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 take the time to thank all those who review!
This fanfiction has over twenty-five thousand hits! Thank you, everyone!
Publish Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008.
Written in the Stars
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Trial Week: Day Three: Hogsmeade: Part One
Eve rolled over in bed with a yawn as a stream of sunshine lured her from her sleep. Hugging Woofie to herself, she smiled sleepily as she recalled the perfect ending to what she had thought had been a ruined Christmas.
Eve stretched the sleep from her limbs and fluttered her eyelashes before she felt a low rumbling vibrate through her cheek.
"I see my Eve has finally awakened," Remus playfully murmured into her ear as he caressed her shoulder once. "How did you sleep? How do you feel?"
"Marvelously and warm," Eve replied with a small grin as she hugged Remus from where she lay. "I… hope I didn't become too heavy for you to hold?"
"Pfft, not at all!" Remus said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I actually… liked holding you and watching you sleep." She turned her face to gaze up at him intently and, gazing into her bright eyes, he continued, "You're adorable when you sleep; you do this thing with your nose… you just sort of…" He made a show of twitching his nose before continuing, "wriggle it in your sleep… like a rabbit." She covered her nose and giggled until he stroked a finger down her it from bridge to tip.
Leaning down, he pecked the very tip of her nose and inquired, "Do you feel well enough to walk back to the common room?"
"I… Yeah, I think so," Eve said, carefully sitting up as Remus gathered her sweater from where he'd placed it before.
"Here; I… I had to pull it off before to make sure you could breathe."
"I understand; trust me, I know the fainting procedures," she said with a wink before taking her sweater from her beau and pulling it on over her head, suddenly feeling very bare with just her camisole and skirt on.
"Oh, and Madam Pomfrey left these here for you," Remus gestured to a tray-full of vials with a bluish liquid in them.
"Ah, I see; I'll be taking these for a while," Eve said with a sigh at the new chore she'd have to remember to complete.
"What, exactly, are they for?"
"Just to make sure that I don't fall into a fainting spell, or something, and to make sure that I get healthy," Eve began as she ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. "Ugh… my hair…"
"What about it?"
"I'll bet it looks… ugh!"
"Actually…" Remus began while eying Eve's bed head hair, "it looks… quite attractive on you." Her curls were standing at an array of angles around her head, but there was something… something exceptionally alluring about it to Remus. For the moment, she looked wild and untamed…
"You're so silly!" Eve exclaimed with a roll of her eyes as she pulled the lopsided barrette from her hair and fixed it so it held her curls back and away from her face once more. "Odd, but silly," she teased with a giggle. "Just what I fancy about you." She smooched his cheek once before moving to slide carefully from the cot and gather the vials of potion.
Remus wrapped an arm around her waist to support her as they slowly made their way to the Great Hall. "Tell me if you feel lightheaded, alright?" He spoke firmly after he insisted that she grab some food for the trip back up to the common room.
"Alright." Eve replied as she nibbled on a wrap. "I feel fine, Remus; I'm just… still not very hungry."
"I still want you to finish that wrap, though," Remus told her with a smooch to her temple as they climbed through the portrait into the common room.
"Oh, bugger!" Eve exclaimed in frustration, coming to a halt in the tunnel behind the fat lady.
"What is it?"
"I had wanted to go to the owlry to send an owl to my family so that I could tell them that I would send their Christmas gifts tomorrow. I like to purchase their gifts when we go to Hogsmeade."
"Oh, well, you could use my owl, if you'd like," Remus offered as he began walking with her again.
"Really? Would you mind?"
"Of course not!" He assured her as they came to the steps that led up to the boys' dormitory.
"Thank you!" Eve said as she hugged him once before he led her to the aged, lusterless cage where he kept his owl.
"Come along, Maiara." Remus gently coaxed the black owl from her cage. The bird shivered, then climbed onto his hand with a hoot.
