Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I don't own the Marauders. I do, however, own Alexis.

Chapter 10: Visions in White

Sirius' POV

What can I say, I will never understand girls. Never. I doubt any male would ever be able to achieve that level of knowledge, not even Moony. At least I wasn't alone, Prongs was more then happy to keep me company, it appeared, cause if he had any idea about girls, maybe Evans would consider going out with him. Urg, so frustrating. Here we are, near the Black Lake, after just making a scene in the Great Hall. Oh, but my fist still wants to have that swing at that git, Carlson. Going on about love like he's Cupid or something. How could Alexis stand him is beyond me. It's obvious that stupid speech was all to show off in front of Alexis: 'a girl should be treated with love, she's a flower', please, can he be more gay? Besides, Alexis is not a rose, more like a cactus. It's not that she's ugly or something, if fact she's probably one of the most beautiful girls I've seen, but that attitude of hers: definitely a cactus. Since we all had first period free (ah, the wonders of being in sixth year), we hang around the Lake for a while. The last two weeks have been quite hard, even though I would never admit it out loud. James was quite cross with me for 'probably losing him a potential player' but he did allow me have my test in the end; though I knew Alexis wouldn't just up and leave her wish to try out. She was incredibly stubborn and hard-headed, she never backed down from a challenge, and all that made me curios. Maybe that's why I wanted to get to know her, to know all her secrets and dreams, to unravel the mystery that transferred to Hogwarts like no one before her, who fit in so easily with my best mates.; that made them laugh, gave Remus and Evans a run for their money, and gave me as tough a time as pleasant. I shook my head a little (stupid canine habit) to clear it when I felt a hand behind my ear.

"What the…" I exclaimed, shrugging my shoulder and moving away while rubbing my ear. I looked at the culprit. "What did you do that for?"

"Sorry." She said, looking sheepish. "It's just, when you do that you look like a puppy, so it got me curious what would happen…" She trailed off as she saw Remus and James's identical grins and my astonished face.

"Padfoot, mate, you know I will always be your friend, even if you decide to become a canine. Just try not to get any fleas on me, okay mate." James said with such sincerity as he slung a hand across my shoulders. I growled at him, not really helping my case as I heard Alexis give a small laugh and tackled James to the floor.

Alexis' POV

I can't believe I did that. What was I thinking, to just up and scratch him? But there was something inside me, natural human curiosity, and I just couldn't help myself. And he looked so…well, adorable. Oh, no, there I go again. I looked up at the sky trying to take my mind off of the black haired Cheshire cat in my life. I think that cloud looks like a fox, or maybe a coyote. Well, we'll settle for 'fox-like'. Yeah, yeah, I'm random, I know. Sighting again I saw Remus trying to pull the boys apart, only to end up in with all of them on the grass. Seeing as how we were supposed to go to class in 15 minutes, and we had to go get the others, I approached the boys. Of course, instead of being stupid-enough to try pulling them apart, I pointed my wand at them and said 'Aguamenti'. A jet of water shot out, hoisting the boys. Well, now that, got them up. Though not without complain.

"Are you crazy, woman? It's not summer, you know." Sirius said, finger-combing his hair back.

"Well, since you finished playing it the dirt, let's go get the others and head to Care of Magical Creatures." I said pointedly ignoring him. Remus laughed at Sirius' pout and my lips were twitching from trying to hold the laughter in.

"Why are you using the subjects' full names? You can shorten them, you know. Just say 'Care' or COMC and we'll know." James said, as he used his wand to dry himself off.

"Oh, you didn't get it?" I said with my most surprised voice. "I do it to annoy you." I said and laughed at their expressions. I felt my sides being tickled, as I was lifted from the ground into Sirius' arms.

"Annoy us, huh, little girl. You better watch your mouth, or we'll have to show you the power of the Marauders. So, do you yield?"

"No…way…" I said between gasps of breath.

"Sirius, put the girl down, we have class in 5 minutes." I heard Remus reprimand his friend.

