Seasons
~ Chapter 3 ~
~*~Communication~*~
The beautiful days are long gone
I can't seem to breathe
It feels like it hasn't been that long
Since you walked away from me
Now I can try to act real strong
But you and I both know I still think of you that way
You should know…that
The beautiful lights the star filled nights
They don't mean a thing
Cause you were my star and so it don't seem right
Without you here with me
Now I can try to act real strong
But you and I both know its hard for me to say
You were my soul…
Now I could say that I don't love you no more
And I could say that I've closed the door for our love
And I can tell you I feel It's time for us to go our separate ways
But baby I just wouldn't be the same
Cause girl your love is still on my brain
"Do you think they'll find us in here?" Sirius whispered to James.
"If you keep talking they will!" James whispered back frantically.
It was later on that day, and James and Sirius had gone into hiding, in a closet in the third floor corridor.
"Sirius?" Roxie called, followed shortly by Lily's beckon to James. Sirius crossed his fingers, in hopes to keep the admirers at bay.
"I think they're gone," Sirius wished out loud, as he opened the door causing James and him to come tumbling out. They stood up and brushed themselves off, shaking their heads in disbelief.
"When is this damn potion gonna wear off?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know, but running from those two is becoming a real pain in the AARGH!!!!" James screamed, as he was side tackled by Lily.
"James!" She began as Sirius went into defense mode.
"If Lily's here," he said to himself, whipping around, "then Roxie isn't far behind."
"What's going on?" Remus asked, coming up behind Sirius. Sirius jumped about three feet at the sound of his voice.
"Jesus Christ, Moony, you scared the hell out of me."
"What are you on, Sirius?" Remus asked, looking into Sirius' pupils.
"Nothing! I'm just trying to hide from Roxie." Sirius said, while crouching behind a suit of armor.
"Why?" Remus asked, confused on why Sirius was hiding from the person he has been obsessed with for 6 years.
"So that doesn't happen to me." Sirius said while pointing at James. Well, actually it was James being pinned down by Lily.
"Oh," Remus said as he suppressed a laugh.
"So, how are you doing?" Sirius asked his friend.
"I've done better."
"Oh no!" Sirius whispered as he sprang into action, "Roxie is coming! We'll talk later, I promise!" He then fled to the staircase and began sliding down the banisters, one by one.
Roxie ran up to Remus, a tad out of breath and demanded to know where it was Sirius went.
"I don't know Rox, maybe you should try the Gryffindor tower." He answered back, shrugging his shoulders.
"Okay, thanks!" She said, as she ran into the direction of the Gryffindor tower. Remus laughed aloud and then went over and stood by James and Lily.
"Moony! Get her off of me!" James screamed. Remus reached down and tried to pull off Lily, but to no avail.
"Sorry Prongs, looks like your screwed. In a manner of speaking of course." Remus said, as he smiled at the struggling Marauder.
"Thanks a lot!" James said sarcastically as he managed to get up.
"Lily!" He said, holding her at arms length. "You need to get a hold of yourself here!"
The glassy look disappeared from her eyes, as she looked confusingly up at James.
"James, what in the name God do you think you're doing?" She half-screamed, as James took a startled step back.
Remus looked at James, then at Lily, and then back again at James.
"What is going on?" He muttered under his breath.
"I'm trying to get you to stop obsessing over me!" James retorted.
"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, a disgusted look creeping across her flushed face.
"You have been all over me since Potions this morning, and to be honest it is getting a little old." James answered, running his hand thru his hair. Usually this action causes a girl to go weak in the knees, but it just caused Lily to become angrier.
"Well, tell me how it would feel if I did it for 6 years, hmmm? Or did that not cross your mind while you were way up there, sitting atop your pedestal, did it Potter?" She snapped.
"Oh come off it Evans, you know you like me."
Remus' eyes widened as Lily took a sharp intake of air.
"James, you are unbelievable." Lily said quietly, her jaw clenched.
