A Chance You Only Get Once

Chapter Six
Locked Hearts

"So, where's Sirius taking you tonight?" Marissa asked, looking up from her Potions textbook gratefully. Lily was, as she put it, "making herself presentable" through a combination of both their collections of make-up and hair supplies. For only two girls, they had a full dorms worth of this necessary equipment, even if Marissa was a borderline tomboy at fourteen. Lily was easily the more glamorous one, wearing her dark red hair in long, flowing curls instead of pinning it back in a sloppy ponytail like Marissa most of the time. However, it was not merely Lily's influence that led Marissa to wear make-up and pay special attention to her school uniform. It wasn't that she didn't care, it was just that she preferred to keep her hair out of the way as much as possible. It wasn't like her hair would ever equal Lily's anyway.

"He refuses to tell me," Lily giggled. "Normally I'd be petrified."

"You do know it's suicide," Marissa agreed, holding her quill hopefully over the parchment as if hoping it would finish her essay on her own, "Going off alone with a Marauder to an unspecified location. And you know he's been planning this all day. He's been so distracted in class."

"James and Sirius are always distracted in class," Lily waved this aside.

"More than usual, I mean," Marissa clarified. "And not cutting up, either. Just sitting and thinking, almost looking like he was paying attention to the lesson. If no one called on him, that is."

"Do you really think he's got something special planned?" Lily asked hopefully, turning around to face her friend instead of the mirror.

"Yes, but not for tonight, silly goose," Marissa laughed. "He's probably saving all his surprises up for Valentine's Day. It's only a week away, he can't burn himself out too soon. You're lucky he's taking you out just about every night without expecting him to pull a whole fireworks display out of his sleeve every date."

"I know," Lily sighed at her warning. "I really don't expect anything special tonight."

"It would be more believable if you didn't say it in that dreamy voice," Marissa laughed, dropping her quill and rolling over off the bed. She came to stand behind Lily, taking the brush out of her hands and beginning to style her hair.

"Can I help it if I love that he's a romantic?" Lily countered with a sigh.

"Just don't ask for strawberries and champagne on school nights," Marissa said sagely.

"I'm just happy to be with Sirius," Lily said more seriously but still in a slightly dreamy voice. "Riss, I. . .I think. . .I think I might be in love with him."

Marissa dropped the lock of hair she had been about to pin in place. As she hastily fixed it, she asked, "Are you sure, Lils? I mean, you've only been going out for, what? Five weeks? True, it's the longest relationship Sirius has ever had and none of us expected him to make it half this far. . .but that's exactly the point. I know he's Sirius, Lils, and we all love him, but he's still - oh Lils he's still a Cassanova!"

To Marissa's surprise, Lily snorted. "A Cassanova?" she sputtered.

"I'm just saying," Marissa said pointedly. "Don't give your heart away lightly."

"I haven't, Riss," Lily replied. "You don't give it lightly to someone like Sirius. You have to fall hard to trust him like I do. I just believe that he won't ever hurt me."

"He said you needed to talk," Marissa said, changing the subject slightly. "On your date tonight?"

"Yes," Lily replied with a smile. "What do you think he wants to say?"

Marissa hung her head for a moment, supposedly examining Lily's elaborate hair style. "I haven't the slightest, Lils."

* * *

"I'm just saying picture it," Guilderoy Lockhart's voice cried excitedly at the next prefect's meeting. Usually, when the seventh year Gryffindor stood to talk everyone immediately tuned out his droning, but this was a very dangerous thing to do so close to a big holiday like Valentine's Day. "Confetti falling from the sky, cupids delivering love notes, flowers on every girls' pillow when she wakes up. It'll be a masterpeice."

"It'll be a peice of something," Gideon snorted, unable to contain himself. Usually, at this point Lizzie would have glared at him to shut up, but she was too horrified to chastize him for his outburst.

Lockhart either hadn't noticed (which no one would put past him) or he chose to act as if the Head Boy hadn't spoken (and chortled) at his description of his plans for Valentine's morning.

Luckily, not everyone's comments were so ignorable. "What are you a Squib?" Karkaroff had exclaimed in frustration. "Or just an idiot?"

"There's no need for that," Lizzie said without her usual enthusiasm.

"You'd never know you're a pureblood, you give us all a bad name," Karkaroff plowed on ahead, not noticing the slightly-less than appreciative looks some of the half-bloods (and the two Muggle-borns) were shooting him at these comments. "It's one thing for Muggle-borns to go on and on about things that don't exist, how would they know? But this is pathetic!"

"Just what about my plan can't you stomache?" Lockhart said icily, still smiling broadly enough to display every single tooth.

"How about my breakfast if you have confetti falling all over it?" Karkaroff responded in a rather nasty way. "Or how about the very small fact that CUPIDS DON'T EXIST? And just who is going to pay enough for EVERY bloody - " Lizzie cleared her throat. " - every ruddy girl in the school to have a flower? Have you ever counted them all, Lockhart? And just when are we going to do all this? Surely even you've figured out by now that the rooms have safeguards on them to keep any magic from being done from the outside."

Marissa, who had been staring down at her blank notes pad during the entire meeting, smiled briefly at that. It was a lesson that the Marauders had learned the hard way, of course. In fact, that particular innovation may have been designed with people like the Marauders in mind, no nasty tricks could be played on the dorms unless you could get inside them. They were a safe area. Remus, sitting next to her, was encouraged to see the smile, but disheartened to see it fade a moment later. She had been like that ever since Mundungus left.

"Well do you want to head up the decorations for Valentine's day, Karkaroff, since you're such an expert in the field of flowers and candy?" Lockhart sneered.

Karkaroff lept to his feet, but Lizzie was faster. Gideon was on his feet as well. "That's enough, both of you. Igor, sit down. Your advice is appreciated though your manner of expression leaves something to be desired. Guilderoy," he smirked at Karkaroff and simpered at Lizzie, for all the world as if he were one of her great favorites, and she had just proved it, "He's right about how unrealistic your plans are. Unless you can rethink them, I suggest we get some else to handle the Valentine's Day preparations." Just about everyone at the table had to stifle a sigh of relief. "And I'd like you all to keep in mind our first-name policy. No formality among prefects."

"Anyone?" Gideon asked hopefully, like most others in the room shooting a look at Marissa, expecting her to be the one to rescue them from the madman. She was silent, staring down at her blank parchment as if she had not even heard. "Anyone at all?"

"I can rethink my plans," Lockhart muttered sullenly under his breath.

Everyone fought back their groans. Beads of sweat were forming on Gideon's forehead. He was not going to let this git pull any of his infamous stunts on his watch. "I suppose if no one else. . ." he said at last with a heavy air of despair.

Suddenly, Marissa's voice was heard, saying softly, "Oh I don't know, Gideon. That seems a trifle unfair to poor Guilderoy. I mean, Valentine's Day is such a girl's holiday, how can we expect a boy to come up with the ideas for it?"

She still didn't look up, but now everyone was staring at her with ill-disguised relief. They knew that Marissa Fletcher would come through and save them from Lockhart's over the top fiascos. Not because she was would do a conservative job of decorating; on the contrary, they fully (and probably accurately) expected Marissa to go over the top in her preparations, but at least her most outrageous ideas would have some class. There was always a method to Marissa's madness. Lockhart was just plain loony. "Are you volunteering?"

"I'll need some help," Marissa said in a monotone. "But sure."

"Why do I get the idea we just went out of the frying pan and into the fire?" Lizzie Walker laughed, receiving mute stares from the assemblage of bewildered purebloods and continued silence from Marissa. Not one to be abashed by this, she continued gaily, "Just make sure you don't give us singing telegrams, and I'll be happy."

Unless Remus Lupin was very much mistaken, he saw the shadow of a twinkle in Marissa's eye.

* * *

"Hey! Riss! Wait up!" Remus shouted, running down the corridor to catch up with her. "Riss," he said when he caught up, "I was thinking, you can't be planning to organize Valentine's Day by yourself, and as I'm sure you're going to pull off something incredible, I figure I'd enjoy being a part of that."

"What are you talking about, Remus?" Marissa asked, still walking along, clutching a book to her chest.

"Well, you're big surprise for Valentine's Day, I'd like to help," Remus repeated, feeling more flustered this time.

"I'm getting tired of pulling rabbits out of a hat every day of the year," Marissa all but snapped. "I just took the assignment to keep it away from Lockhart. Isn't that enough for you people? What is you want from me?"

"Riss. . ." it occured to Remus that he had nothing to say. He had never heard Marissa talk like that. He stopped short, staring after her.

Marissa didn't stop to wait for him or glance back to see if he was still behind her. Remus stood still as he watched her back recede.

"Don't be too hard on her," Lily's voice came from behind him, startling him. Her words startled him as well. He had never said a word against Marissa, although he rather felt like it now. "Whatever you may be thinking, you don't know. Try to forgive her words, or better yet just forget them, she's not herself."

"She'll see her brother again," Remus said confusedly and almost hostilely. "And her mother's not any more dead than she was before. In fact, her death is more noble. I don't understand why she's acting like this."

"You don't understand," Lily agreed. "I don't either."

"I know, I mean, how many times has she told - "

"No," Lily cut him off. "I mean, you don't understand. None of us do. We couldn't. Can you even imagine what it must be like to know nothing about your mother but what the page of a yearbook can tell? To know that she lied to you, and your father too. To know that she didn't have to die, that she might not have and then everything that's wrong with her family would be all right? And then wondering if that myth she's lived her whole life is even true, wondering why her mother hid her identity from her husband, wondering what she was like, and most of all wondering why she let herself die that night that Mundungus was born. And the only thing that she has to look to for answers is - "

"An old yearbook," Remus finished, sounding as if he had suddenly understood something. Whether or not it was how Marissa was feeling is subject to debate, but he certainly understood that it was much more complex than he had been imagining it and that his friend was suffering far worse than he had believed.

At that moment, Remus's friend was sitting in one of the few places that she could still trust to be utterly Marauder-free, where they wouldn't think to look for her so she could be alone. At least until they finished that map. The best part was that traces of Mundungus still lingered there to comfort and (occassionally) surprise her. The rip in the quilt, the smell in the pillow, the tape player that he had left behind, throwing it aside in frustration when he realized that it didn't work properly at Hogwarts and forgetting about it. All these things soothed the wounds she re-opened afresh every time she looked at the collection of yearbooks and photographs of her mother.

