Eyes of Sky

It had been a long day for Remus. He had barely said two words to his friends, preferring his own company. He had also nearly hit Peter, who, after every lesson, had sidled up to him and started, in his whiny little voice, to apologise for the night before. That scared Remus. He had never, ever in his entire life felt an overwhelming urge to hit and to continue hitting, let alone one of his friends.

He felt like he could have given up on the day quite easily from the very start, but he didn't. The one thing that kept him going was the knowledge that that night, at dinner, he would finally see who this girl was, the one who stirred such strong feelings of recognition in him.

The evening had, however, come painfully slow. The sun trudged across the sky, and it seemed to Remus that it mocked him. He willed it onwards, for it to give way to the night, and forever he watched the Forbidden Forest for the first few specks of fairy light that signalled the arrival of evening.

The feelings of anticipation returned with a new found force as Remus dropped heavily into a seat beside Sirius at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"Alright there, Moony?"

"I suppose. Is Prongs still pestering Lily for a date?" Sirius and Remus both looked down the table to where Lily was sitting alone with a book, James to her right. Every now and then he would run a hand nervously through his messy black hair. Suddenly, the two boys saw Lily's emerald green eyes flash with her notorious anger - she rarely lost her temper properly, but when she did it was like a volcanic eruption. Remus and Sirius looked for the tell tale signs of how explosive this particular eruption would be - unnaturally red cheeks, a tense jaw line, white knuckles, eyes just daring the person annoying her to go one step further...unfortunately, the person happened to be James, and he always seemed very ignorant of the signs.

"How dare you simply assume I'll go out with you? Why any girl would want to date such a self-obsessed, arrogant, immature bastard like you is beyond me! Now, please go and join your little cronies and leave me alone!" Lily stood up as she was screaming at James. He flicked a nervous look around the Great Hall, taking note of all the faces that had turned to stare at him. He put out his hand and lightly touched her forearm to try and calm her down. Both Sirius and Remus winced at the same time

Bad move Prongsie.

Lily's cheeks suddenly lost their flushed hue. Her eyes, one moment filled with anger, turned hard and cold as she looked at James. Her jaw relaxed, as did her knuckles, and a smirk spread across her face. Not good - Lily Evans never smirked...this was bad.

And then, to everyone's amazement, she gingerly removed James' hand from her arm, picked up her books and bag, and made to walk away from James. She was only stopped by his arm coming up around her waist to stop her walking away from him. Quicker than anyone could follow, all the anger returned, and she punched him hard across the eye. James removed his arm as he held his hand to his face, and Lily stalked down to a spare seat a few places down from Remus, opened her book and began to read again.

Remus and Sirius burst into laughter as James came back down to sit at the table with them. He removed his hand, and the two boys laughed even harder as they saw a livid, swollen bruise already making an appearance on James' cheek. Rather than looking hurt, he just looked smug.

"Moony, Padfoot, I do believe she likes me," the two laughed even harder at this, until Professor Dumbledore stood and raised his hands for silence. Without even saying a word, everything became still.

"Thank you. Now, before we begin eating, I have some rather exciting news for you all. We have a new student in our midst - her name is Cleo De Wilde, and she will be starting in her sixth year here at Hogwarts. Of course, she must be sorted, so Minerva - would you please bring the sorting hat up here?" All eyes turned to Professor McGonagall as she walked to the front of the Great Hall and placed the sorting hat upon a stool, "Now, everyone, I would like you to meet Miss De Wilde..." As he said this, McGonagall walked out of the room and came back with a young girl, wearing a pair of darkened glasses, her hand resting on McGonagall's forearm, almost as if she was being lead by the older woman.

She sat herself down on the stool, and the hat was placed upon her head. Remus watched with baited breath as the girl sat for what seemed like an eternity being sorted. Finally, the rip at the brim of the hat opened like a mouth and bellowed out for all to hear "GRYFFINDOR!"

The whole of the Gryffindor table burst into applause, James and Sirius whooped and banged the table - the younger students followed their example and started cheering. The only person who didn't seem overjoyed was Remus. He clapped politely, his eyes downcast upon his plate.

McGonagall took the girl's hand and lead her to a spare place, right next to Lily, only two places away from Remus. The girl, Cleo, reached out and touched the table, before lowering herself gingerly into her seat. McGonagall leaned down to Lily and talked quietly for a moment to her - the red head's eyes became wide - before walking away.

