Eyes as Green as a Fresh Pickled Toad

Chapter Eighteen

The Necklace

Lily really needed to snog someone. Well--all right, not someone, she needed to snog James, but James wasn't exactly available at the moment, so a mysterious someone would suffice. She'd been so busy the past couple weeks she hadn't really thought about it much, but Disguises and Cloaking practice left her a surprising amount of time alone, and leaving Lily Evans alone with her thoughts was always a dangerous venture.

Actually, Lily was rather surprised with herself. She imagined that during her spare time she might've thought about Sirius's dilemma with Mimi and Melody, or her mysterious necklace, or Lin, or the fact that she was quickly running out of Dreamless Sleep Potion, or even--God forbid--Auror Training, but no, instead she was daydreaming about James.

His eyes are really...brown... she thought to herself dreamily, staring at a piece of tree bark. Kind of like that, but...warmer....

"EVANS!"

Lily jumped and looked up to see Alastor Moody towering over her.

"What?" Lily replied, looking around and jerking herself back to the present. "Holy Mother of Merlin!" she exclaimed, leaping to her feet.

She was supposed to be finding a new hiding place, but she'd gotten so distracted thinking of James she hadn't bothered to move from her old one.

"Focus, Evans, focus!" Moody barked, before Disapparating with a pop!

Lily cursed at herself for a moment before running off to find a new hiding spot.

She wasn't quite sure where the Portkey had taken her Training group, but wherever it was, it was hot. And muggy. And bug-ridden. Sure, it was beautiful and tropical and everything, but that didn't quite make up for getting drenched with rain every two hours and being subsequently attacked by mosquitoes the size of house cats. (Well--all right, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration; Moody did put some sort of bug-repellent spell on all of them every morning so that they never actually got attacked by these bugs, but Lily had seen them, and just looking at them was enough to gross her out.)

Mostly Lily was concerned about the state of her hair. She'd heard Naomi Collins whining about her hair as well, but Lily thought Naomi was full of tosh, as her hair didn't get all frizzy and poofy and stick out a foot on either side of her head each time it rained.

And she'd always supposed tropical rainforests to be so...romantic.

Imagine if James saw me like this, Lily thought in horror, attempting to smooth down her frizzy locks. Maybe it's a good thing he isn't here after all...

Though of course if he was here I could just tell him to close his eyes and kiss me and he wouldn't even have to look at my hair...

Except that he likes running his hands through my hair, and that would just be horrible, because it doesn't feel very nice right now; in fact, it's positively dreadful, and tangled, and...thank goodness James isn't here...it's bad enough Sirius is here to see it...

Of course, Sirius had hair problems of his own. Normally his hair was very smooth and silky-feeling, and fell into his eyes with a sexy sort of grace. The humidity, however, zapped all the elegance out if it, and it was depressingly limp. Sirius, of course, would not admit that he cared about his hair having gone limp, but Lily had caught him fussing over it in the mirror inside the tent yesterday morning when he thought all the girls were still asleep.

At any rate, Lily would be glad when Auror Training was over, because she really missed James, she missed her wand, she missed her potions, and--most importantly--she missed her conditioner.

But enough of that. Right now, she was supposed to be concentrating.

Where to hide, where to hide? Lily wondered, shoving her way through a clump of overgrown leaves. She purposefully avoided a large, sticky spider web and glanced around for an opportune hiding spot.

Above the canopy, thunder rumbled, and Lily glared upwards. The humidity was bad enough already...her hair, though she'd knotted into a nice secure bun just after breakfast, was sticking out in every direction it could stick out, and no matter how many times she smoothed it down, it always frizzed back up again. Additionally, her clothes were already uncomfortably damp. She wasn't sure if it was the humidity or her own sweat, but her shirt and shorts both felt rather dewy. Lily, in an attempt to assuage some of this feeling, unbuttoned the bottom half of her shirt and pulled it up, tying the front ends in a knot above her waist. After taking a moment to note how pathetically pale her stomach was, Lily sighed and tramped on through the forest.

So far, nothing in Auror Training had gone the way she expected. The Ministry work had been demeaning and pointless, and this part of training, though it did seem more useful, wasn't exactly Lily's forte. Where does Potions come in? she wondered. All prospective Aurors were required to take N.E.W.T. level Potions classes, and Lily did extremely well in hers, but there didn't seem to be much call for Potions in the middle of a rainforest.

She stumbled through another mass of overgrown leaves and into a little grove, where a tall, thin waterfall dropped into a small, shallow pool. She could see a cave behind the sheet of water, and debated for several minutes whether this was a good hiding place.

Not really, she conceded. Three days of Auror training had taught her something, because she could tell just by the appeal of the cave as a hiding place why it wasn't a good hiding place. Too obvious, she thought to herself, and sighed, preparing to bypass the cave and look for somewhere else to disappear to.

Wish I could just disappear, she thought miserably. Really powerful wizards had the ability to conceal themselves at will, and she was sure that for them this part of training would be obsolete.

Lily took one last look at the cave behind the waterfall and sighed. Moody'll probably come find me before I can find another hiding place anyway...and...oh, sod it, I'll just make myself look stupid again, it won't be any worse than usual!

She tramped over to the shallow pool and splashed into it, skirting around the waterfall and climbing into the cave. All she needed now was an alcove...or a big rock to crouch behind...and then she could wait for Moody to find her and berate her for being silly. She slipped into the shadows underneath an overhang and sighed, wondering if she would ever get the hang of any of this Auror Training stuff.

Lily picked up her necklace and fiddled with it, staring down at the golden "L" pendant absently. She vaguely wondered what James was up to, if he was having any fun...if he missed her at all....

"Evans!" Moody barked, appearing suddenly and yanking her out of her hiding space. "This is pathetic!"

Lily stared pointedly at the ground and tried, without success, not to feel foolish.

"We've been working on Cloaking for three days now, and you're smarter than this!" he snapped, and Lily's head jerked up with equal force. She blinked at him, astonished. "You're just being lazy now, and that's not acceptable. Now go find a real hiding place, because I'm not letting you back to camp until you do!"

Moody Disapparated, and Lily stood alone in the cave for a moment, still shocked. Moody thinks I'm...smart?

Relief flooded in her chest and a small smile tweaked the corners of her lips.

Well then...maybe I'm not completely hopeless after all.

November 16

Remus-

I'm at the Ministry now and we're allowed to send owls, so be sure to send me one back because compared to last week this is ridiculously boring. Of course maybe that's because my dad's the Minister and I've been to the Ministry a thousand times, but who knows? I think some of the other students are having trouble here, but I don't see them very often so it's hard to tell.

Anyway, how is life at Hogwarts? Boring? I hope the end of next week goes all right. Sirius and I will be back before it's all over though, so at least we can still have some fun out of it.

Speaking of which, have you heard anything from Sirius? Or any of the people from the other training group? I haven't. I hope they're doing all right.

Not much to report here, except Adam Johnson and Vivian Horvath fight all the time and it's really annoying.

-James

Mimi was getting used to detentions. It probably wasn't a good thing that she was getting so used to detentions, but still, she supposed being used to them was better than bursting into hysterical tears over them. She'd shared yesterday's detention with a first year, who thought getting a detention was the most shameful thing in the world, and who'd howled miserably the entire time they were in the Astronomy Tower cleaning Professor Sinistra's high-powered telescope.

Tonight's detention was blissfully silent. True, she'd been assigned to Filch, but he kept running off to chase rogue students, so for the most part she was alone. She had to re-copy some of Filch's files--detention records from the 1940's--and filing them in a brand-new file folder. Mimi wasn't positive that they were Filch's files, but they belonged to him now, so if they'd been kept by the caretaker before Filch, it didn't really matter. The work was tedious, but not very demanding, and Mimi had time to mull over things as she wrote.

Ironically, now that Mimi had to take her detentions alone, she half-wished Melody was there with her. The girls hadn't quite made up yet...in fact, they hadn't even spoken since the fight in McGonagall's office...but Mimi was ready to. She'd spent most of the weekend thinking about their fights, and the reason for the fighting, and she'd long concluded that the whole thing was stupid; that although she had been attracted to Sirius, she'd never felt the way for him Melody did, and besides there was no point fighting over someone who wasn't even there.

Not that it would have been any better if Sirius had been there--he didn't need to have his ego inflated any further with the knowledge that girls were now literally fighting over him--but at least he'd be around to see some of the damage he'd caused.

Lily, of course, insisted that Sirius felt positively terrible about the whole ordeal, and while Mimi enjoyed the thought of Sirius squirming, she didn't quite believe it. How could she, when he'd practically told her that he preferred Melody's company to her own? So while she wanted to set things right with Melody, she hadn't quite forgiven Sirius.

And this was another reason she hadn't spoken to Melody yet. If she made up with Melody, and things were set right between them, when Sirius got back he wouldn't have to deal with all of the crap Mimi and Melody had been forced to deal with in his absence. To him, everything would be perfectly peachy, and he'd probably start dating Melody as soon as he could, leaving Mimi in the lurch again.

Mimi didn't really want to go out with Sirius again after all that had happened...but that didn't mean she couldn't still make him feel guilty about what he'd done to her...did it?

She supposed Sirius and Melody going out wouldn't be too terrible a thing...really, if she thought about it honestly, her own relationship with Sirius hadn't done anything more than delay the inevitable. Melody and Sirius had been skirting around a relationship for years, and they might as well just get it over and done with now, so Sirius couldn't break any more hearts trying to get to Melody's.

Not that Mimi's heart was exactly broken, per se, but it was a little bit bruised. Her ego, more than anything, had gotten hurt, but Melody had apologized enough already to assuage that a little, and if she could just get some sort of heartfelt apology from Sirius, everything might be all right.

Sirius, of course, did not know any of this, and Mimi had no intention of enlightening him. Just because she thought it might be all right if he started dating Melody didn't mean she was going to tell him so. She wanted him to suffer a bit, just the way she'd suffered, and she wouldn't mind seeing him prostrate himself in front of her and beg her for forgiveness, either.

R. Hagrid, she wrote absently. Sneaking into Forbidden Forest. Detention.

Was it really fair to Melody, though, for Mimi to refuse to speak to her for another week and a half just because she wanted Sirius to suffer more?

What could Mimi say, though? "Hey, I'm sorry, let's forget about this and be friends again"?

Could it really be that simple?

Maybe I should talk to Remus about it, she considered. He usually gives pretty good advice....

But no, she'd already laid her burdens on Remus a hundred times in the last two weeks, and she was sure he was sick of listening to her prattle on about it.

I wish Lily were still at the Ministry...I could send her an owl and ask her for advice....

Mimi thought about this for a moment. She'd probably tell me to stop being stupid and just go make up with Melody. And she'd probably be right.

Still, though...just because Mimi knew what she ought to do didn't mean she was going to do it.

She sighed and snatched another card out of Filch's file. T. Riddle, she wrote, feeling bored. Out of bed after hours. Detention.

God, did this caretaker do anything besides give out detentions? Mimi wondered. And why were all the people at Hogwarts in the 1940's so boring, anyway? Didn't anyone pull pranks there?

She tossed T. Riddle's card aside and grabbed another one just as Filch reappeared.

"You're not being very neat," he wheezed, having clearly just failed to capture another student out-of-bed. Mimi rolled her eyes and picked up T. Riddle's card, placing it carefully into the appropriate file.

"That's better," he said reprovingly, sitting down on the other side of the desk. Mimi had to work hard not to roll her eyes again, now that Filch could actually see her. She bent over the next card, pretending to study it carefully, and her mind drifted back to Sirius and Melody.

Oh, to hell with it, she decided finally. I might as well just go up to Melody tomorrow and apologize and get it over with.

This thought made her feel a little better, and she zoomed through the cards after that, ignoring Filch's inane babbling about the punishments he wished he could enforce on the students.

I can't wait until Friday when this is all over, Mimi thought, sighing inwardly. Four more days...

November 17

James-

PRAISE ALLAH! You have no idea how horrible it's been here. Melody and Mimi are fighting, and since Lily's gone they've both decided that they have to talk to ME about all their problems, and I think all this girly talk is making me lose my mojo.

And no, I haven't heard from Lily. (Nice job trying to be subtle, by the way. It almost worked. It probably would've worked better if you hadn't written J.P. + L.E. in little hearts all over the back of your parchment. Just a thought, mate.)

Maybe you could owl Melody and ask her if Lily's sent her any owls about how much she misses you, how she's just PINING for you and can't stand being separated from you for this long, the agony is just too great!!!

Maybe you should compose an epic sonnet about how much you miss each other, about how the poor depressed Lily-bean plant cannot bear to live without her ickle Prongsie for more than a day before she starts wilting in depression...it would be beautiful...

O, the laste day I saw my dearest Darlingest Lily-bean plante,

She did blossome in my presence, and open her buds to me

And when we parted, she did wilteh, woefully soe

And as I started my epic journey, I heard her wailing in despaire

That she might never see my mussed-up black lockes again,

Oh that she might never set gaze upon that wondrous of most wondrous heads of haire,

That looketh as though the Lord himself did create my shiny wondrous black haire when I was a wee babe,

And then set about to shove my finger into the nearest electrical outlete

So that it did stick up in every direction forevermore...

It would be beautiful, James, I think you should do it.

-Remus

Mimi chickened out. She meant to go up and apologize to Melody, she really did, but things just kept getting in her way.

Susie and Matt, for example. They'd accompanied Mimi to breakfast, and upon encountering Melody in the hallway had both sneered rather viciously in her direction. Mimi had attempted to smile and wave apologetically, but by that time Melody had already stuck her chin into the air defiantly and quickened her pace to catch up with Remus and Peter, who were just down the hall.

Mimi had meant to say something at breakfast, but Melody ate very quickly and dashed out of the Great Hall before she got a chance. Melody didn't take Arithmancy, so that class was no good, and by the time Mimi got to Charms she'd lost some of her resolve.

Charms class was a bit hectic anyway, so Mimi doubted she would have had time to talk to Melody, even if she hadn't sat herself on the side of the room farthest from Mimi.

At the end of class, however, fate intervened. Both girls reached the door at the same time, and they halted, staring at each other.

Mimi gave a small smile. "You go ahead," she offered.

Melody blinked and looked at her for a moment, surprised. An expression of relief slowly crept over her face and she hesitantly returned Mimi's smile. "Thanks," she said quietly, walking out the door.

Mimi followed her out and took the opposite direction, toward Ravenclaw Tower. Even though the girls were heading separate directions, however, Mimi felt as though they'd bridged a small gap. She hadn't managed to apologize, exactly, but she'd at least taken the first step towards setting things right, and for today, that was good enough.

November 18

Moony-

You're a real prat, you know that?

WHAT, exactly, are you suggesting Lily and I do in our free time????

And I've never even SEEN an electrical outlet, except for those pictures they showed us in Muggle Studies.

What kind of sonnet was that, anyway? I hope you didn't write down a copy of it. If you ever show any of that to Lily I'm going to turn you into a chamber pot.

And I'm going to start writing letters to Peter instead of you, you barmy codger.

-James

Lin regarded Wendy sadly from across the Potions dungeon and sighed. Her former best friend was sharing a table with Lucy, Gillian, and Rachel, and they were all twittering over some stupid story or another that Lucy had just told.

Oh, who cares about Lucy's stupid stories anyway? Lin thought grumpily, tossing some roots into her cauldron rather carelessly. Just because Wendy's become shallow enough to enjoy them...

"Earth to Lin..."

Lin blinked and tried to figure out if someone had spoken to her, or if she'd just imagined it.

"Are you even paying attention?"

"What?" Lin replied, sliding her gaze from the giggling girls across the dungeon to the face of her (rather more attractive) lab partner, Anthony Hall.

"You just spilled about half of our roots on the floor," he informed her, pointing.

"Oh...oops," Lin said, her cheeks going pink. She stooped to collect the roots.

"What were you thinking about, anyway?" Anthony asked, sounding amused.

"Oh...nothing," Lin said bitterly, shooting another look across the dungeon as she dumped the recovered roots into their cauldron.

"Ah," Anthony said, following her gaze. He decided not to press the matter. "Would you like to stir it, or should I?"

"You go ahead," Lin said, wrinkling her nose at the potion, which was rather smelly. "I'll measure out this newt extract."

She tried not to let her thoughts wander back to Wendy, but a burst of giggling from across the dungeon ruined her concentration. Distracted, she poured out far more newt extract than necessary, and had trouble siphoning the liquid back into its original jar.

"You sure you don't want to stir this potion?" Anthony pressed, eyeing the puddle of newt extract Lin was making on the table.

"No," Lin snapped, slamming her measured jar of newt extract back onto the counter. "I'm fine."

Anthony raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. Lin hastily wiped off the tabletop.

"You ready for the newt extract yet?" she asked after a minute, more subdued.

"Not yet," Anthony replied, checking the potion. "Give it a couple more minutes."

He set down the spoon he'd been using to stir the potion and cast a furtive glance at his lab partner. Lin, in another attempt to ignore Wendy and her stupid giggly friends, picked up a pair of tongs and poked at the tray of shriveled eyeballs on their table, frowning.

"Hey, Lin?" Anthony ventured after a moment, and Lin looked up, surprised.

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry about those girls."

Lin raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

"I mean, they're not that great," he said, his words tumbling out more quickly now.

"You don't think so?"

"Nah," Anthony replied, scratching his head nervously. "I mean--I'd take your company over theirs any day."

Lin felt warmth creeping into her cheeks. The corners of her mouth tweaked upward. "You--you think so?" she asked, clearing her throat and trying not to grin like an idiot.

"Yeah," Anthony said, a stupid grin plastering itself across his face. Lin couldn't help grinning back.

She hadn't felt this good in weeks.

James was getting rather annoyed with Remus. Who'd given him the authority to write sonnets about Lily, anyway? And what, exactly, did he have against James's hair?

James scowled at himself in the mirror and attempted to smooth down his hair, but it didn't work.

Honestly, could he help it if his hair grew all over the place? It didn't look that bad...did it? Obviously James knew that sometimes his hair could use some work, but at other times, the messy-ness made it looked almost windswept, and that was sort of...sexy...wasn't it?

Lily's certainly never complained, he thought, frowning.

He hoped to God Sirius never got wind of any of this. James would never live it down.

