Turn Me Green, Kiss Me Pink

Chapter - 12

A Vision

"James! James!" A voice called, coming closer to her. Isabella groaned and rolled her eyes, originally at no one in particular,but as a seventh year boy caught her eye and smirked, she thought she might as well complete the task with a certain, not-so-concealed finger aimed at the owner of the voice. He grinned, she grinned - and then was interrupted as someone came to stand right in front of her, blocking him from view.

"What! Charisma, I'm busy," Isabella said, rudely craning her neck to the side to catch a glimpse of the guy again. Charisma put her hands on her hips, unfazed by her words. She'd learned enough about Isabella Rey in the past weeks to know that she wasn't really annoyed.

"Oh, you're not," she pointed out now, turning her head to look at the tall brunette that was apparently keeping Isabella 'busy'. She turned back. "He's not even that cute."

"I don't remember asking for your opinion."

"But he's not, his nose is too big... it makes him look like a horse."

"He's better than anything you could pick up," Isabella answered meanly. This was a typical conversation between them since the 'Eventide of Aftermath', as Sirius had dubbed the night after the Anniversary Ball. There was rudeness and sarcasm, but none of it was serious.

"Actually, I have picked up better. And speaking of my boyfriend, I'm looking for him."

"As was obviated by that shrill squawking of your voice just a minute ago."

"He wasn't at dinner or anything," Charisma continued, ignoring Isabella. "Would you happen to know where he is?"

"Hmm..." Isabella put on a thoughtful expression."I believe the last time I saw him, a mere three hours ago by the way, he said something about shagging Lily senseless down at the Prefect Meeting room. Try looking there."

"Oh, it's useless," Charisma muttered sulkily.

"There, there, darling. Don't be so put-off by it. I admit three hours is quite a long time, but if you hurry, you might still catch the show!" Isabella comforted, nodding sincerely. Charisma pursed her lips.

"I really need to talk to him."

"I'm sure you do."

"No, I mean it. I'm serious!"

"I'm sure you are."

"Ugh! Will you please just give me a--"

"James isn't here. He's not even in the castle. He's at Hogsmeade with his mum, doing something we have no knowledge of. Izzy doesn't know anymore, I don't know anymore, even Sirius, Remus, and Peter don't know anymore, so don't bother asking them. Now, I need to talk to Izzy, and you need to go tell your friends about whatever happened today," Angela cut in coldly. She pulled up a chair and sank into it, leaning back with her arms crossed over her chest, giving Charisma an impatient glare. Isabella raised her eyebrows at a stunned Charisma.

"Uh... I guess I'll go then," she said uncertainly, muttering a 'thanks' before she made her way towards the staircase leading up to their dormitory. Angela tucked her legs under her and sat up, rolling her eyes at the retreating figure.

"Honestly, she acts like I'm a bloody vampire or something. It's not like I'll raise an army of the dead if she says one off word to me... What a drama queen," Angela said irritably.

"She's creeped out by your whole I-can-actually-see-something-in-a-foggy-crystal-ball act. I congratulate you."

"It's not an act..."

"Eh, whatever. So, how was dinner?"

Angela groaned and put her face into her hands. "It was horrible. It's just me and Lucius talking while the whole bloody table gawks at me. I swear, it's like they all find some special joy in watching me eat."

"Prime time entertainment."

"Exactly! It's so embarrassing. And I hate talking to him so much. Hey Lil," Angela added, as the red head pulled up a pouf and sank into it, smiling dreamily. Angela raised an eyebrow, "Where have you been?"

"With Amir. I think he's drugging her," Isabella said. Lily smiled again and sighed. "See?"

"He's so sweet, and he's sooo cute, and ugh! Why didn't he ask me out sooner?"

"Ay, stop it! Your love-sick-ness annoys me. Angela, back to your dinner... What was it you guys talked about anyway?" Isabella asked curiously. Angela remembered why she'd been so miserable in the first place and groaned.

"Oh, I've done something terrible..." she cried, burying her face in her hands.

"What, did you kiss Snape or something?" Lily asked, not in the mood to be serious. Angela looked up and stared at her, looking stunned.

"Oh my God. You did? Angela! Did you?" Lily cried frantically, finally sitting up.

"Wow" was all that Isabella could manage, blinking.

"No! No, I did not kiss Snape," Angela said, coming to her senses. "It's just that... um... I kind of, er... I mean..."