This time was different, however. She would not gaze longingly at the figure of her mother, fight tears for a long time as she read of her and finally give in, no closer to solving any of the mysteries than before. She was curled up by the window with the seventh yearbook on her lap, open to her mother's page, but her mind was filled instead with the image of Remus's shocked face. His surprise at her show of frustration lingered there, forcing her to wonder if she had changed. When Gus left, she had been heartbroken, but at least she had let the Marauders and Lily cheer her up and even sought them out for that. Now, she wanted to avoid them. She wanted to savor this pain because it was the most she had had of her mother since she was six years old. And she wanted to wallow for awhile. Marissa was tired of being the cheery one, the sunny one, the one who went about pulling sickles out of crying first- and second-years' ears and settling fights with Slytherins. She just wanted to be depressed for awhile. She was tired of looking on the bright side of everything when her optimism had failed her. What bright side was there to this? Her mother had chosen to die. She might have lived. It was possible. You could never tell. Then she might have lived, and Gus died. It was an awful choice, but her death had so rent their family. And her mother had chosen that. Probably unknowingly, but chosen it all the same. Didn't she have a right to take the pessimistic view of that?

Her gaze slipped down onto the page with her mother's picture. Her eyes were merry and laughing. What had happened to this girl that only a few years later she would choose such a thing? Every comment from her friends, every scrap of information that Marissa could gather from the yearbooks pointed to her being a happy, hopeful person. What could have brought her to such despair that she wouldn't take a chance on life anymore? That she would so believe her child was destined to die that she would bargain her life for his?

She read the page for what felt like the thousandth time, but found nothing new.

Olivia Jane Nelson
Ravenclaw

Born:

September 3rd, 1937
Favorite Subject(s): Charms, Astronomy
Credits: Prefect 1951-1954, Quidditch Chaser 1950-1953, Outstanding Achievement in Charms, Meritorious Award for the Study of Ancient Runes
Nicknames: Livy, Mother, Cupid
Best Remembered for: Charming every couple on Valentine's Day so that the first time they kissed fireworks exploded and cherubs sung all around them.
Prediction for the Future: Most likely to choose the pauper over the prince.

Almost in frustration, she turned the page slowly, and found something she hadn't noticed before. "A Word To Posterity" was written above a small box where words were written in a loopy handwriting. Marissa read them avidly,

"The only part of posterity that I have anything to say to, or indeed who would want to hear anything from me, is my future children. I won't tell them my secrets of life here, those I intend to say in person. But there is one thing that I will say because no one can ever hear it too often, even though they will probably think so I will say it so much: Live your life fully and completely every day. Don't waste a moment of it by being anything less that the person that you were meant to be, the person that you truly are.

The words rang in Marissa's heart as if an answer to her questions. It was an answer, but only to her latest question that she had thought she posed only to herself. Her mother had given her the answer to that question. Must she look within herself to find the answers she sought from her mother? But that did not concern her at the moment. Her mind was filled with her mother's words, but more importantly, her heart swelled with them. She had been wasting days ever since Gus left and she uncovered her mother's secret, days that her mother had sacrificed to give her child life. Days her mother would rebuke her for letting escape from her without embracing them, embracing them as she would surely throw her arms around her mother if she ever saw her again. That was how she had to greet each day. And how? Her mother had given her that answer as well. Be the person she was when she was at her best. That was her mother's message, and it would live in her heart forever.

She closed the book, ready to jump up and live her mother's advice. Then she opened it again to the familiar page with her mother's picture once again. Her eyes fell on the amusing and tantalizing tidbit about what probably still lived in her mother's classmates memory. She smiled genuinely and mischieviously for the first time in days. I think I have a fitting tribute to my mother's memory.

Lily and Remus were still talking when they saw Marissa come tearing madly up the hall, an all too familiar gleam in her eyes. Once she reached them, panting slightly from her long run, she grabbed onto Lily's arm to steady herself. "I changed my mind," she gasped. "I'll take you up on your help, Remus. I may have taken the job to get rid of Lockhart, but that doesn't mean this school deserves the best Valentine's Day yet!"

"I have a feeling this is prefect's business, so I'll excuse myself," Lily began to slink away.

"No," Marissa reached out to grab her arm before she was out of range. "Will you help too, Lils? I need your lovely singing voice."

"You sing Lily?" Remus cried in surprise.

Lily, on the other hand, was glaring threateningly at her. "Riss, you promised no more plans that involve me singing," she said in the most threatening voice that Remus had ever come out of Lily, and quite possibly out of anyone.

"Wait a minute, what other time did she make you sing?" Remus asked in confusion.

Marissa laughed, to her friends' mild but pleasant surprise, "Don't worry. It was memorable, but only for about five seconds before she wiped everyone's memory," she laughed again as Lily shot her yet another look. Remus's eyes bugged out a little further. "I ducked," she explained to his questioning look. "You know her aim, she didn't try again."

"When you're quite done!" Lily cried in exasperation. Marissa made puppy-dog eyes at her, something that reminded Remus distinctly of Sirius. "All right! All right! It's too good to see that maniacal look in your eyes again!"

"YES!" Marissa cried and, in what both considered an extreme overreaction, gave a little jump and twirled around, attracting many eyes in the corridor. "I've got to go find Lizzie." She promptly ran off in the general direction of the Head Girl.

Lily glanced at Remus, laughing aloud at the worried look on his face when they had just a moment before been anxious that she had been morose. Remus laughed too. "It is good to see Riss like that again," he said and Lily nodded. "I just wish it didn't come at the expense of one of her ideas." Lily laughed again.

* * *

From that point on, it was all banners and tissue paper flowers until Lily thought she would hurl the next time she saw anything either red or pink. As all she had to do to see the Gryffindor red was look down on her sweater, this was very unfortunate. Marissa's enthusiasm, on the other hand, seemed only to grow. Remus worked with her on the Special Presentation that had been announced for V-Day and the other little extras that Marissa was planning. It had been announced to the other prefects who, almost unanimously, thought it was the kind of idea that Lockhart would have come up with. Needless to say, he volunteered. So did the rest of Marissa's house probably purely out of loyalty. Unfortunately, this caused Marissa to have to scavenge for others to fill the parts. Peter, surprisingly, took up this challenge almost immediately. As did Sirius's new girlfriend Belle Schloss.

As for being left out of the Special Presentation, the prefects generally seemed to be of the opinion that if the Gryffindors (with the notable addition of the Head Boy) wanted to make fools of themselves, they could go for it, just count them out. The general sentiment of their houses seemed to be that if the Gryffindors (with the notable addition of the Head Boy) were cooking up something that their more dignified prefects wanted no part of, they weren't about to miss it. Whether or not it was true that Cliff Wright was far less outgoing than Remus Lupin or that Stacy Meirson was more reserved than Alice Longbottom, it was now irrefutably the impression in everyone's mind that the Gryffindor prefects were the ones who could cut lose and go through with something crazy once and awhile. Not that they didn't think it was crazy too. They thought Marissa had gone loopy, to tell the truth. But they also thought it would be fun, and there was no harm in letting your guard down occassionally.

Those who received detentions from the other prefects (Remus and Marissa had virtually stopped assigning them) were not so happy about being put to work on her projects. She even assigned a few of them to work the curtains for the special performance. Most, however, ended up helping her fold paper-cranes in the house colors by the thousands until late at night. If it was the right kind of person, this could be fun for perhaps the first hour, but most got tired of it long before Marissa did. Eliza Lavelle, the Ravenclaw sixth year prefect, commented to Lizzie that she felt sorry for Marissa for having to worry about all the song and dance of Valentine's Day so soon after her brother left the castle. This was a gross misunderstanding of Marissa's attitude. She loved having to coordinate a million things at once, she gloried in it.

The only real worry that she had was Sirius. Sirius Black didn't do well when he was lonely, and she suspected that he was quite acutely lonely every night that week, especially after Marissa conned James into also helping with the Special Presentation, for which they had rehearsals every night, even when Marissa had to host a detention. By Wednesday he was provoking Karkaroff repeatedly so that he would have an excuse to get Marissa to set him paper cranes in the next room over from all of the Marauders and even his girlfriend. After this hectic week dawned a bright and clear Thursday morning the thirteenth of February.

It was a glorious day right up until the moment that Lily thundered down on Marissa as they were getting the stage set up. "I won't do it, I tell you! I refuse!" she shouted, startling Gideon Prewett so that he almost fell off the ladder nearby. "I will not sing that song with James Potter!"

Marissa, after steadying Gideon's ladder with a flick of her wand, sighed and turned to her friend, "What'd he do now?"

"Don't patronize me, Marissa Fletcher," Lily snapped. "I will not sing a duet with him. Find someone else."

"Whom do you suggest, Lily?" Marissa asked her tiredly, having been up all night watching a Hufflepuff who had smarted off to Alexia Parkinson polish all the trophies in the Trophy Room because Alexia didn't think it was a fitting punishment to fold paper shapes when the crime was insubordination (to her). "And at such short notice? No, really, what did he do now?"

"Have Remus sing his part," Lily said firmly, but it was a suggestion rather than an order, almost a plea.

"You know that he can't," Marissa said with a sigh. "It'll give away the game too soon."

"Then Peter," she tried, sounding more adamant to Gideon above the conversation than to Marissa who knew her so well.

"No one would believe that Frank's a tenor," Marissa replied. Though this would not appear to be a real obstacle, Lily seemed to accept this logic as irrefutable and bit back a cry of frustration. It was at that moment that Marissa noticed Sirius out of the corner of her eye walking through the Entrance Hall (they were setting up in a side chamber but Dumbledore would magically transport it out into the Great Hall after dinner). "Believe me, it's the only way," Marissa assured her, keeping her eyes on Sirius's retreating back. "Now if you'll excuse me," she said ducking quickly out of the bedlam in the room.

Lily's voice followed her out, growing more irate with each comment, "What about Belle singing my part?. . .Riss?. . .Don't pretend you can't hear me, Marissa Fletcher, I know how much you can hear!" But Marissa had affected not to listen to any more of her best friend's complaints and was heading up the stairs that Sirius had taken. "Marissa!"

She fell into step just behind Sirius, following him wordlessly and wondering if he had noticed. He probably didn't, he was the type to say something about it. Unless he was saving it up to make a stalker joke of some kind. That would be typical Sirius. The problem was, he hadn't been typical Sirius for the past week. And despite her laments for his style of humor, Marissa missed the old Sirius. Sirius stopped quite suddenly and ducked into a room that Marissa had never thought to enter on a corridor she usually avoided. It had an unpleasant memory attached. Marissa wondered if he came here often, if that was why he had been there so quickly to rescue her that day.

No more thoughts of that day, she told herself sternly. That was the last thing that she needed at the moment.

