Disclaimer: Me no own Harry Potter and everything involving him. Belong J.K Rowling. Yes. ::nods head:: Me just own plotline! ::grins::

~ * ~ * ~

"Aunty and Uncle took them all to Brighton for the week. Don't you remember?" Whitney queried.

"I forgot all about it."

Gerald and Hetty Mayfield, other wise known as Uncle and Aunty, had taken Spirit in the moment the Authorities had notified them of her plight. They were a wonderful and generous couple, who unfortunately had been unable to have any children of their own. Not letting it take over their lives, they'd taken to making a home for disadvantaged children. Currently they now had ten foster children in their care, not including Spirit, Whitney and Gaby.

Once a year, the Mayfields took 'their family' on a week long camping trip somewhere around the Brighton area, to discover the joys of nature. Seeing as it was Spirit, Whitney's and Gaby's last year in High school, Aunty had decided the girls should stay behind and keep up with their studying. Which was absolutely dandy as far as they were concerned. Sharing a home with ten boys, all between the ages of thirteen and seven made for a very lively and rowdy household and now with them all gone for the week… ahh, peace would reign once more.

"Yo chicks! Feel like cruising wit me an ma boys? Party's on tonight babes!" yelled a voice from outside.

Or perhaps not!

Watching as Gaby strode over to the window, Spirit marvelled at the way her stick straight dark brown hair never looked a strand out of place. Even when she woke in the mornings it looked like she'd just stepped out of a commercial advertising hair care products. Gaby was definitely what would be called model material. From the tips of her dark brown glossy hair, the widely spaced, chocolate colored eyes, the perfectly formed features and tanned slim figure, to the tips of her pink toenails, Gaby Sanchez was enough to take the modelling world by storm, if she cared to. Except that wasn't her scene. She preferred to be known for her other, more refined qualities, rather then for the way she looked.

Glowering at the figures she could see lurking in the driveway, Gaby called over her shoulder, "It's Gary and his lil posse."

"Ignore them," Whitney said. "They'll go away."

"Maybe. But you know Gary can be a persistent bloke when it comes to you." Laughing at Whitney's grimace, she opened the window. "I'll tell him your out, before he starts yelling for his--"

"Blondie! Get your cute little butt down here now!" yelled the one, and only Gary.

"Ah, your man is calling for you Whit." Spirit laughed.

"He is not my man! He's not my anything… and I'll make sure that this time he gets it, if it's the last thing I do!" Stomping her foot she turned around and marched off down the stairs, her blonde, blue tipped hair bouncing about in the ponytail she'd secured it in.

Staring wide eyed at Gaby, Spirit rushed over to join her at the window, eagerly awaiting the evenings entertainment.

"Do you think we should go down there too?" Gaby asked, fiddling with a dolphin charm on her bracelet.

Spirit shook her head. "Nope. Whit can take care of herself. Didn't you see her eyes?"

"Oh yes. They were that dark a blue, they almost looked black. The calm before the storm. Someone's in trouble."

Whitney was one of the happiest people you could come across. She was a total dork. But a cute dork at that. One of the things Spirit noticed about her was that it took a lot to anger her. But when she was, her eyes would darken to an almost stormy looking blue, hence 'the calm before the storm.'

Hearing the front door slam Gaby grabbed a chair and dragged it over to the window, pulling Spirit down next to her. "Where's the popcorn? The show's about to start!" Sniggering, they both leant forward in their seat, intent on not missing any of Whitney's soon to be explosion.

"Hey Blondie! You ready to go?" Gary (the Vanilla Ice look-a-like) asked, winking in what Whitney assumed was meant to be a saucy manner.

"Gary," Whitney sighed, approaching him carefully, "there's something I need to tell you."

"You can tell me anything you like Blondie! But ah," he said looking back at his friends for a second and smirking, "there's something I need to tell you too."

"Okay," Whitney replied, smiling sweetly at him. "You go first."

Leaning down he whispered in her ear, pulling back to look down at her with a confident grin on his face a moment later. "You like that idea, don't you?" he asked, not noticing the look of disgust on her face.

"Do I look like I like it?" she spat. "Because I don't and even if I did, you'd be the last person I would ever think of doing that with. And another thing," she said, her voice getting louder with each word she uttered. "Don't call me Blondie. I hate that name. If I hear you call me that one more time, I will not be held responsible for my actions!"

"Er, what d'ya mean, I'd be the last person you'll do those with?" he asked baffled.

