Authors Note: Hello! I'm so very sorry for being a prat and not updating
for a while. I got lots of homework and I was sick so I've got to catch up
but I figured I'd at least give you guys something new to munch on before I
went away for the weekend. Another important thing, I'm still blocked on
this story, but I have at least one notebook full of writing to post, so
don't worry, yet. I found out the reason I got blocked. *growls* It's a
Draco/Hermione & Harry/Ginny story. I've written quite a bit, but I do not
know if I should post it, let me know whatcha think will ya? And on to the
reviewers I have to thank:
Sngrl482- Thank you for your suggestions. Don't worry about and S/L stuff, it's entirely one-sided in my story. I'm working through L/J relationship, but you're going to have to be patient. I'm not one for immediate relationships, especially since theirs will eventually end in marriage as I'm trying to stick to canon as much as possible. Thank you for your great suggestions.
Captain Oblivious- Thanks; I think I will try to work that in. it might not be for a while though as you should have read above explanation.
Kristatwen- Thanks for the support!
Celine- Thanks so much! I'm really glad that you liked my humor and I hope you like this chapter, though it's rather more serious.
Poetbrit- Lily is a mostly non violent person *cough* Um. yeah. that's a complete lie, she was just more embarrassed then anything.
I o u a name- There might be hints there but it won't happen, they're just going to be really close friends and in case it isn't mentioned they were very close at Hogwarts, especially after she found out about the werewolf thing.
MarauderFan4ever aka Liz411- Eek, the five year old! Sorry for being a prat. And it's just fine to live on FFN but don't make it your life. I hope you like the chapter.
Ggal- Yes, only one author, but you shall see that I've avoided my angstyness for this post in regards to what you asked about. I'm not sure if people are going to find out about Snape writing to Lily. I haven't decided yet.
JCtigerwolf4e- You'll have to wait and see. I hope you like this chapter though as I tried to make it fairly long.
Laina3- I hate it too, but you don't have to worry for a little while at least.
Shadowed.phoenix- You are surprisingly good at guessing my future actions which haven't even been written yet, so I applaud you. Sorry about the lack of action, some of these things are filler between major events with little things thrown in. Thank you for your amazing review! Your comment about not knowing how I write this well makes me smile so big that you'd probably say I'm glowing! It's the best thing that you can possibly say to inspire me. Oh, and thank you for your support of the delayed Lily/James hook up, that helps a lot as well.
Hart-break- Naughty thoughts? *laughs* Well I don't know what you're referring to. *whistles* I hope you like this chapter.
Black-cat-on-the-wall- *calms the brat down* Heh. Sorry for the delay, I hope you like this one.
Manny2003- Well, thank you for the thought and any suggestions you may have are welcome!
Khel-shaye- Remus is great isn't he? I love him to death. Sorry about the delay, I hope you like this chapter.
Anarane- What do you mean by 'no Hexing'? I'm so confused! Thank you for the review though!
Zebragurl- Lily is still a little perturbed at James but you've got to wait and see what's going to happen. And I don't mind the puns most of the time. *smiles*
Akire135- Sorry for the lack of things happening. I've been having trouble with the whole Voldie end of things; I'm thinking some things through though. I hope you like the long awaited chapter!
AndromedaTonks- I'm continuing as fast as I possibly can! Sorry for the delay and I hope you like this chapter!
Chapter Forty: Moody Observations
James walked into his office finding dozens of messages and a good deal of paperwork to sift through. He sighed and sat down, several interdepartmental memos started to become impatient after having been waiting there for what appeared to be days. The memos had just come into use and James was rather relieved as the mess the owls left has been rather disgusting. James sighed and read through the memos; several were from Moody, mostly asking if James wanted to keep his job. There was a coughing noise and Moody himself stood at the door into James' office.
Alastor Moody has slightly graying hair and face that looked as if it was carved from wood, his magical eye swiveling around in his head before focusing on James. "Potter," Moody growled and walked into the room looking fierce, but his expression betrayed nothing.
"Hey Moody," James said meekly and hoped that Mad Eye wouldn't just kill him.
"Where were you yesterday Potter? In face where have you been all weekend? Your report was due back and if it hadn't been for the fact that you did manage to show up yesterday at all I would have sent the troops out to look for you," Moody said after he'd shut James' door with a snap.