"Oh, what a pretty bird you are," Eve cooed lightly at it as she extended a hand. Maiara hooted loudly and Remus chuckled.
"Flattery will get you everywhere with her."
"Ah, then you and Arcana have a lot in common," Eve told Maiara sweetly as she stroked her iridescent feathers. Pulling out the letter she had written to her family earlier that day she took Maiara to the window and asked, "Could you take this to my family?"
Eve opened the window as Maiara shuddered and hooted once more before grasping the parchment in her beak and taking off, flapping her way through the starry night.
A wave of dizziness overcame Eve then, and she slumped against the windowsill.
"Are you alright?" Remus crossed the floor to her and helped her stand upright.
Eve said nothing, and reached into her pocket to pull out a tube of the potion Madam Pomfrey had made her. Uncorking it, she downed it in one gulp, grimaced against the rancid taste, and sighed. "Nah, I'm fine; promise. Just a side-effect. That's why Madam Pomfrey gave me the potion to drink." Remus still seemed worried, so she caressed his cheek and told him even more firmly, "Trust me, I'm fine. I only got a tad dizzy; it wasn't like I was going to faint again."
After a moment, she kissed him and said, "I'll go to sleep now. It's getting late, anyway."
"Alright; off you go." He pecked her forehead and watched her walk out after they exchanged 'Good night's.
Eve grinned to herself contentedly before rolling out of bed and readying herself for her date with Remus at Hogsmeade. After making her bed and following her bathroom routine, she donned a blue sweater, a hat, a scarf, gloves, snug jeans, and a pair of black winter boots.
After she'd applied her make-up and brushed her hair, she went digging through the wooden chest at the foot of her bed for a jacket before impishly thinking, Why would I wear one of my own jackets when I could wear one of Remus's?
The thought put a broad smirk on her face and she raced down the stairs into the common room, hoping to find Remus waiting for her. To her mild disappointment, he wasn't, so she sighed and paced the perimeter of the room.
As she was strolling past the windowsills, a long, narrow, black velvet box with a gold bow caught her eye.
"Hmm… What's this?" Eve muttered to herself as she flipped the tag over and read: 'To Eve. Happy Christmas! I look forward to a new year full of new opportunities and a fresh beginning with you! Yours, Vlad.'
Eve's lower lip worried between her top and bottom rows of teeth. I suppose that's his way of apologizing… Well, at least he's trying…
She did her best to suppress a curious smile as she took the box in her hands and opened it on its hinge. She gasped when she found, lying on a bed of black velvet, a silver necklace with a rose for a pendant. The stem and leaves were sterling silver, and the blossom was carved from ruby.
"Oh!" Eve gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as she gazed in awe at the stunning jewelry as it glistened in the light of the rising sun.
Remus descended the stairs silently, looking forward to spending the day with Eve, when he found her gaping at a particularly nice and expensive-looking necklace. He stopped in his tracks as he heard her breathe, "Vlad!" and felt envy cloud his mind.
Of course, the one who doesn't even treat her right is the one with money enough to show her how he feels, he thought angrily to himself, cracking his knuckles to help relieve a portion of the frustration he felt.
The popping sound alerted Eve to Remus's presence, and she slowly turned to gaze at him over her shoulder. Swallowing, she lowered the hand that held the necklace.
"What's that you've got there, Evie?" Remus inquired through gritted teeth. "A belated Christmas present from… a friend?"
"Uh… I-I must not have spotted it last night when we came in… And, uh, I-I'm not accepting the gift, so…" She quickly dropped it back into the box and shut it before rising to stand before her beau.
"Why not? It seems like such a lovely gift," Remus pressed, just to see how Eve would react.
"It is; it's quite thoughtful, but… it just…" Eve crossed her arms and looked away with a sigh, "it doesn't seem like the proper thing to do…" Off Remus's faux confused expression, she elaborated, "It doesn't seem like the proper thing to do… because Vlad gave it to me…"
Remus inwardly sighed with relief at the confession. It truly meant a lot to him that she was so open to him as her boyfriend.
