*Hello one and all! 'Tiz the season to be jolly, so here is my christmas present to you all. And guess what, it didn't cost me anything. (!!!)
I finally got me a beta-reader to korrekt me terryble punktuawtyn and graymmer.
So take a virtual bow, Allylupin!
Sheez, the things you do and don't realise until your reader tells you – like spell Snuffles SUNffles and rip off other people's names unintentionally and change tenses etc etc etc. So thankyou thankyou Ally! And I am sure the readers will be thanking you as well.
While I am thanking people, THANK YOU to all the people who reviewed and the people who wished me well in the Calc stuff. I am obsessed by reviews, they really mean a lot to me. Hint hint. An extra-special Merry Christmas to yous.
Oh yeah, this chapter has excessive swearing etc, and scenes that may disturb. So if you happen to come to anything you don't like, bite my ass, close your eyes and scroll down. I know that sounds silly, but some people get offended by minor things...
Just to gloat to all you Northern Hemisphere people, it's summer down here and I'm going camping at the beach tomorrow until christmas eve. Aaah, this is the life. Secluded beaches, great waves, sunny days – I am guaranteed to get sunburn and a wicked tan line. Well anyway, enough gloating, on with the story.
Discalimer – All JK's stuff belongs to her. Anything else belongs to me.
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Wow, chapter six and I still don't have a plotline! That has to be a record!
**********
When she finally returned after two hours of loop-the-loops and dives and general airborne antics, it was nearly six, but the sun was still high overhead. Broom in hand, she trotted up the front steps, face shining, wondering what was for tea. She also mentally reminded herself to ask if Remus had any burn cream (for she was quite severely sunburnt) and if he had anything to get grass stains out of robes. She was rubbing one such stain thoughtfully as she propped the broomstick up against the wall in the hallway and thought about the numerous crashes that had caused them. She unlaced her boots, which was quite a mission, when you are pumped full of adrenaline and your fingers aren't co-operating.
She finally managed to kick them off and walked into the house to find Remus or Snuffles. She eventually found them both in the kitchen, asleep.
Remus was stretched out on the windowseat, a book lying absently on the floor beside him. The golden light played over his sleeping face, highlighting the premature gray streaks in his hair and his tired features.
On the other windowseat was Snuffles, who was sprawled ungracefully out, lapping up the sun, stomach stretched to the sky. Calypso smiled, and crept over to Fridge and slowly opened the door.
"Oooh hello! You're back are you!" Fridge whispered.
"Nice to see you too, Fridge. How's things going here?" she whispered back
"Well, Pantry isn't sulking anymore, so Remus was actually able to make a dinner tonight. Apart from that, nothing has really happened. I'd suggest you stay away from Pantry, though. I don't think she likes you very much." Fridge murmured confidentially.
"I had noticed" Calypso whispered dryly.
"Heard that!" came from the direction of Pantry, in an undertone that did not conceal the anger behind it.
"You missed dinner, so it's in me keeping cold." Fridge whispered back.
Calypso gave Fridge a sweet smile. "Thanks" she murmured and picked up a plate that contained a salad.
"It's Cajun Chicken Salad." Fridge whispered.
"Oh yumm!"
"Hope it burns your mouth." Hissed Pantry vindictively
"And I still have some Chocolate mousse if you want some afterwards" Fridge added bashfully.
Calypso grinned.
She sat up at the table and started eating the salad. By the time she was halfway through, though, Calypso was sure Pantry had doctored it. Her eyes were watering and her nose was running like a tap, and her mouth...oh her mouth. . Her tounge was seared - she thought it felt like the Cajun spice was eating into the very bone of her jaw.
Apart from that it was good Cajun Chicken Salad.
She had to jump up from the table and rush over to the sink, and drink noisily out of the tap. She heard Pantry creak satisfactorily. Bitch, Calypso though. This is war. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Snuffles open one eye, and look at her, obviously amused. Calypso knew no other dog that could grin quite like Snuffles. She glared at him, still running water over her burning tongue. Still, when her mouth felt normal again, she went and obstinately finished off the last of the salad, just to prove something to Pantry, and had to repeat her performance at the sink, much to Snuffles delight, who started wheezing with laughter.
When she was done, she dumped her plate with the rest of them stacked up in the sink (yes, defiantly a bachelor pad), went into her room and knelt down beside her pack. Opening it, she rummaged around until she came across a large, hard book. Dragging it out, Calypso fondly stroked its woven flax cover, marveling at the way the light played across its surface. She got up, and tiptoed back to the kitchen. She paused in the doorway, and looked at Remus sleeping on the windowseat. Turning around, she went back down the hallway and dragged the top blanket off Remus's bed. Returning to the kitchen, she carefully covered the blissfully sleeping Remus with it. He gave a little frown as the blanket touched him, but then snuggled in closer to it. Calypso stood back, smiled. There was some sort of emotion running around in her heart, but she couldn't identify quite what it was. Suddenly, spontaneously, she leant forward and brushed his gray-flecked hair out of his eyes, and gave him a light kiss on his forehead.
He didn't even blink.
Calypso smiled and walked over to Fridge, and with a few whispered words, was presented with a large bowl of Chocolate Mousse. Bowl in one hand and book in the other, Calypso went over to the other windowseat, where Snuffles was lying, looking at Calypso in a strange way.
"Budge over, pup." She whispered.
Snuffles reluctantly wriggled to one side, and, tucking her knees up beside her, Calypso sat down, balancing her bowl on the windowsill and perching her book on her knees. Ignoring Snuffles, she opened the book up to the first page, and, taking a huge, wobbling spoonfull of Chocolate Mousse, began to read.
Three-quarters of an hour later, Calypso gave a start and the chocolate mousse that was on its way to her mouth slopped onto the front of her robes and dribbled, slug-like, down her front.
She didn't care. Grabbing the book with both hands, eyes riveted on the pages, she read.
Feb 22 - Sunday night.
Dream. Sitting on lawn somewhere. Red cottage, green windowsills. Blue sky. Content. Dog and Wolf at side. Then big black clouds creep over sky. Ominous feeling. Evil?
March 9 - Tuesday.......
Calypso re-read her brief entry. The dream trickled back to her, and she could hazily remember it. It happened about two years ago, and as it was so vague and unfamiliar at the time, she had ignored and forgotten it. Until now. The house was defiantly Remus's. Yes, the more she thought about it, the more familiar it seemed. That was why when she had walked into the valley she had felt twitches of deja vue. Ahhh, it all makes sense now. Apart from the wolf. Was that her or a metaphor of another person?