"There was a bit of a development with my caretaker and I completely forgot about the report," James said weakly. Moody was surely going to kill him after all the times he'd told him 'Constant Vigilance!' in the past year and a half.
"Development?" Moody growled his normal eye narrowing dangerously and focusing on James.
"Well it's a really long story sir," James said helplessly.
"Well then you'd better start don't you think Potter?" Moody growled and for the next hour and a half James explained what had happened and Moody scowled, muttered and cursed whenever he was given the chance.
"Let me meet her," Moody said with a scowl, opened the door to James' cramped office and limped out while James hurried to follow. They disapparated and arrived at Godric's Hollow where they were greeted with a surprised scream from Lily.
"Oh my, you scared me," Lily said her hand clutching at her chest and a pile of James' folded laundry had been dropped unceremoniously on the floor when James and Moody's arrival had startled her.
"This her Potter?" Moody said and circled around Lily, his magical eye going haywire.
"Yes, this is Lily Evans, Lily this is-," James started and Lily held up a hand to silence him.
"I know who he is. Alastor Moody, your boss, many people call him Mad-Eye," Lily said shortly, the man might look frightening but she wasn't scared of him.
"Really lass, how is it you know that? Been consulting with Voldemort have you?" Moody glowered through his eye, noted the charm which hung around her neck; Dumbledore didn't often give protection such as he had to this girl.
Lily's eyes widened and she rounded on Moody. "Voldemort is an evil bastard who kept me from going to Hogwarts. I would rather die then associate myself with him," she said angrily and her eyes flashed as she glared at Moody.
James gaped at Lily and turned to look at Moody who was surprisingly smiling, though it looked more like a grimace then anything. "Good lass. I didn't mea to offend you but you see Potter here had me worried, but it's all cleared up now. We'll be heading back to The Ministry," Moody said and patted James' shoulder before he disappeared.
James was still gaping at Lily and then looking to where Moody disappeared he said, "I'd better go." It was muttered with wide eyes and then he too disapparated leaving Lily to pick up the laundry she's dropped on the floor. After Lily set James' things at the foot of his bed, she walked down the hall to her room and closed her door quietly behind her and walked over to her desk; Snapes' letter sat innocently on its surface. She sighed and sat down in the chair to reread the letter. "He wants to owl me," Lily whispered to herself. It intrigued her very much, that Severus Snape wished to exchange letters with her.
Lily sighed again and opened the drawer of the desk that she knew to contain parchment and pulled a few leafs out and took a quill from another drawer and a bottle of ink as well. Dipping the quill into the ink she began to write.
Your request intrigues me enough to ask why you wish to write to me. If a satisfactory answer comes with your next reply I might disregard the plagiarism of William Shakespeare.
L.E.
Lily folded and sealed the short letter and wondered how she was going to send the letter when a noise came from a window behind her. She turned and saw a tawny owl perched on the sill and she allowed it inside. The owl carried no letter and stood patiently waiting for her to tie the letter to her. Lily carefully tied the letter to the owl and said, "Take this to Severus Snape." The owl hooted and flew out the window and Lily watched it fly away into nothingness before she went down to the library to see if Remus was alive.
Sirius apparated to Arabella's house and found her sleeping in her room. "Bella," Sirius whispered as he sat down next to Arabella on her bed and touched her cheek gently. Arabella's eyes fluttered open slowly and focused blurrily on him. "Sirius?" she said and reached up to his face.
Sirius grabbed her hand gently in his and said, "It's me."
Arabella sat up slowly and hugged Sirius tightly. He noticed her bloodshot eyes and tearstained face and felt a pang in his chest as he wondered what she was thinking. "I'm sorry," she whispered and just breathed him in. "Is - is she okay?" Arabella asked quietly.
"Yes, she's fine," Sirius said and declined to mention the pillow fight and other such antics that had taken place after Catherine had been revived.
"I'm sorry," Arabella said again as she pulled away from him. "Is Lily mad at me?" she asked quietly.
Sirius sighed, "I'm not completely sure Bella, but I suspect she's just annoyed with you. I'm sure she'll be fine once you apologize," he said and gently ran his hand through Arabella's hair.
