Chapter 21

"So what were you doing in Dumbledore's office for two hours?"

A month after her talk with Dumbledore, James and Remus finally had the time to pull her aside to help her learn how to cast a Patronus Charm. Peter had tagged along with the other two marauders, likely because he was bored. They had explained that Sirius was too busy snogging Melanie to make an appearance. Apparently, Sirius had discovered 'playing' with girls was the easiest way, aside from getting detentions, to stick it to 'the man'. Gail was sure that they were using the tutoring session as an excuse, when they really wanted to know was why she had spent close to three hours, mostly alone, in the headmaster's office.

"Why were Dumbledore and McGonagall so frantic about catching your cat?" Remus asked calmly.

Gail felt like her voice was stuck in her throat. She wanted to tell Remus everything. He had been such a good friend to her when she was in need. Even though he had been somewhat distant with her while she was dating Sirius, Remus still deserved some explanation. It took Gail a few minutes to explain how Dumbledore thought she had been possessed and whoever had done it might still be able to control her through Mati. She didn't mention her Pneuma sight, simply because of its uselessness.

"Wow," James scratched his chin, "so that's why you acted so emotionless back in first year."

Remus nodded. Gail noticed little frown lines on his face when he spoke, "emotional unresponsiveness is really common in people who have been under the Imperius Curse for long periods of time. But for so much of your life..."

James frowned and ran a hand through his black hair, as if the ensure that it was perfectly messy, "so that means we, all of the people in Hogwarts, have been teaching you..."

"As if I was a toddler, yes," Gail commented. Her face showed that she was confused by the fact that a wall had been formed between her life before Hogwarts and the rest of her life. There was a nagging sensation that she'd forgotten something but when she tried to remember, it would become totally to her.

Remus raised a hand to pat her shoulder, hesitating only for a split second, "don't worry about it too much, Gail. It's best to live in the now."

"Wormy," James piped up, startling the pointy nosed kid, "put this cloak on and pretend to be a dementor."

"But James!" Peter gaped at the long black cloak that James was holding up for him to take, "w-won't it hurt?"

"Wormy," James frowned at the boy, "you know a Patronus won't hurt you."

Peter looked rather pink in the face, and he laughed nervously as he pulled the cloak on. Gail thought that looked like the least scary dementor ever. Even with the hood of the cloak up, she really couldn't picture Peter as being a dementor. At least Remus would have been more scary, because he was a good head taller than Gail.

"Wooo..." Peter wriggled his arms, attempting to be scary.

It took the other three a good ten minutes to stop laughing at Peter. Straightening up, Gail wiped the tears out of her eyes. When she finally caught her breath, she smiled at Peter.

"Pete, dementors don't sound like ghosts," Gail advised him.

"They wheeze," James added, between bursts of laughter.

Gail smiled fondly at the boys and pulled out her wand. Even when Peter looked perfectly nervous with her wand pointing at him, she still attempted to bring out a patronus charm.

"Expecto patronum," Gail said clearly, making her normally ruby wand light up silvery. A few flecks of silver shot out the end, but that was all.

"You're performing the spell right," Remus remarked, nodding at her, "Sirius showed you?"

Gail nodded, "yes, he showed me how to do the wand work and how to pronounce the incantation."

"I thought so," Remus smiled softly at her, "but it looks like you don't have a happy enough memory in your mind when you try it."

"What do either of you think about when you cast it?" Gail asked, wondering what kind of memory she should be thinking about to bring forth a patronus.

"I think about a variety of things," James remarked, puffing out his chest like he was important, "but the memory that gives me the strongest patronus is when I got into Griffindor and my dad sent me a letter saying how proud he was of me."

"I see," Gail found that bit of information rather useless, but she supposed that James had been elated that he could make his father proud of him, "what about you, Remus? Peter?"

Peter looked startled that she asked him, he stared down at his feet and went quite red in the face.

"Peter still can't do a full patronus," Remus remarked quietly, patting the smallest marauder's shoulder sympathetically.

"Oh," Gail rubbed Peter's shoulder, "sorry Peter."

"S'ok," Peter mumbled.

"Er- anyway, try thinking about your happiest memories," Remus instructed, "and if you can't find any- er- happy memories, try thinking happy thoughts."

"Alright," Gail conceded, turning her wand back onto Peter, who was a lot more relaxed now. Gail focused on thinking about working with dragons, hippogriffs and other creatures for the rest of her life. To be able to play with the different creatures... The idea made her chest warm.

"Expecto patronum!" Gail was amazed when a silvery bird leapt out of her wand. The creature was tiny, compared to Sirius. The bird spun through the air, under Gail's direction. It seemed to have an aura of bliss around it. It had taken every spare moment of Gail's time to learn how to summon the Patronus, but she had finally done it. There was just a problem identifying the bird.

"Isn't it obvious what kind of bird it is?" Remus joked with her after she made a remark about having to research the type of bird, "it's a nightingale; a melancholic singer."

"Well done, little birdy," James ruffled her hair up affectionately, "knew you had it in you."

