Remus lay in his bed, staring at the heavy canopy above him. He was suddenly very tired; it felt as though the weight of responsibility was weighing even more heavily on him then usual. His friends didn’t seem very concerned about this new problem, although that may have just been out of weariness. James in particular had looked exhausted and was now snoring away contentedly. Sirius, arrogant as ever, had just shrugged things off. And Peter was Peter. He never had to ponder anything. In return for his unwavering support, he was granted a defense against his attackers and a shield against the tricky choice between right and wrong.
Although he did not often envy Peter, Remus wished that he could split things into black and white as easily as his friend could. For Peter, right and wrong were so easy: Helping your friends was right, and hindering them was wrong. From there, he could dissect the world in a matter of minutes.
Remus beat his pillow into a more comfortable shape. Sadly enough, even Peter’s clear-cut laws would have trouble with Francesca. Everything had trouble with Francesca.
He yawned widely and sank into the pillow, childishly pulling the covers over his head in the hopes that if he just went to sleep, she would be gone by morning.
***
“Remus!” Someone was shaking him.
Remus cracked open an eye. Why was someone talking? It was still very dark out- probably no more than three in the morning. He swatted blindly and let his hand fall back.
“Remus, get up!” the voice sounded more urgent. “That freak is doing some sort of occult ceremony in the Commons!”
He made an attempt to say that he didn’t care; had no intention of waking up, much less becoming active. Unfortunately, all he could produce was an unintelligible, “Mmph.” He rolled over and placed a limp hand over his ear. Please, go away… please…
“Remus!” the voice was now indignant.
It fell silent. Thank you, God… please keep the voice away from me and let me slee-
WHOMPH.
Remus groaned as a pillow was swung heavily into the side of his head and opened his eyes. He was just in time to see a dark shape flying at his head.
WHOMPH.
He rolled over to see Lily Evans, dressed in a floral bathrobe and holding a pillow over her head.
WHOMPH. Lily brought the overstuffed pillow crashing down on his head. “Wake up!” she commanded.
“Evans?” James mumbled thickly. He picked up Lily’s wand, still glowing at the tip, from the bedside table and stared at her. “What in Merlin’s name are you doing?”
Lily socked Remus again. “I needed to wake him up,” she explained irritably. “That Muggle is performing some sort of occult ceremony down in the Commons and I’m not taking that freak on alone.”
“Yeah, but did you have to take my pillow?” James yawned widely. “I was having a nice dream, you know, before you woke me up.”
Lily flung the pillow into James’s face. “If you want to back me up too, you’re more than welcome,” she snarled. “But we need to hurry, and we need to be quiet.”
She picked up her wand and walked out the door. James glared at the retreating figure, and then at Remus.
“Moony,” he said seriously, “why was she here?”
Remus’s feet searched for his slippers. “I don’t know,” he said. “Francesca, most likely. They said that she would be brought to the Commons and stay there for the night. No doubt she’s already causing trouble,” he added resentfully.
Lily’s head swung back in. “If you don’t come down right now, you’ll be very sorry. Honestly. What good is a Prefect if he doesn’t help maintain order?”
James rolled his eyes expressively and they followed her out the door.
The three of them stepped onto the floor just in front of the stairs to the boys’ dormitory. Lily put a finger to her lips and motioned towards the fireplace. All of the armchairs had been grouped together very tightly in a ring that was facing inwards. In the dying light of the fire, they could see a pair of feet sticking straight up into the air. In a low, throaty voice, someone was saying, “The busses led us correctly from death to death as we lost more of our flesh each time. The day I loved you, the bells rang and… and…” the feet wobbled. “Oh, yeah, and the troops rolled by, changing their long body continuously before us, changing the sun into copper and bronze roses that tore the skin…”
Remus glared at Lily sourly. “Stop me if I'm wrong, but this doesn't look like an occult ceremony!”
“Oh, shut up!” Lily hissed. She softly stepped out of the shadow in the stairway, tiptoeing around the back of the ring. She knelt behind a particularly large armchair and glanced over the edge cautiously.
“It’s just a Muggle,” James muttered.
Remus shrugged and dodged out of the shadows. He scuttled over to the circle of armchairs and crouched behind one, peering through the gap in the chairs. James settled near him, directly behind Francesca.
She was in a handstand, facing the fire and reciting a piece of poetry determinedly. Every so often she would stall out and wobble before catching herself.
“The hubbub around us, the lines breaking, everyone celebrating his own destruction. Girls cut their hair with bayonets, and… and… oh, crap.” She teetered dangerously and tumbled backwards onto the carpet. “Oww,” she whined. “Why is everything happening to me all of a sudden?” She looked up at the ceiling and spread her hands out pleadingly. “I mean, come on. Bad karma? Evil star? Giant cosmic plan?”
“‘Giant cosmic plan.’ She sounds like Professor Trelawny,” Lily muttered. She turned to them and asked, “do you think that she knows we’re here?”
