and threw it to the demanding limb. She watched it dip back under water and went back to reading her Transfiguration text. There was a test tomorrow, and she figured she should actually study for this one since it was a hard topic, and also because if she aced it, she would definitely pass the year no matter what she got on the final exam. She looked up momentarily when a small stone whizzed past her, narrowly missing her nose, and saw Remus catching the gray rock and skillfully shooting it into the lake. He was skipping rocks, sitting back against the tree, and she lay on her stomach next to him, the book sitting open right under her chin.

"Watch out, you´ll hit the Giant Squid," she warned as he skipped another.

"He´ll just think it´s one of your crackers," he answered lazily, summoning a few more rocks from near the bank. Angela watched the surface of the water ripple and bubble as another tentacle emerged. She reached into the paper bag next to her and threw another cracker at it.

"What makes you think it´s a he? It could be a she, you know," she said somewhat defensively, drawing her arms out in front of her and rolling onto her back to indulge in a full-body stretch and an accompanying yawn. He shrugged and threw another flat stone at the surface.

"We don´t know, I guess... I mean, I don´t think anyone would care to look at its genitals..." he answered thoughtfully, poking her stomach and causing her to flip back over to escape his tickling her further.

"Do Giant Squids even have genitals?" she asked, watching as the creature in question extended another limb. She sighed and reached into the bag once more. Pulling out a cracker, she threw her arm over her shoulder to toss it while Remus skipped another rock. She watched the squid catch the rock and sink back into the water.

"Er... Oops?" he said, smiling sheepishly at her `are-you-stupid?´ look. "Don´t worry, I´m sure it won´t choke or anything..."

They both turned towards the lake when a deep, gurgling sound erupted from beneath a layer of bubbles. In horror, they watched a great, grayish purple transparent thing rise to the surface and swim towards the grounds nearest to them. Remus stood up, and Angela struggled to her knees as it suddenly jumped ten feet into the air.

"Run!" Remus yelled, grabbing her arm. He pulled her up, and they ran a few paces before being hit in the back by great waves of cool water as the squid splashed back into the lake. Angela stood stiff, gasping from the cold and blinking the water out of her eyes, her hair soaked and a few strands stuck to her cheek. Remus let go of her arm and shook his head in a dog-like manner, hitting her with cold droplets of water while laughing. She turned and gave him her most murderous glare, and he quickly stopped.

"I. Told. You," she said, still blinking water out of her eyes, now shivering from the water. Remus looked at her apologetically and gently pushed her soaking hair out of her face so that it didn´t drip in her face any more. She flared her nostrils and slapped his hand away, replacing it with her own, gathering her thick mane and twisting the water out. She thought she heard her name being called and stopped to listen for a moment, looking around for the source and waiting for it to be repeated.

"What?" Remus asked, watching her turn around completely, seemingly searching the grounds for something or other. She turned back slowly and gave him a questioning look.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"I think someone was calling me..."

"I didn´t hear anything," he answered, looking around as well and then grinning when he spotted no one. "Maybe you´ve got too much water in your ears? It might have drowned out your normal hearing. You might be mistaking those swishy ocean sounds with `Aaangieee, Aaangieee...´ -"

"Oh, and who´s fault would that be?" she interrupted his soft, exaggeratedly airy tone. "Would you do some drying charm or something? I can´t find my wand, I think I left it in my dorm."

"Sure," he answered, pulling out his own. He muttered an incantation over both of them, and they were instantly dry.

"That´s better. Now... oh no, where´s my book? I hope it didn´t fall into the - " she stopped and looked around again. "There it is, again! Someone´s calling me!"

Remus looked back towards the tree they had been reclining near and frowned at the figure leaning against it, watching them interestedly. "Yup, over there. Him."

Angela turned around, muttering, "Bloody idiots, if you want me to answer, speak up!" under her breath but trailed off when she recognized the figure. Lucius Malfoy stood against the tree, twirling her wand idly in one hand while the other casually threw her text up in the air and caught it repeatedly. Seeing them watching him, he smirked and started towards them.

"Ugh, not now. Erm... wait for me while I go talk to him," Angela muttered, patting Remus´s arm before meeting Lucius halfway there.

"Angela," Lucius said when she reached him, tying her hair up hastily. "That was quite something, that squid. I´ve never seen it do that before."

