"Hello, mate," said Sirius as he entered the boy's dormitories.
"Hello," Remus responded rather distractedly as he uncharacteristically gazed off into the depths of his ever-expanding mind.
Sirius peered at him curiously, in search of some clue as to what his troubled friend must be thinking about. Surely it wasn't a girl- Remus wasn't one to daydream. It couldn’t be a small trivial matter, for Remus didn't worry about such things. Neither could it be an enormously problematic dilemma- or else Sirius and James would already know. So Sirius leaned forward a little more to Remus' left side more pointedly to see if Remus would react to his close proximity with another living being.
No response.
Sirius waved his hand in front of Remus' face.
No response.
"Remus?"
No response.
Sirius then proceeded to do a jig around the room, weaving his way in and out and between the four poster beds, and clapping his hands, and singing (very badly), and came to an abrupt halt in front of Remus with his hands open wide and a goofy smile on his face.
Remus looked up at him with his un-amused golden eyes.
"You do know you're just making a fool of yourself right?" Remus asked.
Sirius' grin vanished and was replaced by a look of slight embarrassment that required looking at the ground and hands fumbling around for a pocket to rest in. "Sorry, mate- it's just, I've never seen that kind of look on your face before."
"What look?" Remus asked as he stood up and also placed his hands in his pockets.
"You know…that….strange….weird…placid look," Sirius said. He then demonstrated what it was exactly he was trying to describe. Remus sighed.
"I was thinking-"
"Very hard."
"- about Addalynn."
"Oh. What about Addalynn?" Sirius inquired, curiosity sparking out of his slightly narrowed gray eyes.
"Haven't you noticed that before she was very shy- almost didn't say a word- and now…now she's very 'in sync' with us…she talks more…" Remus rubbed the back of his head with his hands and turned towards the window. "She never seems to quite be the same person all the time. It's like she doesn't have a….a natural state of being. Like a song that can't follow the same tune all the way from beginning to end."
Sirius thought for a moment about the past few days and realized that, as is usual for day to day reality, Remus was right. Addalynn could be shy and sad-looking one moment, and then all of the sudden she turned into 'Little Miss Ray of Sunshine and Rainbows'. Sirius' eyes widened.
"You're right about that. I guess I just never really thought about it."
"Do you think she's just pretending to be our friend?" Remus pondered almost to himself.
"No. No I think she really is our friend. But maybe it's just we don't know everything about her…not, yet. Getting to know someone takes time Moony. And time we have," Sirius assured.
Just then James walked in. "Hi, mates. What's going on?"
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Addalynn walked solemnly up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Her hand absentmindedly slid on the ancient wood railing and her misty eyes looked somewhere beyond her present state of being.
"Hey, Addalynn!" came a cheerful voice from the top of the stairs, but it didn't quite penetrate Addalynn's mind. "Addalynn?"
Addalynn's head jerked up to see Lily Evans standing in front of her, her bright green eyes trying to make sense of Addalynn's strange behavior. Addalynn took a moment to recollect her senses.
"Sorry, Lils, I just…drifted off there for a moment," Addalynn explained.
"That's alright, I know the feeling. But hey, the girls and I were wondering if you knew any good ghost stories? We're planning on staying up late tonight," Lily said excitedly.
"Sorry to disappoint, but, I don't know of any. But I'd be willing to listen to some," said Addalynn, who then proceeded to follow Lily to the 6th year girls' room.
Inside all the girls were spread out all over the floor with what seemed like hundreds of pillows and blankets. Large bowls of snack food were scattered across Ruby's bed.
"Let's get this started ladies!" sported Meisha, her dark eyes alive with anticipation.
Everyone immediately buzzed around to find a comfortable spot. Addalynn headed over to her bed to change in to her pajamas. Lily crossed over to the foot of her bed and sat against the footboard with her pillow hugged up to her chest.
