Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its characters, creations, and such belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing except Eve Pankhart, Dawn Pankhart, Mrs. Sternstone, Anna Twitter, Cynthia Young, Derek Gotter, and any other character not of J.K. Rowlng's creation that are original characters of my own creation, and my plot idea for this fanfiction, which comes from my imagination. The Phantom of the Opera and all its characters, creations, and such belong to Gaston Leroux and/or Andrew Lloyd Webber. I have not written this fanfiction to benefit me in any way, shape, or form; I am merely using my imagination in addition to J.K. Rowling's and Gaston Leroux's and/or Andrew Lloyd Webber's characters, creations, and such to produce this fanfiction for my entertainment and enjoyment, nothing more.
Author's Note: Wow, guys, over two thousand hits to this fanfiction! Thanks a bunch! Please keep reviewing!
So sorry I couldn't update last week. As stated in my profile, I was busy and didn't have the time. I hope this chapter makes up for the delay!
Publish Date: Sunday, March 16, 2008.
Written in the Stars
Chapter Ten: Anna's Scheme
"Well, hello, Eve. What're you doing here?"
Eve stopped in her pacing along the corridor and looked up at Anna for a moment, drawing in a deep breath to ground and center her courage. She noticed that Anna was only paying half of her attention to Eve, as she was burrowing through her bookbag for Merlin knew what and was scarcely looking up at her. She balanced on one foot as her other knee was brought up to lean the bookbag on as she searched. The brunette only hoped her friend's distraction would last long enough for her to tell her about Sirius's proposal so she wouldn't get too upset with her.
"Anna," Eve began, wringing her hands as she approached the Ravenclaw, "um, there's something I need to talk to you about." Please keep searching, please keep searching.
"Uh-huh… yeah," Anna off-handedly murmured. She dug deeper into her bag while muttering under her breath, "Oh, come here, you!"
"See, Anna, what I mean to say is-"
"Ah! Got you!" She withdrew her hand and produced a chubby container of lip balm. Smiling victoriously, she applied a thin layer to her cracked lips before putting it away and complaining, "Ugh, my lips are so chapped! I've got to meet with Sirius in a while, too!" With that, she pulled out a compact mirror and flipped it open so she could make sure her make-up and hair were flawless.
"Anna," Eve sighed, preparing herself for the full blow of Anna's wrath as she had nothing to divert her attention away from what was about to be said, "that's exactly what I came here to talk to you about: Sirius."
"Really? What about Sirius?" Anna asked with interest, her sky blue eyes sparkling happily at the mere mention of his name.
"Well, see…" The Gryffindor fiddled with her sleeves as she spoke and stepped forward to further close the gap between her and her friend. Placing her hand on Anna's shoulder, she explained, "Before I say anything else, please know that I had absolutely nothing to do with this. Okay?"
Anna narrowed her eyes and hesitantly replied, "O-Okay…"
"See… Sirius visited Remus a-and me when we were working in the library, and… Anna, he-he asked me… to attend the ball… with him…"
Anna's face drooped a smidge, but she batted her eyelashes expectantly at Eve and suggested, "And I'm certain you turned him down, did you not?"
Eve arched her eyebrows, feathers ruffled at the thought that her friend believed she could have more than one boy to herself without interference. Trying to be polite, she patiently responded, "Anna, need I remind you that you already have an escort to the ball? You've been planning on attending with Derek Gotter for quite some time."
"Yes, but… he asked me before I even met Sirius; you know I'd prefer to go with him!" Anna exclaimed, her face reddening as she ran a hand through her hair and fisted it in frustration. "I can't believe you're doing this to me, Eve!"
"He said you wouldn't mind because you're going with Derek!" Eve defended.
"Oh, so, now he knows how I feel about everything, does he?" Anna placed her hands on her hips as her face flamed to a tomato hue.
