A/N- hello everyone.

Amber Spirit- I know I didn't update terribly soon, but thanks for giving my story the time of day.

Madderthanyou- Sorry, I updated as soon as I could. Thank you so much for reading this! I love getting new reviews.

Snuffles2984- Hey! OMG, I have never read a more flattering review (granted, I haven't had very many, but...). I'm still dazed at the fact hat you take time out of your day to read my crap and review it. It's like Nicole Kidman is complimenting me on my acting. Siriusly(hehe), I get so overexcited when I see your reviews, and I almost fainted when I saw that last one. Thank you thank you thank you thank you. Cant say that enough. Anyway, you were wondering whether I had thought of the changeling idea all by me onesies, and I can't take credit for that. They're a real Irish legend, and they're very interesting, but no book ever sympathizes with the real changeling, only with the mother or the human child. So I decided to mesh my love for Sirius and my love for Irish lore in one story. I hope it doesn't get too stupid, lol. Anyway, sorry for rambling, I'll let you go. Thanks again, and make sure you update Fallen.

-only three reviews. Not so good, eh? I estimated that I would loose some reviewers after I got back, but jeez. Anyway, tell your friends about this, will you?-

CHAPTER #10

Carpe Diem

"So, do you think she knows?" asked Sirius stupidly. He was still suffering considerable shock from this new revelation. Remus's new diagnosis of Fay explained everything. Everything that had been weird with her, the way she kept to herself, the way she acted around others, and the way she acted around him.

"Well, judging from your descriptions of the way she acted in Dumbledore's office, I'd say it's about 98% sure that she does know. But if there's even a slight chance that she may not have a clue, which there is, then we'll have to tell her," said Remus.

Sirius snapped from a small daydream. His mind was beginning to wander, due to the recent accumulation of thoughts that were fast bogging him down. "Why? Why does it matter if she knows or not? Come to think of it, why does it matter at all? We shouldn't treat her any differently. She hasn't got a disease." Instantly, Sirius regretted the obvious outburst of affection, but if Remus had noticed it, he graciously didn't show it.

"I know she hasn't got a disease, Sirius," he said with the tiniest of smirks. Maybe he had noticed? "But if Fay is a changeling, then she'll need to know, because if she doesn't, then she won't ever be able to get in touch with the human child that the Moorfolk replaced her with."

Sirius was getting more confused by the second. "And why would she want to do that?"

"Well, this nasty little tradition of theirs, switching humans with half-humans just because they're no use to the mound, is awful. I mean, think about it! The entire life that Fay has lead with the people she thought were her parents has been a fake. The child that switched lives with her is stuck in some faerie mound, doing manual labor and probably not having the greatest of times, I can tell you. I doubt if Fay even knows her real parents. This is unjust, Sirius, and we can put it right."

By the end of his short but fiery speech, Sirius didn't know whether he should laugh at his friend's passion or cry at what Remus sounded like he was planning to do. The whole thing was just ridiculous. Even if Fay were part faerie, that was it and there was nothing more to say about it. So what if there was some helpless little girl or boy working for faeries in some random mound or faerie city? The image was laughable, comical, even. And when it appeared in his mind, Sirius felt that he was more likely to smile at the thought of a human being getting ordered around by fairytale creatures than to be concerned for that human's civil rights. And then something occurred to him. Remus was pulling his leg.

"Okay, Moony, you got me," he said, cracking a wolf-like grin.

"What?" Remus looked like Sirius had at the start of their meeting.

"I mean, I get it. Very funny joke. How did you come up with that?" Sirius persisted. He began to laugh, feeling slightly stupid.

Lupin looked suddenly stern. "Come off it Padfoot, I'm not joking, I'm completely serious."

Sirius wondered for a moment if maybe Remus's emphasis on the word serious was intentional, but thought better of voicing his suspicions. Instead, he stuck on the subject that they were on, choosing to ignore the possible verbal assault.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked tentatively, half afraid of what the answer might be.

"Sirius, I'm almost completely positive. It all fits, right down to her name," responded Remus with confidence.

"What do you mean?"

Remus let out a little chuckle. "Sirius, the name 'Fay' is a direct Gaelic translation of the word faerie."

