Disclaimer: You know.

Sheesh y'all, there are kids on this website, stop encouraging me to write smut! I will try to include a little more…umm…"scrabble playing".. (credit to toomanycurls for the euphemism), but I will not be responsible if it ends up sounding like one of those hilarious trashy romance novels with a shirtless guy and swooning woman on the cover (not that I have read any such publications, but I've heard…)

Chapter 17- While You Were Sleeping

Remus could hear the faint voices of students from the small room off of the Hogwart's hospital wing, where Morgan could be looked after by Madam Pomfrey but was away from the curious eyes of the students. Both Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey seemed unconcerned, but after four months, everyone else was beginning to question whether she actually would ever wake up. Dumbledore might have endless patience, but there had not been a single change since the summer, it was now October.

Nonetheless, they visited regularly. As Juliet Mason had put it, you never knew how many friends you had until you got sick. He picked up one of her hands, noticing that her nails were painted red. The work of Lily or Alice probably, a girl thing. For a second, he thought he felt her hand move, but then nothing. He looked at her closely, but she was perfectly still. Of course, he'd imagined it.

He replaced her hand and sank into a chair nearby. He'd done a lot of thinking, since she'd been unconscious. She was a lot easier to talk to when she didn't talk back. He'd come to the conclusion that any ideas he'd had of a relationship with her he been completely out of line. Yes, there had been a few moments when they had both been carried away. He'd always thought her bright, even as a kid, and yes, she was quite pretty, but even aside from the fact that she was practically a sister to his best friend, she had no idea about his "condition". And that was the bottom line. No matter how he felt and no matter how she felt, he was a werewolf. It was only by luck that he even had a job, and that could change in an instant. Laws that the Ministry has passed for "protection" of witches and wizards forbade werewolves marrying or having children. And he thought she ought to have it all- a rich husband and a big house with a pool and lots of adorable children. He had decided that if she woke up, she was off limits to him.

He was jerked out of his reverie by a sound from the bed. Again, his imagination, she was completely still. But then, she sighed, and turned her head, as though she was merely sleeping. It was not his imagination this time, she had clearly moved. He leaned forward.

"Morgan?"

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, looking directly into his.

"What the Hell are you staring at?"

******

Morgan was, to put it mildly, confused. All she had done was wake up and everyone was acting like she had single-handedly won the quidditch World Cup. Everyone seemed to be talking at once. Sirius was babbling incoherently, Lily and Alice both got all weepy, Remus stared at her like he had never quite seen her before, and James and Frank kept patting her on the back, the shoulder, the head, whatever they could reach. It took every threat in Madam Pomfrey's repertoire to get them all out when Dumbledore came.

"How do you feel?" He asked, beaming at her.

"Fine. A little dizzy. Very tired."

"M-hm, to be expected. But I think now, you will recover quickly."

"Sir...what happened? I remember Dolohov, why didn't the killing curse work?"

"Because it was not finished. Frank stunned Dolohov before he got through the words. You were very lucky."

A bell rang, and there was suddenly a clamor, like hundreds of voices chattering all at once.

"What's that?"

"Students." Said the Headmaster complacently.

"But...in July?"

"No my Dear, it is October the sixteenth."

She stared at him.

"But-" It had been four months? Four months completely lost? It felt like yesterday that she had stood in that corridor with Dolohov. "Am I going to be normal again?"

"I think you will recover fully. Your powers should not be affected. You will need to take things slowly for awhile."

"What has been happening Sir?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Things have been quiet. There have been a few muggle disappearances, I would imagine that is how Voldemort's supporters have been amusing themselves." He looked at her closely. "I need you to tell me everything you remember that happened while you were there."

******

Sirius could feel Morgan's eyes on him, but didn't really want to know the question she obviously wanted to ask. She was in a nasty mood anyway at being confined in the hospital wing. She had tried to go over Madam Pomfrey's head and appeal to Dumbledore, but he had come back and said it was to Madam Pomfrey's discretion. Finally he looked up and met her dark gaze.

"Something I can help you with?"

"Are you sleeping with Juliet?"

"What the hell Morgan, don't let tact get in your way!"

"So that's a yes then. I thought so."

"Stay out of it, it's none of your business."

"There's something not right about it all Sirius, don't you get that? It's just a bad feeling."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, and I'm certainly not staking my happiness on your reputation as a Seer."

"You're happy then?"

"Yes."

"Hm."

She seemed to not have any response to that, but continued to glare at him. Finally, he thought of something to cheer her up.

"Did you hear the Ministry is throwing a huge party for Halloween? Dress robes and all."

"Really?" She did brighten a bit at the idea of a party or fancy clothes, he wasn't sure which. "When?"

"What do you think, Christmas Eve? On Halloween, you idiot."

"How come?"

"I don't know, probably to take everyone's mind off the fact that they're not doing anything to stop everyone being murdered and such."

******

The glowing green dial on the clock beside their bed said 2:34. James had been asleep for hours and Lily was fighting the urge to kick him or something, just so he would be as tired as she was tomorrow. She was exhausted, and still her mind was fighting going to sleep. She'd been sleeping badly for about a week, but in all the excitement and relief over Morgan's recovery, she hadn't mentioned it to anyone, she'd always had bouts of insomnia and strange nightmares when she was in school too.

She closed her eyes and tried to take deep, even breaths. Nightmares are just the product of your imagination, she told herself, they don't really mean anything. Her recent dreams were strange though, really nothing but random silent images. Like a badly edited film with the sound turned off. But it was the images themselves that kept her from sleeping.

She would see flashes of green light, faceless people falling, people in black masks. And then there were the images of people she knew. Sharp and vivid, she saw Peter and Sirius facing each other across a street with wands drawn, she saw Sirius crumpled on the floor of a small windowless cell, she saw Peter kneeling before a black robed man, she saw a vast explosion.

