Disclaimer--the same as all the others. "Here Comes The Sun" was written by the late great George Harrison and performed by the Beatles. Also, "Golden Slumbers" was written by Paul McCartney and performed by the Beatles as well. Please read and review....it would mean the world to me! : )
Revelations
"Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby
Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby
Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby"
The Beatles
The Next Day
A solitary beam of sunlight found its way into Lily's four poster bed. It's funny how much damage a little sliver of light can do, especially when it's aimed right at your eyes. Giving up to the inevitable, Lily grudgingly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. Sitting up on her bed she looked around the seventh year girls dormitory. She and Anne had to share the room with three other girls that they hardly even spoke to. 'Come to think of it,' Lily pondered, 'we don't even know their names....hmmm go figure.'
Shutting off her alarm clock before it could go off, Lily threw her covers aside, grabbed her slippers and bathrobe, shuffling into the bathroom. In the middle of her showering experience, the overwhelming urge to sing "Here Comes The Sun" consumed her and she had to comply, for the force was to great to ignore. So in an EXTREMELY loud voice she began to sing,
"Here comes the sun do do do do
Here comes the sun and I say
It's alright
Little darling it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun do do do do
Here comes the sun and I say
It's alright
Little darling the smiles are returning to their faces
Little darling it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun do do do do
Here comes the sun and I say
It's alright
Sun sun sun here it comes!
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun do do do do
Here comes the sun and I say
It's alright"
Satisfied with her shower and having her spirits lifted by singing The Beatles, Lily contentedly exited the stall and wrapped her bath robe around her tightly. Upon stepping out of the bathroom, however, Lily noticed that all of the girls (except for Anne who was smiling insanely) seemed to be angry with her. 'I guess I was singing a little too loud.' Lily thought.
"I....erm....I'm sorry?" Lily tried to apologize.
With a grunt or two, the girls accepted her apology and then took their turns in the shower.
"Ah, whatever. The warm water woke me up and reminded me that I'm at Hogwarts, I'm Head Girl, and I was woken up by the sun...it just seemed like a perfect opportunity to sing The Beatles!" Lily explained to Anne.
"Oh Lily dear, ANYTIME is a good time to sing The Beatles!" Anne exclaimed.
The two girls absolutely adored the popular wizarding band. Unexpectedly, the group was just as popular in the muggle world as in the wizarding world; so many students at Hogwarts and in Lily's home town knew about them. Ever since first year, Anne had been addicted to the Fab Four and Lily honestly couldn't blame her. The girls absolutely adored The Beatles, and had been known by the student body, to randomly break out in a different Beatles song from time to time. However, now wasn't the time to be talking about The Fabs, as the girls only had a half an hour before breakfast.
"Oh Lily! I didn't even realize the time!" Anne said, panicking, "I'm going to go and take a shower, get dressed, and then I'll meet up with you in the common room, ok?"
"Alright Anne, that sounds fine with me," Lily said, and then dried her hair with a drying spell and took out her Hogwarts robes and got changed. Just as she was picking up her books to go to the common room, Lily realized that she hadn't put on her Head Girl badge. After looking around for a few minutes, she found it underneath some clutter on her head stand. She hurriedly grabbed the badge and walked swiftly out of the room. She didn't want to be there when her dorm-mates got out of the shower.
In the boy's dorm----
Remus Lupin groggily opened his bright amber eyes and stared around the room. 'What day is it? It's...wait! It's Friday! Today is the first day of classes and we have ten minutes until breakfast is done!! Why won't one of us just get a darned alarm clock???' Remus fumed.
"OY, BOYS! WE HAVE TEN MINUTES UNTIL BREAKFAST IS OVER...THAT MEANS IN TEN MINUTES ALL THE FOOD WILL BE GOOOOOOOOOONE," Remus sang loudly.
"Food? Whaaat? Where? Where's the food???" Sirius inquired, grasping at the air for "food".
