A Chance You Only Get Once

Chapter Four
Blackened or Burnt?

My, my, my, this is going to be an interesting year.

"So even you think Dumbledore's crazy for letting me come here?"

Your parents shouldn't have said that.

"How do you know that they - "

There's not a thought within your head the Sorting Hat can't see. Hm, that's a good line for next year's song.

"Well if that's true that you should know that they didn't mean for me to hear!"

But they shouldn't have thought it at all. You do belong here. And magical objects as old as me do not make mistakes very often.

"I don't want pity from a hat. I don't want pity from anyone. You don't have to feel sorry for me."

Is that how you will treat all overtures of friendship? If so you are not suited for Hufflepuff.

"Look, there's only one house a monster like me could be suited for. Just put me in Slytherin already and get it over with."

Is that what you want?

"What happened to 'not a thought within your head the Sorting Hat can't see'?"

I want to hear you say it.

"I want to be in Slytherin."

It's no use lying to a being such as me, young man.

"Fine. No. I don't. But I'm not exactly fit for anything else, am I? Can you put me in Gryffindor, where the brave people who kill things like me belong? You've already ruled out Hufflepuff, and you're right. Loyalty isn't my strength. I'm a lone wolf. And Ravenclaw? What would someone like me do in Ravenclaw but be found out? I don't belong in any of the other three houses."

But you do not belong in Slytherin.

"Congratulations, you've stumbled onto the story of my life. I don't belong anywhere."

Is that what you think?

"That's what I know. I'm a werewolf for howling out loud!"

You're clever. . .and brave to speak of the demon that torments you. I'm sorry, but I cannot in conscience place you in Slytherin. You will have to learn how to accept life as a "GRYFFINDOR!"

* * *

The hand off of the mirrors took place at breakfast the following morning. By lunch, the battle lines were clearly drawn. However, none of the Marauders had the slightest guess who Marissa was talking to on the mirror that she kept in her purse. This was originally their main objective. It had become quite obvious that she had somehow already given the second mirror away when whoever it was tried to call her during Transfiguration. Not that they had been very sorry for the diversion in McGonagoll's class. Then again, Sirius was seldom happy outside of Care of Magical Creatures, and what James really had a gift for was Charms, dead useful with all that they got up to.

Despite a valiant effort involving Honeyduke's specialty honey and caramel, this was the stickiest spot that Marissa was in all morning. They were not detered. Not by a long shot. They were annoyed, to be sure, but truth be told, Remus rather admired Marissa for the look of startled surprise which she always held just long enough to satisfy James and Sirius before breaking out into a good-natured smile and laughing it off as she tried to right herself and anyone else who had been inconvenienced. After the first week, Remus suspected that the original source of the feud had been quite forgotten in the desire to see Marissa truly flustered by a prank. Personally, it was a relief to Remus that she didn't run off crying like some of their targets over the years had done. However, the secretive nature of the Marauders was not to be underestimated.

One of the things that Remus thought quite likely to save Marissa before she sustained real harm (the sprained ankle she got when a prank backfired didn't count as she'd been up and about in an hour) was the fact that without her strict control, which the boy had not fully realized that she enacted on the girls before this time, James and Sirius's bloody fan clubs were getting right out of hand again. For every potion they slipped into her drink to raise her voice several octaves, one or even a group of girls would ambush James or Sirius in a semi-deserted corridor and try to "talk" to them. Without Marissa providing an outlet for their, ahem, admiration, one girl had even succeeded in gaining access to the Marauders' private sanctum and dropped off a love note complete with photograph. The first few days, they seemed to be taking this as in stride as Marissa was taking their increasingly vicious pranks. However, as the second and third week wore on, Remus's trained eye could tell that they were sick of it, even if Marissa had yet to weaken. Only an extreme sense of Gryffindor pride kept them from making peace with Marissa to end the barrage which had made it an equal war. Remus was just glad that another Gryffindor virtue, namely chivalry, seemed to be keeping them from doing anything too horible to her. Afterall, he had refused to have any part of the campaign, and he usually served as their screening process for plans.

In what the Marauders (and everyone else who recognized their target) believed was a tactical decision to avoid an obviously targeted region, Marissa stopped eating her meals in the Great Hall. Usually Lily still ate there alone, refusing adamantly to give anyone the slightest hint as to where Marissa had gone. She was also nearly impossible to find most of the afternoon nearly every day and often did not return until late at night, barely making curfew. As everyone but Lily thought she was trying to avoid the worst of the Marauders' tempers by a very simple tactic: not be there for them to prank, it was the perfect cover for spending time with Gus, time it would otherwise have been very difficult to account for.

