It is all very beautiful and magical here - a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breathe it, let the sun bake into you. The skies and the lands are so enormous, and the detail so precise and exquisite that wherever you are you are isolated into a glowing world between the macro and the micro, where everything is sidewise under you and over you, and the clocks stopped long ago.
Ansel Adams

Chapter 7- Bitter Sweet Dreams

By the time Misty awoke from her long slumber, exactly how long she did not know, it was early morning. The sky had a purple color to it and the sun looked like it was just about to peak over the edge of the horrizon. A few sleep deprived straglers wandered the cobble stone streets of Diagon Alley. Only a few shops were open at this hour and Asgoths Street Shop was not one of them. The ground felt cold and low wind whispered through the winding street. Misty's clothes had a damp quality to them from the dew and chill rang through her bones like frostbite had seeped into them.

She leaned upon her arm to look around her and to wipe sleep from her blue eyes. Her red robes were tattered beyond repair and her face hurt. Actually there was little that didn't hurt on her body. It ached with longing for a hot bath and more rest. But she could not do this here, in the street, nor could she go back for her things at her room. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, up shit creek without a paddle, and every other over used saying used to express hopelessness. Except she was not hopeless at all, she had a chance. She decided to go back to Lupin's and rest in his floor if she had to. Never mind he might not be quite so kind to the idea.

Misty got very slowly, with a decidedly ugly look on her face, and made sure no one was looking. Throwing courtesy to the wing, she apparated to Remus's house. She lay right down on the floor that was badly in need of a mop. She pulled what was left of the atrocity that was once her robes, over her head to bloke that sunlight. Just sleep, don't think, she thought fulfilling a rather unfunny pun. Sadly though sleep did not come. In fact, her eyes were completely wide awake. Misty closed her eyes pleading that if she just didn't move she could rest. There she lay for many fruitless minutes of no dreaming.

"No, you cannot be walked by Alice. I don't care what she looks like. You can't risk it."

"What's the point of being out of prison if I can't live. I'm a guy. I get lonely."

"You know what Padfoot, some things really never change."

A man laughing.

"No, some things don't."

Misty was on the cusp of consciousness and had begun to incorporate the conversation around her into what looked to be a very pleasing dream. This was interrupted by someone kicking her side. Irritation flared inside of her.

"Oh bloody hell." Misty said out loud.

"Terrible sorry," came a male voice, "but who are you and why are you in my house?"

"I'm trying to sleep and I know Remus." she said with an abandon that the sleepy have.

"Misty?" Remus asked.

"That's me."

"Who's Misty?" asked an unidentified man. A sound that suspiciously sounded like someone being elbowed in the stomach was heard.

"Why are you on the floor?" Remus asked.

"Mmm?"

Misty drifted out of consciousness but not before she felt her robe pulled off her face. She felt herself being carried to a soft place and covered by a blanket. She then succumbed to the familiar tug of her dreams calling to her. Coxing her to listen to their wisdom and again there was no fight to be found in her tired mind. Relaxation washed over and she traveled into the underground sea of darkness. When she broke to the surface she saw that she was no longer what we would lightly call reality.

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She was back in her home. Her breathtaking Spanish villa. She traveled from room to room looking for something. Something wasn't there. Or someone. A door at the end of the hall that she didn't remember appeared. It was red like blood. She reached out to touch the door. It was wet. She pushed it open to reveal two men masked standing in front of her. Terror choked her throat. She pulled the mask of the first and it was Macnair. Macnair with his head bashed in. He stood there staring at her like he was dead. Was he dead?

Even though she didn't want to, she pulled the mask of the second figure. He had no face just a void. He had no features but he had a voice.

"Why? How could you?"

Misty left the room, the door closing behind her. She flew to the stair case and looked down to see Sirius. She rushed to him, holding him close. Happiness surged through her. He looked down at her with a smile.

"Hey gorgeous." he whispered in her ear.

Misty looked up in his eyes and kissed him passionately. He pulled her closer to him and she deepened the kiss even more. It made her feel a wonderful inside of her. He picked her up and swung her around. Misty laughed.

"Do you love me?" she asked.

"Yes." he said his charming smile never ceasing.

But something about his smile seemed fake. It wasn't real or genuine. She pushed away from him. She looked at him with betrayal in her eyes. This was not real but just a dream. A cruel dream to taunt her.

"You don't even know me do you?" she said.

