Beaten and Blown By the Wind

Chapter Three: A New Way to Communicate

Dear Aislynn,

Do you mind if I call you that? I just figured that if you knew Sirius and my parents so well, you wouldn't mind and I wasn't sure if there was something else I should be calling you. I hate to sound rude, but who are you? You hardly explained anything in your letter. I don't know why, but I've decided to trust your warning and I'll keep a close watch on the passerby's of Privet Drive and the news. I also wanted to know exactly why you're warning me about something Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix haven't bothered to mention to me. No offence intended, but it seems rather fishy to me. (You have to agree that if someone you've never heard of in your life suddenly owled you out of the blue telling you that they knew your parents and were mourning the loss of your godfather and to watch out for Deatheaters, you'd be a little suspicious.)

If you can't tell me anything through owl post and I'm in danger here, why can't you find a way to get me out of here? Maybe to Grimmauld Place with the Order? Surely if I'm in danger, Dumbledore couldn't object. I didn't say a thing about your letter in my own to the Order, I'll assure you. I figured that getting you in trouble with Dumbledore wouldn't help any of us at all. I wrote to Ron asking if he knew anything about you. I wasn't going to tell you, but it only seems right to let you know that he'll be snooping around looking for information about you. I was thinking of owling Hermione, but she'd insist on telling Dumbledore straight away and, like I said, I don't think that'll do any of us any good.

I should let you know that right before Hedwig arrived with your owl, I had fallen asleep for a little while and had a dream about you. Well, at least I think it was about you. You were at Grimmauld Place the night I led everyone to the department of mysteries and you were yelling at the Order about Sirius. Tonks tried to calm you and you yelled and she just flew. (How did you do that?) Then you started yelling and throwing things at the portrait of Mrs. Black and she was yelling back. Mrs. Weasley then sent Remus to go get Snape and when he came, he was able to calm you down. That's the part that confused me and made me think it was just a dream because I've never seen Snape be anything but icily civil to people when absolutely necessary. (He was being awfully nice to you, it almost seemed like he had feelings or something. You have to excuse me for sounding so appalled, but my experience with Snape doesn't lead me to believe he could ever have anything close to human feelings.) Then you were talking to Dumbledore and then Hedwig. That's when everything came in and out and in and out, so I must have been drifting in and out of sleep. The only visions I have ever had were sent to me from Voldemort, so you can imagine that I was very troubled and suspicious of that one. Was it a real vision or a very strange coincidence?

I hope you can tell me a little more by owl or you can either get me out of here or find a better way for us to communicate. Who exactly are you? I've never heard of you before, but if you're truly mourning Sirius as I am, I find it hard to believe he'd never bother to mention you to me - especially since you knew my parents.

Harry

Aislynn read the letter and smiled to herself. Harry had the measured suspicion of his mother, but the unguarded curiosity of his father. He was suspicious, but he still wanted to know more, so he was careful not to offend. She also had no doubt that he had enough of his mother's common sense to owl Dumbledore immediately if she said or tried anything remotely out of order. It was relieving knowing that she no longer had to watch over his every move in fear that his curiosity would cause him fatal problems. Looking over her shoulder to be sure that the bedroom door was locked, she wrote back.