She followed him in tentatively. He did not look up for almost a minute. When he spoke, the sound made her jump. "Congratulations, Fletcher," he said, not looking at her. "You've found yet another secret. My private sanctum."

"Considering you're developing a map to find out mine, I'd say we're even," Marissa replied calmly in the face of his sarcasm laced with anger. The problem was, both were very faint, almost as if he didn't have the heart to be truly offended that she had invaded his sanctuary. "Not that it was hard to do, considering all I had to do was follow you."

"And why were you doing that?" he said rotely, as if the answer didn't really interest him but he knew the question was expected.

"You've been uncharacteristically serious lately," she replied.

"You've been characteristically nosy lately," he countered bitingly, seeming to get more into the spirit of the conversation at this.

"You're being characteristically insulting," Marissa returned. "Though the degree seems greater." There was silence only for a moment before, "You play?"

"No," Sirius shot back, "I just sit here staring at the piano."

"Well then will you 'stare at' a peice of music for me?" Marissa asked, knowing the instant it was out of her mouth that she had taken a bit of a risk. For a moment, she was sure from the look on Sirius's face that it was going to backfire, but the moment passed and a less aggressive look came into his eyes. In fact, it was almost, if it could be believed, vulnerable.

Wordlessly, he turned to the grand piano in the room and struck up a flowing song that Marissa had never heard before. She wondered if it was by a wizard composer or a Muggle one. Not that she was enough of a fan of classical music to be able to tell the difference. Marissa made a mental note to ask him how he had come upon this room, certain that it made a good story (and that if it didn't Sirius would change it until it did). "Such a melancholy melody," Marissa sighed, coming to stand behind him.

"I come here when I'm in a melancholy mood," Sirius replied tersely, "For comfort."

Marissa was silent, in case he was offended that she'd tried to talk to him while he was playing, until he finished the peice with a flourish. "Do you mind if I stay?" she asked him as he turned the page to the next song in the book. "Just to warn you I'll probably be asking nosy questions before long."

"I'll be doing the same thing whether or not you're here," he said non-commitally, but Marissa could tell that he preferred to have her there.

He struck the opening chords before Marissa could ask him her next question. After a few phrases, he spoke aloud, "I come up here to think. You're the first person to know about it."

"Why did you come here today?" Marissa asked in what she hoped was a casual yet caring way that wouldn't frighten him off or make him think she wasn't willing to listen. Everything was a delicate balance in dealing with Sirius.

"Andromeda's married. She's pregnant," Sirius said simply.

"Andromeda, your cousin?" Marissa said in surprise. "I always liked her back when we were in first year."

Marissa was going to continue, but Sirius said at that moment, "So did I."

"Then why - "

"Mum's over the moon about it for some reason, the pregnancy at least," Sirius said stiffly. "And Trix was saying something about how she's not working."

Marissa still didn't understand, but said nothing, knowing that it would all come out in Sirius's own time. He seldom did anything according to any other schedule. "Don't you see?" he said the next moment. "She sold out. She married up well enough to please my family and then plans on doing nothing else with her life and talent than breeding more Black babies to plague the world. And she's my favorite cousin. I thought she was better than all the rest of the Black sisters. I thought she was something different. That she wouldn't do this. I know you haven't got as picturesque a family as we all assumed, Riss, but at least the ones that you thought would turn out good really did. Andie failed me. The one I thought would. . .to think I once thought that she was going to marry Ted Tonks! I was so proud of her when she ran away from home to be with him. That's when I really thought I could do it, you know? Break with my family. For good. Now, just a few years later, she's apparently dumped the Muggleborn and married pure and slimy enough to reinstate her with everyone."

"It doesn't necessarily mean he's horrible, Sirius," Marissa said carefully. "Afterall, it doesn't sound like she wanted any of your family to come to the wedding - "

"But she didn't send me an invitation either," Sirius countered, "And she would have if she were marrying someone like Tonks. She had to know that I would find a way to get there. But no." They were silent for a long moment, the mournful song weaving around them in an almost spellbinding way. "And I just can't help but wonder if that's what's going to happen to me. It's like this peice of music. I have to play exactly what the composer wrote, but I can interpret it how I please. But I'm still playing his music. Is that the most that I can hope for in my life? I'm just afraid that I'll be all rebel and brave and noble for awhile, but sooner or later I'll end up just like them and do something twice as slimy as before just to get them to take me back."

"Andromeda's not you, Sirius," Marissa said quietly. "When was the last time you let them tell you what to think?"

"That's just the thing though," Sirius said. "You remember that howler Mother sent when I started dating Lily?"

"Vividly," Marissa replied with a shudder.

"Then when she started writing to me after I broke up with her. . .I remember being so furious about her insinuations that I believed what she had said that I almost went back to Lily, and I think I would have if it hadn't been because of James in the first place," Sirius told her. "But then I thought that letting them control me by not doing what they want just because they don't want it is still letting them determine the course of my life. And then there's the fact that. . .have you picked up on that fact that any relationship I've had since then that's lasted more than a week has been with a genuine-article pureblood? Look at Belle, they'd love a Schloss alliance. Would provide a connection to the Cavanols which they've been craving for generations. Had Andie all but engaged to one, or so they thought. I wonder if that's who she ended up. . ."

"Don't make too much of whom you date, Sirius, not while you're still at Hogwarts," Marissa replied. "With a few notable exceptions, you're more learning how to date than finding a bride. And even when you do start looking in earnest, the most important thing is not to worry about what anyone, especially your family in your case, thinks whether they're thrilled or horrified. It's your life and your decision, find someone you love. Don't toss her aside for your family or to spite your family."

"It's not Valentine's Day, yet, Fletcher," Sirius replied cheekily. "Don't use all your best lines on someone with a steady date already."

Marissa laughed. "Very well, Sirius, but let me just say this, I have every confidence that you won't be just another one of the Blacks, even if Andie is. You're different, Sirius, and it shows."

"I guess it just wasn't the best week for me to be on the outside looking in with all of you putting your heads that didn't have to beg the Sorting Hat to be placed in Gryffindor together on a project that I don't think my family would aprove of," Sirius said. "Not when I was already wondering how many of my choices are designed to please them, however much I may think I loathe them."

"It's hard to loathe family, Sirius," Marissa said. "And I don't just mean it's hard to get to that point. It's hard once you're there and for the rest of your life. It doesn't just take one burst of courage to cut yourself out, it takes constant courage to stand firm against someone who knows you so well and shares your past so completely. And believing you're like them can be so easy considering you come from the same place. . .but the thing is," she said looking him directly in the eye, "You are not them. And I have a strong feeling that you never will be, Sirius Black. Where that name with pride, both parts of it. For you are not one of the Blacks anymore, you're what they all could have been but lacked the courage to be."

"I thought Andie had courage."

"She did once," Marissa replied. "Don't ever let yours go, she'll pay a dear price for it in the end. Worse than the price she was paying for losing her family."

"Are you a Seeress, now, Riss?"

"Don't tease, Sirius," Marissa replied, smacking him lightly on the arm.

"I'm sorry, Riss, but I'm afraid it's in my blood."

* * *

That night, Marissa sat up in the Common Room beside a vast tub of paper cranes in all the House colors. She'd take them two at a time and wave her wand briefly over both of them whispering quietly enough that no one knew quite what she was saying. After she charmed them, she placed them in another tub that gradually filled as the other emptied, but so slowly that every time someone looked over there they had trouble detecting a real difference. Marissa, however, was quite cheerful about her tedious looking task. It may have been novel at first, the way that the cranes immediately flew up, locked necks as they twirled down to the table together, but it it was hard to imagine it maintaining its charm as long as the tub beside her maintained its supply of the cranes (a great many people had managed to offend prefects that week, an astounding number had had biting comments about the Special Presentation, and Marissa had been folding them diligently as well).

"So, Riss, are you planning to tell us what you're going to do with all of these love-sick birds?" James Potter asked cheekily as he sat down at the table opposite her. "Since it's obvious you can't send them to Hiroshima's Peace Park in that condition."

Marissa looked up in surprise, "You know about Peace Day? How?" she cried, looking at her friend in shock.

James rolled his eyes, "Honestly, Riss. I expected it of Lily, but not of you. I can read, can't I? Or have we gotten to the point in our friendship that you doubt that as well? I know you remember everything, you make a point of pointing it out to us often enough. So did you forget that Peter gave me that book on Sadako Sasaki, the girl who tried to fold all those paper cranes to get the gods to heal her of leukaemia, or did you just think I wouldn't read it?"

"So would you be insulted if I said I was impressed?" Marissa asked playfully, quickly charming another pair of matching paper cranes in the bright canary yellow of Hufflepuff. "Or would you take the compliment with a grain of salt?"

"I'm afraid Lily's the only one of our number who holds herself so tightly within herself that she could build up enough pressure to turn a grain of salt into a pearl," James replied almost sadly.

"That's sand, not salt, James," Marissa laughed. "And you're being unkind to Lily."

"Well, isn't that the old rule turned on it's head," James replied bitterly. "I suppose she's the only one with any right to be unkind to me?"

"Does criticizing her make you worry of her kindness?" Marissa retorted quickly, but mostly she did out of loyalty to her friend. Inwardly, she thought that James may have a point. But it would do no good to point it out to him. James Potter could be sweet and carrying when he set his mind to it. The problem came in how seldom he set his mind to it.

"I can see that trading barbs will get us nowhere," James laughed, surprising her. She supposed she shouldn't have expected her words to suddenly penetrate his thick skull when he had already heard them so many times before. She suppressed a sigh all the same. "And you've cleverly dodged giving me the slightest hint about these little beauties," James told her with a wink. "But I assure you that I didn't come here to pry into your precious little secrets. I simply saw a damsel in distress and - "

"You just had to rush to her rescue."

"It would wound my honor if I did not, fair lady," James said in an exaggerated gallant voice. "I entreat thee, allow me to be of service, I shall raise my wand and vanquish the load you have taken upon yourself."

"Be careful of your knight errant act, James," Marissa replied. "You may do it too close to a dragon one of these days."

"I have already met the one of which you speak," James countered cheekily. "The fair flame-haired one who breathes fire upon me at my every approach."

"And you wonder why!" Marissa cried. "I hope you've never said something like that to Lily's face!"

"Fair damsel, allow me to assist you, I pray thee," James dodged her barb, stubbornly persisting in the act. "Per chance tell of my deeds will soften the heart of the dragon, or if not, my chivalry towards all damsels in distress shalt make me more worthy of such a fair prize as she."

"Do you ever have any thoughts that aren't tied up in Lily? Do you ever do any kind act except for her?" Marissa asked with a sigh.

