Eyes as Green as a Fresh Pickled Toad

Chapter Sixteen

Halloween

"Lily? What are you doing?" Mimi poked her head into the Head Girl's room.

"Packing," Lily replied, tossing several things into her trunk.

"Oh, no," Mimi moaned, stepping into Lily's room. "Don't say that! That means you're leaving me. You're leaving me all alone at stupid Hogwarts with no one to talk to except Socks Boy and Susiepants."

Lily grinned at Mimi's reference to their friends Matt and Susie. "Susiepants? Since when is that her nickname?"

"Since Matt started using it, I guess," Mimi sighed, flopping down on Lily's bed. "Do you have to go to this Auror thing?"

"I want to go."

"You're a mean person, Lily Evans, leaving me all alone like this."

A grin spread across Lily's face as she thought of something. "Don't get too mad at me. After all, if it gets boring around here you can always go talk to Melody and see what happens."

Mimi shrieked and threw a pillow at her friend. "I said I wanted someone to talk to, not someone to turn me into a donkey!"

Lily laughed and tossed the pillow back. "As I recall, it was Sirius who turned people into donkeys, not Melody."

"That's not the way Sirius tells it," Mimi said in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, really? And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means your boyfriend's the one who turned people into donkeys, not mine."

Lily's ears burned. "He's not my boyfriend," she mumbled, leaning down to organize a stack of notebooks in her trunk.

"Oh, close enough!"

"Anyway," Lily continued, rising once she thought her ears had gone back to a normal color, "whoever's fault it was, they all promised to stop turning people into donkeys a long time ago."

"Yes, well. I'm not going to take the risk, that's all I'm saying."

Lily sighed. "You really need to just talk to her."

Mimi made a face. "Why should I? I mean really, Lil, she's the one who doesn't want to talk to me. I didn't have a problem with her until she started ignoring me."

"Well it doesn't matter, I guess. It was just a thought," Lily mumbled, backing out of the argument before she got into it.

"Anyway...I just wanted to know if you were going to breakfast," Mimi said when Lily was silent for several moments.

"After I'm done packing. You can go on ahead if you're hungry."

"All right," Mimi agreed, sliding off the bed. "Have fun packing, Lil. See you later."

"Bye," Lily said absentmindedly as her friend left. She was trying to remember if she'd packed underwear yet. If she had, it would be somewhere at the bottom of her trunk, and she didn't feel like digging through to see if it was. Instead, she went to her dresser, yanked on the appropriate handle, and then dumped the entire contents of her lingerie drawer into the trunk. Normally she was more systematic about packing, but this morning she felt impatient.

The last few weeks had been horrible. The mountain of work for the Auror Training students had been unbelievable, and the Auror Training sessions gruesome. Lily was seriously beginning to doubt whether she was cut out to be an Auror, but it was too late to back out of the training program now, and anyway it would be an experience worth having.

Her schedule today was busy as well. At eleven o'clock she was scheduled to meet with Dumbledore to talk about her plans for a career--all of the Auror Training students were supposed to at some point today. She had to finish packing before she left, and there were several people she wanted to say good-bye to, including Hagrid, who might be hard to track down due to the planning for the enormous Halloween Feast that evening. The preparation for the feast would take some time as well, as this year it was not only a feast but a Farewell Ball to all of the Auror Training students. The girls had been planning for days what dress robes they were going to wear, how they were going to do their hair and make-up, and who they were going to dance with. Lily had not taken the time to plan any of this, but she found that if she took a second to think about it, everything was planned out in her mind already.

Also, she wanted to use the library to investigate magical necklaces. Her recent searches had proved fruitless, but she'd had very little time in the past few weeks to think about her necklace, so she hoped her research today would turn up something useful.

Lily sighed and looked around her room, considering. Was she forgetting to pack anything? She'd left out things like her toothbrush and hairbrush because she'd need to use them again before she left, but as far as she could tell, everything she needed was already packed into her trunk. Shrugging, she closed the trunk, left it at the foot of her bed, and walked out of the room toward breakfast.

Melody slept in. She should have been eating breakfast or primping or maybe coming up with a plan of action, but it was Saturday, and she felt like sleeping instead. She didn't really care about breakfast or primping today. Melody hadn't bothered with her hair or make-up for several weeks. After her revelation about Sirius, she stopped worrying about it. Looking pretty all that time had stirred up many boys' affections, but not Sirius's, and since he was the only one who mattered, she dropped her silly beauty routine.

Her mind pondered other matters now. The hours she used to spend primping, she now spent lost in deep thought. Mostly she thought of Sirius and how to win him back. Over. Win him over. She'd never had him, so she couldn't really win him back. But is that true? she wondered, alone in her four-poster bed. Did I really never have him?

He'd professed his feelings for her at the end of the summer and she'd turned him down. Did that count as having him? For a second, just a second, Melody almost said yes to Sirius Black. And then thoughts of her uncle, her family, and her debt circled in her mind, and she couldn't say yes. Being with Sirius, at that point, seemed worse than not being with him. She hadn't wanted to anger her uncle, and it had seemed clear to her then that there was a specific person Hans wanted to marry her off to.

But Melody wasn't playing his games anymore.

She didn't care how mad he'd been after the stolen watches incident. She wasn't selling them anymore, of course, but that wasn't because her uncle demanded she stop. She'd learned things from Hans he hadn't meant to tell her. Someone--or something--had Hans running scared. He needed Melody, needed her to marry an old rich bastard and take the fortune for his benefit.

Well, never mind what Hans wanted. Melody was a person, too, and she had her own wants. Sirius, for example. She wanted Sirius more than she could express in words. Her whole body wanted him--heart, mind, conscious, subconscious.... She had dreams about him almost every night, and in the dreams she tried to tell him everything and almost always failed. Sometimes her voice would dry up and she couldn't speak, just rasp at him hopelessly. Sometimes she'd confess everything and Sirius would stand up and proclaim he was hopelessly in love with Mimi and didn't care what plight Melody was in. Other times she'd get close to telling him everything, and then her mind would trick her into thinking it was all real, and she just couldn't tell him about Hans and her debt, no matter how much she loved him. She couldn't allow him to think she was using him. Because she wasn't. Was she?

Sirius was heir to a large fortune, but she'd loved him before all of that. For two years, Sirius and Melody danced around the idea of being a couple, and now Melody couldn't figure out why. Why had they been so stupid and childish? They'd have moments of kissing and then just let it lie there, not speaking for ages afterwards, and even then certainly not of the kiss. If only Sirius had decided to tell her he cared about her one day before that conversation with Hans...maybe they'd be together now.

But then again, maybe that would have made it worse. Maybe she would have told Hans she was already in love with somebody, and that he had all the fortune she needed, and then Sirius would be a target of his, too. She'd already put her family in danger. Was it fair to do the same thing to Sirius? He was no coward. If he still cared about her at all, he would fight for her. But she didn't want him to. She couldn't stand the thought of anyone else she loved dying. Though if all this Voldemort business continued on, it was likely she'd lose many, many people she loved, especially those who wanted to become Aurors.

To hell with being an Auror. At first Melody thought that was what she wanted more than anything, but after a few Auror Training Meetings, she'd realized she didn't want to be stuck behind a desk at the Ministry of Magic for most of her life, any more than she wanted to piddle with disguises or stealth or...whatever. All she cared about was dueling. If she ever came face-to-face with Voldemort, she wanted him to know exactly who she was, and she was prepared to duel him to the death. It might sound like a foolish idea now, but after Hogwarts, Melody had some idea of where she was going.

There were dozens of international dueling tournaments held every year. She just had to practice, maybe find a coach, and get out there and make some money. Through the public dueling tournaments she was likely to find a link to her real goal--the underground dueling matches. Those were the ones she cared about. Those were the sneaky, underhanded, no-rules dueling matches, ones that would be valuable for real combat against a real Dark wizard.

But today, those were useless thoughts. Today was Sirius's last day in the castle for a month, and she didn't want to let him leave without at least talking to him. Maybe she couldn't convince him to break up with Mimi and realize that she, Melody, was the girl of his dreams, but talking to him was a start. Melody wanted Sirius to have Melody on his mind when he left Hogwarts, not Mimi, though perhaps she shouldn't hope for that.

But she wanted at least to be in Sirius's thoughts right next to Mimi. Melody refused to believe that Mimi was anything more than Sirius's rebound girl, though of course she hadn't told Mimi that, and of course she hadn't expected Sirius and his rebound girl to last two whole months. That was why she hadn't acted immediately upon her revelation that it might be okay to love Sirius after all. She wasn't sure what he felt about Mimi, nor, any longer, what he felt about her. Today she planned to ascertain both these things.

The only problem was she had no idea how.

Lily wanted toast. And bacon. Not eggs or potatoes or sausages, just toast and bacon. With lots of butter. And no jam. She wasn't sure why she wanted toast and bacon so severely, but her stomach called for strange things when it was hungry. Sometimes she wondered, if this was what her stomach was like when she felt normal, what would her stomach crave when she was pregnant? Lily knew the day when she'd be pregnant was long off, but still...sometimes she wondered.

She didn't encounter many students in the halls this morning, so the small, black-haired figure shuffling along the edge of the hallway stuck out considerably. "Lin," Lily murmured to herself as she recognized the girl. She wanted to talk to Lin, but should she? Lily bit her lip in consideration. Last time she'd tried, the fourth year had yelled at her and run off, and Lily'd been left feeling like a particularly nasty pile of beetle dung.

But Lin looked so lonely, and after all the people she'd lost this summer...Lily couldn't think of anything Lin needed more than a friend. She could just kill Wendy for deserting her...though of course at the moment that expression didn't seem entirely suitable.

Well, Lily reasoned, the worst that could happen was Lin brushing her off again, so she might as well try.

She jogged a bit to catch up with Lin. "Five points from Gryffindor for walking with your head down," she joked. Lin jerked her head up, looking a bit surprised and hurt. "I was only joking," Lily said quickly.

"Quit messing around, Lily," Lin said softly, her gaze slipping back to the floor.

"Sorry," Lily murmured, feeling a bit defeated already. She searched her mind for something to say. "Er...I hope they have lots of bacon at breakfast this morning. I'm dying for some bacon."

Lin just shrugged.

"What about you? What're you craving this morning?"

Lin shrugged again.

"Oh, come on, there's gotta be something. Eggs--juice--marmalade--potatoes--"

"I'm not hungry, all right?" Lin snapped. "I'm not going to stupid breakfast."

"Oh. I see. Well, where are you going then?"

"None of your business." Lin began picking up her pace to get away from Lily.

Stubbornly, Lily increased her own pace to catch up. "Maybe it is my business," she said. "What if you're going somewhere you're not supposed to?"

"I'm not," Lin replied heatedly.

"But how do I know that?" Lily said, trying to be as irritating as possible. Maybe if she got Lin angry enough, the girl would speak in complete sentences.