Dear Harry,

There's no problem at all with you calling me Aislynn, I'd encourage you to do so if you hadn't already taken it upon yourself. In fact, through most of my life at Hogwarts and for a short while after while everything was well and good, I hardly heard myself referred to as anything but Lynn. If it so moves you, feel free to call me Lynn, as my closest friends always did. Being who you are, I wouldn't dream of taking offence to you calling me whatever you fancy. (I came from a family that didn't exactly agree with who I was in any way, so was referred to by my full name (Aislynn Orianna) more often than not, and just Aislynn otherwise. It wasn't until I got to school that your mother took to calling me Lynn as most people took to calling her Lil for the same reason you don't call Ron Ronald. No one had bothered to give me any kind of nickname before your mum just turned around one morning the third week of school (by then we were becoming close friends) and said, "Damn! I just dropped my knife again! (Dropping things was a common problem for her when she was younger.) Lend me yours for a moment, would you, Lynn?" I couldn't help just staring at her for a second while she took my knife to butter her toast. When she realized I was looking at her, she was amazed when asking what was my problem and I said "You called me Lynn". She was embarrassed and asked if it was alright and apologized and everything before I gained my bearings enough to say that it was alright and tell her that no one had ever bothered giving me a nickname before. Then she laughed at me - she just couldn't believe it. And wasn't Sirius angry a few minutes later when he overheard her calling me Lynn again! It was the funniest scene - the two of them arguing over my name - I've never been happier for Remus' incredible sense of other's discomfort because he was very quick to try and change the subject and get Sirius off Lily's back by asking me a question and being very sure to call me Lynn very clearly.)

But that doesn't explain who I am very much at all. Severus (who has been a friend of mine for years and is always overly concerned about me getting myself into trouble) is more than interested in what I'm doing with my spare time and has said that he is keeping a close eye on me. (Which means he has people, probably one of the Weasleys, spying on me.) Even sending this owl is probably a bad idea. If Dumbledore finds out I'm in contact with you, I haven't even a clue what he'd do about it, but I don't think it would be a very happy ending for me. Knowing this, I'll end this quickly. Your vision was real - I sent that to you, not Voldemort. He wouldn't be privy to such details of the Order as long as I'm around. Calling me Aislynn, Lynn, or whatever you fancy is fine. I'm your godmother, or was so named by your parents. Who I am aside from that I cannot explain here. You still have that mirror from Sirius, I trust? That will work wonders for communication because Remus is the only other person entirely aware of its exisistance. Don't worry about having broken it, it's fixed now, I promise. I'll explain that later. Call for me in the mirror at fifteen minutes past midnight tonight. Don't worry, I'll be here and you will have no disruptions at that time. Please refrain from telling Ron and Hermione too much about me until Dumbledore allows us to meet. I'll tell you all that you want and answer any questions I can tonight.

Faithfully yours,

Aislynn

Harry read through the letter and was left with more questions than he had before. Her owl had arrived midday, but was invisible until it perched atop Hedwig's cage. Harry puzzled at this, but decided he could always ask her about it later if he had the time. He wanted to owl her and ask more questions immediately, but knowing that Snape was having her watched was enough to refrain him. (He had experienced enough of Snape's mild scrutiny to pity Aislynn's bad luck of being caught with Snape's large nose being lodged into her business.)

The one thing that troubled Harry beyond all else was that she told him that the mirror Sirius had given him was no longer broken, but it had been two days ago when he had thrown things into his trunk on top of it while packing to leave Hogwarts. Harry had done nothing to fix it, so he hurried over to his trunk at the foot of his bed and opened it. Tossing aside a few school robes, he came to the cloth he had wrapped around the broken pieces of the mirror. His hands shook slightly as he picked up the cloth holding the mirror and pulled it aside to find Sirius' dual sided mirror, unmarred in any way imaginable - it looked brand new - no fingerprints, no cracks, no scratches, nothing. Harry suddenly felt a strange surge of relief. Not relief that the mirror was fixed, but that this woman was on Dumbledore's side and not Voldemort's. He wished he could ask Dumbledore right out about her, but decided to keep his word and not say anything.

..................................................................................................

After watching the lunchtime news on the television in the kitchen and looking over what exactly he was supposed to be doing for his summer work, Harry decided he was too drowsy and laid down for a nap. The thought of not being able to sleep that night crossed his mind, but the thought of last night's insomnia and his meeting with Aislynn at "fifteen minutes past midnight" kept him from trying to stay awake. His mind was blank as he closed his eyes and begged the inside of his eyelids that it would stay that way, but his mind wouldn't stop working.

