Chapter 36

Snow fell on Hogwarts in thick blankets early that year, making movement between difficult for those that had to be outdoors for any length. It was extremely rough on the younger students who would trudge through waist height snow to get to Herbology. There was always a constant fear for those outside, as well, since the marauders had been known to enchants several thousands of snowballs to spring up and attack anyone that came too close, rather like a bludger.

Things had not gotten better between the sixth year girls. Jo had convinced Amber and Lily that she was right in the argument, while Avalon had stuck with her best friend, Melanie. Things were progressively getting worse. Every time Melanie started a new rumour about Jo, she would wake up with a strange charm, hex or jinx placed on her. These charms spanned from colour change charms to jelly legs. Things got so bad that even the boys noticed. Luckily for Gail, she caught the conversation between Jo and Sirius.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked the brunette quietly one morning after seeing Melanie enter the Great Hall with her hair in a rather unique mess. It looked like a family of birds had been charmed to make a nest in her hair. Lily looked rather pleased at her work. On closer look, her hair had been half-transfigured into both the birds and the nest.

"Oh, nothing," Jo responded casually. Gail pretended that spreading jam on her toast was far more important than eavesdropping. She was really curious to see how Sirius would take the news, so she was watching them out of the corner of her eye.

"That," Sirius gestured at Melanie's head, "is not 'nothing'. What's going on?"

"She decided to spread rumors about me," Jo snapped finally, glowering at Sirius.

Sirius clucked his tongue, but Gail didn't hear his response. Apparently, Lily had been trying to get her attention for a while.

"GAIL." Lily snapped at her.

"Sorry, Lily," Gail went pink, "what do you need?"

"Your toast isn't that interesting, is it?" Lily looked quite peeved, but after she settled down, she looked over her shoulder for a moment, "did you hear the new rumour the little rat started?"

"She's not a rat, Lily," Gail answered truthfully around a mouth of toast, "and no, I haven't."

Lily rolled her eyes slightly. Why didn't she understand that Gail didn't hop on the gossip train.

"It's really horrible-"

"Oye Evans," James greeted her, successfully stopping her rant. He didn't even notice Gail looking up at him thankfully. Peter snickered gleefully behind him, though no one seemed to notice.

"What?" Lily snapped, throwing a dark stare at James.

"I just wanted to compliment you birdhair charm," James pause for a moment. Gail could tell that he was barely resisting messing his own hair up. There was a nervous look on his face, "it's- uh- neat. Well done."

Lily looked quite furious. She stood up and pulled herself up to full height, "of all the things to compliment, you pick a charm I put on someone else? Drop dead, Potter."

With that, she stormed out of the Great Hall. James just slumped dismally, and plopped himself in Lily's abandoned seat, "mornin' Gail."

"Nice one, James," Gail retorted cheekily, "but I think she was pretty proud of that charm herself... Strange reaction."

"That was supposed to be a conversation starter," James responded weekly, mopping over Lily's plate of food, "I couldn't very well walk up to her and start complimenting her hair and eyes, now could I?"

"That kind of thing only works for Snuffles," Gail said cheerfully, clapping James on the back, "it could have been worse. Cheer up."

"Worse? WORSE?" James looked at her with a baffled look on his face, "how could it have been worse?"

"How? Easy," Gail dropped the crust of her toast to the plate, "she could have charmed your hair to be identical to Melanie's. Or she could have hexed your ears off for suggesting that she would do a little trick on her fellow Griffindor... By the way, have you seen Remus this morning?"

"He's still in the Hospital Wing," James stated thoughtfully, giving her a knowing look, "he should be out by this afternoon."

"Rough night?" Gail smiled wryly. She hoped they had at least stayed away from the centaurs. Her stomach twitched involuntarily when she thought about the story she had been told.

"I don't need your help," Jo snapped rather loudly, "I can take care of myself, Sirius."

"It's not just your problem," Sirius argued back, grabbing Jo's arm, "I really like you, so if there's anything I can do to help you out, just tell me. Okay?"

"You like me?" Jo asked, her mouth hanging open slightly. Gail guessed that she was extremely pleased by this. The brunette wrapped her arms around Sirius' shoulders, "I like you, too, Sirius."

Gail got up to leave, throwing a sympathetic look at James and Peter. They had the burden of sticking with their mate, even when he was busy flirting. The fact that James didn't have anyone to flirt with didn't even phase Sirius, who had long since ignored everything regarding James and the redhead. Gail didn't know why, but she assumed it was because of annoyance. Sirius was likely annoyed that his best mate hasn't just given up on the one girl that rejected him. But what did Gail know? She'd only been "with" Sirius for a few weeks.