Arabella sighed, "Last night I was tired and frustrated and seeing Mcgeogehegan in my house threw me off any sane way of thinking, especially since she was invited by Lily. How on earth did they meet?" Arabella said and looked at Sirius questioningly.
"Somewhere in Diagon Alley I imagine, but as to why they were in The Leaky Cauldron yesterday is yet to be explained," Sirius said honestly. "But I think it has to do with some story Lily wanted to tell Catherine," he said after a moment and the confrontation outside The Leaky Cauldron came to his mind.
"Story?" Arabella questioned. "The only story that Lily could tell would be how she came to us and why she didn't go to Hogwarts," Arabella said with wide shocked eyes.
"And what's wrong with that?" Sirius asked gently.
"Mcgeogehegan could be a Death Eater or one of His spies," Arabella said quietly.
"I seriously doubt that Catherine is a Death Eater or a spy of Voldemort's," Sirius said quietly.
"And why is that?" Arabella asked firmly looking at Sirius with her cool blue eyes.
"I don't want to start an argument Bella," Sirius said lightly and looked her directly in the eyes.
"Then tell me why you doubt she would be working for the bad guys," Arabella said sternly pulling away from Sirius.
Sirius sighed and stood up walking around the end of the bed toward the window. "I just do. I can't explain it," he said and looked out the window to watch a sparrow fly past.
"Her family is heavily involved with the Dark Arts, Sirius," Arabella said sincerely.
"And so is mine! Look how I turned out! I'm disowned and fighting against all of the things they stood for! Not everyone follows in predetermined footsteps Bella!" Sirius said angrily and turned to face her. He might be a Black by name but not by nature.
"Sirius, you're different, you were in Gryffindor, she was in Slytherin," Arabella said quietly as she watched Sirius.
"Catherine wasn't nearly as bad as the rest of the Slytherins, she just wanted people to think she was," Sirius said and then took a deep breath. "Look, let's not talk about Catherine, we'll only fight about it," he said and looked back out the window.
"Okay. How about you go make some tea while I take a shower and then we'll go over to James' and I'll apologize to Lily for what happened last night," Arabella said gently as she climbed of the bed and walked over to where Sirius was standing.
Sirius sighed and turned around. "Sounds like a good idea," Sirius said and kissed Arabella on the fore head gently. "I'll be downstairs," he said and walked out of the room and down to the kitchen where he started the kettle and worked on a crossword puzzle that was two weeks old.
James arrived back in his office a few moments after Moody had walked back. "Can I ask what all that was about?" James said with a furrowed brow.
"Nothing Potter," Moody said followed by something akin to a laugh.
"You've got something up your sleeve, what is it?" James asked and eyed Moody warily.
"Well are you sure you need to know Potter? You'll figure it out eventually I'm sure," Moody growled and seemed to be about to laugh again.
"How about you tell me why you ceased your interrogation of Lily so quickly?" James said as he'd never known Moody to stop questioning a suspect for anything, including vehement protestations against involvement with anything connected.
"Ah, but it is the same answer for each," Moody said and limped toward the door. "You're in love James, just don't be late to work again," he said and left the room leaving James to stare at the doorway.
Approximately five minutes later James said, "What?" and blinked. "I'm not in love that preposterous," he muttered and attempted to work on the report from his trip to Scotland but he wasn't very successful and wound up looking down at what was supposed to be his report but was instead covered in the letters, L.E. which were traced heavily in placed. He quickly crumpled the parchment up and pushed it into the trash bin. "Damnit Moody," James said under his breath and doubled his efforts to work on the report. He eventually finished and when he looked at the clock it was almost 6 o'clock. He sighed and started to pack up his things to go home.
Lily came upon Remus in the Library, he was reading but he wasn't as alone as she thought he would be. Arabella and Sirius were there. "Hello," Lily said as she walked in.
Arabella jumped, "Oh, Lily you scared me," she said with an awkward laugh.
"It seems like Albus and I have something in common then," Lily said lightly and started perusing the shelved for something to read.
"Lily," Remus said quietly and eyed her curiously.
"I just came down to tell Remus that the laundry is finished. I wasn't expecting Sirius to be back or Bella to be here for that matter," Lily said lightly and walked over to the window to look outside.
