Turn Me Green, Kiss Me Pink

Chapter 13 - Departure

Snape stumbled down the steps outside the school clutching his robes around him in the biting wind, almost tripping in his insane haste to catch the three figures. Now out on the grounds, he squinted into the darkness and strained to recognize the boys he'd run out for. Instinctively, he reached into his pocket for his wand and the spell for lighting it almost escaped his lips before he realized that he might end up getting caught instead.

Six years of resentment and hatred coursed through him; he was sure he could get them back this time. Whatever they did must be very important or, and he thought this was more likely, just arrogant and reckless... The first time he'd seen them had been at the beginning of the year, when, coincidentally, he happened to be pouring himself a glass of water near the window in his dormitory and one of the figures was running back up to the castle. After much investigation and a few more sightings, he realized they did this regularly, about once a month, but it was always unclear which three of them it was...

He couldn't see them yet and scowled in frustration. Looking around him, he realized he was walking straight through the middle of the lawns and though he himself could not see Potter and his gang, they could possibly see him and run. He walked straight up to the line of needled bushes that surrounded the stone exterior of the castle and climbed behind one, relieved and slightly suspicious to see that between the long line of hedge and the walls of Hogwarts, there was enough space for a full grown man to walk comfortably through, like an exclusive path. Snape took this opportunity to creep along the walls as they got closer to the forest, deciding that tonight, he would not follow them completely, but just make sure where they were going exactly. He had three ideas: either they went to the forest, took a path past the forest into Hogsmeade, or went to that oaf, Hagrid's hut. He knew that they were friendly with the stupid groundskeeper.

Finally, he spotted them. They were walking closer and closer to the edge, but seemed to be veering slightly to the left. He watched with bated breath and raw satisfaction at seeing them laughing and pushing each other. The merrier they were, the easier it would be to catch them when he did... Which would not be tonight, he reminded himself quickly. He didn't know what he was dealing with exactly, and he'd been ridiculed and humiliated by Potter too many times to take even the smallest risk. This was his prize.

To his surprise, the figures stopped right in front of the Whomping Willow, the sinister tree that everyone was warned to stay away from! Oh, this'll be good, he thought, sneaking off at night to have a go at a tree. How very pathetic. He even snorted aloud.

Potter and his gang were standing in front of the tree, talking to each other, which he guessed from their gestures. One of them darted toward the tree and almost got hit in the head by a thick branch. He hoped it was Potter. Or Black. His friends were laughing and soon the one who was almost hit joined in too. They stopped and looked at each other...

Snape heard a crash from above him and looked up sharply just as a small splash of ice-cold water hit his face. He yelped as a large drop had plopped right into his eye and clutched his face just as a shrill scream issued from above. Something was hurtling right at him, he saw in the uncovered eye, and he clumsily threw a leg over the bush, placing his hands on the spiky needles to roll onto the other side when he was crushed under a painful weight. With him breaking the fall, the two rolled right off the bush and Snape's face was painfully buried in the grass. Something cracked...

-:- -:- -:-

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Lily yelled frantically, trying to open the damned hangings around her bed. It was so dark she couldn't find the slit. Her fingers clumsily felt the hemmed opening and pulled it open to see Isabella leap out of her bed and to the window. She shrieked in horror and Lily fell right to the floor, legs tangled in her bedclothes.

"What happened? Was that Angela? Izzy! What happened??" she yelled at the figure in front of the window, shadowed by the moonlight. Isabella seemed petrified for moment while Lily got to her feet. Suddenly she ran for the door, hurriedly putting on her slippers on the way. Lily stared after her, "Izzy!!!"

Giselle, Charisma, and Vanessa were tugging their hangings open and pulled themselves out in a panic to see Lily at the window.

"Who screamed? What happened?" Giselle cried, looking disoriented while Charisma hastily got out of bed and Vanessa paled and looked as if she couldn't move. Lily turned away and stuffed her wand into her pajama pocket, roughly putting her slippers on just as Isabella had. She ran to the door and glanced back to see Charisma already at the window, looking shocked. She turned around and their eyes met.

"Call McGonagall, quick!" Lily ordered with a pleading expression. Charisma nodded at once and made for the door herself while Lily ran down the stairs into the common room, skidding to a halt to stop herself from smacking into the wall. She regretted putting on her fluffy, furry slippers now that she was walking on the smooth stone floor. She crawled quickly out of the portrait hole and ran to the corner of the corridor, catching a quick glimpse of Isabella turning the corner...