"What?" Lily prompted impatiently, leaning closer.

"I think I was flirting with him," Angela said quickly. "But that's not the terrible part. The bad part was that Lucius asked me what the guys were like... and I... I kind of..."

"Uh-oh," Isabella said grimly. Lily looked puzzled.

"I lied and I said a whole load of crap about them," Angela finished guiltily.

"Did he ask about us?"

"No... I just don't know what got into me..." she said sadly.

"It's okay, you didn't mean it, right?" Lily said quickly, giving her a small smile.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. As long as you didn't say anything about us!" Isabella added lightly, exchanging worried glances with Lily. "Now let's back up a little, to the part where you flirt with Snape."

Angela smirked. "I didn't really flirt with him, I just wasn't nasty to him. Like I was patting his arm while we talked at one point and when I left, I actually said 'bye' to him. It's not flirting, it's just being nice..."

"Hey, Lily, try this!" a voice called from behind them. They all looked up to see Sirius, holding out a golden cake in one hand and Peter behind him.

"What is it?" Lily asked hesitantly, instinctively shrinking away from it.

"What does it look like?" Sirius answered sarcastically, "A cake."

Lily edged her pouf closer to Isabella, away from Sirius.

"C'mon, it's just a cake. I swear," he said sincerely. Lily reached out and took it tentatively, as though it would explode, and sniffed it.

"We were just at the kitchens," Peter said, holding out two more cakes to Isabella and Angela.

"Yeah, we just picked up some stuff. There's nothing wrong with them, honest!" Sirius insisted. Isabella shrugged and took a bite, and after making sure that it was safe, Angela and Lily followed suit.

"Any sign of James yet?" Angela asked them as they brought over seats.

"Nope."

"It's so weird... I mean, what could he be doing? And it's not fair either, the rest of us don't get to cut all our classes for no reason," Isabella said grumpily. Angela rolled her eyes.

"It has to be important, Izzy, we saw him with his Mum. Why would Mrs. Potter come here unless it was important?"

"Yeah, I guess... but aren't the Potters one of the school's governors? Maybe she had to visit." Isabella shrugged and brushed the crumbs off her lap. Lily looked pensive with her head cocked to the side.

"Actually... I saw them in the library before they left for Hogsmeade..." she revealed. Sirius frowned and Peter leaned forward in his seat. Angela and Isabella looked at her curiously.

"You saw him before Quidditch practice?" Sirius asked anxiously.

"Er... when was Quidditch practice exactly?"

"Around four," Angela answered for Sirius.

"Then yeah, before it," Lily confirmed, "I was studying for the Transfiguration test in the library because I'm so awful at that." Everyone groaned at this because by their standards, Lily's grades in Transfiguration were above average. She continued after pursing her lips at their expressions. "Anyway... Yeah, so it was really crowded and I could only find a seat at this table with a bunch of first-years in it, and when I looked up, James was sitting there too, and with his sister... I think her name was Adrienne... Yeah, Adrienne. Ok, so James and I were talking-- "

"Really? You two were talking?" Isabella asked with a hopeful look. Lily shook her head impatiently.

"I'm sorry, I meant arguing," she amended, "Anyway, and then Mrs. Potter interrupted and she sort of looked at me... I don't know, it was like she was telling me to go--"

"Yeah, she does that a lot. It's creepy," Sirius put in with a shudder.

"Yeah. So she gave me that look, and I kind of felt like I was intruding or something, and then, she told James that they were going to Hogsmeade to talk about some stuff. James asked what was going on, and his mum said something about what they talked about over the summer being probable? I don't know. All I know is that James looked really upset when they left..." Lily finished, looking at Sirius and Peter for a reaction.

"Would you know what they were talking about?" Isabella asked the boys.

Sirius shook his head. "I have an idea, but if it's what I'm thinking of, this is not good..." He shook his head again and leaned forward to rest his chin in his hand. Peter gave Sirius a puzzled look, but when he didn't explain, looked away and at the girls uneasily. Isabella continued to stare at him, trying to burn holes through his head, it seemed. Lily wiggled her eyebrows and exchanged a look with Angela, who shrugged back.

"Er... so what have you been up to? Where's Remus?" Lily asked, trying to perhaps dissolve the cloud of gloom that had settled over the group. Apparently whatever was going on with James was more serious than they'd thought.

"He went home again," Sirius answered tonelessly.