As is the unfortunate nature of every tactic used against the Marauders, Marissa's elusiveness backfired. It gave them an idea that would prevent any future prey from every avoiding them so effectively. They were already deeply emersed in the creation of what they considered the first true Map of Hogwarts Castle and Grounds, complete with all the secret passages they had discovered. Marissa's extraordinary and continuous success at hiding from them suggested the idea of enchanted ink: ink that would mark the progress of people in the castle. Remus would have thought it a great idea if it didn't come at the expense of his fellow prefect's already shaky peace being jeopardized once again.

James, with his remarkable aptitude for Charms, was already very close to a solution.

Such was the way of things the first month of the new term. It was on a Saturday that the explosion Marissa barely managed to keep just below the surface first seriously threatened to erupt. It started very small, but then, such things always do.

"Bee in your bonnet, Remus?" Marissa called, coming up from behind him in the Great Hall. Remus jumped, startled. He mentally checked off the whereabouts of his fellow Marauders: James - Quidditch practice, Sirius - looking for girls, Peter - looking for Sirius. Good. Mistaking the intense look on his face for confusion, Marissa explained, "Sorry, another Muggle term. What grim matter is on your mind?"

"You shouldn't be out in the open with all my friends gunning for you," Remus replied, turning to look at her.

She looked amused. "Where, Mr. Pureblooded wizard, did you learn a term like 'gunning for me'?" Marissa asked, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth.

"Honestly, Riss, with you and Lizzie throwing all kinds of Muggle terms in our path for half a year you don't expect the rest of us prefects to have picked up any of it?" he said with a smile.

Marissa did not respond to this comment beyond a small smile. She was looking at him searchingly. "You say your friends are the ones gunning for me. Do they consider it a treachery that you've been helping me?" Remus looked up at her in surprise, unaware that the schism of the Marauders had become obvious. "If you're going to give me credit for teaching you Muggle phrases, don't deny me the credit of a simple observation."

Again Remus said nothing. "You've had it hard, haven't you?" she asked, still looking at him as if trying to work out a riddle that was written in his eyes. Without waiting for an answer, she walked to the stairs and turned back to where he stood, "Why don't you come with me?" she said, making a snap decision. "I'll make you supper."

"You'll - what?" Remus said, stumbling after her out of pure curiousity.

Taking this for agreement, Marissa turned and started up the stairs, going slow enough that he could quickly catch up and walk alongside her. "Well, how did you think I was keeping from wasting away? You know I haven't been taking meals in the Great Hall, and I still haven't been able to coax the location of the kitchens out of you lot," Marissa replied.

Remus had to confess that he hadn't realized this. He had just assumed that she'd been getting food from the house elves down in the kitchens, but then, the house elves seemed to be a sore spot with her most of the time. "So what have you been doing?" he asked, full of curiousity for this newfound mystery.

"All in good time, Remus, all in good time," she replied with the mischievious smile that had become her trademark. She was leading him up their third flight of stairs, looking utterly unconcerned when it began to change and move while they were on it. In fact, she looked quite pleased when it landed them in a seldom-used, virtually deserted part of the school. "It's only two flights up from here," she told him, quickening her pace slightly, anxious to get there.

"Wait a minute," Remus said slowly, "That would take us right by Boris the Bewildered's corridor."

Marissa very nearly stopped dead. She looked over at him in surprise, her mouth slightly open. Then she shook herself, chuckling slightly, "Serves me right. Never underestimate a Marauder's knowledge of this school." Without another comment, she plunged ahead again, taking them unerringly to the corridor that housed the tapestry of Boris the Bewildered, the unfortunate man who though trolls well-suited for ballet. While most students merely found this amusing, Marissa seemed disappointed that such a rare man (brute enough to train security trolls but refined enough to appreciate the ballet) had not been successful in his unorthodox venture. She seemed to have a soft spot for such people, the hopeless causes. Then again, she was so full of hope and joy, it must be impossible for her to conceive of a hopeless case.

She stopped right before they reached the tapestry of Boris the Bewildered. She proceeded to do something very strange. She closed her eyes as if in concentration, and walked back and forth across the bare stretch of wall three times. The third time, a door appeared. She opened her eyes, not looking surprised to see it there. Remus, however, was shocked, "You know how to work the Room of Requirement!"

