The Last Summer Rose

The Last Summer Rose

Chapter 2: Rough Plans and Party Plans

The door was literally wrenched off it's hinges and came flying towards Sirius, who had only moments to react and hurl himself off the disheveled bed as the door landed exactly where had sat. In the torn doorway stood a very angry Remus, with the anger practically radiating off him.

"Bloody hell, Remus! What happened?" Sirius sat on the equally disheveled floor in utter shock with Peter and James sitting on their beds with their mouths hanging open.

"I. Want. To. See. That. Dream. Charm. Script!" Remus said the first words through clenched teeth, but could not control his anger any longer and screamed the last word. None of them had ever seen the usually mild Lupin like this, it was usually Sirius who came tearing in, and Remus who calmed him down. Sirius scrambled to his feet and fetched the script from his bedside table; from where he had charmed the script into Meredith's mind the night before. He handed it to Remus; scared that someone or something might explode and hurriedly retreated to his warm spot on the floor. The three adolescents watched Remus' angry eyes roam the faded parchment, the anger building up with every move his eyes made, every line he read. When Remus finally tossed the parchment into the overflowing rubbish bin, his golden eyes, usually so calm, were on fire. There was a slight pause, then Remus launched himself rabidly at Sirius, punching and tearing at every part of the boy he could get, face livid, neck muscles straining and sweat pouring down his red face. Sirius was limp under Remus, his legs thrashing as he tried to fight back, but the anger was too much, and James sensed it. He jumped on top of the two boys and pulled them apart, Sirius limp on the floor, sporting a brilliant black eye, and Remus stood with his chest heaving and fighting James to get free of the iron grip. Seeing his two best friends at each other like this finally made patient James crack.

"Remus, what the hell is going on? Now go outside, and come in like a civilized person and tell us what you have to tell us without fighting!" Remus shot a nasty look at James, then marched outside moodily and marched in again. He sat on his bed with his arms crossed, his nose up in the air, glaring at Sirius all the while. Sirius, meanwhile staggered into a standing position, clutching his head and using James as a support. James led Sirius over to Remus' bed, since his own bed had been killed by the vicious attack of the flying door. James sent Remus a look that clearly said, "You can bear to sit on the same bed without mauling him." James returned at last to his own bed and the three of them sat in silence waiting for the explanation from the usually kind and cheerful Prefect.

Remus was having a hard time getting it out. For him, it was one thing to let your emotion come out with no one around, just to yourself, but it's another to do it in front of your friends, one of whom was the cause of the problem you were worried about in the first place. Remus gathered all his courage, and placed his head in his hands preparing to speak. Cool it, he told himself. You're going to be fine, Sirius is fine, just tell them. They'll know what to do.

"I...well, Meredith, well she...she um...likes me, but...not really in that sort of way." The room let out a collective sigh, and Sirius put his arm gingerly around Remus' shoulder, just as Remus had wanted to do to Meredith, but had never worked up the courage.

"Moony, if it's about a girl, then please forget it. There are a dozen other good-looking girls in this school, and thousands more in the world. Leave it be." Remus shook his head miserably and the others looked on with a puzzled look. They didn't understand, not yet at least.

"Sirius, she likes me...but the whole reason she wouldn't say the whole thing was because...well she likes you...even more." Once Remus had started, it was a lot easier to keep going.

"She simply adores you, and at first, I thought you had put something like that in the Dream Charm, and I was all angry and had to check...I thought it was your fault, but Sirius-sweet Merlin, I am so sorry Sirius! Will-" Sirius cut him off abruptly with a stunned exclamation.

"She likes me?" Remus nodded, hiccoughing slightly. The realization of what happened dawned upon the other guys, and Sirius pulled Remus closer to him, rubbing his shoulder in consolation.

"Oh, Remus, I am so sorry. If I had known..." Sirius trailed off, leaving Remus with his own thoughts.

The Dream Charm had been found in the back of a musty old book written in Sanskrit. The plastic cover said the book was called Pyaar, but none of the boys knew what that meant. Sirius had come running in with the English translation one night (Merlin knows where it came from), and after that, Remus' hope was rekindled. Not any of them had any idea why they looked there in the first place. As Peter so often joked, it was probably fate. The Dream Charm, when cast properly would fill a person's mind with a dream of the caster's choice. The dream had to be written on paper, then charmed to appear inside the receiver's head. It was a complicated spell, with a special potion that the dream had to be written in, a special type of charmed paper, and what not, but the boys had secured these items, eager to see how Remus' first love attempt would turn out. The only reason the Marauders had to go to such extremes was because Remus was shy, and not at all outgoing like Sirius and James. The dream had been written, instructing Meredith to be in the greenhouses at 12 o'clock, on Friday the 13^th, when forbidden missions must take place. Obviously it was a disaster. After a length, James spoke up.