Am I right in trusting her? She could be leading Voldemort right to me by claiming to be my godmother. ...My godmother...the person my mother chose to take care of me if she wasn't able to. Why is Dumbledore trying to keep her from contacting me? Is it another thing like the prophesy - him trying to protect me? Why should I be protected from her? Is it because she has a temper like Sirius? I found out about Sirius by accident, Dumbledore was never going to say anything. Professor Lupin might have if he had been my teacher a few more years, but then again, why didn't either of them mention Aislynn? She made it sound like she was good friends with both of them, but maybe Dumbledore talked to them before they got a chance to tell me about her. Why is Dumbledore trying to hide her? Is she really who she says she is? I wish my mum was alive; she'd be able to tell me all about her if she is who she says. Then again, if my mum was alive and Aislynn is who she says, I'd probably laugh at the idea of having no idea she existed...if she's anything like Sirius, that is.

Harry's tired mind whirled, causing him to sit up several times in his bed. Once or twice he even stood up, opened the curtains on the sole window of the room that were obscuring the bright afternoon sunlight for his well deserved siesta, and reread the letters from Aislynn, just to make sure they were real. He looked into the mirror and could only barely keep himself from calling out her name into it though his impatience. Finally giving in to exhaustion that weighed out all serious thought, Harry closed the curtains once again and set down the letters and mirror. He didn't even bother to hide them, no longer caring if his aunt and uncle found out he had more mysterious relations in the wizarding world. Looking at the alien owl atop Hedwig's cage, Harry opened the latch to the cage, making sure there was food and water inside.

"Feel free to help yourself to her food and such," Harry told the owl. "It'd be very helpful if you could stay until tonight, though. My aunt and uncle get angry when they see owls and I'm not allowed to use magic, so I can't make you invisible like she did. Of course, you'd probably turn invisible the moment you reached the window, but you're free to stay here and rest some if you'd like," Harry reflected with a smirk at the owl's indignant stare. "Just so long as you let me catch up on some sleep." With that, Harry laid down on the bed, depositing his glasses on the bedside table. Sleep hit him like a cartoon anvil the moment his head touched the pillow.

"Welcome to my home, Peter. It's been so long since I've last seen you. How have you been getting along without Grace?" the eerily familiar, yet younger, face of Mrs. Black asked a strange man in the remarkably spotless and dustless foyer of number twelve, Grimmuald Place.

"Humph. You know I'm just here because Grace had things left behind that you need to sort out," the man grunted, obviously unhappy about visiting the Black home despite the warm welcome.

"Daddy, I don't want to come in here. There're scary things in here, Daddy," a little girl whimpered from her hiding place behind his legs. Obviously short and small for her age, she was trembling under a mass of bushy golden blonde hair. Her overly large eyes as blue as the nighttime sky shined with fear as they darted up and down the walls and halls of the Black house, resting in the distance on what Harry guessed were the mounted house elf heads as she shuddered too violently for her father's approval.

"Aislynn Orianna! You will not be so ungrateful to someone who has so willingly welcomed you to their home. You are here because you cannot do as you're told when I am not home, unlike any of your siblings. You may not follow the rules when I am not there, but you will do as you are told while I am here. You will apologize for being so ungrateful to Mrs. Black. Then you will stay close to me and remain silent until we return home. You are not to go exploring or add your opinion - no one cares what a little girl has to say, this is important business."

"Yes, father," the girl turned to Mrs. Black. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Black. I've just never seen many of these things before and they seem frightening to someone like me who lets their imagination run too far, or so my daddy tells me. I didn't mean to be ungrateful, honestly."

"It's alright, child. If I let the uncouth words of children bother me, I'd surely be mad by now. But Peter, it's hardly necessary that she stay by your side while you're here. I'm not allowing her to wander around the house, but, as you know, Margot is here and her son and Sirius are in the other room amusing each other, out of harm's way. They're both your daughter's age, I don't see why she cannot join them."

"I suppose that would be more convenient to have her well out of anyone's way," the man mused.

"Great minds think alike, they say. Sirius! Come here! ...quickly now, I haven't all day!"

"Yes, mother?"