Marissa did something very disconcerting then. She laughed at him. The mirrors, the Cloak, the Room of Requirement, just how many of the Marauders' supposed secrets did Marissa Fletcher know? This was no throw away question for Remus Lupin even though he was on Marissa's side in most of the interactions between her and his friends. Just how deep had her "infiltration," as they boys had taken to calling it, penetrated? As James had pointed out many a time when he protested, Marissa finding out their smaller secrets could lead her to uncover their big one. And, as much as he liked Marissa Fletcher, Remus Lupin was the last one who wanted that to happen. In fact, it was because he liked Marissa Fletcher so much that he wanted her to be ignorant.

"I probably understand it's uses better than you lot," Marissa replied. "It's not just a Stop And Go, you know. Thank Merlin the teachers seem to think so at least." She walked to the door and held it open for him.

Remus stepped into a largish kitchen that looked like it would comfortably accomodate anywhere from one to five chefs. Most of the appliances Remus was fairly familiar with, some of them only because he had seen pictures in his Muggle Studies book. Marissa went through the kitchen, apparently checking for everything she might need. All of the ingredients were of a very fine quality no doubt straight out of the Hogwarts pantries. Then again, there were some spices that were highly unlikely to be found in any British pantries, even as esteemed ones as Hogwarts'.

What was most interesting to Remus was the door on the opposite wall. Remus, in all his various experiences with the Room of Requirement, had never seen it open into another room or corridor. He was about to ask Marissa what she had requested that the room do for her, when the small door flew open.

"Rissa!" a young boy shouted excitedly, bursting through it and running full tilt toward Marissa who laughed and closed her arms around him. She looked up over his shoulder for Remus's reaction. Considering how many surprises he had had in the last quarter of an hour, Marissa was beginning to wonder if his eyes could go any wider. She pulled away from the boy and turned to Remus, holding his hand. "Remus Lupin, I'd like you to meet Mundungus Fletcher, my little brother," she said softly as Remus watched Mundungus's eyes go wide. "Gus, this is my friend Remus. He's going to help us make dinner today."

There was a ringing silence in the kitchen as the two boys stared at eachother. Marissa seemed to be experiencing a moment of self-doubt. Had she been insane to tell Remus? "Well," she said briskly, "I suppose it's not going to just spring out of the cupboards and start fixing itself, now is it?" She pulled her hair back into a graceful but careless knot at the back of her head and fished out three aprons from a small drawer near her. She held out two pink ones to the two boys.

They stared mutely from them to her. Then Remus laughed uncertainly. Marissa quickly joined in, and just like that, the awkward silence was broken. A few minutes later Gus was demanding imperiously what they were going to cook. Marissa threw out several ideas, none of which sounded very familiar to Remus, but Gus vetoed each one. "Oh just tell me what you want to eat then!" she cried in exasperation, appealing comically to Remus for sympathy.

"Chicken enchiladas!" Gus cried enthusiastically.

"You didn't want to be easy on me, did you, small fry?" Marissa sighed but smiled and began to pull ingredients down from shelves near her. Gus recognized this as agreement and began to jump up and down in celebration. A moment later, he seemed to recover himself due to the presence of another guy. It was one thing to act six around just Marissa, but to act like that around a stranger. . .

"Pull me a chicken out of the icebox, Remus, and I'll explain about Gus," Marissa said, turning to him. Remus was struck by the glow that surrounded her, the light in her eyes that he could only explain by the presence of her younger brother. He hurried to obey, stumbling through the icebox until he found a good sized frozen chicken. While Marissa set it to boil she told Remus (with occassional asides from Gus) about Christmas at her house and what had led to her decision. He was silent the entire time.

Marissa set the boys to grating a huge block of mozarella cheese as she tended the pot on the stove and explained how they had snuck Gus onto the Hogwarts Express. She had just finished telling him of her encounter with Lily when she took the chicken out of the pot and added a great deal of green tomato sauce to the pot in its place. "But there's one thing I don't understand," Remus (who was still grating cheese) said. "How did you get into the Day Star Room? The teacher's sealed that place up tight. Even James and Sirius haven't been able to get in, and you know how they get about something like that when they consider it a matter of pride."