"Well then, what are we going to do? We have to do something." Remus contemplated what he had said to Meredith earlier. A grin crept upon his face and there was a long pause as the others tried to guess what Remus was coming up with inside his crafty little brain. After a length, he spoke up.

"I think, Sirius, she's going to ask you out. And being the perfect gentleman you are, you will accept." There was a shocked look on Sirius face, as he comprehended what was being said, then he pointed at himself and mouthed, me? James and Peter also had a puzzled look on their faces, as if they had no idea what their favourite team had scored in the Quidditch match of the century. Remus on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear, the rivulets of tears dried up, and all traces of anger gone save for the obvious sweat on his shirt. Of course, he thought, there's that what-not potion that turns you into someone else. Simply perfect for situations like these.

"Polyjuice" Remus stated simply.

"What?" The other three boys chorused their misunderstanding. Remus rolled his eyes at the thickness of his friends, then jumped up and ran excitedly to his trunk. An odd assortment of thing flew everywhere, the Sneakoscope he had gotten in 3^rd year along with a variety of old, moldy socks and an empty Firewhiskey bottle rolled up in an outdated copy of Playwitch. The other boys stood in shock as all these various things came out of the perfect Prefect's trunk. Finally, Remus emerged from the mess clutching a old bundle of parchment, not caring what dirty secrets his friends had found out about him in the past 60 seconds. He sat down on the bed next to Sirius, whose eyes were fixed on him in shock. Remus could read the boy like a book. And no, he reassured himself, referring to what was probably going on in Sirius' head, I am not mad.

"Ha!" Remus finally called out, his nose stuck in the parchment. "Polyjuice Potion, when properly brewed allows the drinker to take on the form of another human being!" He looked up eagerly at his roommates, waiting for realization to dawn on their faces, but the night of oblivion continued.

"If Meredith asks Sirius out, I can turn into Sirius and go out with her!" Realization finally dawned on Sirius and he patted Remus on the back exuberantly.

"Brilliant! An idea worthy of me coming up with it!" Sirius peered at the notes in Remus' hand.

"We took these in second year! Were we that smart back then?" Remus smiled wryly at his friends tone and question, not smart enough to figure out I was a werewolf. Their joy was short lived for as Remus kept reading the notes he had taken on the Polyjuice Potion, his face fell. Sirius read the notes over his shoulder out loud to the other two.

"The Polyjuice Potion takes from one month to two months to brew, and its effect on werewolves, vampires, giants, centaurs and other half-humans is unknown...oh, Remus." Remus' shoulders slumped, and he stuck his nose in the parchment taking in the old smell. The date was Friday the 13^th, and there was no way that they could make or get the potion by the next Hogsmeade day, the 20^th. Sirius just had to refuse her, and make her upset. But then, it would all be Remus' fault. The faint glimmer of hope had gone out, leaving it's occupants in a night blacker than the one before.

"Maybe," Peter interjected in his small, squeaky voice, "maybe we can ask Alastor to get some for us. He might know where we can get some, or have some in a handy little stash." The others nodded glumly. Maybe, just maybe. They shouldn't rest their hopes on it.

"Yeah, I'll send him an owl tomorrow morning." Remus miserably clambered into bed, dying to get his hands on some of that potion. The other three got into bed too and it was long after lights were out that Sirius snuck into bed alongside Remus.

"I'll owl Alastor tomorrow. You sleep." He snuggled closer, throwing his leg over Remus' and attempted to change the topic less that deftly. "If you just told her how you felt..." He trailed off, nuzzling against Remus' neck. On any other night, he would have endured it, but it being such a horrible night for him, he bolted upright, the Prefect in him taking over, mostly.

"Sirius, you great dirty faggot, get in your bed now!"