Gail gently shoved him away and made an attempt to straighten her hair up, "don't even think about giving me a stupid nickname, Potter. I refuse to be called "Flightwing" or something equally stupid."

"I figured your patronus would have been a dragon," Peter remarked chipperly, "or maybe a hippogriff."

"Yeah right. Gail isn't flashy," James laughed, "so Gail, what's the reason for learning a patronus so quickly?"

"It's for work," Gail commented airily, "I've been thinking about trying for a the Defence Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T. to round myself off a bit more, you know."

"Oh, don't even try that with me," James said impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground, "who do you think invented lying... Tell me the real reason."

"The fifth nursery needs all full time employees to become registered animagus," Gail finally spoke quietly. She was resentful that she had to tell them about how hard she would have to work, since working hard was 'uncool' in most cases, "because they take in wayward werewolves on full moons."

Gail expected a larger reaction from the three boys, who just adopted knowing smiles.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" James prodded her, wearing a cheeky grin.

"Sirius told you already?" Gail asked shooting a glare at Peter for no reason, just to make him stop grinning like a idiot.

"We forced it out of him," Remus responded pleasantly, "before we agreed to tutor you. You do know how dangerous werewolves are, right? They're not cute, harmless puppies."

Gail shrugged, "why should I care how dangerous a creature is before I've even met one?"

Remus' smile faded and was replaced with a frown, "maybe you should reconsider your future plans. You could be killed..."

"I've known for a long time where my place will be in the future. The fifth nursery needs my help," Gail returned Remus' frown, "if I can help, even just a little bit..."

"What can you do?" Remus was on his feet instantly and his eyes were daring her to prove him wrong, "what can you do for the werewolves when you don't understand them at all. What can you do against those Death Eaters; those bad people that are always in the news? You won't be able to protect your group of creatures once You-Know-Who decides he wants them, alive or dead."

James seemed a little shocked at the turn of the conversation. Even Peter had dodged into hiding at the first sign of Remus' temper. The two of them stood as onlookers during the little spat, too stunned to do anything. James looked a little guilty, but his lips were pursed together. He likely wouldn't take a side in the arguement.

Gail stood up, as well, "I will do what I can, Remus. I have almost three years to learn what I need to know, but I wouldn't expect you to understand me."

With that, Gail got up and left the room without looking back. She heard James' voice for a second. It sounded like he was trying to get Remus to calm down.

Gail wasn't the only one in the Griffindor dormitories that was in a bad mood. Lily looked extremely blotchy in the face as well. Neither one of them said a word for a long time. Minutes ticked by, and Gail was already starting to feel better. She decided to try consoling her redheaded friend.

"What happened, Lily?" Gail finally asked after a moment of debating how to approach her friend.

"It's Severus," Lily moaned, "he won't listen to a word I say about his friends, and I'm worried for him. He's really gotten into the wrong crowd lately."

Gail would have rolled her eyes, if she hadn't known that Lily was completely serious about anything around Severus, her childhood friend, "and you tried telling him that his friends were no good?"

"All he wanted to do was throw mud at James Potter," Lily said in a frustrated tone.

"That's understandable from his perspective," Gail commented, "James has been targeting him more often as of late... Along with other people."

Lily took a deep breath. She looked better after throwing the demon off of her chest. She finally looked over at Gail, "what happened to you?"

"Had a row with Remus," Gail said shortly, "he didn't like how my future job would be dangerous or something ridiculous like that."

Lily's mouth formed an "o" but her expression was somewhat guarded, "maybe he's just worried for you."

"Hmph," was Gail's only reply. She refused to justify Remus' behaviour with a response. Sure her job was dangerous, but she capable of handling herself, and she would become more experienced until she could even handle a full grown dragon... She hoped.

In the time that Gail was off, daydreaming about dragons, Amber and Jo had returned to the dormitories. Amber was looking positively excited when she greeted Lily and Gail.

"I have something to show you," Amber said proudly, "get over here, before Avalon comes in and confiscates it."

Amber pulled a brilliant, heart shaped vial out of her bag, turning her back to the door. The vial was filled with a vibrant potion.

"Amortentia!" Lily gasped, staring, "Amber, that stuff is highly dangerous. What are you planning on using it for?"

"I was thinking about slipping Sirius some- for Jo," Amber snickered upon seeing Jo's face flush, "but I don't think I'll use it. I sorta just like how it smells."

"What do you smell?" Lily asked quietly, "in the potion? It changes between people, depending on likes."

"Shoe polish, brown paper and mint hard candies," Amber responded happily, handing the vial to Lily, "what about you, Miss Evans? What do you smell?"

Lily took the cork out of the vial. Spirals of smoke trailed out of it, and Lily closer her eyes and took a deep breath, "tanned skin, shampoo and a smell that reminds me of the dusty shed in my back yard."

"Oh!" The girls all stared at her for a moment before Lily handed the vial to Jo, who took a deep breath.

"Cinnamon, musky cologne and dried leaves," Jo said calmly, "and something I can't describe."

