In his stag form, James had just settled down to rest, when a noise startled him. They all heard it; even the werewolf before them.
I'll go check it out, offered Sirius.
James nodded and the black dog was about to leap outside when a laugh that was obviously not human, stopped him.
What the hell was that??
I don't know, Padfoot, but stay where you are.
But…Just stay!
The dog growled his disagreement, but stayed put. All eyes concentrated on the currently empty doorframe. The werewolf growled lowly and bared his teeth, but didn't attempt to move. Then, suddenly, a figure slid through the doorway. It was obviously not human from the way it glowed and because of its wings. However, this wasn't what startled the animagi the most. It was the recognition within which they held the face that startled them.
Good Merlin. Is that who I think it is?I think so, came the grim reply from James
What's she doing here, anyway?How am I supposed to know? Why don't you ask? I'm sure she'll tell you.
Sirius, miffed at James's sarcastic remark, didn't reply further. Instead, he kept his eyes on the fairy figure that seemed to be calling to something. Something that was lurking just outside of the doorway.
Do you think she's calling to a human? What if it's Rose? I told you she wouldn't be safe!Calm down, Padfoot. Since when did you care so much about Rose anyway?
I don't! It's just…He never got to finish that sentence, because at that precise moment, in stepped a very familiar-looking deer with beautiful emerald eyes. James felt his heart constrict.
Evans… Is that you? He asked, unsure. The deer blinked at him in surprise.
James? What are you doing here? She asked, obviously surprised.
I could ask you the same thing.
It's none of your business. I'm just taking care of a friend, she replied stiffly.
Well so am I, he retorted, regretting his harsh tone instantly when he saw her eyes flare up in fury.
So Evans. What's Ying doing here anyway? Demanded Sirius.
And what the hell is she? Added James.
Well if you must know, she's a faerie. Happy? She's here because werewolves are said to be more relaxed under the song and dance of a faerie.
How the hell does she know about Remus?Oh please, as if we couldn't figure it out. It was obvious.
Yeah? Well then how come it took her until now to come here?
She was scared, you ass. Neither of us wanted her to risk it, but she saw how badly injured Remus was last month and wanted to do something about it, even if it mean exposing her secret to the likes of you.
She didn't need to tell them that by 'us' she meant Rose and herself. There was a look of agitation mixed with worry on her face, as if she was scared of what they might choose to do. Some people were highly against part fae, part human individuals. Cherry could easily be reprimanded for it once word gets out.
Don't worry, we won't tell, came the reassuring voice of James.
Lily looked up, startled to see the gentility in his hazel eyes. She looked expectantly at Sirius.
Oh all right. I won't tell either, he said grudgingly, after a warning glare from James.
Lily smiled, or at least tried to smile in her doe form, with relief.
Thank you.
As they talked, they hadn't noticed that Cherry had begun singing and twirling in the air above them. Now that they looked, they too were captivated by her song and dance, as the werewolf was. It lay quietly on the floor, glancing up at the faerie that danced above him. The black dog sat down besides the stag. Hesitantly, the doe lay down beside it as well.
James looked into her emerald eyes and saw a distant longing, crushed by fear. He frowned mentally, swearing that he'd find out what had happened to her after she'd left the orphanage. Lily gazed into James's gentle hazel eyes and felt herself drowning in them. She saw nothing but true concern for her, yet she couldn't accept it. How could she accept something that she knew didn't exist?
The next morning proved to be an interesting one. Cherry had collapsed onto the cold wooden floor the moment dawn arrived and still laid there, passed out. Remus was a little way away from her, slowly transforming back into his human form. James was nudging Lily awake gently, and Sirius had already transformed back into his own human form. There was a glittery dust covering the floor, beginning to fade.
When Lily looked up, she blinked, puzzled at why there was a stag lying next to her. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts and get up, easing herself out of her doe form with slight satisfaction. It had taken her ages to master the transformation without having to transform back into human form without her clothing. Beside her stood James, who now had his lop sided grin on his face. She brushed him off and went to check up on her friend.
Sirius stared down and Remus, who was covered in the glittery substance, in awe.
"Hey James, check this out," he called, motioning for his friend to come.
James strolled leisurely to where Sirius stood and looked down at Remus. What, at first was a casual glance, turned into a long disbelieving stare. Instead of the heavy scratches and marks he usually had after every full moon, there was nothing to suggest he hadn't just had a peaceful night asleep. Instead of his usual, tired façade, he seemed to be well rested and content.
