Disclaimer: I don't own any of the great works thought up by J.K. Rowling or anyone else for that matter.
Thanks to all you reviewers out there! You definitely made my day! The answer to the poll is "The Simpsons". The Simpsons and Gilmore Girls are two of my favorite shows, thanks for taking part in the poll! Now, a special thanks to:
Seethehalo715: Thanks for reviewing and enjoying the chapter! I like to add a bit of unexpected pizzazz to my stories! I hope you liked it, even thought it was a bit sad…and gloomy.
AnjaliMalfoy: Thank you! I know, poor Remus. His life has been pretty tough, huh? Well, no duh! I mean, of course he's having a hard-knock life, he's been a werewolf since he was a child! Thanks for reviewing!
Kendra: An author does what an author wants. Don't question her. Thanks for reviewing.
Sindhuja: I know, really dramatic! I felt like writing a dramatic chapter, I hope it wasn't too dramatic. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you continue reading! Enjoy this new chapter!
MonkeyLOVER: I'm so serious; I didn't mean to hang up! I was too excited! Thanks for liking the plot; I'm trying really hard! I know, some stories are balanced but I don't want my story to be. I like it to be action packed and full of adventure! I hope you like this new chapter!
Genie in a bottle D: I read that book! And its sequel! I liked the first one way better though. That's a great book to write a story on, I mean, you can get a ton of good ideas! You're guess on Gilmore Girls was really close! New poll at the end of this chapter!
Yellowducky: It's ok about your last review, I have a little brother and he can get quite annoying (ahem that little berk…) so, thanks for the praise! I'm trying to make it more funny and romantic, but I guess if someone's writing about early Voldemort days, the story has got to be a little scary. I've seen The Apprentice a little; it's fun to see the people get kicked off the show. Just Kidding! It's not my favorite, but it's fun to watch.
ILUVme: Only in a few parts of this story, there will be few scary parts. I'll get back to the funny stuff in about two chapters or such. Till then it'll be recuperating, moping, and mourning. Have fun reading this chapter!
I'm sorry, folks, but this chapter is just going to be a filler chapter. I need one for the next chapter to get into full gear. Sorry! And now, it's time to head towards the story! Have fun!
Trying to Fill In the Gap:
The two boys headed up back towards the castle, leaving Remus in the forest to be taken care of the next morning. Melissa's lifeless body hung in the air floating next to Sirius's head as if haunting him, telling him it was his fault she had been attacked. Sirius whimpered uncharacteristically and rushed to James's left side, the side that wasn't occupied by a floating dead body.
Sirius coughed, signaling he was going to speak. He knew the timing wasn't right, but this just had to be said.
"James, what are we going to tell Remus?"
Remus. Sirius's words struck James like lightning. His mind was racing at the speed of light. What would the girls do when they found out their friend had died? What was Dumbledore going to do about her family? Would Remus be expelled from Hogwarts? Remus. The name flashed through his brain. Poor Remus. The poor bloke had been through a lot and now he had murdered his first love. James's own thoughts hit him full on. Remus killed Melissa.
20 Minutes Later…The two Marauders silently moved into the castle, even though forgetting that it was way past curfew, they knew that they should pay their respects toward Melissa. Quickly checking the Marauder's Map, the three teenagers walked briskly to the headmaster's office. As the word 'dueling' pried its way through James's lips, the stone steps started winding upwards toward the office. Stepping onto the escalator-like staircase, the teens waited for their 15 minutes with the headmaster.
"Headmaster," whispered Sirius as he pushed apart the giant oak doors.
"Yes, Mr. Black," the headmaster stated, getting up to see what was behind the two boys. His face grew pale and his eyes were no longer friendly but burst into a fiery blaze.
"What's going on here? Why is she…" His eyes lingered on Melissa's deep gashes and pale skin. "Is she… is sh-she d-dead?"
"Y-yes sir, w-we think she is," mumbled Sirius, looking down at the ground. James knew that Sirius couldn't talk right now; he knew that face. Melissa was their friend, their gang member. She was the person that was used as the guinea pig in their Marauder pranks, their secret keeper. She was Remus's first love; she was only sixteen. She was a great friend and believed in second chances. And that was why she had passed on.
"Sir," James finally spoke up, mustering up all his strength, " we know that… well, that she is… no longer going to be with us. We just wanted to inform you."
James's voice seemed cold but that was his only way to keep himself from crying. He pulled himself up, told himself not to act childish, and bottled his feelings. He had to get away from the corpse. Life didn't see real right then.
"Yes, of course," said the headmaster, coughing into his fist, clearing his throat. "I shall call up her parents. We will have a ceremony in a few days. I'm sorry for your loss." The headmaster laid a hand on both the boys' shoulders and gave them both sorrow-filled looks. The two boys nodded and glanced back towards their classmate.
The two boys took their last glance towards their good friend as they set off in the direction of Gryffindor tower. Their footsteps echoed through the empty stone corridors, their breathing became rhythmic and slow. As they reached the tower, the portrait of a fat lady started on her full moon rant. It was amazing how she never noticed she always gave them a lecture every full moon.