"Yeah, well it´s not often that it tries to gulp down a rock. I told Remus not to throw it, but did he listen?" Angela explained condescendingly, accepting her wand and textbook from him. "Thanks. It´s lucky you found this," she waved the wand, "I thought I´d left it in my dormitory."

"Not a problem," he said distractedly. Slightly alarmed, she noticed him looking at Remus curiously and felt the need to divert his attentions.

"So, what are you doing down here alone?" she asked conversationally.

"I was at Quidditch practice... it´s just ended."

"Really? You´re not on the team, though," she observed in confusion.

"No," he fixed her with a clever smile, "I´m treasurer."

"Er... treasurer?"

"And advisor."

"Treasurer and advisor... so you do exactly what?" she asked incredulously. He gave her a hard look before answering.

"This is between you and me, Angela, as you are family. Under no other circumstances would I reveal this kind of information to anyone of any other House. Especially not a Gryffindor. No offense intended, of course," he added as an afterthought.

"None taken," Angela answered quickly, bursting with curiosity.

"Well then, I fund the team."

"You fund the team? What, you sponsor the team? Our teams don´t need sponsorship, they´re not going on world tours or anything, they´re not even entering into tournaments outside Hog-"

"No, no." He waved his hand, as though dismissing her ideas. "I make sure our team has the latest equipment and gear. And I advise the captain... and get to make important decisions, like scheduling games and team members--who´s worth keeping and who gets kicked," he explained casually, inspecting his nails and flicking a piece of fluff off his finger.

"Oh," she answered, trying to digest the shocking details without looking shocked, "I wouldn´t have thought."

"Well, that´s the point, isn´t it? Can´t have everyone up our arses for `cheating´. Anyway, we could continue this conversation at dinner, you know, why don´t you join us tonight?" he asked, giving her a hard look and sending Remus, still standing about ten feet away, the briefest glance that did not go unnoticed by Angela´s sharp gaze.

"Sure, it´s been a while after all."

"Yeah, I have to get back... I´m meeting some friends. I´ll see you later then." With that and a tight-lipped smile, he started towards the forest, away from the castle. Angela let out a relieved breath, turned around, and walked back towards where Remus was waiting, stuffing her wand into her pocket after muttering a quick drying charm over her sopping text.

"What did he want?" he asked, slipping his hand into hers as they started the trek up to the castle. She gave him a small smile and felt strangely important when she answered, "Oh nothing, he asked me to have dinner with them."

"Oh..." he sounded hesitant, "so you´re going to?"

"Uh-huh, I haven´t even talked to him in like a week, I should," she said by way of explanation.

"You really think so?" he asked casually, though she noticed him fidgeting.

"Do you have a problem with me having dinner with my cousin?" she asked patronizingly. He had no right to be annoyed with her decisions.

"Of course not, it´s just that... you´ve never thought of him as your cousin, and I don´t really see why you do now. Especially when he´s so... I just don´t see why you´re trying to hold up any sort of relationship with him when he´s proved to be nothing but a git, to us and to you, too, all these years. Worse than a git, he´s a-"

"Yeah I know what you mean," she interrupted the train of insults that he was about to produce. "The thing is--"

"Oy! Remus, Angela, have you guys seen James?" They turned to see Sirius running towards them, clad in his red and gold Quidditch uniform, knee and elbow-pads included. He brandished his Beater´s club fiercely and Angela bit back a laugh at his disheveled forest-green hair. He had taken to experimenting with new colors on his own hair after failing to convince them to be his guinea pigs.

"No... I thought he´d be at practice," Remus answered thoughtfully.

"Er... I saw him in the common room a while ago, and he said something about the library..." Angela added.

"When?"

"I dunno.... Must´ve been ten o´ clock... yeah, around then..." she answered uncertainly. Sirius sighed exasperatedly.

"The whole bloody team´s been waiting for twenty minutes. We can´t start practice without James, and he had some trial plays planned with the reserve Chaser... I can´t help out with that because we need another player. On top of that, we had to drive the Slytherins off the field - I did get a couple good hexes in there though..." he grinned here, "But well, visit the hospital wing, and you´ll see the effects on Snape. And Malfoy was there for some reason... nevermind, I have to get a hold of James so I can throttle him."

"Okay, well... you just need another Chaser?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, so we can play four on four... will you do it? We´re wasting our time waiting for James if he´s not going to show up."