"Thou dost me an injustice, fair damsel," James replied laughingly, choosing not to be offended by her barb.

"Well, I wouldst be a fool to turn away the help of such a knight, even if he is a jester at heart," Marissa replied, moving the large tub of cranes so that he could reach them as well. "You'll need your wand, I assume you have it concealed in some novel and slightly alarming place?"

"The fair lady overestimates- "

"Okay, that needs to stop."

"Sorry to disappoint you," James answered in his normal voice. "Milady," he couldn't stop help but add cheekily. "But it's just in my pocket." He withdrew it nonchalantly and looked up to find Marissa giving him a smile in return. "So, what's the encantation?"

"One of my own invention," Marissa replied, "I suppose you might as well know what they're going to do. I'm charming them in pairs," she took her most recent pair in Ravenclaw blue in her hands to demonstrate, "so that couples can buy them and send messages to eachother across the Great Hall, you know, the ones in other houses. And considering we're not supposed to go off alone," she affected her best prefect's voice at this but there was a twinkle in her eye as she said it, "It would be ideal for having a private conversation in a crowded place like the Common Room or Courtyard." She tossed James one of the cranes, then brought the other gently to her lips where she whispered some words into it.

She held out her hand again and both the crane she had whispered to and the crane in James's hand took off immediately. They flew to meet eachother, touched wings and circled for a moment as if in the joy of meeting, then turned to fly back to their respective keepers. However, while Marissa's came to rest on her shoulder and sat still, James's flew to his ear and he the next moment he heard Marissa's voice whisper, "My pets are very discreet."

James smiled, genuinely. He caught the crane before it could return to his shoulder and whispered to it, "Your pets are clever, as is their mistress." The two cranes began their flying ritual again, and Marissa extended her hand to guide the bird to her ear, blushing slightly with the compliment when she heard the whisper. She too, caught it and whispered to it again. James, following her example, extended his hand for the crane and heard her whisper in his ear, "Pity the spell only lasts a day, charming way to communicate."

"Secretive as well," James impishly whispered to the crane.

After Marissa received his message, Marissa sent it back with the message, "Wonderfully so. Perfect way for me to tell you the encantation; you'll have to watch me for the wand movement. It's De Bode Van Liefde."

"And how do we take it off them?" James asked aloud. Marissa almost looked startled. "For when we're not telling secrets?"

"I'm not about to tell you that one, James, if you're so adamant against secrets," Marissa laughed at him, scooping the paper crane off his shoulder, tapping it and hers with her wand while barely moving her lips, and throwing them back into the bin. James laughed at her secretiveness.

"And you complain about our retention!" he guffawed.

"Well you boys take it to extremes," she said with a straight face. James howled anew at her apparent hypocrisy.

"And that little display there wasn't extreme?" James said when he had recovered somewhat.

"I don't know what you're talking about, James," Marissa replied, plucking two cranes out of the bin and charming them deftly.

James followed suit and they were silent except for the whispered spells for a few minutes. "So, how do you charm them to go to the right person? Do they both have to be standing there?"

"No," Marissa replied automatically. "If she's not standing there, you can go and put it on her shoulder - " Marissa stopped. James smirked mischieviously. "Is there any point in saying not to, James?"

"None whatsoever, milady," James replied. "Ask of me any task but that I cease to be that which I am."

"I'd never dream of it, James," Marissa laughed. "No one who knew you would."

"I can think of someone," James said darkly, looking up as Lily entered the Common Room looking highly excited and borderline giddy. She was scanning the crowd eagerly, looking for her best friend. Marissa looked up and saw her, cheerfully waving her over.

As if to prove James's theory, Lily scowled when she saw the company that her best friend was keeping and instead made a beeline for the stairs. Marissa and James both sighed as they watched her head up the staircases. "You want to take that back, Riss?" James asked with his eyes downcast.

"Not particularly, no, why?" Marissa asked as if she hadn't noticed Lily's reaction, or perhaps to indicate that it didn't change her statement. The latter was more likely, but James didn't feel like responding all the same. They worked in silence for a long while before comfortable conversation rose up between them again.

* * *

Lily pounced on Marissa the moment that she climbed her weary way up the stairs to the dorm room she and Lily shared. "Why did you do that?" she cried, looking like she had purposely put their two beds between them to keep herself from leaping across the room and strangling her best friend. "Why did you have to do that?"

"What, Lils?" Marissa asked tiredly, having finally charmed the last of the paper cranes and feeling as if all she wanted in the world was to crawl into her bed and go to sleep before her big day tomorrow.

"Oh don't play dumb, as if you didn't do it on purpose!" Lily cried, obviously enraged. "You had to go and try to ruin a perfectly wonderful evening!"

"Your date went well, then?" Marissa asked dully, normally she would have perked up slightly but not when she had just spent the last few hours talking with James Potter, often about how much he adored her best friend whom she knew was out on a date.

This was apparently Lily's opinion as well. "Yes, no thanks to your attempted sabotage in warning me it wouldn't be like Sirius's dates."

"That was a joke! It's completely unfair to throw that in my face, I had no idea you'd react that badly!" Marissa cried in protest, sleep no longer on her mind.

Lily had apparently decided not to acknowledge her comment, "And then to sit with James bleeding Potter for no reason at all except to try and make me think, in some desperate ploy, that I cared how he would react if I went on a date! You just couldn't accept that I don't like him and are trying to throw him at me at a time when all I wanted to do was rush over and tell you every detail-"

"Oh for Christ's sakes, Lily Evans!" Marissa shouted over her in anger. "We've been over this before. I have absolutely no intention of ending either my friendship with you or James. If you had an actual reason why you thought he would mess up two of his best friends' happiness then I would have to choose a side, which would be yours by the way, but since you have no proof and are holding onto this grudge for the sole reason of being stubborn and pig-headed, I see no reason why I have to lose a very good friend who, by the way, was the only one of you five kind enough to help me charm the ton of paper cranes that I had to set the detentionites doing. Thank you very much." There was a long pause. "And one more thing, Lily. Did you ever consider that the fact that you reacted this way proves that you do care what James thinks of you going on a date?" Lily looked about to retort, but Marissa walked angrily over to her vanity and forcefully pulled out her make-up remover. "How was it, by the way?" she asked in an only slightly less hostile voice.

"Wonderful," Lily said, also sounding as if she too hadn't quite let go of her hostility. An awkward silence descended on them for a moment, Lily standing in place not moving and Marissa feverishly getting ready for bed. "But you were right," she said softly. Marissa turned to look at her, "He's not Sirius."

"There's only one," Marissa said more sympathetically, "Thank Merlin." Lily laughed slightly. A moment later, Marissa couldn't stand it anymore. She put down her brush and turned around in her seat to look directly at Lily. "You were so happy when you came into the Common Room, anyone could see that. Don't be all depressed now, not because of something that I did."

"I know and you know it's not something you did on purpose," Lily said slowly. "I'm sorry for saying that. I know you wouldn't have put James through that, he looked so hurt when he saw me come in."

"I wouldn't put you through it either," Marissa said softly.

Lily shook her head. "I don't care, Riss." Just who she was trying to convince was not certain, but it was fairly clear that they were not convinced.

"So, is he going to be your Valentine tomorrow?" Marissa asked in a more light-hearted manner.

"Yes," Lily said, a smile gracing her face but not so broad a one as when she had entered Gryffindor Tower.

"You're lucky, to already have a doting Valentine squared away," Marissa said with a mock-sigh at her lack of love life.

Lily snorted. "With all the work you've done, Riss, the whole school's your Valentine tomorrow."

* * *

A violin was playing Pocabelli's Cannon. Lily groaned and rolled over in the bed almost without noticing the difference in the wake up call and pressed the snooze button on the alarm. Immediately, the violin stopped. Marissa, on the other hand, all but lept out of bed and scurried to her dressing table to grab her robes before hurrying off to the Prefect's Bathroom. Five minutes later, instead of emitting either its customary buzz or string music, the alarm clock said quite loudly in Marissa's voice, "Happy Valentine's Day!. . .Oh for goodness sake - WAAAAAKKKKKEEE UUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!" Lily sat bolt upright at the sound of her best friend's yell. A large box of chocolates fell into her lap the moment that she did.

Lily was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn't take her very long to determine that Marissa was not, in fact, in the room. After that, it wasn't too difficult to determine that her voice was some kind of recording as it kept repeating this same message every few minutes. Lily finally managed to turn it off. She grabbed the pair of glasses that she kept by her bedside table and looked at the small card attached to the box of chocolates, "Good morning, Lils!" was written in Marissa's large, round script.

"Oh good morning yourself," Lily grumbled for all the world as if her friend were in the room. Lily sighed and threw back the covers, deciding that if she had to wake up at this ungodly hour to please the school authorities, waking up to chocolates being dropped into your lap wasn't a half bad way to do it. By the time she had washed up in the bathroom at the base of the Girls' side of the Tower, Lily was even awake enough to be ready for whatever Marissa had planned for breakfast that she didn't want her to miss. Or so she thought.

* * *

In the Fifth Year Dorm on the opposite side of the Tower, however, the boys did not get the benefit music as their first warning that Marissa had been tinkering with their alarm clocks. "Happy Valentine's Day boys!" they heard her chirp first thing in the morning when their alarms should have gone off. "Get up and greet the day. . .come on, don't make me. . ." As if she could see that there was no response from them, she suddenly shouted, her voice filling the room quite easily, "GET OUT OF BED YOU LAZY HEADS!" Peter and Sirius were jolted by this outburst, but James and Remus appeared unmoved (they both slept like the dead). However, something that even the nearly-dead cannot ignore is a very heavy box of chocolates being dropped on your head. This is what happened to all four of the Marauders.

On the note were written the words, "Don't spoil your breakfasts."

"I am now taking bets," Sirius, easily the most morning-oriented of the group, began, "On just what that crazy chick has cooked up that she's so desperate that none of us miss breakfast."

* * *

Marissa was sitting enshrined in a cloud of light pink at a small table in the center of the hall just under the staff table. All around her on the table were dozens of paired paper cranes. Canary yellow Hufflepuff cranes, midnight blue Ravenclaws, emerald green Slytherin cranes (these remained largely untouched) and ruby red Gryffindor cranes. She was selling them to couples for two sickles, leaning in close to whisper to them how to use them to send messages to eachother. When a blushing, giggling girl wasn't dragging a blushing, mortified boy up to see her, she was to be seen sitting at the table complacently humming slightly to herself. Every once and awhile she would wave her wand at a few of them, and they would leap into the air and spin around her head for awhile before she called them off.

