Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its characters, creations, and such belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing except Eve Pankhart, Dawn Pankhart, Mrs. Sternstone, Anna Twitter, Cynthia Young, Derek Gotter, and any other character not of J.K. Rowlng's creation that are original characters of my own creation, and my plot idea for this fanfiction, which comes from my imagination. The Phantom of the Opera and all its characters, creations, and such belong to Gaston Leroux and/or Andrew Lloyd Webber. I have not written this fanfiction to benefit me in any way, shape, or form; I am merely using my imagination in addition to J.K. Rowling's and Gaston Leroux's and/or Andrew Lloyd Webber's characters, creations, and such to produce this fanfiction for my entertainment and enjoyment, nothing more.
Author's Note: Once again, I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews. They really motivate me and help me learn and grow where my writing is concerned.
Important: I'd like to move the plot forward on this fanfiction, so I'm hoping to post another chapter up by Wednesday or Thursday of this week, and then update again on Sunday. This isn't set in stone, but I'll do my best to post the next two chapters up at these given dates. I know that nothing seemingly major has happened in this fanfiction for a couple of chapters, but plenty of big twists are going to come into play very, very soon, so I'd like to begin updating more frequently, if I can find the time to.
Finally, I'd like to restate that this fanfiction, at this point in time, is not going to end until after Remus and Eve's graduation, which is a long way off, chapter-wise. After this fanfiction ends, I also intend, again, at this point in time, to write a sequel to it. There was still a little concern that it was going to end soon, but I can assure everyone that it isn't going to end for a long time the way I currently have it planned out. Thank you all, once again, for your support!
Publish Date: Sunday, June 22, 2008.
Written in the Stars
Chapter Twenty-One: Day of the Project: Part Three: Night
"In conclusion," Severus drawled in boredom as James magically flipped their miniature version of a constellation in the air before the class so they could view a different angle, "the constellation Draco, although an ancient alignment of stars, still holds us as human beings in awe of it today." He nodded at the strand of tiny stars before the Astronomy class applauded and he and James packed up their project supplies. While making their way back to their seats, they did their best to avoid each other; after all, they'd had to see one another far too much for their liking within the last month. Why prolong the torture?
As James slid into his seat beside Lily and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, she gave him a subtle peck to the cheek and said, "I'm so proud of you."
"For what? The project or working with… him?" He replied with a snort.
"Both. But mostly because you acted in a civilized manner toward him." James still looked appalled that he'd just had to work with Severus (though, of course it had been on his girlfriend's orders that he be respectful toward him, or no kisses for a full month), so Lily leaned toward him and whispered into his ear, "You know… we may just have to have a celebratory snog later on."
Immediately perking up, James grinned widely and nodded his approval. "I'm definitely game." With that, he smooched his girl's forehead and asked, "So, did like you our presentation?"
"It was nice," she concurred with a bob of her head. "How was mine?"
"I think yours was the best out of all of them so far! Especially compared to the one Derek and Cynthia did…" He shuddered. "I'll never look at space dust the same way again. Ugh, but Padfoot and Anna-" He rolled his eyes, and Lily giggled in anticipation, as he'd been making the same complaint ever since they'd presented. "I can't believe he'd get her to agree to making a project about the very star he's named after." Lily pressed the back of her hand to her mouth to muffle her laughter as he continued in a light-hearted manner, "Bloody git."
Professor Sinistra tapped her wand against her desk and called the class to attention again. "Thank you Mr. Snape and Mr. Potter for that fascinating history of the Draco constellation. Next up are," she slid her glasses down her nose to read the next names on the list, "Mr. Lupin and Miss Pankhart."
Remus, who'd been holding Eve's hand beneath the table and thumbing the back of it lightly ever since she began fretting about speaking before the class, leaned in and whispered into her ear, "Don't worry about it, Eve. You're going to be great." To further reassure her, as he watched half her face's color drain at what she was about to do, he pressed a discreet smooch to her hair. Half her lip twitched upward.
At least she's almost smiling, now. Remus thought to himself over this small victory as he rose from his seat. He decided to gather up their supplies so she had less to do and, therefore, less to get nervous over.
Shakily rising to her feet and nodding appreciatively at her partner for being so helpful, Eve swallowed hard and drew in a deep breath before making her way slowly toward the front of the classroom.
I can do this. She forced herself to think, as her slow, even steps brought her nearer and nearer to the podium at the front of the class. I can do this. All I have to do is not think about it, just like Remus said. Just don't think about is. I can do this. I can-
Eve gasped as she tripped on her school robes and had to catch herself on a nearby desk. The two students who sat there snickered, and she heard low chuckles directed at her from other peers. In embarrassment, she bounded toward the podium and arrived there just at the same time as Remus had, even with his long stride.