"Thank you, Eve." Remus slid his arms around her waist and held her for a moment before kissing her forehead. "I appreciate your dedication to our relationship."
Eve gave a small, shy smile before modestly insisting, "It's nothing; I don't see how I couldn't be dedicated to you."
Remus smiled down at her before Eve pecked his chin. A moment later, he furrowed his eyebrows and inquired, "Say… where do you live, Eve?"
"Why?"
"Because Maiara hasn't returned yet, and it's worrying me."
"Oh… Oh! I'm sorry! You know I'm muggle-born, right? Well, my sister, Dawn, has quite taken with the magical world and likes to keep the owls I send her for a little while to play with before she sends them back. I promise, she's extremely gentle; she just likes to pet the owls and talk to them, you see. You don't need your owl back immediately, do you?" Eve asked hastily.
"No, no, I just wanted to make sure Maiara was alright. It's never taken this long for her to fly out and return before; I thought she would've been back last night. Dawn can play with her all she likes; Maiara isn't one to bite." Remus paused before asking, "How old is your sister, anyway?"
"Ten. Why do you ask?"
After a moment's hesitation, Remus began, "Well…if it's a tender subject, you don't need to answer, but… is she magical, herself? Will she be attending Hogwarts next year?"
Eve's eyebrows furrowed as she thought hard. "I… I'm not sure if she's been showing any signs of magic… She might've been… but that could've been me, too… so I'm not sure…" A delighted twinkle lit up her eyes and she exclaimed with barely-concealed cheer, "Oh, I'd love it if she were a witch, too!"
Remus chuckled and squeezed her lightly, "I'm sure you would. But even if she doesn't turn out to be a witch, I'm sure she'll still be as great of a person as you make her sound." Eve chuckled and snuggled her forehead into his chest contentedly as Remus caressed her back, finally realizing something. "Eve! Why don't you ever wear a jacket whenever we go out?"
Eve giggled into his cloak and, gazing up at Remus playfully, replied, "Because I like wearing yours more!"
"Well, that's becoming apparent!" Remus chuckled as he pecked the top of her head and she pulled away to walk to the fire and warm her hands by it.
He was on the verge of summoning a jacket of his when his eyes traveled down her back and discovered that his girlfriend actually had a bum.
Woah, where did that come from? He thought to himself as he watched her bend by the fire.
Licking his lower lip while mentally cursing the oversized uniforms the students were forced to wear, he held up his hand and said, "Accio… short jacket." What? He happened to be quite attracted to Eve's figure, though he tried to keep this mostly to himself for fear of getting hexed.
A jacket that would only fall to Eve's hips flew into Remus's hands and he draped it around her shoulders from behind, his eyes on her bottom all the while.
"Aw, thanks, Remus," Eve said, standing straight and smooching his cheek. Pulling a bit of parchment- her signed permission slip- from her back pocket, she asked, "Ready to go?"
Remus smiled and dipped his hand into his pocket to be certain he had his permission slip with him. "Yup. We just need to wait for-"
"The fun has officially arrived!" Sirius exclaimed as he led the other two Marauders down the steps. He stopped at the bottom of the staircase and clutched his heart with a feigned look of tenderness on his face. "Oh, would you look at that, mates?" James and Peter adopted his expression as they caught onto his game. "You two," Sirius continued as he closed the gap between himself and the couple and playfully pinched Remus's cheek, "are so bloody adorable together!" Remus swatted Sirius's hand away while Eve giggled and blushed.
"C'mon;I told-" Sirius began, but was interrupted by his best mate.
"Wait, Lily isn't here yet!" James pointed out.
"I'm coming!" Lily called from the top of the steps as she slowly descended, yawning and stretching. With a pout, she harrumphed, "It's too early to be up; I'm sleepy."