"To visit his mum?" Angela asked, furrowing her brow. "Well that's funny, he never said a word."

"He doesn't like to talk about it," Peter supplied after throwing Sirius a quick glance.

"Well yeah, he would've said something by now if he did. I wonder what his mother has exactly..." Isabella asked rhetorically.

"Whatever it is, I think he should tell us... or at least me, you know. The least he could do was let me know he was going to visit today... when did he leave anyway?" Angela asked, trying not to sound bitter.

"Right after dinner," Sirius answered. "We saw him off and then went to the kitchens."

"Ugh, I just missed him then... I don't get why he doesn't tell us about it..." she reiterated, sighing irritably.

"Well, it's not that big a deal if you really think about it," Lily proposed, leaning forward in her chair. "I mean, Peter's right, if he doesn't like to talk about it,then he's not obligated to..."

"Yeah, if she's sick, she's sick. You know that he's going to visit her, and she is his mum so it's important, and well... maybe it's none of our business..." Isabella suggested tentatively.

Angela opened her mouth to reply, but Sirius cut her off. "I don't know about that... maybe you should ask him," he said with a strange glint in his eye. Peter stared at him.

"Yeah, I mean, I could just ask... and if he doesn't tell me, I'll know that he doesn't want to talk about it and that I gave him a chance," Angela justified to herself and Lily and Isabella, not noticing the looks the boys were exchanging.

"Yeah," Sirius nodded in agreement before standing up. Peter stood also and walked off towards their dormitory, Sirius following, scratching his head.

The girls watched them go and then stared at each other in silence. Angela sighed.

"I feel like there's more to this."

-:- -:- -:-

"Ahem." Charisma cleared her throat after sweeping into the dormitory and closing the door behind her. Lily ignored her, turning back to her book after noting her presence, and Isabella and Angela went back to brushing and charming their manes, respectively, assuming that she was talking to the others. Giselle sighed deeply and Vanessa put on a mournful look. "I have an announcement to make..."

Isabella glanced at the two and exchanged an exasperated look with Angela (Lily was too busy staring at her text to look up), rolling her eyes at them. Angela took her wand out of her hair and shot Charisma an icy look.

"Get on with it," she said coldly, her nerves on end already and her glare, mixed with the half-plaited platinum-blond hair that stuck straight up in the air behind her head and her raised wand, made her look quite deranged. Charisma pursed her lips for a moment, obviously not appreciating her unkind tone, before reverting back to a regretful look.

"Girls, I know this'll be hard on you and all but... when the semester ends, I won't be coming back to Hogwarts," she announced, walking sadly over to her bed. Giselle and Vanessa already seemed to know about this so they turned back to poring over Witch Weekly together. Lily gaped at her at first before quickly turning back to her book, ears perked up. Angela raised an eyebrow, and Isabella just stared at her.

"Er... that's sad... that's horrible..." Isabella lied, biting her lip to hold back a grin.

"Yes, it is... er... why?" Angela asked, somewhat speechless. Charisma sighed.

"My parents move around a lot," she answered shortly.

"If you don't mind me asking, what school did you go to before Hogwarts?" Isabella asked, sincere and polite for once - she was genuinely interested. Lily listened, surprised that no one had bothered to ask that before.

"Well, immediately before I came here, I was home-schooled since last summer... before all that though, I've been to Calais, Beauxbatons, Salem, Durmstrang, Merland's (I've got to tell you, that one was just wierd... witches, wizards, AND dark creatures...) and, I've been home-schooled in between transfers."

"Why would you move around so much?" Isabella asked nosily.

"My parents' jobs are just like that."

"Er... ok... what, do they work for the ministry or something?" Angela added, hoping to get more out of her.

"No. Nothing for the government."

"Do they own some sort of business then?" Isabella inquired with her eyebrows raised.

"Nope!" Charisma answered cheerily, backing towards the door and then slamming it on her way out.

"What was that all about?" Lily asked, staring at the door.

"I don't know, but she's got to be hiding something," Isabella answered in low tones so the other girls wouldn't hear.

"Everyone seems to be today," Angela put in harshly, turning back to her mirror and charming her plait once more.

"I don't know why you're so angry, Angie. The thing with Remus isn't that big a deal," Isabella said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, honestly. Just ask him and if he tells you, you know. If not, then he doesn't want to talk about it!" Lily added impatiently.

