A/n: This is a little ficlet I wrote for a friend (Lizzy) because she's been having a rough week this week and I wanted to make her feel better. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I, Amhalgaidh-wolfegurl, do not own any Harry Potter characters, items, locations, or ideas used in this ficlet. They all belong to JK Rowling and I give all credit to her for creating such a wonderful world. Neither do I own Lizzy. She's my friend.

Seventeen-year-old Gryffindor Remus Lupin stood at the window of the Owlry of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and gazed out at the grounds surrounding the castle. It was dusk one evening in early December, two weeks before he would be leaving for home for the Christmas holiday, and everything was covered with a light layer of pure white and undisturbed snow. It was absolutely beautiful.

The last rays of sunlight hit the tops of the trees of the Forbidden Forest and the sky was purple, pink and orange all around it. Within the trees of the Forest, he knew, were wild creatures seeking shelter amongst the trees and vegetation growing there. The Centaurs, however, would begin their nightly vigil of staring straight above them and reading the stars in the night sky. He knew, too, that a colony of Acromantulas would be leaving their nest in search of food. He shuddered at his close call with them several months ago. He blamed Sirius for his nearly lost life. He didn't know if it really was Sirius' fault or if it was James'; he was just going to blame Sirius for it.

Then, two petite and soft hands covered his eyes from behind him. "Guess who!" the owner of the hands said merrily.

Remus smiled. It could only be one person in the entire castle. She was the only one who would do something like that. He took hold of her hands, took them away from his eyes and turned around. "Lizzy," he said, smiling at her. She was the same year as he was and nearly a foot shorter than his 6'3" build. "What're you doing up here? I thought you had to help Peter with his homework."

She smiled and looked a little sheepish. "Well," she said slowly. "He's currently running around in circles in the Room of Requirement... I confounded him."

"May I ask why?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Besides, it'll wear off eventually." She walked past him to the window and looked out. "What're you doing up here? Without a coat, too. It's freezing!"

Remus noticed she was shivering a little and stood next to her in an attempt to warm her up. "You don't have to be up here with me, you know," he said quietly. "You could go back to tutoring Peter. Merlin knows he needs all the help he can get."

"I know," she sighed. "But after a while, even harassing him gets old. I'd much rather spend the time with someone who has an I.Q. level higher than a rock." She looked up at him. "Like you."

"Thanks, you're so sweet," he muttered sarcastically.

She grinned at him. "I know," she said, adjusting her "Crazy Hat of the Day." It was an old black top hat that she had decorated with a bright blue ribbon around the band and a perpetually blooming red rose. As she did so, Remus caught sight of a black metal object hanging at her throat by a white ribbon.

"What's that?" he asked, indicating to the object. She untied the ribbon and handed it to him. "A key?"

She shook her head. "That's not just any key, Remmie," she said, using the nickname only she was allowed to use. Remus looked over the key. It was a skeleton key. It was black metal. And it was huge. It was easily as long as his outstretched hand. "It's the key to my heart."

"Your heart requires such a large key?" he asked, returning it to Lizzy. Or he tried to. She wouldn't take it from him.

But she nodded. "Yep," she said. "My heart belongs to one person other than me at a time. That's why the key's so big. If I gave my heart to more than one person, it would be broken up into smaller pieces and would therefore require a smaller key." She grinned at him and pushed his hand containing the key against his chest. "Stop trying to return it. It's for you, silly."

"For me?" he repeated. "Why?"

She laughed a little. "Why not?" she countered, hugging him around his middle. It was as high as she could reach. "Personally, I can't think of anyone better to keep it safe for me." She leaned her head back and looked up into his eyes. "You won't find a reason to return it to me, will you? Because I don't want it back."

Remus smiled down at her and pushed on the top of her hat. It slid down her head and covered her eyes. "See, that's why you should always wear hats that fit properly," he whispered, leaning towards her. "And I promise I'll keep it safe for always and forever." He kissed her lightly, avoiding contact with her hat brim.

Lizzy woke up suddenly one night, quite a few years after she had graduated from Beaubatons. She sat up in bed and rubbed her face. She had the dream again. It was the same. Just as it had been when she first started having it the first night she was out of school. She would have it repeatedly, once or twice a week, and she didn't understand it. She didn't know the wizard, Remus, with whom she interacted in the dream. She had never even been to Hogwarts to know what it was like on a December evening.

She got out of bed and walked to the kitchen, trying not to make any noise for fear she would wake her golden retriever, Jesibell, sleeping on the end of her bed. She fixed herself a glass of ice water and sighed.

Sometimes she didn't know whether she had married the right wizard. He was dead at the hand of one of the Death Eaters from the First War, but she still loved him deeply. His face would grin out at her from every wall in her house. She kept an abundance of photographs of him since photography was her hobby. Some of the photos would move, others would not. But everywhere around her she saw him.

But it was every time she saw him that she wondered if the wizard in her dream was the one she should have met and married. But if they were in two completely different countries for their entire lives, she had no idea how that would even be possible.

Remus Lupin, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, woke with a start during the Christmas Holiday. He had dreamt of the mysterious witch again. She was French, he knew that much about her. But, he didn't know her name or whether she had attended to Beaubatons or not. He didn't even know if she was real.

He got out of bed and went to the window and looked out at the snow-covered grounds. That's how his dream always started. And it always ended with him kissing her as she wore a black top hat pushed down over her eyes.

He ran a hand through his hair and hoped with all the hope in the world that he didn't just make her up. He hoped that he would finally be able to meet her one-day, maybe even marry her. He could hear his closest friend, Sirius Black, snickering at the thought of Remus getting married.

"Well, maybe I should work on meeting her first," he said quietly before returning to bed and the dream…

Fin.