(Disclaimer: I own nothing.)
(Author's Note: Things are starting to get complicated. There are lots of twisted things in the story so far but they'll be pulled together at the end, that I assure you. If you have any suggestions, please review and tell me. Ok, later babes and stay crunk! Lotsa love from Sea Chelle)
Chapter Eleven
"What?" exclaimed Remus skeptically. Sirius glared at him to be quieter so the other boy whispered fiercely, "That's insane!"
"Why would you want to become and Animagi?" asked Peter with wide and curious eyes.
Remus who now looked too shocked to speak mumbled, "Criminally insane…"
James, however, said, "I like it! When do we start?" Sirius grinned at all his friends.
"Let's talk about this later." Professor Kettleburn had called the attention of all the students to pay attention. A bird called an infer zephyr bird was clasping his arm with sharp steely talons. Its beak was elongated while the creature's body was the flaming colors of fire. The rest of that class was spent on taming the creatures and taking notes on their behavior.
Sirius groaned when he looked at his schedule. "Goody, we have Divination." James laughed and nudged his friend.
"Poor, Sirius, I was starting to think you liked all the times our dear Sibylline predicted you to die a horrible death because she saw the Grim in your cup." The other boy rolled his eyes and smacked James upside his head. "Just kidding!" the boy exclaimed in return. They strolled to their next class.
When everyone in the class was sitting with a partner, Professor Sibylline came in. Her many layers of the mystical dress she wore seemed to make her glide on the floor. "Class, today we will be looking into crystal balls." She motioned to the object between the partners. "Before you start to gaze into them, please read pages 107-108. You may begin."
James looked at the crystal ball, then to Sirius who was searching his bag for the book. "Er – James, do you have your book with you? I didn't bring mine." The boy laughed and looked into his own bag.
"Oh – er" he laughed "I forgot mine too." James tapped the back of the girl in front of him. "Lily, do you have your book?" She rolled her eyes and gave the two boys a grin.
"Yeah, but Hallie forgot hers too." Hallie turned around to look at them with a smirk.
"Forget your books, boys?" she asked with an angelic smile. Sirius glared at her.
James said, "You did too."
At this, she looked particularly pleased. "Yeah, but I don't ever have to bring mine, I'm partners with someone reliable." Then she turned back around.
Sirius sputtered indignantly as James laughed. "Hey!" he exclaimed and pulled on her ponytail. She turned and tried to pull it out of his grasp but didn't seem to. Hallie jumped up so quickly her chair fell over, and Sirius, trying to hold onto her hair made his desk quake and make the crystal ball fall to the ground and shatter. This didn't seem to bother him in the least though.
Professor Sibylline briskly walked gracefully over. "Stop it this instant!" she yelled over the clamor of laughter and egging on. Sirius held her hair in a death grip as Hallie, in return, tried hitting every part of him her fists and feet could find. One punch found its way to his cheekbone making him let go of her hair with a last yank. She screeched in rage and hit him again in the stomach.
"My hair!" she screamed at him. He was holding his cheekbone and was glaring at her as he reached for his wand.
"You started it you – you witch!"
"Enough!" screamed shouted the professor angrily. She seemed to glow with an orange aura of fury. "You both are ruining the psychic setting of this classroom and I must ask you now to leave." She pointed at the doorway. "Go." Glaring at each other, the two silently left. "Miss Evans, Mr. Potter, you are now partners." And the class went on.
Hallie and Sirius both strolled at opposite ends of the hallway not looking at each other. On their way to the Gryffindor house, they saw Snape walking down the hallway. Sirius smirked evilly. "Hey, Snape, buddy ol' pal," he hissed at the boy. Severus stopped in his tracks and turned to look at him. "My, your hair looks unusually greasy today. Nice touch. What kind of oil do you use in it?"
"Shut up," snapped Severus. Hallie, who had stopped to watch the conflict, could tell that the other boy was trying to control his temper. He was doing a very bad job.
"Did your mum send you any new treats this morning? An exploding red letter by any chance?" asked Sirius, his grin widening wickedly. Snape glared in a rage.
"You sent that howler, didn't you?" questioned the boy. Sirius put on his fake innocent look.
"Must you blame me with all the unfortunate events that befall you?" He paused. "But you're right, I did send it to you." Sirius turned to walk away when Severus jumped on him. The letter the boy was carrying lay forgotten on the floor behind. Sirius pushed the other boy off him and gave him a sock in the eye. Snape, small as he was, had a lot of strength when driven and punched Sirius on the cheekbone where James had hit him earlier, making the bruise gain color once again.