"It meant exactly what it said Gary, or to be more blunt, if the world's only hope of survival depended on you and I procreating, then I'd say, damn the world! Because there is no way in hell I'd let you lay a finger on me!"

"Why aren't I your type then?"

"Oh… my… God! Fine, you want to know, I'll tell you. One," she said holding a finger up for each new reason, " you're a slob, I've seen pigs that are cleaner then you.. Two, you're so thick you don't know rejection when you've heard it. Three, you're rude. Four, you're disgusting. Five, even though I've told you I hate being called Blondie, you still persist in calling me that. Six, you have no manners. Seven, you need to bathe and bathe often. Eight, you're not the type who can stimulate me intellectually. I could have a better conversation with a five year old. Nine, I prefer guys who like to change their clothes daily, not once a week. And ten, you Gary, are no Remus Lupin!"

"Who the hell is Remus Lupin? If you're cheating on me Blondie--"

SLAP!!

"I'll have you know Gary Maxwell, that Remus Lupin is more of a man then you'll ever be and I warned you about what would happen if you called me that name again. Now please… fuck off!"

"WHOAAAA! Go Whitney! Go Whitney! Go Whitney! Go Whitney!"

Whitney looked up to see Gaby and Spirit jiggling about at the window and laughing. They had their hands up and were dancing away to the chant they'd started. Looking back at a dumbfounded Gary, Whitney sniffed, spun on her heel and marched back inside. A few minutes later she stood in the room doorway staring at a still chanting and dancing Spirit and Whitney. "That's enough you two!" she laughed, rolling her eyes at their antics.

"Honestly Whit," Spirit said, "but that was fun to watch!" Dropping back down onto the chair she pulled Gaby down with her, where they took up chanting again, bouncing up and down on the chair in rhythm to the words. "Go Whitney! Go Whitney! Go Whi--"

CRACK!

"Oomph! Gaby, get your fat ass of me! You broke my chair!"

"My fat-- haha. I'm not the one with the big ass. That's you!"

"Excuse me," Whitney interrupted, walking over to stand where Spirit lay spread eagled on the floor. Somehow Gaby had found herself seated atop Spirit's legs. "I seem to recall seeing two people sitting in that chair before it collapsed. Therefore you both have fat asses."

"What was that… Mrs Reeeemus Luuupin? And you talk about me when I'm reading those books?" Spirit laughed. "Get down here!" Reaching up she pulled Whitney onto the floor. "Get off me Gaby."

Plonking herself down next to Whitney, Gaby crossed her legs and coughed, gaining the attention of her friends. "Number ten! You Gary are no Remus Lupin!" Amused she shook her head. "Whitney, you need to get over this infatuation you've developed for Remus. He's a fictional character. He's not real!"

"I know that, thank you very much!" Whitney said rolling her eyes. "But a girl can wish can't she? And I don't know why you feel the need to remark on that Gaby. Why just last night when Spirit and I were walking past your room, I could've sworn we heard you mumbling a name in your sleep that sounded an awful lot like Sirius Black." Whitney grinned smugly at a red faced Gaby. "Isn't that so Spirit."

"Hmmm…"

"Yeah, but at least I know they aren't real people" Gaby replied.

"Ummm actually Gab, Whit… There's something you should know. Remus and Sirius… they're real. And not just them either. All the characters… from the books… They're all real."

Three minutes later

"Don't either of you have anything to say?" Spirit asked. Gaby was staring up at the ceiling humming some god awful tune and Whitney was staring at the floor, while fidgeting with the slim, silver chain she wore around her neck. Spirit could see the corners of her mouth twitching every few seconds. "Whitney! Did you hear what I just said?" Spirit gave an exasperated sigh when Whitney nodded jerkily in reply. She looked at Gaby. "Gaby, did you?"

"Yes," she squeaked without looking at Spirit.

"You guys don't believe me!"

"What?" Gaby asked lifting her head. "Of course we do. It's just…" Putting a hand to Spirit's forehead she frowned. "You don't seem to be running a temperature. You forgot to take your medication again, didn't you!"

"Excuse me?" Spirit snapped. Slapping Gaby's hand away Spirit stood, glaring down at her. "What medication would you be speaking of?"

"The one Dr. Singh prescribed. You know… for your headaches."

"Gaby! That was a one week prescription for mild headaches! Not a lifetimes supply for errr… what do you call it? Those.. you know…" She twirled her index finger around in circles near her head. "Crazy people illnesses."