She ran faster, turning the same corner to see Izzy halfway down the corridor, going who-knows-where.

"Izzy!! Wait! Where are you going?" she managed to yell. Isabella stopped and bent with her hands on her knees, panting and apparently giving her time to catch up. She did and slid to a stop, Izzy catching her arm to stop her from falling.

"I was... going... to Dumbledore... but I just realized... I don't know... the password..." Isabella panted. Lily nodded in understanding (she didn't think she could do much more than pant) and grabbed Isabella's arm, bringing them to a staircase at the end of the corridor. They sprinted down and Isabella was giving her a puzzled look.

"This isn't the way to the office... and I know you know the password, right?" she asked and they jumped to the landing and ran past a suit of armor in the second floor.

"Yeah but Pomfrey's a better bet... she's closer in case Angie's..." Lily broke off. Isabella nodded quickly.

After another flight of stairs, they finally reached the Hospital Wing and rapped on it until they heard quick footsteps and a light switched on behind the door.

"Charisma's calling McGonagall," Lily whispered to Isabella as faint, disgruntled muttering reached their ears.

"Okay, good," she replied with a hint of relief. The door swung open and Madame Pomfrey stood staring at their panting figures, pajama-clad like herself. She looked worried at first, as if she was expecting someone else but then she flared her nostrils and set her jaw. Lily and Isabella flinched.

"Now what on earth could have happened to you at one o'clock in the morning?"

-:- -:- -:-

Angela woke up to a bellowed conversation above her and she winced. Whoever was speaking was being very loud and it took her a moment to realize that it was Lily and Isabella. It took her another moment to realize that she was lying on a bed and, with yet another jolt to bring her closer to consciousness, that she had just fallen out of Gryffindor Tower and she was not dead.

Angela tried to stretch, but to her surprise she couldn't. There was a strange stiffness in her leg, and she felt as weak as a child when she tried to move. She tried to make a fist with her right hand but could barely curl her fingers. She tried harder, this time actually listening to the conversation that was throbbing in her ears...

"... maybe once Pomfrey lets us out, we can go to the lake... Lucky it's a Saturday."

"Yeah, I know... our teachers would go crazy... not to mention the rumors..."

"... that are already out! People are actually talking more because it's a Saturday, didn't you see all those Ravenclaws outside--"

"Shut up! I think she moved!" One of them pushed her hair out of her face and she finally opened her eyes. Lily and Isabella were leaning over her anxiously.

"Oh! You're awake! How do you feel?" Lily asked quietly, though it sounded loud. Angela tried to stretch again and failed.

"Not good. I can't bloody move!" she said, almost cracking her neck at an effort to turn her head while her legs rose about an inch off the bed every time she tried to kick. Isabella grabbed her shoulders.

"Stop moving! Hold on, I'll go call Pomfrey..." At the contemptuous look that Angela shot her for this comment, she added apologetically, "She said you'd be stiff when you woke up because of that bone-fixing potion, whatever it's called, and the sleeping potion and their reaction to each other or something and she wanted us to call her--"

"Okay, okay, just don't go yet. And keep it down, my ears are throbbing!" Angela interrupted irritably as Isabella's voice seemed to ricochet off her brain. She screwed up her face and clenched her teeth until the throbbing stopped and Lily and Isabella watched her, looking a bit frightened.

"What exactly... er... what were you doing last night?" Lily whispered cautiously. Angela wasn't sure whether she was being sensitive to her hearing or trying to throw off eavesdroppers. Either way, the tone was much more tolerable and her irritation ebbed away at how concerned her friends seemed to be.

"Last night? Oh! I have to talk to you guys about that. The weirdest thing happened--"

"Thought you'd get a breath of fresh air and you fell out the window?" Isabella said sarcastically. She immediately bit her lip and looked apologetic, avoiding Lily's glare.

Angela almost laughed at how close she was to the truth. Or at least the gist of it. "It's okay, I'll tell you once we're out of here. But... er... could you guys just tell me what happened after I fell? I mean, I should be dead by now considering it's Gryffindor tower..."

"Yeah, you're real lucky that you fell and landed right on top of--"

"Snape!" Isabella finished in a loud whisper, interrupting Lily's explanation with a grin on her face. "He was standing right outside the tower, probably preparing to woo you into his sexy Slytherin arms when - bam! - you gave him just what he wanted!"

