I was utterly exhausted. Hosting a party is so very tiring, if you've never hosted one.
First you had to welcome people, then talk, then party, then clean up after everyone left. I believe it's much easier to go to someone else's party. Sure, we had an easier time than muggles, seeing as Sirius and I vanished the rubbish and party supplies around the hall and righted the tables with magic, but at that point I just wanted to take off those stupid uncomfortable red flats. So we cleaned up quickly and headed back to Gryffindor Tower so we could go to sleep. We walked in silence for a while, but not uncomfortable silence, just tired silence.
"I think that was a success, huh Chlo?" he finally asked, brushing his hair out if his eyes nonchalantly.
"Yep." I grinned evilly. "Naomi and Ben are feeling feelings, while Lily is conflicted, and James is just his usual lovesick puppy self." I said, as we walked by a picture of a guy and a pumpkin.
"That and James is coming around to you again." Sirius mused as we walked past a picture of a girl and a little pig.
"Yeah." I muttered. "Now we just need to get Layla to come around."
He looked at me. "What about Peter?"
We meandered by a portrait of a pug. "Eh, Peter doesn't really care. He just picked the side he feels will win this fight."
Sirius frowned. "How do you know?"
I stared at a picture of fruit. "I know Peter. He will always pick the side with more power."
Sirius pondered this. "Are you sure?"
I glared at a picture of bald monks. The monks cowered. "Yeah." I growled. "I'm sure." the monks hid behind a tree.
"Well, how to we bring them around to our way of thinking?" he asked, glancing idly at the monks I was scaring.
"Well," I thought about it. "Layla would need Nic to be her old self, which means we have to bring back Remus, and that's gonna be tricky since we have no idea where he is."
"Ehhhhh," Sirius mumbled, waving his hand a little.
"You found him didn't you?" I asked, looking at him.
He nodded dejectedly.
I sighed. "Well then. What are we doing going to bed? We need to go get Nicolette and find Remus. This is going to be interesting."
MagicalLineBreak
We jogged/walked up to The Fat Lady, considering that was all I could manage in my flats, and Sirius yelled 'Asphodel!' at her, effectively getting us into the room.
"Great party, or so Violet tells me!" she called after us.
We ignored her and skidded to a halt in front of the girls dorms. "Go!" Sirius panted, waving a hand in the general direction of the girls stairs.
I hurried up them, bursting into the 6th year girls room. Naomi, Jasmine, Layla, Tess, Maia, and Nicolette were all in bed. The only difference between them was that Nic was awake.
She was sitting up in her bed, wearing green sweat pants and a white camisole, with her tight black curls pulled back in a side ponytail. Her favorite hairstyle. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she was staring sadly into space. I felt bad for the girl. The guy she had had a crush on for about three years now turned out to have a secret so dark that she had to be questioning everything she knew. I personally knew that being a werewolf didn't change Remus or my being his friend at all, and I also knew that Nic felt the same, but she had been too surprised to tell him that. Now I was going to change that.
"Nikki...?" I whispered, inching up to her bed. She shrieked and threw herself back. Her head smacked loudly against the headboard and she shrunk against the wall, wincing, eyes flicking around in fear. Ok, woah. What was that? Why was she so afraid!? "Nicolette, chill, it's me, it's Chloe!" I spluttered, sitting on the bed in front of her and holding up my hands. Tess stirred restlessly. I held my breath till she stopped moving.
Nicolette panted, chest heaving. "Chloe, you scared me." she gasped, relaxing only slightly.
"Yeah, I could tell." I muttered, watching her. I couldn't understand why she was so afraid.
"Nic, what's wrong?" I asked, flicking my wavy curls out of my face nervously. Why was she so upset?
She sighed, turning away and pulling her legs back up to her chest. "Nothing."
I stared at her. "Seriously?"
"Ok, fine, I'm not ok, but I don't want to talk about it." she said, closing her eyes and resting her chin on her knees.
I shook my head. "No Nic. We are having this talk now." I grabbed her arm. Remus had only been missing since last Thursday. It was late on Saturday. The teachers were already suspicious. He needed to be back in class by Monday. This was our last chance.
I pulled Nicolette off her bed and out of the room as quietly as I could, tugging her down the stairs. She protested weakly, but she let me drag her along. Sirius was sitting on the couch staring into the fire, waiting for us. When he heard us approach, he stood up.
"Sit back down, Sirius, we're having a chat." I ordered, and he sat down. I sat next to him and pushed Nicolette in the armchair in front of us. "Alright Nikki. Spill."
Nicolette gaped at us as we watched her expectantly. "What do you want, you guys?" she asked.
"You to tell us why Remus's furry little revelation affected you so much." Sirius put in, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees. He then rested his head on his palms and frowned. "So talk to Dr. Black and Dr. Meadows."
I slapped his arm. "Shut up, you're not helping!"
But Nicolette gave a watery chuckle. "It's ok, Chlo." she smiled weakly. "I'll talk to you guys."
Sirius stroked his chin thoughtfully and nodded. "Tell Dr. Black everything."
