A/N: My computer messed up and to make a long story short, this story got deleted. I figure I'll repost a chapter every two to three days until I'm all caught up to Chapter 16, at which point I'll have already finished writing Chapters 17-and-beyond. Sorry if you've already read this stuff, but I figure you can cope.

Summary: Lupin notices the date and sits down to reminisce (that's about half a page). Then it's the tale of his 7th year and beyond, complete with new characters, old characters, and one hell of a lot more.

Disclaimer: whatever.

Yeah, it's been a while since I've updated... I sort of got distracted by real life. But Chapter 10's up now, so no worries! heh, heh... please forgive me...

Enjoy!

He hadn't really; it was just a momentary feeling. However, the experience caused Remus to accept the reality of Sirius and Elysa more so than he had done before. He decided to stick with Acacia, seeing as she was really quite a nice girl who still liked him as much as ever.

On Thursday, the Daily Prophet brought news of more murders, muggles this time. Voldemort's followers, the "Death Eaters," as they called themselves, had tortured and killed a family of muggles for their own enjoyment.

"A sickening act, meant to destabilize the relationship between magical and non-magical peoples," a quote in the article deemed it.

Elysa Fauchelevent was reading some of the article aloud to Sirius, who was chewing his waffles very deliberately. "'Voldemort has claimed responsibility, but this time the actual killings were perpetrated by "Death Eaters," as Voldemort's followers are calling themselves,' Auror Sigmund Sterling said Tuesday night.

"The knowledge that many witches and wizards feel compelled to join Voldemort has disturbing ramifications, according to Sterling.

"'We aren't sure how many Death Eaters he has working for him right now,' Sterling admitted, 'but recent estimates put it at between 10 and 15. However, there could be many, many more.'

"Voldemort's continued elusion of capture could potentially continue for many months to come.

"'We really aren't any closer to catching him than we were five weeks ago,' Sterling said.

"Currently, the magical world awaits news of an end of Voldemort's reign of terror.

"'Be aware that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are very dangerous. The Ministry suggests that all witches and wizards exercise extreme caution until he has been apprehended,' Ministry spokeswoman Noreen O'Consky said in a statement Wednesday night."

Sirius swept his hair out of his eyes thoughtfully, causing several girls seated farther down the table to glance at him out of the corners of their eyes. Sirius pretended not to notice, but Elysa smiled pleasantly at the girls before turning back to him.

"So," Remus heard her say, "convinced yet?"

Sirius gave a short, mirthless laugh. "Nearly."

"What's up?" James asked, leaning across the table from where he was sitting with Lily.

Sirius and Elysa looked over at him.

"I think this is only the beginning of what this Voldemort's going to do," Elysa said stoutly.

"Ah… well, I certainly hope you're wrong," James remarked, his voice cheery.

Elysa shrugged dully. "I hope so, too, but…" She looked down at the front page of the paper again. There was a picture of that skull, floating in the dark sky.

"There's no need to be pessimistic," Lily said, shrugging amicably. "I mean, the entire Ministry of Magic is after him… he can't possibly last that long…"

Elysa shrugged again, but didn't say anything. Sirius looked at her: her loose curls were pulled casually back, and two wavy strands of hair swung down over her face as she stared at the picture of the skull. Her brow was furrowed in thought. Sirius realized that she did not want to have to explain to Lily the story of exactly how she knew what she did; Elysa did not like to parade the fact that she came from an internationally based, influential, über-informed family.

Sirius had mentioned this to James months ago, however, and he turned to Lily and said, "Actually, not to add to the pessimism, but word on the street is Elysa usually knows what she's talking about."

Elysa looked up and smiled slightly. "'Word on the street?'" she repeated.

James shrugged, and grinned. "Well, by 'street' I mean… um… I don't know; something else. The point is that you're probably right."

Lily frowned curiously. "Why?" she asked.

"She's a Fauchelevent," James replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So?" Lily asked, still not getting it.

"So? So, she's a Fauchelevent!" James repeated, with an exaggerated air of disbelief at Lily's inability to grasp the point.