"Oh, poor thing," James teased with a peck to her temple. "If I buy you something nice at Hogsmeade, will that wake you up?"
A tiny grin sprouted on Lily's lips as she heard this. "Maybe."
He chuckled before wrapping an arm around her and leading her toward the portrait after Sirius and Remus and Eve. After they exited through the hole, they found Anna waiting there.
"Anna!" Eve squealed as she bounded over to her friend and hugged her tight. "Happy Christmas! What's new? Oh, it's been a while since we've spoken!"
"Well…" Anna said with a secretive and knowing grin as Sirius walked toward her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and smooched her cheek. Giggling, she played with the collar of his shirt and continued, "Sirius and I are back together again."
"Oh, that's great, Anna!" Eve congratulated. "Remus and I are, as well." Eve reached back and Remus took her hand and laced his fingers through hers.
"Yes, I heard!" Anna happily replied, clasping her friend's free hand. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Could we continue this little reunion on our way to Hogsmeade?" Sirius proposed.
"I'll catch up with you; I want to find Olympe first," Peter spoke up before walking in the opposite direction with a wave to the group.
"Whoo! Go get 'er, Pete!" James whooped after him, earning a light smack to the chest from Lily.
"Don't be so rude; I think it's sweet that he's finally found someone," the redhead scolded.
"Oh, I'm only playing, Lily," James promised as he rubbed her shoulder.
"Well, let's go, then!" Sirius urged impatiently, leading the group down the stairs and out of Hogwarts to meet up with the rest of the students that were going on the trip.
After turning in their signed permission slips, the six walked with the rest of the group toward Hogsmeade; the three girls chattering together with their beaus following after them.
Sirius let out a low whistle as he eyed Anna from behind and whispered to his two mates, "Bloody uniforms; they ought to ban them!"
"You have got to love a girl in her own clothes," James agreed in a low voice as he ogled Lily.
"Merlin, do I hear that!" Remus concurred with his friends.
"Wait… What was that?" Sirius inquired in dramatic tones. "Prongs… I think we've corrupted our innocent Moony!"
"Oh, guys- C'mon!" Remus nudged Sirius jokingly.
"Ooh, we're here!" Lily exclaimed with delight as they entered Hogsmeade Village.
Eve bounced up and down and clapped her hands as Anna grinned up at her.
"Someone's excited," the blonde commented to her best friend.
"Are you joking? You know how much I love Hogsmeade!" Eve squeaked. Remus smiled at his girlfriend's obvious joy before she grabbed his hand and rushed forward. "Where do you want to go first, Remus?"
"You pick, Eve. I just need to stop by Honeyduke's and Zonko's at some point today to restock on chocolate and pranks," he told her with a wink.
Giggling, Eve said, "Sounds good to me! I vote for going to Honeyduke's first; my sweet tooth beckons me." Eve smiled and squeezed Remus's hand, pulling him toward the candy store.
She opened the door to reveal shelves upon shelves, rows upon rows, and aisles upon aisles of all assortments of candy- normal and enchanted- and chocolate that one could imagine. Eve watched as the younger students crowded the popular shop, and even turned to mouth to Remus, 'Aren't they adorable?' He smiled sweetly and nodded in return.
"Alright, go nuts; this is my treat," Eve offered, plucking up a new product Honeyduke's was selling.
"Are you sure, Eve? I could just as easily pay," Remus assured her, not wanting to impose.
"Absolutely; I offered, didn't I?" She pointed out as she read the little bottle to learn more about the item:
Honeyduke's All-New Chocolate-Flavored Lipgloss!
Give your sweetie an even sweeter surprise when you smooch him with
lipgloss that tastes just like Honeyduke's famous chocolate!
"Ooh…" Eve thought mischievously to herself as she discreetly pulled a few bottles into her hand; she'd definitely have to give him a pleasant holiday surprise later on!