Marissa shook her head, "You boys," she replied. "For all your talent, you never really think outside the box. I take it James has been beating his brains in trying to overcome those enchantments, Sirius just wants to fly in through the window on a hippogriff, Peter tried to spy or trick it out of one of the teachers, and you tried a few supposedly powerful spells; then you all called it a day. Honestly, don't you realize what this room does?" She looked at him expectantly for a moment. Remus tried not to concentrate on the fact that she was almost exactly right about their specific approaches to the problem and try to figure out what she meant. She sighed, "Anything you ask it to." she answered her own question, "I just told this room that what I needed (very badly) was a door into the Day Star Room. And the room provided. It's not so much breaking their enchantments as finding a . . . backdoor in."

Remus was impressed. And he had a feeling that all the Marauders would be impressed. Not that he intended to tell them. Let them think of it on their own. They thought they were so clever afterall. No, they were showy and flashy. Marissa Fletcher was a true genius for breaking and entering.

"What is this recipe?" Remus asked as Marissa began to tear the chicken into small pieces and place the pieces back into the simmering pot. "Did Gus say ensaldas?"

Marissa laughed. So did Gus. Remus was struck by how similiar the laughs sounded. They didn't look particularly alike, but their voices, as Gus's hadn't changed yet, were very close. "Enchiladas," Gus told him importantly. "Mavi makes them. She says they come from Texas."

"Well technically, I think they come from Mexico, but Mavi, our cook back home, never lived there. Before she came to England her family migrated between Louisiana and Texas. So she cooks us all sorts of Mexican and cajun foods that no one else ever knows how to cook properly here. That's where I got this recipe," Marissa explained more helpfully. "I've got to admit, they're fabulous, for foreign food that is." She looked Remus up and down again. "Might be a bit spicy for you though. . ." she sounded worried rather than insulting.

"I think I can handle it, Riss," Remus replied automatically. Nothing was ever "too" anything for a Marauder. It was their cardinal rule. Mostly, nothing was "too" dangerous for a Marauder, but it applied to just about anything anyone could claim against them. Pride ran very strong in the Gryffindor boys.

"You're just lucky I haven't quite got the hang of chile or blackening yet," Marissa said with a laugh. Remus let it go as the comment was not exactly an argument.

"Sounds like only Sirius would like the idea of 'blackening'," Remus replied.

"It's a cooking technique, Remus," Marissa replied. "But speaking of Blackened, there's something I've been curious about for a long time and - "

"And as you've shared such a big secret with me, you think you're entitled to ask for one from me?" Remus cut her off.

"Honestly, no need to be so suspicious, Remus," Marissa replied. "I'm not going to pry. But there's something that I think Lily and I have both deserved to know for a very long time. Now that I have you off away from the rest of the cult of secrets, I thought I'd try my luck at some answers."

"Marissa, I don't know if I can tell you Sirius's secrets," Remus told her almost sternly.

"I actually want to know one that belongs to Lily," Marissa replied. Remus immediately understood what she had been driving at and was immensely sorry that the pleasant conversation had stumbled into this dark cloud. "If it's any comfort to you, I won't be telling her about it unless I feel it's my duty as her friend."

"When would it be your duty as a friend?" Remus asked cautiously.

"If she was ever about to do something that I happen to know that she shouldn't," Marissa replied, not looking at him but rather religiously watching the pot as she tore off another bit of chicken and dropped it into the pot.

"Now, do you really think that that's likely to happen anytime soon?" Remus asked, dropping the cheese and turning to look at her.

Marissa put the last bit of chicken in the pot and likewise turned to face him. "I've been encouraging Lily about James, Remus. I need to know if I've been right to do so."

Remus looked her in the eye, and she met his gaze unflinchingly. Gus watched them curiously. "You want to know if James really did ask Sirius to break up with Lily last year," Remus finally said aloud. Marissa looked back at him for a long moment before she nodded. Remus sighed and looked down, "I can't understand how Lily thinks that, really, much less you, Riss."

Marissa set the heat on the pot and sat down in a chair near the counter. "Remus, if I believed it already I wouldn't be taking such measures towards his improvement. I wouldn't be talking him up to Lily. I wouldn't be encouraging her to give him a chance. But I need to know what I'm up against. Why does Lily think that?"

"For all you've said that prettily, Marissa Fletcher," Remus replied more gruffly than he intended to speak, "You still want to know if it's true."

"I don't think James would do such a thing, but I've been wrong about people before," Marissa said simply, unapologizing.

"It's James, Marissa," Remus said, looking at her.

Marissa smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that." The relief in her voice was almost tangible.

