Chapter 12: MissionSkylar POV
I woke up the next day to an empty dorm room. For a second, I panicked, thinking that I was going to be late to class. Then I remembered- today was Saturday, which meant that I had more than enough time to get going on my 'mission'.
I guess I could understand why James would be considered- both his parents were in the order. But why Lily? She used to best friends with a potential Death Eater... so how would she be able to fight as a potential anti-Death Eater? But I knew better than to argue with Dumbledore's judgement.
Well, there was only one way I could get close enough to her to even talk to her without any snide comments. And it made my blood run cold just thinking about it. Yes, I would have to apologise to her. I shuddered. All my plans of getting revenge on her (with Pettigrew's help) flew out the window. Well, I might as well get it over with. At least it would be much easier to get what I needed from the other three...
Lily was sitting in the common room reading A History Of Magic. I cleared my throat. She whirled around.
"Lily?", I said in a carefully controlled voice. Her eyes flared. Well, I wasn't so surprised about it after what had happened last night.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Nothing, I um, just wanted to (cough) apologise for uh, everything I've said which may have offended or hurt you." My whole body was screaming in denial by now. But what choice did I have?
She looked incredulous. I looked back at her carefully. I could see that she didn't trust me at all. I knew I'd have to convince her better.
"Well, I guess I was just, er, jealous," I choked out the word. She raised her eyebrows.
I sighed. "Well, what I wanted to say is, could we just, uh, start over?" Oh, the lengths to which I went to bring down the Death Eaters...
She continued to stare at me, probably wondering if this was some sort of trick. Finally she said, "I guess so". She tossed her hair and flounced away.
I sure hoped this would work, otherwise I had just thrown away my pride for nothing.
I thought about what I could do to get close enough to her. I knew from seeing her thoughts yesterday that she actually cared for James a little and she was jealous of me and my sudden 'closeness' to him, though she would never admit it. Maybe I could use this.
I went downstairs for breakfast. I saw James, Sirius, Remus and Peter and went towards them. "Hey Sky," Sirius greeted me with a wolfy grin as I sat down between him and James, and inexplicably, I found myself grinning back.
Ugh. I must be so friendship-deprived that even such simple things made me excited.
I saw Lily approaching. She hadn't seen me yet, which was a relief. I leaned towards James and whispered, "Call out to Lily and ask her to sit next to you." His eyes lit up. But then he frowned.
"How do I know that she won't just slap me again?" Ah, so he had caught on that Lily appeared to hate him.
"Trust me. She won't this time," I whispered back.
He turned towards Lily. "Lily-flower, I saved you a seat!" he almost shouted.
She walked up and said, "Don't call me Lily-flower." Seriously, this was getting old. But she didn't say anything else and she actually sat down next to James. Oh, the wonders of jealousy...
Next to me, Sirius almost choked on his bacon. "How did that happen?" he asked me. I just shrugged. Across from us, Peter and Remus' faces were also shocked, but they didn't say anything. On the other hand, James' face looked even more puppy-like than Sirius, and that was saying something. Not that I thought that Sirius' face was like a puppy... I just meant that as in puppy dog, since he was a dog... Ah, never mind.
I pulled some toast towards me absentmindedly. I needed to think of ways to talk to Lily, James, Sirius and Remus alone, and just bring up the topic of Death Eaters. Maybe I could start with talking to Remus about his werewolf problem, and then turn to the Death Eaters from there. I knew that Sirius' family was very supportive of Voldemort, so should I ask him about his family? Or would that just make him clam up?
"So, I didn't know that you were friends with James," Lily said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
Right. You soweren't looking at us last night, while you were seething with jealousy. That's not why you slapped me at all! "Err... yeah, I was pretty surprised myself, but... these things happen, so... well... yeah."
I mentally slapped myself. I was supposed to be guiding her to eventually fight Death Eaters, not aggravating her to death!Lily looked stunned for a second, before she replied, "Oh."Awkward.
She turned away from me and concentrated on her food. I debated with myself internally before 'accidentally' touching her finger with the tip of mine. In her thoughts, I could see that she was worried. She was so used to having James coming after her that now, she was jealous and didn't want him to stop loving her, even though she didn't really love him.
Whoa, her thoughts were confusing.
I also saw that she missed Snape, who had been her first friend, despite her outer show of hating him for calling her 'mudblood'. Hmmm... I could use that. But not now, or she would definitely be suspicious.
After breakfast, I saw Remus going towards the common room. The common room would be almost empty now, since most of the students would be lazing around outside. Seeing an opportunity, I followed him.
In the common room, he took out a book and made his way to one of the armchairs. I sat down in the other one. He smiled at me and I smiled back. Now how should I begin this conversation?
"What are you doing?", I asked. Of course, I couldn't ask him about the Death Eaters straight away. I had to first make him comfortable about talking to me.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts essay," he replied. Essay?
"Which essay?" I asked him.
"The one about werewolves. It's due this Friday."
"Oh."
Suddenly he surprised me by saying, "You know, don't you?"
"Know what?" I asked.
"About...me." I bit my lip.
Finally I said, "Yes, I do."
"How did you find out?" he asked.
"I'd rather not talk about that." I replied.
He just nodded and continued his work. After a few minutes, he burst out, "If you know who I am, then how are you able to be my friend?"
"Remus," I said, "As I told you, in 3rd year, I don't see you as a monster. Plus, haven't you told James, Sirius and Peter? Aren't they still your friends? Why would I be any different?"
His eyes widened and he looked shocked. Finally he smiled at me and I smiled back. I decided that this was enough for now. He'd trust me after this. I didn't want to overwhelm him and make him suspicious.
-Remus POVThe conversation I had with Skylar left me both enlightened as well as confused. How did she know what I was?I chose not to dwell on this for too long. After all, how often does a random person accept that you're a werewolf? Of course, she was not just 'a random person' anymore. She was my friend. This thought made me feel lighthearted. It was really amazing to me that I could have so many friends who not only accepted what I was, they also comforted me about it.
Yet, I knew that there was something she wasn't telling me. This was not necessarily a bad thing. After all, even I had kept secrets from my friends. But still, whatever it was, I knew she was a good person. I felt that I could trust her.
N/A: Hope you liked this chapter... and sorry for the really short one before! New chapter should be coming up soon.