"I'm going to bed," Angela said sulkily, disregarding their comments.

-:- -:- -:-

"What were you doing?" Peter finally blurted out after an hour's strained silence. He had been flipping through old magazines while Sirius polished and re-polished his broomstick. "Remus is going to kill you," he added in his normal tone.

"No, because Remus won't know," Sirius corrected almost immediately - it seemed that he'd been waiting for his friend to pose the question. He sat on his bed across from Peter and leaned forward, a look of enlightenment in his eye.

"Then what do you think you're doing? You know how long it took Remus to tell us about it, if he doesn't want to tell her, then leave it alone!" Peter said urgently, glaring at Sirius.

"No, because he should tell her. What is he so afraid of? It's Angela! She's not going to blast him to pieces and run away when she finds out, and I really don't think she would break up with him either," Sirius tried to reason.

"I know, but tell Remus that! Don't get it into her head that there's something going on."

"I didn't. I only got it into her head that she has the right to know, whatever it is that's going on... which I guess is up to Remus to decide. Listen, Pete, you know Remus is never going to tell her on his own." There was a faint tap at the window.

"Yeah..."

"Yeah, so we're just giving him a push in the right direction, right?"

"We?" The tapping grew louder.

"If Angela asks him at a good time, and knowing Angela, she's pretty good at getting info off of people, so she will ask at the right time, he'll tell her... and even if he doesn't, he'll think that she's suspicious and think about telling her, where he will consult us," he waved his arm to indicate themselves as the tapping grew even more frequent. Peter glanced at the window and then did a double take, running up to the dark, night sky visible through the glass panels. Sirius walked up to see what it was.

"What the--" he exclaimed, immediately undoing the locks. Together, they pushed the frame open, almost knocking James off of his broomstick, and stood back for him to fly in. James gave them each dirty looks as he dismounted his broomstick and attempted to flatten his windblown hair.

"I've been out there, pounding for like 10 minutes while you two sat there and ignored me!" he cried indignantly.

"We were discussing something important," Peter explained quickly, noting his flared temper while he pushed the window closed.

"And there are doors around, you know. Besides, it couldn't have been 10 minutes..." Sirius muttered. "Where were you anyway?"

"Remus left already?" James asked instead. Peter nodded. "What were you guys talking about that was so important?"

"Tell us what happened first," Sirius challenged. "We know your Mum and Adrienne were here."

"Who told you? Lily?" James grimaced,and they could tell he was ready to tell her off.

"No. Well yeah... but Sirius saw you first..." Peter answered.

"Yeah, Remus and Angela were with me, we saw you guys walking towards Hogsmeade. And Remus filled in for you at practice," Sirius added.

"Good... how's McKinnon doing now?" he asked distractedly, shoving his broomstick under his bed.

"Good," Sirius answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Passing more?" he asked, now opening his trunk, his back to them.

"Good."

"And how's his aim?"

"Good."

"Is he still afraid of the bludger? We can't have a beater that's--"

"McKinnon's the reserve chaser, you prat. Just tell us what happened!" Sirius cried exasperatedly.

"Yeah, we won't tell anyone..." Peter added.

James sat back against his bed and sighed, drawing his knees up to his chest. "It's a really long story..."

"Okay... we'll go first then," Peter suggested, looking at Sirius.

"Fine, but you'd better tell us when we're done... it's not all that interesting anyway..." he added, obviously impatient to hear James' story.

"I will, I will. Get on with it," James urged.

"Well we were down in the common room with Izzy, Angie, and Lily when they asked where Remus was..."

"You told them??" James cried, his eyes wide.

"No, no, calm down. Wait until I'm done. Anyway, Peter and I told them, like usual, that he was off to see his mum. But then, a brilliant idea popped into my head!"

"Oh Merlin..." James muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up. So after I told them where he was, Angie said something about how she doesn't understand why Remus doesn't tell her what's wrong with his mum. You could tell she felt bad saying something like that because she kept adding that he could've at least told her that he was going tonight, which apparently he didn't."

"That's weird."

"Actually, he was in a bit of a hurry after dinner and Angela sat with the Slytherins again..." Peter reasoned, and the three grimaced.

"Point... Well then, Peter here saved us with a simple, 'He doesn't like to talk about it' and Lily and Izzy were all for that and trying to convince Angie that it was nothing. So I said that maybe Angie should ask him and Angie agreed. She thought that if she asked him and he told her, then she'd know. And if he didn't tell her, then she'd know Peter's right and he doesn't like to talk about it!"

