Finally, the drama of finding dates for the ball was done and all that remained was to wait for Friday. The week couldn’t have passed any slower. Monday passed like usual, Tuesday plugged on by, Wednesday dragged a bit, and Thursday was so slow that it seemed time had decided to play a clever prank on us.
Friday dawned as all days do, and we couldn’t have been happier. The entire school buzzed with excitement. Girls gossiped in the halls about their dresses and the guys boasted about how attractive their dates were. Even the first and second years, who weren’t allowed to go to the ball, were bouncing with glee.
“Amelia, you need to tell me everything that happens!” Maggie squealed as I talked to her after breakfast on Friday. “I really wish I could go… but no one asked me.”
I laughed and ruffled her curls. “Of course they didn’t, silly; you’re only a second year.”
My sister smiled sheepishly. “Well you never know… someone might have asked me. Anyways, I really wish I could see you and Sirius all dressed up together. You’re really lucky to have him, he’s so handsome!”
Great, I thought, even my little sister is hopelessly in love with my date.
“You two will make such a great couple; you’ll be the belle of the ball just like in Cinderella!”
“What in Merlin’s name is Cinderella?” I questioned. “It sounds like a sneeze or something.”
Maggie shrugged. “My friend Tracey was telling me about it. Tracey’s a Muggleborn, you see, and so she sometimes likes to tell us old Muggle fairy tales. Cinderella was a girl who slaved for her evil stepmother and then her fairy godmother Transfigured a pumpkin into a coach so she could go to the ball and fall in love with her handsome prince!”
I laughed. “She Transfigured a pumpkin into a coach?”
“Yeah, but then at midnight the spell wore off and she had to run, leaving a glass slipper…”
“So this story is about a girl named after the fact that she’s a servant who rides a pumpkin to a dance wearing glass shoes?” I couldn’t help scoffing at the absurdity of it all.
“Yeah, Muggles think of really weird things,” Maggie said, “but anyway, you’re going to be just like the girl in Tracey’s story and you’ll be so pretty that everyone will envy you!”
“For one, I won’t be arriving in glass shoes, and I’m not too sure I’ll be the prettiest, but thanks for the compliment, Maggie,” I smiled down at her.
For a twelve-year-old, Maggie’s head was still in the clouds. I could just see her on her bed in the Ravenclaw dormitories with her friends, drinking in every single word of the crazy Muggle stories. Most wizards and witches probably find it silly, but I think it’s rather cute. All the tales of princesses in towers and dragon slaying Muggles has always fascinated my little sister, and they probably always will.
Maggie blushed. “You’re welcome.”
“So, are you younger kids just going to eat the feast in your common room?” I questioned.
She shook her head. “No, we’re all eating in a smaller hall and then having a party of our own up in the common room.”
It wasn’t long until Maggie and I had to part ways, and I headed to my first class.
Classes lasted almost the entire day, but we were let out at three o’clock so we could prepare for the ball. As soon as the bells rang out for class to be done, Haylie raced from the room and up to the common room. Lily and I stayed back for a few minutes to chat with Sirius, and by the time we got around to leaving, Leah had gone up to get ready as well.
Lily and I made our way up to the common room and plopped down at our table, where an angry Haylie was talking with an annoyed looking Leah.
“I really don’t see why we can’t go up there,” Haylie was saying. “I mean, the least she could do is let us put our bags away.”
“Who are you guys talking about?” Lily asked.
“Micky,” Leah said, her voice edgy. “She’s up to something in the dorm and won’t let anyone in.”
“Which is dumb because we need to get ready for the Ball!” Haylie exclaimed.
I sighed. Here we go again. “We need four hours to get ready?” I highly doubted that it would take that long; all we have to do is put on a dress. Micky claimed that we needed two hours to buy the dresses and it took Lily and I less than half that time.
By the look on Haylie’s face, you would have thought that I’d said something truly scandalous. “Well, first we need to put on the dresses, then we need to pick out our hairstyles. Micky bought this great book when we were at Sylvia’s last weekend with tons of hairstyles to pick from. After that, we need to do our hair, which could take awhile because one might not turn out right and we’d have to redo it. When that’s done, we have to apply makeup and jewelry. Finally, we make sure everything is perfect and go meet our dates, who shall sweep us off our feet for a night of dancing and fun!” By the time she finished her dramatic little speech, there was a wide grin on her small face.