"The food, Padfoot," Remus explained slowly, "is in the Great Hall. You can't have any of the food until you get into the Great Hall, and," Remus paused for effect, "all of the food will be gone in....nine minutes," Remus finished with a flourish.
"WHAT? NINE MINUTES?" Sirius shrieked. That was enough for him, he zoomed into the shower and in two minutes was out, dressed, and running towards the Great Hall.
During that time, Remus woke the other boys up, and took a quick shower himself. James had just gone in to wash up while Peter just woke up, got changed, and headed toward the Great Hall mumbling something about "......got to clean up the cheesecake.....damn cheesecake......."
Remus looked after him, puzzled, but quickly dismissed the thought. He decided to wait for James, and besides, he needed to ask him for a favour.
James walked out of the bathroom a few seconds later, with his hair matted to his head..a change from his usual messy bed-hair look.
"Prongs, I like the new look," Remus commented, "very....Julius Caesar," before errupting into a fit of laughter.
"Yeah yeah ha ha, let's all laugh at James!" he mocked, "come on we're going to miss breakfast!"
"Yes sir, Mister Head Boy Sir," Remus mock-saluted.
"You're an odd one, you know that right?" James questioned.
"Mmm-hmmm," Remus hummed proudly.
The boys quickly made their way down the stairs and through the portrait hole and as they were walking through the stone hallway, Remus decided to ask James for the favour, "Hey James, could I ask you something?"
"Sure Moony, anything, you know that," James said with concern laced through his voice.
"Well, I was just wondering, if maybe you'd be able to help me out with...." Remus faltered for a moment. Should I tell James about Liese or shouldn't I? Ah, this isn't going the way that I planned.
"With what Remus?" James asked, and then as realization dawned on him, "or should I say, 'with whom'?"
As Remus blushed, James knew he got it right. "Remus, do you want me to help you out with a girl?"
"Well, yes, kind of. I just, I really want to talk to her and I can never find the right time or place. I was hoping if maybe you'd help me out and give me some advice. I'd understand if you don't want to, afterall, you are closer to Padfoot than me, and that's alright, I'll understand completely.." Remus rambled on and on.
"Moony..STOP. Relax, of course I'll help you! Now, you want to get her alone to....erm.....talk?" James winked at him, "let's see....well, you could borrow the cloak and the map and maybe go to the lake for a 'midnight picnic'." James suggested.
"AAAh, Prongs! You are a GENIUS! I wonder why I didn't think of that. Hmm...I wonder if she'll say yes.." Remus trailed off, looking towards the Great Hall.
"If it's the girl I'm thinking of, then I'm sure she'll say yes. If you're still a little uncomfortable Moony, just tell her it's a tutoring session of sorts. Once you get to the lake I think she'll understand what kind of "tutoring" you want to give her," James said with amusment evident on his face.
"Hey James? What brought about this sudden change?" Remus asked.
"Well, a girl can do strange things to you mate...strange things," James said wistfully.
Now we're back to the girls-----
Lily and Anne had just sat down at the table and began shoveling food on their plates. Half-way through their breakfast they were interrupted by a nervous sounding boy clearing his throat. They turned around and came face-to-face with none other than Remus Lupin and James Potter.
"Hey Liese," Remus began shakily. Lily raised her eyebrows at the use of the nickname "Liese" but allowed him to continue, "I was just wondering...erm...if you'd like to meet me in the common room tonight....to erm...study," Remus finished lamely.
"Study? But Rem, it's only the first day of classes," Anne responded with a small smile playing on her lips.
"Ah, yes, you are correct, but hey, it's never too early to study, right? Yeah, so...erm......" Remus was loosing his confidence by the second. 'Liese, please just tell me yes or no, I can't take this!' Remus pleaded with her in his mind.
"Well, I suppose you're right," Anne said thoughtfully as she pulled her locket out from underneath her robes, "my marks in DADA last year weren't really up to par, and my family did say they wanted me to work to my full potential. Yes, I'll meet up with you tonight at about 10:00. Does that work for you?"