His smile wavered for once and he turned around. He descended the stairs to disappear. 'I want to wake up. I want to wake up now. Wake up Misty.' The dark cold ocean of darkness returned, letting her drown in her sorrows.

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Misty cracked her right eye open to see Remus asleep on a chair beside the couch. She tried to lift herself up but she soon discovered that her muscles were not in agreement with her mind. She could not move one single thing without aching all over. She did not think it would be possible to feel worse than she did this morning but evidently it was indeed possible. She felt so helpless. She wanted to cry and scream but she knew that was childish. Remus shouldn't have to be put through that kind of torture, she thought. She wanted to know what time it was but she could hear the ticking clock behind her. There was no way she was going to risk trying to turn around. Better leave that to someone else.

"Remus." she whispered.

Nothing.

"Remus." a little louder this time.

Still nothing.

"Remus!" she yelled throwing a pillow in his face.

It was the pillow that woke him up.

"What?!" he yelped.

"What time is it?" Misty asked.

"Twelve twenty. Are you hungry? Do you want something?" he asked.

"As I think of it, yes I am. You don't have to get it though." Misty said.

"I would really like to see you try." he said smiling and getting up.

He came back with a sandwich and a glass of milk. Misty took it and began to munch on a corner of the ham sandwich. She looked at him thoughtfully. She really was in debt to him.

"I, uh, want to thank you for taking me in. I mean you really don't know me very well. I just couldn't think of where else to go." she said.

"No problem." he said easily.

"You know what Remus. I had this dream about Sirius. I'm not going to bore you with the details. But the point is have you heard the song Moon River, from the muggle movie Breakfast At Tiffany's?"

"No, why?" he asked confused.

"Well, when I think of him I think of Moon River." she said.

"Can you sing it?" he asked.

"Oh no. I can't sing. I sound like a strangled cat." Misty exclaimed.

"Come on. I bet you sound beautiful."

Misty glared at him but thought why not.

"Moon River, wider than a mile,

I'm crossing you in style someday,

Oh dream maker, you heartbreaker,

Where ever your goin',

I'm goin' your way.

Two drifters, off to see the world,

There's such a lot of world to see,

We're after the same rainbow's end,

Waitin' round the bend,

My Huckleberry friend,

Moon River and me." she sang slow and easily like an old favorite tune.

"It's nice." Remus said.

"It's more than nice. It's romantic." she replied wistfully.

"You're a strange girl Misty." he said smiling.

"Do you really think he did it?" she asked suddenly.

Remus didn't say anything for quite a long time. Misty wondered if she had overstep her boundaries. He had taken her in after only knowing her for about a day. Hell, she was happy not be chucked out in the street again. He was a cute man, quiet mabie but cute still.

"No, I don't. Do you?"

"I don't know. My head and heart are telling me two different things right now. Not that I'm pretending that I know him that well. By no means. But my gut tells me he is a good man. That doesn't stop me from doing my job though." she said wording her words carefully.

"Why?" he asked simply.

"Duty. I have a responsibility to get evidence and if not do what has to be done." Misty shuddered at the thought of what the Ministry would do to Sirius if she succeeded in her mission.

"What would you do if they kill him?" he asked with raw emotion evident in his eyes.

"I would just fall to pieces. It would kill me." she said tears threatening to fall.

Misty could not believe that she had to do this job. She could be killing the one person that made her want to live. Utter contempt for herself overwhelmed her. No matter what she thought of, melancholia followed like a moth to a flame. 'I'm a horrible person' she thought wanting to cry. When she looked up to Remus's troubled face tears did fall. Misty started to gasp for air. The thoughts of wanting to die were resurfaced. But the voice heard from deep in the depth's of her consciousness told her it was not her time. She had to endure. Endure like she had countless times before. How long she could continue to be strong she could not guess.

"What happened between you two?" he asked his eyes brimming with an emotion she couldn't place.

"Nothing. That's just it. It was really nothing at all. Except to me. Over the years I've found myself thinking back to him. I don't really know why. It is a mystery even to me."she said tears finally slowing down.

Remus said nothing. He just stared beyond her. She could not even contemplate what he was thinking. Misty hurt. Not from her injuries but from open wounds inside of her that can't heal.

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep, ok?" she asked.

"Ok." he said simply.

Misty drifted back to sleep hoping to escape the nightmare that she could never wake up from.

Disclaimer- I own nothing.

A/N- Henri Mancini's "Moon River" won the Academy Award in 1962 for Best Original Song.