Nicolette cleared her throat. "Look, first thing you should know is, I don't hate Remus for what he is. It's really not his fault, and it doesn't make him a bad person."
We nodded furiously.
She continued. "He may think it makes him a bad person, but we all know better, right?"
"We do." I agreed.
"But why did it make you so upset?" Sirius wondered, still stroking his invisible beard. I knew he was just doing it to be like a psychiatrist, but it was starting to creep me out, just a little.
"Well," Nicolette pondered this. "I think it might be because of a few different things."
"Like what?" I asked.
Nic sighed. She still looked sad, but she seemed like she was feeling better. "You guys know my little step sister Paulina, right?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah." I said, picturing the little girl.
"No." Sirius said at the same moment. I looked at him. He looked back. We both turned our attention back to Nicolette.
"Well, Paulina is four years old and she is my magical mums muggle husbands biological daughter. She has a terrible disease called diabetes."
I gasped. I lived in a muggle town, I grew up under my older sisters care and she taught us all about muggles, and we lived like them just to spite our parents. I knew what diabetes was. And by Sirius's face, I guessed he did to.
"Yeah." Nicolette nodded sadly. "It's been hard on us all. Her older brother most of all. Rich, well," she frowned. "Rich sort of hates me."
"Why?" I asked, glancing at Sirius, who I knew had a brother who he didn't get along with. His face was stony.
Nicolette wiped her eyes, which were welling with tears. "He doesn't like how Mum and I can do magic. He says, if we can pull rabbits out of hats shouldn't we be able to fix Pauly? But no one can fix Pauly. We can only support her. And it's terrible, there's absolutely nothing you can do. And there's nothing you can do to help Remus. I can't do anything for either of them. Rich knows it, and Rich hates us. Rich hates Dad, Rich hates Mum. Rich hates everyone. Except for Pauly. No one can hate Pauly."
Nic was crying in earnest now, ranting on about her step brother. I pushed myself off the couch and hugged her tightly. I was going to make her talk to Lily about this. Lily had a mean sister, that I knew from an angry return letter at breakfast in third year. Lily, Nic, and Sirius were a having a real serious talk about mean family. Even Layla could join, since her brother was a psychopath.
I grabbed Nic's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Chloe, what are you doing?" she stuttered, straining to get away.
"Let's go talk some sense into a certain werewolf, Sirius, lead the way." I pointed at the door.
He nodded. "Wait a second." he hurried for the boy's stairs.
"I haven't got all day, Black!" I snapped at the stairs. Then I turned to poor Nic. "Nikki, how can I help you?" I asked quietly.
She blinked her big blue eyes, bright with tears. "Nothing Chloe. I'm fine. I just don't want to waste another minute here. I want to get rid of my worries, and feel happy, again." she smiled, tugging on her black curls nervously. "You know?"
I nodded. "I know. Hey, you know your hair is cooler than mine right?" I stated randomly, realizing it was.
She started. "What?"
"Well, mines more wavy, it just falls down. Your curls are tight little... Banana curls, are they called?" I wondered, studying her hair.
She laughed out loud. "Chloe, you're so random."
I grinned. She laughed. Mission accomplished.
"I'm ready girls!" Sirius yelled, bounding down the stairs.
"Ok," I muttered. "Let's go guys."
"Wait!" Sirius called, fumbling with a large slippery cloth he had grabbed from the boys dorm room.
"What is that?" I asked, leaning to look at it.
Sirius looked apprehensive. "Just promise not to tell anyone, you two."
Nicolette and I nodded, trying our best to look sincere.
"Ok, this is James's invisibility cloak." he said, throwing it out and putting it over his arm, which disappeared.
"Wow!" I gasped, reaching out to touch his invisible arm. "Those are really rare!" I glanced at his face. "Where did James get it?"
"It's been handed down in his family for years. He's not sure where it's from." Sirius said, and we both looked down at his invisible arm. I realized I was still holding it. Oh…
Nicolette coughed loudly. We jumped back and I let go of his arm quickly.
"Let's go!" I yelled, heading for the door.
"Yeah, we've got to go!" Sirius added, heading after me.
Nicolette chuckled and followed us out of the Common Room.
MagicalLineBreak
I pressed my back against the wall as we froze, barely breathing. Sirius was standing in between Nicolette and I, holding his arms out to hold both of us tight to the wall. The invisibility cloak was shivering dangerously because of our sudden movement and I thanked whoever was up there for Nicolette being short. Sirius and I had been bending to her height, probably saving our hides in this situation.
'This situation,' being Professor Beech, the DADA teacher, staring directly at us because Sirius had sneezed. His eyes flicked around for a bit longer, but then he turned away and left, deciding we were his imagination.
As soon as he turned the corner, Sirius pulled us to the front door, which we had been tantalizingly close to when Professor Beech caught us, and unlocked it. As soon as we hit the cool air, I pulled the cloak off us.
"Sirius Black, you idiot! Why'd you have to sneeze the second Beech walked by?" I stage whispered, as Nicolette waved her arms frantically to shush me.