It was many hours until Addalynn finally decided that all the screaming and "oh my goodness!" and the "OH NO!" setup of being an easily frightened teenage girl began to get on her nerves. So finally when she looked up at the clock on the table beside her bed to see that it was three in the morning, she gathered up her pillow and blanket and set of to the common room for some peace and quiet. She took her alarm clock with her; she didn't want to be caught in her pajamas on the sofa by her fellow schoolmates.
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Remus, James, and Sirius were all gathered on top of James' bed discussing the existence of a certain female friend who they found quite odd. She could be shy and sweet one moment and the bold and strong the next. Her mood seemed to fluctuate; so much that the three boys were able to stay up until three in the morning discussing it.
"It's like she's got multiple personalities. I don't understand it…" said Remus rubbing the back of his head.
"I don't know, mates, she's never done anything to put us on our guard," James said looking across at the other two.
"But then why do I feel there's something wrong?" asked Sirius furrowing his brow. "It's sort of like if one of you were in some sort of trouble but didn't tell me, I would still know because you two are my best mates. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Remus and James nodded their heads in agreement. Remus let out a rather obnoxious yawn and decided it was time for the three of them to get some sleep before the sun came up.
But as soon as James was able to spread out under his warm covers and shut off his brain for a while, a very uneasy and alarming feeling crept into his stomach and now matter how many times he tossed and turned, he still couldn't get to sleep.
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Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
She groaned and rolled over, shoving her face into her pillow.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Ugh…"
Her hand fell with a 'smack' on top of her alarm clock, and then she pushed herself up of the sofa cushions to see what time it was. The clock read six in the morning.
"Oh, goody…" she said sarcastically, rubbing her eyes, "another sunny day."
She grudgingly stood up, gathered her things, and trudged moodily up the stairs. Her feet banged on each step with a loud clonk, clonk, clonk. Reaching her dorm room, she worked her way through the sea of open bags of candy, pillows, and the heavily breathing bodies of her fellow sixth year girls.
Her pillow, blanket, and alarm clock fell into a messy clump on top of her neatly made bed. She turned to the powder room with the connecting showers and began her morning routine.
After getting the shower water to come to a nice boiling temperature that no human could possibly come out alive from, she stepped in. She let the sweltering water boil on her skin and reveled in the cleanliness she felt. Addalynn loved hot showers. She loved to feel like she could at least be clean on the outside, if not on the inside. But every time she stepped out of the hot mist of bullet-like streams of liquid, her skin was red and hot to the touch, so today, after a nice long soak in the hot water, she abruptly adjusted the knob to the cold side. The temperature immediately took a frightening plunge downward.
She gasped at the iciness. It cut into her skin at first, but then as she got used to it, she relaxed. She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding.
After bathing, and brushing her teeth and whatnot, she emerged from the bathroom smelling like fresh river water. None of her roommates were up yet and it was cutting into their notoriously long primping time. Addalynn began the task of waking them up with an air of dangerously concentrated annoyance.
"C'mon girls wake up! It's time to get ready!" she shouted while shaking the shoulder of the nearest sleeping body.
They all grunted and protested and threw their pillows at her, but Addalynn got all of them up in time. But as soon as she did she stormed out the door and down the stairs with her book bag in tow; her thunderous steps echoed through the tower as she did.
She didn't stop in the common room, but instead she headed straight out through the portrait hole. James had just entered the common room as she did upon hearing all the racket from her descent down the stairs.
He stood there puzzled for a moment, pondering what could've possibly made her so upset. It couldn't have been the other girls; she didn't really hang around with them much, so there couldn't have been anything to fight about. He was certain it wasn't over a boy (he made sure there were no boys chasing after her). It could be that she didn't study for a class or forgot to do some homework. But would she upset over something that trivial?
James wasn't sure of much after the discussion the night before. He stood there for no longer than a moment; one eyebrow was raised, and then headed back upstairs. Crossing over to Sirius' bed, he noticed for the first time since school started, that Peter was in his bed sound asleep.