"Hello, I'm Lily Evans," Remus watched confusedly as Lily took the girls hand and placed it in her own before shaking it. "Welcome to Hogwarts." Cleo nodded and turned back to looking at her plate. The conversation resumed around her, but Remus wasn't listening or participating. He was simply staring at the girl's bowed head, only the smallest amount of doubt left in his mind about who she was.

He came out of his daze as she turned her head slowly towards him and smiled softly, shyly, "Hi, I'm Cleo," she held out a hand, and Remus slowly took it, feeling a zing of energy race up his arm when they touched.

"Remus Lupin," as he said his name, he heard her suck in a sharp breath. They shook hands and he took in her face. Her smooth pale skin was stretched over her features, as if she hadn't eaten for a long time. Her cheek bones were clearly visible, giving her face a delicate yet defiant look. Remus couldn't see her eyes - they were hidden behind her dark glasses.

He felt a nudge behind him, and quickly regained his senses, "Oh, this is Sirius Black. Sirius this is Cleo." Sirius held out his hand to Cleo, but she continued to stare at Remus' face. Sirius retracted his hand, frowned, and went back to eating. She acted the same way with James - completely ignoring him and his offer of friendship.

Over the next hour, everyone at their fill, apart from Cleo, Remus noted who simply sat and stared at her plate, her hands in her lap, and when everyone started to get up to leave, she remained the same way, until Lily gently took her hand and lead her towards the Gryffindor tower.

"Hey, Remus, what's up with that girl? Wasn't very friendly, was she?"

"I don't know, Padfoot, why not ask her yourself?" Remus quickened his pace, and was soon out of ear shot of his friends. James looked worriedly at his friends back, a small frown already forming on his brow - that seemed to be happening a lot to him recently, frowning. He shook his head quickly, and turned back to his surrogate brother, Sirius, and they continued talking about their new prank, but there was a nagging concern at the back of James' mind for his best friend that just wouldn't go away.

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Cleo let herself be lead along the corridors by the girl Lily. She barely listened to a word that was being said to her, and was instead caught up in her own thoughts...or rather, Lily's thoughts. Many years ago, she had been taught to control her abilities, only letting in what she wanted to see, but every so often, someone would come along who was so strong of mind that they completely battered down her defences and all their thoughts would come flooding through. Coincidentally, Lily was one such person.

So, as Lily chatted away to her, oblivious of what her new friend was seeing, Cleo watched all Lily's memories, at least the major ones, like a home movie flickering through her mind, and almost became Lily, feeling what she felt and seeing what she saw.

High summer. So hot. An owl swoops in through an open kitchen window and drops a thick letter into a small redhead's lap. The Hogwarts crest. Disbelief - how can it be real? There's no such thing...

Love for a boy with messy black hair and hazel eyes. Love she promised she would ignore, but finds it impossible to do. Jealousy? Jealousy over how close the boy with messy hair and the boy with longer hair are? Feelings of understanding with a boy with sandy brown hair falling softly into amber eyes...Remus.

Cleo stopped suddenly and paled. Those eyes. She knew those eyes, just as she had known his voice when they were introduced. They were so beautiful. So warm like the breath of a summer's day, so full of something she could recognise in her self...so full of....NO!!! No, she wouldn't let herself think that.

She looked down as she felt Lily tug on her arm, "Come on Cleo. We're nearly there. I can't wait for you to see...oh...oh no, I'm...I'm so s-sorry Cleo..." Lily stopped her stream of profuse apologies and changed to muttering to herself. "God, you're a fool Evans. How stupid can you get? How stupid???" Cleo wasn't listening to Lily though; her thoughts were with the four boys walking a little way behind them, and their conversation.

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James pulled Remus and Sirius back slightly, letting the seemingly oblivious Peter walk on ahead of them.

"So, Remus - you know her, don't you?" Remus stood shocked, and stared at James. Since when had his old best friend become so observant? He opened and closed his mouth a few times, and got the distinct feeling he looked like a fish. "How do you know her, Moony?"

"She's the girl...well; I think she's the girl..." Remus swallowed hard. "The girl...the girl from my dreams." Both Sirius and James looked wide eyed at Remus.

"Are you serious Remus?" Remus thought back over the last hour he had spent with Cleo, practically sitting next to her. Seeing her. Almost feeling her. The eyes were the only missing clue...the only thing that would make his mind satisfied with the conclusion that she was who he thought she was. The dark glasses hid them so well, though. Other than the eyes...he was almost sure.

"I'm serious."