Disclaimer: I don't own the song sung partially in this chapter.

Chapter Thirteen

"Misses Evelyn! Misses Evelyn!" I heard a shrill squeak pierce through my dreams. Groanin', I rolled over an' tried to tune out the sound, til there was a shriek followed by a deep, guttural growl. My eyes flew open an' I sat straight up. Blinded momentarily by the dim, early mornin' light, I rubbed my eyes and saw Wattie, tryin' desperately to climb a tree as a huge black dog stood at the base, barrin' its teeth at him.

"Wattie?" I muttered. "Hey! You! Bad dog! Shoo! Get away from him!" I leapt to my feet an' stomped over to the dog, who looked over his shoulder at me, ears perked at my voice, grey eyes locked on mine. I stopped in my tracks, again noticin' how human those eyes looked.

He turned 'round an' sat, watchin' me, head cocked to the side, tail thumpin' the ground slowly. I moved forward carefully and crouched in front of him, holdin' my hand out to him. He gave me a look (if dogs could give you looks, that is) before he sniffed me an' licked my hand.

"You saved my life last night, didn't ya?" I asked, scratchin' him behind his ears. He was such a pretty dog. I'd always wanted a pet, ever since I was little. I'd wanted several dogs ('cause they were my favorite), maybe a cat or two, an' then to move to a farm an' have horses, chickens, cows…the whole lot. Oh. An' goats. Definitely goats.

In response his tail thumped a lil' bit faster.

"Well, thanks fer that. I'll even forgive ya for bitin' me. That…thing…was probably your friend, huh? You were just lookin' out for him." He barked, so I took that as a yes. "Man, this is one strange world y'all are livin' in," I said up to Wattie, who looked unsure of whether he wanted to come down yet or not.

"Misses Evelyn…" Wattie said as he gripped the tree, inchin' his way down, "…Wattie does…not think…that that dog…" There was a thump as he hit the ground. "…is—" I didn't get to hear what he said 'cause before any of us could react the dog pounced on him.

"Hey!" I yelled just as Wattie started screamin'. I grabbed the dog by his scruff and yanked with all my might. "Wattie, ssh! Quit yer yellin'! An' you!" I stood between the dog an' Wattie, "you mess with him and I'll skin yer hide, understand? Both of y'all!"

"Let us go, Misses Evelyn!" Wattie said, quickly gettin' to his feet an' tugged on my arm. But I couldn't look away from the dog. I mean…ah hell. I wasn't sure what I meant.

"I can't leave him all alone Wattie," I said, pattin' the dog on his head. "I mean, look at his face," I said in a croonin' voice. "Ain't he sweet?" Again, if dogs could give looks, that boy gave Wattie one helluva look, I swear.

"If Misses says so…but Wattie does not agree." He took a took a step behind me and said once again, "We must go Misses. The castle will awaken soon."

"Aw alrighty. Well boy, don'tcha run off too far. I'ma keep ya, I think," I patted his head one last time before Wattie and I started walkin' back towards the castle. "Apologize to your friend for me!" I called over my shoulder, and I ran back to my room at Wattie's warnin' yet again that students would be out any minute now.

"Misses must never do that again," Wattie gasped out between breaths. "The Dark Forest is not safe."

"Come on Wattie! Loosen up a bit, man! Ain't nothing gonna happen, m'kay? We gotta have us some fun if we're gonna be stuck here for awhile, right?" I asked, givin' him a reasurin' smile.

"But—"

"What Dumbledore don't know ain't gonna hurt him. He don't need to know everythin'," I cut him off, ploppin' on my couch.

"Wattie does not think this is such a good idea."

"Yeah, well I didn't expect ya to. I understand. So let's drop it."

"Wattie must drop what?"

"It's a figure of—oh, never mind." Wattie nodded his head quickly, then turned back to the door. "Whoa whoa whoa," I said, raisin' an eyebrow. "Where ya goin'?"

"T-to the kitchens, Misses Evelyn." The little guy actually looked uneasy, for some strange reason.

"Oh! Well that sounds like fun," I said, grinnin'. "Can I come?"