"Oh, thanks Lily, that means a lot coming from you! Unfortunately, I have previous obligations, so I cannot stay here and listen to your compliments any longer…" He answered sarcastically, then turned on his heel and walked away. Lily stood there, and watched him walk down the stairs, only to be mobbed by a pack of girls.
"Did they take the potion too?" Lily wondered aloud, while Remus just shook his head.
"No, our Jamie is just that irresistible." Remus chuckled, as he looked at the bemused expression on Lily's face.
"Are you serious?" Lily asked, as Remus smiled.
"No." He stated as Sirius sprinted pass them, "he is."
"You know, that isn't even funny anymore. Its just stupid." Lily said angrily, as she stalked off towards the common room.
"Hullo, Moony!" Sirius said cheerfully, walking up behind his friend.
"Sirius, I thought you were running from Roxie?"
"Well," Sirius reasoned, "I figure, that if she wants me that bad, she can have me!"
Remus shrugged as a voice interrupted them.
"Hey guys!" Roxie said brightly, as Sirius jumped a foot from the sight of her.
"What's wrong with you?" Roxie asked, looking at the trembling 16 year old.
"I, uh, well"
"It seems that you have been stalking Sirius all day, and attacking him at any opportunity." Remus reasoned, as Roxie put her hands on her hips and looked at Sirius, who straitened up at the sight of her 'angry stance.' He knew that stance all too well…
"Get off it, Sirius. And it is just a potion, what's the big deal? You stalk me all the time!"
Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but Roxie just glared at him, as his mouth went slack. She mentioned something about dinner, and the two boys followed her on command.
At dinner conversations were strained. It felt like the first few years at Hogwarts, boys against girls. Lily and Roxie, (Arianna still hasn't shown her face other than in class) were sitting across from Sirius and Remus, robotically chewing their food. James was nowhere to be seen, but Lily didn't seem to mind his absence.
Sirius was being Sirius, trying to annoy the others as much as possible. He would stare at one of them, and as soon as they would look directly into his eyes, he would begin humming and looking around the hall, as if to give the impression that he was totally innocent. After thirteen times of this, Roxie became enraged.
"Sirius Black!" She screamed, as she threw a roll at his head.
He looked startled as he lifted his untouched fruit cocktail from the table, and stared at her suggestively.
"You wouldn't." She declared, trying to distance herself from him.
"You obviously don't know me at all, Roxanne." He leveled with her, as she leapt out of her seat and quickly exited the Great Hall.
"You wouldn't have actually thrown that at her, would you?" Lily asked, eyeing Sirius nervously.
"Wanna find out?" He asked darkly, as Lily sped off to join her friend. She nearly ran over James, as he entered the hall. She left him without an apology as he ambled over to his friends.
"What was that about? I nearly get taken out by Roxie, and then Lily just about kills me 10 seconds later.
"Must be something in the water." Sirius shrugged while taking a large bite out of the offending roll.
Remus just looked sideways at his friend and then at James. James must have found the answer satisfactory though, because he didn't waste anytime questioning Sirius' logic as he dug into his dinner.
"So where were you earlier, Prongs?" Sirius asked, shoving his plate aside.
"I was helping someone with their transfiguration." He answered, grabbing some meat from Sirius' plate.
"Do we know this, 'someone'" Remus asked, taking a swig of pumpkin juice.
"I dunno, Christine Damon?" James asked, relishing in the identical expressions of Sirius and Remus.
"Oh my God, are you kidding?" Remus asked as he slammed down his empty
goblet.
"Does this look like the face of
a kidder?" James asked, smiling at his
astonished friends.
"Way to go Jamie, she is hot!" Sirius said, his voice reaching up an octave on the last word.
"I know." James nodded, as he looked around the table, and leaned in to whisper to his friends. "And I think that I might not be single for too much longer."
Sirius sat back and shook his head, "You are my King, Prongs."
"A-thank you, good sir," James smiled, as he mock-bowed while sitting at the table.
Just as he said it, the girl in question sauntered over to the boys, and sat down next James. Sirius' mouth dropped at the 7th year beauty from Ravenclaw that was striking up a conversation with his best friend. Remus stuck a roll in the slack jaw of Sirius.
