A/N: Okay, so I know I didn't get any reviews, but it HAS been a long time since I've updated, AND I'm fairly happy about heading out of town for two weeks with nothing but me and the great outdoors! :) So hopefully this chapter (with its surprise!) will be enough of an apology.

Also, I would like to thank midnight zoe for helping me FINALLY come up with a real name for this book. "New Beginnings" is appropriate, don'tcha think? So, for future reference, the series is called "The Ankh-shifter", but every book will have it's own name. Make sense, right?


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the stuff J.K. Rowling created.

Chapter Twenty-seven

New Year's Eve (Part Two)


"You look much better, Nik," Lily said as she, Tonks, and I walked around in the gardens.

"I can't believe I missed it all. Curse your parents for them being totally awesome and me liking them enough to yak their ears off," Tonks told Lily, smiling.

"Trust me; it left a scar," I told her, shuddering at the memory. "No offense to Remus or anything, but I'm glad I didn't get to meet his mum today. I would've died."

They both laughed at me, and Tonks said, "Better you than us, that's for sure!" When Lily agreed, I glared at both of them.

"Soo…subject change!" Lily sang. "I see you're wearing something nice, Nike."

"I see you two are too," I said nonchalantly. Lily was wearing a teal, loose, short-sleeved, knee length dress (her dad probably had to O.K. what she was wearing, too, seeing as we were at her boyfriend's house) equipped with white flats. Tonks had her usual obnoxious hot-pink hair-style, a black tank-top dress that went down a bit lower than mid-thighs, and had a rose-design along the back stopping at the shoulders, showing some skin.

"Yeah but see it's normal for me to wear a dress, and slightly normal for Tonks to wear a dress, but it's completely abnormal for you to wear a dress." Tonks smirked at this.

"Yeah, well…Mrs. Potter made me," I said gloomily.

"It looks nice. It's just hard to imagine you in white," Tonks said.

"It makes you look innocent," Lily agreed.

"Whatever," I said, glancing down at the simple, plain white garment I had on. It was the same length as Tonks', but it had only one sleeve. Surprisingly enough, it was quite comfortable, but I wasn't ever going to tell anyone that. It would ruin my reputation.

"You can 'whatever' all you want Nik, but—"

"Hi."

I jumped, startled, and turned around at the familiar voice. Never had I even dared to think he would show up here. I was sure this was "off-limits territory".

"Hey," I said, casting a quick look around to see if the boys were around. Thank Merlin, they weren't. "What are you doing here Gary?"

He smiled slightly. "Well…a strange owl arrived a couple days ago with an invitation. Someone seemed pretty excited about the possibility of me coming, and I would hate to break Potter's mum's heart."

I shook my head, looking at my feet. "Of course it's her doing…"

"You're brave," Tonks said bluntly.

"Tonks!" Lily hissed. "It's good to see you, Napier."

But Gary just glanced at me and then laughed. "Yeah, you too Lily. Just do me a favor."

"Sure," she said. "If you've earned Nike's trust than you sure as hell aren't a bad person."

"Thanks. But call me Gary." Lily nodded to that, so he turned to Tonks. "And you're probably right, Tonks. I figured it was a stupid choice, but…my dad and mum are out of town and Austin's sick, so…" He shrugged. "…I figured 'Why the hell not?'"

I coughed awkwardly then said. "Is Austin okay?"

"Oh, yeah." He shifted. "He just came down with a common cold. Should be better by tomorrow."

"Good…"

"Yeah…" There was an uncomfortable silence that followed. Damn the stupid dress. It was making me feel subconscious.

Lily elbowed me. "Thank him for the tickets," she whispered.

My eyes brightened. "Yeah!"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Sorry?"

I blushed. "I mean…thanks for the ticket. It sounds like it's going to be tons of fun. And from what I've heard from two huge Quidditch fanatics, those are some of the best teams."

"Well they're going to have the best young keeper taking notes, so they better be better than she is." I laughed at that, rolling my eyes. "I do have to admit, though, that I was sorta worried you weren't gonna come, but…"

"Are you kidding?" I exclaimed. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I, uh…"

"And if she didn't take them, I don't care if you don't know me or not, I would take the tickets, fighting through James and all, and would never come back!" Tonks said, smiling.

"Next time I know to get some for you, then," he told Tonks, who beamed at him.

"So! You wanna walk with us? I really just don't wanna stand here in this awkward moment…"

He smirked as we all started to walk. "So you picked up on that too. I think it's the dress."

I punched him in the arm. "Hey! You're not helping!"

Lily glared at him. "Really. We're trying to get her to actually wear this stuff and get out of tomboy stuff, Gary! Don't give her a freakin' complex!"

"I-I'm sorry Keep. You do look nice. Wear dresses more often; I like it." Tonks burst out laughing, which Lily shushed by elbowing her in the stomach. Gary and I both turned red.