Leah coughed, as if to keep from laughing.
“Haylie, you have definitely been hanging around Micky too much lately. All her fashion rants seem to have gone to your head,” Lily chuckled.
“I think I preferred her Quidditch speeches,” Leah commented dryly.
I laughed, but Haylie shot them both dirty looks. As she opened her mouth to reply, a loud voice came down from the girl’s dormitory.
“IT’S READY!” Micky announced proudly and loudly, catching everyone’s eye as she dashed down the stairs and sped to our table. “Come on, you guys, I’m finished!”
We gathered our things and followed a very excited Micky to the seventh year dormitory. The door creaked open and my mouth fell open. Micky had transformed the room into a replica of a beauty salon. She closed all the drapes to our beds and hung the ball gowns on them. Somehow, she had gotten rid of the usual set of drawers in which we keep our clothes and replaced it with a large mirror and beauty table with a huge salon chair. On the table lay jars and bottles of creams, lotions, gels, perfumes, and every other beauty product you could think of. In the corner of the room was a huge box filled with shoes, and Micky quickly ran to her bed and pulled out a large case filled with colorful jewelry.
“Micky… this is amazing!” Lily exclaimed.
“How long did it take you to do all this?” Leah asked, her azul eyes sweeping over the transformed room. I could tell that she was impressed.
Micky shrugged. “I’ve been planning this for weeks, and I started the minute you were all gone to class. I even skipped out on Divination to work on it.”
“Divination is your favorite, though!” I said.
“I know, but the professor probably knew that I was going to skip out on it anyways. After all, this is Divination we’re talking about,” Micky explained. “Plus, I didn’t do it completely alone. A few of the house elves from down in the kitchens were more than happy to help out.”
We were silent for a few minutes, and then Haylie couldn’t seem to handle it anymore. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get ready! I call the shower first!” she called, dashing to the bathroom.
“All right everyone, let’s get going then!” Micky shouted, and we all began scrambling about, grabbing dresses and shoes and jewelry.
I swear, if Micky doesn’t end up working in some sort of fashion department someday, I’ll be very surprised. The girl thrives on everything related to hair and clothes. She ran the “Dorm Salon” like it was her own playground, commenting on necklaces and shoes.
“Leah, I wouldn’t wear those heels if I were you,” she commented as Leah was matching a pair of sparkly silver shoes to her dress. “They’ll make you look taller than Remus. It’s never good to be taller than your date.”
The coolest thing about the whole salon thing of Micky’s was probably the hairstyle book she bought while shopping last weekend. Flipping through the pages, I was amazed at how many different ways there were to wear your hair. It wasn’t just a flimsy magazine size either; it was almost textbook worthy. The book was divided into sections based on how long of hair you had and subtopics determining the style like a bun or a braid. It has everything you can possibly think of, and it can be used for everyday occasions as well as formal ones.
It wasn’t long before everyone had showered and thrown on the gowns. We had all paged through Micky’s book and looked for the hairstyle we wanted and one by one we took our turns in the salon chair while Micky waved her wand above our heads, muttering things and causing our hair to fly about, putting itself in place. Next was the makeup, which Micky forced upon our faces. After a few sprays of perfume, it was all over.
Everyone looked absolutely lovely in their dresses. Micky’s look was by far the most exotic, with a scarlet gown that had lots of fluffs and frills to the skirt. She wore a large ruby pendent on her neck and matching earrings. Her thick, silky black hair was arranged in great curls that were pulled into a loose knot in the back of her head with chopsticks sticking out of them. She had applied more makeup than usual, using an excess of blush and eyeliner to accent her Asian features and make her look even more foreign.
Haylie was by far the cutest in the room. It was pale blue with a very poofy skirt, small one-inch straps to hold it up, and dark blue lace on every hem. Her necklace looked as if it was made of pale blue pearls, and her hair was transformed into a wild mess of curls.
