Wish Upon a Star
The December sun filtered in through the windows, reflecting off the foot of snow that lay around the castle. In the common room, four boys remained, deep in thought. Outside, students ran and laughed as they threw snow at one another and enchanted snowballs to follow less popular of their fellows and teachers.
These four, however, paid no heed to the shrieks and laughter drifting up to the Gryffindor tower. Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were usually the first to start snow fights every year, and as such, were often the first to tire of them. Today, though, it was not boredom that kept them indoors.
"Mistletoe!" James snapped his fingers triumphantly, momentarily ceasing his continual pacing in front of the common room fire. Peter looked up hopefully from the table where he and Sirius sat.
"It could work," said Sirius thoughtfully.
"Oh, come on, who am I kidding? She's never going to kiss me, with or without some stupid mistletoe." Remus raised his head from the window for a moment to gaze bitterly at his friends. He looked back down to the snow below, or more to the point, the pretty red-haired girl making Snow-angels with her friends seven storeys down, and sighed.
"Put your eyes back in your head and stop moping, Moony." Sirius told him gently. "You're our brain, remember? What are we going to do if you can't think?"
"How can I think when I'm looking at her?" Remus gestured wildly towards the girl in the snow.
"Don't look at her, mate. It'll only make it worse," said James sympathetically, steering his friend away from the window.
"It's true," Peter agreed soberly. "I remember once I spent so long looking at Amy that, not only did I almost follow her into the girls bathrooms twice, I forgot to eat all day!"
They all stared at him. Peter, not eat all day? It seemed that he cared about Amy more than food, and, for Peter, that meant he was likely to propose at the slightest indication that the girl might actually give a damn about him.
The Marauders had a problem. A month ago they had vowed that, by Christmas morning, they'd have won the hearts of the girls they'd fallen for. Now it was two days before Christmas, and it seemed that, in Peter's case, looking was as far as he'd got. The others weren't doing much better. James seemed to collapse into a stuttering heap whenever Emma, a pretty brunette with hazel eyes that matched his, happened to speak to him. Although Remus managed to keep his cool around her, the very mention of Kat Evans was enough to send him off the planet.
And Sirius was still forgetting to close his mouth when he looked at their friend Rigella. He'd just sit there with his jaw gaping like he was trying to catch flies.
All in all, it was not looking very hopeful. They needed a plan, and they needed one fast.
"Ok, we're not getting anywhere, here. Let's just decide on something." Remus sat down on one of the sofas and tried to think, banishing Kat's face from his mind. "Love Potions. Lets just try the Love Potions."
*
Less then an hour later, the four boys could be found sweating over a cauldron in the Potions room. They had told the Potions mistress that they were making an anti-wart potion as a Christmas present for a teacher.
Remus was reading the instructions from a massive, dust-covered tome.
"So everyone add your sample… and it should turn pink…"
"Ugh, who picked the colour scheme?" James wrinkled his nose as he added a few strands of hair and a scrap of paper from his diary to the beaker in front of him, which turned hot pink.
"Something's wrong with mine!" Peter's potion was still pale green. Remus peered into it.
"You left out your chocolate, Peter."
"Oh… I thought that was just a snack… never mind, I have more."
Peter dropped the chocolate into his beaker and it turned a deep shade of magenta.
"Ok, now all we have to do is-"
"How's it going, boys?"
The Potions Mistress walked into the classroom. Professor Serum was a tall, young witch with blue eyes and a long blond plait that she seemed to try to control as much as she controlled her class. Only a few years older then the seventh years, and extremely aware of it, she kept an iron grip on her class, terrified that her students might try to usurp her power. She played favourites with no one; rather, she had decided that no student was worth her favouritism.
She saw their potions and her eyes narrowed.
"You said it was an anti-wart tonic you were making, correct? Well an anti-wart tonic is supposed to be yellow.
"So, one could deduce that either, you four are all abysmal potion makers, or that you are, in fact, not making an anti-wart tonic. And as each of you has received a satisfactory mark in each of your tests, I find it hard to believe that none of you can even manage a simple wart reversal draught.
"In which case, one would wonder what on earth the four of you were making. Because one might believe that you may be concocting something that may not be entirely… legal. Unless you care to enlighten me…? No?"
Professor Serum sighed. She moved so she was right in front of Peter, holding her wand in front of her like an army officer with a cane.
"Very well, boys. As you seem… reluctant… to cooperate, I shall have to ask one of you to drink the potion you were making in order to prove that it is safe."
The boys gasped. They were caught. How could they prove they weren't trying to poison anyone without drinking the potion?
*
"Have I mentioned how nice you look in those robes, James?" giggled Peter as they left the classroom and began to climb the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower.
"Yes, Wormtail, you did." James growled through gritted teeth. "Hey Sirius, whose idea were the bloody love potions?"