Or worse...what if Lily got wind of it? James shuddered at the thought.

He could only imagine the hexes she would use on Moony for embellishing so greatly on her Lily-bean nickname...and even worse than that, she might start making fun of James's hair. James didn't know if he could handle that...not from Lily, anyway. Not from the girl who'd spent hours running her hands through his hair. That would be too frustrating for words.

Maybe he just didn't want Lily to mock him. She teased him enough as it was, and she didn't need any help from Moony to poke fun at him.

James was only briefly annoyed with this imaginary Lily, however, before he considered just how much he missed Lily's playful teasing.

Two and a half weeks, he though miserably. It's been eighteen days since I've gotten any kind of action. That's just...that's just...well, that's just wrong, isn't it?

Not that he only missed the 'action,' of course. He also missed...hearing her talk. Watching her talk. Slipping his arm around her waist. Lacing his fingers through hers. That funny little jolt he got in his stomach whenever he saw that distinctive red hair swinging its way into Potions class or bobbing down the hallway...that sweet, fruity scent he associated with the aforementioned hair....

Mostly, though, he missed how warm she was...the way she sidled up against him when they were sitting side-by-side...how soft her mouth was....

Damn, James thought, flopping back onto his pillow. I don't know what I've got for Lily, but whatever it is, I've got it bad.

Lily dug through her bag, searching for her Dreamless Sleep Potion. She found the small silver bottle easily enough and pulled it out, removing the cork. She swirled around the bottle's contents, trying to ascertain just how much potion she had left. A week's worth at best, she thought grimly, replacing the cork. Only one more week until she ran out and the dreams started again...and she still had a full week and a half of Auror Training left.

"Bullocks," Lily whispered, staring at the bottle. How could I have run out so quickly?

"What's that?" came a chirpy voice from the tent flap. Lily jumped and dropped the bottle, cursing as it rolled underneath her cot.

"Just some...medicine," she lied, crawling underneath her mattress to retrieve it. "Oh, shit," she said, noticing the puddle growing underneath the bottle. She snatched it off the ground and jammed her finger onto the cork, making sure it was completely secure before placing the bottle back in her bag.

So much for having a week's worth left, she thought darkly, sending silent curses in Naomi's direction.

"What kind of medicine?" Naomi wanted to know.

"For allergies," Lily snapped. "What do you want?"

"Supper's ready," Naomi said, frowning. "And you don't have to be so rude," she huffed, turning and flouncing out of the tent.

Lily's shoulders sagged after she'd gone, and she put her head in her hands.

What am I going to do?

No one else knew about her nightmares...except James...and she really didn't want to wake up screaming in front of the other Training Students. Especially not Naomi. She'd never understand.

Sally probably wouldn't, either, come to think of it. Neither would Sirius, but Lily at least knew he cared about her, and she wouldn't feel quite as uncomfortable confessing her troubles to Sirius as she would to Sally or Naomi.

"Lily?" came another voice from the tent flap, and Lily lifted her head out of her hands. "Are you all right?"

It was Sirius.

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm just...not very hungry right now, that's all."

Her stomach rumbled angrily in protest.

"Well, there goes that excuse," Sirius said, giving her a little half-grin. "What's really on your mind?"

Lily shrugged. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, come now, Lily-bean," Sirius protested, sitting down on the bed across from her, and Lily glared at him. "I've complained to you dozens of times already on this trip. Surely you can talk to me about something."

Lily considered this for a long moment. She could give Sirius some codswallop about missing James...or missing Hogwarts or feeling inadequate about all this Auror Training business...and it wouldn't be completely untrue, but it wasn't what was really on her mind, and she was afraid Sirius would see through the lie.

"You're probably right," Lily said quietly, "but now really isn't the best time to have this discussion."

Sirius surveyed her for a moment. "All right," he said finally. "But we are going to discuss it."

"Eventually," Lily agreed. After the Dreamless Sleep Potion runs out, I won't have a choice. "But for now, let's go eat. What's for supper?"

"Some really disgusting-looking stew."

"Mm--sounds wonderful," Lily said sarcastically.

"Yeah, it's hideous," Sirius agreed. "I've had two bowlfuls already."

Lily snorted in amusement. "Hard to please, you are."

"What can I say?" Sirius grinned, holding the tent flap open for her. "I was just born to wreak havoc."

November 19

James-

I just thought I'd let you know that I laughed so hard when I wrote that letter, and laughed so hard when I got your last owl, that I cried, and used a grand total of twenty-three pieces of tissue to wipe my face off.

That was brilliant. We ought to do that more often.

-The Poet Moony

Lin hunched over her Transfiguration book in the library, trying to suppress the roaring It growing inside her. Not again, she pleaded, closing her eyes as a sudden nausea swept through her system. Her vision clouded, and her head plopped onto the Transfiguration book as her eyes responded to images that weren't there...to cries and screams and Death Eater masks hundreds of miles away....

Bellatrix and Siegfried weren't dead...yet. The Dark Lord hadn't punished them, exactly, but they could sense his displeasure. Their assignments now were far more menial--demeaning, even--and Bellatrix swore she could see the other Death Eaters smirking at her from beneath their masks. But Bellatrix and Siegfried had plans. If they were going to be on the bad side of the Dark Lord, they weren't going to be there long.

Bellatrix examined herself in the mirror. She turned around, surveying her dress and wondering if it was maybe a bit too tight for the occasion. Deep blue and elegant, the garment matched Bellatrix's eyes and hugged her curves, its neckline scooping between her breasts with just the right amount of suggestion. Her lips curved into a self-satisfied smile. Then again, perhaps it's perfect, she thought, envisioning the company she was about to be in. Lucifer always did have a lust for younger women.

"Are you ready?" asked Siegfried, leaning against the doorframe.

"Mm," Bellatrix replied, fastening a slinky silver chain around her neck. "Nearly."

Siegfried's eyes ran over her curves hungrily. Bellatrix caught him looking and smirked.

"Not until later, darling. What would Mr. Malfoy say if we were late?"

"You're an evil woman, Bellatrix. You wore that dress on purpose."

Bellatrix smiled and turned away from her mirror. "Innocent little me?" she joked, walking toward him and fluttering her eyelashes. "Who do you think I'm trying to entice, dear? You, or Mr. Malfoy?"

"Does it matter?" Siegfried replied as she neared him, grabbing her waist. His lips fell hot on her skin, and Bellatrix's breath caught as his kisses descended down her neck, across her chest, into the deep "v" where her neckline plunged, and--

Bellatrix caught his hand as he attempted to push away the fabric covering her breasts and shoved his mouth away from her chest. "Honestly, Siegfried," she snapped, trying to sound annoyed, but her face was rather flushed. "Can't you control yourself for five minutes?"

"It's a compliment, darling," Siegfried protested, but his next kiss landed on her lips and did not linger.

Bellatrix tried not to be disappointed, and reminded herself that she hadn't gotten dressed up for Siegfried--she'd gotten dressed up for Malfoy.

She sincerely hoped, however, that Mr. Malfoy would not have the same reaction to her outfit that Siegfried had.

Lucifer Malfoy glanced at his watch and sighed. Bellatrix and Siegfried weren't late yet, but they weren't going to be early, either, and Lucifer hated waiting. He ordered another glass of wine and waited impatiently for the waiter to return.

In the chair to his right, Hans Cauldwell shifted uneasily and glanced around the restaurant, his gaze lingering momentarily on a plate of steaming crab legs. Hans was a portly wizard who enjoyed eating, and the recent dip in his finances, Lucifer knew, was costing him precious luxuries. His face reflected these changes; his second chin had receded almost completely since July, and he had a look of constant hunger in his eyes, although whether this look was for food or for money it was sometimes hard to tell.

Lucifer, though several years Hans's senior, had aged much better, and managed to stay more fit. Hans clearly did not have Lucifer's self-control, which was why, now, Hans was overweight, balding, and losing control of his fortune, and Lucifer was fit, elegantly graying, and slowly seizing control of Hans's assets--which included a very nice summer home in Majorca, a lovely mistress named Catalina, and, at some point in the future, an even lovelier niece.

Siegfried and Bellatrix arrived almost exactly on time. At the sight of Bellatrix, Hans got an obvious look of desperation in his eyes, and Lucifer made a mental note to order him a large steak so he would be otherwise occupied for most of dinner.

"Mr. Lestrange, Miss Black, how kind of you to join us," Lucifer greeted them. "Please, have a seat."

"We are not late, Mr. Malfoy," Bellatrix noted, eyeing Hans with a certain amount of suspicion, "so don't be annoyed with us if you've been left waiting."

Lucifer smiled. "Please, sit down."

Bellatrix regarded him with a raised eyebrow and sank into her seat.

They didn't discuss much over dinner; finances, politics, and this year's Christmas Season came up, but Lucifer could see Bellatrix growing impatient to reach their real topic of conversation by the time the supper plates were cleared. Hans looked rather sorry to see the plates go--which was surprising, considering he'd just consumed a slab of meat larger than his head--and Lucifer sighed inwardly. He expected Hans would order an equally enormous dessert.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy," Bellatrix said, taking a sip of her wine. "I believe you are aware of our...situation. I assume both you and Mr. Cauldwell have something useful to contribute?"

"Together, Mr. Cauldwell and I have collected certain information that appears to be...applicable to your cause."

Bellatrix leaned forward a bit in her seat.

"We're listening, Mr. Malfoy," Siegfried said, attempting to look less interested than his partner.

"Hans is familiar with a man named Philippe Gerard--perhaps you've heard of him?"

Bellatrix and Siegfried exchanged a glance, and Bellatrix gave a small shake of her head. "No," she replied. "We haven't."

Lucifer nodded. "Monsieur Gerard is involved in business, primarily--he is the owner of several night clubs--but he is also an avid private collector. Among these collections is a particularly fine selection of jewelry."

Bellatrix raised one eyebrow and traded another quick glance with Siegfried.

"Hans, please elaborate," Lucifer offered, and Hans hurried to swallow.

He made a show of clearing his throat before speaking. "My associate, Monsieur Gerard, happened upon a very fine piece of jewelry last summer--a necklace, as it were. He noticed a girl wearing this piece through the security monitors in one of his nightclubs. He had her escorted to his private office to discuss the purchase of the jewel. She refused to sell, claiming she had other, far better, offers, but Monsieur Gerard believes she was merely bluffing."

"Surely you're not going to leave out the delightful part about your niece, Hans?" Lucifer interjected, amused. Hans sent him a sharp glance, and Lucifer raised his eyebrows and smiled, waiting for him to speak.

Hans hadn't wanted any part of this--he'd had enough of Lucifer's dealings--and all he wanted now was to marry off his niece and seal their original deal. Lucifer, however, liked having Hans as a puppet, and didn't want him to get too far out grasp before the wedding to Hans's niece. Involving him in this deal was an excellent way to keep Hans close in the meantime.

"Ah--inconsequently," Hans said finally, looking unhappy, "my niece accompanied the girl to Monsieur Gerard's office. I was looking for her at the time, and Monsieur Gerard was kindly able to ascertain her whereabouts for me."

"A favor that you surely intend to repay in the future," Lucifer said bemusedly. "Please, continue."

Hans took a drink of water and shot a wary glance at Lucifer before continuing.

"The full value of the necklace is indeed unknown, and whether or not the girl possesses the exact jewel Monsieur Gerard is searching for is impossible to say. However--he is willing to pay you a considerable amount of money to retrieve it for him. Should you choose to accept his offer, I believe it will be beneficial to all parties involved."

Bellatrix narrowed her eyes. "What does this have to do with us?"

"Here is a picture of the girl who was wearing the necklace," Lucifer said, sliding a photograph across the table. "It is an image taken from one of Monsieur Gerard's security monitors."

Bellatrix picked up the photograph, and Siegfried craned his neck to see. A smiling, freckled girl with startlingly green eyes filled the picture. A simple gold chain with a pendant in the shape of a cursive letter "L" hung around her neck.

"I believe this is one of the victims you failed to kill last summer?" Lucifer said calmly.

Bellatrix's eyes widened, and she looked up at him incredulously. "How did you...?"

He grinned. "I'm afraid that is confidential, Miss Black. However, I trust this will aid you in your quest to redeem yourselves?"

"I believe it will," Siegfried replied. "I have a question for you, however."

"By all means, ask," Lucifer invited him, taking a sip of his wine.

"Why isn't Monsieur Gerard here tonight?"

Lucifer nodded and set his wine down. "Monsieur Gerard is, unfortunately, out of the country. He will be back within a fortnight, however, and he is prepared to meet with you then to discuss the details of your arrangement."

Bellatrix's eyes narrowed again. "A fortnight? Mister Malfoy, I don't mean to be rude, but--"

"I realize, Miss Black, that you are in dire straits. However, there is no point in attempting to take action within the next two weeks, as your exploits will do little good without a benefactor."

"All we want is the girl. Why should Monsieur Gerard's fetish for jewelry interest us?"

Lucifer laughed politely. He leaned forward and laced his hands together before speaking again. "I believe, Miss Black, that it would do you a great deal of good to investigate the necklace's history before you take any rash action."

Bellatrix's gaze slid sideways at Siegfried, who seemed unaffected by Lucifer's statement. "Very well," she said finally. "I trust you can identify this girl for us?"

"Her name is Lily Evans. She's a--friend of your niece's, isn't she, Hans?"

Hans clearly hadn't expected to be involved in any more of the conversation, and he choked on his wine. "Y--yes," he responded, his face rather red.

"Hans is a bit ashamed of his niece, you see. Associating with Mudbloods and all." He shook his head, feigning sadness. "Such a pity. Brilliant girl, his niece. Pretty, too. Isn't she, Hans?" Lucifer threw at him, feeling more amused by the second.

Hans's face turned rather redder--an interesting look for someone not normally prone to a ruddy complexion. "Yes, she's lovely," he managed tightly, and Lucifer smiled winningly at Bellatrix and Siegfried, who by this point both looked rather confused.

"Well, I believe that's all we have to discuss for tonight," he said finally. "Someone should be in contact within a week to set up your meeting with Monsieur Gerard."

Bellatrix traded another glance with Siegfried, who nodded, and they both rose.

"Oh," Lucifer added, and the pair across from him froze. "If you're going to be investigating that necklace, I suggest you start with the name Delany."

"Thank you for the lovely meal, Mister Malfoy," Bellatrix said after a moment's pause, nodding. Lucifer smiled and lifted his wine glass to her in a silent toast. "Mister Cauldwell, it was nice meeting you."

Hans nodded, but appeared to still be recovering from his choking on the wine.

"Have a good evening, gentlemen," Siegfried said, nodding politely, before turning and linking his arm through Bellatrix's and leading her through the restaurant.

"Well, Lucifer Malfoy seems to be working enough angles for one person," Bellatrix said, kicking her shoes off.

"How so?" Siegfried inquired, uncorking a bottle of wine.

"Because, he--darling, don't you think you've had enough wine for one night?" she asked despairingly.

Siegfried looked at the bottle and considered. "Just a small, glass, then," he said, and Bellatrix sighed.

"Fair enough."

"Anyway, you were saying?"

"Oh, yes. Well, clearly Cauldwell didn't need to be there."

"Didn't he? He seemed to know more about Monsieur Gerard than Lucifer did."

"Oh, tosh," Bellatrix said, stretching herself out across the sofa. Siegfried, holding his glass of wine, sat in the chair across from her. "Lucifer knew enough about Monsieur Gerard to tell us what we needed to know. He's just stringing Cauldwell along for something, though I can't imagine what."

Siegfried shrugged. "Why does it matter?"

"I don't know," Bellatrix replied, frowning. "You know what else bothers me?"

"Hm?"

"How Lucifer is making us arrange this whole deal with Monsieur Gerard, but he doesn't seem to care if Monsieur Gerard gets his end of it."

Siegfried frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well...I know he's setting us up a meeting with Monsieur Gerard and everything, but...there must be some reason he advised us to research this necklace. Do you think...do you think he knows more about it than he's letting on?"

"That's possible, but why should a piece of jewelry matter to us?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm so confused," Bellatrix said, and bit her lip, considering. "What was that name he gave us again? Delany?"

"Sounds right," Siegfried said, downing the last of his wine.

"We should look up something on it tomorrow."

"I'll leave you to the book work, dear. I was never very good at research," Siegfried said, smiling, and set down his wine glass.

Bellatrix pouted. "Siegfried, I really think you ought to--"

"Dear," he interrupted. "Let's not worry about that tonight." He considered Bellatrix's figure lying on the couch, and got that hungry look in his eyes again. "Let's concentrate on other things...for the moment."

He slid out of his chair and leaned over Bellatrix's figure on the couch. Bellatrix smiled as his lips came down upon hers, and then traded in her thoughts for pure animal sensation and delight.

Anthony found Lin slumped over her Transfiguration textbook. He had no way of knowing what visions were taking over her mind, but something in her posture made him worry.

She was just...limp. Not sleeping, not even breathing, really, that he could see...she was just lying there, unfocused and unaware.

"Lin?" Anthony said, shaking her shoulder gently. "Lin, are you asleep?"

Lin's fingers twitched first, then her whole hand. Her arms and legs shifted next, then her head, and her movements were slow, groggy, like her mind was taking a long time to travel back from the subconscious.

"Hhhh!" Lin jerked upward suddenly, taking in a long, noisy breath. Her eyes snapped into focus as her mind surfaced all at once. She gasped again, then choked, tears pooling in her eyes. Lin briefly registered that Anthony was staring at her, dumbfounded, before she let out a pitiful sob that tipped her head over onto her Transfiguration book again.

Anthony blinked, feeling panicked. What should I do? he wondered. He'd never dealt with a crying girl before.

"Uh...Lin?" he said again, feeling stupid.

Lin sniffed loudly and lifted her head. "You're still here," she said blankly, staring at him.

"Um...yeah," Anthony agreed.

Lin blinked, and a tear trickled from one of her eyes. "Why?"

"Why...why what? Why am I still here?"

Lin nodded.

"I--I don't know. Do you want me to leave?" he asked, gripping his books nervously.

"I...well...don't you want to leave?"

Anthony considered for a moment. "No," he said, setting his books down. "Not really."

Lin blinked up at him again, and several more tears trickled down her cheeks.

"I wish you'd stop doing that," Anthony said softly.

"What?" Lin asked. Blinking?