Arabella blinked. Lily was being rather rude and she was tempted to leave but decided not to when Sirius leaned over and whispered, "She's just trying to annoy you. I imagine she was hurt that you kicked her out last night," he said and kissed her cheek lightly.
Arabella sighed. "Lily, I'm sorry about last night. I was horrible to you because I was tired and frustrated and I never really expected to see Catherine Mcgeogehegan after I left Hogwarts," she said quietly and brushed some of her dark hair behind her ear.
Lily turned away from the window and looked at Arabella. "What do you expect me to say Bella? That all is forgiven?" Lily questioned and pursed her lips.
Arabella managed to refrain from snapping back at Lily but it was very close. "I don't know, that's up to you, but can you please tell me how you met her?" she said quietly as Sirius slipped his hand gently around hers.
"Outside a show in Diagon Alley," Lily said lightly and sat down in a chair across from Remus and crossed her legs. "And let me guess you want to know how and why I trust her?" she asked and looked up at Arabella slowly.
"Well to put it mildly, yes," Arabella said slowly and sat down as well.
"My dreams, how I recognized all of you and trusted you. She was there too, and we were friends," Lily said quietly and looked at Arabella again.
"So?" Arabella said, she was beginning to get impatient.
"Catherine and I were best friends, we did practically everything together," Lily said quietly.
"What?" Arabella said, she was extremely shocked at this development. "Were you in Slytherin?" she asked doubtfully.
Lily scowled. "Do you honestly think that James would like and pursue a Slytherin? I was a Gryffindor Bella," Lily said lightly.
"But-," Arabella started and Lily interrupted.
"But how did Catherine and I become friends?" Lily asked with raised eyebrows showing was seemed to be amusement but was actually well hidden anger.
"Yes," Arabella said quietly, sensing that Lily was getting annoyed.
"We got detention together during Potions but she already didn't like me because James had knocked me into her as soon as we'd gotten on the train. We wound up finding things in common as we were remaking the potion that we blew up. The rest is just, well, history," Lily said and rubbed her eyes for a moment before looking at them all again.
They were looking at her anxiously. "Are you okay?" Remus asked quietly.
"Just a headache," Lily said and seeing their eyes widen said, "A normal one, not the coma inducing, brain numbing annoyances," and she sighed.
"You sure?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Yes, I'm sure. It's probably just dust," Lily said and sneezed. "See," she said and smiled.
"What time is it?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Going on noon, I imagine you're getting hungry right?" Lily said and smirked, Sirius smiled meekly and Arabella smacked him. Lily laughed, "Oh don't worry. I'll be starting lunch soon either way," she said and Arabella glared at Sirius.
"She doesn't need your demands placed upon her," Arabella said angrily. Lily's headache worried her despite her frustrations about Catherine.
"Bella don't worry about it," Lily said calmly. "It's my job to take care of James' guests," she said and smiled at them.
"But-," Arabella started.
"No buts, He's going to have to wait about and hour anyway," Lily said firmly and Sirius looked down. "Oh, the puppy eyes can't fool me Sirius. I know that trick," she said and smirked.
A sudden thought came to Sirius and his eyes widened. They had successfully managed to keep their Animagi transformations from everyone, Bella included, but did Lily know? "Remus, can I talk to you alone for a moment?" Sirius asked and stood up gesturing to the door.
"Sure Padfoot," Remus said and set his book aside. He hadn't read a word of it since they'd gotten into the Library but he liked to pretend. Remus stood and followed Sirius of of the Library and oddly enough outside.
"That was odd," Lily said quietly.
"Indeed," Arabella replied and looked at Lily.
"Well, would you like to help me with Charms? I was reading about the Summoning Charm the other night," Lily said quietly prepared to set aside the whole Catherine incident for something more interesting.
"Why not? It might be fun," Arabella said and they walked up to Lily's room to retrieve her wand. "You should really keep your wand near you at all times, especially these days," Arabella said as they climbed the stairs.
"I'll make a note of that," Lily said and pulled it from the pocket of her cloak that had returned to its green color.
"I thought your cloak was black," Arabella said looking a little confused.