"I'm going to the library, all right?" Lin finally exploded. "And don't you follow me there, either."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Lily replied as they rounded a corner together.

"The Great Hall's that way," Lin said, pointing behind her.

"Yep," Lily said vaguely.

"So aren't you going to go get breakfast?"

"I'm not so hungry anymore," Lily lied. "I kind of lost my appetite for bacon."

"Well where are you going now?"

"I don't see how that's your business."

Lin let out a little noise of frustration and came to a halt, stomping her foot where she stopped. Lily stopped and turned to her, feeling immensely pleased with herself.

"You're just following me now!" Lin cried.

"I'm not doing anything of the sort."

"Oh--you--yes you are, and you know it!"

Lily shrugged noncommittally, and Lin let out another noise of frustration.

"Why are you bothering me?" she demanded.

"Bothering you? Well that's rather harsh. I was just trying to make conversation."

"Well--well, you can stop trying now, because I don't want to talk."

"But you are talking."

Lin opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again. She glared at the Head Girl for a moment before turning on her heel and stalking down the hallway. Lily, feeling like she was making immense progress, decided to follow Lin.

Lin, who heard her coming, stopped again and whirled around to face Lily. "Go away," she said flatly.

"No," Lily replied stubbornly. "I am not going to go away. Not until you talk to me."

"As you pointed out, I have been talking to you. And now I'm done talking to you, so you can go away."

"Well, we're not talking about anything important, and I want to talk to you about something important."

"I'm not interested!" Lin shrieked.

"Yes you are!" Lily shouted back, reflecting on how much bigger Lin looked when she wasn't shuffling against a wall with her head down. Lin wasn't so very much shorter than Lily, actually, and so very much older-looking than her thirteen-year-old self that it made Lily sad. Lin looked like she'd grown up, emotionally and physically, overnight, and the process had stretched out her bones and ligaments too far, and attached some rather painful-looking bags underneath her eyes.

"How would you know, Lily Evans? You're just a nosy old busybody, and you don't know anything about me!"

Lily blinked and gaped at Lin. Her mouth moved quite of its own accord, searching the silent, empty hallway for something to say. The fourth year just glared.

"You can close your mouth," Lin said coldly. "Now, I'm going to the library, and you're going to get some stupid bacon, and you're not going to bother me anymore."

The Head Girl watched, feeling a bit dumbfounded, as Lin turned away. "If you ever need to talk," Lily called down the hallway, finding her voice at last, "come find me. I know you need a friend, Lin!"

Lin paused for a second and glanced over her shoulder at Lily. "You don't know anything about me," she whispered before walking away.

Lily didn't feel much like bacon anymore.

Melody grabbed some sausages from the Gryffindor table and rolled them in a napkin before leaving the Great Hall. She didn't feel much like watching Mimi and Sirius flirt their way through breakfast for the third time this week. Neither Lily nor Remus had shown up, and James was in one of his "brooding" moods, so Melody, with no one to talk to, decided to go up to Marauder Headquarters and eat in solitude.

"Wombat," she told the entrance to MHQ, and a panel slid open, admitting her to the room. A fire already crackled happily in the grate, and there was a smell coming from the large red armchair that reeked suspiciously of...

"Marmalade on toast?" Melody asked. Remus poked his head out from behind the armchair and smiled.

"You have a pretty good nose for a mere human being," he said, lifting up his toast so she could see.

Melody smiled. "Escaping the masses?"

"Or something like that, anyway," Remus agreed.

"Mind if I join you?"

"I don't know. Are you going to start making out with Mimi?"

Melody laughed, plopping down on the couch next to Remus's chair. "Not likely," she replied. "So I gather I'm not alone in my distaste for Sirius and Mimi's breakfast routine?"

Remus made a face. "I don't know why they come out in public at all."

"Yes, well," Melody said, sobering somewhat, "what would Mimi be without her little Sirius trophy to parade around in front of other people?"

"That's not fair," Remus said, sounding a bit defensive.

"Oh, really?" Melody snorted. "And how would you interpret the situation?"

"It's Sirius who's taking advantage of Mimi, really," Remus reasoned. "After all, he's only going--" He stopped for a moment and glanced at Melody, then shook his head. "I don't know. I suppose you're right."

"Oh, am I? That's very interesting, Remus. Why the sudden change of mind?"

"Well...you know...sometimes your mind just needs a few seconds to work things out logically..."

"Remus Artemis Octavius Lupin, that is a load of horse shit," Melody replied, her eyes twinkling.

"Er...well...you know...perhaps."

Melody laughed. "So what were you going to say? I won't get mad, I promise."

"It's nothing important. Just some random speculation, that's all," Remus said, not meeting his friend's eyes.

"About...?" Melody prompted.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"No. Not at all."

Remus sighed. "Damn." He looked at the ceiling and whispered a couple things to himself.

"If you're praying to God for a distraction right now, it's not going to work," Melody informed him. "You're going to have to tell me sooner or later."

"Well, later rather than sooner, I always say!" Remus replied cheerily, finishing off the last of his toast. He glanced at his watch. "My, my, look how time flies! Why, it's almost time for class!"

Melody glanced at her own watch, then did a double take at Remus, who was attempting to get up from his chair and sneak away. She grabbed his Gryffindor tie and yanked him back into the chair. "Ow," Remus whined.

"It's Saturday," Melody said, glaring, "and I can't believe you almost got me."

Remus smiled roguishly. "All those years around the Marauders and you're still gullible, Cauldwell. How sad."

"Yes, well. It's still not going to save you."

"Save me? From what?"

"From a horrifying, disastrous fate if you don't tell me what you were going to tell me about Sirius and Mimi."

Remus cleared his throat. "Right. About that. You see, Melody--there's this thing called an opinion."

"Mmm-hmm," Melody said, prompting him.

"Right. And these things--these opinions--bear no actual reflection to the truth of a situation."

"Uh-huh."

"Yes. So. Opinions, it may be stated, are the mere thoughts and speculations of one person, from one person's point of view, at a specific moment in time."

"And?"

"And...they bear no actual reflection to the truth?"

"You already said that."

"Oh. Sorry. Of course. So, really, what I'm trying to say is--"

"This is just your opinion and I'm not supposed to interpret it as the truth, or otherwise act on it, spread it to other people, or harm anyone in anyway--including yourself--as a result of the things that are about to come out of your mouth."

Remus sighed. "You're so bloody brilliant, Melody! That's fantastic!"

"Yes. I know. Just spit it out, will you?"

"All right. You see, Melody--I think that Sirius and Mimi...well, I think what Sirius did in relation to Mimi...I...hey, wait a minute!"

Melody, who was sitting up very straight and staring intently at Remus, poised to receive whatever information he was prepared to dish out, groaned in exasperation and flopped backward onto the couch. "I hate you right now, Remus Lupin. I hate you."

"Well, you never actually agreed not to interpret what I said as the truth, and you didn't agree not to spread it to other people or harm other people or...whatever else. You just listed it all--you never promised not to do any of it!"

Melody sat up and glared at him. "You are a smart little bloke, aren't you?"

"Well, I try."

Melody sighed. "I suppose you're going to make me promise now, aren't you."

"Yes. I am."

"All right. I promise."

"You promise to do what?"

"All that stuff you just said."

"What stuff I just said?"

"You know, Remus, you're making this far harder than it needs to be."

"That's because I don't want to tell you my opinion."

"Why ever not, Moony dear?"

"Because you're going to twist it and use it against me later, that's why not!"

Melody sighed again. "You've been hanging out with me for far too long, Moony. You know me too well."

"Well as long as you're not denying it."

"I may be conniving but I'm not a liar."

"And isn't that comforting," Remus muttered.

"Look, are you going to tell me or not?"

"Ooh, I have an option? Oh, goody!"

"REMUS!"

"Oh, I don't have an option. Well then. I suppose I'd best spit it out then, eh? Before you turn me into a giraffe or something."

"Don't be ridiculous, Moony. You'd be perfectly useless as a giraffe. Perhaps an owl...."

"That'd be an interesting one to try and explain to Dumbledore, wouldn't it? 'Sorry, Professor, but your werewolf seems to have gone missing...yes, I know it's the full moon...no, I don't know what happened to him...of course I'm sure he's not off terrorizing the village children, professor, why ever would you think of that?'"

"All right, maybe that's not the best solution in the world. Is it really the full moon? No, don't answer that. I should know by now."

Remus shrugged. "It's different when you're not a werewolf. I can feel it coming. You actually have to keep track of the lunar charts and everything."

"Ah, yes, us poor, backward wizards. Charts and everything. I just can't stand the inferiority!"

"Yes, but at least you admit the inferiority. Most wizards can't even do that."

"I guess I'm just special then, aren't I?" Melody beamed, glad to hear Remus speaking of his condition with some amount of lightheartedness. Lately he'd been talking about it with more distaste than usual. Melody couldn't imagine the kind of burden his condition placed on him...he was fairly well-adjusted to it by now, but, really, how well-adjusted could anyone actually be to turning into a bloodthirsty monster once a month, with no control over your mind or actions? Although she supposed with James and Sirius and Peter going out with him every month, and him not having bit anyone in his seven years at Hogwarts, he had more control than most werewolves. But still. It must be terrifying.

"You're getting off the subject," she reminded Remus.

"Damn it. And you were getting so distracted and everything."

"Yes, well, enough stalling. You might as well just tell me and get it over with."

Remus sighed. "All right. Mel, you're probably not going to like this too much...but...I think...and I really do think...Sirius may have just asked Mimi to be his girlfriend because....well, because..."

At that moment the door to MHQ slid open, and Remus and Melody both turned to see who was there.

Remus, feeling as though he'd been spared from a very ugly fate, stared at the ceiling, spread his arms wide, and yelled upward, "PRAISE ALLAH!"

The person standing in the doorway jerked and stared at Remus as though he'd gone insane. Melody, however, did not react to Remus. She was still staring at the figure in the doorway.

"'ll--'llo, Sirius," she rasped, her voice having gone mysteriously dry.

Sirius cleared his throat. "Hello, Melody."

Remus leaped out of his chair, looking highly pleased. "Well!" he beamed. "I daresay you two can find something to talk about on your own. Melody, don't you have a question you want to ask Sirius?" he asked, scooting toward the door. Sirius took a step backward, attempting escape, but Remus shoved him in Melody's direction and dashed out of the room before Melody could stop him.

"Hey, Remus!" Melody yelled, but the panel slid closed and the werewolf was long gone. "Jerk," she muttered, glaring at the panel.

Sirius looked rather as though he'd like to escape himself, but something Remus had said made him intensely curious. He looked at Melody until her gaze returned to his.