Sirius and Remus spent the rest of their afternoon discussing and analyzing Fay's situation in low voices in the dark and dusty corner of the library. They did more research on changelings, they disputed about whether Fay in fact was one herself and they argued about the importance of Fay's counterpart in the faerie world. Sirius first argued that the human, if still alive, was probably happy living among the faerie race, and didn't even need rescuing. Anyway, how would they even find the faerie mound to begin with? It could be anywhere. Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England..... And most people weren't even clairvoyant to begin with. The mound could be right under their noses and they wouldn't even see it. Remus, however, was convinced of the valor of this mission. He said that the human child was undoubtedly being mistreated, according to his research, and if they wanted to find the mound, they would just have to bring Fay with them. All they needed was Dumbledore's consent. Sirius was reluctant to buy into all of this so quickly. When they couldn't agree on anything, they settled on writing Fay a note to meet them that night in the mysterious room by the portrait of Barnabus The Barmy to talk about what her opinion on the matter was. It was essentially her problem to solve, after all. Remus had initial misgivings about the vanishing room, but Sirius was confident that if he and Fay wanted to find it, then it would be there. He was already curious about what form it would take when Remus joined him.

They wrote and rewrote the note that they would leave for Fay, not wanting to sound too forward, and wanting at the same time to show her that they wanted to help. They also figured that it would be wiser not to say what they thought she was in the letter, just in case someone else were to pick it up and read it. In the end, they came up with something more or less satisfactory. Remus read it aloud:

"Fay:

We have only recently come to a very interesting conclusion, and this conclusion has something to do with you. Don't be alarmed; we only want to help you. If you would like to know what we're on about, please meet us in the third floor corridor in the secret room across from that tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy. You've been there before. We just fancy a short chat. To avoid to many people, we recommend that you meet us after hours, around 11:00, inside the room. See you then.

Bugger off-

Sirius Black & Remus Lupin"

When he had finished, Sirius said, "You don't think she'll find that a bit weird, do you?"

"Oh, I think she probably will. I mean, wouldn't you?"

"Well, yeah. But that makes me think...that makes me think she may not come," said Sirius.

"Well, she may not. But we'll just have to hope that that doesn't happen, eh?" said Remus encouragingly.

And so they agreed. After dinner, the two boys went back up to the common room, in order to find someone to deliver the note to the girl's dormitories. Eventually, they found a member of Sirius's little fan club to pass it on. The girl was small with curly brown hair, (probably a second year, by the looks of her), and was more than happy to do the bidding of her favorite teenage heartthrob. Remus had doubled over with laughter, but Padfoot had been almost mortally embarrassed at the tiny girl's enthusiasm.

That evening, Sirius and Remus sat waiting in the common room, and when it had almost completely cleared, around 10:45, they left, hoping that Fay had received their note.

As soon as they left the safety of the common room behind them, Sirius felt a rebellious thrill of excitement. Remus was less enthusiastic. He rambled on in nervous whispers the whole way to the vanishing room, moaning about how they were sure to get caught, since they didn't have James's blessing to borrow his invisibility cloak, and their "Marauder's Map" wasn't finished yet. But Sirius merely ignored him as they made their way through the dark corridors and down the deserted hallways. When they approached the faded dark form of the tapestry in question, Sirius pulled out his wand and said, "Lumos."

He looked out across the way and breathed a sigh of infinite relief when he saw a door waiting to be opened on the other side. It was not as he had ever seen it before. Its appearance was quite ordinary, just like any other door, but Sirius neither worried nor cared. He knew that no matter what form the portal took, it would open to reveal something contusive to their particular needs. Or so he had come to understand. He beckoned to Remus, who whispered cautiously, "Sirius, I've never seen this door before."

Sirius said nothing, but reached out, turned the copper handle, and found yet another quite astonishing room. On the far wall was a small library, which, from where Sirius stood, appeared to contain various books and novels on faeries and the like. In the front of the room was a large stone fireplace that was blazing warmth and filling the entire room, and in the center was a large hearthrug upon which were placed several comfortable armchairs. It was not unlike the Gryffindor common room. Sirius could hear Lupin gasp behind him as they entered and soon after that he heard a girl with a strong Cornish accent say:

"Finally. You took yer time, did you? What was it, exactly, that you two wanted to talk about? I'm quite curious."

Both Sirius and Lupin jumped. Fay had gotten there before they had.

"Where did you come from?" said Sirius, trying, and failing dismally to hide his shocked and high-pitched voice, and to slow his quickened breathing.

"Sorry," said Fay, turning around in her armchair to face the two boys as they found their own squashy chairs. "But if I do say so myself, I'm mad good at not being noticed." She ended on a bitter note, but maintained the impish grin that Sirius had grown so found of.