"Apparently it changes color," Lily said and sighed. "Let's get started then," Lily said and they headed back down to the Library.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always suggestions are welcome as I consider all or at least most before dismissal or acceptance, so let me know what you think! I NEED your feedback to get back into this story. Thanks so much for being great reviewers! ~Frankie~
Sngrl482- Thank you for your suggestions. Don't worry about and S/L stuff, it's entirely one-sided in my story. I'm working through L/J relationship, but you're going to have to be patient. I'm not one for immediate relationships, especially since theirs will eventually end in marriage as I'm trying to stick to canon as much as possible. Thank you for your great suggestions.
Captain Oblivious- Thanks; I think I will try to work that in. it might not be for a while though as you should have read above explanation.
Kristatwen- Thanks for the support!
Celine- Thanks so much! I'm really glad that you liked my humor and I hope you like this chapter, though it's rather more serious.
Poetbrit- Lily is a mostly non violent person *cough* Um. yeah. that's a complete lie, she was just more embarrassed then anything.
I o u a name- There might be hints there but it won't happen, they're just going to be really close friends and in case it isn't mentioned they were very close at Hogwarts, especially after she found out about the werewolf thing.
MarauderFan4ever aka Liz411- Eek, the five year old! Sorry for being a prat. And it's just fine to live on FFN but don't make it your life. I hope you like the chapter.
Ggal- Yes, only one author, but you shall see that I've avoided my angstyness for this post in regards to what you asked about. I'm not sure if people are going to find out about Snape writing to Lily. I haven't decided yet.
JCtigerwolf4e- You'll have to wait and see. I hope you like this chapter though as I tried to make it fairly long.
Laina3- I hate it too, but you don't have to worry for a little while at least.
Shadowed.phoenix- You are surprisingly good at guessing my future actions which haven't even been written yet, so I applaud you. Sorry about the lack of action, some of these things are filler between major events with little things thrown in. Thank you for your amazing review! Your comment about not knowing how I write this well makes me smile so big that you'd probably say I'm glowing! It's the best thing that you can possibly say to inspire me. Oh, and thank you for your support of the delayed Lily/James hook up, that helps a lot as well.
Hart-break- Naughty thoughts? *laughs* Well I don't know what you're referring to. *whistles* I hope you like this chapter.
Black-cat-on-the-wall- *calms the brat down* Heh. Sorry for the delay, I hope you like this one.
Manny2003- Well, thank you for the thought and any suggestions you may have are welcome!
Khel-shaye- Remus is great isn't he? I love him to death. Sorry about the delay, I hope you like this chapter.
Anarane- What do you mean by 'no Hexing'? I'm so confused! Thank you for the review though!
Zebragurl- Lily is still a little perturbed at James but you've got to wait and see what's going to happen. And I don't mind the puns most of the time. *smiles*
Akire135- Sorry for the lack of things happening. I've been having trouble with the whole Voldie end of things; I'm thinking some things through though. I hope you like the long awaited chapter!
AndromedaTonks- I'm continuing as fast as I possibly can! Sorry for the delay and I hope you like this chapter!
Chapter Forty: Moody Observations
James walked into his office finding dozens of messages and a good deal of paperwork to sift through. He sighed and sat down, several interdepartmental memos started to become impatient after having been waiting there for what appeared to be days. The memos had just come into use and James was rather relieved as the mess the owls left has been rather disgusting. James sighed and read through the memos; several were from Moody, mostly asking if James wanted to keep his job. There was a coughing noise and Moody himself stood at the door into James' office.
Alastor Moody has slightly graying hair and face that looked as if it was carved from wood, his magical eye swiveling around in his head before focusing on James. "Potter," Moody growled and walked into the room looking fierce, but his expression betrayed nothing.
"Hey Moody," James said meekly and hoped that Mad Eye wouldn't just kill him.
"Where were you yesterday Potter? In face where have you been all weekend? Your report was due back and if it hadn't been for the fact that you did manage to show up yesterday at all I would have sent the troops out to look for you," Moody said after he'd shut James' door with a snap.
"There was a bit of a development with my caretaker and I completely forgot about the report," James said weakly. Moody was surely going to kill him after all the times he'd told him 'Constant Vigilance!' in the past year and a half.
