DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT, own Harry Potter.(wish I did but I don't)

Author's Note: I am reposting the first five chapters after doing some major revising in parts to try to make it a bit closer to canon. I hope you enjoy the new version of "A Year to Remember" (and if anyone can think of a better title, please tell me :-)

Chapter 3: Explanations and Ghosts

Elizabeth grabbed the silver locket around her neck, which she had always worn since the night her father had left. It had a picture of him in it. Now as she looked at him, she noticed that his hair was greyer and he had more wrinkles around his eyes than in her picture. But there was no mistaking him. It was her father.

"Lizzy, are you okay?"

He was the only one who had ever called her Lizzy. It was his 'special name for his special girl' as he had always told her.

"Yes Daddy. Where have you been? Does Mom know you're here? Why did you leave?"

"Just wait a moment, your mother's here?"

"Yes. She's teaching Herbology."

"Well, we best go find her. It will be much easier if I only have to explain things once. Where do you think she would be?"

"She might be in the staff room," Hermione said slowly, sounding puzzled for once.

"Yes we should try there first," Elizabeth's father said, "Come on, Lizzy."

"Daddy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"You will explain everything when we find Mom, anything I ask?"

"Of course, as long as I can answer the question."

"Okay."

The two of them walked the rest of the way to the staff room in silence, as Elizabeth attempted to organize all of the questions that were flying around her mind. Her father opened the door to the staff room and Elizabeth saw her mother standing with her back to the door, talking to Professor McGonagall.

"Julianna," he said simply.

She turned around. "Remus?" she asked, as if she didn't dare believe it.

"Yes."

She ran across the room and threw her arms around his neck crying. "I knew you were alive, I did, no matter what they told me," she said through the sobs.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "I'll leave you three alone," she said as she left the room.

"Can I start asking questions now?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course, Lizzy," her father said as he and Julianna sat down on the staff room couch and Elizabeth perched on the edge of one of the armchairs.

"First of all, where have you been and why did you leave?"

"Yes Remus. Where have you been?" Julianna said, looking at her husband.

"I've been living here in England, sort of all over the place, in London most recently. Why did I leave? That actually isn't as hard a question as you might think it is. I left because of the locket around your neck, Lizzy. You see that is a magical locket your grandfather gave you. It has healing powers. But under one condition the locket won't work. That's when a werewolf is near the person who is wearing the locket and needs healing. It's because of the negative effects that silver has on werewolves. You see Lizzy, I'm a werewolf…"

"Did you know, Mom?" Elizabeth said interrupting her father.

"Yes Elizabeth. I did. But it didn't matter to me. I had a cousin who was a werewolf and my favourite cousin. I knew they weren't any different than normal people. I was one of the few people besides your father's parents and friends, and some of the teacher's that were here when your father went to school that knew he was a werewolf."

"Okay."

"Harry, Hermione, and Ron all know too, so you don't need to worry about keeping it a secret from them," her father continued, "You see, I had to leave. Otherwise, you wouldn't heal when you were sick. I didn't go back afterwards because I wasn't sure if it would cause you to become sick again and I didn't know if you two would ever forgive me."

"Of course we forgive you Daddy," Elizabeth said, squeezing onto the couch to give her father a hug, "We love you, don't we?"

"Of course you do, honey. So what have you two been doing?"

"Well, let's see. I went to Muggle school until I was eleven. That was Gramma Mac Quarrie's idea. Almost everything seems to be her idea at times. Then I went to Alakazam for five years. I was top of the class in most of my classes. Potions was my weak spot."

"Oh no! Hermione will have some competition now," her father put in.

Elizabeth laughed and continued, "I became a seeker in second year. I wasn't allowed in first year even though I really wanted to. They kept me as house seeker until I left. I think our captain would have almost liked to kill Mom when he heard I was moving."

"Harry will have competition too."

"He's a seeker?"

"Yes. I'll let him brag about that though."

The three of them talked for hours, about everything that had happened to them, from the huge things, like moving to England, to the little everyday things that, even though they wouldn't seem important to someone else, needed to be shared.

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"Caput Draconis," Elizabeth said later. She went into the common room and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting across the room. "Hi guys!" she said.

They all looked up. "Hi Elizabeth," Hermione said tentatively, "How did things go with your dad?"

"Great! You see, he left because of my locket."

"Your locket?" the other three exclaimed.

"You see," Elizabeth said quietly, "It has healing powers that don't work when a werewolf is near the person wearing the locket. I was sick but the locket couldn't work because my dad was there."

"Interesting," Hermione said, "I wonder why that is?"

"It has something to do with the effects of silver on werewolves and that counteracting the healing somehow," Elizabeth replied, before moving on, "Harry, my dad said you play seeker. Any chance Gryffindor might want a reserve?"

"You play seeker?" Harry asked.

"No, I'm asking for…Neville!" she said sarcastically, seeing Neville on the other side of the room. The other three started to laugh.

Elizabeth stared at them then asked, "What's so funny?"

Hermione was the first to stop laughing, "Our very first flying lesson in first year, Neville fell off his broom and broke his wrist."