"Thanks for the tutoring earlier, James." She said silkily, not noticing the other boys gaping stares.
"No problem, Christine." James said, giving his notoriously knee-weakening grin.
She seemed un-fazed by it, which worried James, but he kept trying.
"If you ever need me to show you anything else, you know where to find me." He then turned to the guys, pretending he didn't notice her still sitting there, expectantly.
Sirius eyes widened, if at all possible, even more at Christine's next action.
"Thanks again, James." She then kissed the Gryffindor on the cheek and walked back to her own table to gather her friends, and then out of the hall, not turning back once.
When she was out of earshot, Sirius let out a whoop and Remus pretended to faint.
"The most beautiful girl ever to grace the presence of this beloved school just kissed you." Sirius said, not believing the words coming out of mouth.
"Believe me, by the time Halloween rolls around," James said, getting up from the table, "I'll be getting a lot more than just a peck on the cheek." He then left his two best friends, awestruck, sitting at the table.
Meanwhile, in the 6th year girls' dorms, Lily and Roxie were trying to avoid Arianna's constant questions, concerning none other than the elusive Remus.
"So did he seem more, sad-angry, or sad-confused?" She badgered, as Lily rolled her eyes, and Roxie let out a wail.
"For the last time, Arianna," Lily said, thru clenched teeth, "we don't know exactly how he looked. We didn't analyze his facial expressions for you. Maybe you should try to socialize with your friends a little more, and you could find out yourself."
"Yeah, I know," Arianna answered back. "But honestly guys, did he look like he was lost, and without sleep? Like how I look?"
"Do you want us to answer you honestly, or tell you that he looked terrible?" Roxie asked, looking at Lily and shrugging.
"Ahh…" Arianna breathed into her pillow, and motioned for the other girls to leave the room.
"No." Roxie said, with finality in her voice.
"Please, just leave me here." Arianna said weakly, as she tried to pull the curtains around her bed, but to no avail. Lily was grasping the cloth tightly as she sat down on Arianna's bed.
(A/N: Now, when I say, Arianna or Nana, its not like the banana type of sound here, more like, uh, well I don't know the phonetics of it. Maybe it would look like, Nahnuh? Like, mama, with n's I suppose. Because her name isn't like 'Anna' at the end, more like, 'Ana.' Get it? Like when you are saying, "Yeah that's my Aunt Rachel," you'd say it Aunt, not Ant. Well at least I do. One of the few Americans that probably does… Lol, on with the story.)
"Nana," Lily said quietly, "you need to quit moping around here, and you need to get out there and meet someone else. For your own sake. Hell, for all of our sakes."
"What?" Arianna asked, looking at Lily, "Lily, we went out for two years, and we broke up yesterday! You want me to go find another guy right away?"
"Yesterday!?" Lily asked, trying to recount the past few days in her head. She looked at Roxie for confirmation, as she nodded.
"Well, believe us," Roxie interjected, "it has felt like weeks."
"How do you think it's been for me." Arianna asked, while numbly playing with Lily's long red hair.
"What are you afraid of, though? I mean, are you afraid to hang out with your friends?" Roxie asked, not understanding why Arianna was insisting on staying away from the group.
"No, I'm just afraid to see him. To see him doing ok, and acting normal like nothing happened. I can't bear to see him not acting how devastated I think he should be, or even how devastated I feel."
"Well, there is only one way to bypass that though, you know that, right?" Roxie asked, jumping up and rifling through the vanity drawers.
"How." Arianna said, not as a question, but more as a statement of fear. She saw the look in Roxie's eyes, and she was afraid of what the shameless grinning meant.
"How about, we make you look, 47 times better than you feel." Lily said, catching on to Roxie while helping her find the necessary equipment.
"I'd still look like shit." Arianna said dully, as Roxie and Lily whipped around. Arianna never swore, unless she was in a really foul mood. In fact, Lily and Roxie had only heard her swear once in recent memory. And that was last night.