Her head hurt. She scraped the gob of chocolate mousse off her robes with the spoon and ate it, and then with a flick of her outstretched hand, the bowl and spoon flew gracefully across the room to land in the cluttered sink. She flicked her fingers, and the taps began to trickle on, the plug rammed itself into the hole, and the detergent squirted into the stainless steel basin. When the sink was full, Calypso made a few gestures and the rest of the dishes that were stacked up all over the bench and table also glided across thin air to jostle their way into the sink. Gosh I'm lazy, she thought to herself. Even her brain felt lazy at the moment. Sunburn always made her tired. She leant back a little and looked out the window to the gold-splashed countryside views. It was warm, cozy and comfortable sitting on the windowseat, a slight cool breeze dancing around inside, a shaggy, warm sleeping dog at her feet, and a sleeping human off to her right. Her eyelids were heavy, and the sun played gently across her lightly freckled cheeks as her head slipped back, and the book falling lightly from her knees and sliding down her legs, coming to rest at her feet, by Snuffles twitching nose. The last thing Calypso heard as she slowly drifted off to sleep was faint snores from Snuffles mixed with serenading birdsong from outside.
**********
She dreamed.
The little eleven year-old girl carefully withdrew from the sleeping old woman's bedroom, grabbed a bowl from the kitchen and crept back outside. The trees shook silkily overhead, and the sun was hot and bright. She ran barefooted down the winding path, brushing past the riotous flowerbeds to the bottom of the garden, not far from the outhouse. She reached out and flicked the catch on the gate and let herself into the carefully tended vegetable garden.
Ignoring the rows of fat cabbages and vines heavy with plump tomatoes, she went to a row of green, stringy leaves sticking out of the ground. Burrowing her toes into the hot, dry soil, the girl knelt down and heaved several carrots out of the ground, shook the dirt off them and tossed them into the bowl. Passing the rows of corn, all taller than she was, she sat down at the row of potatoes, and started digging with her hands. She loved the smell of soil - earthy, Kuia said.
When she had three potatoes, she moved onto the peas, plucked handfuls of peapods, and threw them into the bowl. Standing up, she brushed the crumbly soil off her shins and went back up to the house.
The girl opened the pantry door and lifted carefully from the hook the apron, patterned with pictures of cows. She had brought Kuia it for Christmas, and remembered how delighted the old lady had been when she had unwrapped the bundle.
The girl slipped it over her head, and, wrapping the cords twice around her body, finished it in a neat bow. The bottom of the plastic-covered apron scraped the floor as the girl walked around the kitchen importantly, making a dull swooshing noise as she collected ingredients and equipment deeded to make a dinner for one.
She shelled the peas at the sink, but more peas found their way into her mouth than the pot. Strange, that. One of life's great mysteries, Kuia said.
Bits of potato flew all around the kitchen as the girl smashed them with the potato masher. Sweating, the girl had to admit that it looked much easier when Kuia had done it. Eventually, though, she had smashed enough potato to accompany the carrots, peas and Pork that was just finishing cooking.
She grabbed the bucket of scraps and, topping it up with a few scoops of Chicken Grain from a sack in the corner, went outside to the driveway. With noisy chickens running excitedly underfoot, hurled the contents in a huge arc, scattering the food across the path and grass. She had managed to cover a hen in potato peelings, but it didn't seem to care. It just pecked frantically on the ground, bocking and clucking away happily. The girl spotted the goat coming to push its way in and she decided to make a hasty exit. The goat was liable to chase her if it thought she still had some food in her hand, and it's horns were very hard when they connected with her backside.
Back in the kitchen, the girl arranged the food, the cup of strong tea and the posy of flowers she had picked from the garden on a tray, and added some serviettes with the cutlery. She wiped down the apron, which was adorned with bits of food and liberal amounts of gravy, and hung it back up. Picking up the tray, she carefully walked down the hallway, never taking her eyes off the teacup.
She rapped on the door with her foot.
"Kuia? You up? Hey I got dinner for ya."
There was no answer.
She put her shoulder up against the door, pushed, and it swung open.
"I made you Pork and peas and carr...." She said proudly, and then looked up.
The tray fell from her limp hands with a crash, and food splattered everywhere to join the blood.
The old woman was sprawled across her bed, blood and tissue smeared all over the walls, bedspread and carpet.
The little girl stood still, trembling violently, unable to make a move for what seemed an eternity. She eventually took a small step over to the corpse.
K...K...kuia?" she blubbered.
There was no reply.
Feet skidding on the blood-slicked carpet, she slipped as she walked over, and fell on top of the body.
It was cold and slimy.
The girl saw what was left of the woman's head, and, eyes bulging, and scrambled frantically off the dead woman's legs. Chest heaving, she turned and ran, over the spilled dinner, out the door, tripping over the doorframe, scattering chickens, sprinting down the driveway, too traumatized for tears, leaving red footprints in her wake.
**********
Calypso woke up thrashing wildly with the bedspread that Remus had thrown over her. There was a large weight on her chest, and, opening her eyes, shr found it was Snuffles, who had placed a large paw on each of her shoulders, holding her down. Remus was standing by, looking worried.
Calypso took a shuddering breath, and tried to stop shaking. She couldn't.
"Hell, Calypso, are you all right?" Remus asked, worried.
It was a while before Calypso could talk - her breathing was erratic, and her heartbeat was like a jackhammer.
"Umm...I'm okay. At least I will be soon." She replied, voice cracking, unconciously trying to wipe off her arms blood that wasn't there.
Snuffles took his paws off her chest, and looked sorrowfully at her, before leaning over and licking her salty cheeks with a rough tongue.
That was it. Calypso threw her arms around the huge dog, pulled him close and buried her face in his shaggy coat. He leaned his head on her shoulder, and Calypso screwed her face up. Tears trickled down her cheeks, and she bit her lip to stop herself from howling out loud. Remus placed a comforting arm around her shoulder, and after a few minutes, Calypso finally had wrangled enough grip on her emotions to take her face out of the dog's fur and face the world.
"What was that?" Remus asked quietly, at length. "A vision, was it? What happened?
Calypso shook her head.
"It wasn't a vision, it was a memory." She whispered.
Suddenly, mad at herself, mad at her past, mad at this stupid scenario, mad at the buzz, who had dropped her into all this anyway, mad at Snuffles, for licking her cheeks and making her break down, mad at Remus, for being so damm nice, mad at the world for being the fucking way it was, she jumped up, threw Remus's arm to the side, shunted Snuffles along, and stalked out of the room.