"Oh, shut up! That's disgusting... how could you say that, Iz? Anyway, Lily, continue." Angela said quickly, a bit disturbed by this unexpected turn of events. Lily was giggling and red in the face with trying to suppress her laughter as she praised a grinning Isabella with a high five.

"Good one... anyway. Due to your incessant shrieking while you tumbled down to the grounds, Izzy here woke up and left the dorm to find Dumbledore. Then, I told Charisma to call McGonagall and ran after Izzy and we decided it was better to go to Pomfrey because she's closer in case you got hurt or something. I didn't know you fell on anyone, let alone Snape. I don't think Izzy did either..." Lily said, looking to Isabella for confirmation.

"Yeah, I had no idea... when I looked out the window, I just saw you sprawled on the ground and ran for it. So then Pomfrey, me and Lily ran out and found you sprawled on the ground, but on top of Snape, who's lying in that bed right there," Isabella pointed to a bed on her left before continuing. "You seemed to have fainted on your way down, or else got knocked out from the fall or something. Anyhow, you were unconscious with a broken wrist that you landed on and a dislocated shoulder I think..."

"And poor Snape... he was unconscious of course, but he had a bloodied up broken nose from landing on his face and some broken ribs. He's not going to forgive you anyti-- "

"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat from behind and Isabella and Lily slowly turned around and gasped. They leapt back from Angela's bed on which they had been half-sitting, half-leaning, blocking her view of the doorway that just now clicked shut...

Albus Dumbledore stood in front of the closed door, looking at them with a small smile on his face.

"Good morning Miss Evans, Miss Rey," he greeted the gaping pair cheerfully. Lily shut her mouth and smiled.

"Good morning Professor Dumbledore..." she said quickly, feeling foolish. After all, she had much more exposure to Dumbledore than the others, being a prefect...

"Morning, sir... er... lovely weather, huh?" Isabella said with a weak smile. Was Angela in that much trouble?

"Lovely indeed. Ideal for a stroll on the grounds... In fact, why don't you two enjoy a delicious breakfast by the lake and take a rest in the shade while I have a word with Miss Heathers?" he proposed kindly, conjuring a blue chintz armchair next to Angela's bed, not noticing the horrified look on her face at his doing so. She gestured wildly at Isabella and Lily to stay while Dumbledore continued to smile at them. They were slowly backing away towards the exit, as if his smile was a deadly weapon they were rushing away from, but then caught Angela's eye and stopped.

"Er... Professor Dumbledore?" Lily asked slowly, thinking hard of a possible question.

"Yes, Miss Evans?" he replied, raising his head expectantly.

"Er... I... uh... I was wondering... erm..." Lily stuttered, lapsing into silence. Isabella watched her with a pained expression.

"She was just wondering er... if Angela was going to be in trouble!" she said, blurting out the foremost thing on her mind. Angela rolled her eyes but anxiously watched Dumbledore's reaction. That was, of course, the first thing on her mind right now as well... this was the first time in her years at Hogwarts that Dumbledore had actually asked for her or came to see her. It wasn't often that even a student in the hospital wing received such attention, and this probably meant that she was in trouble. She tried to calm herself with the thought that, technically, she had done nothing wrong, and also that perhaps she could actually tell him something...

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at Lily and Isabella, both of whom were fidgeting nervously. "I believe that is to be determined after I speak with Miss Heathers." His answer sounded quite ominous to Angela and Isabella and Lily shuffled out of the room quickly, with a last sympathetic glance at her.

Dumbledore turned and sat down in the chair as he asked, "I hear your friends were quite concerned. How are you feeling?"

"Er... good, I supposed... a bit of a headache..." she said quietly, not quite ready to complain of all the ailments she was feeling to the headmaster.

"Anything else?" he asked, as if knowing exactly what she'd been thinking.

"Er... no, not really... actually, my ears... everything sounds really loud..." she answered nervously.

"And you don't feel a bit stiff?" he asked knowingly. He's reading my mind, was the first thought that came to her.

"Er... yes, I suppose... but Isabella said it's supposed to feel that way because of some potions Madame Pomfrey gave me last night and how they're reacting or something..." she stopped when she realized how ineloquent she sounded. She opened her mouth to speak again but he cut her off with a grim smile.