"Mr. McGarret has arrived and we will be in the parlor with Mrs. Snape. See that young Miss McGarret finds her way to the study with you. I will come to retrieve you all when we are finished," with that, Mrs. Black swept into another room, Peter McGarret at her heels.

"Is the study as scary as the hallway?" the little girl asked a very young Sirius, her eyes again wide with fear.

"A little, but it'll be ok. I live here and nothing here is as scary as that woman," Sirius assured her.

"How can you speak of your mother that way?" the little girl was appalled at his blatant lack of respect.

"Easy. She doesn't treat me as a son when not necessary, so I won't regard her as a mother when not necessary," Sirius paused and looked down the hallway at all its elf head glory. "I wish there were another way to the study, but there's not. Don't worry, I'll watch out for you. I'm Sirius, by the way, Sirius Black."

"I'm Aislynn McGarret. ...Your mother said something about another boy?"

"Ah yes, that would be Severus Snape. He's the son of one of her friends," Sirius said, not even masking his dislike for the boy. "He's pretty strange, but I'll let you form your own opinion once you meet him. Come on, I'll take you to the study," he replied in true fashion of a boy raised in a rich household, the words and expressions a little too coherent and advanced for someone his age. Sirius paused when he realized she wasn't following him and held out his hand, which she looked at like it was a spider. "I don't bite...really! And I hardly smell either," Aislynn giggled and took his hand, causing Sirius to smile in spite of himself for winning her over so quickly. When he started walking down the hall, she followed, though she was still eyeing it apprehensively and her grip tightened a little on his hand, but a young Aislynn McGarret was none the less looking braver with a young Sirius Black holding her hand.

Harry awoke abruptly, realizing that he had just stumbled into another one of Aislynn's memories. He was suddenly able to believe that this woman was his godmother because the boy in the memory was undoubtedly Sirius as any of his friends would have known him - tactless, honest, and arrogant, but not in what was meant in an offensive manner...and always ready with a small joke that could put people at ease despite his forward manner towards them. Curious as to how he stumbled upon this vision, he realized Aislynn may have sent it to him to help him trust her. Or I could have stumbled upon something on my own, maybe something she was thinking about. Harry chewed his lip in thought remembering the odd way he had fell into another one of her memories only hours before. He pondered the idea of being able to see her memories at will through some connection he hadn't yet realized had been forged. If there were only a way to test my theories without owling Hermione...I'd bet she'd know, but she'd tell the Order if I told her I was seeing things in my sleep again. Harry then remembered the last letter from his godmother and her relating a short recount of his mother giving her the first nickname she ever heard for herself. With a slight smile at his sudden brilliance and unusually keen sense of observation, obviously having been rubbed off onto him from years of being around Hermione, he lay back down, took off his glasses, and concentrated very hard on the bits of story Aislynn had told him in her letter as he fell asleep.

Harry was startled to find himself at Hogwarts. Though almost identical, he was sure this wasn't the Hogwarts he recognized. For one, the brilliant red and gold of the Gryffindor common room he found himself in was even more brilliant than he remembered. Seeing four young men make their way down from their dormitories very noisily, he realized why. He was in a younger Hogwarts and was watching his father, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew walk down into the common room. His father and Sirius were chatting as if they'd known each other their whole lives, but the distance at which they walked from each other and other subtle differences from other memories Harry had seen from the two, said they had only known each other a short time...as well as their age. Despite being told he looks astonishingly like his father by every person he has ever met in the wizarding world who knew his father, Harry was surprised to see a boy that, aside from the eyes, looked exactly like he did at age eleven in his first year at Hogwarts.

"So my mum sent me all these chocolate frogs with a long letter saying how much she missed me and not to worry too much, that Christmas was right around the corner, and how brave I am for dealing with being away from home for so long and how proud she is that I got in Gryffindor. The owl came last night right after you went upstairs. Practically knocked the window down!" James Potter laughed at the end of his story, gaining a look of admiration from Peter Pettigrew, a look of disapproval from Remus Lupin, and laughter loud enough to top his own from Sirius Black.

"What do you think your father's going to do about it?" Peter asked breathlessly.