"I'm going to have a bath" she declared, and, hating her every action, but feeling strangely trapped now, grabbed her pack, marched into the bathroom and shut the door firmly.
**********
The clawed bathtub was majestically perched atop a set of marble stairs, and its sides were littered with candles, some tall, some just stubs, molten wax trailing everywhere. Calypso lounged in the hot water in the half-dark, bubbles up to her chin, and despised herself. Silent tears of self pity ran slowly down her freckled cheeks. The buzz is right, she thought, you are a bitch, and a hormone-charged cow. I acted like a right royal prick just now to Remus, and all he has ever done is go beyond any reasonable expectation doing stuff for me. Hell, he has even offered me his house to live in, and all with no questions asked. And what do I do? Go psyche when he tries to comfort me. I am such a bitch.
Calypso pulled a dripping, bubble-coated hand out of the water, and with a flick of her fingers, sent balls of fire to engulf the candles to express her anger with herself.
I'd better get out of here and go and apologize, like I should have done about an hour ago, instead of sitting in here till the bath water is lukewarm, she thought tiredly. I need to get out of here, phone home and talk to Melody. Will do so tomorrow.
There were three more days until the meeting with the rest of the Phoenixes. I need some clothes, she thought resignedly. Usually she only shopped by mail order - she hated going clothes shopping, unlike most of her sex. But Calypso had to admit that one set of stolen hospital robes, a pair of rugged, clumpy tramping boots, one pair of jeans, a single pair of shorts and a tattered singlet was not sufficient if she was going to stay on a permanent basis in England. And she desperately needed to top up her underwear supply.
Splashing her face, and finally starting to feel normal again, she heaved herself out of the bath, sloshing foamy water everywhere, and descended the marble stairs, drying herself with a fat, fluffy green towel. Dragging on clothes, she thought she heard voices from out the door. Visitors? Semi-decent in her battered singlet and shorts, she took a deep breath, and opened the bathroom door.
Remus was sitting at the table with Snuffles and a dark-haired woman with her back to the door as Calypso hesitantly poked her head around the corner.
"Ah, so you are finally out of the bath!" he exclaimed, good-naturedly. "I thought you had drowned." He beckoned her over, and the woman turned around curiously.
She was a real beauty, Calypso had to admit. She had Italian looks, high cheekbones, pale, porcelain skin, emerald eyes, full lips and gorgeous and raven black hair that was piled elaborately up on her head, and then fell in dead straight sheets down her back, covering her back. A bit like a cross between Carmen Miranda and a grown-up Wednesday Adams, Calypso thought ironically. But this witch was truly a looker. Elegant, too.
"Calypso, this is Maria, my girlfriend." Remus introduced them.
"So this is the person I have been hearing so much about" Maria said curiously, eyes raking the still dripping Calypso. Calypso suddenly wished she had taken the time to dry her hair and put on makeup, as Maria's eyes took in her bare feet, fuzzy long legs,(she had found no sign of a razor in Remus's bathroom, and she had lost hers the night after she had arrived in Heathrow) creased shorts, red singlet with threads flying that showed off a generous amount of breast (simply because that was the region that was fraying away), freckled nose and cheeks and sodden blonde hair.
"Do women always do that to each other?" asked Remus, puzzled. "Look each other over, I mean. Just like the way animals do before they attack."
Maria smiled, and her face lit up. "Take a seat, I won't bite." She said, with a touch of laughter in her voice.
Calypso decided that she could get along with Remus's girlfriend.
In fact, after a few cups of tea, Calypso decided that she really liked Maria. She was warm, funny and intelligent, with a Latino flair and a British accent. Despite her being in her mid-thirties, Calypso felt like she was friends with the older witch. Remus had good taste. And by the way Remus and Maria were shooting smoldering looks over the teacups, Calypso had a feeling that they were more 'partners' than just dating. She was happy for him - Remus deserved someone special.
When Remus brought up the subject of Calypso being the newest Phoenix, Maria was genuinely delighted, but Calypso delicately steered conversation away from what assets had got her admitted. She had learnt that her gift was something that not everyone responded positively to.
After the third cup of tea, talk turned shop, and Calypso sat back and listened while Remus and Maria discussed work. From what she could gather, both Remus and Maria were full-time Phoenixes, and there had been attacks on a prominent wizard family the day she had crashed at Remus' house - two of the family had been murdered, along with one of the official ministry aurors.
"The Edgecombes were great people" remarked Remus sadly. "Remember Richard? He was a terrific character, the clown of Hufflepuff. I will really miss not having him around the office."
Maria nodded sadly. "And Elizabeth used to live next door to me for a while. She was the sweetest soul you could ever hope to cross..." her voice trailed off.
"How's Helen's condition?" asked Remus
"Improving, but still critical. If she dies, Marilyn will be distraught. She's come to grips with her parent's deaths, but she's only in second year. She's very close to her sister."
Calypso cut into the melancholy silence. "Erm, were you two at school together?"
Maria gave Remus a rougish wink. "Yeah, we were in the same year and same house. Even though, I didn't really get to... know him... until sixth year."
"And so many of our class is dead..." remarked Remus sadly, not picking up on Maria's innuendo.
Snuffles whined.
"Yes..." agreed Maria. She quickly turned to face Calypso, and pointedly changing the subject, asked, "So how did you end up here?"
What the hell, thought Calypso. I like her, and she'll find out anyway. So she told Maria the strange and very unbelievable story of the buzz, and backpacking across America to find herself on Remus's door, then Peachgrove Village, and the saga at the hospital. When she had finished, Maria was looking interested, and thoughtful.
"So this buzz, it's in your head?" she asked.
Calypso nodded.
"And it has a voice now? And says things?"
Calypso nodded again.
"So have you tried talking to it? Asking it questions about why you are here, and what you have to do?"
Calypso let her jaw hang. "I never thought..." she stumbled.
"Give it a try" urged Remus.
Calypso leaned back on her chair, and looked up as far as her eyeballs would let her. Hello? Coooeeeeee! She thought. Anyone home?
Well, finally, you have used some of your pathetically small intellect and decided to talk to me. Jeez, took you long enough. Said a familiar, irritating voice from the back of Calypso's head. She grinned.
"It's working!"
So, buzz, even though you don't buzz anymore, what the hell are you? She questioned silently.