Lily entered at the same time as the Marauders. "She wake you guys up in a highly indecent way as well?" Lily asked them as they made their way over to her small table.

"Dropped a big box of chocolates ontop of our heads," Peter said, smiling warily. "Hit me rather hard, I'll have a bump there."

"Mine fell in my lap, nice and soft," Lily said in confusion.

Remus let out a bark of laughter, "And here I thought she just didn't get the encantation quite right! She wanted to make sure we got up I guess!"

"Why that-" Sirius began, but James elbowed him as they walked up to the table where Marissa sat smiling sweetly up at them all. "Watch it, Prongs! There are less violent ways of telling a man to stuff it," Sirius said huffily.

"What man?" James asked innocently.

"Oh stuff it."

"Good morning!" Marissa trumpeted at them when she looked up and saw them. "You boys didn't ruin your breakfast, did you?"

"That's it, we can't eat a bite now, she's obviously jinxed it somehow," Sirius said, eying her shrewdly. "The question is how. You didn't tell her the location of the kitchens, did you Moony?" Remus shook his head. "Hm, that would indicate that it was spellwork, and something she could cast if she got down here before us, which she obviously did. When did she leave the dorm, Lily? Did you see?"

"It's a little difficult to tell, she left her voice behind. It could have been anytime I suppose," Lily answered, mimicking his tone. She ran her hand over her chin, massaging her non-existent goatee. "That gives her any amount of time, goodness knows no one else in this hall is capable of noticing what she's up to, unequipped for the challenge. You rule out help from the house elves too quickly, though, I think. Couldn't she have caught one as they were tiding up last night? Didn't she and James stay up very late? James, who went to bed first, you or Riss?"

James jumped. Was Lily actually talking civilly to him? "Her, Lils, she followed you up about thirty minutes later," James answered.

Lily stiffened at the nickname and turned to glare at him. James ignored her, and she eventually turned back to Marissa. James took this chance to slide one of the pairs of crimson cranes and gently set one of them on Lily's shoulder where it clashed splendidly with her hair observed by his smirking friends. James set the other crane on his shoulder, biding his time and planning his attack. Marissa, who noticed the crane on his shoulder, tried and failed to look stern to warn him off. It was all too plain that she was amused.

"Believe me, guys, just go sit down and enjoy your breakfast," Marissa said with a smile. "Oh, and Remus, if you could take the money up to the Prefects Office after breakfast for me? It's right near the Muggle Studies Class Room if you take the back way and I'd have to trudge a mile to get there from the North Tower."

"Sure thing, Riss," Remus replied in the same nonchalant tone while the others fretted about possible sabotages of breakfast, "How much have you made?"

"Haven't counted, but probably about five galleons, not bad considering it cost next to nothing," Marissa replied. "That and it's bringing joy to the school."

In all truth, the cranes could more accurately be described as bringing a great deal of confusion to the school. Yes, some couples were quite happily whispering sweet nothings in eachother's ears, quite happy with to have their private moment under the watchful eyes of the professors and the giddy eyes of their girlfriends and contemptuous eyes of their single male friends. Other couples who were in different houses were thrilled that they, for once, had the opportunity to eat their meals together (in a bizarre way). However, James was not the only one who had managed to plant a crane on an unsuspecting and quite unwilling potential Valentine. Sirius (no one wanted to know how, REALLY) had planted one on Karkaroff's girlfriend Annette and had been sending it back and forth to her with insulting comments about her boyfriend that he could not hear or respond to as the crane would niether tell him the message or take one of his angry diatribes back to the Gryffindor table. And Annette, despite being a Slytherin, was far too delicate to repeat them as Karkaroff insisted vehemently as Sirius waved cheekily at the couple. Lockhart had also managed to set a crane on his girlfriend at the Hufflepuff table, or rather former girlfriend as became abundantly clear when she started trying to swat the message bearing bird away. It flew more and more frantically around her, fretting as she continually hit it away before she had to listen to his speeches. She seemed equally unwilling to listen to Lockhart's vain groveling (Lockhart was perhaps the only person alive who could grovel vainly) or hurt the poor crane which was flying about and looking almost alive.

After several minutes during which the crane became increasingly annoying to everyone at both tables in the vicinity, Narcissa Black snatched the crane from the air and frustratedly tore it in half. It immediately dropped to the ground and twitched almost grotesquely with its one remaining wing. A Hufflepuff first year in particular looked quite scandalized as did Lockhart's ex. Narcissa turned back around nonchalantly as the Hufflepuffs arranged an ad-hoc funeral for the former pest.

And, of course, none of this came close to equalling Lily's reaction. The first time that James sent a message to her through the crane (no one was sure what he said for the obviuos reason that niether of them was likely to repeat it, but it wasn't hard to get a general idea), she lept to her feet in rage and began to scream at him. Or would have, if the crane hadn't been the only thing that heard her voice (and James a moment later received her shrieks full blast in his ear though he did an admirable job of not showing the strain). It was one of the stranger sights that they had ever seen, Lily red faced in rage towering over James Potter her mouth open and moving very fast, but not a sound coming out though she was breathing very hard by the end of it. No one was sure what she said, of course, but it apparently was not sufficient, for James merely calmly whispered something to the crane again and sent it to her.

Lily threw it violently at him, but when it only returned to her, trying to deliver its message unperturbed, she turned and fled the Great Hall, the bird flapping wildly a few feet behind her. Almost everyone tried valiantly not to laugh, honestly they did. But it was no good. The sight was too ridiculous for even Marissa to hold back her chuckles. Truth be told, Lily was lucky that she left when she did. She was spared the sudden showering of confetti that fell from the ceiling of the Great Hall a moment later the instant the platters of food disappeared. Everyone was covered almost instantly in light pink hearts, much to the dismay of the more manly students and even professors.

Marissa's life appeared to be in a near and apparent danger for a few confused minutes until the first group managed to struggle through the light pink cloud of fog and realized that once they stepped out of the Great Hall the confetti stayed behind. Argus Filch would be out for her blood until the day she graduated, but everyone else could forgive Marissa for the temporary frosting she had visited on them. The Marauders, who had stubbornly refused to eat breakfast, walked up the Marble Staircase with Marissa congratulating her on chaos that had ensued, however briefly. As they slowly splintered off, Marissa found herself walking with Sirius up to the North Tower for Divination.

Just as the bell rang, the trap door swung open and the ladder slowly descended, making Marissa wonder if Galda (she was only called Professor MacBone by other teachers) was in the habit of levitating it down to produce a more spectacular effect or if the ladder was merely charmed to unroll slowly. If she was levitating it every time, she could save her stregnth. The manuvuer hadn't impressed them since third year. However, today things did not go as usual. Sirius, apparently feeling outdone by Marissa's pink snowstorm in the Great Hall, had directed his wand at the ladder and kept causing it to shoot violently back into the Tower Room. "Ah, looks like we can't get to Divination today! Sorry Professor!" he shouted up when her head appeared in the Trap Door for the first time in anyone's memory.

"I sensed your presence, Mr. Black, and I do not appreciate your antics. If your aura did not clearly show how truly remorseful you are, I would be very angry indeed. Now come inside please," Galda said in an, there was no other way to put it, unearthly voice. Sirius turned to Marissa whose eyes were shining with suppressed laughter at the idea of Sirius's remorse. Sirius shrugged his good fortune that the old bat's insanity had worked in his favor. In fact, the old bat's insanity worked in Sirius's favor alarmingly often. So much so that Marissa had several times been on the verge of asking her if she wanted to join the James Potter (and unofficially Sirius Black) fan club. Each time she had decided that her aura was unlikely to be contrite enough to pacify the professor afterward.

Though her proclamation did not chastize Sirius, it did cause him to lower his wand and allow the ladder to crash to the floor. Even so, no one was very excited about touching it considering that Sirius had not often shown consideration for who would be inconvenienced (student, ghost or professor) in his pranks and even less tendency to know when to stop one. So it was that Marissa was the first one to struggle bravely up the ladder, followed closely by Sirius Black.

The Divination Tower was the polar opposite of the austere, almost utilitarian Astronomy Tower whose only beauty was found in the night skies that it was devoted to observing. How Professor Sinistra stood it on stormy nights Marissa didn't know, but then she was very business-like herself, a trait that had lended spice to the fanciful rumors about her late husband who had been the last Defense Against the Dark Arts professor to last more than two years. The Divination Tower Room resembled nothing so much as a crowded attic. True, it had more unbroken chairs per square feet than most attics and the tables were routinely cleared of what Galda insisted was not just junk to make a working space, but beyond the murals painted on every wall and the ceiling (which were no less that creepy as they were Tarot Cards that stared down at you ominously) the decorations of the Tower Room were haphazard at best. How Galda managed to find anything in the clutter was the only indicator of her psychic ability that she ever showed her classes.

Marissa threw herself down into the most comfortable chair that she was allowed to sit classes in and Sirius took up residence in the one next to her. Galda stood in front of the class and rasped (as Sirius referred to her misty voice) that they would, in honor of the day, be reviewing love lines. Marissa smirked at Sirius. She couldn't wait to hear what Galda had to say about his "very divided" love line with a fascination that Marissa sometimes disrespectfully implied was her excuse for holding Sirius hand. This improper suggestion always horrified Sirius who usually prided himself on being a ladies man.

However, her presumption wasn't precisely fair. Not considering that Sirius's love line was rather odd. It kept splintering off and at one point seemed to all but end before picking up again after a long stretch of hand. It was certainly beyond the skill of a skeptic like Marissa to read. Galda was not so disabled, she believed her sham completely, "Always seeking, never finding, chasing down one love interest after another, each as unlikely as the next, all ending in disaster all too soon," she murmured mistily running her pinky finger along the numerous branch-offs of his love line. "But there is a lingering love that you have ignored, it is always there yet you never touch it. And by the time you recognize it, it will cause you nothing but pain, for she will be with another." Now her pinky had reached the open space. "She is with you in your sorrow and despair when you have no one, she is all that remains, for she brings nothing but pain. All good times are forgotten, all pleasant memories are lost in the agony of losing her. That is all your eyes will see for many long years. When you emerge from this trial, the love you reach out for will be for friends, for family, for a son but never for a lover. She will haunt you even then when your torment is over. Her memory will chase any other from your mind." Galda looked up at Sirius almost as if surprised to see the owner of such a hand listening to her. She looked at him with sympathy.