"Oh, come on, Moony, she should know not to mess with us." James laughed and looked at his black haired best friend and then pointedly at the girl in his arms. Sirius met his eyes and then his own sparkled mischievously.

Noticing their matching smirks a feeling of dread filled me. Before I could even begin to realize their intentions I gave a shrill scream as I felt my body go into the state of free fall and then I felt another pair of hands catching me. I realized Sirius had literary thrown me to James and they obviously enjoyed my scream, because I felt James was ready to throw me again…

"Put her down, Potter." Lily's voice floated to us and I immediately felt my feet touch the ground. "Can't you find anything else to do besides causing mayhem?" she asked irritated.

"Mayhem's my middle name. Well, not that it's important, you're going to be taking my last, after all…" he trailed off, as he realized what he'd just said. I guess even though he's always said he liked her, probably even he hadn't thought about marriage. By the look on Lily's face, she hadn't expected that, either.

As we got to the edge of the forest for our class the awkward silence that followed James' statement still lingered. As we approached, I saw that we were paired with the Slytherins again. Even though I applauded Dumbledor for trying to lessen house rivalry, I think throwing the two houses most prone to getting at each other's throats together was stupid. You just can't force some things to happen. But all thoughts about it flew out of my head, as I saw what was tied to the tree. It wasn't full grown, seeing as it was silverfish rather then white, but it did have a horn.

"Gather around, class. As I promised, we're going to start learning about unicorns." Professor Kettleburn said. "Now, can anyone tell me how old this unicorn is?"

My hand shot up, not wanting someone else to answer, but there weren't many who were eager.

"Yes, Ms. Keen?"

"It's probably in the age between 4 and 7." I answered with a smile.

"Very well and why do you think that, Ms. Keen?"

"Well, unicorn foals are gold, then, when they are two they turn silver. Their horns grow at about four years of age, and they are usually a soft silver color, and then they turn white along with the unicorn as it turns 7. So this one should be 4 to 7 years old."

"Excellent work, Ms. Keen. 15 points to Gryffindor. This unicorn is almost 5 years of age. Now, you all know that unicorns prefer a woman's touch, but since this one is younger it may allow the boys to touch him, too. Just tread carefully when approaching." The Professor advised.

As I approached the animal with a shaky hand I could feel my excitement bubbling. I've always felt an attachment to those beautiful creatures: so innocent, pure, and untainted by the cruelty of this war, this world. As I touched its soft silver mane, all I could see was white. The students around me disappeared; it was just me and that blissful feeling filling me. There wasn't anything to worry about, anymore. Only that calming feeling, only pureness, innocence, soft white clouds ready to take me deep within their feathery depths and let me soar forever. I was never going to let that go. I never wanted that feeling to end. Then, as if to prove its unfairness even further, life took it from me. With a scream, I felt my hand being seized, the connection severed and my world going black.

When I next woke up, I felt like my head was going to split. Trying to open my eyes, I felt my headache grow even stronger. I groaned as I tried sitting up, when I felt two arms pushing me down.

"Lie down, Ms. Keen. You should rest." I heard Madam Pomfrey's voice. So I was in the Hospital Wing. But what happened. I couldn't quite remember how I had gotten here. Slowly opening my eyes while adjusting to the brightness of the room, I tried to sit up again but this time, I met no resistance. Looking around, I saw Madam Pomfrey next to the bed, holding a goblet.

"Here, sweetie, drink this. It'll calm your headache." She offered me the goblet, but when she saw how my hands were shaking, she brought the goblet to my lips. I took a sip from it, and cringed at the taste, but almost as soon as drank it, I felt the throbbing in my head ebb away. Sighting in relief, I opened my mouth with the intention to ask Madam Pomfrey what happened to me, when the doors to the Wing opened and the Headmaster walked in.

"Ah, you're awake, Alexis." He said with a small smile.

"Professor, what happened to me?" I asked, hoping for an explanation. Why couldn't I remember anything?