"Crying."

"Oh," she said, and wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her robe. "Sorry."

"No," Anthony said, shaking his head. "I mean--don't be sorry, it's all right. I just...don't like to see people cry, that's all."

"Maybe I should leave then," Lin said, sniffing. "Because I think I'm going to."

Anthony blanched. I'm really not very good at this, am I?

"No--Lin--don't go," he said, racking his brain for something intelligent to say.

"I'm sorry, Anthony," Lin whispered, staring at him a moment with glossy eyes. Then she snapped into action, slamming her Transfiguration book closed and shoving all her things into her bag with surprising speed and accuracy.

Unfortunately for Lin, Anthony was standing on the side of the table nearest the exit, and he blocked her path as she tried to leave.

"Move," Lin said softly, staring at the floor.

"No," Anthony replied, just as softly, but with more resolve.

Lin didn't speak for a moment, and Anthony didn't think she was going to, until her shoulders shook erratically and he realized she was crying. He moved his hand to comfort her, but stopped before it reached her shoulder, uncertain whether he could provide any comfort.

"Please move," Lin said thickly, through her tears.

"Stay and talk to me."

Lin finally looked up at him, tears dribbling down her face pathetically. "Wh--why?"

"Because you need someone to talk to."

"But--but here?"

"Why not here?"

"Do you like crying in public?" Lin demanded.

"No one's around," Anthony pointed out, gesturing.

"It's the library!" Lin hissed. "Someone's always around!"

"So?" Anthony said, feeling vaguely annoyed. "Lin, why do you care?"

"Why do I care if people see me burst into hysterical tears?" Lin asked, her tone bordering on shrill. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because I like a little privacy when I'm feeling emotional, or maybe because I don't like sharing my problems with the world, or--or maybe because I don't want people to think I'm a--a--freak, or--"

"Lin, no one thinks you're a freak."

"Yes, they do!" she cried, anger and frustration overcoming her tears. "Do you see the way people avoid me? Like they don't want to talk to me, or even--acknowledge that I exist, and--"

"Lin, that's ridiculous. People know that you exist."

"Yeah, but they don't care," she said bitterly.

"I care!" Anthony blurted out, and Lin froze, staring at him.

"You're the only one," she mumbled finally, her gaze slipping to the floor. She felt a little untruthful, but who was Anthony to know that?

"Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself," he snapped, growing a little impatient.

Lin looked up at him with wide eyes. "I beg your pardon?"

Anthony's gaze softened. "Look, Lin...I'm not saying the way people are treating you is all right. Because it's not. And I'm not saying you should forget about what happened last summer, either--not like you could anyway," he added quickly. "It's just that...you should talk about it with people. Be a little more open, and...everything."

Lin felt the tears welling up again. "Who would understand, Anthony? Who in this school could possibly understand what I'm going through?"

"You're not the only one in this school who's lost someone to You-Know-Who," he said, narrowing his eyes.

"Someone?" Lin cried, her lower lip trembling dangerously. "It wasn't just someone, Anthony, it was everyone I've ever known!"

"Not everyone!" Anthony yelled, grabbing her by the shoulders. Lin sobbed and dropped her bag, bringing her hands to her face. Anthony's gaze softened, and, impulsively, he pulled Lin against his chest. She sobbed, clutching at his robes with her fists.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and Lin didn't respond. "It's just...Jesus, Lin...sometimes you don't need someone to understand...sometimes you just need them to care."

Lin continued crying and didn't speak, but Anthony's words registered strongly in her mind.

She sobbed and clung to him and tried not to let the darkness overcome her again.

November 20

Remus-

Shut up, you big prat. It was NOT that funny.

-James

November 20

Melody-

Hello. How is Hogwarts? How is the weather? I hear you and Mimi are having a bit of a row. I hope you can resolve everything in due time. I also hope your midnight studies are going well.

I am now at the Ministry, so feel free to owl me if you like. I hope the other Auror Training Students are doing well, as I haven't been able to hear from any of them for the last several weeks.

Best wishes,

James

Mimi caved. She unloaded her worries on Remus again, and he grinned the whole way through her confession.

"...I just don't know how to set things right, that's all, and...and...oh, honestly, Remus, stop looking at me like that!"

"Can't help it," Remus replied, still grinning. "The news is too good."

Mimi smiled half-heartedly. "Yeah...I...I guess so. I'm just not sure where to go from here, that's all."

"Well," Remus said thoughtfully, considering. "There's a Quidditch game tomorrow, isn't there?"

Mimi blinked and considered this for a moment. "Well...yes, but what's that got to do with me and Melody?"

"You could ask her to sit with you," he suggested.

Mimi lifted her eyebrows at Remus and smiled. "You know something, Remus? You're really good at this."

"Thanks," he replied, looking pleased but embarrassed. "So...why don't you go ask her, then?"

"I will," Mimi said decisively. Then, impulsively, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Remus stared at her. "What was that for?"

"For...um...being a good friend," Mimi said rather lamely, feeling a flush burn through her cheeks.

"Oh. Well...um...thanks."

"You're--you're welcome," Mimi replied, feeling dumb. For some reason her mind flashed back to the kiss they'd shared a year ago--no, it was two years ago--under a sprig of mistletoe. It had been brief, but...oh, so lovely. She found herself imagining kissing him now, and wondered if it would be fair to kiss Remus so soon after her breakup with Sirius.

Well...it wasn't that recently, she reasoned. It's been three weeks, after all. But then...is it fair to drag Remus into all this drama? She thought about this for a moment. Well...more than he already has been...

She noticed Remus studying her face carefully, and locked her gaze with his. She licked her lips apprehensively and swallowed, wondering if she should just go for it or not.

Remus, thankfully, made up her mind for her. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely like, "Oh, sod it," before putting his hands on either side of her face and catching his lips against hers.

Mimi leaned into him and opened her mouth eagerly, prepared for anything Remus was ready to give.

She felt like all her nerves had exploded. She'd been waiting for this moment for so long, and here it finally was; his hands were so warm, his kiss felt so good, and all she wanted to do was pull him against her and--

Remus stopped. Mimi gazed at him forlornly as he pulled away.

"What?" she asked. "What'd I do wrong?"

Remus's face went a rather interesting shade of red. "Nothing, Mimi. Abs--absolutely nothing. You're--um--fine. You're fine. It's just that I--I shouldn't--never mind," he said, shaking his head. "I should go."

"What? No, Remus--wait--" Mimi cried as he collected his things and stood, heading for the door.

"I'm sorry, Mimi," he said. "It's just that--well, there are some--some things that--ah--prevent me from--well, no, that's not what I mean, I just...there's something about me...um...I really shouldn't've done that, now that I think about it, and--"

"Remus!" Mimi cried, jumping over the back of the couch and trying to catch him as he attempted to leave MHQ. She caught his arm as he reached for the sliding panel, and squeezed herself between him and the doorway. "Don't go."

Remus passed a hand over his forehead. "Mimi, I...I like you. I do. You're brilliant, and--and pretty, and--erm--I...I like you. But...I just...I can't..."

"Can't what?" Mimi asked, happiness bubbling inside her chest despite Remus's attempts to leave.

"It's too complicated," Remus said, his shoulders sagging. "What with--well--you and Sirius, and...Melody and Sirius, and...Melody and you, and then I...well, I, of course...um..."

Mimi's face fell. "What?" she asked softly. "What's bothering you?"

I know! she felt like screaming. I know and I don't care, and I wish you'd just admit it to me...I want you to trust me, Remus...please trust me...

Remus stared at the ground. "I can't tell you," he mumbled. "I'm really sorry, Mimi...I really am..."

Mimi swallowed a rising lump in her throat. Why don't you trust me, Remus? I care about you...I'd never turn my back on you....

"Why?" she whispered.

"It's really...complicated. It's not something...not something most people..."

"I'm not most people, Remus," Mimi assured him, tipping his head up and looking into his eyes. "Just tell me."

Remus held her gaze for a long moment. "I wish I could," he said, sounding pained. "I do...I just...I don't know how you'd...Mimi, it's not just that, it's...it's Professor Dumbledore, he doesn't want me to...he thinks it would be too...damn it, Mimi, I really do care about you."

"Do James and Sirius know?" she asked after a long silence.

Remus thought about this, and then nodded slowly.

Mimi looked at him a long moment, and wondered if he'd told them, or if they'd just figured it out. They probably figured it out the same way I did...he probably didn't want them to know either... she realized. She gazed up at Remus and made a decision.

"Well, so do I," she whispered, and pulled his mouth down to hers.

Remus didn't really respond, and she let him go, looking up at him curiously. He was staring at her in shock.

"You...you mean you know?" he rasped. Mimi nodded.

"No one told me or anything. I just...figured it out."

"About...about me being a..."

"Werewolf?" Mimi finished. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he croaked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mimi countered, crossing her arms. "I'm your friend, Remus! I thought you'd trust me!"

"It's not that simple, Mimi. I--like I said, Professor Dumbledore doesn't want me to, he doesn't want anyone else to find out. Most wizards...well, let's just say enrollment at Hogwarts would go down if people found out there was a werewolf here."

"That's ridiculous," Mimi whispered, uncrossing her arms. She grabbed Remus's hands and laced her fingers through his. "You're not dangerous."

Remus shook his head. "I am, though. That's the problem. James and Sirius are...the best friends anyone could ask for, but...they don't take it seriously enough either. I could...I mean, when it's the full moon, I'm--" he cut himself off and shook his head. "I'm not really myself."

Mimi let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around his torso, resting her head against his chest. "But you're just fine now," she said. "You're just Remus. You're not dangerous at all."

Remus looked down at her, astonished, and hesitantly put his arms around her. "No, not right now," he agreed.

"I don't get it," Mimi said. "You're still a person. I mean, if people got to know you they'd...they'd see..."

"See what?"

Mimi pulled away and looked up at his face. "What I see."

"What's that? A funny-looking, brown-haired kid with weird scratches all over his face?"

Mimi smiled. "No. They'd see...how funny you are. And how kind. And attractive...even with the scratches."

Remus grinned. "You sure are good at boosting a fellow's ego. I ought to keep you around more often."

Mimi laughed. "I want this to work, Remus," she said, more seriously. "I don't want you to think that because you're a werewolf I don't care about you."

He didn't speak for a moment, thinking. "Mimi, you're not...you're not going to tell anyone about..."

Mimi shook her head firmly. "I've known for a while, and I haven't said anything to anybody. Not even to Lily. I was just hoping...you would tell me."

"Can't you understand why I didn't?"

"Yeah," she said softly, but her gaze fell.

"And Mimi..."

"Hm?" she said, lifting her gaze again. She saw apprehension in Remus's eyes.

"I want this to work, too. I...I do. I just...with everything that's been going on with Sirius and all...and--and Sirius not being here, I don't want to..."

Mimi nodded. "I understand what you mean. I'll set everything right with Sirius, I promise. And Melody," she added.

"That's right," Remus said. "Don't you have someone to ask to a Quidditch game?"

"Oh...yeah," Mimi said, scrunching up her nose. "I guess I have to go be nice to Melody now, huh?"

"You want to," Remus reminded her.

"Yeah, I guess," she said, shrugging, but she grinned at him.

She suddenly became very aware that Remus still had his arms wrapped around her waist. "And...we...?" she said, trailing off hesitantly.

"We'll be spending the next Hogsmeade weekend together," Remus decided, smiling.

"Fair enough," Mimi agreed. She stood on her toes and gave him a quick kiss. Remus's grin widened.

Mimi slipped out of his arms and backed out of MHQ, grinning like an idiot. A happy, bubbly feeling filled her chest, and she went in search of Melody with an unexpected bounce in her step.

Bright, bubbly third year Charissa Mackenzie resumed her post as Quidditch commentator, to the annoyance of most of the crowd. She wasn't a bad commentator, really, she was just very...perky, and most of the Hogwarts students did not associate "perky" with "Quidditch." Madam Hooch, on the other hand, seemed relieved to have found a commentator who didn't make Professor McGonagall go into a spitting rage (Lily), or compare Quidditch players to violent Muggle weapons most of the students had never heard of (Eric).

"All right, guys, it's a bright sunny day for our Quidditch match, we have a nice breeze coming from the northeast, and it looks like it's going to be a great game!" the Hufflepuff commentator gushed.

Melody and Mimi were sitting side-by-side a little awkwardly, but Mimi felt happy that Melody had agreed to sit by her, and Melody was relieved Mimi wasn't still shooting evil looks at her. The rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team turned out to sit by Melody, and squashed themselves in with the great sea of blue that was the Ravenclaw section.

"Keep an eye on Ravenclaw today," Arabella called to the team as the players finally entered the pitch. A great roar erupted from the crowd, and Arabella raised her voice to yell at them, but she wasn't quite loud enough. Melody caught something that sounded vaguely like "mushrooms," but decided not to respond.

"Ten Galleons on Ravenclaw," Melody called to Mimi as the roaring of the crowd subsided. Mimi gave her a Look.

"You want me to bet against my House team?"

Melody shrugged. "Well, yeah. I could use the money."

She heard a burst of laughter from behind her, and turned around, surprised. Remus and Peter had apparently sat down behind them, and Melody glanced around, surprised to see the number of Gryffindors who had squashed themselves in near the Ravenclaws. She thought she caught a glimpse of the Fourth Year girl, Linda, whom Lily'd asked her to keep an eye out for, and felt a slight pang in her stomach. She'd been so occupied with her own problems she hadn't had a chance to approach the girl...but really, what did Melody know about Linda anyway? Besides, it looked like she was having a fine time with the boy she'd attended the game with--another Ravenclaw, fully decked out in blue.

"I would've thought you'd given up betting, Melody," Remus said, grinning. "Don't you still owe me five Galleons?"

"Damn it," Melody swore, turning back around. "Mimi, remind me never to bet with him again."

Mimi gave a small grin and turned her attention to the game. The Ravenclaw team certainly seemed on top of things--there were great blue blobs streaking all over the pitch--but she couldn't really keep track of the action.

The bubbly girl with the commentator's megaphone, however, seemed quite on top of things. "And it's Fulley to Sawyer, Sawyer to Archer--no, it's a feint, Sawyer shoots, she scores!" she squealed. "Ravenclaw's up, ten points to nothing!"

A wild cheer erupted from the blue-clad portion of the crowd, and the green portion booed angrily.

"Oh, come on now, Slytherins, you can at least be good sports about it!" chirped the commentator. A green shoe sailed in her direction, and she frowned as it fell miserably short of its destination. "Well, that's not very nice. Professor, isn't there something you can do about--" she began, turning to Professor McGonagall, who, looking exasperated, probably told her to get back to commentating, because her next words were: "Oh, right! The game! Um...let's see...I think Slytherin has possession...yeah, right there, one of their Chasers has the Quaffle, can't tell which...they all have black hair...and--ooh, nice Bludger shot by Croaker, Slytherin loses possession of the ball! Sawyer grabs the Quaffle and--she scores again! Good job, Emma!" she cried, as Ravenclaw registered another ten points on the board.

"I don't know which is worse, the booing Slytherins or the twittering commentary," Remus called to Mimi and Melody, rubbing his ear theatrically. Both girls turned to look up at him and grinned.

"I had an alarm clock like that once," Peter interjected, and they all looked at him curiously. "Well, it was this bird alarm clock, see--and every hour it'd chirp like mad--got really annoying after a while, 'specially if you were trying to sleep--"

If he had more to say, he didn't get to say it, because Mimi, Melody, and Remus dissolved into laughter, and were then distracted by a fight on the Quidditch Pitch.

"And it looks like Fallmouth and Croaker are having a bit of a row about something--come on, boys, play nicely!" she scolded.

Charissa's comment was a bit of an understatement. Melody watched with wide eyes as both boys abandoned their Beater clubs and began pummeling each other with their fists.

"D'you think there's a history there we're not aware of?" Remus said, leaning over to talk to the girls again.

"Must be," Mimi agreed, as fellow Seventh Year and dorm mate Arista Appleton abandoned the Quaffle and swooped over, attempting to pry the boys off each other. She looked rather hysterical.

"Come to think of it," Mimi said, frowning. "I think I saw Arista hanging around with Fallmouth the other day...can't imagine why...he looked pretty happy, though."

Melody's eyebrows shot toward her hairline. "Appleton and Fallmouth? Ew."

"I don't think she really likes him," Mimi said, laughing at the look on Melody's face. "Actually...I think she used to go out with Croaker, and that might be part of what's going on down there..."

By this time Madam Hooch had nearly pried the two boys apart, but they were still taking swings at each other whenever they could. Arista was crying.

Charissa Mackenzie was very annoyed. "Oh, this is ridiculous! Whatever it is, it can't be important enough to stall a game of Quidditch! Just give it up so we can get on with the penalty shots and resume the game!"

For the first time, the crowd roared in agreement.

"What's that, Madam Hooch? Oh--well--it seems there aren't going to be any penalty shots, she's just sending both Beaters back to their scoring areas for a while. Really, Madam Hooch? No penalty shots? Because according to official Quidditch guidelines, there ought to be...all right, you don't have to get all huffy!" Charissa pouted for a moment, but recovered amazingly quickly as play resumed. "And--ooh, here we go again!" she said as Arista seized possession of the Quaffle and zoomed into Slytherin territory. "I just love Quidditch!" Charissa bubbled.

Behind Mimi and Melody, Remus sighed dramatically. "Here we go again indeed..." he said, rubbing his ear.

On the pitch, Slytherin managed to score twice, and Arista Appleton, apparently still furious about the fight, managed to score three more times by herself to tip the game in Ravenclaw's favor again. The other two Chasers didn't look very pleased about this, and Charissa looked very scandalized by a snappy, rude exchanged between Arista and Frederick Fulley. The crowd "oooh"-ed appreciatively, and play resumed again, tension growing.

"This game is going to have an interesting ending," Melody said, watching Appleton and Fulley fight over the Quaffle, only to have it blasted out of their hands by a well-aimed Bludger shot from the Slytherin end. "Poor Madam Hooch...."

Mimi grinned at Melody's comment.

Things are really going along rather well, she considered. It wasn't too bad, sharing time with Melody, and the Quidditch game was proving rather interesting. But...well...there was just something off there. The girls weren't quite clicking like they used to, and a little unresolved tension hummed between them. Mimi shook her head and tried to shove off the feeling, returning her attention to the game.