"We have some pressing matters to discuss, Miss Heathers, but first I shall call Madame Pomfrey to see that you're fit. I will return when she is finished. Poppy!" he called, standing up without another glance and walking towards Madame Pomfrey's office. The door opened quickly and Madame Pomfrey bustled out, stopping in her tracks when she saw Dumbledore. He gave her a whispered explanation (which, even with her sensitive hearing, Angela could not pick up) that ended with his humming and lodging himself in her office and Madame Pomfrey's bustling towards her. She changed her course however, and walked to the bed on her left. Angela tried to turn her head as much as she could to follow what she did but only succeeded in moving about an inch. Still, she caught a glimpse of Snape's skinny form under the covers before Madame Pomfrey closed the curtains around him, pulled out her wand, and muttered a spell.

As she sipped the smoking blue potion Madame Pomfrey held to her mouth while wiping the bedside table of some spilled water, she felt a tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach that slowly seemed to branch all throughout her body. Suddenly she could move again and she smiled and tried to stretch her arms high over her head but Madame Pomfrey clucked her tongue without looking at her.

"Can't stretch them yet, not after that fall..." she muttered as she twisted Angela's wrist and pulled each finger in turn herself, cracking them painfully as she did so. Angela had a feeling that less damage would have been done if she'd simply stretched.

"Er... when can I leave?" she asked the matron, watching as she closed the bottle of smoky blue potion she'd just drank. Madame Pomfrey tapped the wall to the left of her bed where a cabinet appeared and she put it away. She wiped her hands on her apron and finally made eye contact with her, giving her a nervous smile.

"We'll see," she said after a moment, turning to get Dumbledore. This was by far the scariest answer she had ever received from Madame Pomfrey.

Dumbledore now appeared at the foot of her bed. Angela decided to tell him exactly what had happened the night before, before he would have a chance to punish her for... well, no reason. He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off:

"Dumbledore- I mean, Professor Dumbledore- please, I'd like to tell you the truth about what happened because I swear, I don't think I did anything to get myself into trouble--"

"No, you did not, Miss Heathers. There is no reason for you to worry about punishments you do not deserve, but your story is still of interest to me and I rather hope I will learn that you did not act intentionally last night..." Dumbledore said. He finally made use of that chintz chair by settling into it and neatly folding his hands in his lap. Angela made to sit up and the pillows behind her head automatically settled themselves against the headboard to cushion her back. She opened her mouth several times to speak but could not think of where to begin...

"Well... er... last night, something peculiar happened. I think it was about one o'clock in the morning, and I couldn't sleep... But that wasn't the weird part..."

"You often have trouble sleeping, Angela?" Dumbledore gently probed after Angela trailed off into a moment silence. She didn't know if it was just an after-effect of all the potions she'd taken or if some element of her subconscious did not want her to tell her story but though she had a distinct idea of what she wanted to say, the right words seemed to evade her. Still, Dumbledore's prompting question was helpful.

"Yes, yes I do..." she answered. She wasn't sure whether she should add the fact that--

"On nights you are especially emotional or have you noticed no particular pattern?" he asked omnisciently, making the decision for her.

"When I'm mad, or sad, or--yeah, emotional I guess. Usually I just can't sleep and I..." She realized hat she had never revealed this to anyone before and took a deep breath before plunging on, "I get this feeling, like something's coming or sometimes I feel like there's something really important that I'm forgetting or missing... and sometimes I can't get my mind off of something and I feel really angry or sad or just... hollow. I can't really explain it but it's not just plain sad, or depressed... like... what I'm trying to say is that I know it's not normal." She paused and when Dumbledore nodded for her to go on, she was grateful that he was taking her seriously. "So--so usually when I feel that way, I try to get rid of it by... you know, trying to focus on other things and I can eventually fall asleep but other times... like, just a few weeks ago when it happened, I actually tried to figure out what I couldn't remember and whenever I closed my eyes, all I saw was a bright red light... the kind you see when the sun's in your eyes or there's light right in front of your face except it was night and pitch dark in the room... Last night something like that happened again..." Angela paused to revel in the utter relief she felt at having gotten all of that off her chest. It was easier to explain herself now and she was glad Dumbledore was here to listen, though he was gazing intently at the bed to her right, a finger on his chin and frowning in thought.

"I imagine that last night it was not only a reddish light you saw?" he asked, still staring at the bed.

