Disclaimer: See previous chapters 'cause I'm too lazy to put it up in this one.
*`*`*`*`*
Everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually
Let's love ourselves then we can't fail
To make a better situation
Tomorrow, our seeds will grow
All we need is dedication
Chapter Two:
Natural Surprises
The girls ran around the room like chickens without their heads. At least Thalia and Clio did. Clio may be sensible, but she was terrified of breaking the rules, or more like it, being caught breaking the rules. Thalia was just, Thalia.
Lily, amid the din of the two human synonyms panicking, called out, "Who's there?"
"It's Sirius you guy's, stop freaking out!" Lily opened the door and ushered him in before quickly slamming it shut behind him.
"Oh-my-gosh! I thought we were caught for sure!" said Clio, her panic subsiding. Thalia kicked her; she had been worried too, but she didn't need Sirius to know that.
"You now, you guys should have a more fool proof plan for when someone knocks, other than flipping I mean." He said pushing all of Thalia's buttons at once.
"Oh yeah? Such as?" she said trying not to look as interested as she was.
"We have a spell on our door. We can see who it is, that way we know whether to panic or not."
"Really! I wonder why I didn't think of that, I know just the spell too." Within the blink of an eye, Clio had pulled out her wand and said the spell under her breath. The door suddenly vanished, reality wavered, and then it turned back into wood.
"What in the…?"
"If you want to see what's going on outside the door, just place your wand in the center and it will become see-through, to us. The outsiders will have no idea that they are being watched."
"We have the exact same spell on our door." Sirius said smugly, proud that they were ahead of the girls for once.
"That still doesn't help if it is a teacher. Sure it will keep us from panicking for no reason, but what if it is Mcgonagall?" Lily said, putting him back in his place.
Evidently Sirius hadn't thought of this because his face fell and he looked thoughtful, for possibly the first time in his life.
"I know! We can perform an Illusion charm; it's very difficult to do though. I have it in one of my books over here…" Clio ran over to a book shelf that took up one in tire wall. The girls not only had a wide collection themselves; they were regulars at the library. After many raised eyebrows from the others and lots of mumbling from Clio, she eventually unearthed a book Titled:
"Basic Charms of Disguise, a Sixth Years Study."
"I got Professor Flitwick to tell me what we were going to do next year so I could prepare ahead of time. Good thing too, the perfect spells in here." She shuffled through the pages and finally came across the spell. "Looks hard, we'll need to transfigure the wall and then cast a invisibility charm. If we want other people than the spell caster to see the wall as it really is, all of us have to be present. You need two people to cast the spell, one to transfigure the wall and the other to cast the invisibility charm."
"I think James and Lily should do it."
"What! Why us, I mean, me? Clio's the best witch."
"Because you're the best charms student in our year! I think James knows a thing or two about transfiguration too." Lily wrinkled her nose, it was one thing if Clio surpassed her in grades, or even Thalia, but when James did better in a subject than her, it really got under her skin. Sirius threw a significant look at Thalia who was already staring at him quizzically. They nodded with a, "we'll talk about it later," type of understanding. "I have to run," he said. "I'll get James to meet you in the Library after dinner, Lily."
"Why?"
"To study the spells, and who knows you two might get comfy… Yikes! Really have to go!" He ducked out of the room seeking shelter from Lily's appending pillow attacks.
She sighed and turned back to her friends who were eyeing her with knowing smiles. "Not-A-Word-! If I didn't know any better Thalia, I could have sworn you and Sirius planned this." She glared and raised her pillow again.
"Hee, hee, nope! Just a perfect coincidence." This wasn't a complete lie, her and Sirius had said on their last Zonkos trip that it was time to get those two moving. But evidently Sirius had finally come up with a plan, without her knowledge or consent, so they hadn't planned it, yet.
"Gotta fly!" And fly she did, right down the winding staircase and into the third floor corridor next to that statue of the one eyed witch. Were, as expected, Sirius was standing, a huge grin plastered on his face. They bent their heads closer together and began to form a plan.
*`*`*`*`*
At seven P.M. James and Lily left the great hall and headed for the sanctuary of the library. The others had been dropping not so subtle hints about their study session all throughout dinner. By six-fifty-seven they could no longer restrain themselves from killing they're dear friends and made their excuses to leave. This, unfortunately, only drove the taunting to new highs. They walked in silence.
Lily kept running the situation over in her mind, dully contemplating why she hadn't protested:
'Why on earth did I give in so easy? When I get my hands on Thalia… Wait, why am I reacting so strongly? We just have to find out some stuff about illusion charms, that's all, but why? I have a perfectly good book right in my bag; I guess Thalia and Clio thought there could be some more hints in the Library. Or they wanted to try and set me up,' She grumbled. 'Why didn't I protest? Was it because I wanted to spend time with James? Nah, Thalia just has a way of making me not question her suggestions until it's too late. I'm going to kill her when I get back!'
