Prologue
Sometimes, life can be an extreme pain in the ass. It can throw you into a situation that starts off on the wrong page, but then circumstances change and you love it only to be thrown around again. Take me for instance. I was sent, against my will, to a place and time that didn't exist ( I hadn't thought it did, at least): Hogwarts. Not at the time traditional when thinking of the place, no, Harry Potter wasn't even considered yet. I was sent to the time when his parents didn't even get along. That's right: the time when the Marauders were running rampant on the school grounds.
There, I found myself in the extremely amazing situation of being able to do magic, to become an Animagus, and to be entrusted to the care and protection of one Remus Lupin. Dumbledore's orders for the last one, and I was not complaining in the least. All of these things happened without my consent, though. I was sent against my will, and just when I was settling in fairly well, trouble started.
You see, good things never seem to last long with me. Not two months into my visit, an unwelcome entity threatened my new friends and lifestyle. Death was predicted in the near future for James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily.
During the waiting period, because he was supposed to take care of me, a bond exceeding the perimeters of normal care-taking formed between myself and Remus. A bond that has still held even after I have come back to my own time.
After the combined spells performed by the Marauders, Lily, and me, I was sent back to Boston, Massachusetts with the body of my dead third cousin. I figured out later that the spells directly stated what would happen, though I didn't know it at the time. It was simple. I just needed to read all of the incantations backwards:
Send me back where I belong. Send the evil that has followed into death and despair.
Depressing, but entirely effective. I had a fear of what would happen when I returned, for I had been gone for nearly five months. I emerged in a clearing surrounded by trees and my cousin's body collapsed into ashes. Good riddance. I walked home, recognizing the signs of the park.
After two hours of walking, I made it home, took the spare key out from under a rock, and went inside.
The lights were out and the house was silent. Nervously, Mirri made her way into the living room. As she turned on the overhead light, a tumultuous shout of "Surprise! Welcome home!" had whirling around with her wand in hand; a split second later she quickly stashed it back in her jeans and rushed into the arms of Jean and David Libra, her parents.
"Did you enjoy your stay in England, sweetheart?" Jean asked, kissing her temple.
Mirri pulled back, her face pale, "How did you know that?"
"You've only been on the foreign exchange program for nearly half a year," a voice said sarcastically behind her.
Mirri turned to find her living room filled with familiar faces. Her friends from school: Holly, Essey, Isabella, Cecile, Juliette, Luna, and her little brother Joseph.
She collapsed in the nearest chair.
"Are you all right?" her father asked worriedly.
Mirri nodded and smiled at him, though tears filled her eyes. "I'm fine. It's just good to be home."
My family and friends thought that I had gone on a foreign exchange trip to England. Good, I wasn't going to make them think otherwise. The only thing that I couldn't do was tell them exactly what I did during my stay. I couldn't tell them that I was at Hogwarts, or that I was capable of doing magic; they would lock me in an asylum. What I did instead was write down what happened in a story called Brown Eyes. My friends loved it. What I didn't share was how true the story it was.
During the past three years, I have relived those few months over and over again in my mind, sometimes wondering if it actually happened. Only three things kept me from thinking it was all a dream: one: I still had the ability to do magic (that was probably the biggest dead give-away ever for me), two: I still had he device that led me home-a small iridescent purple orb, and three: I had landed in the clearing with the wolf necklace Remus had given me clutched in my hand.
I am now in my senior year of high school. My friends and I have sent in our applications out to various colleges, hoping for acceptance letters. Nothing has changed, and yet, everything is tremendously different. My friends seem to have noticed the change in me since I came back from my trip. They have know idea what's wrong with me, but little do they know that the answer is right under their noses.
As Mirri walked into her home, she heard excited voices in the kitchen. Quietly, she crept up to the door.
Her mother and father were talking at the table, "She'll find out tomorrow. Don't you think it will be better this way?"
The creak from Mirri's foot on one of the many floorboards prevented her father from responding and sending the two of them to their feet.
"I'm home," Mirri said lamely, "What's going on? What's that?" she pointed to a piece of paper in Jean's hand.
Jean jumped, "Oh, this? It's just a bill. Will you put it away, David?" He walked out of the room with a quick kiss to Mirri's forehead.
"So, how was school today?" her mother asked almost too sweetly.
Mirri shrugged, her mind still suspicious. "Same as always. I've got to finish my calculus homework."
"All right, sweetie," Jean smiled as Mirri walked away.
What's going on tomorrow? she kept thinking.
"'…The last thing he saw of her were her tear-filled brown eyes.'" Holly sat back and sighed, passing the story to Juliette. "I love that ending, no matter how sad it is."
"Must you keep reading it aloud?" Mirri groaned, "I swear, it's understandable if you've just read the damn thing, but I finished the book two years ago."
"That doesn't make the novel any less romantic," Isabella said around her bite full of crackers.
It was lunchtime the next day seeing Mirri and her friends sitting out on the library's steps enjoying the sunny, warm, May day. Picking up her other book and pretending to read, Mirri continued worrying about what her parents had been talking about the day before. They hadn't mentioned anything at dinner, and now she was in a rush to finish the day and get home so that she could pester them for answers.
The constant chatter around her made her look up in confusion. "What's the matter?"
"There's some guy walking over here," Essey answered.
Mirri saw the cap-wearing male making his way over and shrugged, going back to perusing her book. No big deal, guys were entitled to wander the school grounds during lunchtime without being suspicious.
She felt him stop in front of the group. No one spoke for a moment.
"Well?" Essey asked, not unkindly, "Who are you and what can we help you with?"
"I'm new," the man said, his voice deeply English-accented. "May I sit here?"
The book slipped out of Mirri's hand with a thud as she slowly turned her head at the new comer, unable to believe her ears. His name slipped from her mouth in so soft a tone, no one heard her. His gold eyes twinkled at her as he removed his hat.
The others were looking between the two, confusion written on all of their faces.
He smiled, opened his arms, and said, "Hello, Mirri. It's me, John Karem."
She laughed the happiest she had since she came back to Boston, jumped down from the steps and threw herself into his arms. Even if he called himself something different, he was the same Remus Lupin to her.