She saw with sudden brutal clarity Sirius standing in the rubble of a ruined house holding a baby. And all around the house, she saw the trees and hills and scenery….that surrounded their own house.

Lily screamed.

******

James handed her a cup of tea, but she did not stop pacing.

"Sirius was standing right here, and the house was gone. He was holding a baby…James, I think we were dead."

She was getting hysterical.

"It wasn't! It wasn't, I don't know how I can tell, but I can. It was something different James."

"But…you're not a Seer."

"No, I know. These things just came into my head. What if it's the future, what if I'm seeing what's going to happen to us?"

"That's impossible Lily. There is no set future that you can see. It depends on what you do, on our decisions. And I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. To either of us."

"You can't promise that."

"I just did.

******

"Remus! Hey, wait a sec."

He turned to see Morgan say good-bye to a group of women by the fountain in the lobby of the Ministry and hurry after him. He waited for her to catch up.

"I thought you're not supposed to be back at work until next week. Aren't you supposed to be resting still?"

She shrugged. "I'm not at work, technically speaking. I was shopping." She indicated an armful of bags. "And then I met Amelia Bones for lunch, and that's why I'm here."

"That still doesn't sound like resting."

"Aye, well, I've been resting for four months, haven't I?" She said briskly, with slight impatience. "Besides, what Madam Pomfrey doesn't know won't hurt her." She shrugged, then grinned at him. "I got new dress robes for this party on Halloween. You're going, aren't you?"

Actually, he was sick of hearing about it. Maybe it was just the fact that there had been little to celebrate lately, but people seemed to be going mad about Halloween, and what had been intended as a small and informal event for just Ministry employees had become the social event of the year. Intelligent, educated, generally mature witches and wizards were acting like giggling third year students.

Besides, Halloween was the night of the full moon, he would not be there anyway.

"Er, no, I can't go." He mumbled.

She looked distinctly put out.

"Why not?"

"I have to do something that night."

"What?"

"Does it matter?"

Suddenly she seized his arm and pulled him into a narrow hallway where they were out of sight of the main traffic of the Ministry.

"What's wrong with you lately?" She demanded.

He sighed. "What do you want from me Morgan?"

"I want to know why you're acting like this! I want to know why you won't even talk to me anymore. We used to be friends at least and now I woke up after four months and everything has changed and I don't know what happened, so you'll excuse me if I'm a little confused."

She was obviously very agitated and it had the sound of something she had been turning over in her mind for awhile. His control was wearing thin as well, it was too close to the full moon to deal with this kind of stress.

"I'm sorry Morgan. I can't explain it, it's too complicated."

"Don't give me that." She took a step nearer, a shiver ran through him. "Don't talk down to me, I'm not stupid."

"I'm not implying you are, I just-"

He stopped talking as she laid her fingertips against his mouth to stop him. Her expression was a mix of anger and frustration and something else. She let her hand fall back to her side, not sure what her intention had been in stopping him. But the physical contact, small as it was, was enough to overcome his common sense and his good intentions.

In an instant he had backed her against the wall and kissed her hard. It was desperate, almost violent, and yet she didn't protest, instead her hands came around his neck and twisted in his hair. When she finally drew back to breathe, he leaned his forehead against hers.

"I'm sorry."

"Well. Now I'm not at all confused." She murmured in a shaky voice.

He smiled slightly, and then knew he had to be honest with her. "Morgan, this can't happen."

"Why not?" She demanded, her voice still low.

"I can't explain it." He insisted. "Honestly, you're better off if I just leave you alone."

They were suddenly startled by footsteps and jumped apart as they remembered they were still in fairly public hallway, but not before Evan Marakiv had turned a holiday. For a few seconds they all stood frozen.

"Well, well well…" Began Evan, but took one look at her face and thought the better of making a comment. He mumbled "Excuse me" and turned on his heel and left. Neither of them moved as his footsteps faded away. Then Morgan took a deep breath, shook her head slightly, and said "I have to…I don't know…I have to go."

******

Juliet was getting ready for work. Sirius was merely watching her. He knew this made her nervous, and he enjoyed it.

"You're staring at me." She said.

"M-hm. I know." He seized her wrist as she passed and tried to pull her back into the wide bed with him. She resisted.

"Sirius, I have to go to work. And so do you."

"Call in sick."

He pulled harder, and he was stronger than her. After a brief scuffle he managed to pin her wrists down. "Now then. I believe I've told you before, you work too much."

It was nearly an hour later that she said "Now I'm really going to be late."

This time he let her get ready. She really was very serious about work. She was looking through her closet when he noticed brilliant purple robes. Normally he would not notice clothes, but she tended toward more muted tones.

"What's that?"

"We call it clothing Sirius. Something you might try." She added, with a significant look.

"I meant the purple."

"Oh, dress robes for the thing at the Ministry."

"You're going to that?"

"I work for the Ministry, don't I?"

"Wanna go with me?"

She paused, and smiled at him. "Mister Black, are you asking me to the dance?"

"I guess so."

"You know how I feel about that."

"I'm tired of all this secrecy."

"Sirius, people will talk."

"Let them talk."

"That's easy to say when you're not the one they'll be calling a slut."

"No one would say that."

She shook her head. "Please Sirius, can't we keep this just us for a bit longer?"

He sighed. "Will you at least dance with me?"

"If you're nice to me, I might even go home with you."

____________________________________

Okay, in response to demand, Morgan is alive, but she's going to have to cop it eventually because she's not a real character. The deciding factor was MetroDweller threatening to send this link to everyone in my office if I killed her off.