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Lucius got up with the sun, as he did every morning. McGonagall had requested him to see her specifically that morning, along with the Head girl. He was not looking forward to the meeting with the stern Deputy at all; she probably wanted to berate him for not looking after the first years on the night of the Halloween feast. He pulled on his robes, which lay neatly folded at the foot of the bed. Straightening his Slytherin tie and pinning the Head Boy badge to his robes, Lucius descended the spiral staircase. Slamming the portrait door closed, he almost bumped into a small figure.

"You're late. We were supposed to be at McGonagall's 2 minutes ago." A very angry Head Girl stood in front of him, on hand on her hips, the other tapping her watch, brown hair drying in the stale air that blew in the Slytherin corridor. Lucius shrugged the comment off and started walking towards the Transfiguration classroom. When he didn't hear another set of footsteps following him, he turned around to see her standing there, a cold gaze on her face. He retraced his steps, and reluctantly held his arm out. She took it, hissing furiously in his ear.

"It's tradition for the Head Boy and Girl to go to the Christmas Ball together. I know you wouldn't have stayed if it weren't for that. Plus, you wouldn't have gone with me otherwise. We're supposed to be practicing." Lucius gave in, and the two of them walked arm in arm to the classroom. When they were outside McGonagall's office, he let quickly go and knocked on the maple varnished door. It opened and the professor ushered them in.

"Mr. Malfoy and Miss Noal. Please sit down." McGone (as she was known in Slytherin since her first year of teaching) waved her wand and two hard wooden chairs appeared out of nowhere, and the two sat down. The pair sat, hands moving restlessly in their laps. McGone surveyed them kindly over her spectacles (if the look could be called kind) and then spoke the meaning of the meeting.

"Both of you are well aware that it is traditional for the Head Girl and Boy to hold a New Year's Party for the prefects. I would like to know a week beforehand where you would be going, if anywhere, and a Portkey will be arranged for you. I hope that the responsibilities you have shouldered in the past year have not affected your social lives, and if they have, let this make it up." Lucius snorted derisively. A rampaging Hippogriff could never get in the way of his life, social or otherwise. Kithica Noal nodded and glanced at Malfoy, giving the 'her speech is over, it's time to go now' look. He glanced at the professor and saw her give him the same look. Women, he muttered under his breath, and stood up, walked to the door and held it for Kithica like a proper gentleman.

"Oh, you two are going to the ball together, am I correct? After all, it is tradition." The two turned suddenly, as if struck by invisible lightning. Fortunately McGonagall took their hated stares as a yes, and didn't press the issue, a close call from the almost inevitable questioning.

Lucius bade farewell to his damsel in err...un-distress; Kithica; and took off towards the Quidditch pitch. He always came here on Saturday mornings for a quick lap or two to maintain his physique and have some alone time. No one ever came, thus it was a quiet sanctuary from his father, Voldemort, and his countless fans, most of whom had only one thing in mind. He took off his billowing robes and threw it over a bar that divided the seating area from the pitch, and started lapping the field in nothing but a pair of tight, hip-hugging jeans. He had completed one lap, and had finished stretching, and was about to go for another lap when another figure emerged from around the corner of the castle. He was all too familiar, and Lucius recognized him immediately as the Black kid. Good, he thought. Let's have some fun.

"If I put you in detention for wandering the grounds too early would you kill me?" Lucius' eyes sparkled and he took long strides towards the kid, who was clearly visible in all black against the pale and brilliant morning light. Sirius tossed his hair the way a girl would do then marched up to look Lucius square in the eye. There was not much of a height difference, not in this age group; Lucius was just barely a quarter inch taller. Not many people's stares could cause Malfoy to squirm, but those generally kind and soft grey eyes were as hard as steel this morning, nearly matching in temper the stormy seas of Lucius' own eyes.

"If you gave me detention," Sirius' soft and seductive voice wrapped around the words like a snake wrapping around its prey.

"I could get you in more trouble, without the teachers ever knowing." He smiled sweetly, flashing all of his pearly whites.

"Of course, they would have your mangled body to prove it. Only I would be capable of such a thing" Lucius had taken anger management lessons, his father would never have him disgrace the name of Malfoy in a heated shouting match. He picked his words carefully, for when facing Black, anything could be flirting with death.

