A/N: Review! I know it ain't great, so tell ma what's wrong with it and I
can fix it! Not so much Rooney this chapter, but I do try to fit in some
Toto (Africa) I think I have a problem, I must always put pieces of songs
in every chapter) bad max, bad! Lani is short for Leylani, I kind of switch
back between the two.
Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter (in my dreams) I really do! But in this "real world" that people seem to place such a huge emphasis on, J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all affiliated characters. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 3: Out of Africa
Drums were echoing in the poor werewolf's head. He kept hearing, in what seemed to be Sirius' voice, "She coming back! SHE'S COMING BACK!" He could see her, beautiful dusky sky, and there she was flying on a thestral with some friends. Suddenly she lost control, the people she was with were not to be trusted! He watched her fall to the ground. Screaming, he tried to save her, after all she had kind of grown on him, but then he realized the full moon, he was wolf again. As she reached the ground she struggled through the air. He knew she had been flying to high, there was nobody near by, just a few primitive tribes, they wouldn't know what they were seeing.
He came over to see her dying, then the wolf started taking over again, he tore her apart. At the smell of blood, a few wild dogs came out from surrounding bushes, but after seeing Remus, the wolf, they back off. Many of the dogs started howling at the moon in hunger.
In total disbelief at what he'd done he headed to the nearest watering hole to get a drink, splash his face, and look at his reflection. There, he saw the reflection of Mt. Kilimanjaro, but when he looked up, it wasn't there. He saw the back of an old man, and called to him. It was Dumbledore! He asked why he couldn't see the mountain, but could see the reflection. Dumbledore told him that he had to stop searching so hard for it, and let it come to him. The best thing would be to forget about it. "But how can I forget, I think I just killed Leylani!" but Dumbledore simply shook his head. He looked at his own reflection, but was not the wolf that he expected to see, but Remus, the human. He ran from his reflection, afraid of who he had become. Sure those could not have been his gray hairs!
He tried to correct what he was, to cure his wolven behavior in his human self, but it did not work. It started to rain, and he looked up. He saw James and Sirius at seventeen years old flying on their brooms. He wanted to warn them of the dangers of what they were doing, that they would fall like Lani did. But when he tried to yell, it came out as a wolf's howl, even though he was in human form. They started to fall, as well. He wanted to apologize for not warning them soon enough, but it was too late, they were gone. He saw a large, shaggy, black dog and a stag run away from where the bodies of his friends had been, they had disappeared. "They didn't belong here, they had to leave," Dumbledore told him, "they needed to get out of Africa."
Remus woke up startled and crying. He already knew he had none of his old Hogwarts friend left, but Lani! What did the part about Leylani mean? It was 5:00 am, "Might as well get up now" Remus thought to himself. He went downstairs, to fix himself some breakfast. He was, oddly enough, hungry, a rarity for Remus in the morning. The Weasleys were coming over today. He needed somebody to stay long-term. He could not afford a place of his own, nor could he stand to live alone in the House of Black one more night.
An owl came with a note. The handwriting was the generic writing of one of those quills you dictate to, and it writes. As common as he knew these were, he knew immediately who had sent it. "So my dream could have been predicting this," he thought to himself, Leylani's coming back from Africa. Leylani was a girl who was six years younger than him. They had met at Hogwarts, both Gryffindors who faced and triumphed over physical adversity. "She had the biggest crush on me," he remembered "She was the one who started the Remus Lupin Fan Club," but after low membership, she converted it to the Marauders Fan Club, "James and Sirius made it a popular club. I hated them for that." Then a wave of guilt passed over Remus, "How can I think of hating them, they were so great to me, worked so hard to make me feel like could fit in, and now I'm thinking about hating them. Now they're Dead!" He really felt awful "I should think more about hating that RAT wormtail (his name does not deserve capitalization), their deaths were both his fault. He was the one who caused James, and Lily, to not live long enough to even live to be thirty! He was the one who caused Sirius to live the last fourteen years of his life either in Azkaban, or in hiding, always trapped one way or another, his life might as well have ended when James' did. Why is that EVIL wormtail still breathing?" Remus struggled with theses thoughts just about everyday.
But all that's not the point, Lani was coming back! One of his old friends (sort of). "I bet she's married and has kids. Maybe one is going to Hogwarts this year, I bet that's why she's coming back!" But he would soon be corrected. In fact, Lani's heart was still where it had been when he last saw her five years ago, far from any other man's hands.