"I can't do this," she squeaked softly as the young wizard levitated the miniature solar system before the class. "I've already messed up, and I haven't even begun to present the project, yet!"
"Eve, take a deep breath in," Remus advised gently, placing his hand on her shoulder and lightly massaging it. After Eve did as he said, he held his warm, affectionate gaze with hers, which coaxed her heart into slowing its beating within her chest. "You're a Gryffindor for a reason, Eve: courage. Your courage. Don't let a little thing like a class project stop you from being brave, like I know you are."
The flame in her heart that had been flickering and wavering violently since she'd stepped foot in the Astronomy Tower steadied and grew, warming and numbing the fear in her soul for the moment, until she felt that she could go skydiving from the back of a dragon soaring miles in the air. That was how Remus made her feel, as if she could do anything in the world at all.
A smile blossomed slowly on Eve's lips, and she gently thumbed the hand he so tenderly massaged her shoulder with. "Thank you," she breathed, batting her eyelashes in a way that silently told him that she would kiss him at that moment if they didn't have an audience.
Eve stepped away from him and toward the podium after he'd given her shoulder one last reassuring squeeze and handed her the parchment she was to read about the history of Circe. She poked her hand into her robe pocket and produced her reading glasses, which she sat firmly on her nose.
Clearing her throat, Eve glanced at Remus once more and nodded before she unrolled the parchment. Gazing out at the class, she drew in a deep breath and began, "For our project, we created an entirely new planet from scratch, gave it a name, solar system, and history." Some of the students nodded their head at the original idea. Now, she
glanced at her writing to read, "'Planet Circe was created over fifty-billion years ago when a mass of energy exploded, causing the particles of matter around the explosion to scatter and retreat until they were compressed. This formed not only the planet Circe, but the planet Odysseus and their sun, as well. Since then-'" Hic!
Eve's gray eyes widened in surprise at the hiccup that interrupted her, and she swallowed while trying her best to ignore the slight chuckles from the audience that were causing her cheeks to burn red from embarrassment.
She took a glance at Remus, who was simply smiling away at her while he levitated the model before him. He felt that she had been doing a great job up until that point, and hoped that this little obstacle wouldn't veer her off her fearless course.
Eve's hands twitched at the edges of the parchment, and she tried to swallow back her nerves. "U-Um… 'Since then, Circe has been-'" Hic! "'revolving at the same speed, though-'" Hic! "'growing closer to the sun.'" Hic!
More rounds of laughter from her classmates and, what was even worse, shushing from Professor Sinistra.
"Please continue, Miss Pankhart," she encouraged with a wide wave of her hand.
Bobbing her head- which was starting to feel a little light and dizzy- Eve dropped her eyes to her parchment and tried again, "'One single rotation of Circe's takes exactly-'" Hic! "'nine Earth days, and one revolution around the sun takes exactly-'" Hic! "'nine Earth years. The planet's landmasses have shifted-'" Hic! "'over the years, much as ours have on-'" Hic! "'Earth.'"
The noise level in the classroom picked up as students snickered and Eve's heart pounded louder and louder in her ears. Lifting up her parchment in a frail attempt to concentrate solely on the words written in neat cursive, she stuttered as her hands shivered and caused the words to blur slightly before her eyes, "'T-T-Two of the const-stellations-'" Hic! "'s-surrounding it- Sirius and O-Orion- may be-'" Hic! "'viewed-d from Earth, suggesting th-a-a-at Circe, too, is-'" Hic! "'within the-the Milky Way g-g-galaxy. Living b-beings have been-been spotted-'" Hic! "'on Circe, and m-may even be int-int-intelligent life f-forms.'" Hic! "On to-to you, Re-Remus."
Remus, at this time, thoroughly believed that the sympathetic grimace he'd worn on his face ever since Eve's performance had taken a nosedive would be permanently etched into his young features. How could she let something like this get to her? She was a wonderful witch, a lovely girl, and a kind, brave person; why would a tiny phobia of hers slow her down?
Oh, like I'm the one to talk, he thought as he remembered how terrified he was of the mere thought of the full moon. Some people are better at hiding their fears, and some aren't. All I can do now is be supportive of her when she gets down on herself later.
Turning to the class, he raised up in one hand the drawings of the life forms of Planet Circe. "These creatures have inhabited Circe for almost as long as it has been in existence. For example, the Petrificus Totalionus, Expecto Patronumians, and, Alo Humorasi."
Eve felt a pang of jealousy as some of her classmates chuckled with Remus for his clever names. He was so calm and collected in front of an audience. She wished desperately at that moment that she could be like that, too.