"Sorry guys, I know I must be hard to take. I just don't feel like putting on this grand façade to make it seem like I'm not hurting terribly on the inside."
"Bloody hell Arianna, just get a shower and get dressed!" Lily spewed. "It's not like were asking you to get ready for tea with the bloody queen!"
"Fine!" Arianna consented as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door. When they heard the water start to run, Lily slumped to the floor and sighed.
"You'd think we were asking her to break in at Gringott's for a bit of shopping money." Roxie said as she looked through Arianna's possessions, for a suitable outfit.
"Exactly." Lily agreed, while glancing at the outfit Roxie set aside. It was a simple black tank top, paired with Arianna's (as well as Remus') favorite ultra low-rise jeans. Arianna got them at some muggle shop in America, whose name rhymed with bitch. Lily couldn't quite remember the exact name though, she just thought it was odd to name a store that. (A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know Abercrombie and Fitch wasn't around back then, but everyone knows how slutty their clothes are. If you don't, go to www.aandf.com and see for yourself. Sad thing is, if you look in my closet, is looks like an Abercrombie blew up in it. I need more diversity…)
Anyway, Lily knew exactly why Roxie had picked out that outfit.
"You are terribly transparent, Roxanne." Lily added, while trying to find a necklace to go with the outfit.
"How so?"
"Hmm, lets see? Every time Arianna wears this outfit, Remus can't take his eyes off her. You wouldn't by any chance be trying to get them back together, would you?" Lily smirked, as Roxie grinned back at her.
"Yes, but Arianna doesn't need to know that."
"I don't need to know what?" Arianna asked, while grabbing the clothes laid out for her, and pausing in front of the bathroom door to hear Roxie's explanation.
"You don't need to know that you aren't supposed to wear white after Labor Day!" Roxie said, acting as if it was common knowledge.
Arianna looked down at herself, and then back up at her friend, "but I'm not wearing white."
"Exactly!" Roxie half-screamed at her. "So you don't need to be told twice! No run along and get dressed, I'll do your make-up and Lily will tackle your hair." Arianna gave a confused nod, as Lily turned to look at Roxie.
"What is Labor Day?" She asked.
"I'm not exactly sure. It just kind of popped into my head!" She answered cheerfully while gathering the needed make-up.
"Mmm hmmm." Lily nodded, as she picked up a Witches Weekly.
"So why are we getting dressed, if all we are going to do is sit in the common room, and watch the boys play game after game of wizards chess?" Arianna asked logically.
"Because we aren't sitting in the common room, rotting our brains out. We are going to Hogsmeade." Roxie answered, while handing Arianna a hemp necklace to go with her outfit.
"Who?" Arianna asked again.
"Boy, we are just full of questions tonight aren't we." Lily said. "If you must know, we are going with the boys."
Arianna opened her mouth to object, but Lily cut her off.
"And before you refuse to go, remember that you have no choice." Lily said in a monotone voice, not looking up from the magazine once.
"How do I not have a choice?" Arianna asked back, waiting patiently for Lily's answer.
"Because," she said simply, "if you decided not to attend, I would easily put you under the imperious curse, and make you."
"You wouldn't dare." Arianna said, her smile fading.
"Do you want to find out?" She retorted, using a line of Sirius'.
"Lillian Elizabeth, you wouldn't risk spending time in Azkaban, just for making me go to Hogsmeade."
"Do I look like I'm afraid of getting in trouble?" Lily asked, while doing Arianna's hair in a loose half ponytail, making it cascade down her back in large, loose curls.
"Obviously not," Sirius interrupted from the door, "or else you would never have gone out in public looking as you do. I should call the fashion police on you." Lily laughed and shook her head, as Roxie stopped what she was doing with the make-up, and looked intently at the boy standing in the doorway.
"Sometimes Sirius," Roxie said coming closer to him, "I wonder about your sexuality…"
He smiled and grabbed her in a bone-crushing hug and kissed her square on the mouth.
"Still wondering, Roxanne?" He asked, letting her go from his grasp.