"I really don't wish to get physical," said Lucius, pacing around Sirius, watching intently for his reaction. "We should probably race around the pitch." He smiled tartly. Sirius would probably have to run in his robes, Lucius had the upper edge, his body streamlined in nothing but his jeans. Lucius turned back to Sirius, seeing how he would take it, and to his surprise Sirius had taken off his robes as well, revealing a tight hunter green sleeveless top and tight jeans, which looked rather good on him. He considered saying something perverted, such as "I like the way those jeans fit on you." but decided that it would further scar his already molested reputation. Besides, his brain was screaming out to him 'I AM STRAIGHT!' but if both of them didn't have girlfriends, then Lucius could have seriously considered...

"Hurry it up already. I'm tired of waiting for you." Lucius realized that he had been staring for a full 1 minute. The two crouched behind the goal post, the sun now fully risen. Lucius really despised Sirius, for he would not get a sunburn whilst wearing his shirt. There was an unspoken consensus about the starting time, just a line of tension that connected the two, and both were off like a shot. Running with the practiced ease and speed of an experienced runner, Lucius felt sure he would win, but Sirius was far ahead, those Beater trained muscles working to his advantage. Lucius panted in desperation, not wanting to lose to the lowly sixth year, especially to that certain Gryffindor sixth-year. Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of black , turned his head, and saw the petite fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect standing there. What was she doing out in a time like this? Not wanting to lose in front of Lyvver, he pulled harder, determined to win at all costs. It seemed that the newcomer also had an effect on Black. He had stopped dead in his tracks to look at her, and Lucius took the advantage to pull ahead and complete the lap, panting for breath. Black was still staring dumbly at Meredith. Typical Black, Lucius thought, he starts a race and doesn't even bother to finish it. He felt up to running a bit more, and loped over to where Black was, waiting for Meredith who was slowly walking towards them, err...him.

"Don't tell me you like each other! Besides Black, don't you already have a girlfriend?" The truth was that Lucius was the tiniest bit jealous. Meredith was pretty, potentially even beautiful. The way she bit her bottom lip when she was in deep thought enchanted him. His fire was extinguished when Sirius shook his head no. Damn, another competitor. Both boys looked at Meredith who surveyed Malfoy with an odd look before turning back to Black.

"Say, Sirius, I had wanted to ask you something..." She trailed off and Lucius resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Duh. He interjected smartly, trying to catch them off guard.

"She wants to-"

"Ask me out, yes I know." Lucius was stunned at first then smacked himself on the head, only figuratively. If he had figured it out so easily, then so had Black. Black turned to Meredith. "I've heard about you for quite sometime and wanted to get to know you better. Maybe next Friday, Hogsmeade day?" She nodded dumbly, then her eyes widened at what had happened, and apparently not trusting herself to speak anymore, turned and ran. Suave, stupid Black. Lucius could not resist the final word to her.

"Be sure you're staying for the holidays. The party on New Year's will be a blast." She turned and spoke tartly to him.

"We're required to stay. Anyways, I knew about it for weeks before hand" She eyed him with that expression again.

"I expect you found out about it this morning." While Meredith turned and left, Lucius turned red, a color quite unbecoming for a Malfoy or anyone else of his superior social stature. He started walking away from the pitch, away from the bad memories he had just acquired there.

"You might have won the race Malfoy, but I won the girl." Malfoy snorted at the words, grabbed his robes huffily, then turned and ran for breakfast, which was eagerly calling him. He felt the stares of Black on his back, then shrugged his robes on, trying to look presentable as he entered the Great Hall. Just as he was about to sit down, a school owl attacked him, dropping a bit of parchment on him, then flying to sit at the back of McGonagall's chair who was up at the staff table staring him intently. He opened the parchment, read it once and hastily scribbled a note on the back.

I was thinking of going to the Three Broomsticks that evening, until 10, then in the Head study for the rest of the night. Please alert me if there are any problems with my plans.

L. Malfoy

The owl came swooping back and picked up the note and gave it to the professor. She looked in his way, and nodded, and Lucius turned to the beckon calls of his breakfast.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sirius strode in, fully clothed, eyes washing the hall proudly. He had done his part. He sat down at the able, next to an eager Lupin.

"Well?" Sirius relayed to him all that had happened, and felt a surge of happiness at the look on his friends face, quickly replaced by worry.

"What now?" Remus was looking agitated, as anyone would in his position. Sirius sat back, running his hands through his hair and winking at a random girl, then grabbed a piece of toast and attempted to put into his mouth. But before he did he assured Remus with some marginal words of comfort.

"The board is set, the pieces are moving. All we can do is play things out in this great game of Life."