Mind your own business. I am here and I am in control. It replied tetchily.
Ohhhhoh, now I don't like that. I am in control of my own life, so fuck off. Calypso thought back moodily.
Sweets, since when have you been in control of your life? The words rang in her head like a cutting bell.
Shut up.
Oi, be nice. It thought back sarcastically.
So, Calypso thought, trying to block out the vivid imagery the words had brought back, what are you doing here in my head? What the hell am I supposed to be doing here?
I am in your head to be a guide, I suppose. What you are supposed to be doing is fighting Voldemort. Is that clear enough? It thought back sarcastically.
Actually, no. How am I going to fight Voldemort? I'm no witch. And what the hell is going to happen? My visions can't help that much. Calypso thought it might be best to take the diplomatic line with the buzz.
You'd be surprised, the buzz sent dryly. And your past is going to help.
Calypso felt a barb in her stomach. Her past?
So what are you?
Gosh you are impatient. And since I don't think your brain is capable of processing complex thoughts, I'll make this very simple. If you really want to know, I'm dead. I once was a great seer, and I need to make sure Voldemort isn't going to win. Unfortunately, being dead, I can't do much. So since you are the only seer I can use at the moment, I'm just instructing you. Isn't that a nice thought? You are my apprentice.
Yes, master Yoda. Calypso thought sourly. And what is this great deed I am going to accomplish?
There are a few, actually. You already have done a few, at Peachgrove Village, and Mungdungus Fletcher. I like Muggles, and we need Mungdungus later on.
Just a hint? Calypso implored.
No. Just pay attention to your dreams – that is, your futuretelling dreams, not your memory dreams. Now, I'm tired of playing 20 questions. Go away and be a good girl and don't get yourself into trouble. Go shopping or something, nothing is planned to happen until the meeting.
Sweet dreams! It added sarcastically.
Calypso looked back at Remus and Maria.
"Well?"
"There is a dead cow in my head that has plans for me." Calypso said absently.
"What?"
"Well, I think it's a she. She's really bitchy, I wouldn't have liked to meet her when she was alive, dead is bad enough. She says she was a seer, and she needs me to do stuff for her to defeat Voldemort. I really don't like her superior attitude."
"It's a cow?"
"With a superior attitude?"
"No, it's human, she just acts like a cow."
"Aah."
Snuffles snorted.
"A dead seer?" Maria bit her lip thoughtfully. "There aren't many seers, dead or alive, so I could probably find out about her."
"Thanks, Maria. And by the way, she told me to go shopping tomorrow."
Remus looked at her clothes, and had to agree.
"You can fly back into London."
"Uhh...really?"
"Yeah, go for it. You fly well enough to go to London."
Calypso's face broke into a huge, sunny smile. "Allright! I can do the tourist rounds!"
"Yes, well, you have three days to kill before the meeting." Remus replied, indifferently.
"Calypso, since out meeting is at night on Thursday, on that day do you want to spend the day investigating Diagon Alley?" Maria suggested kindly.
"Oh my god. Really? Diagon Alley is world famous! Hell..." Calypso was lost for words.
When they retired for bed, Calypso had forgotten about her tantrum and her dream, and her head was filled with wild imaginative pictures of Diagon Alley and Big Ben. Her head hit the pillow, and she only had time to begin to mull over what the dead seer in her head had said before she fell into a deep sleep.
**********
She dreamed.
Calypso was on a long, sandy beach, flanked by severe cliffs that echoed the crashing of the waves. The brutal breeze picked up her hair and tossed it into her eyes. She was sitting on the back of a horse, bareback. There were black clouds on the horizon, tinged with purple, threatening a storm. Calypso turned her grey horse around. With the wind came liquid fear, and looking down the sandy stretch of the coarse beach, grey-blue waves thundering to the side, she spotted movement coming fast up the beach. Terror struck at her heart like a barbed arrow. She whirled her horse around, and kicked its sides hard.
Yah yah! She screamed, panicking.
The horse reared, then took off at a gallop. Calypso leant forward and wound her hands into it's long mane, salt spray splashing her cheeks, and mane whipping her face brutally. She spared a glance behind her, and was horrified to see the dark mass behind her catching up rapidly. She kicked her horse harder, and pushed her hands up its neck, urging it to go faster. They raced down the hard sand of the beach beside the brutal waves, hooves pounding echoing eerily off the cliffs, the black mass behind and the storm moving faster than she was.
Suddenly, the black mass was equal with her, and, horrified, she turned her head to look at it. A face appeared, laughing, before a hand reached out and grabbed her neck and dragged her, screaming, off her horse...
Calypso sat up in bed, sweating.
Pay attention to your dreams, the buzz had said. Well, she had no memories like that one, so it had to have been a prophecy. Calypso silently peeled back the covers, and got out of bed. She silently crept down the hall and into the kitchen to pick up her book. It had to be about three in the morning, there was no sound or light outside. Careful not to wake anyone, she crept back to her bed, and, grabbing a pen out of her pack, entered her latest dream in.
**********
The next day, when Calypso was sitting at the table having breakfast, Maria walked in, wearing Remus's dressing gown. Calypso tried to maintain an indifferent expression. She didn't thing it worked, judging by the way that Maria winked at her, at which Calypso snorted into her cornflakes.
"So where are you planning to go today?" asked Maria as she helped herself to stewed fruit.
"Urg, Big Ben, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace and Oxford Street today." Calypso managed to say between chews of cornflakes. "They are probably nowhere near one another, but I don't care. That's what I want to do, and I'll pick up a copy of Lonely Planet and find out what I want to do tomorrow."
"Sounds like fun. You sure you are going to be okay by yourself? And what's Lonely Planet?" Maria asked kindly.
Calypso gave her a patronizing look. "Lonely Planet is a really good tour guide book. And Maria, so far I have traveled the whole way across the globe by myself. I will be fine just going sightseeing and shopping for one day."
Remus appeared in the doorway, looking noticeably disheveled. "Talking about shopping, do you have any money?"
Calypso nodded. "I only have about two pounds cash, but I have a Visa card and plenty of cash in other bank accounts. Don't worry about me." Remus nodded and disappeared into the bathroom, and Maria and Calypso could hear the shower running.
"So, how long have you and Remus been going out?" Calypso asked, no longer able to restrain herself.
"A while" Maria answered evasively, but after howls of indignation from Calypso, Maria relented and told her the story.