"Oh yes, that's perfect," Remus said gratefully with small pink patches appearing on his cheeks. 'Absolutely perfect,' he thought to himself. "Ok, well, I'm going to go and eat some breakfast because.....well that's what I came here to do!"
"Erm...alright Remus," Anne said, "are you feeling well?" she asked with worry.
"Yeah I'm fine...see you later!" Remus exclaimed, dragging James with him and walking over to where Sirius was stuffing his face and Peter smelled strongly of cheesecake.
'That was odd' Anne thought, once again playing with her locket. 'Very odd indeed....but wonderful! Now I get some alone time with Remus!'
"Well, good for Remus, he knows the importance of good study habits!" Lily happily exclaimed. "Now Anne, about your walk with him last night..................."
After a fun-filled day of Double Transfiguration and Potions Lily, Anne, and the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors finally retreated back to the common room. Flopping down on the comfy red couch with a sigh Anne said, "It's good to be home."
"Yeah," Lily agreed, "it is great to finally be home. Hey, isn't it almost time for your 'study date' with Remus?" Lily asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Yeah, will you look at the time.....it's almost time for the tutoring session. TUTORING session Lily. It's not a 'date'. No no no," Anne replied, her cheeks turning a bright pink.
"Anneliese Stevens, I think you have a crush on our young Mr. Lupin!" Lily squealed.
"Oh shush, I do not!" Anne retorted, but her glowing pink cheeks betrayed her, "ack, so what if I do? It's not like he would ever like me more than a dumb tutoring student," Anne added, hanging her head.
"Oh will you gain some bloody self-confidence Anne! Look at you, you're GORGEOUS!" Lily exclaimed. And she was right. Even though Anne didn't believe it, she was beautiful. Her dirty blonde hair hung half way down her back, curling slightly at the bottom. Her large, forest green eyes were attention-grabbing and soulful. Her genuine, wide smile was the envy of every girl and the cute dimple on her right cheek never failed to turn the boys' heads. But she never noticed anything, like when she got an extra smile from Remus, and never saw the longing and adoration always present in his eyes. But Lily saw it. She saw it at breakfast and knew that tonight things would change for her best friend.
"Okay dear, it's time for you to get ready...let's pick out something for you to wear!" Lily exclaimed.
"Oh alright," Anne half-heartedly said and allowed herself to be dragged up the stairs by a determined Lily.
'It's 10:15....where IS she? I knew she wouldn't come..she must think that Im an idiot for suggesting to study DADA. We haven't even had the first DADA class of the year yet and here I am on a Friday night waiting to tell a non-existent girl the biggest secret of my life and..' but Remus' thoughts were cut short. He heard someone coming down the stairs and quickly spun around to make sure it wasn't Sirius trying to hex him for some reason or another. But when he saw who it was, his breath caught in his throat and he couldn't move. He had never seen her look so amazing before.
Anneliese descended the staircase with grace, coming from her younger years of being a dance student (at her grandmother's insistence). She floated down the stairs, a long bohemian skirt rippling ever so slightly with her every move. The light tan colour of the skirt, along with a rich green peasant top complimented her pale skin and made her dark green eyes glow. Her eyes, framed by lush dark eyelashes seemed to be sad tonight, and Remus noticed she was fingering a golden locket.
As she walked toward him, the light cast onto her by the fire transformed her normally light brown hair into gold, making her look ethereal. As she sat down next to him, her fruity scent surrounded him, and he could do nothing but stare. The cloak and map lay forgotten at his feet, because at that moment he wanted nothing more than to just sit with her forever.
"Rem? Hey, are you alright? What's the matter?" Anne asked, her voice laced with concern.
"Oh, erm, nothing, hey. Yeah, so I was um, the book.....werewolf....aah...." Remus fumbled, looking for the right words to tell her his deepest secret.
"Are we studying werewolves tonight? Is that what you wanted to go over?" Anneliese questioned, confused.
"Ah, yes, in a sense. I was actually hoping to talk to you about something rather important....." Remus trailed off.