"Ah, that would have been yours, Prongsie."
"Right. Well, from now on, don't listen to my ideas, OK?"
*
That night after dinner, Peter slipped back into the common room where the others were once more discussing the problem at hand.
"Hey James," he began in a simpering tone. James groaned.
Peter smiled. "I'm all good again. Sorry for anything stupid I might have said or done earlier."
James scowled. "Yeah, well. I knew you didn't mean it," he grumbled. "So she gave you the antidote?"
"Yeah, she said she hoped that would teach us not to lie again."
"Fat chance," grinned Remus. "Some people never learn."
*
"James, what the hell are you doing?" Rigella walked into the common room before dinner on Christmas Eve to see a stag leaning on the windowsill, staring outside to the snow. Its antlers were adorned with tinsel and fairy lights and a large Christmas wreath lay on its head.
The stag transformed back into James, who looked up at her mournfully from beneath the wreath. "Looking," he said sheepishly.
"Looking," repeated Rigella. "Well, James Taiven Potter, you and your eyes are endangering Remus' secret, so come away from that window. You're still stuck on her, aren't you?"
"Yeah. It's not just that, though. We made a pact that by Christmas day we'd be going out with the girls we like, and so far, none of us is close."
"Aahhh. I see. Well, what have you tried?"
"We tried love potions first, but the teacher made Peter drink mine, so he spent the rest of the afternoon going all gaga, then we tried mistletoe, but the girls in question kept going in the opposite direction whenever we got near them. Now I don't know what to do."
"First, the potions were probably not the best idea. You can't fool someone into loving you, and the girls probably would have been mad at you after."
"So what do you suggest?"
"Do something that you would never do, something that you would only do if you really cared about someone. Sacrifice your dignity. Do something that proves you want her more than you want to protect your self and your image."
"Like what?"
"You'll think of something. I can't tell you how to do it. It has to come from in here." She pressed her fingers against his chest. "Good luck, James. Go get her."
*
"'Sacrifice my dignity'?"
"That's what she said. Do something that proves you care more about her than yourself."
"But I like my dignity!"
"I know you do, Siri, but that's just the point. You have to like her more than your dignity."
"Ahh, gotcha! So now we have to think of something embarrassing to prove we love them?"
Remus looked at them from across the table. Wow, he actually managed to pull his eyes away from Evans, James thought.
"I think there's more to it then that. It has to matter. It can't just be something like running along the battlements with your robes around your ankles." Remus said.
"Ahh, damn, there goes my idea," sighed Peter. "What if I was screaming 'I love Amy Benns!' at the top of my lungs at the time?"
Remus snorted. "Boys, I think this is something we have to do alone."
"Right you are, Moony my friend. Righto, troops- move out!"
*
Amy sighed, brushing an electric blue strand of hair from her face. Dammit, why couldn't guys just cooperate? It'd be so much simpler if they just knew when you liked them, and instantly liked you back.
"Come on, Amy. Eat something," her friend Emma was trying to convince her to come back to the real world. Why bother, though? In the real world, Peter was so far away.
Emma looked at Amy, and understood how the other girl felt. Amy's blue-streaked black hair and slightly gothic appearance stood out, but in reality, she was just like the rest of her friends- in love, and alone.
Emma knew how it felt; she herself had been waiting and hoping for James Potter for over a year, but she had long since decided it was never gonna happen. James, one of the most popular, funny, confident guys in the school, was never going to ask out quiet, reserved Emma.
Just like Kat had long ago decided Remus would never ask her out, and Rigella had all but given up on Sirius, and was now carrying the charade that she was happy with just being close friends. The other girls all knew that she would dissolve if he did ask her out.
Kat put down her fork and leaned back, gazing up towards the ceiling. As she watched, the first star appeared among the clouds.
Starlight, she whispered, star bright, first star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight…
I wish that Remus will be mine by morning.
*
A kind of sleepy excitement had settled over the school as the meal drew to close. The food disappeared and as one, the majority of the student body rose and began to file towards the Entrance Hall. Remus' stomach seemed full of a combination of butterflies, locusts and grasshoppers, all fluttering, gnawing and leaping as if on drugs.
He and the Marauders were still seated at the Gryffindor table, but Remus' eyes followed Kat as she and her friends made their way to the doors behind him. Suddenly instinct kicked in.
"…like I was saying all along! I- Remus! Remus, what are you doing?!"
But Remus couldn't hear Sirius. He couldn't see anything either, except the figure of a red-haired girl ahead of him. She passed through the doors and out of sight. He began to run.
"Kat!" he cried franticly. "Kat! Wait!"
*
Kat heard his voice through a fog. A dream, she thought desperately, this must be a dream. I'm dreaming that Remus is calling me…
Just then, Remus burst into the Entrance Hall.