Leah was the very definition of grace in her grey-blue gown. The sleeves hung loosely from her thin shoulders and the rest of the flowing material seemed to hang on her, making her tall form seem less plain and more like a model than usual. She had let down her hair from its usual tight bun, revealing the fact that it was almost waist length, and waved it slightly. Her long neck was adorned with a thin silver chain and long draping earrings clung to her ears
Lily was the most beautiful of us all. Her gown was the color of ivory. It barely clung to her shoulders and swept down to show off her neckline. The bodice ended in a small point, making her look very thin, and burst into a large skirt made of gauzy material. She wore a thin golden band on her head that looked like a tiara, pearl earrings, and a chain with a white lily pendant. Her blazing red hair was pulled into a half bun and it curled around her face. My friend looked so lovely that I was almost shocked when she didn’t sprout wings and fly into the heavens.
Then there was me. I didn’t think I was much in comparison to my friends, but Lily had been kind enough to assure me that I looked lovely. My dress was forest green velvet with slightly puffed out sleeves and a sweeping skirt. The material had golden stitching in it that formed the shape of elegant leaves around the bodice. It wasn’t anything too fancy, but I looked nice all the same. I wore simple emerald earrings with a matching necklace.
Finally, we were ready to go. The getting ready process had taken a good portion of the afternoon, and it was about six thirty by the time we finished. I guess I won’t be able to doubt Micky’s fashion sense after this.
My heart pounded as we made our way through the school. Danny gave me a large smile as we passed him with a fourth year girl I recognized as a Ravenclaw on his arm. It seemed to take forever, but we eventually did reach the Entrance Hall.
I paused at the top of the stairs, taking a deep breath. Lily slid her arm through mine, smiling nervously at me. I grinned back weakly and we cautiously descended the stairs. In no time at all we had reached the bottom and were swallowed instantly by the swirling mass of girls in gowns and boys in dress robes.
Micky found her date first and abandoned us to join him and his friends in the Great Hall. It wasn’t long before Haylie, her face flushed with excitement, located her crush Amos Diggory and scrambled off to meet him.
Leah, Lily, and I stood there craning our necks, trying our best to find our dates, when someone tapped Lily on the shoulder. It was a very tall Hufflepuff with dark blonde hair and kind brown eyes. He smiled tentatively at Lily and she did the same. I was the only one to notice that the grin didn’t reach her eyes.
“Hi David,” Lily said quietly.
“Hi Lily, um, do you want to go in?” David asked her, holding out his arm.
“Um… sure,” Lily replied, her voice unsure, “I’ll see you guys later.”
With that, she was lost to the swirling crowd. It was now only Leah and me. Since my companion was so tall, she could easily glance around over the heads of the crowd and it took only a few moments to locate Sirius and James, who stood by the edge of the staircase.
We took off in their direction, and my heart began to race. What would Sirius say when he saw me? Would he like how I looked? Again, I had to mentally slap myself to stop that train of thought. Sirius was my friend, a good friend, and nothing more. That’s what my brain told me, but I think my heart was pounding out a different message.
Anyway, when we reached Sirius, my eyes immediately took in his appearance. He was comfortably dressed in a pair of expensive-looking navy blue dress robes and looked slightly nervous. He kept going up on his tiptoes in an attempt to peer through the crowd.
When it came to nerves, however, James was by far the worst off. Dressed in a pair of simple black dress robes, both his hands were in his hair and he looked as if he had just flown through a gale on a broomstick. To make things worse, he paced back and forth in front of Sirius, stopping every once in awhile to glance awkwardly around.
Leah and I stepped out of the crowd, approaching them silently. Sirius spotted me first. His face lit up when his eyes met mine. His grey eyes took in my dress and then lingered on my face. In that moment, his face turned from nervous to happy. It made my insides squirm.
My date’s mouth formed a sort of dazed smile and while he openly stared at me, James came to a halt directly in front of him and waved a hand in front of his face. His hazel eyes followed Sirius’s line of vision that lead directly to me.
James sighed in relief. “There you are, Amelia! We were looking for you! Have you seen Lil”“
“Hollie?” I finished, tearing my eyes away from Sirius. “No, I haven’t, I’m sorry.”
James stared at me as if I were insane.
“Hey,” I began in defence, “she is your date, remember?”
His face fell and I felt a pang of sympathy for him. “Oh… right… I just wanted to see Lily before I looked for Hollie…”
Leah smiled sadly at him. “Lily already found her date. They went into the Great Hall a few minutes ago.” She paused, glancing around. “Where is Remus at? Did he have to go to the hospital wing? He looked rather ill this morning.”
