"I'm so tired of being here,

suppressed by all my childish fears.

And if you have to leave

I wish that you could just leave,

cause your presence still lingers here

and it won't leave me alone.

These wounds won't seem to heal,

this pain is just too real,

there's just so much that time can not erase."

- My Immortal, Evanescence

XxXxX

A/N: The Memory Sleep-spell gives one a certain ability to manipulate memories as well. That's Sirius, Remus and Peter believed that there had only been one map after Alex had cast it.

XxXxX

Chapter One

To pick up the pieces (Stranger than I dreamt it...)

It was snowing.

Harry didn't really mind, since he needed to think, and the weather gave him an excuse to stay inside a lot.

Five maps.

He couldn't get it.

Five bloody maps.

And four marauders.

Obviously, it did not fit. It was not right. There HAD to be something left out, had to be a story left untold. He was furious that no one seemed inclined to tell him anything. Lupin had seemed so genuinely surprised, had even mumbled something like "But there is only supposed to be one." Harry would've been fine with hearing that yes, there are five maps, I cannot explain why, and I did not tell you because I didn't want you to look for them to see if it was true.

He would've been fine.

Well, almost fine, at least.

Well, at least... At least he would not have this horrible feeling that even the mere existence of something that had to be VITAL was being kept away from him. He would at least feel that Lupin had entrusted him to that there WAS a secret, even if he did not have to tell him the secret itself.

And...

And it hurt. Hurt to know that Sirius hadn't told him about it. Why hadn't he? It had something to do with the marauders, and he had gladly talked about them at all times. Why leave out this HUGE piece?

Maybe he did not live long enough to tell you, an awful little voice at the back of his mind, that sounded strangely like Professor Snape, mocked him.

No! He had had time enough. So why? Hadn't he... hadn't he trusted him? But the two-way mirror... and their conversations over Christmas... and... EVERYTHING. Surely Sirius had trusted him! So why!

"Harry?"

"What?"

"You know, Herm thinks that you think too much about that, really, and she is usually... well, right,"

Harry glared at Ron, sitting down at Harry's bed, just beside him. "You have to be worried, or you would never have admitted that" he snapped quite nastily.

Ron held up his hands in defence. "Look, I just don't think it's healthy to sit and stare on those" he gestured at the maps, spread over Harry's bed "all day. I mean, if you don't get it at once, you will hardly do any better if you just sit here. Just... if there is any chance of you getting to know something, it'll probably get to you no matter what you do. Or so dad keeps telling me."

"I just..."

"Want to know. We know. But it won't get any better this way."

Harry sighed, pulling his glasses off so that he could rub his eyes.

"Got anything from Lupin yet?"

"Nuthin'. You know, Harry, I really think he... doesn't know that much."

"That doesn't make sense!" Harry snapped.

"I know!" Ron waved his arms like a violent windmill, almost giving Harry a box over the ear. "But there it is. He really seems as puzzled as you. And you know... he usually treats us like grownups. Not like mum or anything. He does not fuss or hide things. In this situation, is it really like him to lie?"

"No" Harry had to admit. "It isn't. But I just can't get it..."

"Neither can we, mate. But... well, maybe it will come to us if we just wait."

"Yeah. Maybe. And maybe professor Trelawny is turned into a giant grasshopper at every full moon."

"Very possible" Ron told him with a grin. Harry smacked him, but laughed all the same.

XxXxX

I watch them from the window. God, he looks more alike James for every day passed. More sensible, perhaps, but still...

I have stopped mourning now. Even though my heart is a bleeding wound, and my dreams are full of crying, my time for mourning is over. I have to pick up the loose threads that is the life I left on hold. I owe Harry that. I owe Remus. I definitely owe Severus.

But most of all, I owe myself.

I owe myself a life.

All these wasted years. I could've fought. I could've stayed.

And yet... I couldn't. My time was up for then. I had to find new strength. And now I am back and ready for battle. But I have also lost so very, very much...

He didn't know! He died without knowing that I exist and that I love him. This simple truth hurts more than anything else that I've ever experienced. He is lost to me now, in every possible way. And even though he had the right to know, I never told him.

Until it was too late. Until it was his grave I was speaking to.

I told myself that I would be back when the time was right. Now it is.

Now, when everything is too late...

No. I shake those thoughts out of my head. It is not too late to give that old snake what he deserves. Give back for all that I've lost. And by everything that I have ever loved, he is going to feel it! He is going to feel that he is going down, he is going to SUFFER. All of them are. But especially Bellatrix. I want to see that woman squirm.