"Kat!" he was yelling, "Kat! Wait!"
Everyone in the Hall stopped to look at them. The noise died immediately and a space cleared around them as her friends backed away slightly. Kat felt Rigella squeeze her arm reassuringly before the girl moved back into the shadows.
Remus was running towards her, still calling her name. Five steps, and he threw himself at her feet. He grabbed her hands and looked up at her, breathing hard.
"Kat," he breathed, his eyes never leaving her face. "Kat, I don't know how to do this, but I have to and I've put it off too long already. You'll probably hate me for it, but please understand…"
Remus felt his face going red, conscious of the many eyes, students and teachers alike, that were trained on him. All he could see, though, were Kat's eyes, like emeralds staring into his soul. Not letting go of her hands or letting his eyes leave her face, he climbed breathlessly to his feet.
"I really like you, Kat. I really care about you." His voice dropped to a whisper and before he could stop himself, the words he had imagined saying to her a hundred times rolled off his tongue.
"I think I'm in love with you."
Kat thought she was going to pass out. Remus Lupin was in love with her? Merlin's beard, this couldn't be happening! Her eyes went so wide she would have worried about them falling out of her face, if she wasn't so focused on him.
He was still talking. She felt an overwhelming desire to say something, anything. She let go of his right hand, reached out and put her fingers on his lips. He shut up immediately.
"Remus," she whispered, and got no further.
*
Amy turned away. Kat was like a sister to her, but the last thing she needed was to see Kat and Remus engaged in a kiss in front of half the school, to remind her how single she was.
She wiped away a tear. I do not cry! She reminded herself savagely. I am devoid of public emotion!
"Amy?"
She glanced over her shoulder and cursed silently. Peter had followed her out from the Great Hall. She scrubbed angrily at her eyes. The last thing I need is for him to see me crying!
"Amy." Peter would not be ignored. He put his hands on her shoulders and made her turn to face him. Amy flinched. She didn't like being touched.
"Amy, please look at me." He put his hand on her face. This time she didn't flinch as he brushed away her tears.
"Amy, there's something I need to tell you. I-"
Amy closed her eyes, letting his voice wash over her. Peter looked at her.
"Ahh, stuff it!" he said suddenly. Amy's eyes flew open as his lips rushed in to meet hers.
Hey, she thought wonderingly as her eyes fluttered closed again, I could get used to this 'touching' thing.
*
Emma and Rigella looked at one another and smiled.
They turned and began climbing the staircase, heading back to Gryffindor Tower.
*
James and Sirius looked at one another in amazement. That was something they had not expected. Remus and Peter, kissing the prefect and the blue-haired Goth, in the middle of the hall while half the school, not to mention no fewer than five teachers, looked on.
Amazing. Maybe miracles did exist. But would there be enough miracles to go around?
*
"I'm going to up to bed, okay Em?"
"'Kay. Merry Christmas, Rigel."
" 'night."
Emma watched Rigella climb the staircase to the dormitories, then returned her attention to the book in her lap. Carefully dipping her quill in a pot of violet ink, she turned back to her diary and wrote: Kat and Amy haven't returned from their snog-fest with Remus and Peter yet. Rigel and I are happy for them, but I wish I had evidence that James felt anything for me. If only I had some way to know. I need a sign…
At that very moment, the portrait-hole opened, and Emma got her sign.
*
James Potter straightened his robes nervously and pushed the portrait the rest of the way open.
Emma was sitting curled up on one of the scarlet sofas by the fire. She was writing something in a book, but looked up when he came in. Her eyes widened slightly. Not enough that anyone else would notice, but then, James would have been able to tell anyone who asked the exact number of freckles on her nose.
He took a deep breath. "You look like you've seen a ghost," he said softly. He began to walk towards her.
"Not a ghost," she said unsteadily, "a miracle about to happen."
She fumbled with the book, closing it and setting it hastily on the table before her as she hurriedly rose to her feet.
"A miracle?" his voice was so quiet that only the fact that they were within arm's reach of one another allowed her to hear him.
He could have sworn she said yes, but no sound escaped her lips.
"Emma?" he moved closer, and slowly lifted a hand to caress her face. She closed her eyes, melting beneath his touch.
"Yes, James?"
"Would… were you writing about me? In your diary?"
She looked up at him, and suddenly her eyes were unafraid.
"Yes, James, I was. But why should tonight be different to any other?"
"Because tonight," whispered James, his face so close she could feel his lips brush her skin, "tonight, we both know."
*
Sirius roamed the corridors of Hogwarts, looking for Rigella. With only one hour to Christmas Day, he had no idea how to reach her once he found her, only that he had to.
As he passed a portrait of Rigella's mother, a raven-haired woman who was snoozing in her gilded frame, he realised that Rigella would probably be in bed asleep.