"Well, the score stands at a hundred and ten to fifty, but I'm getting kind of a bad feeling about all of this. None of the players seem to be working together anymore, and the way Croaker and Fallmouth keep hitting Bludgers at each other is quite distressing...Professor, don't you think there's some way we could stop the game before it gets too violent?"

Professor McGonagall sighed and urged Charissa to return to her duties as commentator.

"It was just a thought," Charissa said, sighing. "Well, anyway...there's really not a lot of action going on, everything seems to have come to kind of a standstill...Sawyer and Fulley are trying to pull something together, it looks like, but--ooh, that was close--Fallmouth is just playing too well today, he's not letting Fulley near the scoring zone...and Arista could come help recover if she'd stop staring at Croaker for a second!" Charissa suggested brightly, and Arista shot her a dirty look. "Or...not..." Charissa amended lamely.

The crowd grew restless.

Several rows up, Lin and Anthony were having a bit of a scuffle with Wendy and her stupid new friends.

Lucy had come over to make fun of Lin's tattered old scarf and make flirtatious eyes at Anthony, and Lin snapped at her to leave. She was thrown off guard when Wendy defended Lucy, and this started her in an angry verbal exchange with her former best friend.

The girls argued so loudly several people around them turned to look, and Lin, cheeks burning, silently wished she could think of some way to end it.

Anthony joined in to help Lin out, as she seemed to be losing her nerve against Wendy, and his shouts attracted the attention of several members of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, who turned around and looked upward curiously.

Melody recognized both Linda and Wendy, and sighed, thinking this was probably the kind of "looking out" Lily had wanted her to do. She bit her lip and considered a suitable course of action. She could just walk over and demand to know what was going on...but sometimes Fourth Years didn't like to listen to Seventh Years, the uppity little...brats.

Before Melody could do anything, however, Bridget DeBeauvois climbed over the back of her seat and tramped up to stand next to Lin. She crossed her arms and stared imperiously at Lucy, Wendy, Gillian, and Rachel, who all glared back at her.

"Who are you?" Lucy sneered, and Bridget drew herself up proudly, narrowing her eyes.

"I am Bridget Alanna DeBeauvois, and I don't care who you are."

Lucy's eyes widened in fury. Before she had a chance to speak, however, Bridget continued.

"And what I'd like to know is why you're giving this poor girl such a hard time," she said, indicating Lin with a jab of her thumb.

"I don't think that's any of your business," Lucy snapped, fuming.

"I'm making it my business," Bridget informed her haughtily.

"Well aren't you just a nosy little brat," Lucy sneered. "Aren't you a Third Year?"

"Yes," Bridget said, sticking her chin in the air proudly. For someone so short, she really was rather intimidating, Melody noted, watching the exchange from afar. Melody couldn't actually hear what the girls were saying, of course, but Bridget's body language told her just about everything she needed to know.

"I don't see how that's relevant," Bridget continued. "And I think you should go away and leave my friend here alone."

Lin looked rather surprised, but she didn't protest. She knew who Bridget was, of course--they were in the same House, after all--but Lin, being a year older, had never really spoken to her before. She wondered vaguely where this display of friendship was coming from.

"Why should I?" Lucy demanded. Bridget drew herself up as high as she could and, despite Lucy being several inches taller, managed to look down her nose at her.

"Your presence offends me," Bridget informed her. "Deeply."

Lin had never seen Lucy so spitting mad before. Her cheeks were red, her eyes bugged out, her nostrils were inflamed, and her mouth was sputtering intensely, as though she couldn't form words bad enough to throw at Bridget.

"Yeah? Well--well--your pathetic half-blood father offends me, you snot-nosed French--cretin!"

Bridget's eyes turned from blue to gray, and if Melody had been close enough to see them, she would've scrambled out of her seat to try to prevent what happened next.

"Take it back," Bridget said darkly, her fists tightening.

"No, I don't think I will!" Lucy shrieked, a half-crazed look in her eyes.

Bridget lifted her eyebrows and regarded Lucy for a moment. "Fine," she said calmly, and lobbed her fist at Lucy's face.

It was a clean hit, and Lucy fell backwards, smacking her head on the bleachers. Melody saw that, and scrambled up through the stands, along with several other concerned members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Bridget fell on top of Lucy and slapped her across the face.

"TAKE IT BACK!" she screamed, just as Arabella and Melody seized her arms and attempted to pull her off. Bridget fought, madly, and Lucy stared up at Bridget with anger blazing in her eyes. Her arms were temporarily incapacitated, so she did the only thing she could--she launched a stream of spit at Bridget's face.

Melody and Arabella doubled their efforts and managed to pull Bridget off Lucy--but not before Bridget landed a good solid kick on Lucy's chin.

Professor McGonagall came streaking through the stands to sort out the disturbance.

Everyone around Bridget and Lucy was so preoccupied with their scuffle that they missed the fight happening on the Quidditch pitch.

Arista received the Quaffle from Emma and streaked toward the Slytherin goalposts. Fallmouth, infuriated, launched a Bludger at her, and when she managed to dodge that, he threw his Beater club at her. It struck her on the shoulder, and she halted in midair to scream profanities at him. He started laughing at her, and Arista got so mad she threw the Quaffle at his head.

Fallmouth howled, clutching his nose, and Alina smirked, ignoring Madam Hooch as she whistled the game to a halt and ordered that penalty shots be taken.

Shortly after this incident, several things happened at once: Lucy and Bridget received detention and were escorted off the pitch as punishment for their poor behavior, Charissa MacKenzie was forced to duck behind several members of the teaching staff for protection against the Bludgers the Slytherin Beaters were launching at her because they didn't like her commentary, and the entire crowd got to its feet to yell for the game's end.

Both Seekers were hurtling frantically around the pitch, hoping for a glimpse of the tiny golden ball that would secure the win--and the end--to this horrible game. Neither team was able to pull off any decent shots, and the Beaters had given up on strategy and were now lobbing the Bludgers at each other with as much force as they could manage. The Quaffle went missing, and nobody seemed to care that it had fallen to the ground except for Charissa, who screeched that the Quaffle had to be in play in order for the game to actually be considered "on," and if one of the Seekers caught the Snitch it wouldn't mean anything.

Eventually Madam Hooch retrieved the Quaffle, and the Chasers half-heartedly passed it across the pitch, but nobody was able to score, and the crowd was yelling, screaming, stomping its feet, demanding a winner.

The Slytherins were playing desperately now--their Beaters ignored the Bludgers and started taking swipes at people's heads--Mimi and Melody cried indignantly together and hopped up and down, screaming for a fair ending to the game.

"Augh--WHY CAN'T THEY CATCH THE BLOODY SNITCH?" Melody yelled in frustration.

"I bet if Lily was here she'd know where it was!" Mimi said furiously.

"COME THE HELL ON!" Melody bellowed. "CATCH THE SNITCH!"

The crowd started chanting, "CATCH THE SNITCH!" and both Seekers zoomed around the pitch erratically, desperately, hoping maybe if they flew fast enough they'd run into the Snitch by accident, because they certainly weren't going to spot it with their eyes zipping around that quickly.

And then--suddenly--finally--both Seekers saw it at the same moment, hovering far below the action, and the crowd screamed bloody murder as they went into sharp dives. Mimi and Melody jumped up and down, clutching each other's hands, the screams of the fans deafening in their ears, their own voices lost among the noise, and then--

"RAVENCLAW WINS!" Charissa shrieked.

Mimi and Melody erupted into victorious shouts and jumped up and down and hugged each other, for no particular reason.

And that, right there, was the moment Mimi felt everything click back into place.

Lily sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the silver bottle in her hands. One more night, she thought miserably, uncorking it. She swirled around the bottle's contents, and one mere swallow's worth pooled in the corners at the bottom.

Oh well, she thought, glancing around at the other sleeping Training Students. Here's to...sleeping through the night. She lifted the bottle in a silent toast before tipping her head back and downing the last of the potion.

Her head hit the pillow happily, and she drifted away into darkness.

November 22

James-

God, you sound like such a prat. What'd they do when you got to the Ministry, shove a broom up your ass?

I take it you've been corresponding with Remus. (Lovely sonnet, by the way. Moony ought to be a poet, don't you think?)

Yes, I've heard from Lily, and no I'm not going to tell you what she said. If you want to know, why don't you just wait until you get back to Hogwarts and ask HER?

Midnight practices are going fine as always. I have some brilliant new hexes I'd like to try on you when you get back.

~Melody

Lin saw Bridget lounging in the Common Room on Sunday afternoon and nervously ventured over to say hello.

"Erm...sorry to disturb you," Lin said, and Bridget looked up from her novel, frowning.

When she saw who it was, however, her face brightened, and she grinned, setting down her book. "Oh--hullo!" Bridget said amiably. "Come on, sit down."

"Oh--thanks," Lin said, sitting down across from her. Bridget beamed. "Erm...so I wanted to--um--thank you. For yesterday."

Bridget's smile intensified. "Really? I was afraid you'd be mad."

"Mad? Oh--no, not at all. I'm not very fond of Lucy...in case you couldn't tell," Lin said, shooting a dark look at where Lucy and her friends had gathered across the common room.

"Oh, I hate her," Bridget said instantly. "I've been meaning to pummel her for ages, just never got the chance."

Lin grinned. "I think she looks better that way," she said, indicating the large, swelling bruise on Lucy's chin.

"You'd think she would've gone crying to Madam Pomfrey by now," Bridget replied, then shrugged. "Not that I'm complaining. I enjoy seeing my handiwork in action."

"It--it wasn't right, you know. What she said about your father."

Bridget's expression soured. "I know. Don't remind me."

"Oh...sorry. I wasn't trying to remind you, I just--"

Bridget looked at Lin curiously for a moment and then laughed. "It's all right, you don't have to get all flustered. I just meant that...well, I tend to brood on things, see...and it doesn't take a whole lot to get me wound up, and if I start thinking about what Lucy said about my dad.... Let's just say she'd better never bring it up again, or she's going to have more than a swollen chin to worry about."

Lin raised her eyebrows. "I see."

"But enough about that. I'm glad you decided to come over and talk to me. I was afraid you wouldn't. I mean--you seem pretty shy and all."

"Yeah. I guess...I guess I am."

"But you have that Ravenclaw friend. What's his name?"

"Um...Anthony."

"Yeah, him. He's cute. Is he in your year?"

"Yes. He's my partner for Potions class."

"Ah. So he's...just a friend?" Bridget pressed.

"Um...well..." Lin said, and her cheeks flushed involuntarily. "He did ask me to--to sit with him during the Quidditch game and all...but I guess technically we're just...just friends."

Bridget grinned. "So you fancy him! That's great. I'll bet he fancies you too."

Lin's cheeks burned crimson. "Maybe," she mumbled.

"Nah, he does," Bridget decided. "That's cute. You'll be cute together."

Lin didn't think she'd ever met someone quite so...decisive...before. "Erm...thanks," she said.

"Sure. After all, what are friends for, if not to embarrass you horribly about the boys you like?"

"Um," Lin said, considering. "So we're...um...friends?" she ventured.

"Sure we are," Bridget beamed. "I kicked the crap out of someone for you, you overcame your shyness to talk to me...we're going to be great friends," she decided.

Lin blinked and felt a smile creeping across her face. How could she argue with that?

"Bridg!" came a shout from across the Common Room.

"Oh, nuts," Bridget said, shoving her novel into her bag. "I forgot--I was supposed to meet Jennifer half an hour ago."

Lin turned around in her seat to see a brown-haired Third Year girl craning her neck to look for Bridget.

"Coming, Jen!" Bridget called, standing. "Well, sorry to dash out so soon. I suppose I'll be seeing you later. We should spend the next Hogsmeade weekend together. Well--if you're not spending it with your boy," she winked. "And--oh! You know what? We've never been properly introduced!" she said suddenly. "I'm Bridget," she grinned, holding out her hand. "Bridget DeBeauvois."

"Linda," Lin said, taking Bridget's hand. "Linda Sharp. But everyone calls me Lin."

"Fair enough," Bridget said, giving Lin's hand a solid shake.

"There you are!" Jen said, appearing by Bridget's side. "Where have you been?"

"Just chatting with my new friend Lin, that's all."

Jen sighed. "Well, you're half an hour late--come on!"

"All right, all right, I'm coming...sorry, Lin," she said, smiling apologetically. "I'll see you later!"

"Bye!" Lin called as she left. She shook her head and smiled.

"Interesting girl, isn't she?" came an unfamiliar voice, and Lin turned around to see a Seventh Year plop into the chair on the other side of her.

"Erm...yes," Lin said, wondering if she could handle another strange encounter with an unfamiliar blonde-haired Gryffindor girl.

"I'm Melody, by the way," the girl said. "I'm friends with Lily."

"Yeah...I know who you are," Lin said softly. "You hang out with James and Sirius."

"Sometimes," Melody agreed. "Hey, listen, I saw what happened yesterday. At the game."

Lin sank low into her seat. "Who didn't?" she muttered.

Melody smiled. "I'm glad Bridget did what she did...even if she got a little out of control in the end. Those girls shouldn't've been ganging up on you like that."

"I was doing all right," Lin protested.

"Of course," Melody said. "But hey...if they start giving you too much trouble, you should let me know, because I could...take them down a peg or two for you."

Lin glanced over at Melody and considered. "I dunno, I think Bridget did a pretty good job on her own."

Melody laughed, noting Lucy's bruise. "Yeah. I guess she did. But...there are other things that could be done better than a bruised chin."

Lin looked and Melody with wide eyes, confused. "What exactly are you suggesting?" she demanded.

"Nothing bad," Melody assured her. "It's just...sometimes a little pranking is in order. That's all."

Lin raised her eyebrows, and Melody shrugged.

"Just a thought," she said. "Well...I'm off to write a Potions essay! Just keep my offer in mind, eh?"

Lin nodded, and watched her walk away with a strange combination of confusion and bemusement.

She wondered if maybe Lily wasn't still watching over her, and smiled at the thought.

Maybe...maybe I'll do all right without Wendy after all.

Lily tried not to fall asleep. She sat up in bed, staring at the tent flap, trying to find something for her eyes to focus on so she wouldn't have to fall asleep, but there was little in the tent worth looking at. The darkness was so complete she could barely make out the figure of Sirius sleeping on the bed next to hers, and after an hour of sitting awake, her eyes began to droop.

Lily had to catch her head several times as it tried to fall forward, and she shook it, blinking her eyes rapidly in an attempt to wake herself up again. She even tried slapping herself on the cheek, but all that did was make her cheeks hurt, so she decided to stop. Wish James was here, she thought miserably. He'd know what to do...he'd keep me awake.... Lily considered this for a moment and frowned. Well, no...he'd probably fall asleep trying to keep me awake...but at least he'd be here.

Eventually Lily couldn't handle sitting up anymore and laid down, forcing her eyes open, still trying desperately to cling to her conscious. She didn't want to have the nightmares again...didn't want to see her family die again....

Her eyes fluttered closed and she saw the Dark Mark burning against the back of her eyelids. Lily gasped and forced her eyes open again, looking around wildly, blinking, trying to think of something--anything--that might keep her awake.

Lily's body, however, did not agree with her mind. It was exhausted--it wanted sleep--it wasn't going to put up with Lily's crap for much longer--and eventually, it just shut down on her. She closed her eyes for a minute, trying to shove the image of the Dark Mark out of her mind, and sleep claimed her.

Lily's eyes opened suddenly, and the world rushed at her, bright and rich and welcoming. She wasn't having the nightmare after all...instead she was having the Not-Dream.

Laurelle's world opened before her, and Lily recognized the face of Charlotte, Laurelle's sister-in-law, sitting on a chair next to Laurelle's, and as Laurelle's head turned she saw an unfamiliar man sitting on the couch across from them. All three were enjoying tea.

"I realize, ladies, that my visit is--ah--a bit unexpected, and I do appreciate your hospitality."

"Of course, Captain Pearce," Charlotte replied pleasantly. "Our home is always welcome to members of the Court."

Captain Pearce smiled in a rather lopsided and half-hearted manner and took a sip of his tea. "I trust you do not mind the inspection my men are making of your home? I assure you they will harm nothing."

"On the contrary, Captain," Charlotte said, setting down her cup of tea, "we were rather expecting it."

"Were you?" the Captain inquired.

"Well, we knew you would be in the area soon," Charlotte reasoned. "Obviously we did not expect you today, but--you are not unwelcome. We have nothing to hide." She smiled winningly at him, and the Captain look rather struck.

Lily could feel laughter bubbling up in Laurelle's throat, and she quickly swallowed a bit of tea to suppress it. Not for the first time, Lily wished very much she knew just what Laurelle was thinking. She had so many questions! Are you aware at all of my presence? Lily wondered. Probably not. Probably not at all.

But besides that, there were other, more important, questions to be answered. Who is Captain Pearce? What is the Court? Why are they inspecting Charlotte and Laurelle's home?

Lily tried to remember her last encounter with Laurelle's world. She was sending an owl...in a hurried sort of manner...to Patrick, who isn't here! Patrick is her...husband...Charlotte is Patrick's sister, I think...and Charlotte was mad because Laurelle kept...Captain Pearce waiting! That makes much more sense. And then...they were talking about magic...how magic's a curse, and...oh. That's why they're inspecting the house. Then Captain Pearce must be a...Muggle?

Captain Pearce was reasonably aged and reasonably attractive. He was older than Charlotte, to be sure, but Lily couldn't quite peg Laurelle's age, and expected that she was closer in age to Captain Pearce than her sister-in-law. Oddly, though, Laurelle hadn't spoken, and Lily wondered why Charlotte was doing all the talking.

"I'm sure you have nothing to worry about," Captain Pearce said, trying to sound reassuring, but Lily did not believe him. Whatever Captain Pearce was, he wasn't a very good liar. He obviously suspected Charlotte and Laurelle of something, and was cleverly--or perhaps far too obviously--keeping the girls occupied with tea as his men inspected their home.

Perhaps it is Charlotte's home, and that's why she's doing all the talking....

But no, that didn't make a whole lot of sense. If Charlotte was younger, and...she wasn't married...why would she have a home of her own? Especially one of these proportions?