"It's the healing power contained within a Faerie's magic," said Lily stiffly.
James and Sirius gave her questioning stares.
"Then how come…" began Sirius, but Lily cut him off.
"The reason we don't use it in healing is that it is hard to come by. Faeries are very mistrustful of the human race and it is hard to find one trusting enough to allow for human contact, let alone giving us their magic. They also possess calming abilities and are actually able to tame werewolves," explained Lily in a rather patient voice. For Lily, that is.
"Then… what Ying said back at the party… Why would anyone want to hunt her down?" asked James, puzzled and annoyed.
"Her whole family is very… stubborn, shall we say? You've heard about the dark lord. You've heard how he wants to recruit people. He wanted her family's… gift. They refused to acknowledge him, so he killed them," she said plainly.
There was something in her voice. Her tone was flat and straightforward, like she'd heard it so many times before, and she knew she would continue to hear it in the future. It was definitely not a good time to reveal to her that he knew about her past.
"So how are we going to get them out of here? Madame Pomphrey is expecting Remus… but not looking like this. How are we going to explain that without telling her about Ying and leading your friend into possible exploitation?" demanded Sirius.
Lily shot him a dark look.
"Hey, Cherry was trying to help your friend. The least you could do is be civil to her," she snapped, "I mean, what's your problem? What the hell did she do to you?"
"Nothing," he replied breezily.
"Then why do you keep treating her like trash?" she demanded.
"Because she is trash," he replied in a steely, uncaring voice.
Lily wanted to slap him. It was a tempting thought, but she restrained. She wasn't going to lower herself to violence.
"Why? Why do you keep believing that Asians are trash?" she asked through gritted teeth.
Sirius's eyes darkened and suddenly, the whole room seemed to drop twenty degrees.
"Because they betrayed the only person who cared about me. The only person that matters out of my whole family. It was their fault my uncle died," he replied, his voice beginning to rise.
Lily's look was one of incomprehension. James's one was of apprehension. He'd seen Sirius like this before and it meant that he was in a rage.
"It happened ages ago…" he began, his voice trembling.
Flashback
"Sirius! Sirius! Where are you?" called out Derrick.
Sirius approached his uncle with a wide smile on his face.
"Uncle! What's wrong?" asked Sirius, his grin fading when he looked into his Uncle's darting eyes.
"Sirius, listen to me," he said firmly, "Get out of here. Now. They're coming."
Sirius gave him a puzzled look.
"Who's coming? Mama?" he asked in his boyish innocence.
Suddenly, there were noises. Men were yelling and shouting. Derrick pushed his nephew into a hidden area and turned to face them alone. There were six of them. The other thirteen were outside, standing guard, no doubt. They all wore the same traditional Chinese fighting costumes and all held out wands. The leader had a dragon carved into the handle of his.
"Chang," he hissed, "I should have known better than to trust you. Andromeda told me she'd been suspicious of you."
The leader, supposedly named Chang, laughed.
"Of course, but how could you possibly trust that little six year old brat over your best friend?" he drawled, smirking.
"Don't you dare…" began Derrick, but he was cut off.
"Nice doing business with you, Black," he snarled, raising his wand, but Derrick had been faster.
He moved to the side and sent a stunning spell to one of the six, who collapsed, unable to move. He attempted another spell, but five were sudden heading towards him in different directions, one being a green beam. Sirius knew immediately than it was the killing curse. He didn't cry when he saw his uncle fall to the floor. He didn't cry when he saw Chang laugh and walk away. He didn't cry when he was the only one left in the room with his deceased uncle. He didn't cry when he informed his parents of what had happened. Instead, he swore to avenge his uncle, and never to trust China again.
End flashback
"I don't understand… why was he killed?" asked Lily, softly.
"They were running an international deal as co-partners. Chang wanted the business to himself," replied Sirius stiffly.
"Oh… Well, I understand why you hate them, and I understand why you can't trust Cherry, or even like her I suppose, but she didn't kill your uncle, Sirius. She wasn't the one who hurt him." Lily persisted.
Sirius hesitated, and Lily took this as another opportunity to plead to him on her best friend's behalf. He hadn't missed the fact she'd called him 'Sirius' for a change. It must mean a lot to her for her to risk putting aside their rivalry. If anything, it was that, that got to him in the end.
"All right," he replied gruffly, "I'll lay off of the comments seeing as she helped Remus."
Lily beamed.
"You won't regret it, I promise you," she said with a smile, almost jumping up to hug him in her joy.