Angela nodded, though he would not see it, "I had that feeling again... the sad one, but it was more like sorrow or pity, I don't know which, but I got up and went to the window and when I closed my eyes, I saw the moon... it was a full moon last night, and that's what I kept seeing except that after a while, it was really weird, it sort of burnt. I felt like my eyelids were scorched or something so I opened them. Then when I closed them again... I saw a shape, or a figure..." Angela stopped. She had purposefully excluded that with those feelings of sorrow had come images of Remus and a detailed description of the three animals seemed unnecessary as well. She was happy enough that Dumbledore hadn't laughed out loud at a story her friends would have thought absurd.

"You saw nothing else?" Dumbledore asked, a startlingly serious expression on his face. Angela shook her head, carefully holding onto his piercing gaze with her own. He nodded after a moment and continued, "What you have just described to me, Angela, is a matter that can become one of great consequence in your future and I would advise that you keep it to yourself for now. We must discuss this further, and you shall be informed of a date... In the mean time, I must stress again that you keep this to yourself."

"I will." Angela answered quickly. It wasn't as if anyone would believe the conclusion she knew Dumbledore was getting at with this "matter". Without thinking she blurted out, "You believe me then?"

The headmaster gave her a small smile and with a twinkle in his eye replied, "Yes, I do believe your story... though there is still the matter of how you fell out of that window."

-:- -:- -:-

Angela was released from the hospital wing just after Dumbledore had left her side and three days later, there were still rumors all around; either Hogwarts was experiencing a dry spell concerning gossip or the incident itself was larger than she'd imagined. Because of these rumors, Angela felt it was necessary that she tell Isabella and Lily the truth, despite Dumbledore's advice and to her relief, after hearing how Dumbledore had reacted to her explanation (including his warning), they accepted it, though they were still shocked. She had thoughts that the boys would badger her about details as well and had begun to worry about lying to them but to her surprise, they didn't ask twice about how she'd fallen. They seemed worried about something else rather than her mental state and kept asking if she'd seen anything on the grounds that night and why Snape had been outside in the first place, as if she would know.

Altogether, it had been a stressful week for all of them. Exams were just a few days away and in between studying, Isabella and Lily encountered a new batch of girls who constantly followed them around, trying to befriend them for their gossip while Angela dealt with pitying, fearful, accusing or disgusted looks everywhere she went, depending on whichever story that particular person believed. Not to mention the whispers and surreptitious edging away of chairs. She felt especially sorry for Remus as he had to deal with word of the supposed nightly escapades between her and Snape and the countless 'so-and-so caught them snogging in the dungeons' stories. He took surprisingly well to the embarrassing taunts and usually ignored them while she huffed and puffed.

Isabella had suggested they go to the library and look up what they didn't know from the outline they'd received for their History of Magic exam, which turned out to be about half of the topics listed. Lily declined the offer, as she'd saved most of her assignments, essays, and notes but Angela came along. They edged around the History section in search of a table and unable to find one, came across a row that held the books they were looking for. Isabella went straight for a shelf towards the end of the row, actually in the library for the right reason. Angela followed, consulting the list they'd made in the common room of topics they were behind on. She heard whispers coming from a table behind the shelf and was almost certain they were about her. Exasperated, she was determined not to listen, even if she was getting closer to them.

"Shh! I think I just saw her!"

"Where?"

"There, by that shelf."

"Oh! Oh, don't worry. She can't hear us from over there. Anyway, like I was saying, I think she was trying to run away with Snape!"

"Run away? Nah, I think they were probably just trying to meet up or something... I still don't see why it would be Snape."

"It is weird, but then if you think about it, she's been sitting with the Slytherins a lot lately. I thought it might have been because of Craig Pierce, but I guess I was--"

"Shut up! She's coming closer! Er...uh... I... uh... So, how about that essay for McGonagall?"

"She cannot hear us."

"Actually, I can. And for your information, it was not a suicide attempt!" Angela said in a voice as dignified as she could muster, from behind the shelf. The girls stared at the bookshelf, more bewildered than startled, before quickly gathering their belongings and departing. Angela walked over and dropped her books on to it.

"There, I found us a table."

Isabella looked up from her book and shook her head. "That was wrong, Angie."

Angela stared at her for a moment, not sure she'd heard her correctly. As if to assure her, Isabella closed her book and shot her a disapproving look.

"What? How was that wrong? They're the ones constantly gossiping about what's clearly none of their business and they can't even get the story right! They're spreading rumors about me and you think I'm wrong?!" Angela exclaimed furiously.