James and Sirius exchanged a look. “I’m really sorry, Leah,” James began, looking like he meant it, “but I don’t think Remus will be able to make it tonight. He felt terrible about it, but he wasn’t feeling well this morning and something came up at home and he had to leave for the night.”
Leah tensed up and her face went blank. “Oh” was all she could manage at first. Then she burst out, “Is he all right? What’s wrong? Did he say when he’s coming back?”
Both James and Sirius looked extremely uncomfortable. “We don’t really know, Leah,” Sirius said, shifting awkwardly. “I’m really sorry.”
Leah stood a little straighter, her voice cracking. “Oh… well… since I don’t really have a date, there’s no reason for me to stay down here…” She turned to walk away, but I stopped her.
“Wait, Leah, you can’t leave!” I cried.
Leah looked at me, sadness in her azul eyes. “What’s the point of me staying?”
I sighed, “At least come back later, all right?”
She nodded. “We’ll see.”
As Leah disappeared into the crowd and as she did, an all too familiar French accent met my ears.
“Oh, Amelia, is that you?” cried Hollie, slinking to my side. “I almost didn’t recognize you! My, you do look so lovely!”
I sent her an annoyed look. “Please, Hollie, don’t do this to me tonight.”
Hollie Larson, to say the least, looked absolutely stunning. Her elegant sheet of blonde hair was twisted into a stylish knot and her pale blue, almost white, dress showed off her curvy figure.
“Do what, Amelia?” Hollie questioned and I knew all too well by her expression that she knew exactly what I was talking about.
Behind us, I could hear James and Sirius talking very quietly to each other.
“I feel so bad for Leah, she looked great tonight, and she finally wore her hair down for a change,” Sirius was saying.
“I know,” James agreed, “but I’m mostly worried about Remus. It’s never been this bad on the night before the… before the you know what.”
“I dunno, Prongs. I’m not really sure that we should worry about it. Moony can take care of himself, and he’s safe up in the dormitory. If anything goes wrong he can find us down here and we can take care of it.”
James must have realised that I was listening in and coughed loudly. Sirius looked up at us, and our eyes met. He was hiding something. I knew it immediately. They were both hiding something.
Before either of us could say anything, Hollie had taken action. “James!” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. “Oh James, you look so handsome!”
James patted her awkwardly on the back. “Uh… thanks, Hollie.” She let him go and he observed what she was wearing. “You look great too.”
She smiled smugly. “I know.”
“So… uh… should we go in then?” Sirius asked suddenly, grabbing hold of my arm and looking awfully uncomfortable.
“Fine by me,” I agreed.
As soon as we were out of earshot from James and his date, Sirius whispered in my ear, “Poor James, I don’t want to leave him alone with her, but I’m not sure if I can handle Hollie for the rest of the evening.”
Completely ignoring James and Hollie, we entered the Great Hall. At the sight of the freshly decorated room, my jaw dropped in awe. There was a small stage in the place of the teacher’s table and a band I recognized as Firesquad was warming up with an up-tempo number. In front of the stage, taking up the majority of the hall, was the dance floor, where several couples had already gotten started with the dancing. Sprinkled around the edges of the dancing arena were round tables of various sizes. The walls were decorated in orange and black drapes and large jack o’ lanterns floated peacefully through the air. A beautiful, starry sky twinkled down on us from the ceiling of the Great Hall.
Sirius led me through the crowds of people and we pushed our way inside.
“Now what?” I asked, having successfully made our way to the edge of the dance floor.
“ Well,” Sirius grinned mischievously at me, “isn’t dancing the reason to have a ball?”
I shrugged, “I guess so, but I never actually danced at any of the Beauxbatons balls…”
“Well then I guess I’ll just have to educate you on the subject,” Sirius laughed and grabbed my arm, dragging me into the group of dancers.
As we joined in with the crowd of people bobbing up and down to the music, Sirius instantly joined in. I gaped at him for a moment… he looked rather stupid…
Sirius must have noticed my discomfort, because he smiled widely at me, grabbed my hands in his, and started dancing again. It was kind of awkward at first, but then as I got less self conscious, I found that it was actually fun. The songs flew by and we kept on dancing, but after a half hour or so we were starting to get a little out of breath.
We exited the dance floor laughing. Sirius kept his hand on the small of my back as we pushed through the small crowds looking for a familiar face.
“Look, there’s Lily!” I grabbed Sirius’s hand and dragged him over to where Lily sat with her date.
