Chapter 5: Waking up
Moony's Story
Yay! A snow day! I love snow. The extra time also gave me a great opportunity to work on this Chapter, so here it is! (Begs for reviews)
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I kept my eyes closed, trying in vain to pull back the details of the dream. They were slipping out of reach, to become memories once again, instead of reality. It was hopeless. Disappointed, I opened my eyes.
Bright sunlight was shining into the room through the edges of my window shade. I snapped my eyes shut again; the intensity of the light was painful.
So, once again, I tried to fall back to sleep. I wanted to be in Hogsmeade again, to see Sami laughing again . . .even if my jealousy, at the time, had overcome the funny feeling in my stomach I had always had when looking at her.
Stupid, said an annoying little voice in my head, you can see Sami laugh any time you want, she's right downstairs.
So? I argued back. Where have you been? She started going out with Sirius in 7th year. Then we all thought she had died, but she was actually Harry's owl Hedwig. Now Sirius has her back, and hardly lets her out of his sight for a minute.
Ah, said the voice smugly, But you're over Sami Jackson. There's a different girl now you're always thinking about. Don't you remember what happened in your love life in 7th year, or can you only recall what happened in Sirius's?
If this voice weren't actually in my own head, I would have punched the person speaking with it. I remember fine, I replied curtly.
So then why do you want to see Sami laugh?
I restrained myself from replying nastily. This was, after all, probably my conscience, and if a wizard insults his conscience it will never shut up.
Because I liked her when I was 17, and I was 17 in the dream. That doesn't mean I have to have a crush on her right now. And I don't.
Ha, said my conscience. So, right now, since you're not 17, it's not Sami Jackson you want to see laugh, is it?
Shut up, I said.
Are you sure you wanted to say that?
Ok, fine! I want to see Mara Wilson laugh. Now will you shut up? I answered, miffed.If you admit that I was right.
I groaned. Why are you so stuck up? You're worse than James and Sirius.
Because I am always right.
I would have rolled my eyes if they were open. Fine, you were right. Now go away.
Someone knocked sharply on the door, accompanied by a very loud bark. I groaned again and yanked the blankets over my head.
The door swung open slowly. Heavy paws pounded across the floor, and jumped onto my bed. Normal footsteps followed them. I opened my eyes, squinting in the bright light.
"Go away, Sirius. However late you may think it is, don't forget that the rest of us enjoy sleeping in when we're on vacation," I mumbled. It was a lie. I never slept in, normally I was the one up at the crack of dawn and Sirius slept in until noon. Lately, though, Sirius had been getting up earlier than me.
Sirius barked and stole my pillow. I quickly put my hands over my head for protection. Sure enough, the pillow came crashing down on my head seconds later, scattering feathers across the room.
"I like to sleep in, too, but Sirius always wakes me up first thing in the morning," Sami said ruefully. She had followed Sirius into the room. Sami waved her wand and suddenly there was a large flurry of feathers, as they all flew back into the pillow. She threw it back at me, but Sirius leapt in front of my outstretched hands and caught it in his mouth.
"Sirius!" Sami chided. The pillow fell from his mouth, but I didn't touch it.
"Well, I don't want it now," I told the great black dog, as he looked at me with a disgruntled expression. Sirius toppled off the bed gracelessly and transformed.
"Come on, Moony, get up. You've already missed breakfast. It's a beautiful day; the kids are all out swimming and everything. Everyone else is up."
"But I'm tired. Full moon was last week."
"You've had plenty of time to get some sleep since then!" Sirius said in exasperation. "We only have two weeks left here; one until Sami has to leave for Hogwarts to organize her office and lesson plans." He and Sami exchanged smiles. Sami was going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts- all of us were hoping she'd last longer than her predecessors.
"Which reminds me, haven't you got Auror training soon? How soon can we get rid of you?" I asked innocently. I didn't duck fast enough when he tried to smack me.
"Not until the middle of September," he said, smirking. "You'll just have to try to endure my good looks and witty personality till then."