James levitated the table a good three feet and sent it crashing down. Francesca jumped and tried to get up, only to bang her head against the table. “Oww!”
“Yes.” James sprang over the armchairs and yanked Francesca to her feet roughly.
Francesca screamed and punched James in the jaw. “Get away from me, you stupid Death Eater!”
James pointed his wand at her and snarled, “Stupefy!” The spell sunk into her shoulder and she arched smoothly down to the floor, a terrified, angry expression glued to her face.
“James!” Lily wailed. “Are you mad?”
“No, but she is,” he said, rubbing his jaw angrily. “What the hell is her problem?”
“Well, she was obviously scared,” Lily snapped irritably. “Honestly, if you thought as fast as you acted-”
“Don’t start on me,” he growled. “Evans, have you ever heard of a gut reaction? When you’re attacked you defend yourself, it’s completely knee-jerk.”
“Exactly, that’s what she was doing!” Lily gave a frustrated grunt and pushed James roughly out of the way, kneeling over Francesca’s body. She pointed her wand and snapped, “Ennervate.”
Francesca’s eyes jolted awake and she sat up very quickly, swearing. “I’ve really screwed up this time, haven’t I?”
“What’d you hit me for?” James said indignantly.
“Maybe if you hadn’t started crashing things around!” Francesca looked in his direction and froze. “You are James,” she said unnecessarily. She scrambled to her feet and took a few steps back.
“They thought that I was only one little nonmagical girl,” she said, obviously trying to steady her voice. “They paid for that one, big time. I am not going to go down quietly.” She crouched a bit and raised her fists to her chest. “I’m not going to go down at all quietly.”
“Nice display,” Remus said wearily. “Look, we’re tired, and you’re probably tired too. Just tell us what you were doing and we’ll leave you alone.”
She looked at them incredulously. “Um,” she said, clearly thinking it a stupid question, “I was standing on my head and reciting poetry.”
“Why?”
“I couldn’t sleep.” Her eyebrows crinkled. “Why are you guys up?”
“Evans.” James rolled his eyes again. “She woke us up because you were worrying her.”
“And why was Lily Evans up?” she asked.
“I was hungry,” Lily said flatly. “I was going to go to the kitchens and then I heard her spewing utter nonsense.”
“Oh, yeah, I sensed you,” she said. “Now. Is that all you wanted?”
Lily sat down on the coffee table and looked at her. “Francesca…”
“Cesi,” Francesca corrected her.
“What?”
“My friends call me Cesi. They have since first grade.”
“Cesi, all right,” Lily conceded. “Well, I was wondering…”
“How I got my scars?” she asked wryly. “No, I can’t read your thoughts,” she added, “but your soul is practically screaming it. Various Death Eaters kinda… blasted it apart.” She winced. “It was way painful.”
“Wait a minute,” Remus said slowly. “You couldn’t be cut like that and live without medical attention. You would bleed out. You should be dead right now.”
“Not exactly,” Cesi said. “Going through a circle “that’s what I call the little what-cha-ma-call-ems, the time bubbles- will heal you enough so that you can live normally, but it doesn’t completely take away the injury. For example, it can heal a broken bone, but it can’t make a scar disappear. Make sense?”
“No.”
“Oh, well,” she said. “Look, I don’t really feel like talking about this, okay? Post-traumatic stress disorder, anybody? I’ll tell you some other time.”
“What about your eyes?” James asked brusquely. “What happened to them?”
“What about my eyes?” she asked curiously. “What happened to them?”
“You have no pupils!” he burst out.
“Oh.” She laughed with very little mirth. “That. That’s the circles. Going through them too many times causes you to go blind. As you lose your sight, you develop your seventh sense, which is sensing circles and reading souls and stuff. It’s weird, I know.”
“If the circle thing is your seventh sense, what’s your sixth?” Lily asked.
“Gut instinct,” Cesi shrugged. “We all have six senses. I guess the seventh is just a very powerful form of the sixth.”
“And what, exactly, are ‘circles’?”
“Something well beyond our powers of reasoning,” she said blandly. “I’ll explain later. I’m tired. So, if you don’t mind-” she flopped down on the floor, “-I’d like to get some sleep. You can stay down here if you like, but talk quietly, okay?”
They nodded numbly. Cesi rolled onto her side and closed her eyes.
Lily looked up. “Now what?” she whispered.
“Now, nothing,” James said, rumpling his hair and yawning. “Now we go back to bed. In the morning, we nab her early and we ask her why You-Know-Who wants her. Tomorrow is Monday, so I have History of Magic first- we can question her then.”
Seventh Sense by roisin_dubh
Chapter Notes: The poem "A "Case of Assault,"" by Lydia Stephanou, is quoted in the chapter. If Ms. Stephanou or her lawyer happens to read this, please don't sue me; that would make me sad.