Chapter 7: Locked out.
When they returned, try as she may, Ali could not open the door. She slammed her fist against it impatiently.
"Damn it! I left the key inside! Kat? Kat open the door!"
Ali repeatedly knocked and called her friend's name but no one apart from Remus heard her.
"Damn it! Now I'm gonna have to spend the night out here!"
Remus laughed gently. Ali looked at him with piercing eyes, wondering what on earth could be so funny about her situation.
"What's the joke?"
Remus looked at her, a sad look in his eyes.
"Sorry I snapped at you"
"Thank you. I was laughing because of what you said. Come on, you can sleep in my room tonight. It's far too cold out here for you to sleep"
Ali smiled gratefully and took Remus' hand. She followed him through the castle and to his room. She took off her coat and boots and laid on the bed. Remus got changed and laid down opposite her. He pulled Ali into a hug and began to kiss her, leaving a tingling sensation every time his lips touched hers. Ali curled her fingers around his top and spent the night snuggled in Remus' body.
The next day, Kat was in a panicked state. She had woken up to find Ali's bed empty and was frantically pacing the room. She did not notice the ghost rise up from the floor boards behind her until she turned round.
"Argh! Peeves, what the hell was that for! I'm worried sick about Ali so your idea of fun is to make me jump?"
Peeves gave her a wicked smile.
"But of course, that's my job round here now"
Kat scowled at him. Then had a sudden idea.
"Well, I have a new job for you. Could you fetch Sir Nicholas for me please?"
Peeves looked at Kat as if trying to decipher if this was a trick question.
"And why should I do that?"
Kat was now very ticked off. What made it so hard in a ghosts nature for them to do a simple job and if they can't then why show yourself. Why not just go or stay hidden and haunt the place at night?
"Because I need to ask him a favour but I can't very well find him in this great big castle, he may not even be in the castle, he could be out in the grounds, and if you don't help me out this one time the next time I see the Bloody Baron I shall be sure to mention your little prank"
Peeves' face suddenly took on a look of shock and he left the room with a little *pop*. Moments later, Sir Nicholas' ghost floated through the door with a solemn look on his face.
"Oh, thank you for coming Sir Nicholas, I'm sorry to call on you this early hour..."
"Oh my dear Katrina, there is no need to apologise, I often wander the castle in the early hours of the morning. It's a lot quieter. Helps me think"
"... well, I was wondering if you could help me find Alina Daniels. She went to deliver a letter last night but didn't come back again. I think she got locked out"
Sir Nicholas smiled which took Kat by surprise as although Sir Nicholas was the nicest out of the ghosts, Kat had never seen him smile before.
"I would be delighted to help you find Alina. After all, you were both once Gryffindors and it's always my pleasure to help out my fellow housemates"
Sir Nicholas floated out of the room and a few minutes later, came back.
"I have found her; she is with Remus Lupin in his room which is located at the top of the 3rd tower"
Kat looked at Sir Nicholas with wide eyes before stumbling backwards onto the floor. She propped herself up onto her elbows and stared at Sir Nicholas before exclaiming,
"What?!"
Sir Nicholas looked at Kat, somewhat slightly annoyed.
"I said she is with Remus Lupin in his room which is situated at the top of the 3rd tower"
Kat slowly got up and thanked Sir Nicholas and with that he floated through the door, muttering about people not listening. Kat got dressed and then rushed to the third tower. She ran up the stairs and was just about to burst through the door when she thought it not to be the wisest of plans. She slowly turned and went calmly back to her room.
Meanwhile, Ali and Remus had woken up to the sound of a bird chirping outside the window. For a while, Ali laid still, not wanting to break the embrace that she and Remus were in. She had spent all last night snuggled up against him and it had been the first time in a long time she had had a proper night's sleep.
Remus pulled away slightly so he could give Ali a good morning kiss.
"Morning"
"Morning"
Ali smiled and snuggled back down against Remus' chest where she could clearly hear every steady beat of his heart. She never wanted to move. She just wanted to stay right where she was and never let go.
"Ali, we have to get up, otherwise Kat will worry when she sees you're not in the room"
"No she won't, she'll probably just think I've gone out"
Remus thought this over before accepting it and effectively killing another five minutes by doing so. Only then did he get up and get dressed and Ali was in turn forced to go back to her room to change. When she returned, Kat was sitting on the window sill but instead of freezing to death and staring into space, she was sitting with her legs hanging down and she was singing happily, listening to the morning birds as they too sang. She was fully dressed instead of sitting in her pyjamas and she had done her long hair back into a Dutch braid running from the right to the left in a diagonal line.
Ali quietly walked up behind her as to make her jump but Kat had heard.
"Ali, you take another step forward and I swear I'll kill you"
Ali smiled and stomped forward exactly one more step, knowing that Kat probably wouldn't do anything. Kat swung her head round sharply and narrowed her eyes but could not help the smile that crept onto her lips. She went back to singing while Ali got dressed. Remus crossed the room and sat on the window sill next to Kat. Kat smiled at him and carried on singing. After listening for a while, Remus spoke up.
"Kat, what's the name of the song?"
"Oh, um, I don't actually know its name Remus, my dad used to sing it when I was little but I don't think he ever gave it a name. I think it's been passed through the family generation by generation and after my dad died, it was the only thing I really remembered of him"
"Oh"
Kat smiled and went back to singing. Ali came up behind Remus and took his hand. She led him to the other side of the room and started to talk in whispered tones.
"I know you didn't know before and that's ok but it's also why I'm telling you now. Kat lost both her parents when she was 7. She was adopted because her grandparents live abroad. She doesn't know how her parents died so she's very touchy on the subject so try not to bring it up if you can, ok?"
Remus nodded. Ali smiled and stood on tiptoes while holding on to Remus' robes and kissed him. Remus wrapped his arms around her back to give her support and they stayed embraced until a slight cough from Kat and the sound of feet walking out the room made them stop and then start again. Ali stopped standing on tiptoes and just took Remus' face in her hands, his arms still wrapped around her back. They only broke apart when Remus realised the time and they walked down to breakfast, hand in hand.
They reached the hall just in time and joined Kat at the end of the table. Kat greeted them and went back to her book. Remus and Ali tried to engage her in conversation but Kat would just answer and go back to her book.
"Kat, what's up? You were fine this morning"
"Sorry Ali, nothings up, I was just annoyed because you two couldn't come up for air long enough to go to breakfast with me. I had Peeves following me, taunting me about being alone. Fortunately, the Bloody Baron came along and told Peeves to leave me alone but still"
Ali and Remus could not help laughing but Ali could see Kat was hurt so she gave her a hug and apologised. Kat smiled and forgave her and Remus and then rushed off because she had the full day with Hagrid and needed to go early to prepare. Ali looked at her timetable and noticed she had a free day that day which made her very happy indeed as for once she did not have to tolerate Snape.