Melody blinked. It was weird, looking at Sirius. She hadn't actually looked him in the eyes in weeks. Doing so made her stomach feel a bit funny. Queasy and nervous and unsettled, but kind of in a good way. It bothered Melody very much that she was still so attracted to Sirius, that his presence affected her so highly, and he seemed so unaffected by her.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Sirius shifted uncomfortably.

"So," Sirius said, breaking the awkward silence. "Did--did you have something you wanted to ask me?"

"Fool!" Lucifer Malfoy yelled. "Clumsy, ridiculous fool! What were you thinking?"

Hans Cauldwell gulped. Generally, Hans Cauldwell was a very intimidating man. He rarely took orders from anybody, and anyone who dared yell at him was immediately silenced.

Recently, however, his fortunes had taken a different turn. He'd cowered before more rich, influential wizards in the last six months than he had in his entire life--and it was getting to be a pretty long life.

"As I've told you before, the loss of the shipment was not my fault. I--"

"I've heard your excuses before. Can you do nothing for yourself? Must you always send one of your servants to take care of things? I thought by now you would have realized how pathetic your servants really are."

"Good help is hard to come by these days, you know," Hans said weakly.

"Another pathetic excuse. I'd call you incompetent but that would be inaccurate, even for you. You're just indebted. And you're worried, and you're getting clumsy."

"Yes--I know--I just--"

"No, no, no. No more of your ridiculous blubbering. I'm tired of hearing it," Lucifer snapped, sinking into a glorious green armchair. "What of your niece? Still selling those hideous watches, is she?"

"No--no. Of course not. She's still intimidated by me. I think I've scared that bit of nonsense out of her," Hans replied, glad to have something positive to report.

"At least you still intimidate someone. That's slightly comforting. Is she going along with our plan, then?"

"She's going to resist a bit, I'm afraid. But I've got her pretty well pinned. She won't do anything to endanger her family."

"Will she be loyal to the cause?"

Hans hesitated. "She's friends with the Minister of Magic's son," he ventured. "She seems to share the Minister's ideals. Her conversion may take some doing."

Lucifer did not seem very impressed with this information. "Potter's just a propagandist, and a pathetic one at that. Political brainwashing is easier to reverse than political idealism."

"So--so you think the plan's going as scheduled?" Hans asked, feeling infuriatingly nervous and subservient.

Lucifer gave Hans an appraising look, then smirked, as though he enjoyed seeing Hans squirm. "For now," he said dismissively, turning his attention away from Hans. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "I believe Voldemort may have his legion of young warriors yet."

Hans sighed inwardly. Lucifer had always had a bit of flair for the dramatic, and it had gotten worse since he'd become Voldemort's right hand man. Hans was no great supporter of the cause, and Lucifer knew it. He was just a businessman, and right now, a struggling one, and Lucifer, with his millions and his crackpot ideals, was taking advantage of that.

Hans didn't much care about the war or the cause or Voldemort's legion of young warriors.

He just wanted his money back.

And fast.

Lily needed somewhere to think. Conversations with Lin always made her head spin, but this one had been particularly long and draining, and she needed to go somewhere and process. Normally she'd go to one of the Head Girl rooms--there were certainly plenty to choose from--but today even that didn't seem remote enough.

She dashed back to the dormitory to grab her heavy cloak, and then made her way to the shed full of racing brooms out by the Quidditch pitch. It was chilly--Halloween was always chilly--but the trees were in full bursting color and Lily felt she could handle the cold as long as the fall was still beautiful.

Lily was still a shaky flier, but now at least she could handle a broomstick with some amount of grace and dignity. She smiled as she thought of last year's obsession with Quidditch, and her friends' insistence that she'd be a great Seeker. She had good eyes, that was all--she'd never be a natural flier. At least she had enough skill to make it to the rooftop.

The view from the roof was beautiful as always. The sky was shockingly clear, especially so compared to the weeks of mud and rain they'd been having. The sun shone brightly over the sharp, cold landscape, and Lily could just begin to see her breath crystallizing in the morning air. But her cloak was warm and the breeze was light, and as soon as she had her broom secured on the roof, Lily relaxed and leaned back, soaking in the autumn.

The breeze trickled through her ears and swirled into her head, sorting out her thoughts. There was the Auror Training Program...that wasn't until tomorrow, she didn't want to think about that. It shifted to the back of her head. There was her interview with Dumbledore...she shouldn't forget about that...it tucked itself into the forefront of her mind. There was breakfast. Well, never mind breakfast. Lily would eat at lunchtime. The thought dissolved. Then there was Sirius and Mimi. Melody and Mimi. Just Melody. Just Sirius. Back, back, back, back. James. Oh no, not James, anyone but James, Lily was supposed to be thinking about Lin, not James--with much resistance, James went back.

Then there was Lin. She hung around Lily's mind darkly, skulking in the corners, irrefutably there but unwilling to come out. The breeze dissolved the skulking Lin, sorting her into two piles. Third-year Lin. Fourth-year Lin. Before and After. It had only taken one summer. One headline in the Daily Prophet. One action. By one man. Well, perhaps not just by one man. Many men. No, not just men--wizards. And not just wizards--Death Eaters. Too many distinctions to make. Too many lines drawn. And too many Muggles who died, leaving just one girl behind.

War. No one wanted to say it. But that's what it was. Lily already knew which side she was on. By her birthright, she didn't have a choice. She liked to think that, even if she hadn't been a Muggle-born, her side would still be the same. Muggles were still people. They couldn't help not being magical. Why persecute them for that? Why? Why? Lily didn't understand. And the Muggle-borns, too...Lily herself was a target.

There was no sense in it, none at all, and far too many people were suffering because of it.

Lily opened her eyes to find the world blurry. The breeze drifted back out of her ears and her thoughts fell apart, into a big, messy puddle on top of her mind. She blinked and the tears made her eyelashes stick together. She wiped them away with the sleeve of her cloak and opened her eyes again to see James.

"James?" Lily asked, jolting a bit.

James landed on the rooftop and secured his own broom, sitting down carefully next to Lily. "I was wondering where you were," he said, looking out over the lake. "I guess you had the same idea I did."

Lily smiled. "I guess so."

"Thinking about...Auror Training?"

"Trying not to."

James nodded. "Me, too."

"Worried about it?" Lily asked, studying him carefully. She wasn't worried, particularly, but it still made her a little nervous to think she'd be leaving Hogwarts for a whole month. Mostly she felt sad she'd be leaving James for a whole month. Well--no--that wasn't entirely right. It wasn't just him, it was...everyone, really...but still. She supposed she'd miss James in particular.

James nodded again, to Lily's surprise. "Really? I would've thought you'd be excited about it," she said.

"Well, I am...but I'm worried, too."

"About what?"

James shrugged dismissively, but he was tapping his fingers nervously. Lily caught his hand in hers and he turned to look at her. "Well," he said. "I guess...it's my dad, you know? No, not my dad exactly, but..." he paused for a moment, thinking. "I really want to do this. Be an Auror and everything." Lily nodded. "I've been thinking about this since I was a little kid. And my dad--he always wanted to be an Auror, too. But he didn't get in. He didn't pass all the tests, and whatnot."

Lily's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

James smiled. "Yeah. I mean, you'd think he would've...being the Minister now and all...but he said he didn't do very well on disguises and cloaking, so...he pursued politics. He says now this is a better job for him, anyway. He didn't have the patience to be an Auror."

"You're kind of impatient yourself, kiddo," Lily said, ruffling James's hair a bit. He stuck his tongue out at her and gathered her other hand up in his. "So this is a really big deal for you, huh?" she asked, cocking her head. James always made such a big joke out of things...even this...she never thought he might actually be serious about this as a career.

"It's what I talked to McGonagall about during Career Advice. But she--she wasn't really surprised. She knows my dad and everything. And my dad--well, he really wants this for me. And I do too, you know? I mean, it wasn't the first thing I ever wanted to be when I was a little kid--but it was the second."

"What was the first?"

James grinned. "Professional Quidditch player, of course."

Lily laughed. "Of course. I should've guessed."

"Well, what little kid doesn't dream that?"

"I didn't dream that," Lily informed him.

"That's true. What did you want to be then, Lily-bean?"

"A princess!" Lily cried dramatically.

James laughed. "Still working on that one, huh?"

"Yep. But just you watch. One day I'll be a magical princess with a pink poofy dress and a tall pointed hat and everything."

James laughed again. "I'm not sure I'd like you in a pink poofy dress."

"Well, in this perfect world I'd be blonde, of course. My hair doesn't exactly go well with pink."

"But I like your hair."

Lily grinned and decided to change the subject. "I think you'll be a great Auror."

"You really think so?"

Lily nodded. "If you want to do it that bad...you have to be great at it."

"I hope so," James replied, looking out on the lake again.

"Well, I know so," Lily insisted. She leaned over and kissed James on the cheek. "You'll be great at anything you do."

James got that adorable, goofy grin on his face--the kind he only got when Lily kissed him unexpectedly. "Thanks, Lily-bean."

"Oh, anytime, Jamesie-poo."

"Let's not start that again."

"Start what, Jamesie-poo?"

"That. Calling me Jamesie-poo."

Lily let go of James's hands and wrapped both her arms around James's right arm. "Why ever not, my fuzzy cuddly-wuddly Jamesie-poo bear?" she pouted. James groaned and turned his face away from hers, trying to hide his smile. "Oh, I don't think so, Jamesie-poo," she informed him, freeing her hands to tilt his face back toward hers. "I know you enjoy being called Jamesie-poo."

"I do not."

"Liar."

"If anyone ever caught you calling me that, I'd be dead."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing we're on the roof, then, isn't it?"

James looked around, considering. "Yeah. I guess we are pretty...alone up here, aren't we?"

"Pretty much," Lily agreed, resting her head on James's shoulder. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Very subtle, James."

"I don't have to be subtle. It's you."

"Oh, really?" Lily said, sitting up straight and pulling away from James, looking him directly in the eyes. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

James was a bit surprised. "It's nothing bad, Lil! It's a compliment."

"A compliment? How so?"

"Well--okay, maybe not a compliment exactly, but..."

"But what?"

"Oh, come on, Lily. You know what I mean. I'm comfortable with you. You're comfortable with me. You know you liked it."

"Well...I think that's beside the point."

"That is the point."

Lily considered. "Well...I suppose so. But James, if that is the point, then why...why aren't I your girlfriend?"

James blinked, surprised. "Lil...you are my girlfriend."

"No I'm not!" Lily cried, equally surprised.

"Since when?"

"Since you never asked me to be your girlfriend!"

"Yes I did!"

"Oh, really? When?" Lily demanded.

"When I...it was..." James stopped for a moment, thinking. "Er...I guess I sort of skipped that part, didn't I?"

"Yeah, I really think you did," Lily agreed, nodding emphatically.

"Oh. Well then. Erm...how 'bout it, Lil?"

"How 'bout what? Being your girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Well, as long as you're going to put it romantically..."