She caught herself just in time and composed herself.
"Come on, we have to get Cherry and Remus out of here. It's already 6:30am," she said, attempting to lift her friend.
For a moment, she cursed Rose for not being there to help her take Cherry inside. After last night, the only thing that would wake Cherry now was the Revitalising potion waiting for her back in their dorm at Hogwarts. Well, that and a lot of food. Caught up in her thoughts, she almost fell over when James took Cherry into his own arms.
"I'll carry her," he offered with a smile.
Hesitantly, Lily nodded and smiled back. She had seen a side of James she'd never known existed. For him to be so calm amongst his friends who had such troubled backgrounds… It took a lot of heart and caring. To have learnt how to become an animagus just for his friend, and Black too… Perhaps they were worth knowing after all?
"Come on. Get a move on or are you two going to gaze into each other's eyes until the kiddies wake up?" grunted Sirius, struggling to carry Remus.
"Need any help?" she offered.
Sirius seemed surprised that she had asked. He shrugged and shook his head, before walking away, towards Hogsmeade. She looked at him, then to James, confused.
"Isn't Hogwarts back that way?" she asked, pointing to the hidden entrance of the Whomping willow.
"Just trust us, Evans," said James with a reassuring smile.
Lily looked away, not wanting to see the smile. She didn't want to know. She'd rather die not knowing and keep to her ethics than even think about liking Potter. It was difficult for her to accept him even as a friend. When Sirius slowly made his way towards another door, grumbling about how heavy his friend was, James followed with a small sigh. It would take a lot for Evans to agree to trust him. Lily was about to follow him out when something caught her eye. It was just a simple cloak. Nevertheless, either Black, Potter or Remus owned it and would probably want it back, so she grabbed it and hurried after them.
"Hey, where are we going?" she asked again, frowning.
Sirius had led them to Honeydukes. He sighed and glanced wearily at the Gryffindor prefect. She had her arms crossed, a cloak draped over her arm. It startled him for a moment. They'd be doomed if Lily were to find out what that was and confiscate it. Then again, she couldn't possibly know what it was unless she or someone else was to put it on.
"Secret tunnel, Evans. Don't think about reporting it. There's no point, and we need it to get Remus back to school in time and safely," warned Sirius.
Lily looked slightly miffed.
"Did I say I was going to report it? I'm not stupid, you know," she scowled back, "I just don't get why we're at Honeydukes, that's all."
"It's where the entrance to the passage is located," he replied shortly.
There was no other exchange of speech between the three as they walked back up to Gryffindor tower. Upon entering the common room, however, there was someone downstairs. She leapt up off the couch, worry evident in her eyes, as she examined her friends.
"Sirius! Lily! James! Oh my! Are Cherry and Remus okay?" she asked worriedly, seeming to have forgotten that she was supposed to be angry with her friends.
"They're okay," grumbled Sirius as he dumped Remus, rather ungracefully, onto the couch, "But my back isn't."
James gave a small laugh as his friend began to complain about his backache and headache and starvation and everything else. Lily smiled, conjuring up a small bed in the centre of the common room.
"Here, you can put Cherry down now," she said with a smile.
James smiled back as he effortlessly put down Cherry in a more gentle fashion than Sirius had used with Remus. Rose was still fluttering around like a nervous mother hen.
"Sit down," Sirius told her, "You're giving me a headache."
"I thought you said you already had a headache," commented James amusedly.
Lily returned with a potion for Cherry. Propping up her friend, she attempted to pour the liquid down her throat. A few seconds later, Cherry could be heard choking and spluttering.
"I hate that stuff," she grumbled, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
Her pink summer dress had returned and, when she realised what she was wearing, wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"You let me walk out of the common room looking like this?" she practically squealed.
Lily shrugged helplessly.
"… How did I get here, anyway?" she asked after finally taking in her surroundings.
"… James… carried you," replied Lily, hesitating at his name.
When James heard Lily speak his first name, he grinned like Christmas had come early. Sirius glared at him through Rose's check up, freaking out and searching for the tiniest scratch.
"Prongs stop smiling like that. It's too damn bright," he grumbled.
Cherry raised an eyebrow at Sirius's behaviour.
"Not a morning, person, are you?" she remarked with a smile.
"Not a personal piggy back service either," he grumbled.
Those in the common room, who weren't asleep, laughed.
"What's with the noise?" asked Remus through a yawn.
"Ah, Moony! We thought you'd never wake!" cried out Sirius in suspicious delight, "Now go join one of those dieting programs. You're too damn heavy."
