A.N.: *Sigh* I haven't written for a while...I was busy with other stuff like my newest story and stuff...and I've just been darned lazy because I have mild writers block on this thing. But I'll try to crank out a good story and fight writer's block! May be a bit short, however; I can't guarantee anything long when I have writer's block. :-)
Disclaimer: Cats are cool. I own my cat and the plot, but I don't own Lily Potter, James Potter, Sirius Black, or Peter Pettigrew, or any of the other people you recognize.
"What did I miss while I was away?" Remus asked. His normally alive eyes now held dark circles beneath them and his whole looked worn and tired in spite of the clear effort he was putting in to act alive.
Sirius noticed at once. Remus ALWAYS looked this way after one of the sicknesses he or his family had. Before he had explained it away, saying that Remus was probably stressed or it was probably a side-effect of the disease; however, it was starting to get too consistent to be explained away like this.
But James, being a somewhat self-centered boy in spite of his kindness, didn't notice it and started rambling on. "Well, Sirius deserted us --"
"I did not!" Sirius said. "You started that whole rich-kid, the whole world revolves around me and my messy hair act and I got sick and tired of it!"
"No, you refused to have a meaningful discussion!" James shouted back.
"You insisted that we talk about what YOU wanted to talk about regardless to what I wanted to!" Sirius yelled at him.
Remus sighed. After a long night in the forest and with a body full of aches, he was by no means in the mood to listen to another one of James' and Sirius' hissy fits. He honestly sometimes wondered why they were still friends -- though they seemed so sweet and happy most of the time, one of these fights seemed to cancel it all out. Remus just left it at that their friendship was an unexplainable gift from heaven and that he had no reason to meddle with it.
Remus sighed. "Someone, just tell me what happened at the Sorting, all right? I heard strange rumors -- ridiculous rumors.
"What, that we have a new girl in the second year who got expelled and wears Fuck the World on her robes? Or did you hear that half the boys are in love with the new student? Or that Prof. Dippet died and now Prof. Schlechsten is the headmaster?" Sirius asked casually.
"All of the above," Remus answered. "So you've heard them too?"
Sirius and James exchanged a look, one of the few that wasn't completely hate-filled, and Remus groaned inwardly. When they exchanged a LOOK, that usually meant that one of them was about to say something that was, in a word, unpleasant.
And sure enough, that was what came. James grinned wryly and said, "I hate to be the bearer of unpleasant news, but they aren't rumors -- they're truth."
Remus looked shocked for a moment and then his expression turned to a grin. Of course. James always played these kinds of jokes -- making him or Sirius worry for a minute and then saying a loud just kidding and making the person that the joke was on groan at being fooled so easily. "Haha, James," Remus said with a smile. "Didn't get me this time."
But then he saw James and Sirius exchange a LOOK again and his heart sunk and sunk until he felt that it was as deep as the Titanic. It was true.
"You mean -- it's true?" Remus said, voicing his fear at last.
"Uh-huh," said James. "Sure is."
"Oh damn!" Remus said. "Oops, sorry, my bad, I'm not supposed to curse. But really. Prof. Schlechsten really has it in for me." As he saw James' mouth open, he quickly continued, "I mean, he has it in for all the students, but even you must know he has it especially in for me. Maybe it's because I charmed on those signs all over the castle that said, 'Today's Language Lesson: The German word for worst is Schlechsten!' Yes, that could be it. But still, he didn't have to bear such a big grudge against me. I mean, aren't we supposed to forgive others their trespasses too?"
"Remus, don't use the Lord's Prayer as an excuse for playing a joke on the guy," Sirius said. "Even though I am totally with you that the joke was a good one, there's no point in using the Lord's Prayer to justify it -- it does a fine job justifying itself." Sirius and Remus were some of the few Hogwarts students that actually attended the religious service. Of the 900, exactly 47 attended a religious service during the school year; ten went to synagogue, eighteen to the Protestant church, eighteen to the Catholic, and one commuted off campus to a mosque.