"Oh, come on, Lily!"

"Come on, nothing!" Lily pouted, crossing her arms. "You didn't even remember you didn't ask me to be your girlfriend!"

"It's just...I feel like you are my girlfriend. Asking you out's just a...technicality."

"Well it's kind of an important technicality, don't you think?"

"Er...I suppose?"

"You suppose? Oh, that's even better! What're you going to do when you get married, James? Just skip the ring and the ceremony and start calling some poor unsuspecting girl your wife?"

"Oh, come on Lily! Look--I'm sorry, all right?"

Lily didn't say anything, but her arms fell to her sides. James took this as an invitation. He tilted Lily's head toward his and kissed her.

It would, Lily reasoned, be so much easier to stay angry with James if he weren't such a good kisser. She sighed and pulled away. "Well...I suppose."

"You suppose...you'll be my girlfriend?"

"Mm," Lily nodded, kissing him again.

"That wasn't very specific," James said. "You're not going to jump all over me later or anything, are you?"

Lily considered. "No. I s'pose not," she agreed, and her stomach began doing happy little acrobatic tricks as James smiled at her.

"Well, I guess I've got a girlfriend then," he said, resting his forehead against Lily's.

"I guess you have," Lily agreed. "Let's just not announce it to the world then, shall we? I wouldn't have to admit I was wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

"Not liking you."

"I dunno, I think it'd be kind of nice to see you admit you were wrong about something."

"It's not going to happen, James."

"You may have to pay me for my silence."

"You're not getting any of my money."

"I don't want your money," James informed her, kissing her again.

"Oh. That. Yes, well...I think maybe I can handle that."

"Question?" Melody echoed, swallowing. Sirius nodded, taking a few more steps into MHQ. "Oh--right. Um...no, I don't really have a question for you," she admitted lamely.

"Are you...sure?" Sirius asked, looking, if Melody wasn't quite mistaken, a bit hopeful.

She hesitated. Should she ask him something? "Yeah," she said finally. "It was nothing."

"Remus seemed pretty sure about it," Sirius ventured, taking a couple more steps into the room.

"Well...Remus is a weasel-y little rat, isn't he?"

"Is he?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows shooting up. "Since when?"

"Since...oh, since never mind."

Sirius hovered by the end of the couch. Melody bit her lip and stared at the fire. The silence became very long and awkward, and Sirius shifted uncomfortably.

"Well," he said, fiddling with the bag in his hand, "I guess...I guess if you have nothing to ask me, I should go."

Melody fiddled violently with the edge of her sleeves. She listened to Sirius's footsteps as he walked away. The panel to MHQ slid open.

"Sirius!" she yelled, turning around and leaning over the back of the couch.

Sirius, who was still standing in the doorway, jumped a bit and turned back around. "What?"

Melody stared at him, feeling dumb. There was a question she wanted to ask him--several, actually--but now didn't seem the appropriate time. She thought about inviting him to come sit down, and opened her mouth to do so, but one of her questions fell out instead.

"Sirius, why aren't we friends anymore?"

He stood in the doorway and blinked at her. The panel began to close and ran into him, and he jerked and stepped into the room. Melody wished he'd come sit down by her, but he just stood there, staring at her for a bit, as though he couldn't quite figure her out, or couldn't quite come up with a good answer for the question, or wasn't sure he wanted to stay and talk to her at all, or some combination of the above.

"You can come sit down, you know," Melody said finally, silently wishing that was what had come out of her mouth in the first place.

Sirius moved, finally, and sat down in the armchair Remus had been occupying. He dropped his bag on the floor next to him and stared at the fire for a while.

Melody began fiddling with her robes even more violently than before. It was a stupid question. She was stupid for even asking it. She knew the answer--well, she thought she knew the answer--and she expected Sirius didn't appreciate her asking. But...but still. If he really was over her, why should it matter what had happened between them at the end of last summer? Couldn't he have a girlfriend and girl friends as well? Not that she'd been the most open, friendly soul since the start of term...but...if Sirius cared about her at all, why would he just keep ignoring her like he had been?

"Why do you think, Melody?" Sirius said finally, and Melody's head jerked a bit as she lifted it to look at him.

She was currently unaccustomed to hearing Sirius's voice direct something towards her, and she'd become specifically unaccustomed to hearing him speak her name. She liked the way he said it. It was just as good as when Paolo said it. But no, she shouldn't be thinking about Paolo. That was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. Part of the mess, anyway.

"I don't know," she replied softly, shifting her gaze to her robes again. "It's partly my fault, I suppose."

Sirius snorted. "You think?"

Melody lifted her head to glare at him. "Well, it wasn't all me. I only turned you down, that's all. It's not like you haven't been turned down by girls before."

Sirius stared at her. Melody would have given a million Galleons and her entire shoe collection to know what was going on in Sirius's mind at that exact moment. He looked at her for a long time, and Melody shifted uncomfortably, her eyes slipping away from his.

"Maybe James was wrong about you," he said, frowning. Melody's eyes snapped back to his.

"James? What has James got to do with anything?"

"Nothing," Sirius replied quickly, rising to leave.

"Don't you say 'nothing' to me, Sirius Black," Melody snapped. "What did James say to you?"

"Don't worry about it," Sirius said, shouldering his bag. "It's just...really stupid, that's all."

"Well if it's about me I think I have a right to know."

"Maybe you have got a right to know," Sirius agreed. "But I'm not going to tell you."

"Don't walk away from me!" Melody shrieked, leaping over the couch as Sirius approached MHQ's exit. "You're going to tell me what James said to you!" she insisted, grabbing Sirius's arm and turning him around. Sirius glared at her. He was a good five inches taller than her. It was a very imposing glare. "Fine," Melody said. "Even if you're not going to tell me, I don't want you to leave like this."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I'm sick of not being friends with you, that's why not!" Melody blurted out. Sirius's glare disappeared, and he blinked at her again. Melody was very proud at herself for not blurting out any of her other feelings regarding Sirius.

"Well," Sirius said, clearing his throat. "I suppose...I could stay and...talk a bit. If...if it's that important to you."

Melody nodded and looked up at him for a moment, then did something that surprised both her and Sirius. She circled both of her arms around Sirius's chest and hugged him, burying her face into his shoulder. After a brief moment of shock, Sirius wrapped his arms around Melody and let his head drop into her hair.

"I missed you," she whispered, so softly she thought he couldn't hear her.

She was very surprised when Sirius said, "I missed you, too."

James, Lily thought, I think I may be in love with you. Or at least in love with your mouth.

That was really a very strange thing to be in love with, Lily reasoned. It didn't sound odd to say you loved someone's kisses. But it sounded rather odd to say you loved their mouth. It was true, though. She did love James's mouth. Only when he was using it to kiss her, though. She didn't particularly love it when he was shoveling food into it. And she supposed if he were using it to kiss someone else--well, she wouldn't be too fond of that, either. Of course, since she was now officially his girlfriend, she didn't expect to find him kissing anyone else anytime soon.

He was currently kissing her neck. Lily enjoyed this. She got wonderful tingles when he kissed her neck. The tingles were a good thought-eraser. She didn't have to worry about anything when James was kissing her neck. She didn't have to think about Lin or Auror Training or her meeting with Dumbledore or the Halloween Ball or--

Holy Mother of Merlin. Her meeting with Dumbledore. Lily shoved James away and looked at her watch. 10:57 , it read.

"Holy crap," Lily said. "How long have we been up here?"

James checked his own watch. He shook his head, then shook his watch, then checked to make sure it was still ticking, then checked his watch again. "Um...an hour, at least, I'd say."

"I'm surprised we're not both deathly ill," Lily said, wondering why she was thinking about her health and well-being when she knew perfectly well her cloak had several spells on it to protect against cold and illness. She stood up and detached her broom.

"Where do you have to go in such a hurry?" James demanded, standing as well.

"My meeting with Dumbledore's in three minutes," Lily informed him, glancing at her watch again. "Shit--make that two minutes."

James kissed her. "I'm sure it will be fine. Dumbledore won't care if you're a few minutes late."

"I'll care."

James was not concerned. He kissed her again. "It'll be fine."

Lily sighed, shoving her wand back in her pocket. "I suppose. I just hate being late."

"Don't worry," James said, kissing her on the forehead this time. "I'll see you at lunch?" he asked.

Lily nodded, standing on her tiptoes to reach James's lips for another kiss. He was happy to cooperate. "See you."

"See you," James said, watching his girlfriend fly away. She really was a terrible flier.

Oh, well. She was a good kisser. He supposed that made up for it.

Mimi Ramirez sighed and stared at her Transfiguration book. The spell didn't make any more sense now than it had half an hour ago when she'd started working on the essay for it, and Sirius, who was supposed to be helping her, was running late. She checked her watch again. A little after eleven. Twenty minutes late. Her boyfriend, she decided, was an absolute worthless bum.

The library was empty except for the Gobstones Club meeting going on in the back. It was a Saturday, after all, and most students were busy thinking about the Halloween Ball that evening. Some fourth-year had been skulking around here earlier, but she'd left awhile ago, and Mimi was feeling very alone.

Therefore she was very glad to see Remus Lupin walk through the library doors. Smiling, she motioned for him to join her.

"Morning, Remus," she said happily as he sat down across the table from her.

"Morning," he replied. "What're you up to? Studying hard?"

Mimi made a face. "Trying to, anyway, but I'm afraid I don't get it."

Remus studied Mimi's book upside-down for a moment. "Ah. Transfiguration. Not your strong suit, I take it?"

She shook her head. "No, not at all. I mean, I'm not horrible at it--but it doesn't come naturally, you know?"

Remus nodded understandingly. "I know. I get that way with Potions."

"Everyone gets that way with Potions," Mimi noted.

"Except Lily," they said in unison, after a brief pause. Mimi laughed.

"So...d'you need any help with this?" Remus ventured.

Mimi nodded. "Sirius was supposed to come help me, but...he seems to have disappeared. I can't imagine where he'd run off to. You haven't seen him since breakfast, have you?"

A very odd look passed over Remus's face before he shook his head. "Nope. Not sure where Sirius is at the moment."

Mimi sighed. "Oh, well. Scoot over here and explain this to me, then," she said, indicating the chair next to her. Remus obliged and looked over her shoulder at the Transfiguration book.

"I just finished this essay last night," he said. "What've you got so far?"

Mimi showed him her piece of parchment. It had her name written in the upper right-hand corner. Remus laughed. "It's going that well, huh? All right. Well..."

Remus launched into an explanation. It was a very good explanation, Mimi was sure, but she only caught about half of it. The other half she spent trying not to stare at Remus. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been alone with him, or the last time she'd sat this close to him. It was the full moon tonight. She wanted to ask him how he was feeling, if he was going to be gone for a couple of days or if he'd be in class on Monday. She supposed tomorrow might be a better day to ask, but since she strongly suspected she'd never ask at all, it didn't really matter.