Lily narrowed her eyes, though Sirius could tell that she was amused. "Look here, Potter, are you going to tell me or not?" she asked.

James smiled at her. "I'm not sure yet," he replied briskly.

Elysa rolled her eyes. "Lily, what he means is that I'm a member of the Fauchelevent family. Ever heard of us?"

Lily shook her head quickly. "Should I have?" she asked. "I mean, I'm muggle-born, so I don't really…" she paused for a moment, and then asked, "Are you one of those old wizarding families?"

Elysa sighed slightly, and then said, "Oldest in Europe, actually… basically, my relatives are all over the world, and everywhere they live, they're influential and involved in government and… yeah. Every summer, we all go to France for a reunion, and because nearly everybody in the Fauchelevent Clan is very well-placed, people know what's going on. During the summer, some of my uncles were discussing Voldemort. They knew about him, of course, because my relatives sort of know everything…" Elysa paused for breath, and then continued, "And then Voldemort went and murdered that family in Sheffield. Then he murdered those sisters in Manchester, and my aunt in France sent my parents a letter warning them to be careful… and now he's killed again." She sighed. "I trust my relatives, Lily. They have yet to be wrong about anything."

Lily was looking at Elysa, impressed. "That's really interesting," she commented excitedly. Elysa glanced at her, her eyebrows raised.

"I mean, no, not the part about Voldemort… just… I didn't know that about you," Lily clarified.

"Oh," Elysa said, smiling slightly. "Yeah, I try not to spread it around."

"Parlez-vous français?" Lily asked cheerfully. Her accent wasn't half bad.

"Naturellement… et toi?" Elysa replied casually, smiling.

"Oui, un peu!" Lily was clearly quite excited over the prospect of exercising her lingual skills.

"Quelle coïncidence… Je parle français aussi!" James remarked.

"Les deux de vous? Je n'ai jamais su," Elysa replied, smiling happily. "Où–"

Sirius coughed loudly.

"Sorry," Elysa giggled, looking at him adoringly. "You really need to pick up some French, cher…"

Sirius looked bemused. "Yes, we've been through this… I won't even know how to pronounce our children's names; it'll be so humiliating."

Elysa laughed. "I can see you now: 'Come to dinner, Jean-Claude! Come in, Auberta!'" She pronounced the names 'Gene-Clawday' and 'Awbirda.'

Sirius laughed, too. "I like those names. They sound very nice."

"Thinking up names for the children already, are we?" James asked, smiling brightly.

Sirius shrugged. "You can never start planning too soon." Elysa, however, not being as don't-give-a-damn as Sirius, was blushing slightly.

"I liked the second name… what was it? Auberta?" Lily remarked. She pronounced it properly: oh-BEHR-tah.

James smiled complacently. "Sorry, Lil," he replied, "but there is no way our kids are getting French names unless we learn to speak with flawless accents."

Lily gave him a look of disbelief. "Since when are we having children? I'm talking about theirs." She laughed. "Good grief, Potter… I've only been going out with you for two days; don't push things."

James grinned at her. "Okay, but I think our kids should have nice, Anglo names."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine," she agreed dully.

Elysa burst out laughing. "You guys are adorable. I hope you have a whole nest of children," she remarked.

Lily blushed and James laughed.

"They can play with ours," Sirius added. "It'll be like a little party."

Remus, looking over from where he was sitting with Acacia, couldn't help but smile. He turned to look at Acacia, and found her skimming through a chapter of her transfiguration book.

"Whatcha reading?" Remus asked.

Acacia turned to smile at him. "I'm just reviewing cross-species transfiguration; I have a practical exam this afternoon."

"Oh," Remus remarked, "I remember that. And I'm sure you'll do fine; it's not too hard."

"I know," Acacia replied cheerfully. "I'm not worried; just looking everything back over..." She frowned at a paragraph on the paper, and then called down the table, "Hey, Elysa, did you hear if we need to know amphibians to mammals or just reptiles to mammals?"