"He'd never even say anything to his best friend about his feelings for his girlfriend," Remus said still defensively. Marissa smiled almost proudly. "We could all tell something was wrong though, and Sirius in particular knew it must be something bad when he refused to tell us. Then, one night, when we were brainstorming the Valentine's day Sirius should plan for Lily. . .well, let's just say it was James who knew all the little things that she would like. He'd suggest something, very quietly, without his normal gusto. It was very sincere, like he wanted his best friend to be happy even if he couldn't get excited about it. Then he'd have this perfect reason for it if we questioned it. Sirius kinda looked at him funny, like why did he know so much about his girlfriend? Why was he watching her so closely to realize that she never ate chocolate desserts? And that most of her jewelry was silver and wouldn't match the gold chain he wanted to buy for her?"

Marissa gave a slight smile. "Why wouldn't she eat the chocolate desserts?" Gus asked incredulously.

"Well, the point isn't even that James knew these things and Sirius didn't. It's that Sirius realized that James knew the things he didn't," Remus continued. "I think it was eating at him all day, he was very quiet. Then he comes into the room with that look in his eye like he's got something he wants to prove. And he announces that he's finalized the menu for the dinner he was planning for Lily. In here, actually."

"Let me guess," Marissa said, "He was going to try to sell her on the fact that he cooked it?"

"He wouldn't be Sirius if he didn't," Remus rolled his eyes. "He could have gotten the props at least."

"Girls can always tell, Remus. I know you boys think we're stupid or something, but believe me she would have been able to tell," Marissa laughed, shaking her head.

"They didn't have dinner?" Gus asked.

"Well, Sirius is spelling out the menu, and he gets to the drinks. All he was going to get was tea. Well, James couldn't stay quiet at that. He gently asked, 'Are you sure you don't want to get something else, Padfoot?' and Sirius replies all slyly, 'Na, tea's good for Lily.' They'd still be together today if James had rolled his eyes at Sirius's cluelessness like Peter and me, but James spoke up. He said, 'Lily's never drunk tea for anything but Divination in four years, Sirius, haven't you noticed that?' And then Sirius turned to him and said, 'No, but you have, Prongs. And that's why you should be dating Miss Lily Evans.' "

"He broke up with her the next day," Marissa stated.

"The conversation wasn't over quite that quickly. James covers his face with his hands and groans. 'Am I that transparent?' I think he said. He and Sirius have it out for a long while with Peter and me too scared to mediate. Then Sirius explodes, 'Damn it, Prongs!' Oh, sorry Riss. I'll edit it for Gus. 'Don't pull that sacrifice - crud - on me, not when it's obvious to everyone here that you're in love with her!' I think it was the first time since we entered that room that we were all in there and you could have heard a pin drop. Sirius had more to say too, 'And I don't love her, Prongs. I never did. You do. There's just something so wrong with this. Let me fix it.' "

"Sirius is a good guy," Marissa said quietly. "He did care about Lily a lot. He might have loved her someday."

"But not the way James was already in love with her," Remus replied.

"No, never like that," Marissa agreed.

"Enough mushy stuff!" Gus cried in protest. Both Marissa and Remus laughed.

"I have an idea. Gus, why don't you go get all the ingredients for the pancakes while Remus and I finish talking? Then you won't have to listen," Marissa said.

"Pancakes?" Remus said in confusion. "From what I've seen of these enchiladas. . .are you sure about this, Riss?"

"What are you talking about, Remus? The enchiladas are for tomorrow," Marissa replied. Seeing the look of utter confusion on his face, she explained, "They taste better if you freeze them overnight then put them in the oven. So we're having them tomorrow. And didn't you wonder that we were making so many? I'm going to send off some to the Boneses. Goodness knows Amy won't want to be cooking now." Amy Bones and Anna Prewett were once the Jacobs twins who had graduated Hogwarts five years ago. Anna had been Head Girl and married the Head Boy Fabian Prewett. Fabian and his brother Gideon, the current Head Boy, had been tracked by Death Eaters. They had eluded them so well that they attacked Fabain's family instead. The brothers had come home from their Yuletide hiding place to find the Dark Mark over his home. Anna and her new son were dead. "If you come back tomorrow you can help me make the side dishes to send off, then we'll eat the rest of it."

"I suppose you'll want my owl to help carry it too?" Remus asked cynically.

"Actually, I was only planning on putting you out as far as taking the enchiladas down to the kitchen and convincing them to store it overnight," Marissa replied nonchalantly. "Meet you tomorrow at noon?"

"Why do I get the idea that you'll hunt me down if I don't show?"

"Sounds about accurate. But there's one thing I still want to know."