"Yeah, sure... who´s the reserve? McKinnon?" he asked, starting to walk with Sirius towards the pitch. Angela felt a bit out of place and was just going to get back up the castle when she realized Remus still held her hand and she was being pulled along with them. She walked in between the two, mainly ignoring the Quidditch chatter she barely understood.

"Thanks, mate. Yeah, the Fourth Year. He´s quite good, but he´s got a bit of a problem with teamwork, you know? He kind of hogs the Quaffle and hurls it at the goal, no matter where he is. We´re trying to break him out of that, but it would really help if we had James around to..." he trailed off with Remus nodding and suggesting ways to improve the player. Angela watched the field loom closer with tiny red figures flying all around above. Two figures could be seen throwing the Quaffle back and forth and another two racing around and around the pitch. Just watching was making her dizzy. She shook her head and looked away from the spectacle when her gaze fell on another three figures walking further away from the pitch, towards the Hogsmeade gates--a tall one with messy, black hair, a shorter woman, and a child.

"Hey, isn´t that James?" she said suddenly, pointing to the figures.

"Yeah... it is..." Remus answered, squinting towards them.

"And his mum... and I think that´s his sister..." Sirius expanded, holding a hand to his brow to shade it from the sunlight.

"What are they doing here?" she wondered aloud.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the worried glance that Remus and Sirius exchanged.

-:- -:- -:-

The brown tawny owl flew into the common room and directly towards her. It perched atop her shoulder and hooted, loud and incessant, heralding its arrival.

"Hold on!" she said exasperatedly when it commenced pecking her ear; she scratched out the end of her sentence and then put down her quill. She untied the scroll and rolled her eyes at her friends´ curious looks. "My father´s bloody owl..." she explained while unrolling the parchment and then rolling it up the opposite way to straighten it, "I hate the ugly thing, I wish he´d get rid of it. It used to keep me up all night, either pecking at me or screeching at bloody one in the morning! Once it even tried to eat my sheets." She eyed the still-hooting bird distastefully and raised an eyebrow at Vanessa when she started cooing and stroking its feathers.

Turning back to the parchment in her hand, her eyes roved over the short greeting, the brief explanation of the matter, and the lengthy apology. She swallowed hard when she finished reading it.

"What is it?" Giselle asked curiously. She pushed the parchment towards her.

"See for yourself," she said unnecessarily, picking up her quill and holding it over the essay she had been working on before. Vanessa leaned over to read the letter as well.

"Are you serious?" Giselle asked incredulously.

"Of course I am. Why the hell would they joke about that?" she answered irritably, pressing the tip of her quill to the parchment but unable to do anything more. She couldn´t even remember what she was going to write.

"Oh, Charisma!" Vanessa gasped, giving her a sorrowful look.

"What!" she snapped. What she did not want right now was pity.

"When will it be?" Giselle asked quietly.

"Probably the end of the month. Admission deadlines are in about two weeks," she said tonelessly.

"How do you know?"

"They´ve been looking into this for a while now. It´s why I´m here in the first place."

"Oh..."

She stared at the parchment again, willing herself to write and then remembered that she couldn´t remember what to write. She sighed dejectedly and threw down her quill.

"I bloody hate this."

-:- -:- -:-

It was this kind of thing that made her nervous about keeping what they had. It was this line of questioning that finally made her consider what she was doing. It was this simple question:

"So what about your friends?"

Asked so casually, so nonchalantly, it could have been a comment on the food or the weather or any other trivial thing surrounding them, but the look in his eye told her otherwise. Nevertheless, it could only be answered with the same air of indifference, and so it was.

"What about them?" she answered steadily, stalling. What could he want to know? She was eager to answer it out right, that they were her friends and it was none of his business what they were like. That she loved them, that they cared for her, that she had a boyfriend, and that she didn´t care what he thought of him...

He lifted that fine brow and clarified, "What are they like? I know what I think of them, but what do you?" A few heads turned towards her interestedly, and a few more threw her steely glares, as though daring her to answer honestly and at the same time, daring her to lie. She set down her fork and put on a thoughtful expression, knowing how she would answer and at the same time asking herself why.

"Okay... well, who do you want to know about?" she asked coolly. What would she say? He´ll want to know about Lily and Isabella, how she felt about the fickle nature of the latter towards guys probably, and oh! He would want her opinion on Lily´s parentage, having a Muggle-born for a friend, maybe even call her a Mudblood. But that wouldn´t be a problem, would it? She would just explain that such a thing meant nothing to her, that she was above such superficial ideas, that pureblood or Muggle-born - a Witch was a Witch, that one´s blood did not matter...