Mimi just wished she weren't so fixated on him. This was a bad sign. She was dating someone else, yet the moment she was with Remus all she could think about was him.

Oh well, she reasoned, it's no crime if I just sit here and look at him...

"S--sorry I'm late, p--professor," Lily wheezed as she entered the Headmaster's office.

"It's all right, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said, smiling, indicating she should take a seat. "I was just catching up a bit on my correspondence. I find it's the first thing that gets pushed aside when I'm busy."

Lily couldn't think of a clever response to that, so she just sat in the chair across from the Headmaster's.

"So, Miss Evans," Dumbledore began. "My records indicate you've been taking enough of the right classes to enter the Auror Program after you leave Hogwarts. Your marks in Potions are particularly excellent." Lily beamed. "Is this the line of work you wish to pursue?

Lily considered. "It isn't really what I had in mind," she admitted. "But then...I never really had anything strongly in mind anyway."

Dumbledore nodded. "At your age that's only natural. What have you been considering?"

"Well...I really like Potions. I was thinking of maybe becoming an Apothecary...but I'm not really sure I'm cut out to be a businesswoman." She'd discussed this career option with Flitwick in Fifth Year. In order to be an apothecary, you had to become an apprentice to a working apothecary. Apprenticeship didn't pay very well--if it paid at all--and you had to find another kind of work during your training. Once you finished your apprenticeship you could open your own business, but the problem there was finding an open shop space in an area without much competition.

"What else?" Dumbledore asked.

Lily spurted a string of ideas, committing to each one less than the idea before. The truth was she had no idea what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, and she was quite sure that Dumbledore had picked that up by now.

"Well, I can see that you're not passionately committed to becoming an Auror. Or anything else, really--at least for right now," Dumbledore concluded, his eyes twinkling. "However, might I suggest...teaching?" he asked, opening one of the drawers in his desk to search for something.

"Teaching?" Lily echoed. She'd never considered teaching before.

"There are quite a few good training schools in the United Kingdom for prospective wizarding teachers. Most are one- to two-year programs, and they usually have quite a good job placement service. A degree is not required for teaching in most wizarding institutions, but it's a good experience to have, especially if you're feeling uncertain about a career choice. It will give you a little extra time to decide," the Headmaster reasoned, laying out several applications before her.

"Oh," Lily said, looking them over. "I'd never thought of that before." The teachers at Hogwarts always seemed so permanent--she couldn't imagine the school ever needing new ones. She supposed, though, there were openings occasionally--not just in Hogwarts, in all schools--unless, of course, the staff all became ghosts and continued teaching like Professor Binns.

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling behind his half-rim glasses. "I think you'd make an excellent Potions mistress."

Lily smiled. "Thank you, professor."

"Now then," he said. "Do you have any questions for me, about careers or Auror Training?"

Lily fiddled with her necklace and thought a moment. Most of her question about careers had been answered in Fifth Year Career Advice, and she was fairly certain Moody had already briefed them all on everything they needed to know about Auror Training. Something tickled in the back of her head, though--wasn't there something she'd been meaning to ask Dumbledore? She slid her pendant back and forth across its chain, considering. There must be something she--oh. Lily stopped, feeling very stupid, and stared down at her necklace.

"Professor," she began, "would you mind if I asked you something not related to careers or Auror Training?"

"Not at all."

"Professor, have you ever heard anything about--magical necklaces?"

"That's a very broad question, Miss Evans. I have heard some things about some magical necklaces. What is it that you'd like to know?"

"Oh. Right. Well...I...my necklace, in particular," she said, indicating the pendant around her neck. "This summer...a man--a wizard--inquired about my necklace. He said it was very valuable, but I don't know what he meant. Professor--it's just an ordinary necklace. At least...as far as I can see."

Dumbledore frowned. "Would you mind taking it off? I'd like to have a look at it."

"Sure," Lily replied, fumbling around for the clasp. She pulled the chain around her neck, searching for it, but the clasp appeared to be hiding from her. She frowned and spun the chain around again, but still couldn't find the clasp. Shouldn't it have caught on the pendant by now? It certainly wasn't small enough to fit through the eyehole connected to the pendant. "There doesn't seem to be a...clasp," she told the professor, feeling very confused.

"Does it fit over your head?" he inquired.

"Er...oh. Perhaps." Lily didn't remember putting it on over her head, but perhaps she had. Hadn't James put it on for her the first time anyway? And she couldn't really remember taking it off.... She tried to slip the chain over her head, but it was too small.

Lily was beginning to feel rather alarmed. "Professor, it...it won't come off."

Dumbledore looked very puzzled indeed. "How did you get it on, then?"

"I--I don't remember. I think there was a clasp, but...it's been so long since I've taken it off, I can't be sure."

"Has the necklace ever tried to strangle you?"

"Strangle me?" Lily repeated, her hand flying to her throat. "No! Why?"

"Some enchanted necklaces are cursed to strangle their wearer. But those curses usually work over the course of several hours. How long have you had this necklace?"

"Since last Christmas."

Dumbledore frowned, mulling it over for a few minutes. "I'm afraid my knowledge of enchanted necklaces is rather limited, Miss Evans. However--I do not believe your necklace is cursed. I believe it has been charmed not to leave your neck, though I do not know why and cannot tell you how to remove it. Were it not charmed in this way, I could keep it and perhaps find some other spells that have been attached to it. My best guess is that some protective charms have been placed on it, and whoever the necklace maker was intended it as a symbol of protection for the wearer."

Lily sighed, feeling rather defeated. She'd hoped Dumbledore would have a brilliant explanation for her. However, the new and slightly alarming realization that she couldn't remove her necklace might lead her down another path of research that would, hopefully, be more fruitful than the last.

"I wouldn't worry about it right now, Miss Evans. I suggest, however, that when you get back from the Auror Training Program, you write to some wizarding jewelers and casually inquire about magical necklaces such as your own. If you truly hold something valuable, you may not want to reveal to them that you actually own such a trinket, so word your inquiries carefully. Also--the next time you're in Hogsmeade, I suggest asking Mr. Zorcoran about it. Though I don't know how much he knows about necklaces, his knowledge of magical objects exceeds mine."

Lily nodded. "Thanks, professor. Thanks very much."

Dumbledore smiled. "I don't know how much help I've been, but you're welcome nevertheless." He glanced at his twelve-handed watch. "Well, I believe it's almost time for lunch. You must be getting hungry."

Lily glanced at her own watch, surprised. "Yes. I suppose it is."

"I'll let you get on with your lunch time, then. Have a nice day, Miss Evans."

"Thank you, Professor," Lily said, rising. "You have a nice day as well."

She left Dumbledore's office fully preoccupied with thoughts of her necklace. It wasn't until Melody ran into her at the top of the second floor stairs that she realized there were other students in the hallway, chattering noisily and heading to lunch.

"Lily!" Melody cried, latching on to her best friend's arm. "How is your day going?"

"All right," Lily said, slightly annoyed at being shaken from her thoughts.

"Is it? That's wonderful!"

Lily raised her eyebrows. "You're in an awfully good mood."

"I know! It's a fantastic day, isn't it?"

"It's a bit chilly," Lily informed her.

Melody rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean the weather, silly!"

"Oh. What did you mean, then?"

"It's just great. Guess who I talked to this morning?"

"Um," Lily said, racking her brain for ideas. "I don't know. Who?"

"No, come on, guess!"

"I hate guessing games," Lily whined.

"Pleeeeeease?" Melody asked, giving Lily puppy dog eyes. Lily sighed.

"Fine...um...Filch."

"Ew! Why would that make me happy?" Melody demanded, releasing Lily's arm.

"I don't know! Maybe he gave you back all the Dungbombs he's stolen from you over the years?"

"Ooh. That'd be nice. But no. Guess again."

"Um...Peeves?"

"No! Come on, Lily."

"I told you I was bad at this!" Lily reminded her as they neared the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Think students," Melody hinted.

Lily sighed. "All right...Remus."

"Nope!" Melody said, then thought for a moment. "Well...okay, yes, but that's not who I was thinking of."

"Sirius?" Lily ventured, thinking she was more off-target here than she'd been with Filch.

"Bingo!" Melody cried, grabbing Lily's arm again and skipping into the Great Hall with her. Lily blinked and stared at her friend.

"Really?" she asked. "Seriously?"

"Yep!" Melody said, grinning. "And you're eating lunch with us today," she informed Lily, dragging her friend to the Gryffindor table.

"Do I have a choice?" Lily asked, sitting down next to Melody, who'd plopped down across from Arabella and Mundungus.

"Afternoon, Lily," Arabella said pleasantly. "Nice of you to join us."

"I suppose," Lily replied, rubbing her arm where Melody'd latched onto it.

"Ah, Lily-bean, there you are!" James said, sitting down on Lily's left.

"My name isn't Lily-bean," she reminded him, grabbing a ham sandwich from the middle of the table.

"Of course not," James replied, kissing her on the cheek. Lily, feeling a bit embarrassed, glanced around to see if anyone had noticed, but nobody seemed concerned. It wasn't that she didn't want people to know she was officially James's girlfriend...she just didn't want them to make a big fuss about it.

A few minutes later, Lily was very surprised to see Mimi and Remus walk into the Great Hall together, and sit down next to Arabella and Mundungus. Even more surprising was when Sirius walked in with Peter a minute after that and sat down on Melody's right. Lily, James, Bella, and Dung stopped eating for a moment, staring oddly over at Melody, Mimi, Remus, and Sirius, but no one commented on it, and after a few seconds everyone turned their attention back to their food.

"Did you see what I just saw?" James whispered into Lily's ear. Lily nodded. "Did hell freeze over when I wasn't paying attention?" he continued.

Lily snorted into her pumpkin juice. Melody turned to look at her in surprise. "You all right there, Lil?"

Lily nodded, trying to keep the juice from spurting out her nose. Melody shrugged and turned back to Sirius, who she was now being oddly buddy-buddy with.

"Sorry," James whispered, muffling his laughter at her.

"Sure you are," Lily hissed back.

Arabella leaned across the table and motioned to James and Lily. "Did I miss something?" she asked, flicking her eyes over at Melody and Sirius.

"Apparently Melody and Sirius had a talk this morning," Lily said. "That's all I know."

Arabella's eyes got a bit wider. She glanced over at them again. "Well...that's good then, isn't it?"

"Just as long as Mimi and Melody don't start fighting, it is," Lily agreed. They all glanced over at Mimi, who was very preoccupied in a conversation with Remus and didn't seem to notice the three teenagers whispering conspiratorially behind her back. Arabella shrugged.

"Better them fighting than Melody and Sirius. They aren't in the same House."

"That's true," Lily agreed, and the teenagers sat back down, trying to look as though they hadn't been talking about people who were sitting less than a foot away.