Isabella calmly set down her bag and pulled out a chair. "No... I think you're wrong because those were the Ravenclaws who think you were trying to run away with Snape. The Hufflepuffs down there say you were going for suicide. Honestly, Angie, if you're going to interrupt dramatically, at least listen to the conversation first."

-:- -:- -:-

As the end of the year came to a close, certain persons were extremely relieved while others, as usual, felt that farewells had arrived too soon. Among the former were Isabella, Lily and Remus, along with the minority of the year that looked forward to trips abroad or simply a leisurely summer. The rest of their group seemed to collaborate on creating a depressed atmosphere in the common room. It was no surprise that Angela was brooding, she was always inclined to recount to anyone who would listen how suppressive and boring her household was when summer arrived, and Isabella always managed to annoy her by exclaiming how lucky she was.

"And I can't stand wearing those big frilly dress robes whenever any company comes over - even to speak to the bloody gardener I have to be dressed proper," she had complained one evening.

"What happens if you don't?" Lily asked, more to humor her friend than because she was interested.

"The house elves come after you and shove you into a dressing room and do it themselves."

"Really? Do they just conjure a dressing room or do you always have one nearby? That sounds so convenient! I always end up looking disgusting when people visit on short notice. I wish we had house elves." Isabella replied with a sigh.

"They're not all that fun." Sirius muttered darkly. He also added to the gloom, though the girls couldn't imagine why. Sirius had come to spend a lot of time by himself, hardly engaging in conversation with anyone save James, Remus, and Peter. His admirers across the school were generally disappointed, as they no longer received the mischievous smile or wriggling brow in reply to their greetings.

"I haven't been to your house in a long time," Isabella observed after a moment of silence in which she stared at Sirius and Sirius stared at the floor. She had been particularly annoyed with him in the past week, taking it as a personal offense that he wouldn't tell her why he was so upset.

"I know, I should have you over. A sleepover maybe, or you all can spend a week at my house. We certainly have the room," Angela suggested thoughtfully.

Lily perked up at this. "That would be great! I mean, I'm looking forward to the summer since I haven't seen a lot of my friends in a year and all, but still, it wouldn't hurt to be away from Petunia for a while."

"Petunia? Oh yeah, your sister. Yeah, I'd like to see some people too... would we be invited to this sleepover too, Angie?" Remus asked, attaching the letter he'd been writing to his parents, containing his exam results for this year, to the leg of an owl.

"Why not? The more the better, it'd get boring with just Lily and Izzy for days cooped up in my house."

"Your parents wouldn't mind?" Sirius asked, looking more roused by this news than he had all week.

"I don't think so." Angela answered uncertainly, "I mean, we'd have separate rooms-"

"Oh, darn."

"-And my father usually has no idea what's going on in the household unless it's business. And Mum would just be annoying as usual."

"Good. Maybe we can stay for three weeks, then." Sirius said hopefully.

"What are you so excited for? You'll be spending the entire summer with James anyway, having loads of fun climbing trees and whatever else you all do together. It's the rest of us that'll be busy for the first week and dead bored from then on." Isabella pointed out.

"I was joking." he replied without humor, and the group fell silent again. A few minutes later James appeared at the foot of the stairs leading to their dormitories. He looked around the common room for a moment before walking over to them to settle in a seat. It was the first time in almost two months that they were all seated together.

"Well, I'm all packed. Pete, you'd better get a move on... you're usually done with your bags days early." he said, giving Peter's shoulder a shake to wake him from where he'd dozed off in his pouf.

"Huh? Wha...? Yes, yes, I'll pack tonight," Peter replied blearily.

"What are you, his mother?" Isabella asked, looking incredulous. James had become a strange mix of seriousness and obscurity ever since his mother had visited the school. The rest of them realized that whatever had been her reason for coming was also the cause of his grief, while anyone else who was curious believed it to be Charisma's departure. They were especially worried about him as the results of their final exams showed a surprising, if not sharp, drop in his final exam grades. While it was usually he and Lily who battled for the top marks, this year Lily's competitor was a Ravenclaw, Morris Boot, then her friend Remus, and after him, Severus Snape. James had thus fallen from his usual spot at number one or two, to number five in their year. It would not affect his cumulative average much considering the consistency of his marks from his first year and onward, but it showed his friends how grave whatever bothered him was.

"What would you say that for? I'm only reminding him. I mean, the train leaves tomorrow," he replied sullenly. Lily and Isabella exchanged amused looks, and Remus, after looking at each of his friends with raised eyebrows, shared a smirk with them.