"No." She said calmly. "Now I wonder about your sanity! You better run Sirius." She lunged at him, as he flew out the door and down the steps. She then went back to finishing Arianna's make-up.
"Where'd Sirius run off to?" James asked as he walked in the room a few minutes later.
"Something must've came up, I guess?" Roxie answered innocently.
"Hmm. So you girls ready?" He asked, while Arianna stood up. He went over and embraced her in a hug, and whispered in her ear, "Nice to have you back, Nana."
"Yeah, yeah." She said as he freed herself from his arms.
No sooner had the group found Sirius, had they made their way to Hogsmeade, with aid of the Marauders Map.
"Are you sure that we aren't going to get in trouble for this?" Lily asked as they went through the secret passage way.
"Not afraid of getting in trouble, my arse." Sirius said, referring to her speech to Arianna not 10 minutes earlier.
"That, was just a ploy to get Arianna to come, seeing as though she would have refused to go if I didn't force her." Remus rolled his eyes at this, but only Roxie saw. She put her arm around him and told him that everything would work out.
They entered Hogsmeade through the Honeydukes passage, a trail that would be used many a time years later by a certain Potter and his friends.
"Ok, first stop, Three Broomsticks." Sirius said, walking to the front of the group and leading the way. Once they sat down at a table, Sirius ordered butterbeers all around and the group drank up.
The conversation was obviously strained, and every one knew why, but it wasn't as if someone was going to say something. Arianna excused herself and walked out of the restaurant.
"Typical." Remus said as the door closed. Lily and Roxie shot him identical looks, and he just shrugged.
"We have to go get something from Honeydukes for my mum," James said, motioning towards Sirius, as the two got up and left. Part one of the plan had been put into action.
"I'll just go with them," Remus said, pointing in the direction of Honeydukes, and leaving to follow the boys.
"Ok, now we get to the tree!" Roxie said as she put her money down on the table. The two girls quickly exited the pub and ran as inconspicuously as possible, to the old oak tree in the park. They climbed up as quickly as they could, and were greeted by James and Sirius.
"Are you sure Arianna will come here?" Sirius asked, helping Roxie to one of the seats he made in the tree.
"Yeah, this is where her and Remus got together, 4th year. They always come to this one bench together." Lily answered, while conjuring some popcorn. Sure enough, a minute later Arianna entered the park and sat down on the bench.
"How is Remus going to get here?" Roxie asked, as Lily pointed down to the ground and nudged her friend to be quiet. Remus had just walked in to the park and was heading towards Arianna.
"Cold?" Remus asked quietly as he sat next to the love of his life.
"No." She answered back devoid of emotion.
"Beautiful night, huh?" He said more as a statement rather than a question.
"I suppose." She breathed.
"Arianna," he began, but she cut him off with a shake of her head.
"Arianna, why are you making this so hard?" he asked, trying to look into her eyes. She was fiddling with the ring he gave her the previous year, when she looked up to meet his gaze.
"I can't believe you Remus," she said quietly, her stare turning cold.
"You can't believe what? What did I ever do to you?" he asked, getting angry at her accusations.
"I cannot comprehend how you can cheat on me, and think that I wouldn't care?! That it was no big deal!" She stood up to leave, but he stood up also, to cut her off.
"Arianna, what are you on about now?" He asked, growing confused.
"What?!" She yelled at him, "last night, didn't you say that its in your blood? Wasn't that your excuse, Remus? You couldn't help it? That I should accept the fact that you are cheating on me?"
"I never cheated on you!" He yelled back.
"Yes, yes you did. That's why you left me for days at a time. 'I'm visiting my sick Aunt, Arianna.' How ignorant was I to believe that? You weren't visiting your damned Aunt, you were trying to get away from ugly, fat, boring Arianna for a weekend, and then string her along until the next whore showed up and wanted to fuck!" She started crying now, as Sirius accidentally spilled some popcorn while trying to find Roxie a tissue. Neither Remus nor Arianna seemed to notice the flying bits of popcorn raining down on them.