"Anna, that's not what I meant! I asked him if he thought you'd be alright with it, and he said yes, and so I agreed to go to the ball with him. It's not like I agreed to court him; I'm just going to the ball with him!" Eve waved her arms around as she spoke to drive home her point. "If I knew it'd upset you so, I would've turned him down, you know that!"
Not even listening to her friend anymore, Anna walked past her a little and snapped, "Is this you trying to get back at me for telling Sirius you fancy Remus?"
"What? No! Anna, I just told you-"
"Mature, Eve. Real mature." Anna said as her lower lip quivered and she stomped off, heading for the girls' bathroom so she could have some privacy.
Eve watched with her mouth agape like that of a fish, and, when she could no longer see the flash of blonde suspended in the dark corridor, she hopped up and down and growled in frustration. "Ugh! Anna, I can't believe you, sometimes!" She screeched to herself before storming off.
.x:X:x.
Remus, after doing quite a bit of tracking Anna down, finally ended up outside the girls' bathroom where Moaning Myrtle was said to haunt. He didn't mind the poltergeist, seeing as there were many ghosts who haunted the castle, making him completely used to and comfortable with the thought.
No, it was merely the fact that it was a girls' bathroom he was about to enter that startled him. What could he expect in there? Would it be so pink and frilly it would make him go blind? Would there be so much perfume in the air that it would irreparably damage his sense of smell? Would the jabber of girls (or, at least, those who were stupid enough to enter the bathroom Moaning Myrtle haunted, no offense to Anna) make him go deaf?
Oh, for Merlin's sake, stop overreacting; it's just a girls' bathroom! He thought with a roll of his chocolate-brown eyes before hesitantly pushing on the door and entering.
Well, that was a relief; the bathroom was nothing like he'd expected. Actually, with the exception of the lack of urinals, it was exactly the same; blah-brown décor like the boys' bathroom, just as many stalls, and a high ceiling and window, as well.
No sooner had he stepped into the bathroom did a bought of sniffling and crying permeate his ears.
"Myrtle?" He inquired, allowing the door to swing shut behind him. "Myrtle, is that you?"
Myrtle rocketed out from one stall, cross and obviously not crying. "No, it is not me! Just because I'm sad every once in a while, doesn't mean I'll be blubbering all the time, thank you very much! At any rate, I'm not nearly so vain as to wail about having two boys who fancy me and only being allowed to go to the ball with one." With that, she began moaning as she covered her creasing face in her hands and flew into another stall, diving into the toilet there.
Remus shook his head; honestly, that banshee was far more emotional than she needed to be.
He heard the crying cease after all the racket, and a soft, quivering, "Hello?" make its way from a stall.
Cautiously approaching, he pushed the door of it open to see a red-eyed, tear-streaked Anna batting her eyes with a handkerchief as she sat on the closed lid of the toilet.
She sighed and shut her eyes, annoyed. "Oh, it's you, Remus. Well, if Eve honestly thinks she can make amends so easily with me by sending you to do her work-"
"What? No, Eve didn't send me… but… I assume she told you what happened with Sirius, yes?" Remus asked, keeping his tone light and soft, so as not to further upset the already heartbroken witch.
Anna sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with the cloth in her hands before nodding in reply. "How could she do this to me? She's my best friend!"
Remus leaned forward until he was kneeling on the floor before her and looking up at her. "I must admit that, while I haven't known her for a long time, that it did seem a little odd that she accepted Sirius's invitation, especially since she knows him less than she knows me." He muttered his last part quietly to himself, and Anna noticed that he looked particularly annoyed with that little detail.
"You're envious of him," she whispered in realization, lowering the hand that held the handkerchief. She chuckled once in awe and then said, "Oh, dear Merlin… you do fancy her."
Remus blinked up at Anna before she mirthlessly said, "You ought to tell her, you know. I'd do it, but I feel my friendship with her is rather strained at the moment."