"I'll do my best," I said sarcastically. "Now get out, I want to take a shower." Sami left, dragging Sirius behind her by his wrist. Shaking my head, I threw the covers back and headed towards the bathroom.
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The hot water was invigorating and soothing at the same time, and I stood under the spray until it had worked all the kinks and pains out of my tired muscles. When I finally stepped out of the shower, the entire bathroom was steamy. I rubbed the mirror with my palm until I could vaguely see myself, then toweled my hair dry, leaving it messy. I didn't have the energy to use a comb.
I grabbed the first pair of jeans and tee shirt I could find and pulled them on. Then, bracing myself, I pulled open the shade. To my relief, the sun's rays were not as piercingly bright as they had been, but filled the room and gave it a warm glow. The sky was a clear, distinct blue, and you could hear birds singing. It really was a beautiful day.
Kind of like the weather in Hogsmeade, I thought.
Feeling a lot more cheerful, I left the room and walked downstairs.
The living room, which was the first room you came upon after walking downstairs, was a cozy place, with many squashy armchairs and couches placed around it in various shades of blue. My favorite part about it, though, was the large bay window overlooking the lake. Someone had opened it slightly, allowing a soft breeze to come in. I smiled, my good mood increasing, but at the same time I felt a sense of loss that there were only two weeks left of summer. Then it was back to Grimmauld Place for me- I kept Sirius company there, ever since I had sold my apartment after I gave up the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts. See, after it got out I was a werewolf, the abuse didn't stop and I had to move. Now Sami will be teaching my old subject, I thought. She'll be a good teacher, though. She deserves it.
When I walked in, Molly, Tonks, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were lounging in the chairs, eating sandwiches. Sami was there, too, but she was sitting on a couch. There was a large dog sprawled across her lap. She was rubbing his ears.
It struck me how odd it was to see the two of them at this time of day. For most of the summer, they had gone off alone every morning to who knows where, and didn't return until late at night. I guess they really had a lot to catch up on.
It had also become noticeable that Sirius spent a lot of time in his Animagus form lately. If you ever passed his and Sami's bedroom in the middle of the night, you never saw two humans. What you would see instead was a gorgeous snowy owl on top of the comforter, her head tucked under her wing, and a huge black dog curled protectively around her. It was a rare sight to see Sirius as a dog before Sami came back, but now he was a dog all the time. I suppose they must have some kind of deeper connection when they're both animals.
Sami was still a bit reluctant to stay in her Animagus form for long periods of time, though, because she had spent over a decade and a half like that already. It was more normal (from what Harry and Ron had told me, anyway, sometimes they liked to the follow the two Animagi and spy on them) to see Sami as a human and Sirius following her around as a dog. How many girlfriends have both a stunningly handsome man (in the humble words of Sirius) and a dog to cuddle up to for a boyfriend? That might be why I haven't had many girlfriends.
Yeah, werewolves aren't very cute or cuddly.
Anyway, I walked in and collapsed into the chair next to Tonks, who currently had pale blonde hair and blue eyes. Sirius snickered (it is very disturbing to hear a dog snicker) and I knew what he was thinking: he's convinced himself that I'm secretly in with love with the young Metamorphmagus. But truthfully, I'm not—it just turned out that the seat next to her was the only one left. Molly handed me a sandwich, which I accepted gratefully.
"How's the swimming?" I asked, addressing Harry, Ron and the rest. All of them had wet hair, and Ginny and Hermione were still in their bathing suits.
"Pretty good," answered Ginny, taking a large bite out of her sandwich.
"Fred and George bewitched the rope," said Ron disgustedly, referring to the one Mr. Weasley had put up over the water for the kids to swing on.
"It was really very clever, what they did," said Hermione matter-of-factly.
"Hilarious, you mean," corrected Harry, grinning.
"What did they do?" asked Tonks curiously.
"I don't want to talk about it," groaned Ron, rubbing his shoulder and looking at the floor.
"Let's just say it involved Ron flying through the air at large heights, like the people they shoot out of canons at Muggle circuses," smirked Harry.