"Yes, Saint Sirius," Remus said. "But really...whenever he comes I swear he puts a curse on me. I see him do it!"
"We know that, Remus," James said. "We've seen him too. But it's just your tough luck, I guess."
"Typical," Remus said darkly, clearly angry and moody. "Typical of my luck. First I lose my only sister -- my only sibling -- to leukemia, then my parents divorce, then I get stuck living with my mother every summer instead of my father, then I get --" he abruptly cut himself off. He was tell them It. Couldn't let It slip.
"Then you get what, Remus?" James pressed. "What?"
"Nothing," Remus said warily, "Nothing at all." James looked as though he was going to press on, but Remus shot him a warning glare that told James to Back Off. Or else. And he did so.
"Anyway, tell me what else happened since I was gone," Remus said, trying to recreate the atmosphere -- and failing miserably. It was clear that Remus was in a bad spot now and so, laying their argument aside for a moment, James and Sirius made amends and told Remus what had happened -- at least, that was what they did until they got the Punishment Slips from Prof. MacMillan.
But while Remus were enjoying a catching-up on the events from James and Sirius, Lily was suffering through something quite different: a catching up on her punishment from Prof. MacMillan.
"So," he said, the word long and drawn out and ugly. "Another troubling case."
"Oh shut up!" Lily said. "Just get on with the fucking problem."
"Excuse me?" MacMillan spoke. Students never cursed to his face. Until now.
"Yes I said fuck to you," Lily said crossly. "Now get on with it!"
"It is children like you," MacMillan said with a scowl, "Which are creating the downfall of our society and culture today. Not only children, but people -- people who began like you and grew up to be even worse.
"Since the Regulations on Punishment in Scholastic Organizations were created, I cannot use physical violence to disobedient students -- even the scum of society, such as you."
Lily was glad. It wasn't that she couldn't deal with pain -- if that was it, she would have been destroyed a long time ago -- for she could; all she did was smile at the creature we call pain and say fuck you to it. But she nonetheless hated it.
"But I'm sure society will forgive when they realize the favor I'm doing it," MacMillan continued. "Old discipline is the only way to deal with scum like you. That's why it is so old -- because it is so correct." And he took out a whip, obviously old and worn with use and age, and flicked it on her legs many times, too many times. It hurt but Lily did not so much as flinch. She had learned never to do that a long time ago with her father.
"Dismissed," MacMillan said. "But keep in mind you will be getting Punishment Notice with a Punishment society does not mind. No amount of punishment is enough."
Lily scowled as she muttered, "Just like father," under her breath and left the room to her dormitory, where Mary and Sue were already asleep -- thank God.
It was early that morning, 5:00 a.m. to be precise, and Lily was tired. But that was put aside for a more important task: revenge. Lily flourished in the sweet waters of revenge. And, she thought as she gazed at the beautiful mirror -- not into it, of course, but just at the non-reflecting part --, she had never had a better object of revenge than this. It was perfect. Beautiful, seemingly ancient, the inscription just right -- she knew it was perfect in everything except for whether it really showed what it was supposed to.
But she wasn't about to test that. She wasn't that stupid. She'd just have to have faith -- something foreign to her -- that the thing would work. But she would find out soon enough if it worked.
She lugged the thing. It was surprisingly heavy. She began to wish she knew a charm to make the thing lighter, but she didn't. Damn. She kept it firm in hand in spite of the weight. She was strong. She had to be strong to live in her household. She could do it.
Finally she reached the Great Hall. She put down the mirror right beside the main entrance. Most people except the already knowledgeable ones would stare right into it. Only those with intelligence would resist it -- and, as she had found, very few students here had intelligence.
Lily smiled. Now all there was left for her to do was wait for breakfast to begin and her revenge to come. Her smile grew wider. Vengeance was sweet, certainly.
Remus walked sleepily into the dining hall. A glint of gold caught the corner of his eye and he looked to the left. Without even seeing into it, he could tell what it was. A mirror.