Remus shook his head. "No, I don't want you to tell her." He looked down and, after swallowing under the confused gaze of the witch before him, he said, "What I'm about to tell you must be kept strictly between us, do you understand?"
Anna nodded quickly, wanting to hear this promising tidbit of information.
With a sigh, he said, "It's just, I should be the one to tell her all of this, no one else, that's all. Look, my feelings for her have been growing as our work on the Astronomy project progresses. Even so, I do have some… some past issues I need to deal with if I even want to think about asking her to be my girlfriend, issues that would affect her, as well, were she to accept my offer."
"She would," Anna offered.
Remus arched an eyebrow at her. "Why would you think that?"
"I'm her best friend, remember?" She reminded him with an extravagant wave of her arms. "I don't think when it comes to Eve, I know! She tells me everything I need to know about her!"
"Okay, okay," Remus chuckled, throwing his hands up into the air in defense.
Anna laughed softly in reply and said, "She fancies you back, you know. There is one thing you need to know about her, though, that'll make it easier for you to woo her."
Remus nodded and leaned in, eagerly wanting to hear the advice Anna had to give him.
Anna shifted in her seat and said gently, "She's had some issues with her father."
Oh, this sounded familiar. His mind flashed back to a night not too long ago where they had been sitting together, and she was about to say something about her family to him. He'd encouraged her to speak, but she'd backed down and shyly looked away.
"Ah, yes, I've been wondering what she hasn't been telling me about that. Continue."
"See, she's muggleborn, and the first time she heard about her being a witch was when she was eleven. Her grandparents and sister- though Dawn was only four at the time- were supportive of her, while her parents weren't. They had made all these plans for her life, like where she'd attend school and such, and her magical abilities destroyed them. Her mother has since come to be more accepting, and is fine with Eve being a witch, but her father hasn't changed, straining her relationship with him. When he first found out, he said plenty of things to her that have stayed with her and haunt her even now." Anna paused to allow Remus to soak everything in.
The werewolf was astounded. How could her own father not accept her? Finding out that one is magical wasn't all that big of a deal, or so he believed. It was just an extra talent that one had; some were good at sports, some were good at writing, and others were magical. He shuddered at the thought of his parents being that way, as if they'd abandoned him just for the fact that he was magical, they'd have no problem leaving him behind after his disastrous bite. He thanked his lucky stars every day of his life that he had caring and accepting parents who tried their best to help him through his difficult transformations.
"Well…" Anna continued, "the things he said make her self-conscious now, and a little shy when it comes to courting, so if you really want her to be yours, you're going to have to work extra hard."
Remus bobbed his head, "Yes, of course; I was ready to do so, anyway." After a small pause to battle within his head whether or not he should vocalize the inquiry he had, he asked, "May I ask what he said to her?"
Anna nibbled on her lower lip, wondering if it would be a breech of best friend secrecy if she said anymore. Well, she figured, at least it should help him in the long run.
"Alright, but don't tell Eve. She never exactly specified what I should keep to myself. Have you ever watched a muggle movie?"
Remus nodded his head. His mother was muggle, and so she felt that her wizard son should have a taste of both worlds, and, as a result, he'd seen many muggle movies, read many muggle books, and done many things exclusive to the muggle world. He wouldn't call himself an expert on the subject of muggles, but he did know more than some magic folk did about them and their ways.
"Well, some movies make fun of witches and make them look all ugly and whatever, which is completely untrue."
"Completely," Remus agreed with a grin.
"Well her father said these horrible things to her just to scare her, and she was so young, of course she thought it was going to happen… He said that, once she began using magic, she'd turn into one of those ugly witches in the movies. Remus, he went so far as to say that she'd already begun the metamorphosis, and that she was starting to show signs of ugliness!"
Remus's mouth threatened to fall to the floor. How could someone be so cruel to a little girl who'd done nothing wrong? After the initial shock, he felt a violent wave of guilt crash into him; if he hadn't been so disobedient that night when he frolicked under the full moon, he still would've been friends with her at the time her father said those things, and he could've explained to her that magic was a normal way of life to some people. Maybe he could've saved her from dealing with what she had to go through.