"Wattie does not—"

"Pleeease?" I begged. "I know ya probably have a job there or somethin', so I promise I'll stay outta the way an' behave. I won't wander off, either. I'll stay in the kitchens! Pretty pleeeeease?

"Misses Evelyn will not leave kitchen?"

"Yes. I won't leave til you do."

He seemed to think this over for a few seconds, before he nodded again. "Wattie thinks it will be alright."

"Yay!" I cheered, jumpin' to my feet. "Give me just a sec to throw some clothes on." I ran back to my closet and put on some shorts and a tanktop, quickly runnin' a brush through the tangled rat's nest on top of my head that just so happened to be called hair.

It didn't take long til we stepped into what I could only assume was their kitchen, and holy hell this place was huge. The freakin' room could be an average-sized house all on its own. And oh good lord it smelled so good. It made me realize just how hungry I really was.

But when I took a closer look, the room was crawlin' with all sorts of different types of house elves. They all had pretty much the same features, with the small differences here an' there, but it was still crazy to see that many versions of Wattie runnin' 'round in the same place. There wasn't really any chatterin' among them; they were all busy with their tasks an' didn't seem to wanna multi-task. Couldn't say I blamed them, though, havin' to make breakfast an' lunch an' dinner for that many people.

"Misses Evelyn may sit and watch," Wattie said, before scurryin' off to find a job to do. I sat at the counter on one of the stools he'd pointed out to me, but after five minutes of zonin' and watchin' them work away, I got bored. I stood up an' walked over to the nearest house elf, tappin' it on the shoulder.

"'scuse me?"

It squeaked, a high pitched sound that pierced my ears, an' flew 'round to face me. "Yes, Master?" By the extremely high pitched voice, I was bettin' to guess that this house elf was a girl.

"Aw c'mon! What is with you people?" I muttered to myself. "Call me Evelyn, darlin'. I wanted to know if I could help y'all out."

She blinked her big round eyes, then nodded nervously. "If Master Evelyn would like to," she said quietly, then turned back 'round an' hurried away from me.

"No, it's just Ev—never mind." Jeesh. They were a skittish bunch.

Not knowin' what it was that these people ate, I went to help out with the only thing that probably was the same in all worlds; washin' dishes. I smiled at several of the elves that I stood next to, an' plunged my hands into the hot, soapy water, grabbin' a rag and dirty dish, an' began scrubbin'.

I looked 'round me as I worked, an' realized that none of these little creatures would actually keep an' have a conversation with me. An' I'd always talked while I worked back in my old life, either that or blared the music, 'cause who doesn't love music?

I wasn't the best singer…heck, I know I sucked, but at the moment I didn't care. I was gonna go crazy if I didn't have somethin' to keep me focused, an' besides; I highly doubted these little guys were gonna judge me.

I thought back to this country song that I loved, and smiled as I began to sing, as loudly as I wanted, smilin' when the creatures' heads snapped up to look at me as they worked.

"'Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days, Sometimes it feels like this world's gone crazy. Grandpa, take me back to yesterday, When the line between right and wrong didn't seem so hazy.

"'Did lovers really fall in love to stay, And stand beside each other, come what may. Promise really something people kept, Not just something they would say…'"

I quit abruptly when I heard voices comin' closer, an' I dove an' ducked underneath the counter I'd just been sittin' at not too long ago. Wattie came boundin' 'round a corner, squeakin' at me.

"Misses Evelyn? Misses Evelyn must hide! Misses Evelyn!" a very freaked out Wattie was sayin' worriedly, lookin' 'round for me. But I didn't have time to get his attention.

"You really should eat something, mate," I heard a male's voice sayin'.

"I'm not hungry, James. You're just lucky I'm coming with you, who's sorry butt couldn't get out of bed to get breakfast this morning," another boy's voice said, soundin' exhausted an' slightly annoyed. For some reason, I knew these two's voices.

"Oh like you've never done it!" the first said defensively.

"I haven't." The voices were so close now I could hear each of 'em breathin', an' I heard them climbin' up on the stools, duckin' out of the way as one of their feet almost kicked me in the face.

"Bacon. I'd like some bacon, definitely. Oh! And some toast. And eggs. And—"

"James, I think that's enough."

"Whatever Remus. I'm a growing boy." But James didn't argue with him. Remus sighed, and asked politely for a glass of water.