"Hopefully send him a Howler to tell him to stop being so melodramatic," Remus replied softly, almost mistaken as under his breath. This caused Peter to look at him scandalized, James' smile to falter a little, and Sirius to laugh louder.

"You crack me up, Remus!" Sirius exclaimed, helping James' smile return full force and Remus to roll his eyes. "But I don't really care what happens to you...well, as long as I get a couple of those chocolate frogs, that is!" he said to James, who laughed.

"Yeah, and what would happen if I didn't?"

"You don't want to know," Sirius threatened his expression sobering up. Peter looked terrified.

"Are you serious?" the boy asked.

"I'm always serious," Sirius replied, then couldn't help but smile at the way everyone else was suddenly a little frightened. "How can I escape being Sirius? That's what my mum stuck me with!" He laughed heartily at his own joke that he would've killed most other people for making. "Honestly, you three are so gullible! Do you really think I'd hurt James for not giving me chocolate frogs? I'd just take em right out of his hands and tell him to deal with it if he said no!" The three of them laughed as Remus just shook his head, trying to look disapproving of the frogs, but smiling none the less.

"Oy, guess what we've got down here, Lily," a voice called from the staircase to the girls dormitories.

"I would never guess," another girl's voice replied, quieter, as if distracted by something else.

"It seems we've got Sirius and his gang plaguing all the poor Gryffindor students with their obnoxious laughter as other students try to get to breakfast!"

"Oh does it?" Lily asked, as two first year girls entered the common room from the staircases. The one Harry immediately recognized as Aislynn, looking alarmingly like Hermione had in their first year, but with the blonde hair and blue-black eyes to counter Hermione's warm brown and a bit slighter, having not lost the overly small pixie look of the little girl he had seen earlier. The other girl was no doubt Harry's mother with her auburn hair and green eyes that Harry started back at her with.

"And how did you manage to figure us out before setting foot in the common room?" James asked, looking a little peeved.

"Anyone anywhere in the castle could figure you out from your arrogant drivel and his laughing," she replied, gesturing towards Sirius with a laugh of her own. "That laugh's why you're named after the dog star, I tell you! You sound like a barking dog - only twice as loud!"

"Do I now?"

"Aye, you do. Now if you four would be as kind as to move so that we can get to breakfast with enough time to not be late to Transfigurations, as I'm sure you all will be?"

"But we've got you beat. We'd never be late to class...Remus wouldn't allow it," Sirius said, earning another laugh from James who was already stealing not so stealthy glances at Lily and seemed to have lost the ability to speak and a scowl from Remus, who had moved to hold open the portrait hole for the girls. Peter laughed, late as always, waiting to see James' reaction before reacting himself.

"No, I doubt he would, being the only respectable one among you!" Aislynn retorted, following Lily, who was reading a book Hermione style as she walked and therefore not paying attention to the banter, through the portrait hole. "Thank you ever so kindly Remus. If you get tired of hanging around these dolts and their nincompoopery, please, by all means let us know. You're more than welcome to sit with Lily and I at breakfast, if you'd like," Aislynn said directly to Remus as she passed, flashing him a smile that even at that young of an age was enough to make the shy boy turn redder than the common room behind him and Sirius to inadvertently make a scowl that could rival any of Snape's.

"I'd like very much to join you, but I'm afraid the nincompoopery would just follow," Remus replied quietly, smiling a little, hoping it sounded like a joke. He was rewarded with great laughs from everyone but Lily, who looked up from her book with a lost expression, having not heard a word of the exchange.

"I believe it would, but you're none the less welcome. It's not as if I haven't had to deal with that dog laugh for the past several years!" Aislynn laughed back as the six of them made their way down to the Great Hall, talking and laughing the whole way, this time including a Lily who decided she didn't want to miss anymore of the conversation. Once they got there, there was another scene of Sirius' odd sense of possession he had with Aislynn.

"Aislynn!" a boy's voice called out as the six of them turned around, ready to enter the Hall.