Elysa, who was still laughing with Sirius, James, and Lily, turned toward Acacia. "Just reptiles," she informed her promptly. "And anyway, it's almost exactly the same wand movement; I'm sure we'd be fine regardless."

"Great," Acacia said, closing her book and sliding it back into her bag. She turned back to Remus. "Well, anyway, I'm going to head back up to my dormitory… I think I'll write and tell Mum and Dad about this latest attack by what's-his-face... Voldemort. They'd be interested to know, and if he's going after muggles now, well…"

She smiled sadly, and leaned forward so that Remus could kiss her. He did so without hesitation; he liked Acacia, even if she couldn't hold a candle to Elysa Fauchelevent. Thinking this, Remus felt guilty. He was over Elysa, he reminded himself. He glanced down the table at her as Acacia stood up and began to walk across the Great Hall. Why did Elysa need to be so hot? And smart. And friendly. And funny. And… damn, she was perfect. Remus groaned silently and turned back to his plate.

Peter came up behind him and sat down. "Why, good morning, Moony," he said cheerfully. "What'd I miss?"

Remus glanced over at him. "Where've you been?" he asked.

Peter smirked. "It just so happens that I have a girlfriend now."

Remus couldn't help but grin in amusement. James and Sirius had to hear this. "Oy! Prongs! Padfoot!" he called, without looking around.

"What's up?" James called back, leaning forward to look down that table at Remus.

"C'mere!" Remus replied.

Behind him James and Sirius glanced at one another, curious, and then made their ways down the Gryffindor table to where Remus and Peter were sitting.

"What is it that's so urgent?" Sirius asked pleasantly, sitting down on the bench at Remus's left, his back against the table. James sat down beside him.

"I have a girlfriend," said Peter proudly.

"You?" Sirius exclaimed, laughing.

"She must be a bloody fool," remarked James, laughing too.

Peter rolled his eyes. He was too used to his friends to let them bother him. "No, she is not a bloody fool… I hope," he replied, causing James, Sirius and Remus to grin, still laughing.

"Well, who is she, mate?" asked Sirius cheerfully. "Don't leave us hanging…"

Peter cleared his throat importantly. "Perdita Sinclair," he said importantly.

"But she's… well, moderately attractive, for one thing," James said fairly, "but Wormtail, she's in Slytherin! What are you, a traitor?" He grinned again to show that he didn't really mind; Perdita Sinclair might have been in Slytherin, but she wasn't particularly sinister or dark arts obsessed, as Severus Snape was.

"What is she, a fifth year?" Remus asked jovially. "Going for the younger crowd, are we, Peter?"

Sirius, however, looked less amused. "She's my cousin, you crazy fool!"

Peter, James, and Remus all laughed. "She's your second cousin," Peter corrected him. "I checked."

Sirius groaned. "Wormtail, we've been through this, I don't like it when people date my family members. I would prefer for them all to die alone and unloved."

James rolled his eyes slightly, though he was no longer laughing. "Oh, let him have his fun, Padfoot," he said gently.

Sirius smiled reluctantly. "Fine," he replied briskly. "I won't inhibit you two."

Peter grinned. "Good," he said, glancing around toward the Slytherin table, where Perdita Sinclair was looking at him. He flashed her the 'thumbs up' sign, and she giggled before turning back to her friends.

Sirius exhaled loudly and stood up. He raised his head, glancing toward Elysa down the table, who noticed him at once. Sirius jerked his head purposefully toward the stairs leading out of the Great Hall, and Elysa, a perplexed and vaguely concerned expression on her face, stood up to meet him. As the two walked away, Remus looked after them. Sirius seemed to be talking very fast, and Elysa was nodding. She tightened her grip on his hand and said something. Then they reached the stairs and Remus could not longer see them.

"I don't know what to do," Sirius said sullenly.

Elysa smiled ruefully. "Oh, come on, Sirius," she said. "It doesn't matter who Peter dates."