"That's awful!" He hissed as he felt his blood come to a boil and his face turn plum purple. "She's anything but ugly!" His fists clenched and he whispered possessively, "She's lovely!"
"I know… I just… I mean, I started crying when she told me about it, I can't imagine having to actually go through it, you know?" Anna inquired, blowing her nose.
They sat in silence for a minute before Anna murmured, "Even though we're fighting now… I still love her like a sister, you know?"
Remus nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about. He couldn't recount how many times he'd gotten into a tiff with the Marauders, but, no matter how angry they were with one another, they were always like brothers, and they always had each other's back.
Anna straightened up and inquired suddenly, "Oh, uh, what was it that you came here for?"
Remus swallowed and prepared himself for what he was going to say next. "Look, the only reason Sirius asked Eve to the ball was because I didn't. He wanted to 'teach me a lesson', or something, to get me to ask her before someone else did."
"Really?" Anna couldn't keep the hope out of her voice.
"Yes, really." He patted her arm and said sincerely, "Sirius is crazy about you."
She beamed at him and he smiled in return. "I wanted to ask you if I could escort you to the ball so that we make Sirius and Eve jealous?"
"Ooh, the Marauder has a plan. I'd like to make Sirius jealous, but I've already accepted Derek Gotter's invitation." Anna said with a half smile.
"Anna," Remus gently began, "I saw him… in the library today… with Cynthia Young… snogging." Anna's face fell. "I'm so sorry."
Anna's eyes welled up with tears and she asked him, "Why won't one boy just stay with me?" She brought her handkerchief up to her eyes and whimpered.
"Anna, trust me, if you weren't already attending with Derek, Sirius would've asked you in a heartbeat," Remus offered with a small smile.
"Do you really think so?" Anna inquired quietly.
Remus grinned and winked. "I don't think, I know."
Anna giggled. After a moment spent thinking over his offer, she said, "Yes, alright, I'll attend with you."
"Splendid!" Remus said, finally rising to his knees, wincing along the way as the hard tile did nothing to help his joints. He extended an arm to her, and she took it as he walked out of the bathroom with her (blatantly ignoring Myrtle's annoying giggle at overhearing their entire conversation from the pipe of a toilet) toward the Ravenclaw common room. "Now, Sirius may be expecting me to get back at him, so he may not look all that surprised. If you really want to bring him crawling back to you on his knees, you're going to have to act the part efficiently. Can you do that?"
"'Can I'?" Anna inquired as they reached their destination. "Why, both he and Eve will be glowing green with envy by the end of the night when I'm through with my act."
"Marvelous," Remus stated. As he began walking off toward the Gryffindor common room, he inquired, "I'll meet up with you here tomorrow night, then, to walk you down to the ball, yes?"
"I'll be here. Thanks, Remus!" Anna called out as she entered the Ravenclaw common room and began scheming on what she would do.
Oh, yes, tomorrow night's ball would be a night none of them would ever forget.
Author's Note: Alright, everyone, it's that time again; the time when I reply to everyone's reviews since chapter five was posted. I'll do this every five chapters.
My response to the reviews is in chronological order of when they were given.
Captain Saru- Thank you very much, I'm glad you're enjoying the fanfiction. I appreciate you reading my work and giving your feedback on it. Yes, I was 'aww'ing quite a bit, as well, as I wrote up the preschool chapter. I, myself, thought it was too cute that they knew each other way back then. And thank you so much for drawing that sketch of Woofie, it really is too adorable for words! Aha, but my cliffhangers keep people interested in what's going to happen next, so, in that respect, it's good, even though you hate when I use them. Thanks again, and please keep reviewing!