"Excuse me, Gail?" A soft voice floated after her as she exited the Great Hall. It was faintly familiar from somewhere, so Gail paused at the doors. As the teenager came running up to her, she faintly recognized him. He had clear blue eyes and soft brown hair. This wasn't what she recognized him by, though, she recognized his jovial, smiling face. Dirk Cresswell had grown since she had seen him last.

"Hello Dirk," Gail greeted him casually, aware that he was just as tall as her now, even though he was a year younger.

"Can I have a moment of your time?" Dirk asked pleasantly enough, though he seemed quite nervous.

"Sure," Gail responded amiably, a little puzzled as to why the younger student would call her out, "why don't we walk together?"

Dirk nodded, keeping up with Gail as they walked down the hall. He was startlingly quiet. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw beads of sweat forming on his nose. They weren't walking that fast, but she slowed her pace down a little bit.

"Have the Slytherins been bugging you again?" Gail asked, turning her head to survey him.

Dirk shook his head furiously, "no, they haven't... I- uh..."

They had to stop to wait for a staircase to shift back. The ruddy thing was lingering at the giraffe portrait again. Gail took the break as a good time to get Dirk to spit out whatever he was trying to say.

"What is it, Dirk?" Gail asked, "we're running out of hallway."

"Would you like to go-to-Hogsmeade-with-me this weekend?" Dirk finally said, looking at her hopefully.

"You need someone to go with?" Gail felt perplexed. She had only ever talked with him once. Didn't he have friends that he could go with?

"On a date," Dirk explained, almost completely pink in the face. When Gail didn't respond, he took it upon himself to do his best to convince her, "I've liked you ever since we met. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."

Gail felt a wave of pity roll throughout her emotions. Had she lead the boy on? It wasn't like she had meant to. It was best to shoot him down before he got any grand ideas, "oh, I'm sorry Dirk. I'm seeing someone."

"Who?" Dirk prompted her. His blue eyes pierced her. He was practically daring her to make up a name.

"I'm dating Remus... Lupin," Gail said shortly, not knowing if she liked how pushy the younger student was.

"The bloke that's always sick?" Dirk looked quite surprised and started trembling slightly. He almost looked like he was about to start crying when he grabbed Gail's wrist. Pleadingly, he spoke, "aren't I better than him? He's a marauder- they treated you poorly. Anyway, I could take care of you better than him... Aren't I good enough?"

"I believe she's already given you an answer," Remus' voice drifted down the stairs. Turning her head, Gail watched as Remus made his way down the staircase. His eyes were fixed on Dirk, and he did not look happy.

Dirk dropped her wrist quickly, upon seeing the hard stare that he was receiving from one of the marauders. Without another word, the younger Griffindor darted back down the hall. Although it had just been a full moon a few days ago, Remus could still be plenty intimidating when he looked mad and boy, did he look mad. His pupils had dilated quite a bit and there was a hint of the remnants of the wolf in his frown.

"What's wrong, my darling?" Gail asked coyly, stretching her arms out in an attempt to hug him.

"Do you like him?" Remus asked shortly, staring down the hall at the younger student. He hesitated before speaking, "I wouldn't begrudge you. He's "normal," if you know what I mean."

"Nah," Gail laughed pushing against Remus' gently, "not nearly cute enough. Is anything else bugging you, darling?"

"I just realized we haven't even been on a date," Remus said quietly. There was still a hint of anger in his tone, along with bitterness. He was quite stiff, but he eventually relaxed in Gail's arms.

"You heard what Dirk said?" Gail asked, peaking up at Remus, "it's not true, you know. I don't need anyone to look after me. And you're not always sick. It's two days a month."

There was a rumble in Remus' chest. It was somewhere between a growl and a laugh, "let's go on a date tomorrow. Maybe a picnic?"

"In the snow?"

"Yes," Remus smiled gratingly, "I'll bring everything, so you just bring yourself. Okay?"

"Fine. It had better be romantic, though," Gail sniffed, "I'm expecting more from you than from Snuffles."

The only response Gail got was an uncharacteristic grin. He was definitely planning something.

Gail could hardly contain her excitement over the next day. She had taken to pacing around her bed in the dormitories. Her stomach was completely out of control, it was doing the tango in her gut without asking for anyone else's approval. The worst part of it was the fact that Gail had successfully annoyed Amber, Lily and Jo. Friday afternoon couldn't come quickly enough. Amber had forced some smelly, pink stuff onto her lips. She had also fawned over Gail, fixing her hair up to look 'nice.' The blonde gave no explanation for her behaviour, just a wink.