I sigh, leaving my perch at the windowpane, circling down towards the ground. I land by a small kitchen-door, made for the house-elves, and shift shape. Then, crouching slightly, I squeeze through. It feels good to be human again, although I am very stiff. Flying in this weather really is awful, and as sufficient rest as perching on a branch may provide, there is nothing that says that it should be COMFORTABLE.

"Hi there" I murmur to the surprised house-elves. "I am only passing through. You can get on with what you are doing."

"Lady wants anything?" one of them, covered in really strange-looking, knitted clothing, pipes up.

"Nothing, but thank you all the same." I nod at them with a smile, thinking with a small sigh about Lula and Hedge, and slip through the portrait-door.

The corridor is dimly lit and empty, thank mercy for that. I want to avoid people as much as possible.

Turning around a corner, I almost have to laugh at myself. Avoid people at Hogwarts, even if it happens to be winter holidays... I must be mad. But if I can only find a familiar face... There!

"Minerva McGonagall?"

She turns her head, staring at me in surprise. Well, I've spent more than fifteen years as a bird. I must look like a rag-doll.

"Do you know where I can find Severus Snape?"

She looks even more surprised. Well, Severus probably doesn't have many visitors. I sigh inwardly at the thought.

"I would guess that he is in his study."

"Thank you."

"Have I met you before?" she asks, as I turn to leave.

"Yes. I'm an old student." And then I hurry away, before she can come with more troublesome questions.

And now I will take my place in the world once more. I am frightened, it is true, but I think I am happy about it.

It feels right.

XxXxX

Looking upon him for the first time after all these years, I see a bitter, faithless man. He believes in noting, because nothing is all the world would ever give to him.

What do they know about him, all those people that hate him? Hate him for simply BEING that shadow that we all carry at the back of our minds, this disappointment with the world, this whisper late at night that "I deserved better!" ... What can they possibly know? They think "He can't have any friends", but do they really understand it? What it is to live every day of your empty, hollow life without anybody ever truly caring, without anybody who touches your hand, smiles at you, tells you that you are really quite okay? What it is to have nobody to think of when you are awoken by a nightmare, nobody to reach out to when you are lost and frightened? Do they really understand?

No.

And he knows that, just as he is silently aware of that he had nothing else than hate, and then that was taken from him too. And now the only thing he's got is hate that isn't hate, hate which is only a shadow of itself, hate that is nothing but the aching emptiness in the will to feel ANYTHING, anything at all. Hate which really is only a sort of futile anger and frustration directed at nothing, a nothing that doesn't care even the slightest, just as the rest of the world.

He lights one more candle, tiredly glaring down at the parchment before him. Homework, put together by some student knowing that it can't be avoided anymore. When was he last time he read a letter from somebody who wrote only for the pleasure of his correspondence? Probably he hasn't since I left.

His whole attention is directed at the sloppy writing at the parchment. I try to will him to look at me. I used to be able to do that. Because he always knew that I would BE THERE. Now I'm just another shadow among the shadows.

I spin the bracelet around my wrist. I can take it of any time I want. Because he has failed me, just as I have failed him. Because of that, I am free. But I keep it on.

"Verae amicitiae sempiternae sunt".

He puts down the parchment, angrily shoving it away from himself, leaning his head in his hands. His face is marked with lines of bitterness; his eyes are holes of pure, endless, wanting despair. For the shortest of moments, he looks as if he is trying to remember something, a glimpse of a life that was different.

"Enervate memoria" I whisper softly.

And he remembers.

His hands start to tremble, his face contorts into a mask of feelings so pure and raw that there is no name for them. I let the spell flow out over the world. I am powerful, it's true. But what is happening now is not totally of my making. It is something that is meant to happen.

I step out of the shadows.

"So you wake up, Severus." A part of me, the part that always tried to puncture Sirius at every given occasion, the part that is Wing, tells me that this was an extremely melodramatic and an unpardonably silly thing to say. But in some ways, it wasn't me that spoke. It was also meant to happen.

It was right.

"Alexita." He tastes my name, like trying to find his way back to something lost.

"Yes."

"You... you left."

"Yes, Severus. I ran. Escaped. It seems like I've never done anything else. I thought I could come back when the time was right. And I did. I just did not understand that it would be like this." The sorrow bleeds me like an open wound, bleeds nothingness into my soul. Dead. The only person that I KNEW was invincible, that never would - never could - die... How did this happen?