"The location of the kitchens?" Remus guessed.

"How does Lily know that James is the reason Sirius broke up with her?" Marissa countered.

Remus, who had thought that they had left that topic behind, sighed heavily. "Well, as we all know, Sirius did not break up with Lily properly." Marissa shook her head sadly at that, turning back to stir the still simmering pot with almost a frown on her face. "She really thought that he was just being Sirius Black, panicky about commitment and all. She thought they'd be officially back together in a month when he came to his senses yet again. But then. . .well, you saw most of it. She'd lean her head up against his shoulder or snake her arm across his back, thinking it would be normal soon even if it was weird now, and Sirius would look at James and just about take her arm off jumping back from her. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Sirius didn't want James to see them acting like that. Lily just took the assumptions one step farther."

"The things she started saying about him," Marissa said, still shaking her head. "The worst was actually the most logical. She could go on all day about how conceited he is. . .and she's not too far off the mark now anyway, but she was furious that they would discount her own feelings. I said once that it was almost sweet of both of them to want their best friend to have the girl they loved even if it meant they wouldn't and she would be happier. Big mistake. She screamed that why should they get to decide for her who she got to be with? Didn't her feelings count for anything?"

"She does have a point there, but this feud with James is getting seriously out of hand."

"No pun intended?" Marissa asked, looking back over her shoulder.

"Well, what have you been doing about the feud, Riss?" Remus was very interested to know this.

"I'm not exactly an expert of staying on speaking terms with you Marauders, now am I?" Marissa countered wryly. "So I'm just trying to reconcile Lily to her fate as far as Sirius is concerned. I got her to speak to him again, and now they're back to being friends. I've just got to get James to deflate his head enough for her to take him seriously before I make any headway there. While he's still going around acting conceited she's got a very good case against forgiving him for being presumptuous enough to plan her love life for her."

"Your mind at ease about your quest at least?" Remus asked.

"It's quite a relief, let me tell you," Marissa replied.

"You know, it'd be a relief to me if we could get the Marauders off the warpath against you," Remus said. "If you told them about Gus - "

"No."

"We can keep a secret, Riss, it's not like we'd run to McGonagall or any - "

"No."

"Riss - "

"No."

"You didn't even let me ask yet!" Gus cried in protest.

"Oh I'm sorry, Gus, what do you want?" Marissa said, spinning on her heel to talk to him.

"Chocolate chips in the pancakes," Gus said somewhat timidly.

"You got it, Gus," Marissa replied. "Speaking of which, you got the tortillas?"

Gus handed her a package. She opened it, took one look, and handed it back to him, "Flour tortillas, Gus, not corn. Go back," she said, spinning him around and giving him a slight push in the direction of the pantry. Once he had turned back, Marissa turned to Remus, "I want James and Lily to be together. They seem to belong together, and everyone deserves someone who will make them feel like that. They got off to a horrible start, I'll grant you, but I'm not going to let them give up. Afterall, true love is a chance you only get once."

"That doesn't seem fair, what is something happens to one of them?" Remus asked.

Marissa smiled slightly. "I didn't say they'd never love again, that they wouldn't be happier with someone else than alone. I just mean that real love, honest to goodness love is something that only happens once in a lifetime. You can't have two soulmates. You can be happy with more than one person, but there's only one person out there who will make you feel like you've finally come home."

"You're a hopeless romantic, Marissa Fletcher," Remus laughed. Marissa threw a wooden spoon at him. Dodging it nimbly (five years of living with a Quidditch star who couldn't bear to stop practicing would make you quick on your feet), Remus asked, "So when did you decide that James and Lily had that kind of love?"

"About a month before she broke up with Sirius," Marissa replied. Taking in Remus's surprised expression, Marissa laughed, "Didn't you ever wonder why she wouldn't speak to me for about a week? I was on his side! Can you imagine anything more horrible? That I'd want her to be with the boy she holds to the highest standard of all you four?"

"Um, Riss. . .are you sure about that?" Remus asked uncertainly. "I'm pretty sure she hates James."

"You all have the same faults, Remus. Why can she forgive them in you, Peter, and Sirius but not in James?" Marissa pointed out cleverly. "I've lived with her for five years, I know when she's kidding herself."

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't lump me in with James and Sirius thank you very much," Remus replied. "Not when I'm sticking my neck out to be your defender."

"Oh you don't have a fan club for me to have to manage, but you're no less proud than either of them. You reacted just like they would have to the knowledge that I had thought of something for the Come and Go Room to do that you hadn't," Marissa replied, taking the tortillas from Gus who had returned. She began to add chicken to them and place them in a pan.