“Hi, Amelia,” Lily said as we sat down next to her. She obviously hadn’t caught sight of Hollie with James yet, for she was as enthusiastic as ever.
“Hi, Lily,” Sirius greeted her. “Hey, David.”
David Anders nodded at Sirius, flashing him a friendly smile. “Hi there, Sirius.” He turned to me. “It’s Amelia, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Yep, and you’re David, right?”
“The one and only,” he said with a laugh.
“Are you guys enjoying yourself?” Sirius asked them, although I knew his question was directed more at Lily than anyone.
“We’re having a great time,” David replied before Lily could even open her mouth. This caused her to look mildly annoyed, but she covered it up with a smile. “Lily here has organised a great party.”
Lily grinned at David. “It wasn’t all me… Remus helped a bunch too.”
“Speaking of Remus,” I said loudly, glancing over at Sirius, “have any of you seen him?”
David and Lily both shook their heads. Sirius looked uncomfortable. Silence ensued for a few minutes, and I noticed that Lily seemed to be staring into space. I followed her gaze and was not too surprised to see James and Hollie chatting with some of Hollie’s Ravenclaw friends at the edge of the dance floor.
The power of my friend’s eyes must have drawn his attention, for it wasn’t long before James glanced our way. At sight of Lily, his mouth fell open. He completely ignored Hollie and her friends and stared at his long time crush, who was now blushing slightly. Hollie soon caught onto this exchange and glared at James, who remained completely oblivious until she seized his arm and marched him away to the dance floor.
A few minutes later, we all decided to return to the dance floor and were swept up on a modernised version of an old fashioned waltz. Luckily for me, they had classes for this sort of thing at Beauxbatons and I went through the entire dance without stepping on Sirius’s toes even once.
Surprisingly enough, Sirius went the whole time without stepping on my toes either. He was a superb ballroom dancer, gliding and turning with such grace that caused onlookers to stare.
“How did you get so good at dancing?” I asked him as we twirled about the dance floor.
Sirius smiled sheepishly. “My mum used to force me and my little brother, Regulus, into dancing classes so we knew how to dance properly at her pure-blood only parties.”
I raised my eyebrows. I didn’t know that he had a younger brother. Suddenly, I felt extremely stupid. Here I was, acting like he was one of my best friends in the world, and I had never even asked him about his family. The tone of his voice in his one sentence about them didn’t make them seem too pleasant though. I made a mental note to talk to him about the topic later on.
The next series of dances were all traditional, but I didn’t get to dance every one with Sirius. I danced a few with James, who was constantly making glances over my shoulder at Lily who was seated alone at the table. Her date was dancing with an unknown girl who I assumed to be a fellow Hufflepuff. After taking a few more turns with Sirius, who was a far better dancer than James, I decided to ask Peter to dance with me. He blushed deeply and accepted, although this action caused me to gain several bruised toes in the process.
About an hour and a half into the party, we all seated ourselves to eat. The dancing was still going on of course, but we had danced all our energy away and needed a chance to gain it back.
Lily explained how to get food first. All we had to do was look at our plate and say what we wanted and it would appear. It was sort of how meals are usually served, except we got to choose. I was just about to ask Sirius what he was planning on eating, when I saw Leah, still looking beautiful in her silvery gown, approaching our table. She looked extremely depressed, and as she plopped down at the table with us, everyone exchanged looks.
“Leah, what’s wrong?” Lily was the first to ask the question that was on all of our lips.
Leah glanced up at Lily dimly. “Huh? Oh, I’m fine.”
I cocked my head, wondering what was wrong. Leah always carries herself with such poise, it’s not like her to throw herself in a chair and sulk. “Leah, did something happen?”
She shrugged. “Nothing really. I just went back to the common room to see if Remus was there after all, and I found him.”
“Well then why didn’t he come?” asked David, who was eying Leah strangely, as if he didn’t know what to make of the situation.
“He didn’t really seem to want to talk to me,” Leah explained, looking sad, “he just mumbled something about James being a day early on his calculations and he rushed out of the common room. He looked… scared.”
Next to me, Sirius tensed up. I looked at him, completely surprised to find that he had gone deathly pale.
“Sirius, are you ok?” I questioned, touching his arm.