"You've hardly spoken a word, Mrs. Gryffindor," the Captain said, turning to Laurelle, and Lily felt Laurelle's hands tighten around her teacup.

"My apologies, Captain," she said, her voice soft. "I have much on my mind. And Charlotte is...well, she is a much more avid speaker than I."

"Ah," the Captain said. "I was so sorry to hear about your husband."

"Of course," Laurelle replied, giving a weak smile.

"He was--ah--killed?"

Laurelle took a long drain of her tea, swallowing intensely. "Captured," she managed finally. "There has been no other news."

"We are all mourning for him," Charlotte said gently, laying a hand on Laurelle's and carefully removing the teacup and saucer from her grasp. Both Laurelle's hands were beginning to shake, and she folded them forcefully on her lap, trying to hide her emotion from the Captain.

"Of course, Miss Gryffindor. He was your brother also. I forgot."

"We have the same surname, Captain," Charlotte said, raising her eyebrows. "How could you forget?"

The Captain looked a bit flustered. "Ah--you see--well, having--having met your brother, you see I knew him personally, and he was--well, a fine officer, surely, and he is so very different from--ah--well, yourself, I suppose, different--different features and all." Captain Pearce swallowed, wiping off his forehead nervously with a handkerchief, which he hastily stuffed back in his shirt pocket after use.

"I suppose my brother and I are a bit different," Charlotte agreed, sounding amused. Laurelle was too preoccupied with calming herself to see the humor.

Just then several unfamiliar men entered the room and saluted Captain Pearce.

The Captain stood, returning their salute.

"Nothing to report, sir!" one of them said, and the Captain nodded.

"As expected," he sighed. But Lily didn't think he'd expected it at all. The Captain turned to Charlotte and Laurelle, looking mildly--relieved? That doesn't make any sense.... "Well, ladies, I thank you for your time. I do apologize if I have inconvenienced you."

"Oh, not at all," Charlotte smiled, and the Captain looked rather struck again. He cleared his throat purposefully and donned his cap, nodding respectfully to the ladies before turning and leading his men out of the room. Laurelle turned to watch as they went, and Lily saw a maid leading the men to the door.

"Do you think he left anyone behind to spy?" Charlotte whispered, leaning across her sister-in-law to gather the teacups.

"Maybe," Laurelle replied. "We should have the house-elves do another inspection of the house to see if they left anything behind."

Charlotte leaned back in her chair and stared at the table thoughtfully. "I am sorry he brought up Patrick. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't dragged you down here."

Laurelle shook her head. "He wanted to know if I knew any more than he did. And he would have been suspicious if I was not present."

Charlotte's face fell. "Laurelle...I don't think Patrick..."

Laurelle glared at her sister-in-law fiercely. "He's alive, Charlotte. I know it. I'd know if he was dead!"

Charlotte's gaze dropped to the floor. "I don't know what to believe," she said softly. "But all the same, I don't think Captain Pearce suspects anything about Patrick. I think he believes Patrick is dead, just like everybody else."

"Everybody else is wrong."

"Of course," Charlotte whispered in reply.

Both girls quieted as a maid entered the room and cleared away their dishes. Lily vaguely wondered why they had a maid if they had house-elves. Maybe to keep up the appearance for the Muggles....

Laurelle ran her fingers over her necklace, and Lily felt instant comfort sweep through her system. She found herself agreeing with Laurelle. If Patrick was dead, she would feel it. If Patrick was dead, she would know.

The room started to fade away, and Lily began to panic. If this dream is ending, that means....

Nightmares were not far off.

Blackness came and Lily screwed her eyes shut, fiercely, hoping that she wouldn't have her nightmares again--hoping they at least wouldn't wake her up in the middle of the night--hoping--hoping--

Lily woke up screaming. The Dark Mark seared across her vision, her stomach heaved like it wanted to eject things, and tears spilled out of her eyes uncontrollably. She clutched her sheets and shrieked, trying to calm herself, but the room was so dark--images kept popping in front of her eyes--shutting them didn't help, she just saw the Dark Mark everywhere--wherever she looked--

"Lily?"

Lily shuddered, choked, and sobbed, but she couldn't respond.

"Lily, what's the matter? Did you see something? Is there something in the tent?" came the voice again, more urgent.

Not Sirus. It was a girl. And...not Naomi. Not chirpy enough.

"N--n--no," Lily managed finally, wishing she could sound more composed. Sally couldn't see her, but she was sure she could hear her crying in the dark.

"What's wrong?"

"N--nothing," Lily lied, unsuccessfully.

A light appeared to her left, and she squinted, holding up her hand to shield her eyes from it.

"Lily?" came another voice, groggier, and this time it was Sirius. Lily buried her face into her knees, wrapping her arms around her head. "Something happen to your face?" he mumbled.

"No," was Lily's muffled reply. "I'm fine. Go back to sleep."

Sally sighed impatiently from across the tent. "We all know you're crying, Lily. There's no use trying to hide it."

"Just go back to sleep," Lily sniffed. "I'm sorry."

"Lily?" came a third voice, and Lily had to suppress a groan. What could Naomi possibly have to say to her.

She felt a slight pressure on the end of her bed and lifted her head reluctantly, her eyes peeking over the top of her knees. Naomi was kneeling on her mattress, looking at her with wide, sympathetic eyes.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Lily nodded. "It's stupid though. I don't want to talk about it."

"You woke up screaming," Sally pointed out dryly, and Naomi glanced over at her for a second before nodding in agreement.

"It had to have been pretty bad."

Lily shrugged and lifted her head, wiping her tears away hastily. "I'm sorry I woke you all up. We should get back to sleep," she suggested, and Naomi frowned at her.

"I have nightmares sometimes too," she continued. "Bad ones."

"Ones that make you wake up screaming?"

Naomi hesitated. "Sometimes."

Lily looked up at her with wide eyes. "About what?"

"Bad things," Naomi said softly. "About--about--oh, Lily!" she cried suddenly, throwing her arms around Lily's neck. Lily blinked and patted Naomi's arm gently. "I see the Dark Mark in my dreams, I see my poor baby cousin--he didn't live to see his f--f--first Christmas!" she sobbed, and tears began leaking out of Lily's own eyes.

Sally and Sirius stared first at the girls, and then at each other, in shock.

"M--my dad!" Lily sobbed back. "And my l--little brother, and--and s--s--sister!"

Sirius waited to speak until the girls' crying subsided.

"God, do I need a tissue," Lily said, sniffing loudly and wiping her tears with the back of her hand. Naomi laughed.

"I think I have some," she said, and scrambled over to her bed. She dug around underneath it and returned to Lily's cot with a box of tissues.

"Lily...how long have you been having nightmares?" Sirius asked softly, after the girls were finished blowing their noses.

"Since last summer," Lily said softly.

"But...you haven't had any this trip, have you?" Sally asked curiously.

Lily shook her head, staring downward intently. "I've...I've been taking this Dreamless Sleep Potion. I thought I'd have enough to get me through the month, but...I ran out last night. Maybe I should've said something...but I was hoping this wouldn't happen."

"You should've said something anyway," Sirius said, even more softly, and Lily finally looked at him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "There was just...so much other stuff...."

"And to think I was waffling on about my problems," he replied, shaking his head. "God, I feel like such a prat."

"Sirius, don't say that!" Lily cried. "It's not that big a deal."

"Waking up screaming in the middle of the night isn't a big deal?" Sally snorted. "Since when?"

"Not if I have my Potion it isn't," Lily shot at her, and she shrugged.

"You can't rely on a Potion forever, Lily," Naomi said softly. "Sooner or later you're going to have to face it."

"The nightmare? I think I've faced that enough already."

"No. Not that. Your family's deaths."

Lily stared at her. "I beg your pardon?"

"I think that's why you keep having the nightmare. You can't admit to yourself that they're gone."

"Wh--what would you know about it?" Lily sputtered angrily. "What would you know about what I've gone through?"

"I told you, my baby cousin--"

"Oh, bullocks to your baby cousin! That's not your father, Naomi, that's not your sister or your brother or--" Lily cut herself off, horrified. Everyone just sat and stared at her for a moment.

Oh God, Lily thought to herself, bringing her hand to her mouth. I sound like Lin. She looked back up at Naomi, who was looking rather hurt.

"I'm sorry," she said finally. "I--I shouldn't have said that."

Naomi's gaze softened. "It's all right. Now...probably isn't the best time to talk about it."

"We should all be getting back to sleep," Lily said softly. "Long day tomorrow."

Sally snorted. "What day isn't a long day?"

Lily smiled weakly. Naomi gave her a small grin. "Want to keep the tissues?" she offered.

"For now."

Naomi gave her another hug and then slid off Lily's bed, returning to her own. "Night, Lily," she said.

"Night," Lily replied.

"Sweet dreams," Sally offered wryly, and Lily nodded lamely.

Both girls settled into their beds, and Sirius extinguished the light at the end of his wand.

"Lily?" he whispered across the space between their beds. "You going to be all right?"

Lily briefly wished James was there, but smushed the thought out of her mind. That isn't going to help, she chastised herself. "Yeah," she said softly, settling her head onto her pillow. "I'll be all right."

"Going to be able to sleep?"

"Probably not," she admitted.

"Want me to stay awake with you?"

"No. Go back to sleep."

"You sure?"

Lily smiled a little. "Yeah. It's all right, Sirius. Go back to sleep."

"All right, but if you change your mind--"

"Oh, good grief!" came Sally's voice from across the tent, exasperated. "Honestly, you two, I know you're whispering, but we're in a tent! We can still hear you."

"Sorry," Sirius mumbled grumpily, but he fell silent after that.

"Night, Sirius," Lily whispered after a few minutes, and he grunted sleepily at her.

Lily slept uneasily for the rest of the night.

November 23

Melody-

Fat lot of help YOU'VE been.

-James

November 23

Remus-

I'M GOING TO TURN YOU INTO A CHAMBER POT, YOU POMPOUS ASS!

-James

James's friends were complete prats. All he wanted was a little news about Lily, and nobody was being even remotely helpful. Maybe I should owl Mimi, he thought briefly, and then shook his head. She won't care either. Nobody cared about him missing Lily, they were all prats, and he hated them all.

Of course...they probably didn't appreciate him owling them just to ask about Lily...that probably wasn't fair...but oh, sod it, he'd never actually mentioned Lily, he'd just kind of...implied he wanted to know about her, and he cared about his friends, too, he really did, it was just that...his friends didn't quite make him feel the way Lily did. That's probably for the best, he considered wryly.

He sighed and got back to his work, which was very boring and involved him stapling and filing a lot of papers in chronological order. He expected the work might've been slightly more interesting if he could read the papers, but they'd been enchanted so the words crawled all over the page, caterpillar-like, and it was impossible to make sense of them. If only I knew the counterspell, he thought glumly, shoving another several papers into the filing cabinet. Then I might have something.

Life was pretty dull here, really, and although Fletcher Hawkes insisted they were still doing Auror Training, it didn't feel like it. Compared to the things they'd done with Moody, this bit of training was completely...well, lame. And it didn't give James any real sense of accomplishment, just a lot of time to sit around and mope about how he couldn't see Lily.

And reply to owls from his prat-ish friends, of course.

"...well, maybe if you knew what the hell you were doing, I wouldn't have to keep shoving you out of my way all the time!"

James sighed. A familiar female voice was shouting down the hall, and James didn't even have to get out of his seat to know that Adam and Vivian were fighting again.

Do they ever let up? he wondered, as Adam launched into a stream of rather impressive verbal abuse. Maybe I should be taking notes, he mused, to use on Snivellus when I get back.

Although, really, he hadn't seen Snape much this year, and he'd found he had better things to do with his time than hex stupid Slytherins, even if they were the most disagreeable people he'd ever met.

"Well, I don't know why you think you're so clever, since your stupid girlfriend left you!"

"Is that the only good insult you have?" Adam demanded, sounding exasperated.

James found himself agreeing with Adam. She does mention that an awful lot....

"Well, I could call you a bloated, stupid, barmy codger, but I don't think that's quite specific or demeaning enough, do you?"

"Oh, you care about my opinion now?"

"No, but I know how you like to hear yourself talk--"

"And you're giving me an opportunity to do so? Isn't that sweet of you!"

"Don't you dare call me sweet, you--you pompous ass!" Vivian snarled.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Adam replied airily, but this only seemed to infuriate Vivian further.

"Ooh--I don't know why I even bother with you--you're such a git, I don't even like you--"

"Oh, you don't like me?" Adam laughed. "Well, that's just great, because I could've sworn you--"

"NEVER MIND THAT!"

James was beginning to feel rather confused. Had he missed something...?

"Oh, so it didn't mean anything?" Adam demanded.

"No, no it didn't, and now if you'll excuse me I'm going to--"

"So you're just stringing me along, is that what you're saying?"

"I didn't say anything of the sort, and I'm really going to le--"

"What, do you pull this on everybody? Just--"

"I SAID I'M GOING TO LEAVE NOW, THANKS, SO WOULD YOU PLEASE MOVE?" Vivian bellowed.

"AND I'M NOT FINISHED TALKING TO YOU!"

"I don't care--I'm done talking to you--"

"Are you really?" Adam asked.

"I--yes, I am done talking to you and--what are you doing? Let me go!"

"You said you were done talking."

"So? That doesn't mean I want to--"

And then, suddenly, silence. James stared down the hall curiously. Abandoning his files, he stood, craning his neck for a sight of Adam and Vivian. He heard a large BANG! on one of the filing cabinets and frowned, wondering if they'd somehow knocked each other out. Intensely curious, he hurried down the hallway and rounded the corner, then froze, wondering if he should feel disgusted or not.

Adam had Vivian pinned against one of the filing cabinets, his mouth glued to hers. Vivian's arms were wrapped around him in a manner that suggested she didn't really want to go anywhere.

James pulled a face and backed around the corner again, turning away from the sight. I hope Lily and I don't look that gross when we snog, he thought first, and then shook his head. Bother, he thought angrily, thinking of Adam and Vivian again. It was bad enough when I thought they hated each other...but if they really like each other...that's much worse. No wonder they're fighting all the time.

Lily's eyes popped open. She tried to gasp but couldn't, tried to whirl around in confusion but couldn't, and then--then--

She was having the Not-Dream again.

"Charlotte!" Laurelle yelled, and Lily focused her attention to the world around her.

Time must have passed since the last dream, because she was no longer having tea--her dress was different--she passed a window and saw snow fluttering outside--

How long has it been? Lily wondered. The last time she remembered seeing the outside, it had been summer...so four months, at least...but it could have been years later, for all she knew. Why, why, WHY can't I tell what Laurelle is thinking?

"Charlotte, where are you? You're going to miss the toast--it's your own birthday, for heaven's sake!" Laurelle called, hurrying through the hallways.

Some of this looks familiar.... Lily thought curiously. It kind of looks like...HOLY POO ON TOAST.

If Lily had been in control of her own body, she would have halted. Her mouth would have dropped open in shock. She would have stood staring at the wall for a good five minutes before she was able to move again.

But Lily wasn't in control of her own body, so she had to deal with her revelation while hurrying down a long, narrow corridor, her eyes maneuvering wildly about in search of Charlotte.

She was in Gryffindor's Castle. And not just Gryffindor's Castle, either--it was part of Gryffindor's Castle that was connected to Potter's Cottage--the part that led to the ballroom, to be more specific, and--

Good Lord, I think James and I have snogged behind that tapestry, Lily thought with a sudden jolt as Laurelle breezed by it, still looking around wildly.

A loud scuffling noise came from behind the tapestry and Laurelle halted, whirling around. Lily thought she heard whispers and suppressed giggling, and Laurelle marched back down the hallway. As they neared the tapestry again, the noises became louder, and Laurelle halted in front of it, glaring.

"Charlotte, this is no time for silly--" she said accusingly, pulling aside the tapestry, but she froze when she saw just who was behind it.

Charlotte was behind there, certainly, but the man in whose arms she was entwined--the man whom she was kissing, in fact--was the last person Lily would have imagined discovering behind the tapestry. Mostly this was because she only recognized the faces of four people in Laurelle's world, and the man behind the tapestry belonged to one of them.

"C--Captain Pearce?" Laurelle sputtered, shocked.

Charlotte gasped and shoved the Captain away from her, which didn't do much good, because the space behind the tapestry wasn't very large, and although she'd shoved the Captain away, their bodies were still touching in many places.

"Laurelle!" Charlotte cried, extricating herself from the Captain's grasp and scrambling out of the alcove.

"Charlotte--what are you doing?" Laurelle shrieked.

"Laurelle--I can explain--" Charlotte said desperately, as Laurelle began backing away.

"Explain what? Bringing him into our home? Running the risk of revealing everything? Risking persecution?"

"No, Laurelle--it's not like that--"

"How long has this been going on?" Laurelle demanded, disgusted. "You make me sick, Charlotte. That man is our enemy and you've been--you've been--"

"Laurelle, please, just stop and listen to me! Captain Pearce is--"

"NO! I don't need to hear it!" Laurelle screeched, and Lily rather agreed with her. What was Charlotte playing at, anyway? Just because Captain Pearce looked nice was no reason to go putting her family in jeopardy--

"But Captain Pearce is a--"

"Stop it! Whatever he told you, it's a lie!"

"LISTEN TO ME!" Charlotte bellowed.

"See if I try to throw a birthday party for you again, you ungrateful--deceitful--"

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" bellowed another voice, and Lily was shocked to see that Captain Pearce had appeared from behind the tapestry and drawn his wand on Laurelle.

Wait--his wand?

"What are you doing with that?" Laurelle sputtered.

"I'm going to hex you with it if you don't shut up and listen," he growled.

"But--but you're--you're a--a--"

"Muggle?" Charlotte suggested, and then shook her head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you, Laurelle. Captain Pearce is a wizard."

Laurelle blinked slowly and stared at them for a moment, dumbfounded. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she exploded. "For Merlin's sake, Charlotte, you didn't have to sneak around with him--not in your own house--and you could've picked a better time to have a secret rendezvous with him than during your own birthday party--honestly--and it would've saved me a lot of trouble, you know, if I'd known you fancied him--I wouldn't have had to invite all these unmarried blokes to your party--and--"

Charlotte looked so happy Lily thought she might cry. "So you're not--you're not mad at me then?"