"Have you decided if you're going to go—hey! I know you!" James said, sounding surprised.

I heard Wattie squeak. "Wattie does not know you, sir."

"No…James is right," Remus said thoughtfully. "You say your name is Wattie? Now why does that sound familiar?"

"Sirs have Wattie confused with another house elf."

"I don't think so," James said. "You've brought me food before, huh?" Before Wattie could answer him, he kept talkin'. "No. That's not it. You—no, that doesn't sound right, either…"

"It's him!" Remus said suddenly, cutting off James' nonesense.

"Him?"

"Me?" Wattie squeaked, soundin' nervous.

"Try putting a hat on him," Remus told James, amused. "You were in Hogsmeade," he said to Wattie. "With that girl, Evelyn." It was then that I realized why their voices and names seemed familiar.

"Wattie does not know a girl named Misses Evelyn." I shook my head. He screwed it up right there.

I crawled out from under the counter, glancin' over at Wattie who looked like he was 'bout to have a panic attack. "Word of advice, my friend; if yer gonna say ya don't know somebody, don't say their name like ya do." Both the boys jumped when I spoke an' stood up, an' Wattie looked even more sick.

"You!" James said, pointin', a piece of bacon hangin' outta his mouth.

I grinned. "Me. An' you, with God awful table manners." Turnin' bright red, he shoved the rest in his mouth an' swallowed quickly.

"Sorry," he said, smilin' sheepishly.

"It's nice to see you again," Remus said in a friendly tone, but it seemed like there was somethin' else in his voice, but I couldn't place what it was. I looked at him, an' raised an eyebrow. He looked dead tired. He had huge bags under his eyes an' looked like he missed out on a night's sleep. He had scratches on his face an' one of his arms was bandaged. He seemed to be in a lotta pain.

"I'd say the same, but boy, ya look like you been to hell an' back all in a night."

He and James exchanged glances. "You could say that," Remus said.

"So what are you doing here?" James asked, takin' a sip of some type of juice.

"Leavin'," I said, catchin' a look from Wattie, followin' him towards the door. "See y'all 'round. And I hope ya feel better, I." I patted his hand an' smiled at the two, leavin' before they could say another word.

A/N: Wow guys. I'm SOOO sorry this is so late! It's been almost a year…and I know that there's absolutely NO excuse. I just got SOO busy with school, sports, family, and all that good stuff plus more. And also I broke my hand and just got out of my cast not too long ago. So all that stuff plus this almost year long writer's block equals bleh. I'm sorry guys. Will you ever forgive me?

And then what do I do? I give you guys only one (ONE!) chapter, and I crappy one at that. This was more of a filler than anything… I'll get back into the swing of things here soon, I promise! :)

Now, my thank-you's:

Arina-Peachy: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! :)

MsTonksLupin: Thank you very much! Usually I feel that I'm horrible at describing things when it comes to putting it down on paper. You have no idea how that comment made me feel haha. And yes, we all love him, and now here he is, at his greatest! ;) Sorry this wasn't "updated soon"…I hope you can forgive me! As a gift, Remus is in this chapter! Haha :)

Kaylzzie: Thank you! I hope you still love it, and hate only me for taking forever to update. And for this crappy chapter. :)

Guest: Oh my gosh! Really? Haha that's so funny! Thank you for taking your time to read and review this! And to do this at work…wow! Thank you! :) I'm happy you like Ev, and I thought making her have an accent (and even better, a southern one!) would make her lots different, so I went for it. And house elves are some of my favorites too! They're just too funny and adorable at times. I hope you get to see this reply to you, and that you came back for this chapter. If not, I understand, because you've probably forgotten about it at the rate it took me to update! Thanks for your review anyways! :)

Okey-dokey guys! So you know how I like it…you read, you review! Even if you're gonna tell me how much you hate me, a review is a review, and at least I'm still hearing from you guys! Negative feedback is better than none!

It's good to be back!

Nike

PS. I want to thank What's A Kammel-Monkey? for her help with this chapter! You rock! :)

Oh! And also…notice how many reviews I have? 32! And that's the best kind! Why? 'Cause that's my favorite number haha.