"I was hoping you'd tell me, Alexis. Mr. Black burst into the Hospital Wing with your unconscious form in his hands, saying you had a…seizure in your Care of Magical Creatures class. Madam Pomfrey examined you, but she couldn't find a physical reason for your fainting spell. You've been asleep for the last couple of hours. You gave us quite a scare."

I listened to his words in an attempt to figure out what had happened, but it was all white, and I couldn't remember anything about the lesson at all.

"Has this stirred any memories?"

"I'm sorry, but it's all white. I can't remember the lesson at all."

"You don't remember the whole lesson, not only touching the unicorn?" I noticed the Professor had lost the usual twinkle in his eyes.

"No." I shook my head, but stopped when a wave of dizziness hit me. "Sir, do you think it has something to do with my powers? That I 'saw' something when I touched the unicorn?"

"Your powers are unlike anything I've ever seen. I'm not sure what to expect from them." Even though he said that I could feel he knew something.

"I can feel you know something, Professor. Please, I want to know, too. If it'll help me control them I need to know."

Looking at me strangely for a moment, the Headmaster sat at the edge of my bed, took his glasses off, and rubbed his eyes.

"I think that due to your certain…sensitiveness towards all things mind related, you were able to pick up the unicorn's subconscious. But since it's a magical animal, and such a pure one at that, your mind was overwhelmed, and it sort of 'shut down' to prevent any damage being done; though why you don't remember any of it, I don't know."

"His subconscious, Sir? Not just memories or something?" I was used to reading memories, not entering even deeper into a person's head.

"Would you have fainted if it were mere memories?"

It took me some time to comprehend everything. This had never happened before. Sure, at the beginning the headaches were almost constant and I did faint at one occasion, but to forget not only what I 'saw' but the minutes leading to it, too. I felt the dread creep up my spine, I felt…frightened. Just for a moment I had entertained the thought that I would be able to have more control over myself, but I guess it was a futile dream. Then an even scarier and disturbing thought occurred to me: if I was able to get inside a magical being's subconscious, without even meaning to, just how far were those powers going to continue to grow? What else will I be capable of?

"Professor, this has never happened before. If I was really able to do what you said, what else…" my sentence remained unfinished when the double doors to the Wing opened and 7 people burst in.

"Alexis. Are you feeling okay?" The girls all took the seats around my bed. The Headmaster regained the twinkle in his eyes as all three girls put their arms around me for a huge hug.

"Well, then, I'll leave you to it. Get well soon, Alexis." With that he stood up and headed for the exit.

I wanted to say something, ask more about his speculations because I was sure he knew more then he let on, but now it wasn't possible. Turning my attention to my visitors, I could see their worried faces. Feeling the need to reassure them as much as I could or maybe just trying to reassure myself, I hugged back.

"Hey, girls, I'm going to need to breath at some point." The arms around me let go, and now I had 7 pairs of eyes staring at me.

"Oh, thank God. We were so worried about you." Alice said while she straightened herself up in her chair.

"Yeah. Blimey, what was that in COMC? You scared the crap out of us. You just started shaking, your eyes were white, I mean your whole eyes…" James started to talk, faster with every word, while pointing and waving his arms.

"Yeah. Then, when Professor Kettleburn pulled you away, you gave such a scream, as if we've just pulled you from your reason to live. It was freaky, I'll give you that." Said Remus, his brows so close together in his frowning they almost looked like one.

"What happened, Alexis? What was that?" Being good at reading people I could tell Lily was scared; I could feel her uneasiness at the situation, and it made me uncomfortable, too. What was I supposed to say, when I myself couldn't even remember what happened.

"I…well…I don't really remember any of it." I finished sheepishly.

"What do you mean you don't remember?" It was the first I've heard of Sirius' voice. He looked…I guess peculiar would be the word. He was worried, too, but I don't think it was that much what happened, as much as the reason for it happening. Maybe it was exactly him, all of them in fact that I should be most careful around. The feeling of security, friendship, tranquility that I felt with them had made me careless. Though I did find myself wondering if maybe I can tell them, maybe I could share my burden with them at some point, I mean what could be the worst to happen?

