Disclaimer - Not mine, never was.


Unanswered Questions

James, Sirius, Peter, Lily and Remus were sitting at the Gryffindor Table the next morning at breakfast when Sable walked in. She hadn't spoken to any of them since the incident at The Three Broomsticks yesterday. Every time someone would go to check on her, she was asleep. Lily locked eyes with the girl and gave her a little grin. Sable just shook her head walked down to the far end of the table, not even recognizing the others. However, Remus caught the red flush of her face as she walked by. She was still royally embarrassed by yesterday.

Sable sat down at the end of the table, far away from everyone, even the first years. She put some food on her plate, but didn't eat it. She just pushed it around for a little while, thinking. 'I can't face them. I just can't.' she thought.

Sirius looked down the table at the girl who they all knew well. She was pushing her food around the plate, not eating anything. The pensive look on her face was not lost to anyone. He looked across the table at Lily. She seemed throughly taken back. Even though she had tried to get Remus to say something about the outfit yesterday, she hadn't figured on everything backfiring the way it had. She had only been trying to help, not hurt. 'Well, I think Ms. Head Girl learned her lesson.' he thought. He noticed that Remus was also looking down the table towards their friend. He had a blank expression on his face. Sirius knew he was torn between going to apologize to her, and staying with the others. Each one had it's own consequences. If he went to Sable, the unspoken attraction that he fought against her would be known to everyone. Yet, if he stayed with the others, she would think that they were upset with her for walking out of the pub yesterday. What he didn't realize was that everyone in the school had already figured that the two were hiding their non-existent relationship. Everyone but Remus and Sable saw what was going on, but what everyone else didn't know was the circumstances around the two. Remus finally looked away from her, obviously confused. A few minutes later, Sable swept out of the Hall with an apple and a bagel in her hand. Sirius only shook his head when James glanced up at him.

"I think she's mad at you, Lily." Peter said quietly. Lily shot him an icy glare and humphed in disagreement. James rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Tell me something I don't know, Peter." Lily shot back. She gathered up her books and threw them into her bag. "I've got to go apologize to her. That whole mess yesterday was my fault." She stood from the table and ran after Sable. James only grinned. She couldn't stand it when she and Sable fought, never could.

"James, what exactly did Lily do yesterday in Hogsmeade?" Peter asked quietly.

"She took Sable shopping at some new store that specializes in black, leather outfits." he said quietly.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked innocently. "I figured you guys would enjoy the show." Sirius grinned and patted the smaller boy on the back.

"Nothing's wrong with it, Wormtail." he said. "But when they walked into The Three Broomsticks with little to nothing on, James got a little . ........... uh.......... flustered." Peter's eyes were laughing. "Remus didn't look too happy either."

"Oh, I see." Peter nodded. "Chris started hitting on the girls and you two got mad." James and Sirius nodded, but Remus was shaking his head.

"I didn't get mad. And who's Chris, anyway?" he asked. Peter chuckled and finished off his food.

"Chris is the name of the waiter at the pub." he explained. Remus nodded in understanding. Sirius looked smug and leaned his chair back on two legs.

"Yeah, really, Moony." he teased. "If you are going to beat the git to pulp for eyeing up your girl, you need to know his name first." Remus colored but turned away.

"She's not my girl, Pads." he said. "She's just a friend. Besides, I didn't like that guy." James nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, a friend that looks really, really, really, good in black leather." he said.

"Lay off of it, Prongs." he warned. The other boys only laughed at the obvious discomfort for Moony.

"Moony," James said quietly, "why don't you just tell her and be over with it?" Remus stood up and gathered his books, turning to leave.

"Because it's not as easy as you think." he said quickly. He left the Hall and headed for his first class without saying anything else.

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Professor Treble's first class of the day was Seventh Year Advanced Potions. Sable entered into the classroom rather early since she had left the hall in such a rush. She was surprised to find the classroom already occupied by Severus Snape. As she entered, he nodded and continued on with his work. Sable didn't really feel like dealing with him either, so she took her seat and dug out her potion's journal. As she flipped it open and began to write to update the entries, Lily came into the class. She spotted Sable and walked over to the desk.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

"About what?" Sable asked.

"Yesterday." Lily answered.

"Sure, I'm not stopping you. Go ahead." Sable said icily. Lily sat down and tried to keep her temper in check. Even though she and Sable were friends, that girl had a way of pushing her buttons.

"I'm really sorry about everything yesterday, Sable. I didn't think the guys would react like that to the outfit. I'm really sorry. I was only trying to help." Lily's voice was full of sincerity and concern. Sable looked up from her book and sighed. She knew that the girl was trying to help, but she was trying to hard.

"I understand what you and the others are trying to do, Lily." she said quietly. "But, he and I will work things out in our own way. We're both scared, Lily, that's all." Lily smiled and gave her a hug.