"Yeesssss?" Anne inquired her voice abnormally high with hope.
"There's something that you need to know about me, something that no one but James, Sirius, and Peter know.........." and with that, Remus began his story of how he contracted lycanthropy at a young age.
Meanwhile, Lily sat bored in the seventh year girls dormitory. She wanted to sit on the stairs to hear how Anne and Remus' "tutoring session" was going, but she knew that Anne would tell her everything later, and didn't want to be weird like that. But after 10 minutes, she couldn't stand the boredom and left the room to sit on the stairs. She was straining to hear their converstaion and had just caught Remus saying
"......was in the woods. I was too young and before I knew it-"
But Lily didn't get to hear what happened next in Remus' story. She felt someone yank her arm and pull her off of the staircase into another room. James. She would know those warm hazel eyes and dark crazy hair anywhere.
"What did you do that for Potter? I just wanted to see how things were coming along!" Lily exclaimed.
"Well, maybe you could cut Remus some slack and leave the two of them alone," James said. He knew that Remus was planning on telling Anneliese everything in the hopes that she would accept him regardless of his secret. He couldn't have Lily finding out indirectly...it was Remus' duty to tell whom he wanted.
Lily looked around the room and was disgusted at what she saw. Clothes and books were strewn everywhere. She couldn't even see the carpet. 'Where am I? Oh my goodness, I'm in the seventh year boy's dorm!' Lily thought to herself, horrified.
"Potter, let me out!" Lily stormed over to the door but James was too fast for her. He blocked the doorway with his arms crossed, refusing to let her pass.
"No way Lily. You can't. Something important is going on down there and I can't let you interrupt it."
"Since when did you turn into a caring human being? The Potter I know would simply walk down there and hex everyone simply because he can!" Lily huffily stated.
"Well, Lily, you obviously don't know me as well as you thought. My friends mean a lot to me and I respect them. I would do anything for them, as they, I'm sure, would reciprocate back to me. Remus requested that I keep the common room empty tonight, so I did. Nobody's down there and no one WILL go down there until he gives me the signal. So it seems as if you are stuck up here with me for the evening!" James triumphantly replied.
"I can't believe this...James Potter CARES for people? I'm stuck here.....stuck here......Anne really owes me for this one...." Lily muttered to herself.
"Oh come on Lily, it won't be that bad! We can have fun. Sure, not half as much fun we could have if Sirius and Peter were here, but, being the Head Students, I'm sure we can come up with something wickedly clever," James said with a hopeful smile.
"Oh, I don't know James, I was hoping-" with that, Lily clamped her hand over her mouth, and James just stared at her in shock. 'Did I just call him 'James'? The world must be flat! What is this?? He tells me how he cares for his friends and suddenly I can call him by his first name?' Lily mentally kicked herself.
She and James just stared at each other for a few seconds until their trance was broken by someone sobbing downstairs.
"Oh Remus! I'm soo sorry," Anneliese choked out through tears, "I can't believe it. How horrible for you!" she exclaimed, and then pulled him into a tight hug.
"You mean, you don't mind? You'll still be my friend?" Remus asked, dumbfounded.
"OF COURSE! I care for you so much Rem, why wouldn't I be your friend?" Anne replied.
Relief washed over Remus and he relaxed and only gripped her harder, pulling her closer to him and becoming engulfed by her sweet scent. The two teenagers stayed like that for a few seconds when a herd of feet came banging down the stairs.
The two quickly broke apart to reveal a worried Lily and James.
"We heard you crying Anne...are you alright?" Lily asked, worry obvious all over her face.
"Yes, Lil, I'm fine. Don't worry. I just got a little upset over something, but Remus helped me," Anne replied with a smile in Remus' direction her dark eyes still shining with tears as she continued, "well, I'm a little tired, thanks for the help Rem, and I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, tomorrow," Remus replied in a daze.
He watched her and Lily walk up the steps and then turned to James.
"Prongs, I think she's it," Remus simply said.