"Development?" Moody growled his normal eye narrowing dangerously and focusing on James.
"Well it's a really long story sir," James said helplessly.
"Well then you'd better start don't you think Potter?" Moody growled and for the next hour and a half James explained what had happened and Moody scowled, muttered and cursed whenever he was given the chance.
"Let me meet her," Moody said with a scowl, opened the door to James' cramped office and limped out while James hurried to follow. They disapparated and arrived at Godric's Hollow where they were greeted with a surprised scream from Lily.
"Oh my, you scared me," Lily said her hand clutching at her chest and a pile of James' folded laundry had been dropped unceremoniously on the floor when James and Moody's arrival had startled her.
"This her Potter?" Moody said and circled around Lily, his magical eye going haywire.
"Yes, this is Lily Evans, Lily this is-," James started and Lily held up a hand to silence him.
"I know who he is. Alastor Moody, your boss, many people call him Mad-Eye," Lily said shortly, the man might look frightening but she wasn't scared of him.
"Really lass, how is it you know that? Been consulting with Voldemort have you?" Moody glowered through his eye, noted the charm which hung around her neck; Dumbledore didn't often give protection such as he had to this girl.
Lily's eyes widened and she rounded on Moody. "Voldemort is an evil bastard who kept me from going to Hogwarts. I would rather die then associate myself with him," she said angrily and her eyes flashed as she glared at Moody.
James gaped at Lily and turned to look at Moody who was surprisingly smiling, though it looked more like a grimace then anything. "Good lass. I didn't mea to offend you but you see Potter here had me worried, but it's all cleared up now. We'll be heading back to The Ministry," Moody said and patted James' shoulder before he disappeared.
James was still gaping at Lily and then looking to where Moody disappeared he said, "I'd better go." It was muttered with wide eyes and then he too disapparated leaving Lily to pick up the laundry she's dropped on the floor. After Lily set James' things at the foot of his bed, she walked down the hall to her room and closed her door quietly behind her and walked over to her desk; Snapes' letter sat innocently on its surface. She sighed and sat down in the chair to reread the letter. "He wants to owl me," Lily whispered to herself. It intrigued her very much, that Severus Snape wished to exchange letters with her.
Lily sighed again and opened the drawer of the desk that she knew to contain parchment and pulled a few leafs out and took a quill from another drawer and a bottle of ink as well. Dipping the quill into the ink she began to write.
Your request intrigues me enough to ask why you wish to write to me. If a satisfactory answer comes with your next reply I might disregard the plagiarism of William Shakespeare.
L.E.
Lily folded and sealed the short letter and wondered how she was going to send the letter when a noise came from a window behind her. She turned and saw a tawny owl perched on the sill and she allowed it inside. The owl carried no letter and stood patiently waiting for her to tie the letter to her. Lily carefully tied the letter to the owl and said, "Take this to Severus Snape." The owl hooted and flew out the window and Lily watched it fly away into nothingness before she went down to the library to see if Remus was alive.
Sirius apparated to Arabella's house and found her sleeping in her room. "Bella," Sirius whispered as he sat down next to Arabella on her bed and touched her cheek gently. Arabella's eyes fluttered open slowly and focused blurrily on him. "Sirius?" she said and reached up to his face.
Sirius grabbed her hand gently in his and said, "It's me."
Arabella sat up slowly and hugged Sirius tightly. He noticed her bloodshot eyes and tearstained face and felt a pang in his chest as he wondered what she was thinking. "I'm sorry," she whispered and just breathed him in. "Is - is she okay?" Arabella asked quietly.
"Yes, she's fine," Sirius said and declined to mention the pillow fight and other such antics that had taken place after Catherine had been revived.
"I'm sorry," Arabella said again as she pulled away from him. "Is Lily mad at me?" she asked quietly.
Sirius sighed, "I'm not completely sure Bella, but I suspect she's just annoyed with you. I'm sure she'll be fine once you apologize," he said and gently ran his hand through Arabella's hair.
Arabella sighed, "Last night I was tired and frustrated and seeing Mcgeogehegan in my house threw me off any sane way of thinking, especially since she was invited by Lily. How on earth did they meet?" Arabella said and looked at Sirius questioningly.