Where has he been all this time?, James wondered. But he paid no mind to himself and proceeded to wake up Sirius and then Remus.
"Why are you waking me up at this unholy hour, Prongs?" Sirius whined groggily. He rolled over and pulled his pillow tightly over his head.
"Because something is wrong with Addie," answered James. Sirius snapped to attention, carelessly throwing his pillow aside.
"Is she hurt?" he asked.
"No, but she seems really upset about something," James said.
Remus pulled himself into a sitting position, listening intently.
"Well, did you talk to her about it?" inquired Remus.
"No. As soon as I got downstairs I saw her practically run out the portrait hole like her dorm room was on fire," he said, "and she had this strange look on her face as if something was just tearing her to pieces…"
Sirius' face hardened and his eyes became cold and steely. "It better not be a boy…if some guy broke her heart I'll-"
"Sirius," James said with a slight, nervous chuckle, "no one is going to mess with her. She's our friend, remember? No one messes with a Marauder. Besides, she hangs out with us too much to have any extra time to date anyone."
Sirius relaxed, only slightly satisfied. He would gladly pound anyone to a good juicy pulp if they hurt one of his best friends, especially his only female best friend. Remus tensed a bit with apprehension, looking as if he wanted to say something but wasn't sure. Finally he spoke.
"You don't think she has depression do you? Most magical beings don't suffer from those types of things, but there are some rare cases of it," offered Remus.
"I don't know, Moony. All I'm sure of at the moment is that we have quite a puzzling friend. But what frustrates me is that we can't find any puzzle pieces," James said, partly to himself.
A long period of time passed after that. James continued to stand in the middle of the dorm room unconsciously ruffling his hair from time to time with a contorted look on his face. Remus was sitting up against his bedpost, staring up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression. Playing with a feather from his down comforter, Sirius was laying on his back, sprawled across his bed, his sheets in massive disarray.
The three of them jumped when Adam's (another roommate of theirs) alarm clock went off, signaling the room of teenage boys that it was now eight o'clock and only one hour until their first class started. The ruffling of sheets and tired moans and groans filled the room as some of the boys started to get up, and others rolled over and pulled their pillows tightly over their heads in a very similar fashion that Sirius had demonstrated not that long ago.
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Having skipped breakfast, Addalynn was now sitting all alone outside her first class with her book bag in her lap. Her face was slack with disinterest and her hair clung to her face, still damp from her early morning shower. She wasn't alone for long; a tall, dark figure emerged from around the corner at the end of the long flagged-stone hallway.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He had greasy black hair that clung to the sides of his shockingly gaunt face. His ebony eyes were so dark she couldn't determine what he was thinking. As soon as he saw her he began to turn around.
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It was another dismal day in the life of Severus Snape. He had woken up two hours earlier than needed, as usual. He took a short, cold shower and brushed his crooked teeth, as usual. He dressed in his graying black uniform and scrutinized his pathetic appearance, as usual. He proceeded to skip breakfast and study in the library instead, as usual.
His roommates had snickered in his direction and laughed at his face and he didn't do a thing about it. Teachers passing by in the hallway mad a point not to look him directly in the eye. The strap on his book bag ripped and sent books and papers flying every which way. It was sunny outside, and Severus Snape hated the sun with a fiery passion.
And once again, he found himself heading to his first class early, as usual. He uninterestedly watched his feet beneath him as he walked with his greasy black hair falling into his face. He heard the echo of his footsteps ring off the stone walls with distaste as that sort of noise was prone to giving him headaches.
But as soon as he had turned the corner, he saw something unusual for once. It was the girl he had seen at the clock tower. The girl he studied and pondered over. All those questions he had, all those secrets he kept inside him, were sitting before him in a single, beautiful entity. She was sitting against the wall with a rigid posture and a discontented look upon her porcelain face. The moment he saw her, he lowered his head to prevent her from seeing his face and turned around with the hope that she hadn't noticed him.
Too late.