Later, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione arrived, this greatly lifted Remus' spirits. "Remus, I need to talk to you about something," Harry approached Remus. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were also in the room, and started to leave. "No. I want you guys to stay. Harry said. They sat at the kitchen table. Harry took out the mirror and map from his pockets. Remus knew what this talk was going to be about, and longed for it just as much as he dreaded it. He told Remus to take the map. "It rightfully belongs to you, you are, were one of the Marauders," Harry mumbled the last part. "And also, this mirror used to belong to my father. Sirius had one too, you should have one, or both of them," he pushed the items toward Remus.
"I can't take these, I already have Sirius' mirror, and the map is of no use to me. But I do have one question. If you had the mirror, why didn't you use it to contact Sirius?"
A tear left Harry's eye, but he wiped it quickly, hoping that Ginny didn't notice. She had, but thought it noble of him, not many boys have the courage cry in front of their friends. "I didn't know what it was, it was just a package. Sirius told me to use it to contact him if I needed to, but I soon forgot about it. I think the fact that I had no idea what it was made it easier to forget. I still can't believe that I could've talked to him!" Harry exclaimed, his voice cracking. When he saw the confused looks on Ginny's, Ron's, and Hermione's faces, he passed around the note that came with it. He couldn't talk abut his huge mistake without bawling like a baby, and he didn't' want to do that in front of Ginny. After realizing what it was, Ron and Ginny sat staring at Harry in total disbelief.
"You know, if that didn't happen, if we hadn't gone to the Ministry, Umbridge would still be running the show, and you would still be treated like a crazy man. Plus, I examined the situation, it was only a matter of time before the Malfoys got the Order Headquarters address out of Kreacher. He would have had to punish himself, but there was nothing really stopping him from revealing all the secrets. Voldemort would have figured out some way to get in. It was only a matter of about a week, or maybe two before he was killed by Voldemort anyway, then Dumbledore still would have been in hiding" Hermione said, trying to comfort Harry. He wanted to believe that, but couldn't do it. He couldn't just make himself believe that he did nothing wrong, after all the damage he had caused.
Harry had to ask Lupin if Sirius was going to get an honorary pardon, so he is remembered for who he was, not a criminal. "Fudge says he will, but he said that it would officially corrected and announced in The Daily Prophet by yesterday, and nothing has happened," Lupin responded. After a few moments of silence, Lupin decided to change the subject, everyone was ready to think about something else. "So, is everybody done with there summer homework?"
"Yes!" Hermione practically shouted, "I made sure of that!"
"Good" said Lupin. "So what are your future plans, you were supposed to have your meeting on your future career this year, right?"
"I want to be an Auror," said Harry, "Professor McGonagal said I would make a good one, but Umbridge disagreed, she pointed out that I was getting low marks in her class, and then McGonagal said 'yes, and he's gotten high marks from every competent teacher'" Lupin smiled.
"We don't mean to sound like, well, suck-ups, but you re the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had, by like, a million times," Ron stated. Their discussion on careers was interrupt by dinner, everyone immediately forgot the conversation.
At dinner Lupin told everyone that Leylani was coming. "Oh, yes Dumbledore wrote to us about that," Arthur commented, "Haven't seen since before she left, but I bet you've seen her, right Lupin?"
"No, not really," Lupin informed, "I considered visiting her in Mozambique for a while, but I had a small window due to weather, and um, the full moon got in the way."
"Who's Leylani?" an inquisitive Ron asked.
"She used to be an Auror for the Ministry, but ever since Voldemort tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone, she's been traveling the world recruiting people for the Order, long distance. She spent most of her time in Africa, got us about 400 supporters from all-over the continent!"
"Wow!" exclaimed Hermione, "that's 80 people a year!" she added. Hermione did think it rather odd that an auror would leave the country the minute she thought there was a threat of Voldemort returning. It seemed like a very wormtail-esque thing to do. Hermoine didn't want to bring this matter up, though, she thought she ought to research it before making the adults question this friend just in case she was all right.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Lani!!!!" Remus shouted.
Lani's response "Remus?" struck Hermione as slightly odd, even though she sounded incredibly ecstatic to see him, she had an odd sound of doubt in her voice, as though she wasn't sure Remus was who he was. She seemed to be staring right at him, but almost couldn't see him. "I can't believe I'm finally back! So, how are you all?" Yep, something was definitely off.
Lupin introduced all the Weasleys, none of the adults (people over eighteen) found it odd that she hardly looked the people she was introduced to. "This is Ron, the youngest Weasley son, and Ginny the only daughter, and baby of the family," Lupin stated, "and these are Harry and Hermione friends of Ginny and Ron."