"Oh, goodness, Charlotte, of course I am--I'm positively furious, you great bloated idiot, you're missing your own birthday toast! But--but I'm relieved, anyway. To know that Captain Pearce is--on our side, at least."

She glanced at Pearce suspiciously. "You are on our side?" she inquired.

"Oh, Ellie--of course he is!" Charlotte said defensively, slipping an arm around his waist. "He's been using his position as a Muggle to save wizards from hangings...and...he wants to help us find Patrick."

Now Lily thought Laurelle might cry. "You mean--you believe me?"

Charlotte nodded. "Jonathan's explained everything...oh, Laurelle, there's so much we didn't know--so much I've been dying to tell you--"

"Why didn't you?" Laurelle cried.

"Well..." Charlotte said, a little uncertainly, and glanced up at Jonathan.

"I wasn't sure I could trust you," he admitted. "I made her wait until I'd gotten everything sorted about you. I came to tell her tonight...."

"We got a little sidetracked," Charlotte said quickly, blushing. "I didn't mean to leave the party for more than a few minutes, but--oh, Ellie, we haven't seen in each other in a month, you must understand--"

Lily thought Laurelle was processing all of this with a great amount of poise and intelligence. Lily herself would still have been sputtering and protesting. "Of course I understand," Laurelle said, a little sadly. "Patrick's been--well, it's been a year, anyway."

"I know, Ellie," Charlotte said, her eyes shining. She walked forward and clasped her sister-in-law's hands. "We'll find him, though. I promise."

"I'll find him," Jonathan corrected. "I can't let you two come with me."

"Why not?" Laurelle cried. "I have to see him--I have to find him--"

"It's too dangerous," Jonathan said roughly. "And we don't have time to talk about it now. They'll be expecting you at the party," he finished, directing this last statement at Charlotte, who nodded sadly. "I'll be in touch," he assured Laurelle.

"I'll--I'll go back and tell them you're coming," Laurelle offered. "Go ahead and say good-bye, but...don't be long."

Charlotte nodded, and the last thing Lily saw before Laurelle turned away was Jonathan wrapping Charlotte into his arms. Lily felt a pang of longing in her stomach, and wondered if it was Laurelle's or her own. Tears slipped freely down her cheeks, and Laurelle stopped and leaned against a wall for support, covering her face in her hands.

Lily knew how she felt...in small part, anyway. She couldn't imagine a year of being separated from James...she was having a hard enough time with a month...and to think that Laurelle's husband might be in danger of dying....

Lily shuddered mentally.

If James ever died...

She'd already lost most of her family...and James was...was...

I'm not going to think about that, she decided. I can't think about that. If I start thinking about James like that, then that means I...I...

Well, I just can't feel about him that way. If I don't feel about him that way, then...it won't hurt as much if I have to lose him.

Lily got the very distinct impression, before Laurelle's world swirled away again, that she was full of shit.

November 24

James-

So looking forward to our next meeting.

I must remind you, however, that you forbid me only to never show that poem to Lily, and said nothing about showing it to Melody, so by rights you should not be allowed to turn me into a chamber pot, not even a very nice shiny black one with gold filigree laid into it. (I imagine if I were ever a chamber pot, this is the kind of chamber pot I'd like to be. Not that I'd actually like being a chamber pot, mind you...but so long as no one ever actually USED it...)

-The Poet Moony

Lily's dreams persisted. Her nightmares varied from night to night, some worse than others, but the Not-Dreams, which she was starting to think of as the Necklace Dreams, remained constant.

Lily surfaced in Laurelle's world with her hands working feverishly. Laurelle snatched things off her dresser--a comb, a small silver mirror, a handful of candles, and a box of matches--and shoved them hastily into a small brown bag. She hurried across the room and drew out a few things from her closet, shoving those in the bag as well.

She dropped to the floor and crawled under her bed, searching for something. Dust bunnies swirled across the wooden floor, and Laurelle's eyes watered viciously. Lily could barely see the small wood box by the time Laurelle's hands found it, but Laurelle knew what she was doing, and dragged it out from under her bed efficiently. Lily briefly glanced an ornate letter "G" carved into the lid of the box before Laurelle opened it and began digging through its contents hastily.

Lily glanced a few interesting-looking jewels, a piece of unimpressive-looking rope, several broken watches and some dried-out tea leaves before Laurelle's hands closed around the object she was seeking. A compass? Lily wondered, getting only a brief look at the spinning silver needle before Laurelle shoved that into her bag as well. Laurelle shoved the box back under her bed, and Lily wondered at the rest of its contents.

"Laurelle, what are you doing?"

Laurelle jerked and looked up, her heart racing. "Oh, God," she said, placing a hand over her chest, her heartbeat slowing. "It's just you. I thought it might've been...someone else."

Charlotte Gryffindor pursed her lips and looked down at Laurelle disapprovingly. "Well, if you don't change and get back into bed you're going to wish I were someone else."

Laurelle paled slightly, climbing to her feet. "Charlotte--please--you can't--"

"I know he's your husband, Laurelle, but don't forget that he's my brother as well, and if I thought there was any way to save him I'd be going with you."

"How can you say that?" Laurelle whispered, shaking her head. "How can you just condemn your brother to death, when maybe there's something we can do to help him--if we could just find him, we--"

"Oh, Laurelle, listen to yourself! You sound like a madwoman! What could we possibly do to save Patrick? What?"

"I don't know! Something!" Laurelle shrieked, tears brimming in her eyes.

"How do you even intend to find him?" Charlotte demanded, setting her candle down and staring at her sister-in-law. "What makes you think you even could find him?

Laurelle clutched her necklace instinctively and shook her head. "I don't know--I--I just know that if I go out and try to find him right now I'll be able to--somehow--"

Suddenly Lily was aware of a dull tugging in her abdomen. The necklace felt soft and warm and reassuring beneath her hand, and she found herself agreeing with Laurelle. They could find Patrick. If Charlotte would just let them leave, it would be all right.

"Come with me," Laurelle said suddenly, impulsively. "I know we could find him together, I just know it--"

"And who will look after the house? Who will look after your son?" Charlotte wanted to know. "Laurelle, stop and think for a moment. You're being ridiculous."

"I don't care," Laurelle replied stubbornly, staring at the ground.

"And what about Jonathan?" Charlotte prompted. "He went looking, didn't he? For all you know he's on his way back to England right now--with Patrick, and--"

"He's not," Laurelle said fiercely, clutching the necklace. "He's in trouble, Charlotte--they're both in trouble--we have to help them--"

"Stop it!" Charlotte yelled. "Just--just stop it!"

But she didn't sound so convinced anymore. Laurelle looked up to see two shiny streams of tears running down her sister-in-law's face.

"You're worried about him too, aren't you?" Laurelle said softly. "You don't think Jonathan is coming back, do you?"

Charlotte sniffed, loudly, and shook her head. Laurelle wrapped her into a hug, and Charlotte wiped her tears away on the sleeve of her night gown.

"Get ready," she said quietly, pulling away. She picked up her candle and held her hand in front of the flame protectively. "I'll be coming back."

Laurelle nodded and picked up her bag, clutching it hopefully. "Pack something for yourself. I've got--candles, and--my looking glass. If you've got yours, bring it with you."

Charlotte nodded. "Go get some food from the house-elves. I'll meet you in the kitchens."

"All right," Laurelle agreed. "And Charlotte?" she called, as her sister-in-law turned to leave. Charlotte looked back at her, her large brown eyes shining in the candlelight.

"Yes?"

"Thank you," Laurelle whispered, and Charlotte's eyes shimmered more intensely, this time with tears.

"You're welcome," she whispered back, and left.

November 25

Peter-

I hope this letter finds you well.

Hit Moony over the head for me, would you?

-James

"OW!" Remus said, rubbing the back of his head. He turned to see Peter Pettigrew standing behind him, looking rather nervous. "What'd you do that for?"

"James told me to," Peter said, holding out the letter.

Remus grabbed it and scanned it before groaning and shoving it back at Peter. "I don't think he actually meant it, Wormtail."

"Well--I--I know that, but you can't ever really be sure with James, and--"

"Never mind," Remus sighed. "Come sit down and we can work through the Dark Arts homework if you like."

Peter looked immensely relieved. "So--so you're not mad about me hitting you?" he asked, plopping down in the chair across from Remus's. The boys were in MHQ, sitting on either side of a newly instated chess table. Neither James nor Sirius were particularly fond of chess, but it turned out Remus and Peter both enjoyed it, which was surprising, as Remus had never considered Peter much of a chess player. The board was empty at the moment, so Peter emptied the contents of his book bag onto it.

"I think I'll live," Remus assured him. "And you might not want to put so many books onto the chess board. It's not that sturdy."

"Oh--right," Peter agreed, and shoved some of his books onto the floor.

Peter and Remus didn't get far in the Dark Arts homework, however, before the entrance to MHQ slid open and Melody and Mimi entered, their heads bent over a notebook. Melody glanced up and halted abruptly, groaning.

"Oh, drat," she said, and Mimi glanced up from the notebook as well.

"Oh, poo," Mimi agreed, frowning at the boys. "What are you two doing here?"

"Homework," Remus replied. "Care to join us?"

Mimi wrinkled up her nose. "No, not particularly."

"Can't you do your homework in the library?" Melody asked.

"I dunno, why?" Remus asked.

"We need to use MHQ," Melody informed him.

"So use MHQ," Remus said, gesturing to the area of the room he and Peter were not occupying.

"Alone," Mimi stressed.

Remus sighed. "Now, girls," he began, in a patronizing tone, and the girls exchanged glances, "I don't want to cause you undue grief, but the M in MHQ doesn't stand for Mimi or Melody, and as much as I'd like to turn my private headquarters over to you, it doesn't fit with Marauder guidelines, and I'm afraid you're going to have to learn how to share your space like good little children, or I will be forced to hex you."

Melody whipped out her wand. "Care to run that by me again, Moony?"

"Moony?" Mimi asked curiously, and pink spots appeared in Melody's cheeks.

"Nice job there, Melody," Remus said, grinning. Melody glared at him.

"Just a nickname," she said quickly. "Not important."

Mimi glanced back and forth between Melody and Remus curiously, but she didn't say anything.

"Anyway," Remus continued, clearing his throat. "We're not going to leave. If you want to do something in MHQ, you can do it with us here."

"But it's supposed to be a surprise," Mimi whined.

"For who? Me or Peter?" Remus wanted to know. "Say it's me, Peter's not that important."

He ignored Peter's indignant cries of protest.

"Neither," Melody said, and stared at Peter until he shut up. "It's for Sirius. Now shoo so we can work on it."

Remus thought about this for a moment. "Melody, that doesn't make any sense. Sirius is in--in--Tibet for all we know. D'you really think we're going to get a chance to tell him about it?"

"That's not the point."

"What is the point?"

"Complete and total confidentiality, that's what," Melody snapped. "Now leave or suffer the consequences," she threatened, lifting her wand again.

"What're you going to do, turn us into donkeys?" Remus asked dryly. "In case you've forgotten, Professor Dumbledore forbid that, and if you do--"

"Please, Remus. I think I've learned better things to do with my magic than turn people into donkeys."

"Such as...?"

"Well, for example, I can now quite successfully turn people into newts. Care to see a demonstration?"

"Not on myself, thanks."

"How about on Peter?" Melody suggested, flicking her wand in his direction. Peter squeaked.

"That's n--not fair!" he protested. "I haven't said anything!"

"He has a point," Mimi admitted.

"Oh, come now, Peter, don't tell me you wouldn't like to experience life as a newt!" Remus said encouragingly. "Just imagine--scurrying around on the floor, your tail swinging behind you, searching about for the nearest water source...it'd be a blast!"

"If I wanted to scurry around on the floor, I could just turn into a r--"

"I DON'T THINK WE NEED A DEMONSTRATION, THANKS," Remus said loudly, muddling Peter's last word. Melody glanced over at Mimi quickly before turning her attentions back to Remus, trying to look confused.

Mimi glanced around the room, utterly confused, as Remus, Peter, and Melody tried to pretend like they didn't know what word Peter had been about to say.

"Well," Mimi said finally, "I don't think you're being fair about this, Remus. After all, it's not as though there's any other place we could go to work on this in private."

"What's wrong with a deserted classroom?"

"Any idiot first year can break into a deserted classroom. We need security."

"Security for what?"

Mimi and Melody traded a glance. "Well...maybe it's not that secret," Mimi conceded. "But we would like to work on it alone," she said, looking at Remus with big, hopeful eyes.

"It being...?" Remus tried hopefully, trying to ignore Mimi's puppy-dog look.

"It being something we don't intend to tell you about right now, and if you keep annoying us we may just..." Mimi trailed off.

"Throw ourselves into an absolute fit and start shooting hexes everywhere, and then we'll end up fighting with each other again and you'll have to hear about it for the next three weeks before we finally make up," Melody finished. "And you don't want that again, do you Remus?"

Remus stared at Mimi's puppy-dog eyes for a long moment before sighing, and Melody grinned as she saw him caving in. "I'm going to ignore for a moment how illogical that statement was, gather up my books, and run for the hills," Remus informed them, trying to pretend it was Melody's threat and not Mimi's eyes that convinced him to leave. "Now play nice, kiddies--don't do anything mean to MHQ--no more duels--"

"Are you serious? We're really leaving?" Peter said, staring at Remus as he gathered up his things.

"You bet we are, Peter!" Remus said. "Don't want to get in the middle of one of their fights again--no, we sure don't--"

Peter blinked and stared at him for a moment before snapping into action and shoving all of his books back into his bag hastily.

"Have a lovely time, ladies," Remus said, pausing on his way out of the room to look at Mimi for a moment. She'd dropped her puppy-dog gaze and was now smiling at him flirtatiously.

"Thanks, Remus," she said, a slight flush appearing in her cheeks. "We'll leave MHQ good as new, I promise."

Remus winked and then waved at them as he dashed out.

"Hey--Remus--wait for me!" Peter called, still trying to shove some of his books into his bag as he hurried after Remus. He didn't seem to notice that several pieces of parchment fell out of his bag as he went.

As soon as the boys were out of the room, Melody shoved Mimi playfully in the shoulder. "You little flirt!" she said, grinning, and Mimi giggled, her cheeks turning pink.

"Well, we needed MHQ...."

"Hey, I'm not complaining, I just--ooh, what's that?" Melody exclaimed, spotting the pieces of parchment Peter dropped on his way out.

"It just looks like some blank parchment, Melody," Mimi sighed.

"Yes, but with the Marauders anything's possible," Melody reasoned, shuffling through the papers. "And besides, not all of it's blank...see, here, Practical Dark Arts for the Average Wizard essay--pff, well that's useless," she muttered, tossing it over her shoulder. "Letter from James...ha!" she laughed, shoving it in Mimi's direction. Mimi read it and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Melody, we need to get started."

"What for?" Melody asked, scrutinizing the blank bit of parchment.

"Well, we kicked the boys out of MHQ so we could use it, didn't we? Not so we could go through Peter's stuff."

"Yeah, and your point is...?"

"Well...we could go through Peter's stuff in the library or something, it's a waste of time to be doing it here."

"Oh, Mimi, would you relax?" Melody sighed, lifting her gaze from the parchment.

Mimi pouted for a moment. "I'm sorry, it's just...I think we should use MHQ for what we came here to use it for. Who cares about Peter's parchment?"

"I do," Melody replied, flipping the parchment over and scrutinizing it. "Besides, you don't really care if we get started on Sirius's thing right now, you just feel bad about batting your eyes at Remus to make him leave."

Mimi's cheeks flushed a bit. "Well--I--you know, it's not just that, and--"

Melody waved her hand dismissively, not looking up from the parchment. "I don't really care. We got MHQ like we wanted, and besides--" she cut herself off, turning the parchment over again and running her fingers across it excitedly. "Besides, I think this might be it!"

Mimi blinked, confused, as Melody dashed over to the table and placed the piece of parchment on it. "You think this might be what?" Mimi asked, following Melody over to the table.

"It! This piece of parchment. I think this might be what the Marauders have been working on."

"The Marauders have been working on something?" Mimi asked curiously, leaning over to see the parchment better.

"It's the Marauders. They're always working on something."

"Good point."

"Okay, so...I don't think there are any hexes on it..." Melody muttered, tapping the parchment several times with her wand. Acclaro, she thought, touching it hesitantly. Nothing happened, and Melody sighed in relief. "Nope, looks like it's all right...hm..." she stood over the parchment for a moment, considering. "Ostento."

Lines of ink curled out over the page to form words, and Melody grinned viciously.

"What is it?" Mimi asked, cocking her head to try and read it, as apparently Melody had placed it on the table upside-down.

"Well, let's see," Melody said, snatching it up. "Maybe it's a new prank they're going to try--or--a list of passwords to some secret passageways...or..." she trailed off, frowning in confusion as she read. "Or a very weird sort of love letter to Peter from a Hufflepuff girl named Sophie Fullcox." Melody's eyebrows furrowed so closely together they were almost touching, and she stared at Mimi for a moment before returning her gaze to the parchment. "Oh--oh--bullocks!" she cried, chucking the parchment across the table and throwing herself into a chair.

Mimi walked around the table and picked the parchment up, scanning it briefly. "Wonder why Peter would bother making it invisible?"

"Maybe he didn't," Melody said, fuming. "Maybe she did, and he's just too daft to figure out how to reveal it."

Mimi raised her eyebrows at Melody. "I know he's a bit of a--well, an airhead--but he is a Seventh Year. I think he knows how to uncover invisible writing by now."

Melody shrugged but didn't say anything.

"Oh, come now Melody, don't be so put-out. We still have Sirius's surprise to work on."

Melody shrugged again, but a small smile appeared in the corner of her mouth.

"Just imagine the look on Remus's face when he sees what we kicked him out of MHQ for," Mimi said, grinning viciously.

Melody snorted and smiled. "D'you think he'll be mad?"

"Nah," Mimi said, shaking her head. "He'll be furious."

Lily fell into the Not-Dream for the fourth night in a row.

I enter in the oddest places, Lily grumbled to herself as Laurelle pushed aside the leaves of a large bush and glanced around, looking at what appeared to be a large military camp.

This is a horrible hiding place, Lily thought disdainfully. We are SO going to get caught.

"What do you see?" came a faint whisper from her right, and Laurelle's eyes shifted over slightly to take in the form of her half-sister, crouching in the bush beside her.