Luckily, none of the parties mentioned seemed to notice.

Mimi was slightly annoyed. Not that she didn't love talking to Remus, of course. She just wasn't sure how fond she was of Sirius sitting across the table from her flirting with Melody. Well...maybe not flirting, exactly...maybe they were just talking...but with Melody Cauldwell, it was hard to tell.

She was already annoyed with Sirius for forgetting to meet her in the library. Now he had to show up at lunch talking to Melody?

If she didn't have Remus to talk to, she didn't know what she'd do. Sirius sure was lucky he had such great friends, or he'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

Mimi glanced across the table just as Sirius threw a bit of bread crust at Melody, who laughed and threw back a grape. Was that flirting, or just adolescent food fighting? It looked suspiciously like flirting to her.

Infuriated, Mimi turned her whole attention to Remus and decided to begin shamelessly flirting with him. It wasn't hard, after all, to pretend she was attracted to Remus--because, even though she felt guilty admitting it, she didn't have to pretend at all.

However, if Sirius was going to sit across the table from her flirting with Melody, she could do whatever she damn well pleased with Remus, and if Sirius was going to be angry with her for it...well, that was his problem.

This was all happening rather quickly. After their very long conversation in MHQ, Sirius and Melody were talking and laughing--and should he even think flirting?--and eating lunch together as though nothing had ever happened between them. It was nice, in a way, but it was also kind of weird. Especially so because Sirius's girlfriend was sitting right across the table from them.

Mimi, however, seemed quite absorbed in her conversation with Remus, so Sirius saw no harm in carrying on a conversation with Melody. It would be impossible to get Melody and Mimi to converse with each other...it was a good thing Remus was there to cover Sirius's back.

After all, it was only a little innocent conversation, and--hey! Did Mimi just laugh and lean over and brush some of Remus's hair out of his eyes? What was Remus doing with hair that long anyway? Wasn't Sirius supposed to have the long hair that fell in his eyes? Why was Mimi even pretending to flirt with Remus? She couldn't really be interested in him...could she?

Well that was pretty rude of her, considering she had a boyfriend and all...considering he was sitting right across the table from her, and...

Ignoring her and kind of half-flirting with Melody instead.

Oh.

Damn.

Sirius felt like a very horrible boyfriend. He felt like a horrible boyfriend most of the time, since he was still attracted to Melody, but...right now he felt particularly horrible.

Except...except...Mimi did not have to keep flirting with Remus like that! Was she just trying to make Sirius jealous? Because...because...if she was, it was pretty damn well working!

Wait.

That didn't make sense.

Why would Sirius be jealous of Remus for talking to Mimi? True, Mimi was Sirius's girlfriend, but she was only so because Sirius was the meanest boy on the face of the earth and he was just using her to get to Melody. And apparently he was getting to Melody, judging by the way they were talking right now. But...but...

He was also jealous of Remus.

Now this really didn't make sense.

"Mimi!" Sirius barked, and both Melody and Mimi jumped.

"Yes, Sirius?" Mimi asked, raising one eyebrow at him from across the table.

"I think we need to have a talk," he said.

"Oh, do we? About what?" she asked.

The rest of the table seemed to press in around them. Sirius glanced around for a moment and then cleared his throat. "I think we need to talk about something--alone."

The other students sighed in disappointment and sat back. Sirius stood, and Mimi shrugged and stood to follow him. Melody and Remus both watched them go with a bit more disappointment in their eyes than everyone else.

Lin had been thinking.

No one understood how she felt, that was for sure. No one really understood that she'd kind of...stopped feeling, either.

Since Wendy had deserted her, Lin hadn't really had anyone to talk to. She supposed she should be more upset about her best friend turning her back just when Lin needed her the most...it should have been just too much to bear....

But after last summer, Lin wasn't surprised. She'd stopped expecting good things in her life after seeing the headline in the Daily Prophet last spring.

Never mind that. She didn't like to think about that. Unfortunately, Lin found that she spent much of her time alone with her thoughts. She'd started paying attention in class just to escape them. Her marks in Potions were better than they'd ever been, and she'd even started working with Anthony Hall as her partner. She'd liked Anthony for most of last year. It should have made her happier to work with him.

Her perspective was different now.

Maybe Lily was right. Maybe she did need someone to talk to. Of course, maybe Lily was wrong, too, but Lin did feel awfully lonely most of the time.

There was a great big hole in her that no one could ever fill. Lin would never be quite right again.

But maybe...just maybe if someone could...even remotely...understand...she'd hurt just a little bit less.

Lily probably wasn't the magic solution for all of Lin's problems. But she'd tried so much harder than anybody else...maybe it was worth it to just give it a shot.

"What d'you think you're doing?" Sirius demanded once he and Mimi had found a deserted classroom to talk in.

"What d'you mean, what am I doing?"

"That's what I mean! What're you doing talking to Remus?"

"That's exactly what I was doing, Sirius. Talking."

Sirius began pacing. "Well, yes, I can see that you were talking, but what were you doing with the...the other stuff? The giggling and the pushing the hair back and the--the--flirting!"

Mimi perched herself on a desk and smirked at him. "Why, Sirius Black, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous."

"Well maybe that's because I am jealous!" Sirius informed her, stopping his pacing.

Mimi arched an eyebrow at him. "Oh, really? That's interesting. And here I was under the impression you'd forgotten all about me."

"For--forgotten?" Sirius sputtered. "What d'you mean, forgotten?"

"Well, you didn't show up to help me with Transfiguration homework," Mimi informed him, and Sirius got a look of terrible recognition on his face that she rather enjoyed. "And then you show up at lunch and start talking to Melody, who, if I remember correctly, you were not even on speaking terms with at breakfast. So tell me, Sirius, what am I supposed to think?"

"Look, Mimi, I'm really sorry about the Transfiguration thing--I--I was on my way there, but I just sort of got...sidetracked."

"Sidetracked? By Melody, no doubt?"

Sirius considered lying. He looked at Mimi, and the glare on her face made him forget about lying. "Well...all right, it was Melody, but--"

"I knew it!" Mimi cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "God, Sirius, why do you even pretend to like me? Everyone can see the way you look at her!"

"The--the way I--look at her?" he sputtered.

"Yes! With the goo-goo eyes, and the jaw dropping and whatever else...God, I don't even know why I agreed to be your girlfriend in the first place."

Sirius recovered, feeling a bit angry. "Well if you didn't want to be my girlfriend, you didn't have to say yes."

"Well, I didn't know you'd still be giving Melody those looks after you asked me out!"

"Oh, the looks, is that what it's all about?"

"Yes, it really is. You know, it's pretty terrible to see your boyfriend throw those kind of looks at another girl even after you've been going out with him for two months," Mimi snapped, glaring rather viciously at Sirius. Normally he would have felt like a slimy, stinky worm, but today he was too fired up.

"Oh, really?" he demanded, placing one hand on either side of the desk Mimi was perched on.

"Yes, really," Mimi replied, jutting her chin out defiantly.

"Are these the same kind of looks you give Remus when you think I'm not looking?"

Uncertainty flashed in Mimi's eyes, and she dropped her defiant stance. "I--well--you--I mean--" she stuttered, then cut herself off and thought for several moments, pouting. "No," she said finally. "They are not."

Laughing, Sirius stepped away from the desk. "Sure they're not. And I'm a blue-spotted hyena."

"Well--well--maybe you are!" Mimi sputtered, thought it was quite evident to Sirius at this point that she knew he knew she was lying.

"What are we anyway, Mimi?" Sirius asked, shaking his head.

Mimi looked at him for a moment. "I don't know," she replied. "What are we, Sirius?"

He looked back at her. "I don't know what we are," he said. "We're the couple that looks at other people as though we wish we weren't a couple."

"So what are you saying? You think we should break up?" Mimi asked, feeling slightly relieved and slightly not that the end of their relationship was approaching. She liked Sirius, of course, but she liked Remus, too, and...it was getting far too confusing trying to like two boys at once.

"No," Sirius said, and Mimi blinked in surprise.

"No?" she repeated. "What d'you mean, 'no'?"

Sirius began packing again. "What I mean is...you're attracted to Remus, obviously."

"Right," Mimi said, hesitantly.

"And I...well, I..."

"You have a thing for Melody," Mimi prompted him.

"Yes. Right," Sirius said, clearing his throat. "But..."

"But?"

Sirius stopped pacing and walked over to Mimi's desk again, putting one hand on either edge. Mimi's heart did a little irregular beat as his face got closer to hers.

"You know what's funny?" Sirius asked.

Mimi shook her head. "No. What's funny?"

"This," Sirius replied before leaning in and kissing her. It wasn't passionate, or hard, or fast and desperate the way some of their snog sessions had been. It was just a very long, slow, soft, nice kiss, and it made the butterflies in Mimi's stomach flutter rather intensely.

"Oh," she whispered when he pulled away. "That's...that's unusual."

"No shit," Sirius agreed, stepping away and running a hand through his hair.

"Is it...is it even possible to be genuinely attracted to two people at once?" Mimi asked, feeling very lost.

"Apparently it is," Sirius replied, looking just as confused.

"So...so what d'you think we should do?"

Sirius leaned against another desk and stared at the ground, considering. "Well," he ventured, "I think...I think maybe we ought to give this another try."

Mimi looked at him. "You...you think so?"

Sirius nodded and looked back at her. "I mean...there's obviously something here."

"Yeah," Mimi agreed slowly. "But what about...?"

"I think," he said, "that we'll just have to agree to get over them."

"You don't...you don't think maybe we should break up for a bit to sort all this out?"

"Well...we could, but...we've been carrying on all right for two months, haven't we? I mean, at least from my perspective...." Sirius trailed off and then walked a couple steps across the room, grabbing Mimi's hands and holding them rather protectively in his own. "Melody already turned me down once. I don't think I want to give her the chance to do it again. And if there's really something here, I don't want to lose it."

Mimi looked at him for several long moments, thinking. "You really think this could work?"

"Yeah, I really think it could," Sirius said, sounding more surprised than confident.

The surprise was what made Mimi think it really could work. If he'd sounded confident, she might think he'd been thinking this out for a while, trying to get her to stay with him for one ulterior purpose or another. But this...he just seemed to be making up as he went, and she was willing to trust that.

"Well then," Mimi said, having made up her mind. "I guess we're going to stick with it."

A grin spread across Sirius's face. "Yeah?"

Mimi smiled. "Yeah," she agreed. Sirius leaned in and kissed her.

"Really bad timing though, isn't it?" he said, lifting her off the desk and setting her down again.

"With you going away tomorrow and everything? Yes, I suppose it is."

Sirius kissed her again. "Sorry about that. But at least you won't have to spend the whole month brooding over a breakup."

"This is much better," Mimi agreed, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him.

Well. She hadn't quite imagined their conversation going this way, but...hey, this wasn't such a bad solution, either.