"I'm sorry! Your stupid hair tickled my nose! It's not my fault it smells like strawberries!" he shot back.
"My hair does not smell like strawberries!" I growled, pulling a wavy curl forward to sniff.
"Come on you guys!" Nicolette whined, tugging us down the steps. "Sirius, where are we going?"
Sirius took the lead, and I dutifully followed them, still sniffing my hair. Ok, it kinda did smell like strawberries…
By the time I was done sulking we had stopped. But I only stopped sulking to look at the large willow tree we were at.
"Sirius, that is the Whomping Willow." I pointed out.
He nodded. "Yes, Chloe my dear, yes it is."
Nicolette threw her hands in the air. "I'm sick and tired of you guys flirting all the time!"
We sputtered in protest.
"Do you not know, Davey Gudgeon, Sirius? Or why we have a song about him?" she asked.
"We do not flirt-" he started, but Nicolette glared at him. He shut up.
"You do flirt, and does the name Davey Gudgeon ring any bells?" she asked dryly.
"Ring... belles?" he asked, confused.
Nicolette slapped a palm to her face.
I stepped in. "It goes:
Don't go near the tree
It doesn't help you be free
Just ask Davey's eye."
Nicolette nodded. "Thank you Chloe. And who came up with that stupid rhyme anyways, it's terrible."
"Hey!" Sirius pouted. "I came up with that rhyme!"
I snorted. "Figures."
He gave me his best puppy dog eyes. I was unimpressed.
"Well why are we here?" Nicolette asked. "As your stupid rhyme says, we can't go near the tree."
Sirius grinned. "Watch." he pulled out his wand and levitated a little tree branch into a small knot in the trees base. Immediately, a little tunnel opened up at the bottom of the tree, gaping out of the ground.
We stared. "That is a very good hiding place." I said, pointing at the hole.
"True." Sirius chuckled, heading for the hole. We had to crouch to fit in it. Sirius went first, I followed, and Nicolette brought up the rear.
"If you knew Remus was hiding here, why didn't you say so?" I whined as we walked along.
"He needed some time." Sirius said, coming to a halt. We stopped, Nicolette slamming into me. "Shush you guys, he'll hear us." He hissed.
"Um, I already heard you." Said a tired voice. Sirius sighed, and pulled us into a very cold room. Once I really looked around, I noticed the place was in shambles. Broken furniture was scattered around the peeling and scratched up walls and in the middle of it all, sitting on a ripped up couch, was a very dejected looking werewolf.
He saw us and sighed. "Chloe, Sirius, what are you guys doing here?"
Then Nicolette stepped out behind us, and Remus jumped to his feet. "Nicolette."
And I end it. I'm sorry, it was getting too long. So, I'm back home guys. But I wanted to say, there's probably not gonna be an update soon, because Pebble900, Shadow Spazz, and I are going to an overnight camp where there's no electronics, sorry.
And on a happier note, I HAVE A 50th REVIEWER! OMG, IM SO EXCITED! My 50th reviewer is my beloved cousin. The one with the knife collection. Yeah, be glad she won. So this chapter is super fitting, because my wonderful cousins little brother has diabetes. I cannot tell you how hard my cousins life is, because that would be an invasion of her privacy, but she has way too much to deal with. Much more than an adult should ever have. So I'm wondering if you guys would mind giving my wonderful cousin a virtual hug? Maybe? Please? I'm sure she would appreciate it!
Next topic: I know I have tons of characters, so here's my plan. I will make a list of my minor characters in each chapter in the beginning of said chapter and who they are. Would that help?
Next topic: 100th REVIEWER GETS A CHAPTER TOO!
Next topic: I have some ideas people! Story ideas! I had an idea for writing a fic from Goblet of Fire and on from Fleurs POV. Anyone like that idea? My other one was a Oneshot, that might morph into more, about Dudley Dursleys daughter going to hogwarts. So please tell me what you think!
Reviewer Responses:
TheGirlWhoBelieved3: AWWWWW! Thank you, I love you so much. And as for 1D, am I the only one who thinks the blonde ones ugly? Am I the only one who doesn't know what their names are? Should I put a bag on my head and be a social reject for that comment?
aquafortistheta: Thank you! I'm so glad, keep reviewing!
PadfootandMoony: Yes you have, and I love you, but you weren't the 50th reviewer. Sorry my friend. It's a good song. Your welcome, Psych is amazing, and so is Jace.
Ali: Got it, I shall, I just didn't want to disrupt my mood, if you understand me. It's ok, I don't understand what I just typed either... I know it wasn't a flame, and thank you! I love constructive criticism!
Guest: Thanks Abs, and just answer my questions! Excited for Thursday!
MaPetitBaboo2: HI, and so am I!
Her cousin: Congrats! Love you cuz, and thanks!
love-isnt-always-easy: Thank you, I hope my idea will help, and I will!
Thank you all, but it's 1:31 am, and I'm going to edit and post this tomorrow. Yay.
-Melissa the Excited