"Let's look over here," she offered as enchanted treats caught her eye. "Dawn loves magical candy, seeing as my family can't get it very often, so it's quite a treat to her."
"Oh, I see." Remus was a smidge distracted looking through the chocolate.
After gathering a few gummy snakes that hissed and slithered like real snakes, a couple boxes of candies that changed the consumer's eye color, and bags of every flavored jellybeans, Eve glanced over to find Remus practically in a trance gazing at the wall full of chocolate bars of every style imaginable.
Feeling slightly neglected and lacking in attention, Eve pouted and shimmied her shoulders once. "Oh, Remus, you've found another woman!" She pressed her hand against her forehead and gave a dramatic sob as Remus whipped his head around, wide-eyed.
"What? No, I haven't! I'd never… I couldn't… Evie, you're the only one I…" Remus stuttered, breaking free from the spell the chocolate seemed to weave over him. Now he was floundering to find a way to explain this rather random accusation; sometimes, chocolate was just the easy route to take in life…
"And her name… is Chocolate." Eve finished with a grin, turning to face him.
Remus gave a goofy smirk in return. "Ah, yes. Chocolate; my first love." He gazed up at the wall of chocolate bars before looking back to her and running his hand gently down her arm and lacing fingers with her. "However, it is not the only object of my affection."
This statement coupled with the soft gaze he fixed her with made Eve bow her head and blush pink. "Besides," Remus continued as he slid his fingertips beneath her chin and tilted it up, "chocolate doesn't have what you have." He plucked a bar of chocolate up and ran his finger around the perimeter. "Chocolate is flat and straight. I happen to like having someone to hug and snuggle with who actually feels feminine." To further his point, he wrapped his arms around her and slid his hands down her curvy sides. "So, you have nothing to worry about; chocolate, although my first love, is no match for you."
They shared a grin before Eve chuckled. "Well, good; I'm glad you prefer to have me around rather than chocolate. Have you picked out what you want so I can pay for it all? I have a bit of a surprise for you." She smiled secretively, recalling the chocolate-flavored lipgloss she had decided to purchase.
"A surprise? For me? You're too kind; I can scarcely wait to see what it is," Remus thanked her with a smooch to her cheek. He quickly selected a dark chocolate bar, a milk chocolate bar, and a bar that was a mix of peanut butter and chocolate, and handed them to Eve. "You'll have to help me eat them, of course," he said with a wink.
"Well, I couldn't say no to helping my boyfriend out, could I?" Eve flirted as she walked to the cashier.
Once they had purchased their treats, Eve grabbed Remus's hand and pulled him out of the store. "Come on!"
"Where are you taking me?" Remus laughed as he stumbled after her.
"Someplace private," Eve said in a quiet tone.
Arching an intrigued eyebrow as they stomped through the snow some distance away from the village to a place amongst the trees that hid them from view, Remus thought to himself, I have a feeling I'm really going to like this surprise.
"Okay; this looks like a good spot," Eve said as she released Remus's hand. "Shut your eyes," she instructed as she dug through her pockets for a tube of the lipgloss she just bought.
Remus obeyed, and Eve quickly applied the clear gloss to her lips. Her tongue darted out to test the taste, and found, to her immense pleasure, that it tasted just like melted Honeyduke's chocolate.
After drawing a breath in, Eve slowly leaned in and tenderly pressed her mouth to his. Remus chuckled and kissed back, bringing his hand up to the back of her head to deepen the kiss… and then he tasted the chocolate.
"Mm! Mm!" He exclaimed into their kiss before breaking away to gaze curiously at Eve.
Eve, pleased with her boyfriend's response, silently pulled out her lipgloss for him to read.
He grinned broadly at the label on the lipgloss before bringing Eve to him and inquiring, "How 'bout another kiss?"
Author's Note: Please don't forget to read and review! I'd love to hear what everyone's thoughts on this chapter are! Thanks!