Chapter 21
"After all that we've been through
I will make it up to you"
Anne had stormed out of her office, followed by Linda.
"Anne, I am sure Sirius didn't mean what he said," began Linda.
"I know how he meant it, but I want him to feel sorry about what he said," replied Anne.
"You're right, but still… hey, there's Remus," said Linda, when she saw Remus approaching.
"Anne, I think you understood Sirius wrong," said Remus.
"No, I understood him right, but I made him think I understood him wrong," smiled Anne.
"Why?" asked Remus.
"Because I want him to think about what he said a second time," replied Anne.
"I think he's alone now in you're office," said Remus, and pointed at Severus, who saw them talking. He came to them.
"Anne, I think you should talk to Sirius," said Severus.
"Don't worry, I will," replied Anne.
"I told him you were really suffering when he was in Azkaban, I told him you already suffered enough and didn't need to suffer more, I think he understood…" said Severus.
The five of them – Sirius, Anne, Linda, Remus and Severus – hadn't been talking very much the month after this. It took Sirius a while to understand why it al had happened, but he still couldn't forgive Severus for pushing Anne to love her again, when she was married to Sirius. Linda wasn't as forgiving as Sirius was. She still couldn't forgive Remus and Anne for not telling her about their relation, Anne understood this all and let it rest.
Suddenly an owl flew through the window and almost knocked Anne's head off.
"Hey! Oh Chimaera, it's you," Anne greeted the owl. Chimaera was the owl of the Lupins. Anne saw it was carrying a letter, she took it from the owl and started reading it.
"Anne,
I know this'll sound odd after not speaking to you for weeks, especially with the situation we're in, but we can't ignoring each other for ever.
I wanted to go to Hogsmeade, and wanted to ask you if you'd like to come with me next Saturday. Maybe Sirius and Remus can talk too…
- Linda."
Anne put the letter down and said: "I wonder what's she's up to…"
"What do you mean?" asked Sirius. He had recognised the owl as Chimaera.
"Here, read this letter she sent me…" replied Anne. Sirius took the letter Anne handed him and read it.
"I think she realised she can't change the past," shrugged Sirius. Anne scribbled on the back she and Sirius would come by that Saturday.
Anne rang the bell at the Lupin Manor, when Remus appeared in the front yard.
"Hi Remus, Linda's inside, I suppose?" Anne greeted him.
"Yep," replied Remus.
"I think I stay here with you, Remus," said Sirius. Anne nodded and went inside to meet Linda.
"Hi Anne! Long time not seen. How are you?" said Linda the moment Anne appeared in the doorway.
"I'm perfectly fine, Linda. You?" replied Anne.
"Fine, thanks. Are you alone?"
"No, Sirius is with Remus, outside. And I left Alex and Chris under Rachel's care."
"Shall we go now?" asked Linda.
"Walking or Apperating?"
"Let's walk. The weather's perfect today," replied Linda. They went outside ad saw Remus and Sirius in the front yard, laughing their heads off. Anne and Linda looked at each other, shrugged and thought it might be better not to pay more attention to them. And so they left for Hogsmeade.
Sirius and Remus were talking about everything that they had done at Hogwarts.
"Do you remember that time in the Great Hall," said Sirius, "when we were trying to reconstruct what had happened to the Titanic?"
"Yes," grinned Remus. "You mean that time when you made a boat from a piece of parchment and let it 'fare' against your hand, while yelling 'hard to starboard!'?"
"Yes," chuckled Sirius.
"And when it remained one piece, you tore it in two pieces!"
"Yelling that it was sinking and unfortunately McGonagall came by the same moment," added Sirius.
"She hasn't forgotten it! She told me she remembers all weird things we've done at Hogwarts."
"You're kidding, aren't you?"
"Nope," said Remus.
"So she remembers us getting lost in Hogwarts, when we were laughing our heads off?"
"Yep."
"And the time you gave the wrong answer to her question about how long we were at school then?"
"Had she ever asked me such question?" asked Remus.
"Oh yes, but you probably banished it out of your memory," grinned Sirius.
"Probably. What did I answer than?" asked Remus.
"You answered something like: 'since last night', and the answer she expected to hear was 'since six years'."
"Now I remember it!" replied Remus. "but why did she ask?"
"She spotted us in the corridors again, when we weren't supposed to be that moment," explained Sirius.
"But why did she ask how long we were there then?"
"I suppose she thought we'd know the rules after six years," shrugged Sirius.
"Which we did," replied Remus, with twinkling eyes.
"Oh yes, we did! Not that we followed the ruled, but we knew them!"
"It's a miracle we never got into real trouble, if you know what we've been doing…" Remus suddenly realised.
"Because we knew all the rules, and exactly knew what we could do and what not," said Sirius.'
"You once got into serious trouble, though."
"With you as werewolf and Snape, you mean?"
"Yes."
"Well, we survived!"
"Minerva also told me she remembered she saw us once in the Great Hall, when you began waving with your quill," said Remus.
"Waving with my quill?"
"Yes, you were telling me something and you were waving with you quill, sending green spots of ink everywhere on the table."
"Oh, that time! Luckily Filch didn't see, he would have gone mad!"
"Yes, he would. She also remembered that were once in the Great Hall, with Anne, when Anne had a Muggle toy cat, a pink one."
"Pinky, she still has it," replied Sirius.
"She had? Is it still… alive? Minerva remembered that you were reanimating it once!"
"Oh no! She saw more that we thought she had!" said Sirius dramatically.
"Yeah, I haven't seen her with that quill-accident either," said Remus, frowning. "Imagine, she can make herself invisible too!"
"Unlikely, then she would have shown up on the Marauders Map too," answered Sirius.
"True, but maybe she found a way to be invisible and Unplottalbe at the same time," joked Remus.
"That's an interesting idea…"
A/N: most of what's happened in this chapter has really happened. Linda and I went to the same school, and we nicknamed a teacher McGonagall. He (it was a man) always seemed to spot us when we were making a fool of ourselves… (and when we didn't when he came by, he made us make a fool of ourselves…)