AN: Thank you to Shadowtalon62 for following this story.
That night, I was busy with homework. I was starting to think I might need to use the Time-Turner to just complete the homework from so many different classes, but I was determined not to use it for anything other than what was necessary.
As I was looking over my Divination assignment, within a flash, I heard the same song from the night before. I smelled the Narnia air, so clear and beautiful. I heard the wind rustling through the grove of apple trees, and I knew where I was. It had been so long since I'd been back to my true home, Cair Paravel.
I brushed past the home trees of the dryads, and made my way up the path to the grand marble place that I had once lived in for fifteen years. I didn't care how messy my Hogwarts uniform got, I didn't care how messy my hair got from getting caught in branches again. If what I'd heard was true, this was Aslan's country, where it was Narnia forevermore.
I'd get to embrace my siblings again, tell them how sorry I was for renouncing Narnia and Aslan, and how I should've helped Edmund and Lucy with their transformation, with their banishment from Narnia because of their age.
The doors swung open for me, and I made my way into the ballroom, to see dryads and naiads and fauns dancing, yes, and my siblings as well, and-
Caspian with someone else. Dancing with a woman who looked of pure light, with her white-blond hair and pale skin, with a radiant blue glow surrounding her. There were silvery star-swirled patterns on her white silken gown, and she was easily the most beautiful woman in the room. I turned around, to see Aslan. He was much bigger than I remembered.
"Daughter of Eve, walk with me." He said. I obliged, as we went down to the beach surrounding Cair Paravel.
"You have finally found your way home, Gentle Queen." Aslan said.
"Thanks to my siblings and Caspian finding a way to contact me from your country." I admitted.
"Ah, but I was the one who allowed them to contact you, if it weren't for that particular Daughter of Eve." There was a grumble of a growl under Aslan's voice.
"I am happy to see my siblings, but, Aslan..." I hesitated. It was a selfish wish.
"Speak freely, Daughter of Eve." He commanded.
"I am surprised to see Caspian with someone else." I said. Quite the understatement.
"You are always diplomatic, Gentle Queen." Aslan said.
I stiffened. That didn't sound like a compliment.
"Oh, it was." Aslan reassured me.
We continued our walk down the beach. "But before you can have your wish, there is work for you on Earth, Daughter of Eve.
"There is?" I asked.
"I have communed with the centaurs in that world, and they have foretold an upcoming war being fought by Sons of Adam who believe that certain Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve shouldn't have the use of magic." Aslan explained.
"Don't you control that, in your form on Earth?" I asked.
"Magic does whatever the heck magic wants." Aslan said with what looked like a lion shrug.
"I will do your will and work, Aslan, if it will redeem me in your eyes." I pledged.
"Daughter of Eve, you are already redeemed. I will grant you a gift your eagerness to serve and repair your mistakes. It will help you on your way." He said. "When you wake, it will beside you."
I frowned. "When I wake?"
"Susana!"
I whipped around. Only one person had called me that. Caspian was hurrying towards me on the beach.
Then, like that, I awoke. I sighed. I'd hoped that it was for real, that time. I scribbled down a safe version for Trelawney's class, and looked over the rest of my homework. When I turned next to me for my bag, I saw my quiver of arrows that regenerates arrows and my bow, given by Father Christmas. I realized that they didn't need these in Aslan's country; they wanted to give them to me.
"Thank you, Aslan." I said, looking up at the ceiling. With that, I gathered my things, and placed the weapons in my trunk. I also realized that Harry Potter was right all along.
I pretended to be a good little girl in Umbridge's class, even when I found out about her position as the High Inquisitor, going through classes and such.
Her own classes turned out to be useless and boring. So of course I joined Dumbledore's Army! I remember going to the Hog's Head quite clearly. I was ready to show what I had to offer to Harry Potter.
"So, we've come because Professor Umbridge's lessons are rubbish." Potter said.
"Also to hear what happened to Cedric Diggory!" A Hufflepuff called Zacharias Smith called out.
"If you want a description of what it looks like when someone dies, clear out!" Potter shouted.