Reluctantly, Hallie thought about stopping them. Though she liked to see Snape and Sirius, two people she loathed, hitting each other, she didn't think it would suffice if a teacher saw them in the halls. She also took into mind that she might be blamed as well.
"Stop it!" she yelled at them. They didn't seem to hear her. In aggravation, she pulled out her wand and muttered a separating curse used for nails in wood and such. It worked just as well. The two boys were parted and were thrown against the walls opposite each other. "Thank you." Sirius glared at her, as did Snape.
"Ah, the girl with the Mudblood mother," said Severus when he stood again. His eyes glowed evilly with mischief. All the color fell from her face as she gaped at him. Sirius ran to jump on the boy again but Hallie stopped the boy and made him fly against the wall again with the wave of her hand. She pinned Severus to the wall with a body bind.
"Take it back," she muttered softly. Her eyes were shooting daggers at him. He looked at her out of a blackening eye with a smirk.
"Make me," was his reply. She kicked him in the shin and gave him a blow at the chin.
Hallie still looked calm but there was an angry aura of power glowing around her. "Take it back," she repeated. He scowled.
"If you weren't a girl, I'd beat you up so badly, you wouldn't be able to stand for a week." She hit him in the stomach twice.
"Take it back." Snape just smiled oily at her. She slapped him as hard as she could. The girl was about to do more but Sirius jumped up and pinned her down.
"Stop it," he muttered quietly in her ear. "You don't know what you're doing." She struggled to free herself but to no avail.
"Let me go!" He tightened his grip on her.
"Hallie, he didn't mean it," Sirius said gently. She was shaking.
"I did too mean it," replied Snape. Sirius silenced him with a look and undid the binding curse on the boy.
"Get out of here," he commanded. Somewhat reluctantly, the boy did as was told, picking up the letter on his way. Sirius asked softly, "Are you all right now?" Hallie stopped trying to escape now and was on the ground with her eyes shut tightly. He let her go. She sat up and wiped away stray tears as she turned away from him, hoping he didn't see. He did but didn't mention it.
There was something strange about the way she had been acting lately which made his stomach turn. "Hallie, what's gotten into you?" he inquired in a low voice. She looked at him with large blue eyes but didn't answer. They sat there for a few short moments before they got up and walked to the Gryffindor common room where they separated to their dormitories.
James and Lily sat and watched after them when she turned to him. "Something's not right," she told him. He nodded. She put her book between them and after they read the pages, she looked to the crystal ball between them. "It says to clear our thoughts and look into the ball. If you see something, there's a chart here to decode it." He nodded.
"You go first." She shrugged and agreed. Lily gazed at the ball trying to clear her thoughts completely. This was a bit hard as to the class talking in loud whispers. As she looked into the crystal ball, she felt James' eyes on her but ignored it. All she saw were swirling clouds of gray.
She sighed. "Nothing, I don't see anything," she told him. He grinned.
"Good, I'd be worried if you did. This psychic stuff is a load of –"
"A load of what, Mr. Potter?" asked Professor Sibylline who was looming over him. He grinned.
"Er – nothing, Professor," he replied with a charming smile. She sighed and walked off.
"Your turn, James."
He grinned and looked into the crystal. All at once, he felt as if he was being pulled somewhere and lost all thoughts of where he was and who he was. He looked around in a daze. A figure was coming towards him. Who could it be? He tried to take a step forward to see who it was but found he was glued to his spot.
"Ric?" called a voice. It came from the figure. He now noticed the woman wore a deep ocean blue/green robe. She finally came into view and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh!" she gasped. "You aren't he whom I seek. Where could he be? Perhaps you've seen him?" James looked around but there was no one there besides he and this woman. She peered at him closely. "Kind sir, who might you be?"
He opened his mouth to speak but found his voice was gone. James cleared his throat. "James, my name is James Potter." She smiled.
"It is right then, it is you whom I seek. Observe your surroundings, dear James, and protect those cherished in your heart, for soon, so soon, he will come and there will be disaster. Rise and fall will arrive, dear boy, it will come soon. Soon, so soon, dear James, it will come soon…" And everything fell out of focus with the woman's words of "…soon…soon…" echoing in his mind.
Suddenly, he was in a dim room. Red and gold was the room's main colors. Only candles illuminated it, and hazily, James saw a man looking at a painting above the fireplace. In the picture, two men, and two women were drawn, smiling with laughter happy in their eyes.