As usual, Lily's necklace research was coming along abysmally. The library books were less than helpful, and with the new knowledge that she couldn't remove her necklace she was even more confused about where to start. Plus, other thoughts kept popping into her head. James. Auror Training. Being a Potions mistress. Lin. Going to Hogsmeade and asking Zorcoran about her necklace. She wished that today were a Hogsmeade day, just so she could stop being curious about it.

Too bad that day was well over a month off. Lily sighed and closed the large volume on curses she'd been scanning through. With all the thoughts swirling around in her head, she doubted she'd find anything useful today, even if she was holding the appropriate volume in her hands. The focus just wasn't there.

Lily's focus was shattered further by the sight of Lin walking into the library. Oh, Lin, she thought. I wish you'd talk to me. Lily sighed and attempted to return to her work. She didn't want the fourth year getting mad at her again for trying to talk to her.

Lily was very surprised when, the next time she looked up, she saw Lin hovering by the other end of the table. "Lin!"

"Hullo, Lily," Lin said, softly but clearly, meeting Lily's gaze.

"Hullo," Lily replied, equally softly.

"I was thinking...if...if you're not busy...maybe you'd like to..." Lin trailed off for a moment, considering. "Talk," she said finally. "Maybe you'd like to talk."

Lily stood, abandoning all her books. "I'd love to talk," she said. "Let's go somewhere a bit more...comfortable...than this," she suggested. Lin nodded mutely and followed Lily out of the library.

Praise the Lord, Lily thought. Please help me find the right things to say to her.

Lin sobbed. She had her face buried in one of the pillows on the couch in Lily's favorite private room, and sobbed almost as hard as she had the day she saw the headline on the Daily Prophet. Lily cried, too, summoning a box of Kleenex and a trash can from the other side of the room so she could blow her nose. Perhaps they looked like a couple of blubbering idiots, but really, behind her tears, Lily felt that what they were doing was very therapeutic.

Lin talked. She was angry and bitter and lost and her heart was completely broken. Lily, having only lost three beloved ones, could feel only a shadow of the pain Lin must have, at losing everyone she loved so dearly in such an abrupt, unfeeling manner. Her parents, sisters, brothers, only remaining aunt and uncle and all her cousins had perished. Gone, too, were the old grandmothers and grandfathers and other children in the village to whom Lin was completely unrelated, but who had treated her as though she was part of their family anyway, because that was just the kind of community Duncrop was. Leaving town for Hogwarts, apparently, had not been an easy decision for her. Everyone she loved best in the world was there, and she'd never been certain that leaving home was the right choice.

And now she was alive, and they were all gone...and to think if Lin had chosen to stay, she'd never have had to go through this pain.

Lily reminded her, as gently as she could, that if Lin had stayed in Duncrop she'd be dead as well, but to the grieving girl this did not seem much comfort. "At--at least then I'd be with them," she'd sobbed.

Lily was not so very pleased to find that she understood this reasoning. She couldn't think what to say to make Lin feel happy she was still alive, but thankfully the girl didn't seem to need to hear anything more. She seemed content just to sob, for now, just to have someone to talk to and listen to her.

Lily could not help thinking how ironic and terrible it was that while three people from her own household had managed to escape the attack of the Death Eaters, no one from the small village of Duncrop, save Lin, had survived.

Even worse, however, was the fact that Lin blamed it on herself.

"They all knew!" she cried. "The whole village knew! They all knew I was a w--w--witch, and th-the D-d-death Eaters came be-because Muggles aren't sup--pp--pposed to kn--know, and it's all m-m-my fault!"

Lin had collapsed again onto the pillow and Lily had stared at her, dumbfounded. Similar thoughts had run through her mind when her family had been attacked. What could she say?

"Oh, Lin," Lily said. "It's not your fault. The Death Eaters would've come anyway. They're just...evil."

"That's not very comforting," Lin hiccupped.

"It's better than you beating yourself up for it the rest of your life."

Lin fell silent. She hiccupped again, and sniffed. Lily offered her the box of tissues. Lin blew her nose violently.

"I just...I want them back, you know?"

"I do know," Lily said.

"All summer...I just kept thinking...what if...what if one of them survived? Maybe one of the other kids hid in a cellar or...maybe Grandma Sandy was taking a trip to the neighboring village and they didn't get her, but..." Lin shook her head. "I spent the whole summer in a Muggle orphanage with kids I'd never seen before in my life, and they hated me. I cried all the time and I never wanted to play anything, and most of them couldn't even remember their parents so they d--d--don't know what it's like--"

Lily could think of nothing to do but hug her.

"I don't want to go back," Lin sobbed. "I just want to stay at Hogwarts forever. It's the only place in the wh--whole world that makes me feel safe."

Lin pulled away and wiped her eyes, hiccupping again. "And I'm telling you all this and you're leaving tomorrow and then I'll be all alone again for a month." She sniffled loudly before blowing her nose.

An idea sprung into Lily's head. "Dry your eyes, Lin. There's someone I want you to meet."

"Meet someone? Now?" Lin asked, looking at Lily as though she were crazy.

Lily nodded, standing. "I'm leaving tomorrow. Now is the only time we have."

Lin sniffed and complied, though she looked rather doubtful that she'd like this idea.

Lily made Lin go get her cloak and they met at the front doors. "Ready?" Lily asked. Lin shrugged noncommittally, and Lily led her outside.

Halfway there, Lin stopped and stared ahead of her. "We're going there?" she demanded.

Lily looked at the gamekeeper's hut and then back at Lin and nodded.

"He's kind of--scary, isn't he?"

"Hagrid? Oh, no. He's one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. Come on," Lily urged, holding out her hand. Lin took it dubiously and followed Lily to the front porch of Hagrid's hut. Lily knocked on the door and was immediately met with the sound of deafening barks.

"Don't mind Fang," Lily said over the noise. "He's just a big, innocent puppy."

"Back, Fang! Back!" they could hear from the other side of the door.

"Big...innocent...puppy," Lin gulped. "Right."

The door swung open to reveal Rubeus Hagrid holding his boarhand back in one hand and a tea kettle in the other.

"Ah, Lily! Good ter see yah! I was just makin' some tea. Come in, sit down," he invited, gesturing with the tea kettle. Keeping her distance from the steaming tea kettle, Lily obliged, and Lin followed her cautiously.

"Who's yer friend there, Lily?" Hagrid asked, letting Fang go and busying himself with the tea. Fang happily bounded over to where Lily and Lin were sitting on the couch and began slobbering all over Lily's lap.

"This is Lin," Lily replied. "She's a Gryffindor. Fourth year."

"Nice ter meet yeh, Lin. I'm Rubeus Hagrid. Yeh can jes' call me Hagrid, though. Would you both like a cup of tea?"

The girls nodded. "Er--nice to meet you, Hagrid," Lin said. Hagrid beamed at her, setting three cups of tea down on the table in front of them.

"Fudge?" He offered, returning to the kitchen.

"No, thanks," Lily said politely, but Lin perked at the mention of fudge.

"You have fudge?"

Hagrid chuckled. "Yep. I've been doin' some cookin'--experimentin' with different sorts of things--this is my latest batch o' treacle fudge. Help yerself," he offered, setting it down on the table.

Lily tried to indicate that eating this fudge was a bad idea, but Lin was oblivious.

Hagrid was curious about Lin, and once Lin unstuck her tea from the fudge, the two struck up a lively conversation. They discovered they both had a love for animals--and Lin, having got over her initial shock, was getting on fabulously with Fang. Lily smiled, relieved she'd brought the girl to the right place.

Tea was so enjoyable Lily lost track of time, and when she glanced at her watch and realized she only had an hour before the Halloween Feast started, she let out a little noise of terror and leaped to her feet.

"What's the matter, Lily? Forget somethin'?"

"Well...only the Halloween Ball. I have to go get ready."

"Is it tha' late already?" Hagrid asked, astonished. "I'd better make sure they didn't ruin my giant pumpkins," he said, standing and clearing up the tea.

"'Bye, Hagrid!" Lily called, halfway out the door. "See you later!"

"Nice meeting you," Lin said, following Lily.

"Come back anytime!" boomed Hagrid, calling out through the half-open door of his hut.

"Lily," Lin said, stopping her just as they reached the front doors of the castle. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Lin," Lily said, hugging her. They smiled at each other for a moment, then Lily snapped back into action. "I have to go get ready! I'll see you at the feast!"

"Bye, Lily!" Lin called as the Head Girl dashed away.

One hour. Melody had done everything she could think to do to make herself beautiful for this ball, and there was still one whole hour left before it started.

The other girls in her dormitory were still rushing around in a frenzy trying to get ready, but Melody was lounging on her bed, flipping through an old copy of Witch Weekly, trying not to mess up her hair or her dress or her make-up too badly. Her foot was twitching of its own accord, and Melody consciously made it stop, smoothing out the wrinkles it had caused in her dress.

The gown was white, with little gold ivy leaves stitched into it, so delicate you could barely tell they were ivy leaves, only that the gown was white and gold. The golden flecks in Melody's brown eyes stood out beautifully with the gold in the dress.

The gown had no sleeves except thin, detachable straps Melody put on because she thought it looked better that way--the straps were largely ineffective. The bodice was fitted and the gown came in at the waist, then pooled out again into a long, beautiful skirt. Not too poofy, but good to twirl in all the same. The skirt fell right down to her beautiful white heels, strappy and elegant with matching gold ivy imprints on them.

Her hair was curled again--long, luxurious, spiral curls that pooled gently on her shoulders. Her hair was pulled back a little on both sides with white hair clips that had sparkling diamonds in them. She wore little dangly earrings to match.

Make-up was simple. Light rosy colors over her eyes and on her cheeks, a little bit of gloss on her already-rosy lips, and...she was ready to go win Sirius back.

Lily was late for the feast. Thankfully, it didn't matter.

The students sat at their own House tables and ate first--with Dumbledore advising them to go light on the food so they'd be able to dance--and then all the students stood and the Headmaster made the House tables disappear. They were replaced instead by many smaller tables on one end of the Great Hall, and the rest of the room was left open for dancing. Music began to pour from some undetectable source and students poured onto the dance floor to have fun.

"You look beautiful," James said when he saw her. She wore the dress robes she'd worn for the New Year's Party last year, and she hadn't done anything with her hair, but James looked at her like she was the greatest thing since sliced bread anyway. "Come on, let's dance."

Melody was not late for the feast. She spent half an hour in agony, sitting many seats away from Sirius Black, wondering if he'd noticed her at all.

At least he wasn't sitting next to Mimi this time, she reasoned. That was better than nothing.

When the dancing started, she got her chance. Melody made sure she was the first person Sirius saw after the House tables disappeared.

"Wow," Sirius said. "Melody, you look amazing."

"Do you want to dance?" she offered. Sirius nodded and accepted.