No one left. "Alright. Well, I think we ought to host a defense club. Secret, obviously. The Ministry is thinking that Dumbledore's recruiting an army, so we won't learn anything." Potter explained.
"So you'll be teaching us spells?" Neville Longbottom asked.
"And other defense techniques." Hermione Granger said.
"Sign me up." I called out.
Everyone looked at me. "I'm good at other ways of dueling, other than spell-casting. I'm good at archery, and decent at swordplay, thanks to my dear brothers, may they be happy with Aslan." I said, pulling on the regal Queen Susan the Gentle act like a change of clothes. It took me a minute to realize that I was happier that way.
"Well, what's an arrow going to do to You-Know-Who, Pevensie?" Smith called out.
"Arrows can shoot wizards who are busy using their wands through the head, without the other person ever getting harmed." I said confidently.
Smith snorted. "If you can do that, then sure, we'll win."
"Shut up." Fred Weasley said, eying me as a Barbie doll. Something I despised, especially in the past.
"Yeah, or we'll stick this in your ear." George Weasley held up a sinister looking instrument.
"Well, I guess we should sign, and we agree to meet next Tuesday?" Potter said.
"Wait, where are we going to hold these?" Luna Lovegood called out.
"This better not conflict with our Quidditch schedule." Angelina Johnson called out.
"Or ours." Smith said.
"We'll inform you... Somehow." Granger promised, handing us a list and a quill. "Sign here."
Under the names 'Luca Caruso' and 'Michael Corner' I signed my own.
"I guess we'll meet later."
Outside, Fred Weasley caught up to me.
"Hey, Susan Pevensie, right?" He asked.
"Right." I said, eying him warily.
"I was wondering if you'd like to go with me to the Three Broomsticks, sometime." He said, grinning mischievously. Mischief was never a quality I looked for in boyfriends. I looked for serious guys who complemented my own seriousness, and didn't try to make it some horrible things. I liked guys that respected who I was, not my beauty. This guy was none of those things.
But Caspian can never be with you, I reminded myself. He married Stargirl and had that kid, Rillian, who Edmund told you about.
"Yes." I said. Why couldn't I go a little crazy here, to forget my pain?
"Come on, then!" He said playfully. We ran into the Three Broomsticks, and took bar seats.
"Two firewhiskey rushes, Rosemerta." Fred said to the blonde working the bar, known for her attractive figure and heart-shaped face.
"Coming right up." She said with a flirtatious wink. I personally didn't quite see what was so hot, or attractive, or handsome, or whatever, with Fred and George Weasley. Yeah, they did have long hair, but that was all I really found attractive about them. They had freckled, light skin, and red hair. They were also short and stocky. Their only other slightly attractive feature was their brown eyes, but they weren't a dark enough to be handsome, to me, anyways.
"Pretty girl you brought to the bar, Weasley." A dark-haired boy said, with huge buck teeth, and a rather stupid expression on his face.
"She's all mine, I'm afraid, Flint." Fred said, putting an arm around me.
"You should take off your coat, sugar." Flint continued. I would play the part. I did so, draping it over the back of my seat, and smiled icily at him.
"Here you go. Now pay up, Freddie." Rosemerta said. Fred palmed her the Galleons, and I took my drink.
"To beautiful girls." Fred said, raising his drink.
I smiled, and clinked my glass against his, and began drinking. Let me just skip past the...dishonorable circumstances, to the result. Let's just say that one thing led to another, I was kissing Fred Weasley pretty passionately. In public. Again, no details, but it made me forget everything, just for a little bit.
"Susana?"
I broke away, and looked around wildly. Caspian wasn't in the Three Broomsticks, much to my regret.
"What's wrong, Suzy?" Fred asked.
"I am not Suzy." I said hotly. "I just...don't think this'll work out."
Fred eyed me with even more interest. "Playing hard to get, are you?"
"Okay, I think you've had a bit much to drink."
"Come on, I wanna kiss you again..."
I realized my mistake now, and slung my coat back on. "See you later, Weasley."
"Fancy a pint with me?" Flint asked. I shook my head.
"I must be going." Lion's Mane, that was close.
I'd just stick to Aslan's work, if I knew what was good for me.