"Well, just that, I don't remember what happened. In fact, I can't remember the lesson at all."

They all looked at me strangely and the room was filled with an awkward silence. I knew they were expecting an explanation, but I couldn't give them one. Not now, not before even I could understand what and why was happening to me.

"So, anything else happened today. I assume classes are over since it's dark outside." I tried to pick up the conversation.

"Yeah, you were unconscious for quite some time. Merlin's beard, girl, you sure know how to make an impression. We've never had so much excitement in such a short period of time." Sabrina laughed when she saw the Marauders' pouting faces.

"What do you mean 'never had so much excitement'. We, The Marauders bring plenty of excitement to the school." Sirius said, pretending to be offended.

"Well, yeah, sure, but I don't remember you fainting or getting all white-eyed on us?"

"Is that all it takes for you to take back what you said? Be like Ms. I'm-so-interested-in-unicorns-but-I-faint-when-I-touch-them here."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault. And don't call me that, makes me sound Chinese." I said trying not to pout too much, and definitely not pondering if it actually was my fault.

"Yeah, yeah. We know you were just trying to take away our glory. But don't you worry. We'll never give up without a fight. You better be ready." James said so serious for a second I thing I actually believed him.

"Oh, come on. Be serious, for once."

"But he can't be, Lexi. I'm Sirius." Guess who made that joke. I flung a pillow at him which caught him right in the face and we all laughed. Though we probably should have kept it low key, 'cause Madam Pomfrey came out of her room and ushered my friends out, because 'her patient needed rest'.

"See you tomorrow at tryouts, Lexi. Bright and early. Prepare for a serious game." And with a final playful smirk, Sirius exited after the others.

"Oh, no, you're not trying out tomorrow, Ms. Keen. No way am I going to allow it."

"But Madam Pomfrey, I'm fine. Whatever you gave me for my headache has done its job." It wasn't entirely true, I still felt the throbbing, but no way was I going to miss my tryouts.

"Just drink this and rest. Having seizures without a physical reason for them is highly dangerous. I can't have you wasting my efforts by falling off your broom or something." She huffed as she gave me a goblet filled with what I could smell was Dreamless Sleep draught.

"I'm not going to fall off my broom. I'm better…then…that." I felt my eyes grow heavy and slipped into a blissful sleep.

You know, there are a lot of places a girl would like to wake up in. A luxurious four-poster bed with her loved one's arms around her being at the top of that list, and a hospital bed definitely somewhere near the bottom. Unfortunately for me, that's exactly where I found myself when I woke up on the day of my tryouts. Taking a quick look at my wrist watch I cursed. Bloody hell, I had 30 minutes to get to the Gryffindor Tower, have a shower, take my broom and head for the Pitch. Quickly flinging the bedcovers away, waving my wand to right them, I hurried toward my destination. When I arrived at the Pitch it was exactly 10 o'clock. I went to where everybody was gathered in the middle and listened to James.

"Okay, you lot, listen up. This year, we're in need of a Chaser and a Keeper." He was interrupted by the giggling of some girls in the stands. I now noticed all the people gathered on the Pitch. Great, we had an audience! It didn't seem to bother James that much, though. He quite often ruffled his hair, stood straight with his head held high. He and Sirius, who was just basking in the attention, were indeed an impressive sight. "As I said, since those two positions need to be filled, we'd first start with the Keeper. It'll be simple: the one to stop the most Quaffles from getting past them will be our new Keeper. As for the Chasers, we'll be simulating a game, where you will have to get the ball from me or Sam here and then you'll have to score. All clear? Okay."