The man was dressed in velvet crimson robes, and his long untidy black hair tied at the nape of his neck with a golden ribbon. "It's been a while since we were all that happy. Do you remember?" He turned around and looked at James squarely. "Those many wonderful times, so blithe, yet so vain. All washed away as if it had never been. He is my enemy now." He turned away and looked into the fire. "Enemy…what a horrid word. I never imagined it, never did I imagine it." He paused. "Come, stand by me, dear son, see how wrong a world full of pure and trusting love can become with a turn of a single heart."
James stood and found he could move. Now standing on the hearth next to a man he didn't know, though, there was a familiarity between them both. Together, they stood in silence. The man with his hands behind his back and his legs two feet apart. He was extremely tall, about six feet and with dazzling pale blue eyes.
In the fire, James saw a stag. The beautiful creature stood next to a large black dog. The boy shook his head to make sure he was seeing straight. He didn't notice that the man was looking at him intently. A wolf, a werewolf perchance, came up beside the two. It was only then that James noticed upon the stag's back was a rat with a lily in its mouth. It was the strangest thing he had ever seen.
"Troy, what do you see?" asked the man. James just gaped into the fire until the image disappeared when a large and firm hand came down on his shoulder gently. "Troy? Son, what is it you see within the fire?" The boy looked up. Pale/gray eyes bore into pale/gray eyes. "Yes, you are a Seer, now please, please tell me what you see?"
"I – I –" but then he was falling, falling once again in a swirl of crimson and gold. Then…everything fell into darkness.
James opened his eyes and found he was in his Divination classroom. He looked around to find that everyone was staring at him. The boy turned to Lily. "What? What is it?" he asked. She was looking at him worriedly.
"Are you all right?" she asked him softly. He blinked at him in bewilderment.
"Er – y-yeah, I'm fine. Um – are you all right?" At this, a relieved smile broke onto her face as she sighed. Professor Sibylline was on his other side and cleared her throat.
"Mr. Potter, what did you see?" she asked him curiously. Her face was one full of interest.
He looked at her evenly. "Nothing, Professor." She snorted and narrowed her eyes.
"Don't lie to me boy, I know you saw something. You had that look in your eyes that I sometimes get when I am in one of my trances." His even gaze did not break.
"You look at yourself when you're in a trance?" he questioned. Her eyes narrowed.
"Do not mock me boy, for I've just looked into a cup. There I saw you, and a –" he cut her off.
"Don't tell me, you saw a grim."
Soon after that, class ended and next they had History of Magic. That class passed very slowly as to it was amazingly boring. Later that day was lunch. "Our first Quidditch match is tomorrow!" exclaimed Sirius enthusiastically to James. The boy was just rearranging his food. "James? Aren't you excited?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, yeah, I am. I can't wait," he said dully. Sirius wanted to question the boy more but by the dazed look, he knew he'd get no sufficient reply.
Further down the table…"A fight?" asked Lydia in horror. "I do hope they didn't hurt each other!"
Lily laughed and Hallie rolled her eyes heavenward. "That's the point of a fight, Lydia, to hurt each other. Anyway, just look at him, both his cheekbones are black and blue…fits him well." The girls looked down the table at Sirius who had bruises on his cheeks, one from Hallie and the other from Snape and James. "Now look at Snape." They did as was told and looked to the boy at the Slytherin table who was looking as if he was in perfect health.
"He looks fine to me," said Gwen. Hallie glared at the boy.
"The git probably got someone to fix him up," she muttered. Lily laughed.
"That was a rather smart thing to do…" she told the other girl who shrugged.
"Doesn't matter."
Lydia turned to Gwen. "We haven't seen you lately, where have you been?" The other girl averted her eyes.
"Er – around." Lily looked at her, and then to Lydia who was about to say something more. Lily shook her head, which made the other girl sigh.
"All right."
That night, James went down to the common room where he sat on the hearth staring into the fire. Again, he saw the stag, the dog, the werewolf, and the rat with the lily. Was it supposed to tell him something? Was it supposed to mean something? And if it did, what did it mean? He saw Lily come down the steps in the corner of his eye. "I thought you'd come down soon," he told her in a quiet voice. She took a seat beside him.
"What is it you saw in the crystal ball?" she questioned in a low voice. He broke his gaze from the fire to look at her. Her face was one of worry and curiosity.
"I'm fine you know." She chuckled.
"I know."