"Good morning, Sev!" she responded, seeing a very young Severus Snape hurry towards her. Sirius glowered at him, James scowled, Peter looked from one person to the next excitedly, Remus looked ready to break up a fight, and Lily just watched, uninterested as if this happened every day.

"Is it?" he asked, ignoring the boys and nodding towards Lily. "Morning, Lily. How are things with you both?"

"Just fine, thanks. Though if you have time during afternoon break later to meet me in the library, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm running into trouble with my potions essay and could use some answers to a couple questions that my books aren't helping with. ...That is, if you have the free time. If not, I'll just beg it off of Aislynn," Harry's mother answered, as if she were a friend of Snape's. The way she was practically begging for help with the 'if you have the free time' would have made Harry's mind whirl if he didn't notice his mother, Snape, and Aislynn all taking quick glances around Snape as if looking for someone that Harry suddenly realized would be other Slytherins. Harry knew all too well of the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin and he doubted any group from either house would approve one person helping another between houses with anything, even schoolwork.

"I should," Snape replied uneasily, meaning he should be able to hide it from the other Slytherins. "If not, you can ask Aislynn and she can come to me if she can't answer. No one seems to be able to stop her," he said with a sneer that was seemed to be hiding admiration.

"You may as well ask her anyway," Sirius hissed, looking dangerously angry at the idea of Snape being near any of them. "She's just as good as him at potions. Why would you bother asking a slimy git like him anything when there're other people anywhere?"

"Because he's better than I am at potions, no matter what you say," Aislynn cut in as Snape looked as if he was considering opening his mouth to say something. The two boys fell to sharing looks of daggers over her head.

"I don't know why you always come to his defense. If I were you..."

"Which you're not, so it shouldn't matter. He's my friend and you're going to have to come to terms with that one of these days. I'd do the same for you if he started attacking you out of the blue, which he never does because he has a bit of decency in him."

"You shouldn't be friends with greasy gits like that, that decency's all an act, you should watch out for him if you know what's..."

"Good for me? Right now it'd be very good for me if you'd shut your bloody trap!" Aislynn shot back, the glare between the two boys was finally broken as Sirius looked at her with a look crossed between anger, betrayal, and hurt as she turned from him to talk to Snape. "Do you mind if we talk later, Sev? I haven't eaten yet and I'd hate to be late for Transfigurations."

"Of course not," Snape replied, reluctantly pulling his glare from Sirius. "Later, then," he said, nodding to Lily before continuing back to the dungeons from whence he came.

"That was awfully mean of you, Sirius. He really could help me with my homework and if Aislynn trusts him, then I don't see any harm in asking a few potions questions. And he was heading towards the hall, not away from it - he went and skipped breakfast just so he wouldn't have to deal with you! He's really a nice guy when you're not around, very polite," his mother said quietly, but confidently, halfway reminding Harry of Remus Lupin. With that, the topic of Snape was dropped, James made another joke about his chocolate frogs, groaning at his inability to bear second stage ensued, and they continued towards breakfast.

Breakfast passed as any normal breakfast would at Hogwarts among six newly made friends talking and laughing. The owl post brought a Howler from James' father that was very short and to the point telling him to stop lying to his mother, receiving plenty of laughs from everyone around him, including a slightly embarrassed James. Harry also recognized the faces of a woman who would be Neville Longbottom's mother, a man who looked as much like his old quidditch captain Oliver Wood as his father looked like him, and two laughing red heds, older than his parents, but unmistakable as Arthur Weasley and his would be wife Molly. Everything was going fine until his mother dropped her knife.

"Damn! I just dropped my knife again!" Lily looked under the table at it and then looked over at Aislynn's place setting next to her. She reached over for her knife instead. "Lend me yours a moment, would you, Lynn?" The four boys continued talking as Aislynn was momentarily brought out of the conversation in a moment of shock. She just stared at Lily as if she'd never seen someone butter toast before. Lily put the knife back where she had taken it from.