"Hey!" Ron said indignantly, and then he chased Harry out the door. Hermione and Ginny followed, laughing.
Sirius had transformed, and was watching Harry and Ron go with a wistful sort of expression on his face. His arm had snaked around Sami's waist, and she was leaning comfortably onto his shoulder.
"Why did you sleep so late, Remus?" Molly asked me, as soon as the kids were out of earshot. "You've never slept that late before. Sami and Sirius tell me it was because the full moon was recently, but what was the real reason?"
I coughed, feeling a pink tinge rise in my cheeks. My friends knew me too well.
"Well . . .umm . . .I had an . . .interesting dream, which lasted longer than normal dreams do, I guess," I stammered, not having enough time to think up a reasonable lie. Molly gave me a stern look, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a look of comprehension flash over Sirius's face.
"Hey . . .Molly . . ." he said slowly, and my eyes locked on him. "We've run out of sandwiches. Could you get us some more, please?"
"Of course," Molly said, not suspecting Sirius was trying to get her out of the room, and bustled off to the kitchen.
"So," said Sirius in a very business-like way that reminded me of Hermione, "You've been having dreams about your 7th year, haven't you?"
I stared at him, shocked. "How did you know?"
Sirius looked at Sami for a long moment. "I had them too, right before Harry ran off to the Department of Mysteries and Sami revealed herself."
"What?" said Sami in surprise. "You never told me that! I had dreams like that around that same time."
"You never told me that," said Sirius wryly.
"Well, it's obviously not a coincidence," said Tonks. "I even remember telling you that it might be an omen. And I was right!" She looked at Sirius triumphantly.
"But what does all this mean for me?" I asked, confused.
"Well, what did you see?" asked Sirius.
I opened my mouth, but closed it immediately. I'd been about to tell him about the talk I'd had with Mara, but Sirius had never known about that, and I certainly wasn't going to tell him now.
"The day in Hogsmeade when you first transformed and Sami fed you Bertie Bott's Beans," I said quietly.
"That's how my dream started too!" said Sirius, amazed.
"And mine as well," added Sami.
I was about to ask more about what these dreams meant, but just then Molly walked back into the room with another tray full of sandwiches. The conversation was over-- for now.
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I didn't really explain much about what was going on, because I assumed you had all read my other story, but basically, here's the deal: Remus was just dreaming about his 7th year. What he was dreaming about really happened, but at the moment he's the adult we know him as from the books, and he just woke up. Of course, it seems that more than one Marauder has been dreaming about his past . . .is it all linked? Hmm . . .
Also, with the whole conscience thing, it was basically reminding him that while he liked Sami when he was 17, he's in love with someone else now- Mara. I know you all saw the whole romance thing between them coming, so I won't pretend it doesn't exist.
Oh, and I hope you don't mind, but the next chapter is going to be from Remus's POV as well. I could have made this chapter and the next one chapter, but I decided not to because it would have been extremely long and would have had too much information in it. Sorry that 3 chapters in row will be from one POV, but try and bear with me, guys.
And now, to reply to the reviewers:
Snuffles2984: I tried to update fast . . .took me what? 11 days? (blushes) Oh, sorry. Well, at least this chapter didn't have a cliffhanger, right? That's gotta be a good thing!
Jadelight: Hoorah! Another Sirius lover! He's the best. And sorry, this chapter didn't have much Voldemort- Mara info, but the next chapter will have a lot of it (even though it's from Remus's POV!)
BlackLupin: All in good time, all in good time. Remus might need a good, hard kick to make him come to his senses, though. ;)
Cestari: Glad you came back for more! I feel special now. I'm glad you think this one's up to standard!
BlackKat: Actually, when I said that, I was referring to SilverPhoenix25-- but I do know FluffyPinkFlamingo personally, she's a good friend of mine. Did you find my story through hers? Glad you did, if that's how you found it. I was the one who helped get her hooked on this site, so you can thank me for having a hilarious story like hers to read. At least, I like to think it had something to do with me. (Shrugs)
-Padfoot-dreamer-