"Ok then." He paused and took a deep breath. "I looked into the ball and everything seemed to disappear. I didn't know where or who I was…I had a sense of who I was of course, but…it seemed as if I was me…out of me. Wait, I'm not making any sense," but she nodded and told him to continue. "Well, I looked around me and all I saw were gray clouds and fog…until I heard a voice and saw a figure. It was a woman calling out for a 'Ric'. Then she saw me and asked for my name. I told her and she said that she indeed, it was I she was searching for. She said, 'Observe your surroundings, dear James, and protect those cherished in your heart, for soon, so soon, he will come and there will be disaster. Rise and fall will arrive, dear boy, it will come soon. Soon, so soon, dear James, it will come soon…'
"Then suddenly I was in a dim room with a man. He had long dark black hair with pale blue eyes. Everything around me was either gold and crimson or both. He called me – he called me Troy, that, I believe was his son's name. And I looked into the fire. He said I was a Seer, and asked what I saw in the fire.
"Then I was back in the classroom, with everyone looking at me," he concluded with a smile. She gave a small smile back.
"What did I see in the fire though, you ask. I saw a stag, standing beside a large black wolf. Then came a wolf, and I rather thought it was a werewolf. I noticed upon the stag's back though, a rat," he laughed at her alarmed expression, "yes, a rat. And in it's mouth was," James paused and looked at her, "a lily." She looked at him for a moment before looking into the fire herself. Still, she saw nothing.
"What do you think it means?" she asked him. His eyes were full of puzzlement.
"That's what I don't understand. Those things, they all seemed familiar. I just – I just can't place it right now. It's as if it's somewhere in my memory or something, but I forgot what it is. Do you know that feeling?"
She laughed. "Yes, I do. I get it all the time." He laughed with her. They sat there for a few more minutes before they got up. James took her hand in his when she was about to walk up the steps to her dorm and hugged her.
"Thanks for everything, Lily," he told her. Unexpectedly, she blushed. Then she turned and ran up the steps to her room. He watched after her for a moment, then when up to his own where someone was waiting for him.
"I was wondering how long you would take. What were you doing down there with her anyway?" asked Sirius. James swatted at him and the other boy ducked. "Just kidding."
"Sirius, why is it you want to become an Animagus?" James asked after a while. At this, the other boy stopped his laughter and looked serious.
"Well, for – for Remus." James thought about this and Sirius explained, "Werewolf bites are only susceptible to humans, animals aren't affected by them."
"And you know this how?" asked James in surprise. Sirius grinned at him.
"I went to the library."
"No way!" James exclaimed. The other boy swatted at him.
"Yes way, I do go to the library. I went when I was…er, dismissed from class and looked it up. I know, you're wondering how I came up with it."
"Er – not really, I don't care to know how your ideas come to you –" but Sirius cut him off.
"I had a dream when I was sleeping in class the other day. I was in the quidditch stands watching a boy who looked like you play quidditch. The boy looked a lot like you, but he was seeker so…I don't know. Well, then for some reason, I looked at myself and found I was a dog. And it kind of hit me, I was an Animagus!" He sighed. "It's rather amazing how brilliant ideas come to brilliant people," he said afterwards. He and James broke into laughter.
After their laughs died down, James said, "I really like that idea. It was really good of you to think of this, you know." Sirius smiled a genuine smile. When he smiled that way James noticed that he looked like a regular boy, not mischievous and sneaky, but innocent and sweet. The sight almost made him laughed.
"I just felt bad…I mean, it isn't fair that he had to get bitten. Why wasn't it Snape or somebody like that? Remus is…well, he's Remus. He's too nice to be a werewolf. I saw it when we first me him, you know?" James nodded at him.
"He looked so lonely." Sirius agreed.
"It's just – it just isn't fair," he said quietly, mostly to himself. The two boys said goodnight to each other and got comfortable on their beds for sleep to come to them.
Remus, wide awake and listening from the bed across from Sirius', felt a lump form in his throat. His eyes burned with liquid of disbelief. They didn't know he was not asleep and taking in every word he said, yet, they spoke so kindly of him. This was something entirely new to the boy; even his parents said thing behind his back late at night when they thought he was asleep.
His parents, his dear parents that he had looked up to all his life would call him a monster…it was so hard to let it sink in. Sometimes, he would pretend they didn't say anything about him at all that they were speaking about someone else.
But his friends, his friends were different. They liked him for who he was and not for what he was. The relationship between them, Remus found out now, was what people called: true friendship.
His heart burned with a fierce fire of happiness and wonder. How could anybody be as good friends as he had? Remus doubted anyone in the world could. Tears leaked from the side of his eyes as he smiled. He was lucky.
(Author's Note: I love you all, reviewers!
Thank you to *Star*, Lissa May, care, Foxy77, Nettey Potter, and ~Sarcastic Princess~ for your reviews! I loved reading them and I really appreciate you replying to the story! Later babes and stay crunk with lotsa love from Sea Chelle)