"Looks mostly deserted," Laurelle replied, scanning the campsite again. "Campfires are still smoking...like they've just been extinguished...."

"You think now's a good time to go in?"

Lily felt a strong lurch in her stomach, and Laurelle clutched her necklace instinctively. "As good a time as any," she said, shrugging helplessly. "I'm not really sure."

"Well...we might as well go then," Charlotte said, after a moment's hesitation. She gripped her wand tightly. "Some kind of...Illusionment Charm, d'you think?"

Laurelle shook her head slowly. "No. They might have Charm Detectors set up. I think we'd better just go in."

"All right," Charlotte agreed, a bit reluctantly. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Me too," Laurelle replied, rubbing her thumb over the necklace one more time before letting it drop and shoving her way out of the bush.

The girls crept around camp quietly, but after a few minutes it became clear that no one was around to hear them. They relaxed, slightly, and Laurelle followed the insistent tugging in her stomach through the camp to a very small, unimpressive looking tent in the middle. The tugging feeling now was almost unbearable.

"You think they're in there?" Charlotte whispered, glancing around suspiciously.

"I don't know. Let's find out," Laurelle said, pushing open the tent flap and practically stumbling into the tent as her stomach gave one last, mighty tug.

The sensation stopped as soon as the flap fell closed behind her, and Laurelle's eyes fell almost immediately on the two bound and gagged figures on the other side of the tent. The tent was far roomier than she'd anticipated, and it took a fair few steps to cross the distance between herself and her husband, but to Laurelle it felt like no time at all.

She fell to her knees, crying, hands shaking, and slowly, clumsily, untied his gag--his blindfold--his hands--

"Laurelle," Patrick croaked, once he could see, and once his arms were free he wrapped them around her tightly.

Laurelle didn't quite know what to do with herself. Her hands quivered as she ran them through his hair, across his back, down his arms--around every part of him she could touch with his arms still wrapped around her, like she was trying to make sure he was actually real--that she wasn't just dreaming it again--

Lily felt like an unwelcome intruder as Laurelle buried her face into her husband's neck, drinking in his scent, and then began kissing him madly, all over his neck--his face--until finally he sealed his mouth onto hers, and she relaxed into his arms happily.

I shouldn't be doing this, Lily thought, feeling flustered, but Laurelle paid her no attention. It felt so weird, having her eyes closed--her mouth locked onto another man's--a man who obviously wasn't James--and to be kissing him with a mouth that obviously wasn't hers, either--a mouth far more experienced than her own, hungering for things that Lily had never--well, things that she'd only ever wondered at, and never actually felt--

Lily wished she could blush. She wished she could pull out of Laurelle's body...or that at least she knew what Laurelle was thinking--what was going on--where they were--

Patrick pulled away, and Laurelle looked at him in disappointment. He stared at her face, looking mesmerized, before shaking his head and glancing around the tent frantically.

"How did you get here? Why weren't you found? Laurelle, you shouldn't have come."

Laurelle's lip trembled dangerously. "I had to come--Patrick, everyone thinks you've been killed--and I knew--I knew you hadn't been, I had to see you, I had to find you...to save you...."

Patrick cursed under his breath. "Laurelle, leave. Now."

"Just let me finish untying you and then we--"

"No, just you. Leave."

"But--Charlotte and I--"

"Charlotte?" Patrick said, eyes flashing. "You brought my sister with you? Damn it, Laurelle--"

"Don't curse at her," Charlotte said fiercely, and Patrick turned around to look at her. His shoulder moved out of Laurelle's view, and Lily could now see Charlotte and Jonathan sitting on the floor, holding each other. "You have no idea what we went through to find you."

"It was a mistake, coming here," Patrick said, shaking his head. "Please--both of you--leave now, while you can."

"We came here to save you," Charlotte said fiercely, "and we're not leaving without you. Both of you."

"Patrick," Jonathan said finally, "let's just go. The camp's been deserted--we have a chance--"

"Shut up, you fool!" Patrick growled. "If you care about her at all you'll make her tie you back up and leave without you."

"Patrick--please, I don't understand," Laurelle said, tears stinging her eyes.

"There's no time to explain," Patrick said hoarsely, his gaze softening. He gathered her face into his hands. "I love you," he said, with a tone of finality, and Laurelle shook her head, blubbering intensely.

"Patrick--no--I'm not leaving without you!"

"You're running out of time. Please--I couldn't bear it if they killed you, too--"

"But they haven't killed you yet, Patrick, I don't understand--please--please tell me--"

"You're wasting time! Tie me back up!"

"Do it, Ellie, or I will," Charlotte said softly, crouching beside her sister-in-law. Laurelle looked over at Jonathan to discover that he'd been tied up again, and she stared at Charlotte in shock. "You should know enough to listen to Patrick when he's being serious," she reasoned, and seized her brother's hands and bound them swiftly.

Laurelle sobbed as Charlotte bound her husband, unable to see the tears running down Charlotte's own cheeks. She wrapped her arms around Patrick once he was fully bound, blindfolded, and gagged, and he buried his face in her neck, his breath catching unevenly. "I love you," she whispered into his ear before she and Charlotte lowered him gently to the ground.

"Come on," Charlotte said, grasping Laurelle's hand. "We'll find out what they're talking about...and then come back to save them."

The girls heard muffled cries of protest from both the men lying on the ground, and Charlotte shook her head at them, although they couldn't see it. "What, d'you expect us to go home and pretend like you're dead?" she hissed, and then pulled Laurelle out of the tent angrily. "Stupid asses," she muttered, hurrying through the campsite with her sister-in-law in tow.

Despite all of Patrick and Jonathan's efforts to make the girls leave quickly, however, it appeared quickness wasn't enough. For the girls had no way of seeing the two invisible men laying in wait for them in the bushes, and so neither woman was prepared for the violent blow that was delivered to her head just before she fell into unconsciousness.

"Siegfried, you are positively useless."

Siegfried pouted at Bellatrix and crossed his arms. "I told you I wasn't any good at research."

"You're not even trying," Bellatrix snapped, dropping a heavy, leather-bound volume onto the table. "Is it so hard to look through the index for the name Delany?"

"Well...no, but...some of these books don't have anything, and others of them have dozens of pages...d'you really expect me to look through all of them?"

"Yes, Siegfried," Bellatrix said, exasperated. "I gave you an Insta-Copy Quill...it's not as though you actually have to do a lot of work...just open it to the right page and the quill will do all the work for you. Honestly."

Siegfried sighed and reluctantly opened another book. "Delbit...Delbine..."

"You've gone too far. Delany's earlier in the alphabet."

He narrowed his eyes and flipped backward a page. "Dabbott...Dabinge..."

"Too far back. Find the 'e's again."

"You do it!" Siegfried cried in frustration, shoving the book at her.

"Are you that slow a reader? Honestly, Siegfried, how did you make it through school?"

"I seem to remember having a lot of help from you," he shot back, and Bellatrix frowned, thinking maybe she'd coddled him too much on their way through Durmstrang...even though he'd been a year older. He is such a baby sometimes, she thought to herself, skimming the index for Delany. "There it is!" she said triumphantly. "Several of them, actually...Delany, Evan...Delany, Kruger...Delany, Livana...Delany, Steven...look those up," she said, shoving the book back at Siegfried.

He muttered something under his breath but flipped to each of the appropriate pages in turn, allowing his Quill to do all the work and not paying any attention to the text it copied down.

"Well?" Bellatrix prompted when he'd finished. "Anything?"

Siegfried shrugged. "I dunno, I didn't read it."

"You really are useless," she snarled, snatching up his papers and reading through them quickly. Evan and Kruger were useless, but when she got to Livana her eyes widened interestedly.

"What?" Siegfried asked. "Find something?"

"Shush so I can read," Bellatrix snapped.

DELANY, Livana.

Livana Piermont Delany (1856-1882) is best known for her work on lycanthropy. Her interest in this field stemmed from her own experiences as a werewolf, an affliction from which she suffered since childhood. Her experiments focused primarily on methods of reversing or subduing the effects of her monthly transformations, but progress in this area was cut short by her untimely death.

Her research spanned many other fields, including alchemy, dark arts defense, ancient magic, and a particularly in-depth set of reports on enchanted necklaces, but little of this research is considered credible. The distrust of werewolves in wizarding society hurt her reputation as a scientist and historian during her lifetime, and the stigma continues posthumously.

"Sodding hell...Siegfried, read this!" Bellatrix cried, shoving the paper at him. Siegfried scanned it and raised his eyebrows at her, looking up.

"So?"

"So we have to track down those papers on enchanted necklaces, that's what!"

"And how do we do that?"

"Hell if I know," Bellatrix grinned, too excited to care. "But we found something."

Siegfried tried to feel excited about this, but it didn't work. "Great. Can we get supper now?"

Bellatrix sighed and grabbed the parchment from Siegfried, shoving it into her pocket hastily. "If we must," she agreed, reluctantly abandoning her books. "But tomorrow, we're going to track down those papers, and then we'll know what Lucifer was talking about."

"Of course, dear," Siegfried agreed, kissing her absently on the forehead.

Bellatrix sighed, but followed Siegfried out of the library obediently. Well...at least one of us cares....

Lily's fifth necklace dream was unlike the others. The world materialized around her slowly, as Laurelle fought her way back to consciousness, and her vision was the last thing to arrive.

She felt the tingling in her fingers first. Her head throbbed, and she felt like every part of her body had fallen asleep and was now beginning to tingle awake. The ache swept through her system so ferociously that she almost missed the smell in the room. It smelled like dirt, filth, and ale, and filled Lily's nose so violently it made her eyes water. She thought she might vomit.

She didn't, however, and slowly registered, besides the tingling and the nausea, that there were other people in the room, speaking.

"Auf wie lang, bis sie wecken?"

"Ich weiß nicht. Vielleicht sollen Sie sie treten, und sie werden schneller aufwachen."

"Ha ha! Vielleicht, wenn sie zu lang ich werde nehmen."

"Wie lang ist zu lang? Drei Stunden sind an schon vorbeigegangen."

"Bis ich an Karten verliere."

Yeah...too bad I don't speak German... Lily thought grumpily as the other voice laughed now.

Laurelle's eyes opened slowly, groggily, to focus on two men in military uniform playing cards. Her view was sideways, however, because she was lying on the floor, bound by the hands and feet.

I wonder why not my eyes and mouth also, Lily thought vaguely, and then one of the men noticed she was awake.

"Ah! Sie erweckt."

"Finally," the other man said, setting down his cards. "Are you slept well?" he asked, his accent thick, and Laurelle frowned at him.

"I wouldn't call it slept," she said groggily. "Not when someone hits me over the head and knocks me out."

He looked slightly puzzled for a moment, and then grinned at her. "I am sorry. Commands are...no changing?" he said, questioningly.

"That's good enough," Laurelle said, sitting up as the first man untied her hands.

The man looked slightly more confused, but then shrugged. Apparently learning proper English was not high on his list of concerns.

Laurelle noted that her feet were still bound and sighed, then looked over at Charlotte, who was still lying on the ground. She watched as her sister-in-law stirred, and then her eyes fluttered open, too, and the first man untied her hands as well. She pushed herself upright and looked at Laurelle with disappointment and alarm in her eyes.

What's going on? she mouthed, and Laurelle just shrugged helplessly.

"You wait here," the man with the thick accent said, leaving the tent, and the other guard remained to watch them.

"Do you...speak English?" Laurelle asked, and he glared at her. "Guess not."

"Maybe he does, he just doesn't want to talk to us," Charlotte suggested.

"Or he's not allowed to," Laurelle reasoned.

"Schweigen!" the guard barked, and the girls stopped talking. He smiled and sat back in his chair, looking satisfied.

Laurelle and Charlotte stared at each other intensely, and Lily wondered if they were Legilimens. Damn it, WHY can't I tell what Laurelle's thinking?

Another man entered the tent then, and Charlotte and Laurelle snapped their gazes away from each other.

He was clearly higher up in the army than the men who'd been left to guard them. His coat was adorned with more shiny badges than Lily could count, and he had a very commanding smirk and swagger. His thick dark hair was brushed across the top of his head neatly, not so much as a spare strand falling across his forehead. His eyebrows were thin and flat, lying in a very orderly, boring manner across the top of his brown, steady eyes. A small, neat mustache adorned the skin above his lip. Even the muscles in his jaw were straight and even. Did God draw out his face with a ruler? Lily wondered, somewhat inappropriately.

"Ah, there you are," he said, directing his attention to Charlotte and Laurelle. He had an accent as well, but it was much lighter than the guard's, and his English was very clear. "Awake at last?"

Charlotte and Laurelle exchanged a glance but didn't speak.

"I would have provided more comfortable quarters, but...it is war, you know..."

"Not against England," Charlotte spat. "Let us go."

"The enemy has many spies."

"And all of them are female English nobility, are they?" Charlotte asked, raising her eyebrows.

He laughed. "You're a cheeky little thing, aren't you?"

Charlotte just glared at him.

"I seem to have forgotten my manners. I am General Klaus Reidenbach," he said, bowing mockingly at the two women on the floor. "And you are...?"

Charlotte struggled to her feet, her balance thrown off by the pair of hands bound behind her back. She drew herself as best she could and gave the General her fiercest look. "I am Lady Charlotte Gryffindor, and I demand a chair."

The General laughed. "Pleased to make your acquaintance." He turned and barked something at the guards, and they scrambled to get Charlotte a chair, which she settled herself into with dignity. Laurelle stood also, and the General looked at her expectantly.

"Laurelle Gryffindor."

"Ah, the lovely Lady Gryffindor's sister-in-law!" the General cried happily, and snapped something at the guards, who brought Laurelle her own chair. Laurelle's eyes narrowed and she sat, looking at the General suspiciously.

"Well it's clear that our formalities were wasted on you, since you seem to know exactly who we are," Charlotte snapped. "Now kindly take a seat and explain yourself."

"No, I don't think I'll care to take a seat," the General replied, looking a bit less amused. "You see I'm quite anxious, now that I've got what I've been looking for." He stared quite pointedly at Laurelle, his gaze slipping to her neck. Laurelle's heartbeat picked up.

"And what is that, General?" Laurelle asked calmly.

"That magnificent piece of jewelry around your neck," the General replied, grinning crookedly. He snapped his finger and pointed at Laurelle, and his guards moved toward her. "A painless procedure, I assure you."

"What do you want it for?" she demanded, looking at the guards in alarm.

The General laughed. "Dear girl--don't tell me you don't know?"

"Know what?" she asked desperately, as the guards fiddled with the necklace. Lily knew what they were looking for. The clasp, she thought. But...there is no clasp. At least on Lily's necklace, there wasn't. Would Laurelle's be the same? It was the same piece of jewelry, after all--of that much, Lily was certain.

The General dissolved into laughter. The guards pulled and tugged at Laurelle's necklace, but the chain refused to break. The General stopped laughing and frowned at Laurelle.

"Try slipping it over her head," he suggested. "Über ihren Kopf, Dummköpfe!"

The necklace shrank instantly. The guards tried to lift it, but it got caught under her chin. The more they tugged the smaller it got, until Laurelle was gasping for breath.

"You're not trying hard enough!" the General growled, shoving his guards away and attempting to remove the necklace himself. It wouldn't budge for him, either. He pulled out a wand and began firing spells at it. The necklace tingled softly as it absorbed the General's magic, and he eventually threw down his wand, infuriated.

"Fine--then I'll break it off with my bare hands!" he said, and tried tugging it again. It just caught against Laurelle's neck, rubbing her skin unpleasantly, and refused to be removed.

"Stop it!" Charlotte said finally. "It's not going to come off."

The General barked a stream of German at his guards, and they hurried to gag Charlotte.

Laurelle winced as the General gave a particularly vicious tug, and watched helplessly as the guards tossed Charlotte to the ground.

Hands shaking from effort, the General tried breaking the chain apart, and the necklace decided it had had enough.

The slinky gold chain suddenly contracted, pinning the General's hands against Laurelle's neck, and its surface suddenly became razor-sharp. The General howled in pain as Laurelle's necklace cut through his skin, contracting slowly to grind through the bones in his fingers.

The guards scrambled to help their General, and tugged at his hands, trying to pull them away from Laurelle's neck.

Laurelle gasped as they jerked the necklace and it cut into her own skin, creating a perfect ring of blood around her neck.

Charlotte screamed behind her gag and watched in horror as the General's fingers were severed off, and all three men fell to the ground from the sudden release.

Blood gushed from Laurelle's neck where the necklace cut into an artery, and she shuddered in agony, tears spilling involuntarily from her eyes.

The guards took in the scene in front of them in horror and dashed from the tent.

The General writhed on the floor, his face ruddy from screaming, six severed fingers lying near his quaking feet.

Charlotte writhed against her bindings, trying to free her hands so she could aid her sister-in law.

Blood pooled around Laurelle's neck, trickling down her chest and back in uneven spurts, except where the opened vein throbbed, dumping out spurts of the vital fluid at regular intervals.

Lily felt dizzy already. Laurelle's head tipped forward, and her eyes fluttered weakly.

A muffled cry of protest came from the floor where Charlotte was still trying to work her way out of her bandages.

But Laurelle couldn't do anything...darkness was coming for her...her eyes fluttered closed and then...

Lily's world went dark.

Lily, by some miracle, got back to the campfire first the day after she had her strangling dream. Normally Sirius was the first one back, and Lily one of the last, but today she was more focused than usual. She thought maybe this was because she was trying very hard to forget last night's dream, but a part of her liked to think that maybe she was just getting better at all of this.

She waited impatiently for Sirius, sure he'd be the second one to get back. She was not disappointed. As soon as she heard footsteps coming from behind her, she jumped up and turned around. Sirius looked rather surprised to see her.

"Lily! Good job today, then, eh?" he grinned.

"Sirius, I need to talk to you," Lily said quickly, and her face must have looked awfully pale, because Sirius's expression changed swiftly into one of deep concern.

"What's wrong?"

"You know those dreams I've been having? The nightmares?"

"Yeah."

"Well, those aren't the only dreams I've been having."

Sirius frowned. "What other dreams are you having? Are they bad?"