All Gail could do was wait for Remus in the Griffindor common room with her guts twisted up. To her relief, Remus appeared through the portrait hole. He strode over to her. Gail totally couldn't read his expression; it was somewhere between amusement, nervousness and excitement. Bolting up from her seat, Gail nearly tripped on the edge of the rug. Luckily, she caught herself before she could make a face plant into the floor.

"Ready to go?" Remus asked, doing his best not to laugh.

"Yeah," Gail attempted to sound casual even though she was feeling very excited. Her heart jumped into her throat when Remus took her hand. They walked rather slowly together.

"You look nice today," he said quietly, his soft, brown eyes fixed in hers.

Gail snorted in response, "I always do... wait, Remus, are you trying to flirt with me?"

"So what if I am?" He laughed coarsely, "we're supposed to when we're on a date, my little nighting-Gail."

"That's a horrible pet name!" Gail cried, doing her best to look offended.

"Well, I can't really call you Lyre, that would just be odd. Lyra would be weird, too," Remus commented airily, "what would you suggest?"

"You know that whole thing makes me nervous," Gail frowned at him, "that I might be the Golden Lyre? It's nothing to joke about."

Remus just continued to smile pleasantly, as if he didn't care that discussing Gail's heritage bothered her, "I know... Vega."

"Vega?" Gail looked perplexed.

"The fourth brightest star in the sky," Remus explained quietly, pulling Gail's hand so that she was standing closer to him, "and the brightest star in Lyra..."

That made Gail brighten up a little bit. It was a bit of an honour to be nicknamed after one the the brightest stars. That meant that Remus thought she was significantly important. At that moment, she was sure her heart had sped up.

"Fine, but only when we're alone, Darling. I don't want anyone asking too many questions." Gail retorted, "wait... Fourth? Isn't that a huge coincidence? I'm your fourth friend to know about your furry little secret."

"I've set it up our picnic area over there, by the greenhouses," Remus gesturing outside where they would be heading, allowing her comment to pass by. The cold, winter wind whipped around the trees in the forest. Gail briefly thought herself nuts to be heading outside. It looked like they were due for another, small snowstorm. Before Gail could even protest about heading into the cold outdoors, Remus was happily pulling her along. The path towards the greenhouses was fairly well packed. They only ran into trouble once Remus decided to turn from the path.

Eventually, Remus stopped walking and turned to Gail, "here we are. Nice and private. Give me a second, I'll hide our footprints."

With a flick of his wand, the tracks they had just made disappeared. Remus then gestured for Gail to take a few steps over, which she did. To her amazement, warm air hit her face. Where there had been snow earlier, there was lush green grass. The grass only covered a small space and she could see the snow around the area, but it was more than enough for the checkered blanket that Remus had left. It was like they had entered a warm dome, it felt sunny, and it was too warm to wear their thick, winter robes.

"I put a charm up to give us some privacy," Remus stated behind her, "and I've got the map, so the others won't be able to interrupt our picnic."

"Oh, Darling!" Gail gasped finally loosening her tongue as she removed her boots and robes. Seeing that Remus had also done the same, Gail pulled him into a tight hug, "you did all of this for our date?"

Remus smiled softly down at her, "it was just a few spells. Good practice, really... I've always wanted to try them."

"It's wonderful," Gail laughed cheerfully before planting a kiss on Remus. She hadn't been this carefree in a while. With everything happening recently, she had been forced to use her tense smile too many times. It was nice to relax and act normally.

Gail and Remus stood together for a while, not saying a word. Every once in a while, they would share a kiss, but for the most part, they stood and enjoyed one another's companionship. That was, until their stomachs interrupted.

"We have to learn how to control those," Gail joked, "that's the second time."

"How about we have something to eat, first?" Remus took Gail's hand and lead her a few steps towards the blanket. They sat down next to each other with a large picnic basket sitting in the middle of the blanket.

"What kind of food did you bring?" Gail asked warily, wondering if Remus had brought anything but sweets.

"Two butterbeers," Remus dug his arm in the basket and pulled them out, "Flink really packed it well... Let's see, there are some cookies, sandwiches, a bowl of fruit, some fried chicken, potato salad... How much did she pack... There are some cucumber and a few other vegetables. Ah, and a good slab of chocolate cake."

"You don't seem pleased about those vegetables, darling," Gail laughed cheerfully, picking up a piece of cucumber and biting into it.

Remus wrinkled his nose, snatching one of the chocolate chip cookies, "I much prefer sweets. Oh, dark chocolate chips."

"Share," Gail tugged on the sleeve of his uniform, opening her mouth like a baby bird. Remus seemed to debate sharing his treasure for a moment, but broke off a piece of his cookie and placed it into her mouth.