They danced through most of one song before Mimi cut in and Melody was shuttled off to dance with some random Hufflepuff Sixth Year she'd never met before. His breath smelled like garlic and he kept calling her "Melanie" and she excused herself as quickly as she could.

She found a table where Peter was sitting alone and sat down next to him, glad to be sitting with someone who at least knew her name was Melody. Peter wasn't her favorite person in the world, but she could tolerate him now, and even had a small amount of pity for the way James and Sirius seemed to overshadow him.

"Not having fun dancing?" Peter asked, looking rather uncomfortable in his dress robes.

"No, I guess not," Melody replied.

"I hate dancing," Peter said, shaking his head. "I don't get how people do it."

"Well, it's not that hard," Melody assured him. "Don't tell me you don't know how to dance, Peter."

Peter sighed and laid his cheek on his hand. "I don't know how to do anything else. Why should dancing be different?"

Melody laughed. "Well, Peter--that's silly. Everyone can dance."

"I can't," he said miserably.

Melody looked at him for a second, and then did something that surprised herself. (She was surprising herself a lot these days.) "Peter, do you want me to teach you how to dance?"

Peter looked at her, surprised. "Oh, ha ha, very funny."

"I'm not joking," she assured him. "Do you want to?"

Peter didn't know whether or not to believe her. "You...really mean it? You'll teach me to dance?"

Melody nodded, extending a hand to him. "Come on. Everyone should be able to dance."

"Well--er--all right," Peter agreed, looking rather shocked. He took her hand and Melody led him to the dance floor.

Dancing with Peter was quite an experience. He really didn't know what he was doing, and he kept stepping on Melody's feet, but she found that if she showed him actual dance steps, as opposed to just trying to get him to move with the music, he did all right. This wasn't, of course, Melody's ultimate goal for the night, but it was something reasonably fun to do while she was waiting.

Plus, thanks to Melody's initiative, she wasn't the only girl who asked Peter to dance that night. Once people saw him up and dancing, they decided maybe he wouldn't be so bad to partner with after all. If he'd just stayed at that table sulking, Melody suspected, he'd never have danced with anybody.

After teaching Peter to dance, Melody switched partners frequently, until she somehow ended up with Remus.

"I could've killed you this morning, you know," she told him.

Remus laughed. "Oh, really, now? Well, aren't you glad I made you talk to him?"

Melody sighed, reluctant to admit her defeat. "I suppose I owe you a bit of thanks," she admitted.

"I guess I'll say you're welcome, even if you did call me a weasel-y little rat," he teased.

"Did Sirius tell you that?" Melody demanded. "I'm going to teach that boy a lesson! And speak of the devil..."

Mimi and Sirius were dancing relatively close to them, so Melody dragged Remus in their direction and made them swap partners.

Melody casually led Sirius away from Mimi and Remus. If she'd really cared about what he told Remus, she would have berated him for it. As it were, she really only wanted an excuse to be alone with him.

"Sirius," she asked after they'd been dancing for a couple minutes, "can we go somewhere and talk?"

Sirius looked surprised but shrugged. "Sure," he said, and they stopped dancing. Melody took his hand and led him out of the Great Hall, fairly certain no one had noticed them slipping away. There were several couples snogging outside the Great Hall, but Melody ignored them. She led Sirius down the hallway a bit and into a deserted classroom.

"What'd you want to talk to me about that was so important?" Sirius asked as soon as Melody had closed the door behind them.

Melody examined her fingernails a minute and then looked up at him. She'd rehearsed this in her head many times that afternoon, but all the words she'd thought of suddenly seemed worthless. "Sirius," she began, uncertain where this was going. Then she said the only thing that seemed worth saying. "I love you."

Sirius just stared at her for a minute. "Oh, Jesus Christ!" he yelled, smacking himself on the forehead.

Peter had never had so much fun in all his life. Well--all right--maybe going out on adventures with the Marauders was more fun. But he'd certainly never had this much fun with girls in all his life. And he'd never talked to so many girls in such a short expanse of time, either. In fact, he'd talked to so many girls tonight he couldn't even remember all of their names.

Was that a good thing, or a bad thing?

He supposed since he was having so much fun it was a good thing.

Well. He'd never expected he'd want to thank Melody Cauldwell for anything, but teaching him to dance was certainly the nicest thing she'd ever done for him.

If only he could find her, he would thank her, but he hadn't seen her in quite a while.

"Peter!"

Peter turned around, thinking it might be Melody, but no. It was Mimi. Peter wasn't too fond of Mimi. Then again, he wasn't too fond of Melody either, but he might've been glad to see her for once.

"You haven't seen Sirius, have you, Peter? I seem to have lost him."

Peter shook his head. "Nope. Not for a while."

Mimi sighed in irritation. "Well, if you see him, will you please tell him I'm looking for him?"

Peter nodded. "Sure," he replied. "Oh--have you seen Melody?"

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Like I keep track of that girl." But she thought for a minute anyway. "No, I haven't seen her. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen her since the last time I saw Sirius, so I bet wherever they are they're together."

Peter shrugged, and Mimi stalked off, still clearly irritated.

Mimi ran into James and Lily, who were sitting at a table with a couple of pitchers of pumpkin juice, relaxing. "You haven't seen Sirius anywhere, have you?" she asked hopefully.

James and Lily both shook their heads. "I haven't seen him for a while," Lily replied. "I think I saw him stepping into the hall a while ago. He should be back soon, though, since they're going to say a farewell-thingy to the Auror Training students in a minute."

Just then the music cut out and Professor Dumbledore asked all the Auror Training Students to come up to the Head table.

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Oh, great," she said. "You guys go on up there, I'll go find Sirius," she said, and disappeared into the crowd.

Sirius was silent. Melody stared at him. "Aren't...aren't you going to say anything?"

"Say anything?" Sirius asked, lifting his head out of his hand. "What do you want me to say, Melody? 'That's great'? 'Oh, really'? 'Hey, I loved you too'? What?"

"Loved?" Melody quavered.

Sirius didn't know if he could handle this. He'd pledged himself to one girl and promised to give up his obsession with Melody just this afternoon. Now, here, standing in front of him, looking too damn beautiful for her own damn good, was the girl he'd been fantasizing about for years, offering herself to him. Well, not offering herself, not that way, but still--confessing her feelings and baring her soul and blah blah blah...she was doing all that, wasn't she?

Sirius could have slapped her for it.

"You waited until now to tell me this?" he demanded, recovering from his initial shock.

"Well...um...yes," Melody replied, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

"You couldn't have told me this two months ago when I asked you if you loved me? You had to wait until now?" he said, beginning to feel a bit angry.

"Um...well..." Melody stammered. She'd tried to think this through, she really had, but it was all just...coming out wrong.

"You mean to tell me," Sirius continued, advancing on her, "that two months ago you could have told me you loved me, but you waited until now, the day before I'm leaving for Auror Training, the day my girlfriend and I decide we're really going to make a serious commitment to our relationship, you pick today to tell me you love me?"

"I--well--" Melody attempted as Sirius backed her against a wall.

"D'you think maybe, just maybe, YOU COULD'VE PICKED A BETTER TIME?" he thundered.

Melody, her back flat against the wall, looked up at him and blinked very quickly, trying not to cry. "So you don't love me?" she asked, her voice unsteady.

"Do I--Merlin's pants," Sirius said, smacking his hand into the wall next to Melody's head. She stared at it and then at him, thinking maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. "Melody," he said, more softly, leaning his other hand against the wall as he turned to face her, "if you had said any of this to me--even--even one day ago, I...I would've..."

Melody brushed her fingers across his lips and he stopped speaking. Sirius stood motionless as her hand traveled up his cheek, and was surprisingly non-resistant when she pulled his head down next to hers. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her mouth right next to Sirius's. Then she closed the gap between her lips and his, and Sirius wasn't motionless anymore.

He knew it was wrong to be kissing Melody, especially with all the things he'd said to Mimi this afternoon...but...damn it, life just wasn't fair, and he couldn't just let the girl he loved walk away again without at least kissing her once.

Melody was not troubled by any such thoughts. Even if she'd had such thoughts, she wouldn't have cared. It was Sirius, and he was kissing her, and...things felt right again. No more uncle. No more stupid parties. No more talk of money and shoes and dress robes and stupid petty gossip. Just Sirius. Just his lips and his tongue and his hands on her back and in her hair and the little butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. This was right. This was all she wanted. Just him. Just Sirius.

When was the last time she'd just let herself go? When was the last time she'd let all her troubles float away and just let herself be with someone?

She ran her hands through his hair, down his back, up his chest, and then he pulled her so close all she could do was wrap her arms around his neck, which was pleasant as well.

Melody sighed happily, thinking she could stay in this room with Sirius for the rest of the Halloween Ball and she really wouldn't care. The Ball wasn't important, anyway. Sirius was important, and he was leaving tomorrow, and she'd rather have memories of kissing than dancing.

But then the door opened, and Melody's fantasies shattered.

A suppressed shriek came from the doorway, and Melody and Sirius jerked apart. Melody turned around slowly, knowing who she'd see.

Mimi stood there, her hands clapped over her mouth, her eyes wide with anger and horror and all manner of things that made Melody glad she was not Sirius.

"Mimi, I can explain," Sirius said, and Mimi lowered her hands from her mouth, shaking her head.

"Explain? Explain? Do you think I need you to explain anything to me?"

"Just--just listen for a moment," Sirius begged.

"'Give it another try,' you said. 'There's obviously something there,' you said. 'Give up on Melody,' you said!" Mimi yelled. "You feed me this horseshit and I buy it and then I catch you making out with Melody in a deserted classroom the same day and you want me to listen for a moment?" she screeched. "SIRIUS BLACK, WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?"

Uh-oh. Maybe Melody should take some responsibility for this. "Mimi, I--" she began, rather meekly.

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING FROM YOU?" Mimi bellowed. Melody, who was not normally intimidated by Mimi, shrank as far back into the wall as she could.

"Please--Mimi--" Sirius tried again.

"No!" she shrieked. "I don't want to hear ANYTHING from you! You--you--evil--horrible--misleading--disgusting--awful--liar! I believed you! I trusted you! I actually thought you were attracted to me, and all this time you've been making out with her behind my back! SIRIUS BLACK, YOU MAKE ME SICK!" Mimi yelled, choking on a sob before turning and running out of the room.

Sirius and Melody stared at each other.

"Sirius," Melody managed finally, her voice shaky. "I...am...so...sorry."

Sirius turned away from her. "I don't want to hear anything, Melody. Just--just leave me alone," he said, rubbing his eyes and walking out of the room.

Melody slowly sank to the floor, bracing herself against the wall for support. Tears brimmed in her golden-brown eyes. Her hands clutched the carpet as soon as they hit it, and she looked around helplessly, trying not to cry.

That had not gone at all the way she'd planned.