"Thanks, I'm tired of ducking under the table for mine. You're really lucky I didn't do the same to yours!" Lily laughed at her clumsiness before noticing Aislynn's odd shock. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"You...you called me Lynn," the girl stuttered, through confused disbelief. The boys continued chatting, aside from Remus, who seemed to take an interest in the girl's conversation.

"Don't tell me no one's ever called you Lynn or given you a nickname before!" Lily laughed, but stopped when Aislynn turned bright red. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know! You don't mind, do you? It's just the logical nickname for Aislynn and shorter," Aislynn shook her head and smiled, telling her it was more than alright. The girls rejoined the chatter once more, their sudden bonding apparent, but overlooked until Lily decided to join in on the teasing.

"I don't know, I think you're right, Lynn. They do stomp around like a pack of wild elephants!" Lily said, teasing James and Sirius. Everyone laughed but Sirius who looked at Lily peculiarly.

"Lynn? Since when have you gone by Lynn?" he asked Aislynn, looking from her to Lily with an accusation he hadn't quite voiced in his eyes.

"Since Lily decided I needed a nickname."

"You never let me give you a nickname and I've known you longer!"

"You never came up with a nickname for me, did you?"

"Who says I haven't? I may not have told you, but how do you know I don't have a nickname for you?"

"Because you don't. Get over yourself, Sirius. So what? Lily gave her a nickname, big deal. And personally, I think it suits you well, Lynn," Remus retorted, looking up at Aislynn only once with a wink after calling her Lynn before returning to his breakfast.

"Now you get to call her that too? What about me? I'm supposed to be your best friend!"

"Merlin!" Aislynn yelled, meeting his volume for the crowd now watching with a few giggles at his pettiness. "I never said you couldn't! And I never gave either of them special permission to call me Lynn, they just did. If you have such a wonderful nickname for me, feel free to use it! Now if you're quite finished being so goddamn stupid and possessive as if you're my only friend, I have a Transfigurations class I don't intend on being late to."

With that, she stood and gathered her books, Lily following suit, trying to suppress giggles, and the two left the Hall. The dream snapped to the Transfigurations class then as if turning several pages of a book at once and ending up in a different chapter. The six students were working on their class work in twos, as the desks permitted. Lily and Aislynn chatted over transfigured needles and matchsticks at the front desk all the way on the far wall of the classroom having already completed the assignment. James and Sirius pretended to have finished their work behind them and Remus was reteaching the lesson patiently for Peter behind them, having already finished his work. James kept turning to the desk behind his and making comments about Remus' teaching and Peter's lack of magical skill as Sirius kept trying to get Aislynn's attention. She successfully ignored him for several minutes until a girl from the next desk over started asking Lily questions and she had no excuse to not notice him.

"What?" Aislynn hissed peevishly, turning around to Sirius as he tapped her shoulder for the umpteenth time.

"I've got the perfect nickname for you, Lynn," Sirius said, having given in to the peer pressure of calling her Lily's nickname.

"You're not still on that, are you?" she said, appalled at his stubbornness at being topped by another friend of hers.

"So what if I am?" he asked with the same indignant expression he had given her when she had wondered at his lack of respect for his mother. "But the point is that I have one."

"What is it?"

"Nuh uh uh...not until I decide I want to tell you," Sirius smiled that mischievous smile he had yet to overuse with the Marauders.

"Honestly, Sirius! You're being too silly for your own good about this! You're really making yourself look like a fool," Aislynn looked angry that he wouldn't tell her, but wouldn't fall past calling him a fool in retaliation.

"Fool or no, I'm gonna catch you off guard and you're going to have to try not to react to keep other people from picking it up," he gloated, the smile never faltering.

Just then Harry awoke to a pitch black room and Hedwig perched upon his chest, angry about the owl in her cage. Harry put on his glasses and checked his bedside clock. Twelve twenty, it read. He hurried out of bed, sent the owl on its way, put on a light and picked up the mirror.

"Aislynn McGarret," he said loudly and clearly into the mirror. Its surface swirled and he heard his godmother before her face completely materialized.

"You're late, Harry."