Lily shook her head. "No. Well...not until last night anyway." The dream flashed into her mind, and she clutched her neck instinctively, squeezing her eyes shut as though this would help her squeeze the images out of her head.

"Lily, maybe we should sit down," Sirius said gently, removing Lily's hands from her neck. She opened her eyes and nodded, sitting down slowly on one of the logs positioned around the fire. "So?" Sirius prompted when she didn't speak. "Your dreams?"

"I've been having dreams about my necklace," Lily said, picking it up and fiddling with it. She looked down at the chain in her hands, then thought about what it could do and shuddered. She let the pendant fall back against her chest. "I didn't know they were about my necklace until recently...and even then...until last night...."

"Lily, I don't mean to rush you, but you'd better hurry if you're going to get it all out before Sally or Naomi get back."

Lily nodded and composed herself, then explained everything in a rush. "I've been having these dreams, off and on, for a couple months. They stopped when I was taking the Dreamless Sleep Potion, of course--but ever since I ran out of potion, I've had one every night. They're about this woman name Laurelle, who has this exact necklace. It's...she lived a long time ago, a hundred years ago, maybe two hundred...I'm not really sure...and she's married to one of the Gryffindors."

Sirius's eyes widened considerably.

"Patrick Gryffindor, actually, but I don't know if that means anything to you. And...something happened to Patrick, he was captured by the German army...Laurelle and Charlotte--"

"Who's Charlotte?"

"Oh. Sorry. Patrick's sister. Charlotte Gryffindor."

"All right...keep going."

"So Laurelle and Charlotte went to save Patrick--well, and Jonathan, but don't worry about him, I'm not really sure how he figures in--and they had to go to this German military camp or something...and they were captured, too, and this General--Klaus something--came in and ordered two of his men to take Laurelle's necklace...he wanted it, but I don't know why, and neither did Laurelle...but...the thing is, it wouldn't come off, there wasn't any clasp, the chain wouldn't break, if they tried to take it off over her head it would shrink, and then they tugged at like mad and...and it got all sharp and started contracting, it took off the general's fingers, and...it cut into Laurelle too, she started bleeding like crazy and--then I don't know, Sirius, I don't know--I think she died." Lily's eyes pooled with tears and Sirius blinked at her, dumbfounded.

"Lily...it was just a dream."

Lily burst into tears. "That's the thing, Sirius, it's not, it's not j--just a dream! I'm her! I'm Laurelle, in the dreams, I'm ...well, except that I'm not, I...I'm in her body, but I'm not controlling it...I have to look where she looks and walk where she walks, but I can't hear what she's thinking, I can't say anything to anybody, I'm just kind of...stuck in her body, and I feel like...I'm seeing things as they actually happened, bit by bit, and I don't know...if it's the necklace that's making it happen, or...I don't know. I don't know anything."

Sirius patted her rather awkwardly on the back, and she sniffed and wiped away her tears.

"But...we've got to figure out what's so special about my necklace, Sirius...we have to...I wish we could ask that Frenchman from the night club what he wants it for...what its value is...what's so special about it...."

"What's so special about what?"

Sirius and Lily turned around to see Sally entering the campsite.

"Me, of course," Sirius replied cheekily, and Sally rolled her eyes.

"Please. The only thing special about you is the size of your ego."

"Nah, that's not special. That just comes with the 'y' chromosome," Lily joked, and Sally laughed. She grinned at Sirius, who feigned offense.

Inwardly, however, Lily sighed.

Am I ever going to know what's going on with my stupid necklace?

Lily didn't have any necklace dreams that night, which puzzled her considerably, and she spent much of the next day's hike wondering why.

The Auror Training group practically collapsed around the fire that night, exhausted, but after filling up on water and sandwiches, they livened up a little.

Sirius spent several hours regaling the girls with tales of some of his favorite pranks, and they laughed so hard tears ran down their cheeks.

"Oh, come on, Sirius, one more," Naomi begged.

"I don't know if I can handle it," Lily moaned, clutching her side. "That one about the dancing badgers almost killed me."

"I think we can handle one more," Sally said, and Sirius sighed thoughtfully.

"All right...let me think..." he said, stroking his chin theatrically. "Ah, I've got a good one." He straightened up, clearing his throat.

"I must set the scene for you ladies," he began. "Filch had just given James and I a particularly nasty set of detentions. Cleaning out the bathrooms, you see--without magic--and we were trying to think of a way to...repay him for his kindness. And good old Mrs. Norris, wouldn't you know it...she just happened to stroll by the library as we were brainstorming, and James had the brilliant idea that we should kidnap her."

"You kidnapped Mrs. Norris?" Naomi said appreciatively. "Why on earth would you give her back?"

"Oh, we had to eventually. She destroyed our dormitory. Anyway--"

He stopped and waited for the girls to stop giggling.

"But we decided just kidnapping her wouldn't be good enough. Oh no...we decided we'd give Filch back a new, improved version of Mrs. Norris.

"After about three hours of trying to tie bows, ribbons, and sparkly green pipe cleaners in her fur, however, we decided that it wasn't worth our time. Instead, we decided we'd to hold onto Mrs. Norris a bit longer and instead just...drive Filch crazy."

"Uh-oh," Naomi said. "That couldn't have ended pretty."

"Oh, it was brilliant," Sirius said, grinning at the memory. "But anyway--I haven't gotten to the best part yet. So we stashed Mrs. Norris away in our dormitory and strolled out of the common room like the innocent little blokes we were, and as we walked down the hallways we sort of...reconfigured things a bit."

The girls exchanged amused glances.

"Do we want to know where this is going?" Lily ventured.

"I do," Sally grinned.

"Oh, it's brilliant, I assure you," Sirius said before continuing. "James and I have always been quite talented at Transfiguration, as you know...so we decided, why bother sprucing up the real Mrs. Norris when we could practice on several dozen...fake Mrs. Norrises?"

"Wait...are you saying you transfigured random things in the hallway to look like Mrs. Norris so you could dress Mrs. Norris up like a...whatever?"

Sirius grinned. "The first few didn't turn out so well, of course...it takes practice, you know...so we just Stupefied those and hung them up in various places as...decoration. Once we got the hang of it, however...Mrs. Norris really does look wonderful with a five-foot long tail and neon green fur."

The girls laughed appreciatively.

"I wish I'd been there to see the look on Filch's face!" Sally cried.

"I can't believe I didn't notice that," Lily said, shaking her head.

"Well, this was around Christmas, you see, so you might not have been there...I think there were about eight of her running around at one time--drove Filch absolutely up the wall. Then when we let the real Mrs. Norris go free, he didn't quite know what to do with himself. You see...we'd left a couple of the duplicates normal-looking...so there were three cats running around that looked very much like Mrs. Norris, and he couldn't exactly tell which was which."

"How could you tell which was which?" Naomi asked.

Sirius considered this for a moment. "Nah, we couldn't either."

"How many detentions did you get for that?" Lily asked.

"Eh...about a week and a half's worth. But oh, it was worth it."

"Glad to know you've spent your time at Hogwarts on such noble ventures," she said wryly.

Sirius just grinned. "You have no idea, Lily-bean. You have no idea."

Lily's dreams returned.

She surfaced that night in Laurelle's world with immense relief.

So she didn't die, Lily thought to herself. That's good.

Unfortunately, the room Lily currently occupied was unfamiliar to her, so she could not immediately tell where she was or what was happening. She was sitting at a desk, surrounded by piles of books, her hand scribbling away on a piece of parchment. Her hands had scratches on them, and they were somewhat...thinner than Lily remembered.

Maybe the blood loss? Lily ventured. That doesn't really make sense though....

Lily got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. This is...Laurelle's world...isn't it?

Laurelle--or was it?--let out a long sigh and turned her gaze to the large grandfather clock standing beside her. Lily saw her reflection in the glass and thought she might keel over.

It wasn't Laurelle.

This girl had long brown hair, tired eyes, and a weary expression on her face...but a very familiar-looking gold chain hung around her neck.

James had a very long train ride home. He wondered why the Ministry was bothering with the train, when they'd taken a Portkey to their first Training location, but he didn't suppose there was anything he could do about it.

All in all he wasn't sorry training was over. The Ministry bit had been too boring for his tastes, and the entire time he wished he'd been out in the wilderness with Moody again. The first couple days had been all right, of course--the relative dullness of the Ministry was somewhat of a relief after all the hard work they'd done with Moody.

Still, though, he'd had far too much time to himself...far too much time to think...mostly about Lily....

His leg jiggled nervously, and he stared out the window impatiently.

How many more hours to Hogwarts? he wondered, checking his wristwatch. They'd left London late the previous night and were due in Hogsmeade station by ten o'clock this morning.

Only eight-thirty, he thought glumly, and there's nothing to do.

Adam and Vivian were snogging again, almost certainly, and Frank was probably asleep in his compartment still, or James would have gone and bothered him for a game of Exploding Snap.

James thought of something, and dug in his bag for the little mirror he often used to communicate with Sirius when they were in separate detentions. It hadn't worked all week, but maybe today...maybe now that he was out of Ministry territory...

"Sirius," he said, looking into the mirror. The mirror fogged up for a moment, then became clear. James could see into...something...but it was very dark, and there appeared to be something fuzzy blocking his view.

Must be seeing the inside of Sirius's bag, he thought glumly, and tossed the mirror back into his own bag. No point trying to talk to him now, if he's all packed. Must be getting on his way back to Hogwarts, too...wonder when the other training group's getting back....

Hope Lily's there before me, then I won't have to wait around to see her...

James sighed and stared out of the train window again.

It was going to be a very long hour and a half.

Half the school turned out to greet the Auror Training Students. Professor Dumbledore posted a notice that some of the students who'd left for training would be appearing on the front lawn via a Portkey at nine o'clock in the morning, and the rest of the training students would be pulling into Hogsmeade station at ten. Mimi and Melody came down carrying their Very Secret Project for Sirius, and proudly unrolled it to display for the other students.

Remus was one of the first to see it, and he just gaped at them for a moment.

"That's it? That's your big surprise?" he demanded finally, staring at the "Welcome Back, Sirius!" sign in disbelief.

"Yep," Melody replied, beaming. "Isn't it wonderful?"

Remus blinked at her. "You mean to tell me that you and Mimi kicked me out of MHQ three nights in a row so you could write 'Welcome Back, Sirius' on a banner in sparkly gold letters?"

"For your information," Melody said haughtily, placing one hand on her hip, "creating this poster required an enormous amount of skill, and we never would have gotten it done in time if you'd been around to distract us! ...and by us, I mean Mimi."

Mimi glared at Melody but didn't say anything. Remus looked as though he wanted to chuck something at her.

"I ought to--to--wring your neck!" Remus sputtered. "You made it sound so important--made me and Peter study in the library, for goodness' sake, and--and--"

"Quick, Mimi, bat your eyes at him again before he hexes us!"

Mimi considered hitting her, but decided it would be better to go along with her suggestion than start another fight, no matter how minimal.

"Oh, come on, Remus," Mimi said, twisting her hands together behind her back and looking up at him with big, innocent-looking eyes.

Remus tried and failed to ignore her gaze. He sighed deeply and shot a glare at Melody, who just shrugged and grinned, feeling very pleased with herself.

"You have to admit, Remus," Mimi said, attracting his attention away from Melody, "it'll sure shock the hell out of Sirius."

"They're going to skin me alive," Sirius said, gulping.

"Don't be ridiculous," Lily said. "You're going to be fine. For all you know they've made up by now."

"Yeah right," Sally snorted, plopping her bags down next to Sirius's. "Doesn't sound like they're going to make up any time soon, if you ask me."

"Oh, you never know," Naomi reasoned. "They could've."

Last night the girls managed to extricate all of Sirius's Girl Drama from both Sirius and Lily, and were now intensely curious as to how Mimi and Melody would react to Sirius's returning to Hogwarts.

Sirius glanced around at the girls and then gulped again. "I'm gonna die," he concluded, to which Lily and Naomi groaned loudly.

"You're not going to die, no matter what happens," Lily insisted, and Sirius looked at her doubtfully.

"And if they try to kill you...we can take care of them," Sally added, grinning, and Naomi, surprisingly, nodded in agreement.

Sirius smiled. "It's nice to know I have your backup, ladies."

"And it's time for you to get going," Moody growled. "Grab your bags and grab the Portkey...you have about ten seconds."

Sirius gripped his bag nervously and touched the Portkey, a charred log from one of their campfires.

He closed his eyes and felt the familiar tugging sensation around his navel, before swirling away in a dizzy haze, and then--

Next thing he knew, there was cheering, and he opened his eyes to see that he was home, and an unexpectedly large crowd had turned out to greet them. He glanced around nervously to see if Mimi and Melody were there, and--

Froze in shock.

There they were, bloody both of them, holding a sign that said Welcome Back, Sirius! in sparkly gold letters. Mimi jumped up and down and waved at him. Melody just stared, trying to smile, but looking as though she had many other things on her mind than smiling.

Sirius ignored Mimi's squeal as she ran across the lawn and attacked Lily, who was standing right next to him. He ignored Remus and Peter greeting him heartily, and further ignored the slap Remus gave him on his back. He ignored his fellow Marauders when they shrugged and turned to Lily to greet her, ignored the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team as they came over to say hello...in fact, he ignored everybody and everything else but Melody, who was still staring at him. She was still holding her half of the Welcome Back, Sirius! sign as well, even though Mimi had long abandoned her post on the other side and now half of it was laying on the ground pathetically, so that all he could see was ack, Sirius!, which, under the present circumstances, seemed slightly more appropriate.

Sirius moved finally, and walked over to her. She let the sign flutter out of her hands once he reached her and continued staring at him, though now her gaze was directed upward.

"Hi," she said softly, looking unsure.

"Hi," he said back. "I thought...you'd both be mad at me."

Melody shook her head. "I thought...maybe you'd be mad at me."

"What for?"

"Wrecking everything with Mimi."

"Oh. Well...yeah, there is that."

"But you're not, though?"

Sirius shook his head. "It was my fault, really."

"If I hadn't turned you down though--"

Sirius shook his head again. "Still my fault. I was being an ass."

"So was I."

"Yeah, but I was an ass longer."

Melody took this in and grinned. "Have you...talked to Mimi yet?"

Sirius shook his head. "I will in a minute."

Melody nodded. "I missed you," she said after a minute.

"I would've missed you...except I thought you might both be lying in wait to hex me when I got back."

Melody grinned again. "I guess things turned out better than you anticipated...eh?"

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, "a bit."

"I--" Melody began, then cut herself. "I really missed you," she said, her words spilling out all at once, and, impulsively, she wrapped her arms around his waist.

Sirius returned her hug, an immense wave of relief passing through his system. He didn't realize how tense he'd been until all his muscles began to relax, and he dropped his head onto Melody's shoulder, burying his face in her hair.

"So Mimi's not going to skin me alive for hugging you?" he asked, his voice rather muffled.

Melody smiled. "Nah," she said. "I think she and Remus are...finally getting around to things."

"Oh, really?" Sirius said, pulling away so he could see Melody's face. She grinned up at him.

"Yeah. But--you still have to talk to Mimi. Just...make sure everything's really all right...you know?"

Sirius nodded, his expression more somber. He leaned over and kissed Melody's forehead. There are other places I'd rather be kissing, he thought grumpily, and when he pulled away again he saw that Melody looked rather disappointed as well. I'd better go talk to Mimi soon, before I do anything with Melody that might make her mad again, he decided, and stepped completely out of Melody's embrace.

His mission to talk to Mimi, however, was interrupted by the rather loud train whistle coming from Hogsmeade station.

Lily whirled around and looked down at Hogsmeade. "Is that...?" she asked curiously.

"That's the other Auror Training group!" Mimi said excitedly. "They're early!" she squealed, glancing at her watch. "They're not supposed to be here until ten--come on, let's go down and meet them!"

She grabbed Lily's hand and together the girls ran down to Hogsmeade, along with the rest of the crowd.

The platform was more crowded than Lily anticipated, and she shoved people aside impatiently, searching for James. Then--a glimpse of messy black hair--a familiar-looking nose--there he was, it was James--

Lily didn't pay attention to how many people she bumped into, none of them mattered as much as the one she was running toward--none of them were making her heart beat that fast--none of them were turning to see her running toward them with that grin on their face--

"JAMES!" Lily yelled, feeling a bit stupid, because she'd yelled it right next to his face, but that didn't matter--the next second she'd jumped into his arms, James's arms were wrapped around her, and--

God, I've missed this, Lily thought as James's lips connected with hers. She slid her arms around his neck, bringing his mouth against hers more fully, and James wasted no more time trying to be polite--Lily forgot they were in public--she vaguely thought she heard hooting and whistling noises, but ignored them--what did it matter--what did matter, except for kissing James?

Her heart pumped so hard inside her chest she thought it might come flying out...goose bumps erupted all over her skin, the butterflies in her stomach were doing acrobatic flying tricks, and Lily thought it might all be too much--she thought she might go limp, and then just ooze out of James's arms to become a contented little Lily-puddle on the ground.

But no, the next time she checked she was still intact, James's mouth was still anchored to hers, solid and warm and real...so wonderfully real...not like her dreams...

Lily didn't want to move, she didn't want to think, she didn't want to open her eyes ever again because that might mean she had to stop doing this, and that was the last thing in the world she wanted to do.

James, however, eventually had to pull away, because the embarrassing noises the Marauders were making behind him were starting to annoy him.

Lily resisted intensely. She pulled his lips back to hers once--twice--three times, and even after he'd set her down nicely, loosened his grip slightly, and attempted to speak twice, she still resisted, stubbornly, and it took a lot of effort on James's part to finally push her away.

"Lily," he managed finally, sounding rather dazed. "There are other people here."

"Tell them to sod off," Lily mumbled, burying her face in his neck.

"Don't think I can. There's too many of them."

"Then we ought to sod off. Where's the nearest hidden passageway?"

"Up in the castle somewhere, I expect."

"Oh, bother," Lily said, remembering where they were.

"It would be nice if we said 'hi' to some of the other people here, don't you think?"

"I've already said 'hi,'" she mumbled.

"We can continue this later, you know."

Lily grunted, stubbornly.

James grinned. "I missed you, Lily."

Lily reached up to kiss him one more time. "I missed you, too," she said finally, and let him go.

James, with a dopey grin on his face, turned around to greet the world he'd left behind.