"Somewhere in Diagon Alley I imagine, but as to why they were in The Leaky Cauldron yesterday is yet to be explained," Sirius said honestly. "But I think it has to do with some story Lily wanted to tell Catherine," he said after a moment and the confrontation outside The Leaky Cauldron came to his mind.
"Story?" Arabella questioned. "The only story that Lily could tell would be how she came to us and why she didn't go to Hogwarts," Arabella said with wide shocked eyes.
"And what's wrong with that?" Sirius asked gently.
"Mcgeogehegan could be a Death Eater or one of His spies," Arabella said quietly.
"I seriously doubt that Catherine is a Death Eater or a spy of Voldemort's," Sirius said quietly.
"And why is that?" Arabella asked firmly looking at Sirius with her cool blue eyes.
"I don't want to start an argument Bella," Sirius said lightly and looked her directly in the eyes.
"Then tell me why you doubt she would be working for the bad guys," Arabella said sternly pulling away from Sirius.
Sirius sighed and stood up walking around the end of the bed toward the window. "I just do. I can't explain it," he said and looked out the window to watch a sparrow fly past.
"Her family is heavily involved with the Dark Arts, Sirius," Arabella said sincerely.
"And so is mine! Look how I turned out! I'm disowned and fighting against all of the things they stood for! Not everyone follows in predetermined footsteps Bella!" Sirius said angrily and turned to face her. He might be a Black by name but not by nature.
"Sirius, you're different, you were in Gryffindor, she was in Slytherin," Arabella said quietly as she watched Sirius.
"Catherine wasn't nearly as bad as the rest of the Slytherins, she just wanted people to think she was," Sirius said and then took a deep breath. "Look, let's not talk about Catherine, we'll only fight about it," he said and looked back out the window.
"Okay. How about you go make some tea while I take a shower and then we'll go over to James' and I'll apologize to Lily for what happened last night," Arabella said gently as she climbed of the bed and walked over to where Sirius was standing.
Sirius sighed and turned around. "Sounds like a good idea," Sirius said and kissed Arabella on the fore head gently. "I'll be downstairs," he said and walked out of the room and down to the kitchen where he started the kettle and worked on a crossword puzzle that was two weeks old.
James arrived back in his office a few moments after Moody had walked back. "Can I ask what all that was about?" James said with a furrowed brow.
"Nothing Potter," Moody said followed by something akin to a laugh.
"You've got something up your sleeve, what is it?" James asked and eyed Moody warily.
"Well are you sure you need to know Potter? You'll figure it out eventually I'm sure," Moody growled and seemed to be about to laugh again.
"How about you tell me why you ceased your interrogation of Lily so quickly?" James said as he'd never known Moody to stop questioning a suspect for anything, including vehement protestations against involvement with anything connected.
"Ah, but it is the same answer for each," Moody said and limped toward the door. "You're in love James, just don't be late to work again," he said and left the room leaving James to stare at the doorway.
Approximately five minutes later James said, "What?" and blinked. "I'm not in love that preposterous," he muttered and attempted to work on the report from his trip to Scotland but he wasn't very successful and wound up looking down at what was supposed to be his report but was instead covered in the letters, L.E. which were traced heavily in placed. He quickly crumpled the parchment up and pushed it into the trash bin. "Damnit Moody," James said under his breath and doubled his efforts to work on the report. He eventually finished and when he looked at the clock it was almost 6 o'clock. He sighed and started to pack up his things to go home.
Lily came upon Remus in the Library, he was reading but he wasn't as alone as she thought he would be. Arabella and Sirius were there. "Hello," Lily said as she walked in.
Arabella jumped, "Oh, Lily you scared me," she said with an awkward laugh.
"It seems like Albus and I have something in common then," Lily said lightly and started perusing the shelved for something to read.
"Lily," Remus said quietly and eyed her curiously.
"I just came down to tell Remus that the laundry is finished. I wasn't expecting Sirius to be back or Bella to be here for that matter," Lily said lightly and walked over to the window to look outside.
Arabella blinked. Lily was being rather rude and she was tempted to leave but decided not to when Sirius leaned over and whispered, "She's just trying to annoy you. I imagine she was hurt that you kicked her out last night," he said and kissed her cheek lightly.