"Marissa, I don't have girls diving at me in corridors - "

"Oh you and Peter both!" Marissa cried in frustration, nearly scalding herself as she filled a tortilla. "You really don't get it do you? Your approach is different, but you all have something that makes you a cut above extraordinary." Remus still looked highly doubtful, so Marissa continued, "Truth be told you all probably could have pulled off the bad boy image, but only Sirius really goes with it. Then there's James with the star power, air of celebrity to set him apart. Peter's the boy next door, and you're a sensitive romantic much like you just accused me of being."

"And from your attempt to blind me a moment ago, I guess I shouldn't assume that that's a good thing," Remus replied.

"It's not, it's icky," Gus added utterly seriously. "There's no better word for it. It's just sick. Girls are sick." Marissa cleared her throat loudly. "Like I said, all girls are icky."

"Why you!" Marissa cried, making a grab at Gus who danced out of her reach. "You just wait until I catch you!" She proceeded to throw her spoon down and dive after her brother, chasing him around the kitchen for a few minutes until their grievance was entirely forgotten. Laughing again, she gave him a hug that lasted a long moment. A very long moment.

Too long of a moment for Gus. He began to wriggle out of her grasp. "All right, all right," she sighed. "I'm still getting used to the fact that I can see you any time I want," she said as she released him.

Gus made a great show of backing away in disgust at the hug, and his foot landed on the wooden spoon. The moment he put his weight on it, it slid out from under him, making him loose his balance. He did not fall cleanly. He flung out his hands to try to regain his balance. His right hand landed on the burning stove. If it had landed elsewhere he might have managed to right himself, but he immediately jerked his hand up. This motion did two things: it removed his last support sending him crashing down onto the ground and caused one of the pans of hot enchiladas to land on top of him, covering his face. It was difficult to tell who screamed louder: brother or sister.

Gus was flailing about pointlessly in pain, and Marissa was not being much more useful by trying to wipe the burning away with her bare hands. Remus, thankfully, kept a cool head and pulled out his wand. He immediately banished the burning enchiladas, then moved to pry Marissa off of her brother. It was difficult to tell who was crying more. Gus seemed to be trying very hard not to cry as he cradled his bright red hand. Marissa also seemed to be trying to calm herself down and suppress the tears falling freely down her face. After a long moment where Remus was unsure what to do next as Gus was obviously still in pain, Marissa turned to him. "Help me get him to Madam Pomfrey."

From the look in her eyes, Remus knew that she understood exactly what that meant.

"I know a shortcut," he said quickly, helping Gus to stand. They both hurried him forward, running through the halls of Hogwarts which (luckily) were deserted as nearly everyone was taking advantage of the fresh fallen snow to enjoy their time off outside. "No, this way!" Remus yelled suddenly, steering Gus toward what appeared to be a solid wall.

"Remus, are you sure about - " but they were already through into a small, little-used passageway that opened only two doors down from Hospital Wing. "Damn you're good!" she cried, pushing Gus forward the rest of the way. Just outside the door, she turned to Remus, "Go back to the Common Room. You were there all afternoon."

"Marissa - "

"Go, Remus. There's no reason for you to get into trouble for this," Marissa said, her gaze downcast.

Once he had left, Marissa opened the door and ushered Gus quickly inside. "Madam Pomfrey!" the urgency in her voice brought the matron hurrying out of her office and across the Hospital Wing until she stopped in front of the youngest boy whom she had ever had to tend at Hogwarts.

"What happened?" she said officiously, looking at his burned face and hand.

"He was burned," Marissa replied. "I was cooking, and he touched the stove."

"The face will heal cleanly," Madam Pomfrey said calmly after a moment, "But the hand I'll have to apply potion to before I heal it with a spell."

"Do whatever you have to," Marissa urged her, hovering helplessly next to the pair of them. She watched similiarly as the matron waved her wand almost carelessly and healed the wounds on his face then applied a pungent potion to his hand. She took Gus's other hand so that he could squeeze it as they waited for it to dry so that Madam Pomfrey could heal it as well. Still she had said nothing about the fact that Gus was underage and did not have on a Hogwarts uniform.

Then Madam Pomfrey neatly healed the wound, leaving the hand looking as if it had not suffered anything worse than a slight sunburn.