Sirius shrugged. "I don't care that I'm related to Dita, it's just that… well, partially, I suppose, that I harbor utter resentment toward most of my family, though Dita was never that bad, back when we were little and used to play." He paused, thinking. "It's just that… Dita and Bella, they're both in Slytherin – as is just about everyone else in the illustrious Black family – and I know that they're really close. Even when we were little, you know, it was Bella and Narcissa and Andromeda, and they were the three cousins who Dita (she's an only child) always wanted to be with. Well, now it's Bella and Dita here at school, and Narcissa's just graduated, and Andromeda, and so Bella is Dita's main roll model… you follow?"

Elysa nodded earnestly as they reached the stairs of the Great Hall and made their way up. "Are you afraid that Perdita – or Dita; whatever – is going to go over to Voldemort."

Sirius turned to look at her. "Basically, yes… look, Lys, you know how we were just reading about those 'Death Eaters' in the paper?"

Elysa nodded.

"Well," Sirius continued, sounding very annoyed, "I'm pretty sure I'm related to some of them."

Again, Elysa nodded. "People won't judge you on your family, Sirius," she replied briskly. "Don't worry."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, please."

Elysa smiled slightly. "Well, that's not entirely true, I guess… but, Sirius, your friends will never judge you on your family. I will never judge you on your family. Isn't that enough? Sort of?"

Sirius smiled and put his arm around her. God, how he loved her…

"Yes," he replied quickly. "I mean, for normal people, no, but people with ridiculous families like mine need to compromise."

Elysa smiled slightly. "Well, as long as that's settled…" She put her arm around his waist as they reached the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. "Now, about Dita," she continued cheerfully, "I think you should just let things play out. I mean, face it, she's probably much cooler than Peter… once she gets over the whole 'He's a seventh year' thing she'll probably loose interest… Turnipike." The portrait hole swung open.

Sirius laughed, shaking his head as they crawled through. "You're probably right, though I'm a bad friend to say it." He sighed as they made their way across the common room. "I guess I'm just worried about… I don't know. I don't like the idea of Wormtail hanging around with somebody so easily influenced by the rest of my family."

Elysa smiled woefully. "What can you do?"

Sirius shrugged. "Nothing, I guess… whatever; it'll play out, like you said." Then he turned and kissed her, right there in the middle of the common room. When he pulled back, Elysa's eyes were shining.

"I love you," Sirius told her, and he meant it with all of his heart.

Elysa smiled. "And I love you," she replied with complete honesty. "Isn't it great the way these things work out?"

Sirius kissed her again, and they probably would have gone on for a while in the deserted common room (everybody was still at breakfast) when they heard footsteps on the dormitory stairs. "Later," Elysa whispered in Sirius's ear, stepping away from him as a third-year girl entered the room.

"Hello, Carol," said Elysa pleasantly. The girl looked at her, smiling. She liked Elysa; most people did, especially as of this year when she had become outgoing and exceptionally beautiful.

"Hey, Elysa," Carol replied. She glanced over at Sirius Black. She knew who he was, of course; he was probably the hottest guy in school. She also knew that he was going out with Elysa, something that made Carol quite happy, because there was something uplifting about seeing a gorgeous couple so obviously enamored of one another.

"Did you miss breakfast?" Elysa asked conversationally.

Carol shook her head. "Nope; I'm heading to class. There are–" she glanced at her watch "–five minutes until we need to be there." As if on cue, a bell tolled out, announcing the end of breakfast and the start of passing period.

"Well then, we'd best go, too," Elysa remarked, turned toward Sirius and taking his hand casually.

"Must we?" Sirius said quietly, raising his eyebrows. Elysa grinned at him and said,

"Probably."

Carol, meanwhile, had made her way to the portrait hole. "Bye, Elysa!" she called over her shoulder.

"See you around, Carol!" Elysa called back.

As soon as Carol was gone, Sirius wrapped his arms around Elysa and kissed her passionately. This time, they were not interrupted.

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Anyway, stay tuned for Chapter 11! It'll be up much sooner than this one was, I promise!

And PS: Don't worry if the story doesn't seem to be going anywhere. It gets started soon, believe me.

potpoury