Sirius for a moment looked almost - serious - then he smirked at her like his normal self. Galda patted him on the back encouragingly as if secretly aware that he was only putting a good face on his obvious pain at hearing (and she obviously assumed believing) such gruesome tidings for a dismal future. She turned hurried to to Marissa who winced at the coming reprisal. She had drawn on false life and love lines when they had studied palmistry intensively (for Gadla's class) last year, but she hadn't known to do it for today. Galda was going to realize that she had faked her classic lines when she glanced down at her hands. Indeed, Galda eyes did go wide slightly before she narrowed them again on the true lines. "My dear," she began in even mistier tones than before, "You did not have to fabricate lines to make them more interesting. Yours are unusual in themselves." Marissa raised her eyebrows at Sirius upon hearing this, amused that Galda could not fathom the idea of a student's hand lines revealing that they were going to live a long full life, settle down happily and marry after a few years dating, and be while not rich reasonably prosperous. Not in her class.

"Indeed, your lines appear at first glance quite average," she said reflectively. "However, this pattern here, your love line diverging briefly into three, meeting again at this point, suggest that you will be forced to choose between three men. All will need you, all will love you, so do not choose based on whom you think needs you, search yourself to find the one who you love. Only he will make you happy. Not that you will have long." Galda moved to her life line, tracing it in a trice. "Fuller and deeper than I have seen in many years, but also short. It appears longer at first glance, but you can see that it is broken here. That is your memory line that winds so long." Galda's eyes were actually moist when she looked up at Marissa, "You will not be with us long."

Marissa was silent a moment after this proclamation, "Well then, I best not waste any time, eh?"

"Riss isn't going anywhere," Sirius said almost angrily. "I don't see a break in her life line. I continues almost to the other side of her hand. Clearly she's going to live to be three-hundred and thirty-six and you just try and tell me that it's a lie!"

Galda only looked at him pityingly for a long moment before standing and leaving their table to join another, less cursed one. "Don't let her get to you, Sirius. And don't you ever let me catch you losing your joy in life as she suggests, either."

"You command and I shall obey, General Fletcher!" Sirius said with a salute. He never understood why Marissa tensed up and stared into space for a long moment afterward.

* * *

Lunch was an awkward affair with everyone literally waiting for the sky to start falling. When Marissa and Sirius finally made their way down from the North Tower and took their seats next to Lily and the Marauders who (minus Remus) had endured a hefty morning in Arithmancy, Lily greeted her best friend with "I hate you." Sirius blinked his surprise, but Marissa only plopped down beside her and smiled winningly.

"For telling him how to work that crane?" she guessed, trying to suppress her laughter.

"Well spotted," she almost snapped. "And for making it chase me all the way to the Arithmancy room! And then it swooped down on me after class where it had been waiting all period above the door frame where I couldn't see it! I've only just lost -"

But at that moment, Lily's face contorted with fury as she saw the crane making its way after her across the Great Hall. "Can I get no peace!" she all but screamed, ducking when it approached her but unable to avoid it for long. "Here's an idea, Lils, crazy I know," Marissa said good-naturedly. "Why don't you just listen to the message so that it'll stop hounding you?"

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you?" Lily asked, batting the crane away distractedly and swinging her head around to keep it in her sights. "You and Potter both."

"Actually, this is far more amusing, I was speaking for your sake, Lils," Marissa laughed, taking some potatoes onto her plate.

"I hate you."

"So you've said," Marissa replied cheerfully.

* * *

Head Boy and Girl had certain privileges. A free period worked into their Mondays and Fridays was one of them. Their Friday period was in the middle of the day, right after lunch so it was like having a lunch break three times as long. Except that they spent most of it in the Prefects Meeting Room planning and working on all the projects that they had to coordinate. Today, however, they were simply discussing Marissa's antics and their reception in the Great Hall. "My biggest worry is after the snowshower of confetti this morning and the wax cake-edible rose switch she pulled at lunch, no one's going to risk showing up to dinner!" Lizzie laughed. She cocked her head at her partner and said more softly, "You seemed to be in a much better mood this morning."

"It was the sight of those cocky Slytherins who are so proud of their appearance covered from head to toe in light pink," Gideon said almost sourly.

Lizzie was surprised. Gideon usually resented inter-House politics, and she had always been the more prejudiced Head in the past, what with Gryffindor and Slytherin's constant rivalry. But Gideon had been distant and removed around her ever since the murder of his nephew and sister-in-law. At Prefect Meetings she always marvelled at how well he was handling it, at how well he was coping and going on with his life. But around just her, he was withdrawn. Of all the prefect pairs, only Remus and Marissa were really friends before taking up their badges. As such, even though they were among the newest with working together, they had the best sense of teamwork, and not just the business-like part of it. Oh sure, Annette Penola and Igor Karkaroff were dating, but that was a rather unbalanced relationship with Karkaroff dominating Annette in an almost frightening way. Marissa and Remus were naturals at working together. That was how Lizzie and Gideon had been the first term. Before the Dark Mark was found over his family's home. Sure, she had teased him with Muggle idioms, but that only proved how well they got on. It had come as a bit of a surprise to her, actually, that it worked out so well. Afterall, she had been quite well-fitted with Frank and used to his more jovial approach to leadership. Gideon had appeared austere and overly studious at first. But they complemented eachother, and though he was slow to make them he responded well to her jokes.

It was many a Monday and Friday, when only they of all the seventh year had a break from their studies, that they spent talking companionably instead of planning out the numerous and daunting tasks that were set before them to conquer together. They had always managed to get through them with flying colors because they worked well together afterall. What was more, Lizzie liked Gideon. She enjoyed getting his approach on all the problems, and not just because he had a knack for understanding the people that she couldn't. But ever since Christmas break and the tragedy he had suffered then, Gideon hadn't wanted to talk to her at all beyond the words they absolutely had to exchange on the projects still in motion. Lizzie had halted most of them herself. Gideon wasn't up to his normal workload. Not after Christmas.

She had thought that Valentine's Day was doing him as much good as it had Marissa after her brother had been taken away (all the prefects had been told what offense had earned Marissa the punishment of running every detention of the next two terms). Afterall, they were talking again. Then he said something very un-Gideon-like. What had happened to her steady, fair, dependable, trusting friend? Who had often chided her for not putting faith in her fellow prefects, for doubting a professor or another student's intentions? What had happened to her better half?

"Since when do you have a problem with the Slytherins? Since when do you generalize? Since when do you stereotype the Houses?" Lizzie cried, her voice growing increasingly upset as she continued. Not upset because these were things she didn't do herself or even things that she usually disapproved of, in all truth. But these were not things that Gideon did. Not the Gideon she knew. And she desperately missed that Gideon.

"Since when are you all high and mighty about Inter-House Politics?" Gideon returned angrily, standing up and moving to the window to get away from her.

She followed him, making him face her. "Since when do I have to be around you? That's your job remember? Who's going to keep me in line if you turn into a bigot too?"

"You're just a silly girl," he said angrily, looking right at her as he spoke this time. Lizzie was struck dumb, his words hurting more than she had ever expected. "Be happy I'm not making a scene a prefects meetings, but don't you bloody well expect me to speak well of those bastards in private! Those sodding bastards who - who k-k-" He couldn't get it out. He blinked back furiously to suppress the tears but they wouldn't be stopped, and several sobs forced their way up before he could beat them down again.

"The Slytherins aren't all Death Eaters, Gideon," Lizzie said softly but firmly, looking at him seriously in the eye and saying words she had never thought to hear come flying out of her mouth, much less mean them with such fervor, "They're not all bad. You can't turn away from a whole group of people - "

"Why the bloody hell not? Isn't that my right? I don't denounce them in public, I don't rail at them when they act the way they do, I don't wince when they speak to me, aren't I allowed to express my true feelings when I'm alone now? What the hell do you want of me, Walker?" he hadn't called her by her last name since their first month as Heads when they were still two prefects from different houses who hadn't had much interaction with eachother. It was firmer proof of his withdrawal from her than his angry words, and she found that she could not bear it.

Tears were springing to her eyes as well, "You can do anything you want to the bloody Slytherins, Prewett! But stop blaming yourself for what happened!" she screamed, shocking him. She shocked herself too. She silenced both of them for a long moment where he stared down at her. "You can't blame yourself, and that's what this is, you can't fool me yet Gideon Prewett." She was crying now, but yelling too, "Think what ever you want, say whatever you want to the stinking bloody Slytherins, burn their Common Room to the ground for all I care, but stop this with Anna and Jake! It is not your fault that they died and you can't blame yourself!"

"You don't get it do you? You're as stupid as everyone else! How can you not understand that it IS my bloody fault they died!" Gideon roared.

"Death Eaters killed them, Gideon, so don't tell me it's your fault unless you've joined with that madman! And I know you haven't because he's out for your blood every time there's a holiday from school!"

"DEATH EATERS KILLED THEM BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T GET TO ME!" Gideon roared over her, towering over her a full head taller. "Fabian wasn't there to protect his wife BECAUSE HE WAS TOO BUSY TRYING TO PROTECT ME! It is my BLOODY FAULT!"

Then quite suddenly, he went from looking larger than life to looking very very small. He hunched over, his sobs overcoming him. "You didn't - you didn't see - " he choked between the sobs that tore at his throat so that he could hardly breathe. "You didn't see the look on Fabian's face when he - found - found them. Lying there. The guilt. Guilt. But it was my fault that he wasn't there. Mine. Mine. Mine." Lizzie wasn't even sure at what point in his mantra of self-blame that he had come to be in her arms, her holding him as tightly as she could, feeling herself cry earnestly as well, crying for the boy in her arms who was bearing a man's guilt for something that he should not have had to endure.

What could Lizzie say to Gideon now to change what had happened? How he felt? Could she ever erase the terrible guilt in his heart? Or the equally terrible hate? Could she before they destroyed him? Would she even have a chance to, or would Voldemort continue to hound him? Panic seized up her chest and she began to sob harder than before. But even so she quieted long before Gideon who cried himself out on her shoulder, clinging to her as tightly as she clutched at him. When he did quiet Gideon laid his head on her shoulder as if resting there to gather his strength again to face the world. For Lizzie there was no one else in the world at that moment but this boy and his sorrow. How long they stayed like that niether of them could guess. The grey sky had opened up and begun to snow lightly, as if the sky too were finally releasing the tears that it had held. It fluttered past the window, a thing of beauty in the midst of so much suffering. "Don't cry, Lizzie," Gideon whispered hoarsely, "Please don't cry. That's worse than all the rest. That I drug you into it."

"I can't help it, not when I see you taking such terrible burdens on yourself," Lizzie whispered, not looking at him. "They deserve your tears, but not your guilt."