As I watched the team go into the air, I felt my head throbbing again. I knew sneaking out of the Hospital Wing wasn't the brightest of ideas, but I wasn't going to sleep away my spot on the team. Oh, yeah, I was going to get that spot, if it was the last thing I did. For a second I wondered if maybe I was still upset about Sirius' comment all those days ago, but I let it go. No need to ponder over unnecessary details. About an hour later, and more then a couple disastrous performances (why try out when you can hardly sit on a broom), and a bunch of first years leaving in a huff (James had entertained the thought of letting them try out for the laugh, but I gave his a such a glare that he sent them away) I heard my name being called. I saw Lily, Alice, Sabrina and Frank in the stands, the girls waving. I waved back, when a cheer erupted above me. Apparently one of the last boys to try out, Bertram Aubrey, had saved the most balls and was now officially the team's Keeper. Now, it was Chasers' turn. I mounted my broom when my name was called and kicked off the ground. Along with trying to outsmart James and Sam and then get a goal past Bertram, I had a persistent pain in my ass in the form of Bludgers, sent in my direction constantly by Sirius and the other Beater, Adam Bradley. After scoring my sixth point I felt ecstatic. It was hard, it was obvious why James was captain and he and Sam Clearwater were an amazing team. Ducking low on my broom handle to escape another Bludger sent my way I managed to snatch the ball just when James was passing it to Sam. Taking a sharp turn to the right, I picked up my speed to reach the goal posts on the other side of the field. Making a fake left, I quickly changed directions and put the ball through the right goal post. Unfortunately, in my excitement I didn't see the Bludger sent my way. Catching my leg, it made me lose my balance and if not for my tight grip of the handle, I would have pummeled to the ground.

"Hey, watch it. What are you trying to do, kill me?" I shouted at Sirius, irritated that he had sent the Bludger so bloody near me.

"What, too difficult for you? I can always stop if you want, just say the magic word." He said in a baby voice, mocking me.

"Bite me!" I gritted my teeth. Fine! If that's how it's gonna be…

Seeing as all Chaser candidates were given an equal amount of time, we couldn't finish our little showdown, but I didn't care that much. I had gotten the spot, so we were gonna have plenty of time in practice. Dismissing the rest, James took a good look at his new team.

"All right, guys," I coughed a little to get his attention,"and girl. First off, congratulations to our newest members. For you to be on this team is a privilege, not a right, and I want everybody to treat it as such. I expect devotion and hard work from you and… let's get that Cup, shall we?" He smiled and punched the air. All of us erupted in cheers. Well, it's good to know he's so serious about all this. I knew it wasn't gonna be easy, but hey, what's life without a challenge or two?

"Good work, Alexis. You've really got a nice game going there." James clapped my shoulder as we headed for the changing rooms.

"Thanks." I smiled pleased to hear he was impressed.

"Not bad, Keen." Was all I got from Sirius, but I guess for him that was quite the compliment so I didn't push it.

"Congratulations, Lexi. You were great." Alice gave me a wide smile.

"Yeah, girl. We're sure to win the Cup with you on the team." Sabrina said as she put her arm across my shoulders.

"Should you be out of bed, Alexis? Are you feeling alright?" Lily looked me up and down as if she expected me to faint again. "I highly doubt Madam Pomfrey let you out of the Hospital Wing so early in the morning." She stood with her hands on her hips, staring me down.

"Um, well. No she didn't. I kinda snuck out." I tried giving her a smile to relent her, but she gave me such a look that I just knew I would be in a bed in the Wing very soon.

"Ah, you're showing such potential for rule breaking, Keen. Good, good." Sirius was moving his head up and down in approval of my actions.

"Which part of her coming here when she's still not well is supposed to be good, Black? What if one of those bloody Bludgers you sent her way had taken her off her broom? Come on, Alexis, we're taking you to Madam Pomfrey and this time you will rest." She grabbed my arm and headed for the school, me on her heels. What else could I do? Protest, of course!

"Oh, come on, Lily. I'm already out. Why not get some lunch? It's almost time for it, anyway." I used my best puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, fine, to keep up your strength, so you can get better. And then straight to the Hospital Wing. If Madam Pomfrey doesn't drag you out of the Great Hall, first." She muttered as we all headed for the Great Hall. I felt so light hearted, free and adrenalin was still pumping through my veins. Maybe that was keeping the headache at bay. Little did I know that the next couple of minutes were not only gonna bring back, but intensify my headache to a whole new level.

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