It seemed that they had first started dating when they were 16, and had continued doing so when they finished school, when Maria was offered a position as a junior pediatric doctor at St. Mungos. Remus had a job as an auror in England, until about three years later. Maria glossed over what had happened, but it all seemed to be centered around the time when Harry Potter defeated Voldemort. Remus had apparently broken off all ties with, well, everyone, and had disappeared overseas for nine years, before finally returning home. It seemed that his parents were killed by Voldemort, and his friends were dead. Maria, on the other hand, had taken up a post lecturing in the United States, and had done the rounds for ten years before returning home. In Diagon Alley, about four years ago, they met up, had a coffee, and, well, one thing lead to another thing, and, as Maria put it, "here we are now."
Calypso was going to ask cockily when they were getting married, but by that time Remus was out of the shower, clean and dressed in deep maroon robes. Maria went and claimed the shower, and Calypso suddenly had a thought.
"Where's Snuffles?"
"Out. He won't be back for days."
Calypso raised her eyebrows at this, but said nothing. There was defiantly more to Snuffles than Remus was going to admit.
"So how am I going to find London, and then find home again?" she asked, changing the topic.
"I'll give you a Pathfinder. You clip it onto the end of your broomstick and it sends a green line out ahead of you that you follow. And when you want to go back, you just follow the line the opposite way. No-one can see the line but you, and it's totally foolproof." He said as he stacked a plate with crumpets and jam. "Oh, and that reminds me. You can have my mother's old shopping bag too. Remind me before you leave.
Calypso didn't have to remind him, as Maria suggested exactly the same thing when she emerged from the bathroom. Remus went into the lounge, and reappeared holding a mouldy looking carpet bag. Calypso wrinkled up her nose. "Umm, thank you but no thank you." She said politely.
Remus smiled. "You might change your mind when you observe it's magical powers." He grabbed a few huge tomes out of the bookshelf and dropped them in, followed by a large leafy potplant, a paperweight, a few ornaments, and more books. He grinned and handed the bag to her. It was as light as a feather, and looked empty. Stunned, she opened it up and peered inside. Gasping, she saw at a huge pile of books, ornaments and the potplant that Remus had just thrown in. She ran her hands over the bottom of the bag, which was much higher than the bottom of the inside was.
"Ohwow. How does this work?" she asked, flabbergasted, and put her whole arm into the bag up to her shoulder and waved it around, without touching anything solid.
Remus grinned again at Calypso's obvious delightment.
"It's maaaagic." He said slowly in baby-talk, eyes wide open.
Calypso shot him a look of pure evil.
**********
Flying out later, with the wind whistling in her ears and slathered with sunscreen, Calypso had time to mull over her strange dream as hills and valleys flashed past below. Think as she might, she could not get a solution. She had never owned a gray horse, or been to a beach that looked like that, even though she thought it looked like the Kawhia shoreline from a postcard Ian had sent her once when he was on holiday. Black, purple-tinged clouds were surely a sign of evil, but that was not unexpected these days. Scared of a distant evil that was catching up? She was stumped.
She had left just after seven, and she calculated that she should be in London by eleven if she flew the whole way at top speed, which was, Remus informed her, 220 Km/h. Which was what she was doing now. Thanks to the standard enchantments on the broomstick, it felt much slower, and she wasn't ripped off by the wind.
The shutter on the camera froze into memory for all eternity the young Japanese couple hugging each other, with the backdrop of Big Ben, blue sky and pigeons on the handrail behind them. Calypso lowered the camera and handed it back to the pair. They thanked her energetically many times over, the girl with a perfect toothpaste commercial smile. Calypso assured them it was no trouble, and watched as they walked off, arms around each other, blissfully happy. She felt a pang of envy, and then quickly brushed it out of her mind.
She had landed (successfully) just outside of the city, and after walking a short way, had caught the underground in to Knightsbridge to Hyde Park, which she had flown over the previous day. She had hired a horse and rode around the park for two hours, the whole time feeling her guilt, frustration and apprehension melt away in the sunlight.
When she had returned with the sweaty horse, the girl in charge of the stables had given her an incredulous look. Dressed in her jeans, boots and a tight 'I love London' tourist t-shirt she had brought off a vendor outside of the Park, and her ancient old carpet bag hanging off a hook nearby, she was hardly a match for this girl in her jodhpurs, shiny black boots, crisp white shirt and maroon tie.
When she had gone to hire her horse, she explained to a closed mind that she rode horses for a living, she would like something with a bit of spark, and did they happen to have any stock saddles? The girl had sneered in a plummy accent and had presented her with a tired old nag, telling her that they didn't have rubbish like stock saddles. Calypso had not said a word, and simply marched into another stall and led out a huge, chocolate brown throughbred. After a few words (not all of them nice) were exchanged, Calypso had saddled up and ridden off on the excitable ex-racehorse as it bucked and skittered across the bridle path, leaving a fuming groom behind her.
Two hours of galloping, jumping and intense riding had wound the kinks out of her horse, and Calypso herself was bouncing. The groom was a little more polite after watching Calypso jump a huge fence effortlessly as she came back onto the yard and canter, stirrupless, up to the mounting block.
Still in her horse-hair covered jeans and sweaty London top, but feeling incredibly invigorated, she found the nearest department store and purchased another t-shirt, a pair of the newest fashion bellbottom jeans, and some platforms. Looking a little more respectable, she caught the underground to Oxford Street and shopped up large, trying to forget that she had a dead person in her head.
**********
Visa cards were the devil's handiwork, she decided after leaving the seventh shop with four bags in her hands, and waving the sales assistants goodbye. Ouch, that last lot cost £108.75. Sheez, be up to my limit soon, she thought guiltily. She joined the mad rush of people on the pavement and unobtrusively dropped her shopping bags into Remus's carpet bag one by one. Walking past a bank, she felt a twitch of temptation, but quickly checked herself. Don't want that money anyway. Blood money, she thought. I'd better get out of this shopping mode, and the best way to do that is to get away from here. So she traveled to Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard, and then to Big Ben, buying tourist rubbish to send home to her sisters and friends, and taking photos for other tourists.
I firmly refuse to save any lives today, or risk my life, or be a hero in any way, shape or form, she thought. It's a day for me. Gosh that sounds selfish, me me me, but I don't care.
**********
Watching a pair of teenagers her age walk past, Calypso felt lonely again, and shook it off. But still, she wanted to talk to her sisters. The problem was the time zones. They were triplets, and very close, but she was sure that Melody and Aria wouldn't appreciate being woken up at three in the morning by the clamor of the telephone, even if it was their darling sister on the end of the line. So she chose some very London-ish postcards from a small newsagent, a pile of newspapers and a few magazines and stuffed them into her bag, which was still feather light, and eyed up the hairdressers across the road.