"I should have seen that one coming," commented Rose with a sleepy smile and a yawn.
She'd been up all night worrying and waiting. She couldn't help freaking out. What if something went wrong? What if one of her friends had been bitten? The fact that they were all alright had calmed her down, but it had also reminded her how sleepy she was.
"Why am I in the common room?" asked a very confused Remus, "Where's Madame Pomphrey?"
"Moony, do you remember what happened last night?" asked James cautiously.
Remus looked at him as if he'd just sprouted tentacles.
"What kind of question is that? You know I don't," he replied irritably.
James sent a questioning glance to Cherry, who nodded her approval, before telling his friend what had happened last night. By the end of it, Remus's face held a look of understanding and promised not to say a word. If news got out, Cherry's life would be threatened even more than his own. It was never understood why, exactly, but some people just couldn't stand humans with Faerie blood in them. She gave him a small smile in return.
"So why'd you do it?" asked Sirius.
"Why'd I do what?" returned Cherry, staring at the window of the Gryffindor common room.
"Why'd you risk us finding out what you were, just to keep Moony out of pain?"
He got a shrug in reply.
"You know how much I hated you, so why would you do it?"
"How was I supposed to know you'd be there?" she shot back, biting her lip as she looked at him.
"You knew," he accused.
Cherry didn't reply.
"You knew we'd be there. You knew about Remus and you knew about us, didn't you?"
"Of course not! How could I have known?" she exclaimed, but she didn't quite meet his eyes.
"You knew," he said simply, turning to look away from her.
The whole common room was tense. Lily glanced at Rose, and then flickered her gaze to James. James caught Lily's look before looking at Remus. Remus was watching Cherry intently, wondering what was going to happen. Rose was sitting behind Sirius, a worried look frozen on her face.
"So what if I did?" asked Cherry quietly, turning away from the window and Sirius.
"Then why'd you risk it?" he persisted stubbornly.
Cherry sighed. She was too tired this morning to fight with him. The potion could only do so much. She needed rest to regain the rest of her strength.
"Because I care, okay? Are you happy now? Just because you hate me, doesn't mean I'd let you suffer if I knew I could help, okay?" she responded irritably.
She didn't need this right now. She wanted to go to her dormitory. She didn't want to be here, looking so damn frail, and arguing with Sirius. She didn't want her friends to glance around worriedly as if they were afraid that their argument would break into a fistfight or something. They lapsed into silence and no one felt like they could break it.
"Thanks," came Sirius's grudging voice.
They stared at him as if he'd suggested they all go and apologise to Severus for having ruined most of his Hogwarts years.
"What for?" asked Cherry, genuinely puzzled.
"For caring," he replied, walking up to his dormitory.
The girls swapped puzzled looks. One minute he was arguing with her, the next, he was apologising.
"Yeah, thanks Ying Fa," added Remus with a smile.
They gazed at each other for a moment. Remus could feel himself begin to blush. Cherry smiled at him.
"Hey, as long as you're all right," she answered.
His blush deepened and he left to go upstairs. James followed suit, but not before winking at Lily, who scowled at his retreating back, although she couldn't help the smile that came afterwards.
"Hey James," she called, and he turned around.
She threw him something.
"Here's your cloak back."
James caught the piece of material and gave her a smile that made her heart beat faster.
"Thanks," he said, walking up the stairs.
"Just when I think he might be a likeable person, he does something and ruins it," she complained to Rose and Cherry, still thinking about the wink.
They exchanged glances and laughed.
"So I guess this means the Florettes are back?" asked a hesitant Rose.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did to Sirius, and we shouldn't be fighting over a guy," said Cherry apologetically, "Friends?"
Rose grinned and leapt at her best friend, hugging her tightly.
"Friends," she replied through tears of joy.
Lily put an arm around both of them.
"Looks like the Florettes are back," she confirmed with her own smile.
"Yongyuan dou yiqi," Together forever… declared Cherry.
"…What does that mean again?" asked Rose, frowning in thought.
"She's said it so many times you should know by now," remarked Lily, "It means 'together forever'."
"Then how do you say friends forever?" she asked Cherry.
"Umm… yongyuan dou shi pengyou," Friends forever… replied Cherry.
"Oh, okay. Then how do you say…" began Rose, but Lily cut her off.
"Upstairs. Now. I want at least two hours of sleep before I have to face school," ordered Lily.
The two girls ran up the stairs, Lily following closely behind.