"So you appear now, when it all starts again. When we're back at another square one, and the war is unavoidable."

"I left where it ended. It is only right that I should be back now, when he has picked up the pieces and started once more. But this time, I will stay for good."

He looks at me, meets my eyes as if asking: Are you really? How can I know that? How can YOU know?

But I cannot determine what he is feeling, there is a wall keeping me out. Oh, Severus, do you remember when you accepted me? When you gave me the bracelet? When you saved me from your father? Your mother's funeral? Our first kiss? When you came back for my sake? All those time when you were there for me? Do you remember US, Severus, my love, do you remember what we were?

"And how did you... make us all... forget?"

"Memory sleep-spell."

"All of us? Black? Lupin? Pettigrew? Every single one in one spell?"

"Yes."

"The dark lord?"

I smile grimly. "I was always very strong, if not his rival. Always. He knew it. That is why he feared me enough to want me murdered, despite my young years. I obliviated even the faintest trace of me. My name is even missing on the marauder's map. For all these years, I've been a nobody. Since nobody cared about me, that is all I was. But you know about that, don't you? We will always understand each other, Severus."

He just stares at me, and then, inevitably, the thought strikes him. "Lupin..."

I sigh. "Yes. It's unavoidable. Yet... yet I am scared. So much is lost..."

The dark, unfathomable gaze seems to bury itself through sinew and bone, reaches my heart and touches it lightly. "It's a wonder you can still stand up" he comments dryly.

I smile slightly. "Strength of will, Severus. And pride. I do not have much left except that, do I?"

"Do you?" he asks simply.

I meet his gaze, clinging to it. My knees start to buckle under me, but I force myself to stand straight, unwavering. I search my heart for the answer, search the space between us, search his bottomless eyes.

For one moment, earth turns around us and us alone. All the background-noise of the castle... it doesn't disappear as much as it is slowed down to an unnoticeable mumble. We are two completely lonely souls... reaching out...

"Yes." I whisper the word, afraid to break the strange mood. But to no avail. The universe turns its gaze somewhere else, the world comes rushing back. My knees buckle under me, and I collapse in a heap. I do not faint. I cry. Deep, helpless sobs like the ones I hid in the dark so that my father wouldn't hear them. The tears of a frightened, disappointed child stream out of my eyes and burn like fire against my cheeks.

And then he's there. One arm circling me protectively, the other stroking my hair. As always. As it's supposed to be. I come to think of that I must smell of old bird-droppings, and I have to smile through my tears.

The sorrow over Sirius is always going to be a dark pain, an unsparing void in the depths of my heart, just as the sorrow over James and Lily and Peter is always going to be there. Nothing can fill it up. Nothing can take it away. But it's okay. As long as there are people that care, as long I have someone to think of when I am awoken by a nightmare, as long as I have someone to reach out to when I am lost and frightened, it's okay.

A very wise person once taught me.

XxXxX

Remus Lupin watched the light falling through the ruby-red liquid as he held his glass towards his candle. He normally did not touch alcohol very often, but... well, the wine muffled the senses, numbed the grief and made it fall away for a while. Not that he got drunk, he never had, but he drank just enough to make him sleepy and a bit detached.

But right now, his mind was too occupied for him to care about his drink. It was the Maps again, naturally. There had been five of them, even though he remembered that there had been only one as clearly as if it had been last week. Which meant that SOMEONE had meddled with his memory.

The thought was not at all pleasant. Someone had been mucking about with his brain, and Remus wanted very much to know who.

Peter?

No, he had always been lousy when it came to charms.

Sirius?

Don't be ridiculous.

Someone else? Someone else that was alive and that knew about the Maps?

But there was no one.

"Bloody deadlock" he mumbled to the world in general.

But what if... What if there was one more who knew, and that had erased the memory of himself along with the maps?

Hardly likely, he was forced to admit. Why would a person do that? It was insane.

"Complete and utter deadlock" he emphasized.

Why did he have a feeling that the answer was sitting right at the tip of his nose, mocking him, just barely visible? Why did he have this overwhelming feeling that he should KNOW...? That he should...

And then he remembered.

The memory awoke and came flooding all over him from every direction, making him drop his glass as his hand went numb from shock.

One more marauder.

Alexita Neidorsdaughter.

Wing.

Falcon.

Two years younger.

Raped by her father.

In love with Severus Snape.

Their leader.

Harry's godmother.

Everything settled in the blank spots in his mind that he had not even been aware of were there. Every memory, good as bad, he relived, feeling every feeling as if it was real and happened now. Tears came to his eyes, as he noisily slid off his chair, leaning his head in his hands.