They were silent again, afraid to loosen their hold on eachother even though niether was crying any longer. Eventually then did, just enough to look at eachother. something strange happened when their tear-stained eyes met, each expressing to the other the depth of their caring. The next thing that Lizzie knew Gideon's lips were on hers and she was kissing him back. It was soft and gentle, almost timid, unlike all the other kisses she had known with her boyfriends over the years. And this one swept through her, right to an untouched place in her heart.

She did not even notice that fireworks were literally going off all around them and cherubs were in fact singing until they broke the kiss a long moment later. When she saw she laughed out loud, running her hand lightly along Gideon's cheek in a gentle caress.

At first Gideon smiled at her, then he suddenly stiffened, grabbing the hand and pushing it away, glaring at the fireworks display. He jerked away from her and all but ran out the door, leaving her standing alone.

* * *

Sirius had gone off, boquet of roses in hand, to celebrate the holiday with Belle. Lily was still running from the crane and angry with Marissa anyway. James was pursuing Lily and the crane, seeming far too proud of himself for the whole situation and not wanting to miss a second of how it turned out. That left Marissa to track down where Remus and Peter had gone off to, looking like they both were quite happy to take the secret to their graves. That, of course, could not be permitted.

It took her almost an hour to find them, but find them she did. And she didn't even need their precious Marauder's Map to do it. What she saw upon entering the empty classroom that they had taken possession of nearly made her burst out laughing. It was a remarkable feat indeed for Marissa Fletcher. Standing almost three feet apart, arms barely touching, Peter was trying to teach Remus how to dance. However, after an hour's fruitless effort he had been reduced to cursing at the constant wrong steps that Remus took, somehow still managing to painfully land on his foot despite the distance between them. In foul language, Peter ordered him ten feet away as he shouted out steps for him to complete. "I don't think that's going to work, boys," Marissa said casually, leaning up against the doorframe as if she had been there all along.

They both jumped sky high, shooting eachother mortified looks so that the laugh Marissa had been suppressing burst from her. "Just what are you trying to do exactly?"

"We were, um..." "You see, we..." they both began and trailed off simultaneously. Marissa smiled at them, shaking her head at their discomfort.

Finally, Remus said with an air of defeat, "Professor Perkins is making us learn ballroom dancing for Muggle Studies." His words were almost indistinguishable and mostly mumbles. "I blame that new girlfriend of his. But see, I'm not getting it. And, well, there's a test coming up...he's even threatening to make it our Exam! So I, well, Peter mentioned once that he knew some Muggle dances because of his mum..."

"Drives Dad mad with her phonograph records, it's about the only non-magical thing in our house. Mum loves magic and most of the time I think she's dead jealous of Dad because she's not a witch, but she does love Muggle music and dances and since Dad is too much of a pureblood to ever enjoy them," Peter stumbled through his rushed explanation, "I'm sorta her partner."

"Don't say that like you're ashamed of it, boys!" Marissa laughed, coming fully into the room. "But who ever heard of learning to dance without music?" she asked, waving her wand vaguelly at the ceiling and causing a chorus of slow, instrumental music to fill the room. Peter looked down at the ground, his face reddening.

"I think my help is desperately needed here," Marissa said, walking up to the two boys.

"Riss, I know you're Muggle-born," Remus began, "But these aren't the kind of dances that every Muggle knows. I'm not talking modern dances here I'm talking - "

"What? The fox trot? Waltzes? The Two-Step? Malaguenas? Tango? Sarabandes? Gavottes? Courtandes? Allemandes? Pavanes?" Marissa replied with a raised eyebrow.

"How do you - " Remus began.

"Ah, you've stumbled onto the fact that I'm a Muggle and the wise conclusion that that does not necessarily mean I dance well," Marissa ceded with a smile. "But luckily for you, I, as well as being a Muggle, am a debutante." With this she struck what Remus thought a highly ridiculous pose, one arm vertical above her head the other horizontal across her stomache, snapping her fingers simultaneously. "So let's get started, eh? What do you need to learn?"

"Almost everything you just said," Remus said with a laugh of renewed enthusiasm for the task ahead of them.

"Whew," Marissa cried. "We have our work cut out for us, Peter." It was the first time that she had addressed him individually since he kissed her. She had been just what he had anticipated, kind but slightly distant. She was waiting for him to give her some sign that they were okay, that they could go back to being friends. Peter wasn't so sure that they could.

Peter had rather hoped that she would want to demonstrate some of the dances with him, but instead she walked right up to Remus and positioned his left hand on her back. She placed her left hand on his shoulder and took his right hand in hers. "I suggest we start with the waltz," she said looking up at him. Peter thought he caught a look of surprise in her eyes for a moment, but her voice did not betray it. Remus looked similiarly surprised by something and looked at Marissa curiously for a moment. Then the moment passed for him as well. They probably forgot that it occured, but Peter remembered. Peter doubted he would ever forget that look in Marissa Fletcher's eye, not love certainly but an interest that could lead to it. Maybe he was just being overly jealous. He certainly was, jealous that is. The only question was was it clouding his vision?

"Um, Riss, I don't know the dance," Remus said uncertainly when the moment had passed.

"Before you can learn the steps, you have to learn how to lead, and before you can learn how to lead, you have to learn how to move," Marissa explained, pulling him forward enough to get him moving. Remus felt quite stupid, just walking around trying not to step on Marissa's feet as he did so. Marissa seemed to sense this and laughed, directing him to go in a circle, a manuvuer that Peter had made seem near to impossible when he was explaining the steps. "Just think about moving in the same direction that I am, or rather moving together. That's the essence of couples dancing, move with the same mind as your partner. Usually that doesn't work, so the man leads. Whenever you feel comfortable, you take over. Your left hand on my back will tell me where you want me go."

"But I don't know how to -"

"That's why we're learning. See if you can take over the lead now," Marissa assured him.

"Where do I go?" Remus asked uncertainly.

"Oh honestly! No one's going to tell you exactly what you can and cannot do out here, Remus," Marissa laughed. "I know the steps may seem like that, but it's really up to you. Your choice. All you need is the confidence to not worry about it so much," she said pointedly. "That's why we're doing this first. How can you learn to dance if you're constantly fussing about the steps? They say bad dancers have two left feet, but usually what it is is that they're overthinking it."

"And how do we counter that?" Remus asked, not sounding quite so strained as before.

"You learn how to move on the dancefloor, and once that feels natural, the steps come second-nature," Marissa answered with a smile. "That's the way to teach unless you've been brought up to the steps from a very young age."

"Like you?" Remus asked with a hint of merriment in his eyes.

"My first cotillion," she whispered conspiratorily, "was when I was six."

They both laughed. "Truly?"

"I live in one of those unfortunate fashionable neighborhoods," Marissa replied, "You know the ones where everybody is in everyone else's business, the office kind and the personal? They think I'm off at some exclusive finishing school and, to keep up the myth, I have to go through all my debutante torture sessions every summer. I'm actually coming out in society this summer. Can you imagine? A witch coming out in Muggle society? With the white gown, escort, and all the rest of the nightmare of frills?"

Remus shrugged, "Sounds almost as excruciating as spending an hour in the Slytherin Common Room," he said cheekily.

"Not that you would know, eh?" Marissa replied shrewdly. Again Remus laughed. "My, my, just what are you boys getting up to down there?" Remus shook his head secretively. "Will you tell me, Peter?" she asked over her shoulder.

But Peter wasn't there. "Peter?" she called, breaking away from Remus and turning slowly to take in the whole room. There was no doubt about it, Peter was not in it. "We weren't excluding him from out conversation, were we?" she asked worriedly, turning to Remus.

"Not that I was aware of, but think about what you just said," Remus answered soberly. "Our conversation, you called it. I guess that's your answer, isn't it? It's not like we meant to though."

"I don't think anyone ever does," Marissa sighed. "But I fear it happens to him quite a lot anyway."

* * *

Peter had fully intended to give them the cold shoulder for at least the rest of the day, but Remus and Marissa were so apologetic at dinner that he couldn't keep it up. They seemed so sincere when they spoke of their dismay at finding him not in the room as well as their concern for his feelings. But didn't they realize that that almost stung more than anything? Peter thought to himself as he warmed up his voice for the Special Presentation that night. That they had forgotten about him completely? And they weren't fully repentant either, because they had made plans to meet next without him. Sure, they entreated him to join them, but it had more the air of one throwing a dog the scraps. And Peter was tired of getting nothing but the scraps. So he begged off, telling them that he was quite glad of an excuse to be quit of the project and that he had only agreed under extreme pleading in the first place. Eventually even Riss gave up.

Peter sighed. All the rest of his friends were happy and would expect him to be as well. Even Lily. James had surprisingly taken pity on her and removed the charm from the paper crane that had chased her all day when he saw that she was near tears at dinner (Marissa had demanded to know how he had cracked her encantation, but he had only smirked at her in answer). Lily had been almost kind to him as a result afterward though she still shot Marissa the occassional dirty look. She hadn't been able to talk to Dennis in peace all day because of James Potter's ruddy bird following her around.

Peter tried to concentrate on the show that Marissa worked so hard to arrange. He even tried to tell himself that that was why she had been less than her usual considerate self today, she had so much work to concentrate on. It might even be true, but it didn't work for long. Peter sighed and started to make his way backstage.

"Not so fast, buddy," Amos Diggory, the sixth year Hufflepuff prefect who Marissa had convinced to keep people from wondering backstage, said putting out a hand to check his progress. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Backstage," Peter said as if speaking to a dunce.

"I don't think so pal, you can see your friends once the show is over. I have my orders, performers and crew only. No well-wishers," Amos said adamantly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"But-but-but I'm in the show!" Peter cried, trying to move past him but stopped again.

"Nice try, buddy, but I can't let you - "

"Amos! What are you doing?" Marissa's alarmed voice cried from behind them.

"Following orders, Fletcher. You said no one but performers and crew," Amos said as he self-righteously thumped his chest.

"He is a performer, Amos!" Marissa cried in exasperation, taking Peter by the arm and pulling him past the guard. "Don't stop any more of my singers, all right?" she sent back to him in an almost stern voice.

"Sorry, Fletcher!" Diggory shouted after them.

'Sorry, Fletcher.' Not 'sorry Pettigrew.' Not 'sorry I didn't think you were good enough to be in the performance.' Peter hadn't thought it was possible to be in a fouler mood than he was before. Marissa, of course, had to sense this. Well she could save her worry now, it might have been useful before she looked at his friend that way in front of him after he had kissed her over Christmas. Now she could save it. "I'm sorry about that, Peter, it's my fault. I thought that you were already back here, it didn't occur to me when you said you were going to warm up that you meant away from here. I told Amos that all my performers were already backstage."