At four, she decided to head back. She wanted to get back before dark – the Pathfinder worked well, but she wasn't going to test whether it glowed in the dark. She was walking down the stairwell to the underground station, flanked by hordes of people, when suddenly she caught a glimpse of the back of a head out the corner of her eye.
Her head shot up, and she trod on someone's foot as she tried to get another look. Fumbling with her money as she paid to go through the turnstiles, she lost sight of the head.
Apologizing as she pushed her way forward, she frantically searched for the head again, hoping, desperately hoping it wasn't...
There. She spotted it again – shoulder-length steel gray hair, with a single strand of white down the back, like a skunk.
A tight metal band suddenly constricted around Calypso's chest.
Still, she had to make sure.
She shouldered her way past a guy in stubby red shorts to be standing parallel to the man with the skunk striped hair, a few persons between them. The crowd surged forward as the train arrived, and Calypso got a good hard look at his face.
Her breath died in her chest.
God no. He was supposed to be in jail, rotting away somewhere on the other side of the world. Not here. Not where she was, fucking up her life once again.
She stood rooted to spot, and in those few seconds he turned his head and spotted her. As if in slow motion, his black eyes met her blue-gray ones, and widened in shock.
Calypso... he mouthed, the sound lost over the screech of the train.
It was fight or flight. Instinct told her to flight.
Her muscles bunched, and she turned, running straight into a businessman. She grabbed him, pushed him aside roughly and struggled through the crowd, panicking. It was like trying to move out of a mosh pit, or like trying to walk through a wool blanket, suffocatingly thick. Thickly and gluggily, people moved as Calypso squeezed gaps between them, but not fast enough. She was almost to the train door, when a hand closed on her shoulder and hauled her backwards.
"You're not going anywhere" a voice said softly, dangerously, close to her ear.
Calypso acted on instinct. She took an extra step back into the man, and raked the heel of her new shoes down his shins hard. He let out a roar of pain and backed away a few steps, releasing his grip on her shoulder. That was it. Calypso spun around, and grabbed his outstretched arm, twisted it, and bent it back and over. His eyes widening in shock at being caught out so easily, Calypso easily broke his arm with a snap like celery breaking. She reached out a leg, and smoothly whipped it around to knock out the back of his knees, and her assailant fell back onto the concrete, letting out a bellow of pain.
Calypso didn't even stop to look. She turned and, ignoring the people that had stopped to look, pushed her way onto the train, and wrestled her way as far down as she could get. Pressed up against the end of the carriage, she tried to get breath, and did not succeed. She was trembling uncontrollably all over, and she wanted to be sick. People were looking at her strangely, but did not make eye contact. That was just fine with her.
Shit, what was he doing here? What were the odds, seeing each other in London of all places? GODDAMMIT! She thought. Her thoughts were rushing around in her head crazily. She clutched her bag closer to her chest and started breathing normally. I can do this, she thought. He'll never find me. I got away. I'm fine.
She got off at the eighth stop, and climbing to the top of the stairs into the bright sunlight, she felt quite normal, even though still a little shaky, heart a little fast. Walking along the shop fronts, she found a little deserted side alley and, unconcernedly, walked down it. At the end, she reached into her bag and pulled out her new pair of designer sunglasses. Pushing them onto her nose, she reached in again and, after rummaging around, pulled out her broomstick and sat it on top of a rubbish skip. Closing the bag and fastening it with a snap, she quickly looked around to check that no-one was watching, and mounted her broomstick with shaking hands. Rising a bit higher, one of her shoes fell off. Cursing, she landed again, and whipping her other shoe off, stuffed them both in her bag. She looked up at a small sound...
He was standing there, wand in hand, arm fully fixed.
Her heart stopped.
He gave a cruel smile.
"Calypso, long time, no see..." he purred, and took a step forward, false leg making a familiar clinking noise on the ground.
Her brain came back onto gear, and she kicked off against the ground, hard and zoomed straight up into the sky.
"STUPEFY!" she heard yelled, and a jet of orange light smashed through the window she had just passed.
She reached the top of the building, and shot off, ducking low into the streets, weaving around streets at high speed, turning corners erratically before realizing she was gripping with her hands too tightly.
Left, right, left, third right, left at the Y-intersection, left again, right, second right...she risked a look behind her, and saw no-one. Not even slowing down, she flew straight over a tree-filled reserve, and took her hands and knees off the broomstick. She fell to the ground, as Remus had warned her, just like a stone. Just as she was about to hit the ground, she grabbed the broom tightly again, and stopped just in time to hover above the ground. Leaping off, she raced over to a large tree and stood beneath it, panting, eyes darting in all directions.
"Woah, too weird." Said a dismembered voice to her side.
She looked at her feet, and saw a group of five punks sitting with their backs to the tree trunk.
Ahhhhh CRAP, they saw me, she thought.
Then one of them started giggling hysterically, and Calypso sighed with relief. High. They all think they were tripping out and just hallucinated seeing me land. She quickly jammed her broomstick into her bag, and boldly went over and sat next to the one on the end, who had a highlighter pink mowhawk waxed into sharp spikes. Leaning against the tree, she let out a shaky sigh of relief. Sitting next these druggies, he would never be able to pick up on her mind. These stoners should scramble any thoughtwaves around here, but she still had a huge problem. How to get back to Remus's house without him tracking her. She closed her eyes, and tried to relax and think.
Monohan was his name, and Calypso knew him better than she would have ever liked. He had a talent that not many people knew about – he was an expert tracker, due to the fact that he could identify people by their minds.
It had been a joke that Monohan's mother was a Dementor, as he shared the same uncanny ability with the foul creatures. Monohan had stopped that joke quite quickly.
'Thoughtwaves' he had called them. He said they radiated out of people's heads like a radiostation that he could tune into if he wanted. He could just scan the airwaves, or if he knew someone he could ajust the little knobs somewhere in his head and hone in on them. He could do that for about a radius of two kilometres. Calypso thought it sounded like he was identifying people's auras, not thoughts. Whatever he called his waves, his method was better than a fingerprint, better than DNA. They all had thought that there was no flaw to Monohan's little sneaky trick, but Calypso had found a few.