"Harry Potter?" she asked, funny, most people realized who he was sooner, "I haven't met you since, well, since the night your parents died." She said met not seen, another oddity. It was getting late, the children were sent off to bed.
Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter (in my dreams) I really do! But in this "real world" that people seem to place such a huge emphasis on, J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all affiliated characters. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 3: Out of Africa
Drums were echoing in the poor werewolf's head. He kept hearing, in what seemed to be Sirius' voice, "She coming back! SHE'S COMING BACK!" He could see her, beautiful dusky sky, and there she was flying on a thestral with some friends. Suddenly she lost control, the people she was with were not to be trusted! He watched her fall to the ground. Screaming, he tried to save her, after all she had kind of grown on him, but then he realized the full moon, he was wolf again. As she reached the ground she struggled through the air. He knew she had been flying to high, there was nobody near by, just a few primitive tribes, they wouldn't know what they were seeing.
He came over to see her dying, then the wolf started taking over again, he tore her apart. At the smell of blood, a few wild dogs came out from surrounding bushes, but after seeing Remus, the wolf, they back off. Many of the dogs started howling at the moon in hunger.
In total disbelief at what he'd done he headed to the nearest watering hole to get a drink, splash his face, and look at his reflection. There, he saw the reflection of Mt. Kilimanjaro, but when he looked up, it wasn't there. He saw the back of an old man, and called to him. It was Dumbledore! He asked why he couldn't see the mountain, but could see the reflection. Dumbledore told him that he had to stop searching so hard for it, and let it come to him. The best thing would be to forget about it. "But how can I forget, I think I just killed Leylani!" but Dumbledore simply shook his head. He looked at his own reflection, but was not the wolf that he expected to see, but Remus, the human. He ran from his reflection, afraid of who he had become. Sure those could not have been his gray hairs!
He tried to correct what he was, to cure his wolven behavior in his human self, but it did not work. It started to rain, and he looked up. He saw James and Sirius at seventeen years old flying on their brooms. He wanted to warn them of the dangers of what they were doing, that they would fall like Lani did. But when he tried to yell, it came out as a wolf's howl, even though he was in human form. They started to fall, as well. He wanted to apologize for not warning them soon enough, but it was too late, they were gone. He saw a large, shaggy, black dog and a stag run away from where the bodies of his friends had been, they had disappeared. "They didn't belong here, they had to leave," Dumbledore told him, "they needed to get out of Africa."
Remus woke up startled and crying. He already knew he had none of his old Hogwarts friend left, but Lani! What did the part about Leylani mean? It was 5:00 am, "Might as well get up now" Remus thought to himself. He went downstairs, to fix himself some breakfast. He was, oddly enough, hungry, a rarity for Remus in the morning. The Weasleys were coming over today. He needed somebody to stay long-term. He could not afford a place of his own, nor could he stand to live alone in the House of Black one more night.
An owl came with a note. The handwriting was the generic writing of one of those quills you dictate to, and it writes. As common as he knew these were, he knew immediately who had sent it. "So my dream could have been predicting this," he thought to himself, Leylani's coming back from Africa. Leylani was a girl who was six years younger than him. They had met at Hogwarts, both Gryffindors who faced and triumphed over physical adversity. "She had the biggest crush on me," he remembered "She was the one who started the Remus Lupin Fan Club," but after low membership, she converted it to the Marauders Fan Club, "James and Sirius made it a popular club. I hated them for that." Then a wave of guilt passed over Remus, "How can I think of hating them, they were so great to me, worked so hard to make me feel like could fit in, and now I'm thinking about hating them. Now they're Dead!" He really felt awful "I should think more about hating that RAT wormtail (his name does not deserve capitalization), their deaths were both his fault. He was the one who caused James, and Lily, to not live long enough to even live to be thirty! He was the one who caused Sirius to live the last fourteen years of his life either in Azkaban, or in hiding, always trapped one way or another, his life might as well have ended when James' did. Why is that EVIL wormtail still breathing?" Remus struggled with theses thoughts just about everyday.
But all that's not the point, Lani was coming back! One of his old friends (sort of). "I bet she's married and has kids. Maybe one is going to Hogwarts this year, I bet that's why she's coming back!" But he would soon be corrected. In fact, Lani's heart was still where it had been when he last saw her five years ago, far from any other man's hands.