But she knew that she couldn´t say that, that something held her back, that she felt the need to fabricate the details, that in that short moment she´d already made a mental list of all her friends´ faults, shortcomings, deficiencies and etc, and that thought made her cringe with guilt.

"Who to begin with?" he asked rhetorically. Angela watched him glance knowingly at Snape, and she was sure that bloodliness would be brought up...

"What about the... ah... boys?" he asked interestedly. She blinked and then raised an inquiring eyebrow. The boys? She hadn´t thought of the boys. It suddenly occurred to her that she was sitting at the Slytherin table amidst Sixth- and Seventh-Years, next to Severus Snape. Of course he´d be interested in them.

"Yes, what are their names?" he glanced at Snape again, "Potter, Black, Lupin and... Prettygoon?"

"Pettigrew," she amended, stuffing a forkful of Shepherd´s Pie into her mouth and reminding herself to do so periodically. "Or James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter rather. Well, they´re all... intelligent..."

"Really? I hear that all they do is pull mindless pranks..."

"Yes, well... they´re at the top of the class, some of the cleverest in our year. They´re very intelligent, they just have stupid, mindless ways to show their... uh, genius." There, a sugarcoated insult. Or an offensive compliment.

"What are they like individually then, if they´re such geniuses together?" he added mockingly. She didn´t even hesitate to answer now, so ready she was with the perfect answers.

"Individually? Hmm..." she put on a show of thinking, "Well, individually they´re all just... idiots. There´s not another word to describe them. James, well, all he does is pranks. Pranks and Quidditch. I´d say there´s some hope for him since he´s a prefect, at least he´s putting his talents to use there and also on the Quidditch pitch. But really, when it comes down to it, all that matters to him are stupid pranks and girls... he´s really quite shallow," she took a bite of her food, going over what she´d just said. Where had that come from? Had she just thought that she was ready to answer? Well, that was obviously a horrible attempt. She´d have to try harder with the next one.

"Erm... Sirius and James are very much alike; they could be brothers for everything but their looks. I would say Sirius was a bit less concerned... he´s more impulsive and stuff - he never thinks before he does anything. And of course, most of those stupid pranks are usually his ideas, he´s obsessed," she gave Snape a sympathetic look and pat his arm, almost choking when she´d realized what she´d done. He blinked and stared at her while she took a long sip from her goblet to hide her discomfort. Lucius looked amused. Okay, Angela, you´re screwing this up big time. Breathe. Wait, no, they might notice. Think. Remus.

She cleared her throat, "Remus is... very nice." No! The bad, think of the bad, she thought. But she couldn´t do that, she didn´t want to tell them something like, "he´s sulky". Okay, don´t freak, just go with something bland - make something up. "He´s studious, and er... he´s smart... and he´s like the brains of the group." That´s enough, right? "Now for Peter, he just kind of follows them around. Honestly, I can´t even think of why he hangs out with them. He´s nothing like them - he´s a wuss and has this paranoid fear of always being left out by everyone... The others just let him hang out with them out of pity, I assume. I mean, he´s nothing like them," she repeated, mentally letting out the breath she´d been holding since the beginning of the conversation.

"That´s interesting," Lucius commented, exchanging looks with Snape. He put down his utensils and wiped his mouth on a napkin. Angela did the same, noticing that more than half the hall was empty - including most of the Gryffindor table. Her friends had apparently left, and, hopefully, she could too. "I´ll to be going now, we´ll talk more later," Lucius continued in that superior tone that she resented. She wasn´t just some stupid Slytherin idiot that took orders from him. Nevertheless, she stood up, noticing that he hadn´t even moved - he probably wanted to discuss their conversation with Snape - and smirked at him. His attitude towards her was extremely irritating and angering.

"I´ll see you later then, Lucius," she said coolly, brazenly reaching over to kiss his cheek. She walked barely ten paces from where they were seated and - out of sudden inspiration - turned and met Snape´s cold gaze, as they were watching her departure, "Bye-bye, Severus!" she called, smiling coquettishly with a delicate wave of her hand. Continuing out of the hall, she relished Lucius´s obviously astonished look and Snape´s gulp, feeling oddly satisfied.