He had two options: either sneak into the girl's dormitories at eleven o'clock at night, or wait till the morning.
He began to pace angrily. He did not like waiting. Waiting increased the chances of something going wrong.
So that meant finding a way into the girls dorms. In third year, James had discovered that the Girls staircase did not take kindly to boys.
Somehow, though, he had to find a way.
He turned and began to stride purposefully toward the common room once more. He muttered to the Fat Lady and walked straight in, not even noticing James and Emma sitting at a table in the corner.
He walked straight to the bottom of the girls' staircase, and resolutely began to climb. Within moments, the stairs ran together to form a ramp, and he slid backwards. Wishing desperately for a handrail, he tried again.
All night Sirius tried. He climbed with his bare hands, and conjured ropes to try and pull himself up with, but all to no avail. By morning, all he had achieved were grazed hands, bruised pride, and a cut on his face from when he had made it halfway up and fallen, sliding all the way down on the rough stone floor.
He collapsed onto a sofa somewhere just before dawn, exhausted, trying to think of what to do. What was he doing wrong?
His head felt heavy and his eyelids drooped. His chin kept falling onto his chest.
The sun rose over the grounds of Hogwarts. The snow shone golden, reflecting the first beams of radiance. A phoenix flew over the Quidditch pitch, heading up to the castle. Students began to wake, opening presents and calling out to one another.
And in the Gryffindor common room sat Sirius Black, fast asleep.
*
As Rigella walked into the Great Hall for breakfast with her friends, she idly wondered where Sirius was. Peter, James and Remus were waiting eagerly for Amy, Kat and Emma, grinning like Cheshire cats while Emma looked shy, Kat looked ecstatic and Amy looked unsure of how to publicly show her emotions.
The others sat down, but Rigella was saved from having to sit awkwardly through first-date couple-itis by the fact that Professor Dumbledore had just walked into the hall behind her. For a few moments she talked to her great uncle, and before she realised it, she was down the other end of the table.
She sat down and began to pick at her bacon. Thinking about Sirius had to be bad for her. She hadn't slept much last night; she dreamed uneasily about Sirius, running towards her, faster and faster, but never coming closer. Finally she had gotten up and transformed into a phoenix. Flying at night was so exhilarating, and somehow calming at the same time. The night air helped clear her head.
Dumbledore stood at the head table like he was about to speak, but he was interrupted by a voice from the back of the hall.
"Professor!"
All heads turned to stare at the speaker. A rather dishevelled Sirius ran towards the front of the hall. His hair was ruffled and a red cut sliced across his cheek.
"May I, Professor?" he asked, pulling out his wand as reached the dais.
Dumbledore looked startled but nodded and sat down, looking at Sirius politely over the rim of his glasses.
Sirius looked surprised to see everyone staring at him.
"Er, right. Umm… alright, I'm not much of a speaker, but I have something to say, so hear me out."
Magically amplified, his voice carried across the room.
"Most of you would probably have noticed that three out of four Marauders have, as of this morning, snagged the girls they've been wanting for the past twelve months or so. I'm the only one left behind. If you want to know why, ask Godric Gryffindor why the hell girls like having a slippery-slide for a staircase."
A few people laughed, but Sirius kept talking.
"No, but seriously… I spent all of last night trying to climb that ramp, because by the time I woke up to myself and realised that the girl I wanted was right in front of my eyes, she'd gone to bed.
"Needless to say, I didn't make it up that staircase and I don't think any guy ever will. But someone I care about once said that to get the one you love, you have to put your dignity on the line. You have to care about them more than yourself. And if that's the only thing I've learned in six and a half years at this school, then that's fine, coz I think I've found the greatest magic of all."
As he looked around the hall, his eyes found Rigella's, and she felt her heart stop.
"I've found the power of love."
He left the dais and began walking towards the Gryffindor table.
"So, there's someone in this hall that means the world to me, and I hope she can excuse the publicity, coz there's something really important I have to say to her. What I have to tell you is that, ever since the day you walked into this school and turned my life upside down, you have made me see the world differently. You made me see when I was being an egocentrical creep, you made me smile when I felt like crap. All in all you've made me a better person just by being there.
"And you know what? I love you for it. I really do. There are very few people in this room who actually understand what it means to be in love, but I hope you're one of them, Rigel, I really do.
"Because if you don't, I'm screwed. Coz I love you."
Sirius was in front of her, completely ignoring the world around them. She hadn't even realised that she'd stood up until she was standing right in front of him, wand in hand.
"My God, Sirius. My God," she whispered in a voice that carried across the hall. "You choose now to tell me this?"
*
He stepped back looking terrified. She looked so serious.
Suddenly her face broke into a smile. "Come here, you dolt," she said affectionately, flinging herself into his arms.
As soon as he got over his shock he hugged her tightly.
"I love you too." She whispered.
*