Lily flung Anneliese on the bed and demanded to know what was said between her and Remus. All Anne could tell her was that she and Remus had a serious talk and were closer because of it. Anne, like James, felt it was Remus' job to decide who to tell his secret to.
Deciding that she wasn't going to get any answers she wanted, Lily gave up and asked the pretty seventeen year old a question that had been dancing around in her mind since the first time the girls met.
"Hey, Anne? What's up with your locket?" Lily inquired.
"Ah..well...erm....it was a gift from my sister. I got it a long time ago," Anne said while her hands flew up to the locket, holding it protectively, "I'd rather not talk about it right now, if you don't mind."
"Um, alright. Case closed I guess. I was just wondering because you wear it every single day...does it have a picture in it?" Lily pushed.
"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW!" Anne exploded, on the verge of tears, "I honestly don't want to talk about the damned locket!" with this, she flew out of the room, down the stairs, and flung herself out of the portrait hole, headed for the lake.
Remus and James were in their own respective dazes in their dormitory. The heavy rain pelted the castle and only seemed to aid the boys in staying in their day dreams. Remus, laying on his bed, was on cloud nine because despite his lycanthropy Anne still wanted to be close to him. James, walking around the dorm, was ecstatic because, well, because Lily called him by his first name.
The door slammed open and in walked Sirius and Peter. "Hey you two, where've you been?" Remus asked.
"Eh, detention with McGonagall..apparently one of the first years got a little frightened by Lily's threats and told her about our....plans," Sirius responded, getting a glazed look in his eyes, while Peter fidgeted behind him, his eyes nervously darting all around the room.
"Poor Padfoot. She found out about the cheesecake, huh?" James laughed, not noticing Peter's peculiar behavior.
"Yes, Prongs, if you must know. She found out about my cheesecake plans...my wonderful, delectable, sensuous, aromatic cheeeeesecake," Sirius explained, nearly drooling.
"Sirius, what IS it with you and cheesecake?" Remus demanded, sitting up on his bed.
"My dear Moony, if you must know, my cheesecake obsession began when I was a wee young lad. One day I was walking through this Muggle neighborhood, you know and it was odd for me because I never walk through Muggle neighborhoods and I saw-" but Sirius was cut off by Remus sharply saying, "Wait". At that same moment Remus sensed that something was wrong and ran over to the window where he noticed a figure on the lawn by the Quidditch pitch. He opened the window and could just make out a sweet, fruity aroma. Liese. His Liese was in trouble. He raced right past Sirius calling "Got to go...it's Liese!" over his shoulder in the boys' general direction.
Sirius, who was angry that he couldn't finish his cheesecake story went over to the window and said, "Hey, isn't that Lily Evans?" Not even going to the window to confirm it, James raced out of the door and ran right through the portrait hole, hot on Remus' heels and determined to figure out why the two best friends would be outside at midnight.
"Anneliese, PLEASE! STOP! I didn't realize that the locket would be such a big deal! I didn't mean anything by it!! I swear!!" Lily screeched.
Anne didn't even regard her best friend and continued to run, with tears streaming down her cheeks and her locket continually slipping out of her hands because of the rain. She knew that it wasn't Lily's fault, but she couldn't help her emotions. With everything that Remus told her, and then the unwanted reminder of her sister....it was all too much. She kept running, stepping in puddles and nearly slipping on mud, but she didn't care. She had to get away from everyone.
Lily, a few feet behind her, kept on running, not caring about anything but getting to Anne and comforting her. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't see a large mud pile. She slipped, let out a scream, and fell flat on her back. Blinded by all the rain she didn't notice a figure run past her yelling out, "LIESE!" in a panicked voice. She did, however, feel warm slippery arms reach behind her lifting the Head Girl to a standing position. Wanting to discover the person's identity she whirled around and was surprised to see "JAMES?! Geez, this night just keeps on getting weirder and on we have to get Anne...something is VERY wrong." James nodded and the two wordlessly followed Remus and Anneliese into the Forbidden Forrest.