Sirius turned to me and I knew that he was once again hiding something. “Amelia, I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I can stay any longer.” He turned to the rest of the table. “Everyone, I need to find James right away. Come on, Peter.”
Sirius and Peter scrambled up from the table and walked swiftly away. I hadn’t noticed it before because Sirius had been my main concern, but Peter had gotten really shaky when Leah explained about Remus. I figured it was just another Marauder secret, but if it caused them to get this worried, maybe it was best if we were all in on it.
Lily, however, seemed to know exactly what was going on. She turned on me and her green eyes were intense. “Amelia, we need to talk. We need to talk right now.”
“Um… all right…” I said as she stood and seized me by the arm, dragging me away and leaving Leah sitting alone with an awkward-looking David.
We headed out of the Great Hall and stopped in our tracks at sight of the Marauders minus Remus. They were standing close together and seemed to be discussing something. To my surprise, though, Lily, with me in her tracks, marched straight up to them.
“Do you think he already headed out then?” James asked.
“What if he transformed already!” Peter exclaimed.
Lily coughed loudly and they all simultaneously glanced up at us. I could that James was having troubles breathing in that first few moments, whether from the sight of Lily up close in her beautiful dress or from the stress of a moment, I couldn’t figure out. Peter looked genuinely worried, and Sirius looked angry.
“Um… hi,” were all the words that James could manage.
Lily’s hard expression softened for a moment, but then grew steely once more. “I know what this is about, so don’t pretend you’re not up to something.”
Sirius’s mouth fell open. “Um, Lily, I have no idea what you’re talking about. You see, we just needed to have a quick talk and…” His obvious lie was silenced instantly from one of Lily’s infamous glares.
From the way they were all acting, the four of them were all in on something. It looked as if Lily wasn’t supposed to know though, and she was not happy about the situation at all.
“Look, let’s not beat around the bush here,” she said firmly. “I know what Remus is. I’ve known for years.”
“Remus… what?” I asked, feeling completely oblivious.
“You know?” James’s voice was loud and filled with a trace of fear. “But… how could you know? We didn’t tell anyone!”
“You may not have told anyone, but I’m not stupid, James. I’m friends with Remus too, and if you think I had never noticed how often Remus is out sick and the particular event that occurs every time, then you’re almost as dim as my date,” Lily continued. “I figured it out ages ago, but since I never actually talked to any of you until this year, I never said anything.”
“How long have you known?” Sirius asked, still looking angry.
“Since fourth year,” Lily replied curtly.
I was starting to feel extremely lost. “Um… guys, could someone please explain to me what is going on here?”
Sirius turned his gaze to me, his face looking softer. “I don’t know, Amelia… I don’t really feel it’s my place to tell you.”
“Plus, we really need to get going before we’re too late. We’ve been standing around long enough already,” James said, tearing his eyes off Lily.
“Tell you what,” Lily began, “you guys go do whatever you do on the full moon and I’ll fill Amelia in.”
Peter, James, and Sirius exchanged a look. “That sounds like a good plan,” James said.
“Well… we need to go now,” Sirius said awkwardly.
I nodded. “See you later.”
The three of them nodded and with a small chorus of goodbyes, they were gone. Lily then led me back into the Great Hall where the ball was still going on. I could see Haylie slow dancing with Amos Diggory and looking like Christmas had come early. My heart twisted annoyingly as I realised that I had never gotten to slow dance with Sirius. I pushed the annoyance aside, telling myself that he was just a friend and had other things to do. Lily and I seated ourselves in the corner of the hall.
“All right Lily, I want to know what’s going on,” I said. “Where are the Marauders going? What happened to Remus? Why isn’t he here right now?”
Lily simply sat there for a moment, as if thinking it all over. “I don’t know the full truth myself, just assumptions and guesses I’ve made over the past few years, but I’ll tell you what I know. Back in first year, James and Sirius befriended Peter and then later Remus. At first, they never asked about the fact that Remus always looked sick and was frequently absent from classes. They weren’t the only ones to notice, we all wondered about it, but no one was dumb enough to ask. When they did, he just said that his mother often got sick and we left him alone about it. James and Sirius grew curious though, which is only natural, and I guess they must have done some research and looked into the matter. There was a period of time where the three other Marauders were obsessed with the library, which rather annoyed Leah. That was in either second, third, or fourth year, I can’t remember which. Then things returned to normal and the periods when Remus was gone, James, Peter, and Sirius would often miss classes because they slept in extra late and they always looked exhausted days after.” Lily paused. “This next part may seem surprising, but back in our first few years here I was good friends with Severus Snape.”