Next to her, James was silently doing the same:
'What was with Sirius today? Why was he making those dumb suggestions? And what did he mean, "She's not going to wait forever." Who asked her to wait! I don't care if she goes out with anyone'
This wasn't true, and it was common knowledge among all four houses that if anyone approached the girls, especially Lily, they would get it from, well, that's obvious.
'And anyway, why am I gong to the library to look up Transfiguration, I do know SOMETHING about that subject after all!' He thought smugly about his latest and greatest achievement in rule breaking. 'I wonder what Lily would think if she ever saw me as a stag?' This, of course, drove his mind back to present matters and he continued to mutely protest matters. 'How could I let that jerk off Padfoot talk me into this?' James shot a quick glance at Lily; she was fairly tall, not to tall, medium size. She had a fair complexion and red, loose, waves of fire streaming down her back. Her green eye's shone like emeralds. Her style was fun, but not wild like Thalia's (Thalia always found just enough loop holes in the schools dress code so she could be as crazy as she wanted without getting into trouble. The teachers were torn between anger and amazement that they could never catch her. Dumbledore found it amusing). It also wasn't classic cool like Clio's either. Lilly had her own thing going and insisted that no one infringe upon her style. All in all Lily was a very attractive young lady
'Really,' he thought, 'she's not that bad a looker, or a person.'
James decided to sneak another glance, unfortunately for the both of them, so did Lily. Their eyes met, but instead of blushing, they burst out laughing.
"We're here." Lily panted between giggle fits. She had been caught in the act of staring at James. He wasn't that bad, if you were into that whole tall dark and handsome thing.
"We'd better get under control or Madam Prince will have our heads."
They walked into the Library and set down all their stuff on a table and then went looking for their books, fifteen minutes later they were bent over innumerable spell books muttering to themselves.
From behind the book shelves Sirius and Thalia sighed. "Not exactly what I was hoping for. They're so stupid! Neither one needs to look up those things! They could be talking… or something" Thalia shared a grin with Sirius and continued, "They have candle light, secluded space and complete privacy."
Sirius raised his eyebrows. Evidently, his definition of privacy didn't include room for his friends spying on him through bookshelves.
"Alright! Almost complete privacy, what more do they want?"
"I don't know but we can't keep fending off suitors forever! Guys are chopping at the bits for Lily."
"And girls for James. Not the usual bimbos either, real girls, girls he might actually like!"
Sirius winced, "You know," he said. "I just had a really devious and heart breaking thought."
"What?" Thalia asked excitedly.
"What if we didn't hold off the suitors, I mean, what if all they need is to see the other in someone else's arms?" He grinned deviously.
"How cruel! I like it! But we must be selective in who we choose. The only way the other will get really jealous is if there's a chance the relationship will last."
"That's true, but much riskier. I think I have the perfect compromise." Once again they bent their heads in planning. After that was done their heads were still close together, reason why are obvious.
Remus and Clio barely saw from their position, reading of course. They always kept close tabs on Sirius and Thalia, just to make sure they didn't go to far in their schemes. They heard this one in its weird entirety and in silent, mutual agreement, decided it was okay, for now. After all it was about time those two got together. Besides, the more time Thalia and Sirius spent on Lily and James, the less they spent on them. So there were two good sides to this plan and only one bad one, what if someone gets hurt?
*`*`*`*`*
Despite her previous lectures, Thalia was the last one to go to bed at night, but not the last to fall asleep. Having nothing mysterious to think of she went to sleep almost immediately. Clio, however, lay awake long after Thalia's light snores filled the room.
She was wondering about Remus. Unknown to the boys, the girls had figured out that Remus was werewolf in their first year. It gave all of them quite a shock of course, but they never batted an eyelash at the thought of staying friends. It was obvious that Remus was taking proper precautions to keep everyone safe when he transformed. Dumbledore never would have let him in otherwise. He may be a strange headmaster, but he wasn't an idiot. No, she wasn't worried about Remus running in on the full moon and eating her alive, she could take care of herself if it came to that. She chuckled wondering if the boys had yet found out why the girls also disappeared every full moon. They had previously been too concerned with Remus to give it much thought. But now that he was taken care of, they had finally noticed that the girls weren't asking, like everyone else in Gryffindor, where they went all the time. Clio could always find a way never to answer Remus if he asked about it, but she knew that was upsetting him too. They were the best of friends and hadn't ever kept secrets from one another, as far as the other knew. In truth, Remus was keeping (or thought he was) the secret of his monthly absents from her. While Clio hadn't told him about her Natural abilities either. Had he guessed her secret as she had his? Because he hadn't told her, oh no, she figured that out herself. That's what was bothering her at this late hour, why hadn't he told her? Did he think she was so fickle as to cast aside their five-year friendship because of such a stupid thing as him being a werewolf? 'Maybe,' she thought into the night air, 'the reason he hasn't told me is the same reason I haven't told him. Do we not mean enough to each other to confess something so trivial?' Clio knew that being a destined Natural that only came around every few hundred years was not "trivial." Nor was being a werewolf, especially since most wizards shunned werewolves. Despite the obvious fact that werewolves didn't chose to be what they were, and most did everything they could to keep from hurting anyone. Seeing no hope in the situation Clio rolled over, only to find her pillow wet with something warm and salty.