"I don't know, but maybe we should get you to the hospital. The A & E is ope--"

"Oooh you are such a smart ass Gaby San--" She paused mid sentence to stare open mouthed at Whitney. She was rolling about on the floor holding her sides in the midst of a laughing fit. Pointing a finger at her Spirit remarked, "If anyone needs to go to the hospital, it's her."

"Nooo-- I'm sorry… It's- haha Remus… Sirius… real."

"They are real!" Putting her hands on her hips Spirit smirked down at her two friends. "And I have proof!"

If anything that just made Whitney's laughter become even wilder, causing Gaby to join her. "Shut up! Ooh," she groaned, "you're gonna make me pee in my pants."

Grabbing two pillows off her bed, Spirit threw them at her friends. "Will you both just listen for a moment? I'm serious!"

Nodding their heads they sat up and tried valiantly to keep their laughter under control. They lasted eight seconds before once again taking up their horizontal positions on the floor, this time sounding like a pack of hyenas in heat.

"Fine," Spirit muttered under her breath. "AMANDA! AMANDA? WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Ha! Yelling for imaginary friends is a sure sign of dementia." Gaby sniggered.

"You won't be laughing when she gets here," said Spirit firmly. "I'll be the one doing all the laughing then. I'll be laughing in your faces." Smiling brightly at the thought she called Amanda's name again. Receiving no reply, she noted the sudden quiet in the room. Looking to see Gaby and Whitney staring goggle eyed across the room, Spirit smirked thinking that Amanda had made herself be known. But when she turned ready to greet her, instead of a young woman being present, she saw the book Amanda had given her earlier. It was floating above her bed, glowing gold again. Curious, she walked over and grabbed hold of it. Flicking through the still blank pages her brow puckered. "What's the point of giving me this if there's nothing to see?"

"What's that?" Whitney whispered, as she and Gaby came to stand either side of Spirit.

"I'm not sure yet. Amanda didn't say," Spirit whispered distractedly, staring at the book.

"Who's Amanda?" Gaby muttered in an undertone.

"She's a.. I'm not entirely sure on what exactly she is. But she's part Witch. She's the one who gave me this book.. And why are we whispering?"

"I don't know," Whitney commented, still speaking softly. "It just seems appropriate. What does that say?"

"What? Where?" Spirit asked.

"Hold on." Turning to the first page Whitney pointed to the inside cover. "There."

"That wasn't there before," Spirit remarked, peering closely at the scrawled words.

'Bare I shall remain till the eve before the full moon,

My secrets, I will guard till then.'

"What does that mean?" Gaby asked.

"It's obvious isn't it? Whatever is in this book can't be read till the night before the full moon, which is…" Checking the date on her watch Spirit nodded. "Tomorrow night."

"Okay," Whitney said dragging Spirit over to the bed. "Sit down. You need to tell us what's going on."

"I thought you didn't believe me."

"Well, what do you expect?" Gaby asked, sitting opposite them. "It's not everyday you get told that the people and world you read about in a story, are real. Hold on… if that's real then does that mean Sirius, James and Lily really did…" Gaby gulped. "Die?"

Spirit stared at Gaby, dismayed. "I don't know Gab, Amanda didn't stay long enough and honestly, the thought never crossed my mind."

"Umm well look, we'll just… let Spirit explain things and then we'll think about… that," Whitney said dully.

"I have a feeling this is going to be a long night. Maybe we should stay back from school tomorrow," Gaby suggested.

"We can't do that. You know what Mrs Jennings is like. Any excuse to get the commoners out of her school." At Whitney's nod Spirit continued speaking. "We go to school as usual. I don't want Aunty and Uncle getting any calls about us not being there. You know how stoked they were when we received scholarships to Leadsville Academy. If anything happens… they'll be very disappointed, and I'm not willing to let that happen."

"Yeah, you're right," Gaby said nodding her head in agreement. "It's just that… that old battleaxe can really get my hackles up and those other two…"

"Henderson and Greene?" Whitney snarled. "I swear they make Draco Malfoy seem an angel in comparison."

"Talking about the horrors that await at school is a darn good way of spoiling a persons mood. Lets concentrate on other stuff. We can worry about school later." Spirit said earnestly.

"Okay," Whitney and Gaby both replied quickly. "Well, go on. Tell us everything you know."

~ * ~ * ~

A/N: Just a few thank yous!

real-eyes-realize-real-lies212- Thank you and I've updated. Lol

Miss Lady Padfoot- Aww shucks! Thank you!

andrea-the-angel- I'm still going! =D