His head spun. What could a mirror be doing here? He knew better than to look. Mirrors didn't tend to just pop out of nowhere for no reason. Probably some stupid trick of Schlechsten to do something to him. No way was he going to fall into THAT kind of trap. He had learned by now -- from Schlechsten and from many others -- to be wary and not to let yourself willingly fall into a trap. It wasn't that you had to be bitter, as some felt -- just wary.
However, he did look at the engraving above the mirror with some interest. It was clearly not English; it read, "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi." But nor was it any other language; he, gifted in tongues, could recognize any group of languages, even the most minor, in both the wizarding and the muggle worlds, and this was like none of them. A code, he decided.
He smiled. He was good at codes too. He already could tell it wasn't one of those silly codes where A=Z, B=Y, etc. He could crack that one easily, and that wasn't it. So he set to making complete anagrams. Finally he came up with it: I show not your face but your hearts desire.
Heart's desire...where had he heard that before? He wasn't sure, but wherever he had, it rung an unpleasant bell in his head.
He looked about the tables. James and Sirius hadn't gotten down to breakfast yet. Typical. They were late risers always, as he was always an early riser, even after the Transformation.
He sat at an almost-empty table, the only other person a girl with stormy red hair. He didn't notice that she was so beautiful because he simply didn't spend much time on that, nor that she had Fuck the World written on her robes because they were hidden under the table. How was he to know that she was the infamous Lily Evans, expelled second year student?
"Hullo," he said dully. "How're you this morning?"
"Stop the false pretense of caring," she said snappily. "I've had enough pain in my life that I don't want you in it. Fuck off."
"Well if you're going to be that way, fine then!" Remus said. He hated people who used pain as an excuse. He had had more than his full share of pain and he hadn't turned out that way. What right did anybody else have to be that way?
"Good. Go on then, leave me! Didn't I just tell you to fuck off? And while you're at it, take a look in that mirror. You might find something...interesting in it."
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Remus rolled his eyes. "What kind of fool would like in a mirror that shows their heart's desire?"
"You...you know," Lily said, confused, too fast to even stop the look on her face from finally turning to confusion and genuine curiosity.
"Well damn, duh I know!" Remus rolled his eyes. "I mean, excuse the language, but isn't it kind of obvious when a mirror appears suddenly that was never there before that has letters that rearrange to say, 'I show not your face but your heart's desire' on it that it might not be so wise to look into it?"
"Smarter than most of the stupid assholes at this school," Lily muttered, half to herself, half to Remus. And for once she meant what she said. He did seem...smarter, more aware than anyone else she'd meant -- not that that was saying much.
Her genuine curiosity and even slight admiration that there was someone else hear quickly changed back to the anger. Damn. Now he might warn others. Stupid asshole better not. She was going to tell him not to, but realized that this was a stupid proposition, something like telling someone not to press the red button. It just put the idea into their head. So she just said, "Fuck off, why don't you?"
"Okay then, I will," Remus said, not even glaring at her. She didn't make him so angry anymore as curious -- why did she act like such a bitch all the time? He experienced pain too but he wasn't like that.
But he moved on nonetheless and simply staring out the window, not even bothering to eat, no longer hungry. Deciding, however, that after the Transformation he should be nourished a bit, he took a few bites to eat.
When he looked back, he saw a site that made him cringe. A boy, a fat, plump, sweet little innocent boy (or so he was at the time) that Remus recognized as Peter Pettigrew. Poor boy. He wasn't ready to see his heart's desire -- nobody is, but the inexperienced, innocent, are so much less prepared than the experienced who had already lost their innocence.
When he saw the reflection, the boy looked scared and longing and driven insane all at once. Poor creature, Remus thought as he beckoned the boy over and began a friendship that was to prove fateful in years to come...
A.N.2.: Well, I did try, even if it wasn't that good. Please review now! Give me ideas for the next part, sil vous plait! And just tell me what you think! Thanks in advance, and remember: All's Well that End's Well! :-)