Arabella sighed. "Lily, I'm sorry about last night. I was horrible to you because I was tired and frustrated and I never really expected to see Catherine Mcgeogehegan after I left Hogwarts," she said quietly and brushed some of her dark hair behind her ear.
Lily turned away from the window and looked at Arabella. "What do you expect me to say Bella? That all is forgiven?" Lily questioned and pursed her lips.
Arabella managed to refrain from snapping back at Lily but it was very close. "I don't know, that's up to you, but can you please tell me how you met her?" she said quietly as Sirius slipped his hand gently around hers.
"Outside a show in Diagon Alley," Lily said lightly and sat down in a chair across from Remus and crossed her legs. "And let me guess you want to know how and why I trust her?" she asked and looked up at Arabella slowly.
"Well to put it mildly, yes," Arabella said slowly and sat down as well.
"My dreams, how I recognized all of you and trusted you. She was there too, and we were friends," Lily said quietly and looked at Arabella again.
"So?" Arabella said, she was beginning to get impatient.
"Catherine and I were best friends, we did practically everything together," Lily said quietly.
"What?" Arabella said, she was extremely shocked at this development. "Were you in Slytherin?" she asked doubtfully.
Lily scowled. "Do you honestly think that James would like and pursue a Slytherin? I was a Gryffindor Bella," Lily said lightly.
"But-," Arabella started and Lily interrupted.
"But how did Catherine and I become friends?" Lily asked with raised eyebrows showing was seemed to be amusement but was actually well hidden anger.
"Yes," Arabella said quietly, sensing that Lily was getting annoyed.
"We got detention together during Potions but she already didn't like me because James had knocked me into her as soon as we'd gotten on the train. We wound up finding things in common as we were remaking the potion that we blew up. The rest is just, well, history," Lily said and rubbed her eyes for a moment before looking at them all again.
They were looking at her anxiously. "Are you okay?" Remus asked quietly.
"Just a headache," Lily said and seeing their eyes widen said, "A normal one, not the coma inducing, brain numbing annoyances," and she sighed.
"You sure?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Yes, I'm sure. It's probably just dust," Lily said and sneezed. "See," she said and smiled.
"What time is it?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Going on noon, I imagine you're getting hungry right?" Lily said and smirked, Sirius smiled meekly and Arabella smacked him. Lily laughed, "Oh don't worry. I'll be starting lunch soon either way," she said and Arabella glared at Sirius.
"She doesn't need your demands placed upon her," Arabella said angrily. Lily's headache worried her despite her frustrations about Catherine.
"Bella don't worry about it," Lily said calmly. "It's my job to take care of James' guests," she said and smiled at them.
"But-," Arabella started.
"No buts, He's going to have to wait about and hour anyway," Lily said firmly and Sirius looked down. "Oh, the puppy eyes can't fool me Sirius. I know that trick," she said and smirked.
A sudden thought came to Sirius and his eyes widened. They had successfully managed to keep their Animagi transformations from everyone, Bella included, but did Lily know? "Remus, can I talk to you alone for a moment?" Sirius asked and stood up gesturing to the door.
"Sure Padfoot," Remus said and set his book aside. He hadn't read a word of it since they'd gotten into the Library but he liked to pretend. Remus stood and followed Sirius of of the Library and oddly enough outside.
"That was odd," Lily said quietly.
"Indeed," Arabella replied and looked at Lily.
"Well, would you like to help me with Charms? I was reading about the Summoning Charm the other night," Lily said quietly prepared to set aside the whole Catherine incident for something more interesting.
"Why not? It might be fun," Arabella said and they walked up to Lily's room to retrieve her wand. "You should really keep your wand near you at all times, especially these days," Arabella said as they climbed the stairs.
"I'll make a note of that," Lily said and pulled it from the pocket of her cloak that had returned to its green color.
"I thought your cloak was black," Arabella said looking a little confused.
"Apparently it changes color," Lily said and sighed. "Let's get started then," Lily said and they headed back down to the Library.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always suggestions are welcome as I consider all or at least most before dismissal or acceptance, so let me know what you think! I NEED your feedback to get back into this story. Thanks so much for being great reviewers! ~Frankie~