Getting completely drunk would mess her 'signal' well enough, she had done it before, but she had no way of getting any alcohol, then it would take a while for it to hit her, and then she had to fly home. Flying home drunk would not be a good idea. Maybe she could kidnap one of these guys and take him with her, like a portable scrambling device, then Remus could modify his memory...but that would require explaining a lot of things to Remus...
Suddenly there was a touch on her shoulder, and she jumped.
"Hey, didn't mean to scare ya" said a very pierced punk in leather, who had jumped as much as she had.
"Uh, no, sorry aye, I just..." Calypso said shakily.
He cut her off.
"Oi, youre an Aussie, aren't you?"
Calypso nodded.
"Want some?" He gestured toward his jacket.
Calypso stopped to think, and then smiled. The next best thing to taking one of these punks home with her.
"Whattya got?"
**********
An hour later she was still sitting next to the group of punks, totally stoned out of her mind, mellowed out and relaxed.
This is what I needed, she thought. Just a bit of pot to calm me down, scramble my mental signal and let me think for a while.
Some people giggle when stoned, others go to sleep, a small few get aggressive, most get energetic, and others, like Calypso, just contemplate the meaning of the universe.
So she thought about what was happening to her.
Monohan is here.
He didn't know I was here, judging by his expression.
He's out of jail.
He must have either broken out, or escaped.
I'm in trouble.
He's dangerous.
Remus should know.
This is bad.
That bloody buzz said my past would play a part.
He's from my past.
And Monohan being Monohan, will be in the thick of things.
He can't track me while I'm stoned.
I have to get out of London, at least a few kilometers away before I start coming 'down'.
But even at Remus' I won't be safe.
All it will take is for him and those Death Eaters I met near Remus' house to swap notes to work out where I am, and then even the Fidlus Charm won't help.
She sighed, and let out a few giggles accidentally.
Standing up, she reached over to a girl dressed in denim and plucked the joint out of her hand, took a drag, and placed it back in her unmoving fingers.
"Thanks mates" she said in a strangled voice, and flicked the last of her paper money, a few pounds into the punk wearing leather's lap. He grinned at her, and started laughing.
"G...glad to have been...of service!" he managed to say between laughs.
Calypso blew him a kiss, and walked off to a deserted part of the reserve, the group's laughter floating across the still summer air.
When she thought she was alone, she looked around to spot any people that might happen to look her way, a very easy task when you are stoned and can spot individual ants moving. When she was satisfied no-one was innocently glancing her way, she whipped out her broomstick, turned on the Pathfinder, slung the bag onto the end, and leapt on it. She gave a yelp as she soared into the sky and her senses went delightfully haywire. Better go slowly, she thought. Don't want to fly straight into a skyscraper or something. She laughed hysterically at the thought. Boy am I wasted.
What was the old saying? Don't drink and drive – smoke dope and fly home. Calypso burst into peals of laughter, and didn't stop until she had reached the outskirts of London, when her chest started hurting from laughing uncontrollably so much.
The wind rushing past her face and catching her hair felt incredible, and she immensely enjoyed her flight home, following the green line floating in the air ahead of her.
**********
By the time she reached Remus's house, she was completely normal again, very tired, there was no-one following her and it was well into twilight. It was only the lights coming from the windows of the house that enabled her to find it. Landing perfectly on the path, (yeeeeeha! she thought), bag hanging off the end of the broomstick, she saw a head pop out of the front door, quickly followed by a fast-moving, shaggy black blur. Snuffles raced down the path, and bounded around her, slobbering everywhere.
"Yo Snuffles you mangy cur! Stop drooling me!" she ordered.
Snuffles barked and ran back inside, Calypso following him, barefoot.
Maria greeted her at the door.
"You're back! Hell, we were getting worried, it'll be dark soon. You were cutting it very fine!" she said, obviously relieved.
"Yeah, I meant to leave earlier, but I got unavoidably delayed." She said apologetically. Well, I suppose there is more than a grain of truth in that, she thought, looking around for any sign of anything unusual.
"Come on in!" Maria exclaimed, and swept Calypso inside to the kitchen, which smelt of dinner, where Remus was sitting, reading the Daily Prophet.
"Had a good day? Brought everything in London yet?" he asked good-naturedly.
"Not quite", she said, chuckling. "But don't say I didn't try. So what happened today at work? Anything interesting?" she said, trying to read the paper over his shoulder.
"Funny you should say that. Big happenings down your end of the world" he answered, and flicked the paper back to the front page. There, blaring across the front page, was the message Calypso did not want to see –
Australasian Prison Broken Open – Death Eaters Loose
At One PM local time today, Death Eaters stormed the infamous South Pacific prison of Devil's Island, freeing all inmates. Your Daily Prophet reporter can say in all confidence that the Dementors guarding the cells did not fight the intruders – rather, they helped them set free the most dangerous criminals in the Southern Hemisphere by destroying the anti-apparation wards that would have otherwise foiled the break-in. Within seconds, all involved apparated from the fortress, and there has been no trace of them.
This reporter, however, is sure that this is not the last we have heard from these vicious killers, who terrorized not only the Wizarding world, but sowed seeds of conflict in Muggle societies such as Indonesia, Fiji and the Solomon Islands...
Remus noticed her frozen face.
"What's the matter?"
Calypso blinked. Lie, she thought.
"Oh...uh...I'm just worried about my sisters. You know, with those loose nutters running around the place so near to home. Hey, I know that I've just got back from London and all, but do you mind if I fly into Peachgrove Village and ring home? You know, just to check that everything is okay and all..."
Remus dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, sure, just take Snuffles with you."
Calypso looked a little put out.
"How's he going to get there? I'll be flying."
"You can't fly fast at night anyhow, just fly slowly and he'll run along behind you." Remus grinned evilly. "He needs the exercise – he's getting fat"
Snuffles growled from the windowseat, but lurched to his feet and padded his way across the kitchen to stand beside Calypso who ruffled up his fur.
Calypso dug into her pockets and pulled out just under ten pounds in change. Enough to phone home, she thought.
"Let's go, pup."
**********
Calypso leant against the side of the red phone booth nervously as the phone pealed in her ear. Pick up, dammit, she thought. It would be eight in the morning over there, so they should be up and having breakfast. Pick up.
Suddenly, after the eleventh ring, there was a click, a shuffle, and a voice spoke into the receiver.
"Gudday, Mel here." Said a voice lazily.
Calypso felt a surge of joy.
"MEL! AAAAAAH!" she bellowed hysterically into the phone.
"What?" was the confused reply on the other end of the line.