"Explain how that accomplishes anything," James asked wearily, taking his glasses off to clean them on his shirt.

"Don't you see it? This is the only way to get Remus to tell them! It would make our, and his, life so much easier if we didn't have to keep covering for him. I mean, we know they're not going to shun him or anything; they'll probably just be nicer to him. You know how girls are. When Angela asks him, he might tell her!"

"Or - and I have to say this is more likely - he'll just say that his mum's sick, like usual!!" James answered in false excitement, mocking Sirius.

"Or, he won't tell her but he'll think about telling her and then he'll come to us and we'll tell him to tell her. That's more logical, I'd say," Sirius finished.

"It is, in a twisted way, and you're right, it might happen. The problem is, he might not tell her and then just dismiss it right there. And what if Angela mentions you? He'll kill you if he finds out that you're putting ideas into her head."

"That's exactly what I said! Besides, no matter how many times we've tried to convince him, he still thinks the girls'll hate him if they find out, and when Angela asks, he'll be sure to make up an excuse right away to avoid any questions," Peter offered.

"You've got to admit, Padfoot, Peter's got a point," James said, looking up at his determined friend. Sirius sank down so he was leaning against his own bed and frowned.

"Yeah, I guess. But it's already done and I can't tell Angela not to mention me when she talks to him - she'll get suspicious. We'll see what happens, maybe he will tell her..." he mused.

"So, what happened with you, James?" Peter asked, joining them on the ground.

"A million things. My mum and dad are going into hiding and I'm staying with you this summer, Sirius," James answered bluntly, looking a bit irritated.

"Er..." Peter uttered, eyes wide.

"What do you mean they're going into hiding? From Voldemort?" Sirius asked quickly.

"No, from a wild niffler they found in the attic. Of course, from Voldemort! They claim to not know where they're going,but I'm sure that's a load of dung and they're just not telling me. Apparently they're leaving tomorrow, Adrienne too, and I'm staying with Sirius until they can come out," he explained sulkily.

"Bugger... I'm really sorry, James. You guys can come over to my house whenever you feel like it this summer, you know. But... wow... sorry," Peter comforted, looking astonished and speechless.

"Why...? Did they tell you why they're going into hiding?" Sirius asked anxiously.

"They said that they know that things are getting dangerous, and they want to make sure they can be safe with Adrienne and all. They figure I'll be at Hogwarts so I'll be safe, and staying with your family will keep me as safe as I would be if I was with them," James answered quickly, blinking several times and pretending to scratch his eyelid while covering up a tear. Peter and Sirius looked away in embarrassment, and Peter muttered something about the loo, making a quick exit. Sirius stood up and went about fixing up his bed, making as much noise as possible by "accidentally" stepping on a Muggle plastic shopping bag that was on the floor and dragging it around with his foot. He heard James get into bed and untangled the bag, fixing his own covers.

"It'll be alright, you know," Sirius paused to say before pulling his trainers out from under his bed.

"Yeah, I know," came a muffled reply.

"Besides, you're staying with me for the whole summer! Maybe we can get Remus and Peter to stay for a while too," Sirius called, hoping to cheer him up. Peter re-entered the room and looked at James's bed, where the curtains were closed tight.

"Yeah, we'll tear down your house..." James called back, half-heartedly.

Sirius sighed and exchanged a worried look with Peter before both of them slumped down to the floor and put on their trainers. There was silence except for faint shuffling sounds made by the boys as Peter rummaged for James's invisibility cloak in a huge pile of clothing near his bed and Sirius looked through Remus's trunk in search of a clean set of robes for his friend. He had gone in a hurry that night, with no time to prepare for his change as he made for the Whomping Willow under a rapidly disappearing sun and a brightening full moon.

"What are you doing?" James asked suddenly, opening his curtains to find Peter unfolding (or un-crumpling) his invisibility cloak and Sirius pulling a black robe out of Remus's bureau and then folding it into a knapsack. Sirius and Peter looked at him in surprise.

"Er... Remus...?" Sirius faltered, seeing the uncomprehending expression on James's face. They watched him uneasily.

"Oh yeah," he said after a moment. The expression quickly turned to embarrassment and James stumbled out of bed."I'm coming too."

"You're sure?" Sirius asked as James fumbled for his glasses on his bedside table and then changed back into the robes lying on the floor.