"Awkwardness is back," he muttered.

"Yup. But, thank you. I think," I said.

"Honestly you two," Lily said, sighing. "Is it me and Tonks who are making things weird? Because if this is how your friendship started and what you keep going back for…I'm worried."

"No!" I said. "I umm…I'm just trying to think of how to act like a girl."

Gary rolled his eyes. "Don't. That would make it weirder."

"Are you saying I act like a dude?" I demanded.

"Not necessarily…I'm just saying that you most certainly are a girl, but if you try and act like a girly-girl I would probably die because that would mean something was wrong in the world."

"You're lucky I don't know how to reply to that."

"Point one for me."

"Now that's better," Lily muttered, looking pleased with herself.

"Hey guys! Fifteen minutes til midnight! Mum wants us all out back!" James yelled, bounding through the garden. He stopped dead in his tracks when he reached us. He looked behind him, then back at us. "Napier, you might want to—"

"Where the hell did you go, Prongs?" I heard Sirius yell.

"Damnit. Too late," James muttered.

"What?" Lily asked. "What's wrong."

"Well, now isn't the best time for him to be here because Sirius is in a bad enough mood already…" He trailed off and yelled, "Remus! Sirius! Get back to the house! They've got fireworks they're gonna shoot in our faces!" And with that, he took off running, hands in the air, screaming for good measure.

"Merlin," Lily huffed, "and to think I'm dating that."

"It'll probably be the worst and best mistake you've ever made," I agreed.

"C'mon," Tonks said. "If we're gonna get back in time for a light show, we better go now."

"What are fireworks?" I asked Gary.

He smiled over at me, looking like a mischievous boy fit with his hands shoved in his pockets. "You'll see; I don't want to spoil it."

I grabbed his arm, tugging on him. "Please?"

"Noo," he said, mocking me. So I punched him, and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I hate you, Napier."

"The feeling's mutual, Keep," he said, smirking.

I rolled my eyes as we came into the front yard, which was filled to the brim with people, not all of them magical-folk, like Lily's mum and dad. Up above everyone in the sky were numbers, counting down.

"What's that?" I asked, but found Lily and Tonks had slipped away, and it was just me and Gary.

"It's the clock counting down to New Years," he explained. "And any second now, people will stop talking and start counting down with it."

"Oh. So this is really a big deal, huh?"

"Very."

"Twenty! Nineteen! Eighteen…!" everyone started to chant, watching the clock tick down the seconds.

"This is sorta ridiculous," I said, laughing.

"Yes, but it's fun," he replied.

"Fifteen! Fourteen! Thirteen! Twelve…!"

"So…is there any other weird traditions I should know about?"

"Nope. Except they have the fireworks that'll shoot up as soon as the clock hits zero, or midnight." He then paled, then shuffled his feet. "Well, there is one more tradition."

"Seven! Six! Five…!"

"Oh? And what's that? It can't be any crazier than the counting!" I laughed, elbowing him in the side to get him to lighten up. He seemed kind of uncomfortable, which confused me.

"Three! Two! One!" A timer went off, and there was a whistling sound as several bright lights of every color, shade, and combinations imaginable shot up into the night sky, exploding in a shower of sparks with a loud sound that was a mix between a pop and a boom.

"Happy New Years!" everyone yelled at the top of their lungs.

"Wow," I breathed as more lights flew into the sky and exploded. "It's beautiful!" I looked over at Gary, who smiled, then frowned slightly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's just… Well, I have to…" he trailed off, and leaned forward and kissed me gently, his lips soft. He pulled away, looking at me apologetically.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "Tradition."

I turned bright red and found myself speechless, trying to figure out what had just happened. I cleared my throat, then managed to say, "Now that's an odd tradition."

He laughed, back to his normal self. "Supposedly if you don't kiss someone at the stroke of midnight, you'll have a year of loneliness."

"Is it true?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"I don't know; I've never kissed someone on New Years before, but then again I've always been lonely. So I'll let you know."

"Yeah, me too," I said. In fact, I'd never kissed anyone before, but it was...nice, actually.

"Happy New Years, Keep," he said, smiling.

"Yeah, you too." And I knew without a doubt that this year was going to be something else entirely, nothing that I ever in my life would have thought would happen to me.


A/N: See? There's the surprise! Hope you liked it. :)

Also, speaking of fireworks, I know this is late, but Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans out there! Hope it was a good one!

So R&R everyone! I was hoping to get a response with the whole Gary-thing, but I guess I'll have to wait and see! And if nothing else, come back to see how the Marauders (espescially Sirius!) react to the kiss.

Alrighty! Until next time, two weeks from now when I'll have lots of chapters to (hopefully!) put up because I'll have reviews...

Nike