Their corner of the common room fell silent once more.

-:- -:- -:-

Isabella glanced at her watch as she felt the train begin to slow down. From the clouds visible from their compartment it looked as if a heavy storm were approaching. Angela was sloppily stuffing the last of the pumpkin pasties and exploding chocolate newts into her mouth and while doing so, she pointed to the rumpled heap on the floor and signaled to Isabella. Isabella in turn reached over and shook Lily until she roused herself enough to slap her hand away. She had fallen off of her seat hours ago and as it hadn't affected their friend's deep sleep, the others had been content with watching her roll with the occasional bump in their ride.

"What time is it?" she asked presently, sitting up and looking puzzled at her position on the floor.

"It's four-thirty. That means you've been asleep for about five and a half hours." Isabella informed her. They had all taken naps on the ride home, as the night before had been spent in a last sleepover. Each had tucked some dessert into her bag at dinner (since no form of persuasion could convince the boys to show them how to get to the kitchens) and, after setting up a cozy bed of all their sheets and pillows combined between their four-posters, the three girls had settled down with their fattening snacks and talked for hours into the night after making sure their other roommates were asleep.

"Ugh. No wonder I'm so hungry," she replied, throwing a longing look at the various empty wrappers scattered on the seats of their compartment. Angela, in the process of unwrapping the last Cauldron Cake, passed it to Lily and wiped her fingers on the napkins the lady with the serving cart had provided. The train came to a halt and the three reached under the seats to pull out their trunks. The nifty lightening spell Lily had discovered the year before worked just as well for this journey and the girls had no trouble pulling their heavy-looking baggage. Angela had just pulled her things out of their compartment when Charisma entered. She enveloped her in an awkward hug and did the same for Isabella.

"I'll miss you all so much! Thanks to you, it's been a great year!" she exclaimed while the girls stared disbelievingly at her, "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like a word with Lily."

"Sure," Isabella replied, pushing Angela completely out of the compartment. Charisma reached over and closed the door behind them. She sat down while Lily tried to look more composed than alarmed.

"You may be surprised that I'm in here. After all, I have been avoiding you for the most part since I found out I wouldn't be coming back to Hogwarts. I figured you'd provoke me or something. And then there was the issue of James getting involved, and I know he's been pretty upset lately - on account of my leaving, of course. Also, when I thought back, I realized that I think I might have provoked you some of the time."

Lily was too astonished at the possibility of an apology from Charisma to speak.

"Basically, I want to leave on good terms with everyone, and that includes you." Charisma paused, as if expecting thanks from her confused companion. "So, well, I'm sorry."

A moment of silence passed where Lily felt satisfied with Charisma's attitude: the very fact that she had acknowledged her adverse behavior towards Lily these past months seemed enough. But just when she felt that a small weight had finally slid off her shoulders, she realized that a quick acceptance of this apology would be much too charitable.

"For what, exactly?" Lily asked, recognizing the opportunity for inflicting guilt Charisma had just opened.

"What am I apologizing for?" Charisma asked in reply, looking a bit startled.

"Yes. Are you just apologizing so we'll be on so-called good terms or because you really felt you wronged me?" Lily inquired, feeling very proud of her direct style of questioning.

"Oh Lily, you're really being ungracious here..." Charisma said with a small smile.

"Ungracious? How am I being ungracious? I only want to know if you really mean your apology."

"Alright. I mean my apology and I'm willing to forget whatever happened between us. Now it's your turn."

"My turn? What? What should I apologize for?" Lily cried incredulously.

"Hmm... how about that time you ruined my hair?" Charisma retorted.

"That was your fault! You gave me that potion to use on my hair!" Lily yelled, looking livid. She noticed someone's shadow stop at the door of their compartment and tried to keep her voice down. She took a deep breath and silently counted to ten before speaking again. "Look, Charisma. I don't understand why you bothered to come here. You said that you've been avoiding me for the past few weeks because you thought I would provoke you, right? Well that's what just happened except you, with your stupid, insincere, apology decided to- to- to- irritate me! No normal human being--"

"I came here to irritate you? If you weren't so bloody confrontational and so ready to pick a fight with anyone who dares to cross your royal--"

"I did not pick a fight with you, ever! It was always, always you and you just did it again right now! I can't believe you thought you could just stroll in here and give me some lousy, two-faced apology for all that you've had me deal with the last few months! How could anyone in their right mind have expected me to actually reciprocate?" Lily shouted.