"Of course, you'll need me to help you," he answered indirectly. Peter shot Sirius a dubious look and shrugged as the three tiptoed out. Before closing the door, Peter grabbed a shrunken Magical First Aid kit and slipped it into his pocket. Just in case.

"Invisibility Cloak?" Sirius whispered when they found themselves outside the portrait hole. James looked around at the empty corridor, where the torchlights had been dimmed. He glanced at his watch and shook his head, no.

"It's 12:45... no one should be out right now," he whispered back and the three figures quietly made their way through the corridors to outside the castle for a night of exploring.

-:- -:- -:-

"I'm going to bed, I ought to catch up on my beauty sleep," Narcissa declared with a small smile and a light kiss to her fiancé's cheek. Lucius chuckled.

"Goodnight then," he said, watching her climb the stairs to her dorm so gracefully that it looked more like floating. He turned to look at those surrounding him, as most were going up to bed as well. One of them sent him a meaningful glance and stayed behind.

"See you," he called up to the others and each in turn bid him the same.

Severus Snape sat watching him, shifting uneasily in his chair.

"What?" Lucius asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She lied... at dinner, I mean. Ang-your cousin lied to us," Snape muttered quickly, reconsidering having this conversation. He wasn't quite sure why it had struck him as important, or why he kept thinking about dinner, but he wasn't about to look like a fool in front of Malfoy.

Lucius gave him an odd look and laughed.

"Well, that's quite obvious. Of course she would lie, she has no reason to trust me and, well, she probably hates us too," Lucius explained. Severus blushed slightly and set his jaw.

"I know that. I was making sure you realized that she's not to be trusted. Why does she keep sitting with us anyway?" he asked, changing the subject. He had indeed made a fool of himself.

"Simple. Because I asked her to... it's better to make friends than enemies, you know," Lucius advised. Snape smirked at such a statement coming from the boy who'd done nothing but torment students in other houses for the past seven years.

"Isn't that a bit hypocritical? I mean, haven't we spent the past years going after the Gryffindors... especially the crowd that Heathers hangs around?" Snape braved, curious as to what his friend was driving at.

"Well, keeping up ties with Angela might be useful later on..." Malfoy hinted vaguely.

"I don't see how... if anything, she'll start spying for them," Snape countered.

"Or we could get her to spy for us. Tonight was not an entire waste of time, you know. We know now that for whatever reason, Angela did not defend her friends to us... in fact, we didn't even say anything bad about them but she still spoke badly of them. She wasn't even provoked. You see my point?"

"I didn't really think of that. But then... do you know why?" Snape asked interestedly, getting up to open the window slightly. The common room fire was making the room feel a bit stuffy.

Lucius shook his head. "I've no idea... but now do you see why we're to stay friendly with her?"

Snape nodded slightly, gazing at the dark green rolling lawns, illuminated by the full moon. Suddenly, he spotted three figures making their way towards the forest... three students. He watched them, about a hundred feet from the outskirts of the woods, aware that Lucius was watching him for a response. "Yeah, I see your point. It's just a pain to have to be nice to a Gryffindor... even if she is your cousin."

Lucius laughed again. Severus hated it when he laughed - he always managed to sound condescending. "Well, it won't be that bad. You're not so much against her as you are against her friends - Potter, Black, Lupin, and the other one... from what I've seen, that is."

Severus was silent, staring at the three figures, now about halfway down the path from the Castle to the forest. Something glinted as they walked past a sliver of moonlit ground and the figures were thrown into sharp relief, revealed as three boys, one shorter than the other two. Snape's eyes went wide as he recognized the three figures. It was Potter, Black, and Pettigrew... and it was Potter's glasses that had glinted in the moonlight! Once again, they'd out stepped boundaries and set out late at night, and Snape was going to figure out where it was they went on those nights he'd been lucky enough to see them. He turned away from the window and quickly started for the exit, forgetting Lucius's presence until he saw the raised eyebrow his abrupt movement provoked.

"I'm going for a walk," he announced, ignoring his companion's comments as he walked straight through the bare stone wall, marked by two bookshelves on either side that created about 3 feet of space between them. Stealing through the empty corridors, his only thought was that he could finally expose his enemies.

He grinned.