CacahuetePoco- Great, I love having reviewers who like to review! Oh, thank you very much! I'm glad you find this fanfiction 'inspiring'! Thank you, thank you; I too, like 'Mussy' as a nickname for Remus, along with 'Woofie' for his stuffed animal. Thank you, again; I'm glad you liked how Remus's bite scene played out. You really are too kind; I'm glad you think of me as a 'wonderful writer'. Thanks a bunch, and please keep reviewing!
SailingAwaySoftly- Sorry to have scared you like that; every once in a while, life gets too hectic for me to write, and so I must miss an update for a week. I'm glad you like how I write Remus's and Eve's characters; I try my absolute best to make them believable, and, in Remus's case, true to his character as he was originally written in the books and movies. Aha, that's sweet that you'd like to be friends with Eve; she does seem like the type of person who's easy to get along with, doesn't she? Yes, I'm trying to subtly bring up a relationship between the two, and drawing her just seemed like the kind of thing he'd do, so, he did! Thank you! I'm glad you feel the fanfiction is 'fantastical'! Thank you again; I'm glad you liked the idea of them knowing each other prior to Hogwarts. Goodness, though, you gave me a scare when you stopped reviewing so suddenly! I'm happy to know you're still reading and that you haven't lost interest in the fanfiction; I was half afraid that you had! Aw, I'm glad you feel that you're 'absolutely in love' with the fanfiction; it lets me know that it's on the right track and that I'm doing a good job writing it. Well, I just decided to leave off on a cliffhanger to add to the drama, and so I did; it adds to the suspense and whatnot. I
hope you like that Sirius got to ask first! I hope you're enjoying the latest chapters. Thanks a lot, and please keep reviewing!
DarkHuntressMoMo- Aha, I'm glad you liked Eve slipping into Healer mode when she was with Remus; there will be more to come in the future! Yeah, I know, I just happen to like the word 'courting' for this fanfiction, and, when I looked it up, I believe (though I could be wrong) that I read the word was used until the sixties, and this is set only a decade later, so, it's possible that they could've still been using the word. I'm glad you think my story 'rocks'! I'd love to see a sketch from you on Woofie! But I did get the idea from you, and so I felt the need to credit you! I'm glad you like the Peter and Narcissa thing that I added, as well as the Sirius and Anna relationship. Thanks, and please keep reviewing!
Marsh W.- Aw, I'm glad you find my portrayal of the characters 'fascinating'. Aha, I'm glad you like my similes, I certainly had fun with them when I wrote them up. I hope you continue reading this fanfiction. Thanks a bunch, and please keep reviewing!
Jess- I'm glad you thought the chapter was funny, and that the Evie and Mussy thing was to your liking. Aw, I'm happy to hear that you think this story is 'better than ever'! I hope you're enjoying the latest chapters. Many thanks, and please keep reviewing!
MoonNightLover- Thank you; I'm glad you found the ending 'cute'. Aw, the children you work with sound adorable. Oh, how sweet that you know a child who's like young Remus; he must be a sweetheart. I'm glad you're 'loving' the fanfiction! Aw, I'm sorry, but Sirius got to Eve first. There is most definitely a good reason for it, though, I promise! You won't be disappointed! I'm glad you 'loved' the chapter! I hope you're enjoying the latest chapters. Thanks a lot, and please keep reviewing!
Beautiful-Oblivion-xxx- Welcome! I'm glad you 'love the fanfiction already'! I hope you're enjoying the latest chapters. Thanks a bunch, and please keep reviewing!
Nilmade Lailindeiel- Aha, your prediction was correct; Sirius asked first! I hope you're enjoying the latest chapters. Many thanks, and please keep reviewing!
BlaireVolturi- Aw, I'm sorry you don't like my cliffhangers, but I hope you liked their outcomes! I hope this chapter clarified everything for you. Alright, thanks for your input on the companion piece; I think I will write one. Thanks a lot, and please keep reviewing!
Toxic-Neon- I'm glad you 'love the story'! Many thanks, and please keep reviewing!