Later, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione arrived, this greatly lifted Remus' spirits. "Remus, I need to talk to you about something," Harry approached Remus. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were also in the room, and started to leave. "No. I want you guys to stay. Harry said. They sat at the kitchen table. Harry took out the mirror and map from his pockets. Remus knew what this talk was going to be about, and longed for it just as much as he dreaded it. He told Remus to take the map. "It rightfully belongs to you, you are, were one of the Marauders," Harry mumbled the last part. "And also, this mirror used to belong to my father. Sirius had one too, you should have one, or both of them," he pushed the items toward Remus.
"I can't take these, I already have Sirius' mirror, and the map is of no use to me. But I do have one question. If you had the mirror, why didn't you use it to contact Sirius?"
A tear left Harry's eye, but he wiped it quickly, hoping that Ginny didn't notice. She had, but thought it noble of him, not many boys have the courage cry in front of their friends. "I didn't know what it was, it was just a package. Sirius told me to use it to contact him if I needed to, but I soon forgot about it. I think the fact that I had no idea what it was made it easier to forget. I still can't believe that I could've talked to him!" Harry exclaimed, his voice cracking. When he saw the confused looks on Ginny's, Ron's, and Hermione's faces, he passed around the note that came with it. He couldn't talk abut his huge mistake without bawling like a baby, and he didn't' want to do that in front of Ginny. After realizing what it was, Ron and Ginny sat staring at Harry in total disbelief.
"You know, if that didn't happen, if we hadn't gone to the Ministry, Umbridge would still be running the show, and you would still be treated like a crazy man. Plus, I examined the situation, it was only a matter of time before the Malfoys got the Order Headquarters address out of Kreacher. He would have had to punish himself, but there was nothing really stopping him from revealing all the secrets. Voldemort would have figured out some way to get in. It was only a matter of about a week, or maybe two before he was killed by Voldemort anyway, then Dumbledore still would have been in hiding" Hermione said, trying to comfort Harry. He wanted to believe that, but couldn't do it. He couldn't just make himself believe that he did nothing wrong, after all the damage he had caused.
Harry had to ask Lupin if Sirius was going to get an honorary pardon, so he is remembered for who he was, not a criminal. "Fudge says he will, but he said that it would officially corrected and announced in The Daily Prophet by yesterday, and nothing has happened," Lupin responded. After a few moments of silence, Lupin decided to change the subject, everyone was ready to think about something else. "So, is everybody done with there summer homework?"
"Yes!" Hermione practically shouted, "I made sure of that!"
"Good" said Lupin. "So what are your future plans, you were supposed to have your meeting on your future career this year, right?"
"I want to be an Auror," said Harry, "Professor McGonagal said I would make a good one, but Umbridge disagreed, she pointed out that I was getting low marks in her class, and then McGonagal said 'yes, and he's gotten high marks from every competent teacher'" Lupin smiled.
"We don't mean to sound like, well, suck-ups, but you re the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had, by like, a million times," Ron stated. Their discussion on careers was interrupt by dinner, everyone immediately forgot the conversation.
At dinner Lupin told everyone that Leylani was coming. "Oh, yes Dumbledore wrote to us about that," Arthur commented, "Haven't seen since before she left, but I bet you've seen her, right Lupin?"
"No, not really," Lupin informed, "I considered visiting her in Mozambique for a while, but I had a small window due to weather, and um, the full moon got in the way."
"Who's Leylani?" an inquisitive Ron asked.
"She used to be an Auror for the Ministry, but ever since Voldemort tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone, she's been traveling the world recruiting people for the Order, long distance. She spent most of her time in Africa, got us about 400 supporters from all-over the continent!"
"Wow!" exclaimed Hermione, "that's 80 people a year!" she added. Hermione did think it rather odd that an auror would leave the country the minute she thought there was a threat of Voldemort returning. It seemed like a very wormtail-esque thing to do. Hermoine didn't want to bring this matter up, though, she thought she ought to research it before making the adults question this friend just in case she was all right.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Lani!!!!" Remus shouted.
Lani's response "Remus?" struck Hermione as slightly odd, even though she sounded incredibly ecstatic to see him, she had an odd sound of doubt in her voice, as though she wasn't sure Remus was who he was. She seemed to be staring right at him, but almost couldn't see him. "I can't believe I'm finally back! So, how are you all?" Yep, something was definitely off.
Lupin introduced all the Weasleys, none of the adults (people over eighteen) found it odd that she hardly looked the people she was introduced to. "This is Ron, the youngest Weasley son, and Ginny the only daughter, and baby of the family," Lupin stated, "and these are Harry and Hermione friends of Ginny and Ron."
"Harry Potter?" she asked, funny, most people realized who he was sooner, "I haven't met you since, well, since the night your parents died." She said met not seen, another oddity. It was getting late, the children were sent off to bed.