-:- -:- -:-

Angela slowly parted the curtains around her bed and checked the time. A quarter to one in the morning, and she hadn't slept a wink. There was something clouding her thoughts, something seemingly important that wouldn't let her sink into the sweet depths of slumber... and she had to figure out what it was before she drove herself insane. She sat up gingerly, not wanting the others to wake up, and lightly stepped onto the floor. The full moon's luminous presence cast an almost blinding white light on the floor around the high window, and she was inexplicably drawn to it.

She climbed onto the foot-wide ledge and sat with her side leaning against the glass, drawing her knees up to her chest and encircling them with her arms. She needed to single out what it was that was bothering her. That was easy - Remus.

Every time she tried to sleep, she kept envisioning his face rippling into focus and a depressing, sorrowful, almost painful feeling welled up in her chest. She looked up at the moon and took note of how clear the sky was tonight, how the moon was truly the center of a vast, dark, sea. She felt as if she was looking at it for the first time.

Angela closed her eyes and a picture of the moon was painted onto her lids. It, too, seemed to ripple into focus, bleary at first and then increasingly bright. She opened and closed her eyes again. The same moon was still there, but growing lighter and whiter while the navy, star-studded backdrop vanished entirely into a vast expanse of blackness. She could only focus on the very center of the picture that seemed to be glowing and white, and she somehow knew that it was hotter than it should be, and it suddenly sparked ablaze, and she felt like it was about to explode, and the white-hot fire burned into the sensitive lining of her lids...

She gasped and forced her eyes open, reached over to the ice-cold water jug, quickly dipped her hands into it and splashed some into her sore eyes for relief....

Or were they sore?

Just a moment ago, she could have sworn someone had pressed burning metal onto her closed eyes, they had hurt so much.

But now they didn't hurt at all.

She placed the water jug next to her on the ledge and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. Venturing a quick glance at the moon, her silly fears were swept away at seeing that the moon was not on fire. She sighed and looked back at the orb openly, unable to shake the feeling that this had to do with Remus and whatever was keeping her from sleep. She carefully closed her eyes again, ready for any burning, and only saw a strangely-shaped shadow.

Like everything else she saw, it slowly brought itself into focus and she recognized three animals. The largest was a bright, white, horse-like creature. Next to it posed a menacing black shaggy dog, and at its heels stood a small rat...

Angela blinked several times and shook her head to get the image out. What the hell was going on? She really needed to get some sleep before she went completely insane. She made to get off the ledge and back into bed but once again, she was drawn to the moon. One last look at it couldn't hurt.

She took in its bright beauty and couldn't shake off the feeling that this was extremely important. Something within her, perhaps the very thing that had kept her from sleep, compelled her to shut her eyes again.

This time, she saw the same lumpy shadow, but coming into relief more slowly. The three figures were hard to discern now, as they were a uniform dark gray. Out of nowhere, a figure, an animal larger than the rat, dog, and horse combined leaped onto the first three and--

Everything went black. Angela slowly opened her eyes and going back to bed was the last thing on her mind. Again she was drawn to the moon and the grounds. Something told her to inspect the grounds, and her eyes swept thoroughly over them and stopped at the Whomping Willow, where the shadows of three figures were discernable.

Angela quickly opened the latch of the window and pushed out the panes completely, almost forgetting that she was leaning on them and barely saving herself from a dangerous fall by grabbing onto the ledge with one hand. A great breeze blew into the room and knocked over Isabella's alarm clock with a loud clatter. She held her breath and stared at the five beds, praying that their occupants wouldn't wake. They didn't, and she had a great feeling that no one should know about this... whatever it was.

She turned back to the window and leaned out more so that she was squatting at the edge of the sill. The three figures approached the Willow and she assumed they were boys from their vague frames. One of them ventured closer to the tree and almost got hit in the head before jumping back. The others laughed, their tiny figures shaking with mirth as the victim joined in as well. Then they straightened up and seemed to give each other a signal. They moved into the tree's shadow so the figures themselves were invisible to Angela, but their own shadows still stuck out from the tree's.

She squinted and leaned forward to get a better look and gasped at what she saw as a strong current of air gushed through the window and knocked down the water jug. Ice-cold water spread onto the ledge and crept under her feet just as she instinctively reached out to right the jug...

As Angela slipped, she turned back to the scene outside and the last thing she saw was the boys' shadows morphing into that of a horse, a dog, and a rat. Then, she lost her footing completely and screamed, tumbling down to the very grounds she had been gazing at...