"Arianna, what the hell are you talking about?" Remus asked, grabbing her hand with his. She yanked hers back.
"The reason we broke up! Because of you!" She couldn't figure out why he didn't understand what she was saying.
"No, we broke up because of you! Because you can't accept me."
"Yeah, I can't accept that you are a lying, cheating bastard!"
"No Arianna! You can't accept the fact that I'm a goddamned werewolf! You got scared and, being the little bitch that you are, broke it off!!" He screamed at her, but she wasn't fazed. Roxie almost dropped her wand and bag of popcorn, as she looked around at the other tree-dwellers. Lily looked about as shocked as she felt, but both of the boys were just leaning in to hear more.
"Remus Lupin! I don't give a fuck whether you are a flying monkey! My cousin is a werewolf! I don't care!" She screamed, with no indication of letting up, "What I care about is that fact that I was stupid enough not to know that you didn't love me! That you would leave me for days at a time, once a month to be with another girl. It was like clock work, how could I not have…" She stopped.
"Your, a werewolf?" She asked him in a normal voice, tilting her head to the side.
"Just a bit," he smiled weakly at her.
"That's where you were every month. Going through your transformations. Wasn't it?" She asked again, finally seeing what had actually been going on.
He nodded. "I can't believe you thought that I didn't love you. Arianna, I love more than anything in this world. I would never do anything to hurt you. You should know that."
"Why didn't you just tell me that you were a werewolf?" She asked, stepping closer to him.
"I didn't want to scare you off! I couldn't think of how it would be without you." He said honestly, grabbing her hands and pulling her towards him in an embrace.
"God, I am so stupid!" She said, starting to cry again.
He let go of her a little, and bent down some, to her level, and whispered to her, "Your not stupid. You are the smartest, most beautiful, and most exciting person I know. And I will never let you go again." He then kissed her with all the passion he had ever known, wrapping his arms around her, holding her incase her knees gave way.
"Sorry mate, didn't hear that last part clearly, mind saying it again?" Sirius bellowed from the tree, as Remus held his middle finger up as an answer. (A/N: I don't know if people in England flip other people off, but it's quite popular here in the US. Well, maybe its just me and my friends, but hell, who cares.)
The rest of the friends hopped out of the tree and headed back to Hogwarts lacking Remus and Arianna.
As they passed through the park, Sirius thumbed towards Arianna and Remus and said loudly,
"If I had a knut for every time those two reunited…"
"You'd have a knut." Roxie said flatly, shaking her head.
"Damn. I'd still be poor."
WOO HOO! DONE WITH CHAPTER 3! OH MY GOD IT TOOK FOREVER!!! Ok, I'm done with the constant capitalization. I really do hope you enjoyed this chapter seeing as though it took me three years. Ok, no more like 13 days, same thing though. I'm glad Remus and Arianna are back together. I'm getting a little tired of the group segregating… Lol, I act as if they are real people… Sad, I know. Ok, I'm going out of town this weekend, and the next weekend, but I will be thinking of the plot of the next chapter. Its title is going to be, "So Yesterday" I think. Ok, this was a long chapter! Geez! LOL ok, well you all have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you later! BYE!! Love you all!! Oh yeah! The song in the beginning is Justin Timberlake's, 'Still on My Brain.'
Liz
Squirrel Maiden~ Thanks for your review! Sorry it took me so long on the update, I'm a little high on blue fairy dust too, it makes me work a little slower. Lol, jk.
BlueEyedWildmage~ Yeah, I start to bad for the characters too, but I think that they are all in fairly good moods now.
Rekino~ Thanks for your review and liking chapter two! Woo, that rhymed! Lol, anyways, I hope you like this chapter also.
Heather~ It reminds you of school? That's a great thing to hear. I think that some of the characters act like my friends, though I don't think I tried to base any of the characters on real people. Hmm, maybe it was my subconscious.
Alyna/Obbsesive~ (hopefully you are the same person. I kind of have a headache right now, forgive me, lol…) Thank you so much for liking this story. It really means a lot to me!