Remus pointed out each of the different beings as he named them and gave a brief history of them to the class. He then even went so far as to give them each a role in the society they'd have on Planet Circe right off the top of his head! And Eve couldn't even read off a piece of parchment before her class! She shrunk a little behind the podium at this thought, watching as Remus entertained the class with his thorough description of life on Planet Circe.
"And that concludes our presentation. Thank you." Remus took a bow and allowed the floating model of the solar system to fall into one of his hands while he extended the other to Eve. The class applauded as Eve and Remus took their seats and Professor Sinistra rose for a standing ovation.
"Thank you, thank you for that inspiring project, Mr. Lupin and Miss Pankhart. Job well done!" She took her seat and scribbled a few notes down onto her parchment before calling, "And lastly, Mr. Pettigrew and Miss Black."
Narcissa gazed her dark eyes expectantly at Peter, as the boy suddenly grew red and began perspiring. He grinned at her, trying to convince her that he'd used his time wisely, but she frowned at the weak attempt and followed her partner up to the front of the classroom.
Peter pulled from his robes a lumpy, sky blue sphere and a small scrap of parchment from his robes and began reading, "'This is Neptune. Neptune is one of the many planets in our solar system. Neptune is named after the sea god in mythology-'"
As the struggling Marauder read through his particularly pathetic speech (which forced James and Sirius to bow their heads in order to stifle their laughter, causing their respective girls to smack them lightly on the shoulder and tell them to listen to their classmates), Eve rested her forehead on the table, cringing at how horrible she'd done before her class.
"Merlin, I did terribly. I couldn't have done any worse if I'd tried," she complained softly to Remus.
Lightly rubbing her back, he whispered to her, "Eve, don't worry about it. Everyone messes up sometimes."
"But I messed up big time!"
"You just got nervous. I'll bet with a little more practice, you'll be positively flawless!"
Covering her face with her hands, she said, "Oh, great, I get more practice in order to mess up even more!"
Gently prying her hands off her face, Remus leaned into her ear and whispered, "Eve, listen to me. I think you're very brave. You're brave because, even though you don't like speaking before others and even though this wasn't exactly you at your best-" Eve narrowed her eyes to glare at him before he continued, "you did it, anyway, and you gave it all you had."
"I had to, it's not like I had a choice. It's for a grade," Eve pointed out miserably, directing her eyes to the table and refusing to meet his gaze.
Pulling her chin up so her gray eyes would gaze into his brown ones, Remus said, "You had a choice, most definitely. You could've not presented, but you did, and that's what counts. Besides," he couldn't help but grin here, "at least you're doing better than Pete." He gestured to his mate who was giving a particularly poor speech, considering the time he was given.
Eve looked up at the pair presenting their project- Peter stumbling through his words, and Narcissa gaping and glaring at the back of his head. The Gryffindor witch wagered that, if the Slytherin had had her wand in her hand at that moment, she would've avada kedavra-ed him right then and there.
"You're very courageous," Remus concluded with a tiny peck to her cheek. "And I admire you for that."
The young witch turned to face Remus once more from her place on the table, studying him. Why did he think so highly of her when she'd already proven that she was terrible at facing her fears?
Maybe… Maybe it isn't that I didn't do a good job of confronting my fears… it's that I at least tried to confront them. The thought suddenly struck her like lightning, and she turned to him and said, "Thank you… you really know how to treat a lady and… and help her up when she's down."
With a twinkle in his eye, Remus playfully replied, "I've been told that once or twice in my day."
She lightly flicked his ear and rolled her eyes. "Seriously… Thank you for just being there for me." Her eyes shifted around the room for a moment, and she looked a little unsure of herself at what she was about to do next, but she reminded herself that he deserved it for supporting her. Eve quickly leaned in and gave him a quick smooch to the mouth before pulling away, not wanting to be caught by the professor or watched by the other students.
Remus smiled and wrapped an arm around Eve's shoulders when the class gave a scattered applause to Peter and Narcissa (who really hadn't done much of anything the entire time except glare holes into the back of Peter's skull).
Professor Sinistra sat with her mouth agape at the poor quality of work presented before her. "Mr. Pettigrew, I give you an entire month for this project, and you give me this?" Pointing at Narcissa, she exclaimed, "And you didn't say a word while you were up there! Did you do nothing to help him with this? This project doesn't meet the requirements to pass! Please return to your seats immediately; I am very disappointed."
Eve smirked and, nodding at Peter and Narcissa, said to Remus, "At least I didn't end up like them."
Author's Note: I'll be able to respond to everyone's reviews in the next chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Please remember to leave a review!