"Okay, now I see why you're laughing at me."

"So did you play seeker before?" Harry asked.

"Yep! For 4 years on my house team at Alakazam," Elizabeth said.

"Well we'll have to tell Katie about you."

"Katie?"

"Gryffindor Team's new captain. She plays chaser. Ron's our keeper. We need two more chasers and two beaters. I think that's it, except for reserves. In first year, we lost the cup because there was no reserve seeker and I was unconscious in the hospital wing. Oliver-"

"What? You played in first year! We weren't allowed!"

"Hogwarts doesn't usually allow first years on house teams either. I was the first in a century."

"Awesome! How did they pick you?"

"I didn't listen to Madam Hooch."

"Why did they pick you for that?"

"Well when she took Neville to the hospital wing because of his wrist, she said 'None of you leave the ground or you'll be out of Hogwarts faster than you can say Quidditch' or something like that. Anyways Malfoy took Neville's Remembrall and went up on his broom. I followed him on my broom. I'd never been on one before but I could fly."

"Stop bragging Harry!" Ron interrupted, "Not all of us have your talent."

"Shut up, Ron!" Hermione said exasperatedly.

"And of course not all of us have your brains or your memory or your cleverness, Hermione."

"Or your ability to turn Ron into more of a complete fool!" Elizabeth whispered to Harry. The two of them just managed to control their smiles before Elizabeth decided to brag a little herself, "I was first in all of my classes except Potions at Alakazam. How do we know that I can't beat Hermione?"

"'Cause she's Hermione! Duh!" Ron answered.

"Oh really? We'll see about that," Elizabeth retorted.

"What will we see?" Ginny asked sitting down beside her brother.

"If I'm smarter than Hermione," Elizabeth said.

Ginny looked at her, "Are you sure that's possible?"

"I'm going to try!"

"Well I'm going to try to get to sleep. Goodnight everybody!" Hermione said as she got up and walked to the girls' staircase. Ron's eyes followed her.

"Look! Mr. Doughnut Eyes is at it again!" Elizabeth whispered to Ginny.

"What?" she whispered back.

"Oh yeah, you weren't here when I said that last night. I said to Harry that Ron's eyes were so glazed it was making me hungry for doughnuts."

Ginny started to laugh then suddenly she stopped and said, "What are doughnuts?"

"They're a type of Muggle food that usually has a sugary glaze on it."

"Ohhhhhh!" Ginny started to laugh again and Elizabeth joined in.

Both of the boys looked at them like they were crazy, then Harry tentatively said, "What are you two talking about?"

"Doughnuts!" Elizabeth answered.

Harry realized what she was talking about right away but it took Ron a minute, "Hey!" He got up and tried to get them but the two girls ran up the girl's staircase, leaving the boys in the common room.

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The next day was the first day of classes of the year. The four of them went down to breakfast early in the morning. When they got to the Gryffindor table, Neville passed them a folder.

"Your schedules are in there. We have Transfiguration and Charms first thing," he said.

"Thanks Neville," Elizabeth said then turned to the other three, "So what do I have in store my first two classes?"

"Well, McGonagall teaches Transfiguration. If you don't break the rules she won't get mad at you. Break the rules and watch out!" Ron said. Harry and Hermione laughed.

Hermione stopped laughing, "Flitwick teaches Charms. He's the really short one. He's nice."

"Okay so a fairly easy morning until break. What do we have afterwards?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ron and I have Divination first, and Hermione has Arithmancy. What do you got?" Harry answered, peering over her shoulder.

"Ummm, let me see, I have…Divination too!"

"Great! The three of us can make fun of Trelawney together!" Ron said.

"I assume Trelawney is the teacher."

"Yeah, I think there's only been about one of our classes where she didn't predict Harry's death. When you first see her she sort of reminds you of a big bug 'cause she wears huge glasses and glittery shawl thingies. But don't let Lavender and Parvati hear you making fun of her. They think she's the greatest," Ron described.

"After that we have Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid, then lunch, then Herbology with your mom, and OH NO!" Hermione exclaimed.

"What!" the others asked, puzzled.

"Last two classes of the day are…"

"Double Potions with the Slytherins," Ron and Harry finished Hermione's sentence for her.

"I assume that's bad," Elizabeth said.

"Most definitely. Snape is the worst teacher, make that second worst teacher (Umbridge was worse), ever! Add that to class with the Slytherins and it's even worse," Hermione said.

Elizabeth was just about to say something when a ghostly head appeared in the scrambled eggs she had started to dish up. She jumped back slightly, dropping the spoon with a clatter through the ghost's head.

"This is one of the times I'm glad I'm a ghost," he said as he emerged from the eggs, "Spoons hurt and eggs can be quite messy at times." He was wearing very old-fashioned clothes; ruff, tights, the whole deal. "Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"He's also known as Nearly Headless Nick," Ron said.

"May I ask how you can be nearly headless?" Elizabeth said tentatively.

"Getting hit in the neck 45 times with a blunt axe will do it. Only about half an inch of … stuff to put it delicately, holds my head on."

"Lovely," Elizabeth said, suddenly finding breakfast very unappetizing.