"So?" she prompted again. "What is it you were wanting to show me?"

"Well," began Lupin, regaining his cool and making his way to the small library to pick up a book, then to a stuffed chair across from Fay. "Sirius and I... we wondered... well, we wanted to ask you something." He beckoned for Sirius to join the two of them by the fire. Sirius selected a seat of his own, between Fay and Lupin.

"I... well, we, actually, have been doing a bit of research on these." Lupin opened the book in his hands to a chapter that was headed, 'Changelings: The Cursed and Scorned of the Faerie World', and had a picture of a small child being stolen out of its crib by a tiny man in green.

"Do they... mean anything to you?" He asked slowly.

Sirius turned to get a good look at whatever Fay's reaction would be, but the expression on her face was quite hard to read. He couldn't tell whether she was about to scream, cry, throw a fit, or storm out of the room. Of all the possible things he could have imagined her doing, though, he hadn't expected what came next.

"Well, I am one," she said shortly. Sirius and Remus exchanged glances. Then Sirius spoke.

"We reckoned you were," he said, smiling. He then realized that he hadn't breathed properly since he first entered the glowing room.

Remus still looked apprehensive, but ceased doing so when he heard her speak again.

"That was smart of you both to figure that out. I don't want you lot spreadin' it 'round, mind, but the fact that you even bothered to care why I'm so... different is... well, thanks." Fay gave a small smile, and, to Sirius and Remus's equal surprise, she brushed away a tear.

Lupin seemed beside himself with relief. Encouraged by Fay's reaction, he pressed on to what he regarded as the most important issue. "Well then," he began. "You'll know about the young person who you've been switched with, right? We had an idea about that, as well. Would you be willing to-"

It was Sirius who had put a hand over his friend's mouth, cutting him off mid-sentence, for he thought he had heard movement on the other side of the door. "Shh," he warned. "Someone's out there."

They listened for a moment, and, sure enough, someone, or maybe even something, was lurking just past the wall. Slowly, Remus lifted himself up out of his chair, pulled out his wand, and whispered, "Stay here and hide. I'll go and check outside to see if anyone's there. If they are, I can just say I'm on my night prefect's duty, and that I've been told to patrol this hall. I'll come and get you when the cost is clear." He turned to leave.

In Sirius's own opinion, this was not exactly the most intelligent way to go about this, and Lupin was being uncharacteristically bold. But before he could make any objections, Moony was already closing the door behind him, and Fay was already dragging him off behind the bookshelf in the corner. They stood in darkness and in silence for a few moments, listening for sounds from outside and deciphering them from the crackling of the fire, and their own heavy breathing. After about a minute, Fay spoke.

"Why do you care about my well-being?" she whispered.

Sirius looked down at her small frame and her cute face. She was looking out beyond the bookshelf, seeming pensive, face half bathed in the fire's humming light. To Sirius, she had never looked more angelic.

"Why wouldn't I care?" he said quietly.

Right then, Fay turned her head to stare at him beautifully with her pair of deep blue eyes, and right then, Sirius felt an enormous wave of emotion, like an electrical shock, sweep over him. Without thinking, without worrying about what was to come, he seized to moment. He seized the day. He leaned in, touched a stray lock of wispy, curly white-blonde hair, and tucked it behind one of her tiny little ears. He touched her face, smooth as porcelain, and brought it to him. He kissed her. They were one person, one deeply passionate person, moving with one breath. He hungrily and openly tasted Fay's cherub lips, and she let him. But, it seemed, before it had begun, it had stopped. They stood there for a second, breathing heavily, and Fay still holding Sirius's face in her hands. She then planted a feather-light on his neck, and began to withdraw from their book cavern, walking as far as she could before letting go of Sirius's hand. He did not ask her where she was going, because the question was answered before he had even thought to ask it. He heard Remus's voice say, "Sirius, hurry up." And he followed them out of the vanishing room.

He was in such a complete daze that he hardly noted where he was going on the way back to the common room. He only pretended to listen to Lupin as he explained that it had been Peeves who had been outside, and that he'd had quite a job trying to get rid of him silently. When they re-entered their common room once more, Sirius saw Fay give him a very mischievous grin as he walked in his dream-like state up to his dormitory, where he knew that he would find no sleep tonight, but would be doomed to think only about the first girl for whom he had so unlikely fallen head over heels.