And still the images JUST KEPT COMING.

"Remus? What is all the ruckus about?"
The door squealed in protest, and Molly Weasly poked her head inside. "Remus! What has happened?" Noticing the bottle of wine, she drew her own conclusion.

"I am taking that out right now, Remus" she stated resolutely, moving to fetch it.

"I am not drunk, Molly" Remus sighed, letting his hands drop into his lap. His face was pale as death and tear-streaked, his eyes gleaming with a peculiar inner glow.

Her expression wend milder, as she saw that he was speaking the truth. "Then what is it, Remus? Is it...?"
"No. It is not about Sirius. Or... it is, in one way. But not the way you think."

She gave him a politely puzzled look, but he only shook his head.

"Listen, I have to get to Hogwarts. Now."

"Why?"

He fished for a reason. "I have to speak to Harry." Well, it was no lie.

"Remus? You look so strange. Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

Suddenly, he gave her a grin that looked strange on him, because she was used to see it on another face. "Never felt better, Molly. Really. I haven't felt this fine in months. Don't you worry."

And he nodded friendlily at her, and disappeared with a faint pop.

XxXxX

Harry was having a snowball-fight with his fellow Gryffindors, when he saw a familiar, tall figure make its way over the schoolyard. Nudging Ron to get his attention, he pointed with a grin at Lupin. "Looks like we're up for some answers" he said hopefully, and Ron nodded eagerly.

Hermione, who did not want to participate in the lively fight, and Ginny, whose foot was still aching slightly since she had been pushed down a flight of stairs by Peeves, were only happy to give up their roles as bystanders and join them.

"Remus!"

They waved, as they stumbled through the snow to meet him. He waved back, smiling. But there was something rushed in his eyes.

"Hello there" he gasped, apparently slightly out of breath. "Look, Harry, I'll have to talk to you..."

"Will you tell us now?" The boy eagerly asked, and Lupin nodded with a strange, distant expression.

"I will. But I need to speak to someone first. Someone that knows a lot more than I do."

"Who?" Ron inquired curiously.

"Me" said a voice behind them.

Harry had never seen Remus Lupin jump like that. His face, at the same time, went totally white, and he spun around with incredible speed.

A short woman with hair that was almost as white as her skin, and eyes to match both, was walking slowly towards them, wrapped in a cloak that was obviously made for someone much taller. Her face was drawn and she had dark circles under her eyes, and her body seemed to consist of nothing more than skin and bones.

Remus closed his eyes for a short second, then opened them once more, drawing a deep breath. "Wing."
"Guilty." He voice was hardly more than a whisper, and both that and her gaze reminded Harry of someone, although he could not imagine who.

"You... It was you, was it not? You erased our memories. You made us forget you along with that there had been... had been..."

"Five marauders." She finished with a tired sigh. "Yes, I did. I erased everything. Every little trace of myself. But I could not resist to hide the Maps all over the school. Hoping that they could be of use for other generations."

"Why, Alex?"
Her voice trembled, as did her hands. "I needed time. And there was none left in... in your world. So I chose loneliness."

He nodded grimly. "So you've spent all these years in a way similar to Peter's?"

"Yes. Falcon-form for fifteen years, Remus. You start to think like a bird. Sometimes, I almost managed to forget who I was. But it always came back. I am glad it did. It was all I had, after all."

"It didn't have to be like that" it was plain that he was angry. "You know that!"

She shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't matter now. I chose for myself, Remus. I cannot walk around regretting things like this."

"Why? Why can't you!"

"Because I would run mad if I did" she answered quite calmly.

"And don't you care, then? That he died without even..."

"I LOVED SIRIUS LIKE A BROTHER!" she suddenly shouted, her voice gaining a horrible tone of agony and grief. "How do you think I feel?" she added, more quietly.

Harry felt all numb. What in the world was happening?

Five.

The thought spun in his head.

Five marauders. With five maps. One more animagus.

And she had... no, it was impossible. She couldn't have erased herself so totally from the world. Somebody would've had to remember!

He looked up to meet her piercing pale-blue gaze. "Poor boy. This must confuse him." she mumbled, more to herself than anyone else, it seemed. She tilted her head a bit, suddenly smiling. "I bet you're dead tired of hearing this, but by Voldie's underpants, you look like your father!"

Harry felt himself nod. "Yeah... I know... But I've got-"

"Your mother's eyes, yes." She shook her head, sadly. "So many great losses. So much pain caused."