Chewing happily, Gail nodded, "danks."

Within minutes, all that was left were the vegetables and the large piece of chocolate cake. Remus had been looking forward to the cake ever since pulling it out of the basket. Gail could tell by the gleam in his eyes. This was a side of him that she hadn't seen before. He was almost... stalking the cake.

"Ah, you look full," Gail said calmly, lifting the plate with the chocolate cake onto her lap, "I guess I'll have to eat this who piece myself."

With that, Gail dug her fork into the dark chocolate icing. She scooped the icing into her mouth quickly. The stunned look on Remus' face was quite hilarious, she could see why he enjoyed teasing her so much. It was fun.

"I'm not completely full," Remus finally protested after Gail had stolen much of the icing. He had scooted forward quite far, "share?"

Gail smiled sweetly, using her fork to life a good piece of the cake up. Her hand slowly drifted over to Remus, who was waiting patiently for her. A second before he could bite the cake off of the fork, Gail's hand zoomed back over to her own face. The cake disappeared into her mouth.

"Mmm," Gail made the cake sound like it was the best thing she'd ever tasted before swallowing, "mmm! Good cake!"

"Cruel!" Remus protested, pouting slightly.

"Oh fine," Gail laughed heartily, scooping another mouthful for Remus. For a moment, Gail thought he might take the end of the fork with the cake.

"It is good cake," Remus laughed, leaning in to brush a kiss to Gail's cheek, "thanks."

"I might share more with you if I get a few kisses for it," Gail joked, taking a bit of the cake. She decided she preferred the icing, which she had already eaten, so she allowed the Remus to wolf down the rest of the cake.

After they had cleaned up the remnants of their picnic, Remus looked over at Gail with a stern look, "now we're going steady, since we've shared a piece of cake."

"Really?" Gail snorted, "I figured we were going steady after I shared my cookies with you on the train that one time..."

Remus looked horrified, "you were still dating Padfoot back then!"

"Mmm," Gail smiled cheekily, "can't I have two?"

"No. Definitely not. I'm not sharing with him," Remus frowned down at her. He shifted so that he could wrap his arms around her.

Author Note:

Their first real date!

For those of you still confused about chapter 34... I suggest Wikipedia; Orpheus, Lyra, Vega. If you scan those three, you will be able to understand the connection Remus makes.

What else... MY CAKE! I NOT SHARE! Bwahahaha!

-Rue

The Comment Gallery
Host: Peter Pettigrew
Guest: Melanie Range

Peter: H-hello. Welcome to the Comment Gallery. Gail is away on business, I think she has a detention for hexing Snape or something. So, uhm... I'm going to be interviewing Melanie Range.

Melanie: Oh, Peter! You're doing wonderfully.

Peter: T-thanks. What are we supposed to do first.

Melanie: Dunno. Why don't we read some of these reviews?

Peter: Oh, here. It's from Musik Drache. Remus scolds people a lot, doesn't he?

Melanie: I quite like him. He's too good for Gail.

Peter: Ah, Gail is p-pretty th-though. Just l-l-like you.

Melanie: Aww, thanks bud.

Peter: Since when did you have a southern drawl?

Melanie: Since the author based me on her cousin, who lives in Texas... But the majority of her problems don't come from that. Her parents spoiled her.

Peter: Oh, I see.

Melanie: Read the next one.

Peter: Oh right, right. It's from Lift the Wings. Thanks, we try.

Melanie: Copyrighted! No, I'm sure we've stolen this from someone... maybe Indi. Woops.

Peter: The next review is from Persistent. PETER IS RIGHT HERE! I've always been here. Don't question it!

Melanie: Sure. I know I saw you talking with the Slytherins that time... when I was snogging Mulciber.

Peter: N-n-n-n-no, that wasn't me. Really. Must have been someone else.

Melanie: Sure... Whatever. Like I care.

Peter: The next review is from Apocolips.

Melanie: Yay, they're together.

-She's totally unenthusiastic-

Peter: They're strange, aren't they?

Melanie: Yep.

Peter: The last review is from MaxRideRox. Narcissa is HOT.

Melanie: She's one of the prettier girls that have ever come out of Slytherin.

Peter: That's true... Remember Tabitha Goyle? UG-LEY

Melanie: She married a troll, right?

Peter: Well, that's all I've got. I have an- er- appointment with someone. I've gotta go.

-Peter runs out-

Melanie: So, like... How were we supposed to close this section? "See you next chapter"? That's ridiculous. I'll do it my own way.

-Melanie waves-

Melanie: Ta, loves.