"It's me!"
"What...Cal?" said the voice, hesitantly.
"Yes of course dumbnut, who else!"
"CAL! Oh God, where the fuck have you been?"
Calypso smiled broadly and twisted the telephone cord around her fingers.
"Shit it's good to hear your voice again."
"Where in God's name have you been?" demanded Mel again.
"Since I last called, in England. I went to London yesterday, and I've passed through heaps of..."
"FOR SIX FUCKING MONTHS? Mel screamed down the phone line
"No, for about a week now, what do you..." replied Calypso, confused.
"Fuckit Cal!" Mel started to break down, sobbing into the receiver. "We all thought you were dead, we had Interpol looking for you, and Ian and Ben flew to L.A to ask at the airport and..."
"What?" said Calypso softly, eyes wide open.
"We thought you were dead, I'd given up all hope, the cops told us that you were probably robbed and murdered, they gave all these statistics about female backpackers that disappear and they never find any trace..." her voice trailing off into tear filled hiccups.
"Hey, I phoned you from L.A airport a week ago! I did! And you had just got that new job! You told me so! What's this shit about six months? I was at home six months ago!" She demanded. Calypso's fingers stopped their twirling and left the cord hopelessly ensnared in them.
"No you weren't!" Mel yell/sobbed down the phone. "Oh God I thought you were dead..."
Calypso's mind was trying in vain to take this all in, when there was a crash, a scratching, some yelling and a lot of banging from the end of the telephone as the receiver was wrestled off Melody.
"CALLLLLLL!" screamed a new, slurred voice down the phone.
"RIA!" Calypso yelled back. "Hey sweetiepie, whazzup?"
"Cal, come home, I miss you, Mellie is sad. I don't like it when she's sad." Aria said in a babyish, bouncy voice.
Mind still spinning, Calypso tried to think.
"Ria, why is Mel sad?"
"She thinks you're gone. Gone to the place in the sky. And Ian and Ben and all the others are sad as well. I miss you, Cal. Come home. You missed our birthday, and you promised you would be home." She demanded, hurt.
"But...but...Ria, our birthday is in July."
"Yeah, and we had this big party and all my friends from school came, but it wasn't as good as last year because you weren't there. I wanted you to be there, and I waited all day and you didn't come and Mel started crying."
"But Ria, it's only January."
Aria laughed an eleven-year old laugh down the phone.
"No, silly, it's July. You are so silly sometimes."
"But..." Calypso tried to protest, but there was more scraping and banging and a new voice was sent down the phone line.
"CAL!"
"IAN!"
"FUCK!"
"Ian, what the hell is going on?"
"Holy shit, I can't believe it's you!"
"Cut the bullcrap, what's going on?" Calypso demanded angrily.
"Cal, you've been gone for over nine months now." An incredulous Ian said down the phone.
"No I haven't. I've been gone two, three at the most." She spat back.
"Cal, I don't know what crazy shit you've got yourself into, but you HAVE been gone for six months. Where the fuck have you been?" he said, suddenly serious.
"I'm...I'm...I'm in England" she stuttered, mind refusing to believe what she was hearing.
"For six months? Without calling us? Or even a postcard? How about just saying you were alive?" he said, angrily. "Fuck, Mel has been out of her mind, and we've been trying to explain to Ria that you weren't coming back..."
"NO!" she yelled. "I phoned you a week ago! From the airport! In L.A!"
Ian was suddenly quiet.
"Cal, that was six months ago."
"No..." Calypso whispered. Little pips were coming in over her conversation.
"Something is going on here, Cal. Devil's Island fell yesterday, have you heard?" he said urgently.
"Yeah, that's why I rang. And I needed to tell you, I met an old friend today. Monohan. He chased me through London, but I got away."
Ian gave a hiss of indrawn breath. "Shit. Shit. Aaah, shit."
"Don't swear." Calypso said, pot calling the kettle black. "Is everyone okay?"
"Fine. Apart from being worried to death about you!" he replied. "Where exactly are you? Are you okay? Where are you staying?"
"I'm staying with a wizard, can you believe it? He's really cool, really nice. His name is Remus..."
There was a sudden click, and then the droning tone that meant her money had run out.
**********
She ran up the stairs, didn't bother to take her shoes off at the front door. She dashed past Maria, who looked startled, and skidded around the corner into her room. She fell onto her knees in front of her pack, and frantically dragged the contents out, throwing them all across the floor.
Remus and Maria came hesitantly to the door.
"Calypso?"
She didn't reply, just kept hurling stuff out of her bag.
"Calypso?"
"HAHHA!" she declared, and dragged out a small, navy-blue leather covered booklet with a silver coat-of-arms and the words, 'New Zealand Passport" emblazoned on the front.
She sat back on her haunches, and riffled through the pages, muttering to herself.
Remus, Maria and Snuffles, who was panting, quietly walked into the room to stand at her shoulders, looking at her like a bomb about to go off.
Calypso stopped at the second to last page, and ran her finger over to a purple stamp reading, 'Los Angeles Airport – 18 Jan'.
"See? I told them!" she declared to no-one in particular. She flicked over the page, and looked at the next stamp. 'Heathrow Airport – 18 Jan' "See? January!"
"Calypso, are you feeling okay?" asked Maria.
"Yesyesyesyes! I just need the paper. Where's that bag I brought back from London today?" she demanded, eyes wide open so the whites were showing.
"Uh...on your bed" Remus said cautiously.
Calypso leapt up, and dragged all the things she had thrown off her bed onto the floor, covering Snuffles in clothes. She grabbed the old carpet bag, ripped the latch open and thrust her arm in, dragging out a bunch of newspapers. She took the first one off the pile, and flipped it so she could read the byline.
Her face froze into a macabre smile, and she did not move.
"Calypso?"
"Calypso."
"Calypso!"
She suddenly realized that Remus was shaking her shoulder, his voice coming from a long way away. She snapped back to reality.
"What's wrong?"
Maria was hovering over her like an expectant mother.
Calypso opened her mouth to speak, but found she could only let her jaw hang there.
Remus shook her again, and she cleared her thoughts enough to show Remus the date on the newspaper.
Tuesday the 29th of July.
**********
*By now you all know the drill.
The best christmas present I could get right about now is heaps of reviews. I don't really care what they say – it's the thought that counts.
So MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all! And probably HAPPY NEW YEAR as well.
And please please review.
Hugs all round, luv you all, wish you were here and all that jazz.
Merry Christmas!!!!!