Remus nodded wearily. "Yes. I remember. I remember it all."

"So many loved ones lost to him. Emily. Peter. Lily and James. Si... Sirius. And I almost lost Severus too."

"Where is he, by the way? You talked to him first, did you not?"
"Inside. It's his cloak I'm borrowing, and I wouldn't let him out to freeze himself to death."

"Fusspot."

"I learned from the best" she answered sadly.

XxXxX

It hurts. It hurts to see him again, hurts to know how much I have let him down. All these years, and he has spent them more or less alone. I at least KNEW that they existed, and I had knew that Sirius wasn't guilty. But he had to live with the belief that Sirius was a traitor, and the rest of the marauders were dead. And he did not even know that I existed.

Poor, poor Remus...

And Harry... He seems likely to faint any moment now. Well, has to be an awful shock. Behind him stands a girl with alert brown eyes, very intelligent from the look of it, and two redheads that both has to be Weaslys. In fact, the girl... the girl looks so very much like Emily that it is downright scary. The same hair, same face, same azure-blue eyes, even about the same height.

Everything seems so... no, it can't be explained. It's just so far away and yet it's everywhere, penetrating my skin and bones, almost choking me with its overwhelming presence.

Two other young ones approach.

"Oi! Ron, for crying out loud, we did not come here over the holidays to see you chicken out in the moment of truth! We have business to do, you know!"

I barely believe the witness of my own eyes. "Fred and George Weasly?"

They both look at me, perplexed. "Do we know you?"

I laugh. "The last time I saw you, you were the most irrepressible pair of three-year-olds ever to have lived!"

They both look totally nonplussed, and I feel obliged to explain. "I was your baby-sitter when it was your mother and father were busy. You know, your mother used to work too, those days, to keep the budget intact, since her husband was out with the Order." I smile in remembrance. "You used to pull my hair, make very primitive dung-bombs and steal my wand, if I remember things right."

Their eyes widen in recognition. "You're the bird-lady!" they both blurt out as one.

"Alex!" Remus exclaims, shocked.

I grin widely now. "They saw me shift shape once, so I had to force them to promise not to tell anyone. Ah, good times, good times."

"You reckless, hopeless...!"

"Ah, but Moony, what a thing to say!"

Our gazes lock, and we fall into each other's arms, both sobbing from the happiness of being together once more.

"I've missed you so much..."

"I wish I could say the same. I really do."

"I'm sorry, Remus."

"I know you are."

"Moony?"

"Wing."

We both lean back slightly, smiling at each other through the tears. "God, it's been so long..."

"Too long."

"You look starved, Remus. Have you eaten at all during these years?"

"Coming from the right person."

I shrug. "I've always been skinny. And I've been well fed. Mostly on rats, by some reason." I smile, a quite bloodthirsty smile, I think.

Remus shakes his head at this. "You hopeless little... But I've had quite a hard time finding an occupation. Not many wants to employ someone that has to disappear once every month, and that law that that Umbridge woman" -collective grimace- "forced through is making things hard for me. And many are scared."

I growl. "Prats."

But Remus only shrugs. "Can't really blame them. People in general are very poorly informed. They cannot know."

I snort at this. "They do not want to know either. Humans like to distrust and hate, it's in our nature. You shouldn't defend them all like that."

"Nor should you judge them" he answers mildly, shaking his head. "You haven't changed very much, have you, Alex?"

"Nor does it seem that you have" I say with a malicious smile. "You're just as exaggeratedly nice as always."

"And you're just as big a cynic as always, I see."

"We cynics fill a very important role, actually!"

"And what might that be?" He asks with a teasing smile.

"Well, someone has to keep the balance by being neither good or bad guys, right? There has to be some people that you can never be quite sure on. If nothing else, we make your lives a damn much more interesting."

"Yeah. Like you two made our lives VERY interesting when you were found kissing, and Sirius went ballistic."

"Admit that you at least was not bored very easily right then."
"I'll freely admit that. But I am also going to claim that there was nothing I wished for so much as for the chance of being a bit bored right then."

"Uhm, Lupin?"

Oh, dear, it seems like we completely forgot the young ones in the middle of our friendly banter. Turning to them, we both smile. "Yes Harry?" Remus demands.

"What are you talking about?" the Emily-look-alike interjects, her eyes sparkling from curiosity.

Remus, by some reason, laughs. "Well, Ginny, it's all a bit hard to explain..."

"No it isn't." I point out dryly. "Sirius found me and Severus kissing, and his mind went down the drain."