*`*`*
By some inner alarm clock, Thalia's eyes snapped open at five A.M. exactly. It was no easy task to wake the others, but with the idea of being the first to sign up for this strange new class that was only offered every 20 years or so, she managed to get them all up fairly quickly. Thalia was usually exceptionally light hearted and carefree. But when it came to her friends, she was fiercely protective. When quite muffled sobs woke her last night her gaze immediately shot toward Clio's bed. Lily was more of a take action kind of girl and had only cried a couple times since she Thalia had known her. Thalia herself learned a long time ago that crying only made her feel worse, so she hadn't done it for a while. But Clio was much more sensitive and pure than Thalia, which made Thalia worry more about her. Ever since they were babies, Thalia had looked out for Clio, but now she was beginning to wonder if her present problems would need more help than she could provide. Maybe she should talk to Sirius, he was a tease, but he would do anything for their friends. 'He even became an Animagi for Remus,' she thought, 'and after all, this is kind of for Remus as well.'
'"C'mon Thalia!" Lily called half way out the door.
"Eh? Oh, sorry!"
"Honestly, sometimes I wonder were you go to when you look like that, I usually don't get to see it"
"What did I look like?"
"Intelligent."
"Lily!" they swept past Clio in the hallway, Lily in front with Thalia hot on her heals. Clio shook her head and stared at the door of boy's dormitories wistfully.
*`*`*
All three girls burst into the great hall and strait across it towards the staff table. There they found what they had waken up at this ungodly hour for.
"Hey! Here it is!" Thalia held up a piece of parchment and a quill. They all signed the paper with a flourish and sat down at the Gryffindor table. While they were filling their plates with breakfast, the doors burst open and once more a group of students came in. "It's the guy's," Lily whispered, pointing.
They were dashing across the hallway, Remus and Sirius in front, looking excitedly at the parchment. James was behind them with a not so awake glazed over expression on his face and lastly Peter, who was wondering nervously if it was against the rules to be up this early. The girls heard Remus give a sigh as James and Sirius pointed to them, they waved back, laughing. Peter gave a start and made a face like he was having a heart attack from shock.
"Guess you beat us this time!" James yelled across the hall.
"Yup!" The girls said, once again bursting into giggles.
"Girls," was the general statement as they signed the sheet and walked over.
"Well, what do we have here?" Said a voice from behind them. They all turned to see the happy face of Albus Dumbledore looking down on them. They rose and bid him good morning. "Good morning to you all as well!" he said, still smiling. "You all beat me in rising today, and to what do we owe your worthy presence?" They all pointed at the sign up sheet pinned to the staff table. "Of course! I should have known! What else could make James Potter and Sirius Black get up this early?" He looked down at the table and chuckled, "Ah well, get up yes. Stay up? No." They all looked down at the two and laughed. The two conspirators were flopped on the table sleeping, James had his hand in the eggs and Sirius's hair was in his pumpkin juice.
"Not exactly sleeping beauty are they? Well, on to breakfast!" he strode across the hall and sat down. Soon, a group of Hufflepuffs ran in, followed by two groups of Ravenclaws and another Hufflepuff. Then the hall became too crowded and noisy for them to keep track. Luckily, no Slytherins seemed interested in the class.
"So, what on earth made you guys want to sign up?" Clio asked after she finished her toast.
"Don't be ridiculous Cli', they were only hoping that these legends contain more ideas for their Marauding." Thalia said laughing.
"What's the matter boys? Run out of ideas?" said Lily poking the still glazed over James in the ribs.
"I'm h-hu-h-hurt!" Sirius said through a yawn. "I happen to be very interested in legends! At least the ones were people get into trouble."
"You just proved my point!" Thalia smiled at the scowling Padfoot.
"Well, I, at least, am interested in it all." Remus said around a mouthful of toast. Clio glowered at him and he swallowed before saying, "This teacher is supposed to be fascinating. I heard she hasn't taught here since Dumbledore was the transfiguration teacher!"