"Again with your snotty, high-and-mighty attitude. I meant well, Lily! I had the decency to attempt coming to some sort of truce with you, which you clearly do not deserve. But of course, Queen Lily can't be bothered with such scruples, right? Queen Lily can't be brought down to making apologies because she's too bloody belligerent to have any idea what honor or civility means."

"Don't you dare call me belligerent when you've instigated every stupid, pointless fight we've had! You were on my case from the beginning, Charisma, and you never had any reason to be!"

"Reason? What are you talking about? I was not on your case from the beginning, and your memory must be extremely foggy if you don't remember that I treated you the same way I did everyone else. I tolerated the fact that you flirted with my boyfriend at every turn, and always when I wasn't there!"

"There's a bloody difference between flirting and talking to your friends, and of course I had to talk to him when you weren't around. Whenever you were there, you were all over him!"

"And you were jealous, weren't you?" Charisma retorted acidly.

"Why the hell would I be jealous? I don't like James and I never have! Ugh, I'm not going to start with this since your idiotic little brain can't wrap itself around the concept anyway. I had never met such a self-absorbed, inconsiderate, stubborn, and downright mean person in my life until you came to Hogwarts--"

"I'm not going to stand here and listen to a stupid mudblood insult me! I can't believe I even bothered to come here right now. I should have known you wouldn't know what to make of a polite peace offering!"

"How can you call this a peace offering after you just called me a mudblood? I don't know what you were even doing in Gryffindor when conniving, scheming, selfish people like you are born with free tickets to Slyth--"

"What is going on in here?" The compartment door was open and a small crowd had gathered in the passageway. Remus stood at the front, his prefect badge gleaming, staring angrily at the two red-faced, seething girls. Apparently he had been making his round around the compartments, helping the younger students with their luggage and making sure everyone was out of the train.

"Nothing, Remus. Charisma was just leaving," Lily answered after a moment of silence. The crowd began to break up as people lost interest in them at seeing the lack of scratches or blood from a real fight. Charisma stalked to the exit, throwing Remus a winning smile, and turned at the door.

"I wish you luck in the future, Lily. You'll need it in the world we're getting into," she said coldly before leaving. Remus was giving Lily an uncomfortably calculating stare while he leaned against the doorway. To avoid him, she turned and picked up her luggage. She took a deep breath before turning around again and, as if nothing had just happened, she smiled at him as she left the compartment.

"Thanks for er... taking care of the rounds," she remembered to say.

"No problem. Well, actually I was going to throw a fit at having to break up two second-year fights without a partner," he replied, walking with her to the door of the neighboring compartment.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yup, and it should explain my barging into your own argument so rudely. I really didn't think the two of you would have another go at it this year though," he said, trying to pry out some information in spite of himself.

"Yes, well obviously we did. Do you mind if I abandon you again? It a lousy excuse but I don't quite feel up to being around here anymore." With a parting hug, Lily jumped off the train to find Angela and Isabella waiting for her, looking anxious.

"What happened? We just saw Charisma come out with the angriest look on her face," Angela said, watching her closely. Lily laughed, suddenly happy that Charisma was not as composed as she'd seemed when she issued her farewell.

"I have never seen her so red. And of course James rushed up and they hugged and kissed as acted as if it were the end of the world and finally she left. James went back inside to finish his rounds... which reminded us of how you didn't do yours." Isabella said with a raised eyebrow.

Lily sighed. "I'll owl you about it when I go home. I should go find my parents, they get deathly nervous waiting at the station, staring at the wall-entrance by themselves." They found a cart for Lily and the three pushed out of the Magical world and into the Muggle. Isabella spotted her parents and her brother, and with stifling hugs and promises to write (and threats to anyone who didn't reply) she left them. Lily saw her mother and father in the distance and waved to them. Behind them sat a large, glossy black limousine with a uniformed driver standing rigidly by the passenger door. She nudged Angela and saw the look of recognition pass her face as she gave the sight a wry smile.

"Of course," she muttered and the two walked in the same direction towards their guardians.

"Remember to write," Angela reminded her with a smile as the chauffeur opened the door for her. "And tell us all the juicy details of your Charisma row."

"I will, I will. And you better invite us to that sleepover and tell us about all your exciting rich people adventures," Lily replied laughingly. She gave her a last hug and watched the limousine drive to a traffic light and suddenly disappear before joining her own family.