Jo handed the bottle to Gail, who felt a little nervous. She gently held the glass vial and took an unsteady breath in. It was like nothing she ever smelt before. The gentle smell hit her at once. At first she couldn't really determine the different smells until she focused, "the forest when it's damp, I guess, new textbooks, butterbeer, and a hint of something bitter."

The other girls were staring at her until Amber spoke incredulously, "you like how the forbidden forest smells?"

Gail could feel the temperature in her face increase, "yes. The forest is quite nice after it rains and some of the water has soaked into the ground."

"Gail likes the smell of wet ground," Amber jokingly prodded the tawny haired girl as she took the vial of Amortentia back.

"Don't tease her," Lily chided, "we all have smells that we like."

"Says you, miss dusty shed," Jo teased Lily a little bit, a spark of glee floating in her dark eyes.

"I don't know if you can talk, Jo," Gail smiled pleasantly at the dark haired girl, "you described exactly how Sirius smells."

"She totally did," Amber agreed with Gail, "he has this amazing cinnamon scented shampoo..."

Jo went totally red from her forehead to her shoulders. She didn't say a word; she was too embarrassed.

Author Note:

This chapter was brought to you by the great outdoors. I took my macbook outside to work, and it's nice and sunny. Ahhhh~ Wonderful. I think I got a sunburn...

Finally, I've been planning on having the Amortentia part for a while. Girl talks are fun.

I've decided to continue the deleted scene from chapter 19. Hope you remember what happened!

-Rue

Deleted Scene: What if... [part 2]

Lily beamed at her two guests, "I'm so glad you two finally started dating! How wonderful!"

James sighed and stared back and forth between Gail and Remus, "I was just a little bit shocked that the two of you showed up together. Come in, both of you."

Gail had already followed his wife in through the door. They were chattering about things that only women could understand. Instead of following them, James turned his attention to Remus Lupin, who was standing awkwardly just inside the entrance.

"Moony! Come in! My home is your home," James laughed, "but my wife is not your wife."

That brought a smile to Remus' face, "good, because it wouldn't do to be cheating on her with Gail. Listen, Prongs, I..."

"I know," James took his friend by the shoulder and kicked the door closed behind him, "you two have been making eyes at each other since our seventh year. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"What about Sirius?" Remus asked, nervously running a hand through his prematurely greying hair.

James laughed, "he's been thinking of settling down with Jo... You remember her, right? The dark haired girl that was on the quidditch team? She was in our year, too."

Remus nodded, "I'm glad Sirius finally found a girl that could put up with his whims."

"Wormy and I figured that Gail was the one," James laughed momentarily, forcing Remus to take a seat in the living room, "but that just shows how wrong we were."

"Oh James!" Lily came running back into the room, "look what Gail bought for Harry!"

James looked at the golden orb that his wife was holding. It looked exactly like a snitch, but was quite a bit bigger. Its size was probably so that a child, like Harry, wouldn't be able to fit it in his mouth and swallow it. The little wings on the snitch made the ball fly slowly around Lily. James grabbed the golden ball, noticing that the ball was squishy and cloth-like in texture.

"Wonderful!" James laughed, "we'll make a seeker out of Harry before his eleventh birthday."

Gail had joined the others in the living room, "Sirius said he bought Harry a toy broom for his last birthday, so I thought he'd like a snitch to play with... Since he takes after his father."

Lily flushed at the comment. She was still quite horrible at riding a broom, and preferred to apparate around. Even after marrying James, who was a wonderful flier, she still hadn't learned how to control a broom properly. James had been quite happy that his son hadn't taken after Lily, in those regards.

"Thanks you, Gail," Lily gave her friend a brief hug, "I'm sure he'll love it."

James heard the Child Charm go off, alerting him that Harry was awake and wanting out of his crib.

"Oh, Harry's awake," James handed the ball to Gail with a wink, "I'd better go let him out."

The Comment Gallery
Host: Gail Forester
Guests: Lily Evans

Gail: Welcome to the Comment Gallery. It seems that our reviews have vanished! What happened?

Lily: Don't worry about it, Gail. I'm sure people were just too busy or something yesterday.

Gail: Right. So it's totally not my fault if this Comment Gallery is short.

Lily: So the only review is from MaxRideRox. We didn't really have the boys mark your answers, but thank you for doing the trivia questions.

Gail: I knew you would say you were the best with Sirius, but I'm thinking that Jo is probably the best option...

Lily: That's if she can overcome her nerves and ask him out.

Gail: True. Ah, and yes, Max got the Horcruxes right. Good going, mate.

Lily: So Gail...

Gail: Yes, Lily?

Lily: What do you want to do tonight, Gail?

Gail: The same thing we do every night, Lily; try to take over the world.

-Lily laughs-

Gail: So...

Lily: Trivia questions: #1. Can you name any of the Christmas gifts that were exchanged?

Gail: Trivia questions: #2. What's the Potter's vault number?

Lily: That's all for today, right Gail?

Gail: Yes. Thanks to the one review for making this section possible. I'll also take the time to thank everyone for putting this story on their alerts and favorites. Thank you so much.

Lily: Bye bye~!