All of the young ones choke at that.

But Ginny's eyes are glittering, as she finally manages to speak. "You were KISSING professor Snape?"

"He wasn't a professor then" I point out. "He was a silly teenage boy with an attitude-problem that I loved with all my heart. Nowadays, he's a silly man with an attitude-problem, that I still love with all my heart."

They all seem horribly shocked by this. I sigh. "Guess he is not the kind of man to be expected to love anyone, nor to be loved, is he?"

"He never really was" Remus points out gently.

"I know. And it's all his father's fault. Things would be vastly different..." I shake my head, tiredly.

"I know" Remus tells me, gently.

I sigh once more, looking at Harry. "He has been awful towards the poor boy, has he not?"

The hatred in the sixteen-year-old's eyes tells me I am right, but Remus still answers.

"Yes. He can't stop seeing James in him."

"But Harry is not James." I shake my head, making up my mind. "I will really have to do something about that.

"Doesntmatter..." Harry mumbles.

"What was that?"

He looks up, steel glittering in his green eyes. "I don't care. I can take it. I'm used to it."

I tilt my head gently to the side. "Always the one to be brave, aren't you? With your parents, I suppose your are excused. But I am not having a prat who picks on children because he cannot cope with his own problems for a husband. You hear me?"

Harry looks downright scared. "You... you're going to... marry him...?"

"Damn right I am. Mind you, he doesn't know that yet, but I won't let him get away this time."

"I think I am going to be sick..." the youngest Weasly boy mutters.

"Ron!" the brown-haired girl standing next to him snaps, giving him a withering glare. "You have no right to...!"

"It's fine" I point out, smiling. "That was exactly James' and... Sirius' reactions when I used to stay at his place. I'm really quite used to it. And boys have to be allowed to be silly, don't they?"

Her eyes glitter in a way that just screams 'Now you're speaking my language!'

"Well, I suppose. But it would all be easier if you could just lock them up somewhere at these times." she says with an angelic smile, ignoring the protests from the boys around her.

"Or just used and then disposed off with" Ginny says with a casual shrug, small devils dancing in her gaze. Her brothers look shocked.

"I really should be taking offence, shouldn't I?" Remus wonders lightly.

"No. Because I know that you are a woman in heart and soul."

He tries to smack me, and I dodge, laughing.

"And I who thought that all these years had brought some change" points out Severus sarcastically, crossing the snow-covered perch. "Obviously, I was doomed to be disappointed."

I scowl at him. "I told you to stay inside. It's freezing out here, and I don't see you wearing a cloak."

He shrugs. "Dumbledore wants to speak to you."

"Well, then he should've borrowed you a cloak. Very well, I will come. In a while. The old man will have to wait."

"You should go" Remus points out, just as Severus sneers and tells me that it is my funeral. They look fleetingly at each other for half a moment, their gazes locking, before nodding slightly to each other and breaking eye-contact.

"And nobody got killed" I point out dryly. "Good lads."

"I was never that bad" Remus says patiently.

"No, I know. But the others are not around to tease, are they? So I will have to do with you. And Severus was always to unforgiving type. So was I, mind, but that's completely out of the point."

Severus chooses not to comment that, merely stares at the sky as if it had in some way become spectacularly fascinating in all it's blue-spotted-with-cloudieness. Harry's eyes, whenever they fall upon him, are icy with hate, whilst Ron's burn in anger. The brunette looks at him in cold interest, and I know that she sees more than the others. Ginny seems wary of him as well, but a smile is tugging at her lips, as her eyes dart from him to me and back. The twin's eyes express mostly curiosity and watchfulness.

"Can you please go inside and wait for me, love?" I mumble, touching his arm. "I don't want you to get ill."

He stares at me for some seconds, has obviously forgotten what it is like to hear such words spoken to him. But then a swift, slightly wry, smile flows over his lips for a moment.

"Very well." His hand caresses mine for the shortest of seconds, and then he is on his way back to the castle. I can see the brunette girl smile. She saw. The other's didn't, because they probably did not want to. I cannot blame them, but I definitely like this girl for it.

"So" I let my gaze flow over them all. "Harry, Fred, George and even Ron I have met. I met Molly when she was pregnant with Ginny, but I am afraid I have no clue who you can be."

The girl smiles. "I'm Hermione Granger. Muggleborn."

"You too? Well, then I guess I am up to date, more or less. And I do think I should speak to Dumbledore before he gets really annoyed."

"Wise move, Wing" Remus mutters.