“You mean the greasy haired Slytherin that James and Sirius tease?” I burst out in surprise.
Lily nodded. “Yes, that would be him. As you can see even now, Sev and the Marauders never really got along well and after time, Snape too got rather curious as to where they went. He looked into things and one night followed them as they snuck out of the castle. Sirius had apparently told him something about where they went and in result he almost died. After this happened, Snape was convinced that his theory of what happened to Remus was correct. He tried to convince me it was true as well, but I ignored him. Later, after we parted ways, I looked into the thing myself and what happened tonight confirmed it.”
“What was this theory?” I asked, feeling the anticipation flowing over me. “Where did they go?”
Lily shrugged. “No one really knows where they go every month, but what I do know for sure is that Remus Lupin has lycanthropy.”
The word hit me and stung like shards of freezing ice. Remus was a werewolf… that explained everything. I suddenly felt extremely stupid for not putting the pieces together before now. All the health issues, the pale skin, bags under his eyes, the absences… putting them together made it all clear to me now.
My mind was exploding with questions. “Does Leah know about this?” was the first to escape my lips.
“I think she does. She’s way smarter than I am, so I’m sure that she pieced it together as well.”
I shook my head with disbelief. I felt like I was going to cry. Remus: good, quiet, and sweet Remus… a werewolf? It didn’t seem possible! Werewolves were vicious and cruel, which is the exact opposite of the kind young man I call my friend.
“Tonight is the full moon?” The words were a whisper.
Lily nodded gravely. “Unfortunately, in the excitement for the Ball, the Marauders read their star charts wrong.”
“They’re going out to find Remus, then… right?”
“I’m not sure what they do, but yes, I’m sure they’re going to go find him.”
I stared at the tablecloth of the table, my head whizzing. “Why would Dumbledore allow a werewolf to come to Hogwarts in the first place?”
“I don’t know,” Lily said. “Dumbledore has always had a strange knack of trusting people though. I’m sure he has his reasons.”
We were quiet for several moments. My mind was still buzzing at the reality of it all. As a child, Mum always told me to keep away from werewolves at all costs, but how could I abandon my friend? Remus isn’t at all how my parents told me werewolves were. I knew that I could never turn my back on my friend, but what would my parents say? A tiny part of me was telling me to run for it, to sever ties with Remus while I still could. The majority of my brain, however, was telling me that I could never forgive myself if I did just that.
It seemed perfectly natural to me that the Marauders would stay true to their friend, and so I chose then and there to do the same. A horrible thought then struck me. If James, Peter, and Sirius went out to help Remus… then they put themselves in danger of being bitten!
At this thought, I got up from the table immediately. Lily gaped at me in surprise.
“Amelia, what are you”“
“Lily, if the Marauders are going out there then they could be bitten!”
Lily stood. “Amelia, I know that. They’ve been doing this for years, I think they have a plan as to how they go about this.”
I shook my head, not wanting to listen to what she was saying. “I don’t care. What if Sirius is hurt? I’m going after them.” I turned on my heel and stalked out of the Great Hall, away from Lily.
A Girl Like You by Lady Alanna
Chapter Notes: Hehe, I'm back with titling my chapters. I thought of this one ahead of time, so I felt compelled to use it, but that's really not important. The important thing is that here's the next chapter!! Sorry it's been a bit of a wait, I had a hard time fitting in writing time around finals and all for school, but I survived my freshmen year of high school, so that's pretty cool!! Go me! Anyways, back to fan fiction... (sorry, I'm kind of random minded at the moment.) I'm planning on spending lots of time this summer writing, and so if all goes according to the plan you guys will be getting plenty of chapters during the next few months. Thanks so much to Kate for betaing! About this chapter: The highly anticipated Halloween Ball is here!!! Yay!!!
Chapter Endnotes: Well, that's an action packed chapter, isn't it? :) I really hope you guys enjoyed that, even if there is a minor cliffhanger at the end. It was fun to write. Anyways, please feel free to leave a review letting me know the pros and cons of my story. I don't think I've been getting as many reviews lately, and I miss them! Please please review!! They make my day! (really, they do.)