"Stay here, both of you," she said once she was done applying another layer potion. "I'll get you the potion you need to rub on your hand twice a day." She swept into her office. Marissa snuck quietly after her, leaning against the door.

"Professor Dumbledore's office," she heard her order her fireplace.

"Good afternoon, Poppy. It is not in vain, I hope, that I ask if this is just a sock call?"

"Sock call, Headmaster?" Madam Pomfrey said in confusion, for the first time since Marissa and Gus entered truly flustered.

"Nothing more serious than having only one sock of each pair come back from the laundry, Poppy," Marissa heard Dumbledore's voice through the door.

"It's rather a matter of finding one too many, Albus," Madam Pomfrey replied. "There's someone down here I think you need to see."

Marissa moved quickly away from the door. She signalled to Gus as she moved toward the exit. "What about the potion?" Gus asked her as she took his arm and hurried him out of the Hospital Wing.

"Good point, accio!" she said, pointing her wand back at the door of the Hospital Wing. The next moment, a small bottle of light blue potion was in her hand and they were back in the secret passage that Remus had shown them a moment earlier.

* * *

"In here quick!" Marissa urged him forward, shutting the door behind them. The candles immediately turned themselves on, but Marissa waved them off. She faced Gus for a moment. Both were panting, and neither of them dared to speak. It had proved unsafe to remain in one place, even a secret one, for very long with the entire Hogwarts Staff and almost every prefect joining in the hunt for them. Marissa was particularly determined that Remus would not find them as he was sure to want to try to help them and get himself into trouble as well. "I think we can rest here for a minute," she said, looking about the small, cold stone room somewhere near the North Tower.

"Riss," Gus said in a small voice. "I'm scared. I don't want to go home."

"Come here," she said, giving him a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead. "I told you, remember? I'll do whatever I have to, but you will not be in danger from him for another minute of another day. Understand me?"

"Yes," he said quietly.

"Good. I think I know where it'll be safe for you to spend the night, if we can get there," Marissa said, sitting down on the ground up against the wall. A moment later, Gus sat down next to her. There was a long silence where, though neither would say it, they were both listening for the sounds of pursuit. "There one thing that I need to know, Gus. Did he ever hit you?"

There was an even longer pause. "No."

"Did he ever. . .do anything else that was bad to you? Ever make you do anything that. . ."

"No, Riss. He never did anything like that," Gus said.

"He never hurt you?" she confirmed.

"Just with words," he said in a small voice.

"That's bad enough," Marissa told him.

Again silence engulfed them, but not so silent as before. They could hear what sounded like footsteps just a corridor or two away. Because of the the echoes it was difficult to tell which side that they were on. "Damn it!" Marissa cursed under her breath. Then she turned to Gus. "It's late, Gus. We've been doing this hours, and we may be here for awhile. Why don't you see if you can get some sleep? It's not very comfortable, I'm not the greatest at cojuring stuff like this but I think I can manage a sleeping bag." She took out her wand and waved it carefully. A lumpy green sleeping bag and pillow appeared a moment later.

Gus pulled them over and curled up to take a nap. "Riss?" he asked tentatively. "Will you sing me Mom's song?"

Marissa crawled quietly over to where he was sleeping and ran her hand gently through his hair. Gus had never heard their mother sing this song, he only knew it because she had sung it to him when he had trouble sleeping when he was little. She sang in a soft whisper. Hers was not the greatest voice to ever grace Hogwarts, but it was full of sincerity and sweetness. And the lullaby eased Gus into sleep long before she finished it.

"When the darkness surrounds you, sweet dreamer
Remember my words to you:
Your dreams, sleeping and waking, will speed on the dawn
And banish the night all around you.
Sleep, sweet dreamer,
And dream of a world where everything is as it should be
And all your hopes have come true.
Sleep, sweet dreamer,
Dream of danger, dream of love,
Dream of anything and everything
And things beyond what words can say.
Sleep, sweet dreamer,
Dream of white shores that lie across a sea;
Dream of a ship that sail beyond the stars
And ends right back here with you and I.
Sleep, sweet dreamer,
And dream one for me
Carry back the tale of what our world could be.
Sleep, sweet dreamer,
For when you have dreamt
You will see the skies are brighter and the darkness is through,
So sleep, sweet dreamer
For dreaming is the greatest thing your heart will ever do."

Marissa leaned over her brother and kissed his brow. "I love you, Gus." She lay awake for several hours before deciding that the coast was clear and floating the sleeping Mundungus in front of her to a safer hideaway.

©KatyMulvaney4-13-2004