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Chapter 17: Forgive & Forget
Harry, Ron and Hermione walked out of the front gates of Hogwarts towards the village of
Hogsmeade. The mood was light as they talked and laughed, stomping through the colorful autumn
leaves that had formed a layer over the hard ground. An October breeze had begun to
pick up, and Harry put his hands into his pockets and pulled his cloak tighter around him,
glad to be warm. As they reached the village, Hermione paused for a moment.

"I need to go to shopping for a new dress robe... shall I meet you two later? Or
did you want to come with?" she asked. Ron looked at Harry hurriedly. 

"Uhh, why don't we meet you later. How about 12:30 in the Three Broomsticks?" he asked.

"Okay, sounds fine," Hermione answered with a smile, heading off on her own. Harry turned
to Ron. 

"What is she getting new dress robes for?" he asked, confused. Ron shook his head, rolling
his eyes.

"The dance, Harry. Did you forget? You're on the planning committee!" He laughed.

"Oh, right," Harry mumbled. Ron's expression softened.

"Are you gonna ask anyone? I think you should, Harry. It might be fun." Harry shrugged.

"I dunno. Haven't really thought about it. The whole dance thing didn't go over too well
in the past, if you remember correctly... You're lucky, you don't even have to look for 
a date..." Ron snorted with laughter.

"Aw, come on Harry, this is different! We're older now, more mature..." Suddenly, his eye
caught Zonko's just around the corner. His face lit up like a five year old who had just 
seen a candy store. "Zonko's, Harry! Let's go!" He took off running. Harry stood by himself,
laughing and shaking his head. 

"More mature, Ron? Really?" He called after his friend.

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Remus Lupin stood outside the hospital wing door, fidgeting with the bow tied to the dozen
red roses he was carrying. He leaned against the wall, letting his thoughts drift back to the
past week. Although Adele seemed to be getting better, she was still quite distant with Remus.
He had finally worked up the courage to apologize and had decided that the past was behind them
and they had to move on. Glancing down once again at the beautiful flowers, he pushed the door
open, holding his breath and hoping that Adele would forgive him. 

He had entered so quietly that she hadn't even looked up from the Daily Prophet that she was 
reading. He smiled at her, watching the way her beautiful eyes stared intently at the page
in front of her, how her hair cascaded down in curls that spilled off of her shoulders and onto
her back, her hands, tiny but used to hard work, holding up the page... He shook his head, clearing
it; he had only one mission, and that was to make up with Adele. He coughed slightly to get her
attention.

She looked up in surprise, dropping the newspaper. "Remus, I didn't even see you-" She stopped as
she saw the roses. She gasped in surprise. "For me?" she whispered.

Remus grinned. He hadn't expected her to be so excited about the flowers, but this would definitely
help her forgive him, he thought to himself. 

"Adele - I trust you," he said simply. "I'm sorry if I acted childishly. I want to apologize and I
hope you forgive me." Tears filled her eyes as she nodded, holding her arms out. Remus rushed to
her side and enveloped her in a huge hug. After several minutes, they let go and smiled at one 
another.

"I'm sorry for making that into such a big deal," he whispered.

"No, don't be. It was a big deal. You have every right to be suspicious... I was the one who 
broke your trust in the first place." She sniffled as tears ran down her face.

"Don't cry," he said softly. "It's all over now." She smiled up at him, still crying.

"Remus, I love you. I would do anything for you. I will even tell you what happened between 
Sirius and I if you want." Reums shrugged.

"If it would make you feel better, you can tell me. But I really don't need to know if you don't 
want to," he answered her, secretly hoping that she wouldn't tell him; he didn't really want to
know what had happened on that night, 15 years ago....

"Rem, I want to be completely honest with you. You can't truly forgive me unless you know what
happened." Remus nodded. Adele took a deep breath. "Well, let's see... It was the night of October
16, it was a full moon, I still remember because you weren't there with us. Peter, James, Lily, and
Sirius were all at the Leaky Cauldron, except it was storming and it looked worse and worse. James
and Lily went home, James was worried about getting stuck in a pub if the baby came early. Peter 
left a little after that, you know how he was always sneaking off... now I know why... but anyways,
just Sirius and I were left, we had both had had too much to drink, and he wanted to take me home, the
storm was just getting worse, the wind was picking up again and the rain was whipping against the
windows..."

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Didn't I just have prefect duty two days ago? Harry thought sullenly as he walked towards the
stairway to meet the other prefects. Both Ron and Hermione had tonight off; why didn't he as well?
He would much rather be in the common room, playing chess with Ron or reviewing with Hermione for the
Defense Against the Dark Arts test tomorrow, than wandering the empty hallways with another random
Hogwarts student. As he got closer to the stairwell, his anger lifted a bit. Rachel wasn't there.
Good, he thought to himself. Better not to see her at all than to constantly be making her
mad... Seating himself on the bottom step, he looked up and began to think about who he wanted to
go on rounds with; then he realized he had encountered a much worse choice than Rachel. Draco Malfoy
sat on the third step, staring down haughtily at him but not saying a word. Hannah Abbott smiled 
timidly at Harry from the fourth step. He realized they were still missing one person just as a
girl came running across the Great Hall...

"Sorry guys," Rachel said breathlessly, grinning. "I was in the library, I totally lost track of
time." Her smile faded as she looked at Harry. She began to walk towards Hannah, but Harry reached out
and grabbed her arm. 

"Rachel - didjawannagowithme? Er, tonight I mean? For our round?" She smiled politely yet coldly at 
him, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

"No thanks, Potter," she said, climbing up to where Hannah sat. She leaned over and whispered in her
ear; Hannah nodded and stood up.

"We're going to take the even numbered floors; you guys take the odd ones and the dungeon," Hannah
said, walking away with Rachel before Harry or Draco could respond. They sat on their respective steps, 
staring in opposite directions, the silence deafening between them. Finally, Harry stood up.

"Y'know, we don't have to do this together. Let's just split it up." Draco finally made eye contact 
with him.

"Good plan, Potter. I have better things to do than spend an hour roaming the hallways with you."

"So do I," Harry retorted, his eyes narrowed.

"Well then, you take the dungeons and floors one, three, and five and I'll take the rest."

Harry nodded, strolling off towards the dungeons. He was glad the feeling was mutual; he didn't
think he could have put up with Malfoy for that long. Sure, he was breaking one of the most essential
rules that they had been given as prefects: never to walk alone on rounds. If he was to come across
a situation that he couldn't handle by himself, he would have no one to send for help. Like
anything's going to happen, he thought to himself. After walking through all of his assigned
floors without finding any students roaming the halls at all, he returned to the Gryffindor common
room. It was late; nearly everyone was in bed, with the exception of a few students who had fallen
asleep in front of the fireplace. Passing them, Harry went into his room and fell directly into 
his bed, sure that sleep would come quickly. However, it did not; his head was filled with thoughts.
The image of Rachel, how he had hurt her on Monday, how she had ignored him tonight, how her silky hair 
fell in just the right way... Ron's voice entered his head: "Are you gonna ask anyone?" "It might be fun!" 

"Easy for him to say," he grumbled. Sleep did not come as easily as he had expected, and he tossed
and turned for hours. The last image in his mind before he finally fell asleep was the look on 
Rachel's face, her eyes cold, as she answered his question earlier that night. "No thanks, Potter."
The bitterness in her voice echoed in his head.

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