"Oh," was all that Peter felt up to saying at the moment.

Marissa sighed but moved on, busy with last minute preparations. Was that all he would ever be to her? A distraction? She may call him her friend, but ever since he kissed her everything had changed, no matter how she chose to deny it. They couldn't be friends anymore, not really. Even if she got over acting odd around him eventually, Peter would never forget.

Peter almost glared at Frank Longbottom and Alice Watterby who were standing close together, ostentaciously going over the duet they were going to perform. Alice was looking up at Frank every other glance, her hands unusually fidgety. Frank was looking down at Alice during the intervals she was staring at the parchment, his voice droning on about something Peter was quite sure that Alice wasn't hearing. He nearly groaned aloud. Valentine's Day was a wretched holiday. Gideon Prewett seemed to be of the same opinion, continually waving Lizzie Walker away and evading her quite rudely. Peter tried not to be pleased at the hurt look on her face, but misery loved company. And Peter currently felt quite miserable.

The next thing that he knew, Marissa was bounding out of the wings and onto the stage they had erected and moved into the Great Hall after dinner. Peter peeked out to find what was surely almost the entire school watching. Everyone was standing close to the stage and looking both apprehensive and excited. It wasn't every day that they had a live concert, even if it was their prefects. "Welcome to the first annual Valentine's Day concert!" Marissa cried, her wand pointed at her throat to serve as a kind of microphone. Everyone cheered. "The prefects have prepared five musical numbers for you, all of which will be accompanied by Sirius Black on the piano," she waved at Sirius who stood to accept his applause. When he finally sat back down at the keyboard, Marissa continued, "May I introduce our first performer, singing Aretha Franklin's 'Natural Woman', your Head Girl Liiiizzzie Walker!"

Even as Marissa turned to move off the stage, the first layer of curtains began to fold back and Lizzie was revealed standing in the middle of the stage. Sirius had already struck the opening chords. The moment the curtains were fully back Lizzie began to sing in a surprisingly deep, soulful voice, "Lookin' out on the morning rain..."

There was no doubt about it that Lizzie was quite a performer, dancing just enough to be interesting without distracting from the song. "I used to feel so uninspired...And when I knew I had to face another day...Lord it made me feel so tired." Peter could have sworn he saw her steal a glance at Gideon backstage who was up next. He looked away from her.

"Before the day I met you
Life was so unkind.
You're the key to my peace of mind
Cause you make me feel
You make me feel
You make me feel like a natural woman."

Lizzie was definitely looking at Gideon Prewett when she sang the second verse, "I didn't know just what was wrong with me...Till your kiss helped me name it."

However, she was all for the crowd by the time she sang the final phrase and Sirius finished the piece with a flourish. Everyone exploded into cheers, surprised by the ability of their Head Girl. Lizzie blushed at the applause as the curtain slid shut to hide her.

Marissa bounced back onto the stage just as the applause was beginning to die down. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our Head Boy Gideon Prewett singing 'The Way You Look Tonight.'"

Gideon was not the same caliber performer that Lizzie was, hardly dancing at all, but the voice that poured forth was a rich, deep tone that graced the Frank Sinatra tune very well. Peter was much mistaken if he didn't see several of the girls swooning as the warm, distinct baritone sang the romantic lyrics.

"Someday, when I'm awfully low,
And the world is cold,
I will feel aglow just thinking of you...
And the way you look tonight."

One thing was for sure, Lizzie was watching him with a distinct sadness in her eyes, her gaze worried and almost proprietary.

"Lovely...never, ever change.
Keep that breathless charm.
Won't you please arrange it?
Cause I love you...just the way you look tonight."

Peter saw that Gideon, like Lizzie, was shooting looks at his fellow Head from the stage and likewise looked far sadder than his upbeat song warranted.

Mm, mm, mm, mm,
Just the way you look to-night.

Sirius finished with a flourish, but Gideon looked unwilling to even bow. He looked far more depressed than usual, even compared to his first week back after Christmas. Peter wondered briefly if he was being petty to ascribe so much importance to his own problems which weren't near what Gideon had to bear. Was Lizzie helping him with that? Or had she been overly meddlesom? Now that Peter could understand.

The next number was what would prove to be interesting. "Frank and Alice Longbottom singing 'I Got You Babe'!" Peter smirked as he ducked behind the final curtain to peer at Lily and James who were standing beside eachother. James was looking at Lily in an unguarded moment where she was looking nervously down at her feet, and Peter had the fleeting thought that no one would ever love him like that. As the duet filled the hall, Peter glanced back and forth between Alice and Frank who were now visible to the audience and Lily and James who were not. Frank and Alice seemed intensely affected by their duet, holding hands not merely out of appearances, looking mostly at eachother. Lily and James were standing several feet apart, but watching eachother intently all the same. Alice's face had always been more open than Lily's, but now it was far more overwhelmingly so as Lily's expression was closed and guarded even as she appeared unable to tear her eyes away from James Potter's. Frank was actually looking less expressive than James, but that wasn't saying terribly much though James was not looking quite so unguarded as he had when Lily was looking away from him.

"And when I'm sad, you're a clown and if I get scared, you're always around."

The sweet soprano voice roise almost wistfully. Peter found himself envying both couples, though he knew that James would likely be back to square one with Lily once the song was over.

"Then put your little hand in mine there ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb."

It didn't seem James would trade this moment for anything even so. Nor Frank for all his many claims that he didn't have a thing for Alice Watterby. He didn't seem to be so insistent upon that point at the moment.

"I got you to kiss goodnight."

It was quite possible that her voice broke on that phrase.

"I got you to hold me tight."
"I got you, I won't let go."
"I go you to love me so."

Peter sighed almost against his will as they began to wind down the song, repeating the title of the song in unison several times before Sirius's piano playing trailed off.

Alice and Frank didn't seem to have noticed that the curtain hadn't closed fully yet when he leaned down to kiss her. That didn't surprise Peter. Nor did the fact that Lily had blinked and promptly broken the spell, striding angrily away from James who still appeared fixed in place. He was surprised, however, to see that fireworks were exploding all around Alice and Frank and that some high-pitched music was sounding all around them. Peter groaned aloud this time and took his place behind the curtain that wouldn't open. Yes, that was his proper place.

* * *

When Frank and Alice had pulled themselves off the stage, but not fully out of eachother's arms, Lizzie confronted Marissa. "You're the one! I knew it! You charmed everyone in this school so that if they kissed..." Lizzie broke off, shaking her head at her friend, her hair flopping about her face.

Marissa's smile grew ten times as wide, "Oh Lizzie!" she cried, "Who did you kiss?" She sounded as gleeful as a six year old at her birthday party. "Who?"

Lizzie's expression went from amused incredulity to serious so fast that Marissa's grin slid off her face. "Oh, Lizzie, what happened?" she all but whispered, both of them ignoring the swoon that went up when Lockhart emerged onto the stage and began to sing a very appropriate song for him ("C'est Moi!").

Lizzie sighed. "We came down from the cloud and back into reality, I suppose," she murmured. "And all the problems he faced before were still here."

"I guess I didn't help you maintain your dreamy state with my antics," Marissa said sounding uncharacteristically apologetic.

"No," Lizzie said honestly. "But it would have happened anyway, I think. But if you want to make it up to me, I think you're just the girl for the job."

"What job?" Marissa asked speculatively. Lizzie laughed, Marissa had never been able to resist a Cheering Mission.

"Snapping Gideon Prewett out of his self-recriminations and melancholy," Lizzie said with a small smile. "So that maybe he'll risk being happy again."

"I'll just about do it," Marissa said with a serious nod of her head.

"Then I quite forgive you for prematurely ending the moment," Lizzie said judiciously. "Particularly if you can help me get him into some others."

"Sounds like a challenge," Marissa said in a voice that made it quite clear that she would not be detered by such a thing.

"Your first assignment will be to get him to start talking to me again," Lizzie said, looking up to see that Lockhart had finished the self-important song of Lancelot in the musical Camelot and was bowing elaborately to the crowd which appeared torn between cheering and jeering (not that Guilderoy could tell the difference). She strode out onto the stage and they immediately quieted. "For our final act, I present to you, the mastermind behind all the mayhem this Valentine's Day....Marissa Fletcher!"

The curtain parted and Sirius struck up the tune. After a moment, Marissa opened her mouth and out came...Gideon's voice?

"Fly me to the moon
Let me sing among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold me hand
In other words, darling kiss me"

One thing was clear, it was not Marissa Fletcher's natural singing voice. But before anyone could get overly concerned about his issue, the solution revealed itself.

The second curtain parted and out came Remus who clearly singing the part that Marissa was miming,

"Fill my heart with song
Let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true"

He and Marissa were now side by side, her clearly laughing along with everyone else in the audience at how they had been tricked.

"In other words, I love you."

Remus and Marissa both stayed there bowing and laughing profusely for a moment before Sirius promptly struck up another, less bouncy tune. Remus's rich voice, which everyone now realized he must have been singing for Gideon as well sang out,

"Years may come, years may go
This I know, will e'er be so:
The reason to live is only to love
A goddess on earth and a God above."

Then Lizzie and Belle stepped onto the stage, Belle singing in what everyone had thought was Lizzie's voice,

"If ever I would leave you
It wouldn't be in summer.
Seeing you in summer, I never would go.

And then Gideon graced the stage as Remus took over again,

"Your hair streaked with sunlight...
Your lips red as flame.
Your face with a lustre
That puts gold to shame."

Then the largest group of all, Frank and Alice with Lily and James. James singing clearly,

"But if I'd ever leave you
It couldn't be in autumn
How I'd leave in autumn, I never would know.
I've seen how you sparkle
When fall hits the air
I know you in autumn, and I must be there."

Then Lily, pointedly not looking at James as she stood with Alice,

"And could I leave you running merrily through the snow?
Or on a wintry evening when you catch the fire's glow?
If ever I would leave you,
How could it be in springtime,
Knowing how in spring I'm bewitched by you so?"

And finally Guilderoy Lockhart and Peter Pettigrew, Peter belting,

"Oh no, not in spring time, summer, winter or fall....
No, never could I leave you...at...all..."

Then all of them together repeated the last two lines,

"Oh no, not in spring time, summer winter or fall.....
No, never could I leave you....at....all...."

"Happy Valentine's Day everybody!" Marissa shouted as the curtains closed on them. Marissa immediately hugged Remus, who was nearest. "We did it, guys! We tricked the whole school and they loved it!"

"It's good to have you back, Riss," Remus said with a grin.