"MR. POTTER! MR. BLACK! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT-?"
"Um…excuse me. Some of the other portraits and I were trying to sleep here," yawned a portrait of a young girl, who oddly looked somewhat like Melissa.
"Oh! Oh, dear me, I'm sorry. Carry on then," apologized the fat lady, embarrassed from being caught off guard. "Now back to you boys," she whispered, "where were you? What have you been doing? And where is Ms. Melissa? She missed one of our daily chats and that is not like her…" The portrait stopped talking once she saw the grave looks that were pasted upon James and Sirius's faces.
"What happened? What happened to Ms. Melissa?"
James whispered the common room password while Sirius angrily glared at the portraits that were now listening in on their conversation.
"Mr. Potter, close this passage way right now and tell-"
By now, the Gryffindor tower passage was open and the common room could be seen. The two boys rushed up into their dorms and locked the door. That was enough action for one night.
The Next Morning…"OH MY! WHERE'S MELLI?"
"I don't know; how should I know?"
"Don't look at me; I didn't hear her come into the dorm last night."
Chaos broke through the sixth year girls' dorm room. Doors flew open and slammed shut, clothes flew everywhere, and Alice's cat began hissing loudly after spotting an incoming scarlet and gold scarf about to fall upon his head.
"AH!"
"Whoa," shrieked Lily, accidentally stepping on a pair of socks, which set her skidding across the room. "Ow…what happened, Janette?"
"What if she's in the boys' dorm?"
"JANETTE! She has enough sense to know that she shouldn't 'Do a Parkinson' and sleep with someone!" Lily blew up at Janette. She couldn't believe one of her best friends would think like that!
"Hey, all I'm saying is that maybe Remus and Melli decided to get a little… ahem… reacquainted after their little fight…" Janette left off, looking far into the distance while making a fake dreamy face.
"Oh, Janette, you're too right. I'm going to check right now! I remember that time with Frank-," Alice turned around startled as Lily and Janette burst into laughter.
"So that's who you were with that one night. We thought you drowned yourself in the lake or something," cackled Janette, joining Alice at the door.
"No, no… I, u-um…I-I was in the library! I was studying for our History of Magic midterm. W-why didn't you check at the library?" claimed Alice, crossing her arms across her chest. She was getting more and more comfortable with her lie.
"We did! Did you think that Lily of all people would forget to check the library? I swear, that girl spends more hours in that hellhole than the librarian," grumbled Janette, who began to reminisce over their past library experiences. Studying for a Potions final, studying for a History of Magic final, writing up a four foot essay on hinky punks for Care of Magical Creatures…those good old times, she thought, looking out the window.
"Uh, Janette? Earth to Janette, calling Janette! Do you read? Over!" Forgetting that Janette was a pureblood for a moment, Lily called Janette again and again…
"Huh? What the heck's that supposed to mean?"
"Why don't we just get Melissa and head down to the Great Hall? I'm starving," groaned Alice, putting on her cloak.
As the trio headed up to the Marauders' dorm, they noticed something strange. Usually 'bangs' and 'booms' could be heard from outside the dorm room walls. Now it was unusually silent…
"Something strange is going on here," Lily said before trudging up the stairs and banging on the door.
Meanwhile…Remus laid still his eyes still closed, however his mind was racing. Opening his eyes to take in his surroundings, he noticed he wasn't in the dorms. I guess it was full moon last night…AH! A burst of pain seared through his skull like a bullet racing through the air. With a fluid motion, he slumped back onto the tree he was first leaning against and felt the back of his head. It wasn't bleeding, but there was going to be a nasty bruise.
He opened his eyes once more and felt the sunlight burn his chocolate visionaries. All of a sudden, he went through his post-full moon checklist. Are the rest of the Marauders all right? Remus slowly moved his head from his left side to his right side and only saw the lush green vegetation around him. All right then, check. Now, did I hurt anybody? Remus once again looked from left to right, expecting to see bodies flooding the ground. Phew! Nope, WAIT, he thought, looking around. Why am I not in the Shrieking Shack? Remus tried standing up, clinging onto the bark of the abnormally large tree for support. He tried to walk but found that all his strength had left him after the full moon floated down and hid behind the horizon.
This is going to take a long time…
Author's Note: I hope you all liked this chapter! I know, why write only a filler chapter? I promise, this chapter will make the next chapter more interesting and at least a bit more action packed! (Ok…not machine-gun action packed, more like finding-the-truth-about-your-doings action packed, if you know what I mean.) So, please review! Oh yes, I'm posting a poll. This data is really important to me so please take part in the poll! Thanks for reading and remember to REVIEW!
Do you like the questionnaire/polls put up after every chapter? Do you take part in them? Would you like it better if they weren't there in the first place?
A) Yes, I do like the polls and I'm looking forward to more!
B) No way! I really don't care about these polls and I don't think that there's a purpose! Personally, I think we should just forget about the polls and only post the chapters up.
Thank you!