"Whoa!" James said finally awake, sort of, "She must be really old! I mean think about it, Dumbledore's no spring chicken, as much as I love the guy. I hope she doesn't croak in the middle of class. Actually, that might be kinda cool."
"Oh James!" said Lily, laughing again.
Thalia and Sirius shared a gleefully and triumphant look over the hash browns.
*`*`*`*`*
The next few days past rather slowly because they were all waiting in bated breath for Friday. However long Friday seemed in coming, it did eventually and that afternoon they all climbed up the stairs from Potions to see a sign saying that the classes would be held in the little room next to the Great Hall. The same room where, years later, Harry Potter would stand after his name was pulled out of the goblet of fire in his fourth year. They weren't thinking about this however, instead, all were surprised because no one had ever used that room for anything before. But they weren't to worried about it, anything had to be better than listening to Snape suck up to the potions master, anything. MWPP had gotten detention because they couldn't stand it anymore. They were fine with it of course, they would much rather have detention than what Snape and Malfoy got. Slugs bursting from you're nose and dung bombs landing on your hair every three minutes. When they entered the new classroom, they saw it was surprisingly roomy with couches, puffs and easy chairs spread out all over the place. It was well lit, mainly because there were so many large floor length windows that the walls were almost non existent. A fireplace lit with purple flames sat in the far wall and where there weren't windows, bookshelves lined the room. There were many other kids sprawled out on the cushions and chairs, chatting happily, but the class had obviously not started yet. Outside the windows was the great old oak tree that had been at Hogwarts since it was founded. Next to it was the lake and on the other side, was the Whomping Willow. Remus winced, despite the fact that it was planted for him, he just couldn't seem to appreciate it like the teachers expected him to. Actually, it was more like a horrible reminder of what was to come tomorrow night; he shivered again.
"I guess the teachers not here yet," said Lily uncertainly, wanting to get Remus' mind off the obvious.
"Well, when you're that old it must be harder to get around." James said in what he obviously thought was a wise voice. A dark and amused chuckle was heard across the room. They turned and saw that next to the fireplace there was a brightly painted desk with an even brighter person sitting on a very large pouf behind to it.
"Excuse me," said James, heading over with the others. "Do we amuse you?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. You amuse me very much, Prongs." She said opening one eye to look at them. They all gasped, not only did she know James secret nickname, but the eye she was surveying them all with was black outlined in silver. The silver seemed to shine of every color. She opened both eyes and gazed up at them. They now saw that her hair was also black but it shone with silver and yellow, it reminded the boys of the night sky. It reminded the girls of a tutor they once had when they were young children.
"Konnichiwa Pixie-sensei." Thalia said bowing in a Japanese manner of respect. The two other girls followed suite.
"Why have you come back?" Lily asked in Japanese.
"Wait, Thalia, Lily, stop talking in Japanese! I hate it when you do that!" Sirius said irritated.
"Do you know this girl, Clio?" Remus said looking at her with concern, she was almost crying, whether it was out of sorrow, anger, or happiness, he couldn't tell. And that bugged him as well.
"My dear Animagi, call me Midnight, call me Pixie-Sensei, it really doesn't matter. I'm also rather fond of Professor."
"You're our myths Professor!" The boys yelled gazing at the seemingly young woman, siting with her feet on the table. Feet that happened to be clad in knee length, dragon leather, boots.
"Yes," she said standing up. "Is that okay with you?"
"Um…" they said baffle; Remus got his tongue back first. "But, you're only a little older than us, at least, that's what you look like."
"Looks can be deceiving, Moony." Every one's mouth dropped when she said another one of their private nicknames. "Now if you can take a seat with the rest of the class I'll explain." She said brightly, almost bouncing with excitement.
MWPP sat down. The girls stood stock-still, half shocked and confused and the other half, they weren't sure.
"Lilly, Thalia, Clio, it's nice to see you again. I trust you haven't gotten rusty?"
The girls nodded their heads solemnly as they took their seats.
"Wonderful, we will resume our lessons soon I hope. Now, let's get down to the legends!"
Sometimes it seems
We'll touch that dream
But things come slow or not at all
And the ones on top, won't make it stop
So convinced that they might fall
Everything is everything
what is meant to be, will be
after winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually
*`*`*`*`*
A.N. Could I be dropping any bigger hints here? I think not. Thanks for the reviews; I wouldn't mind more either! ::Grins:: You'd be amazed at what a writing booster they are. Oh, and James isn't stupid in this chapter or anything, just tired. The song is "Everything is Everything" by Laurin Hill from her The Miseducation of Laurin Hill ::continues to grin and hops off as readers shake their heads sadly::