"Thank you, Sable. Thank you so much." Sable smiled and picked up her quill.

"Well, now that we got that settled," she said. "Let's get to work. The Professor should be here in a few minutes."

"Actually," came Snape's voice, "Professor Treble will be a few moments late today. He said there was some other business he needed to attend to before class." The girls nodded and continued on about their business. The other students were starting to filter into the classroom. About half an hour later, Professor Treble walked into the classroom. He seemed to be in a rotten mood, so the students continued doing their work. They were all working on their journals, trying to keep caught up with the work. Sable finished her work and took it to Professor Treble to check.

"Professor Treble," she said, "I have my work caught up. Would you like to check it now or later?" The aged man looked up and nodded. He took Sable's journal and flipped it open to the last place he had checked. Sable left the teacher's desk and sat down at her own. There was not much time left until class was over with, so she pulled out her text and began reading into the next section. Five minutes before the bell was to ring, Sable was called up to Treble's desk to get her journal. When she took the journal back, the old man looked carefully at her.

"Ms. Robbins, I would like to have a word with you after class concerning your project for the year. If you don't mind that is."

"Of course, Professor." she said, confused.

"What class do you have next?" he asked.

"Charms, sir. With Professor Flitwick." she answered. Treble only nodded and turned back to his work. When Sable sat back down, Lily was packing up her things, waiting for the bell.

"Lily, Professor Treble wants to speak with me about my class project." she whispered. "Tell Professor Flitwick I'll be a few minutes late." Lily gave her a surprised look and stopped packing.

"Is there something wrong?" Lily asked. Sable only shrugged her shoulders, not sure as to what was going on. The bell rang and Sable watched as the other students filed out of the classroom. She waited until they were all gone before walking up to the desk.

"There was something you wanted to see me about, Professor?" she asked. Treble looked up at the girl and nodded.

"Yes, Ms. Robbins." he said. "I see that you are doing your yearly project on a potion to counter the effects of lycanthropy on people who are infected. Is this true?" Sable looked surprised, but nodded.

"Yes, sir. It is." she said. "Is there some sort of problem with my topic choice?"

"No, there is no problem. However, I must ask you a few questions concerning this experiment. For example, how do you plan on testing this potion once it is finished?" Sable blanched at the question, but suddenly realized that he had a point, she had no one to experiment on. No other students were supposed to know about Remus' lycanthropy. She couldn't use him as an excuse. She done some quick thinking and came up with a likely story.

"I will use myself as the experiment." she said simply. Treble looked a little green when she said that.

"Ms. Robbins. I am afraid that I can not allow you to risk your health to prove a theory." he said. Sable shook her head.

"Professor, I am the only one who can do this; you know that. I am not about to put other people's lives in danger when I'm not sure how this is going to turn out."

"I am sorry, Ms. Robbins." he said firmly. "It is too dangerous for you to continue. I am well aware of how much this would mean to you. And I have no doubt that you have already put a large amount of work into this, but I cannot allow you to do this." Sable searched her mind in an attempt to change the man's mind.

"Please, Professor...."

"Ms. Robbins, may I ask you one more question?" he interrupted. Sable nodded and waited for the Inquisition to begin again. "Why exactly did you pick lycanthropy as your topic for research?" Sable's temper was starting to get the better of her, but she couldn't tell off a teacher.

"Professor," she said calmly, "you, as well as, the rest of the staff know what I am. I am the offspring of two infected werewolves. I wasn't born during the full moon, so I don't transform like the others. I've been with my parents since I was born, and I've seen what they have had to go through during the changes every month. I have always wanted to do something to help them, but I couldn't. I didn't know how. It's almost like they lose their minds when,...... well you know. I know there has got to be something that can be done to help them." The old man was somewhat surprised at the vehement response to his question. He hadn't expected her to tell the truth. He had expected some fabricated lie.

"Ms. Robbins, if there is anyone you can test the potion on, I will allow you to continue." he said. "However, I must impress upon you the seriousness of the task before you. I will inform the Headmaster of your decision, as he seems to be under the impression that you were going to test it on some unsuspecting victim." Sable bristled at the accusation. Dumbledore knew what was going on with her research. Why would he suspect something like that.

"I assure you, Professor, I do not test my potions on unsuspecting people." she said fiercely. "I don't believe in playing with a person's life like that." The man only nodded and dug out a piece of parchment and a quill.

"Very well, Ms. Robbins." he said. "I do recall you saying that your next class is Charms, with Flitwick if I am not mistaken?"

"Yes, sir."

"Quite a useful class, if I do say so myself." he muttered. "The control and precision needed to control a charm is also the same needed to brew a potion." He wrote a hasty note on the parchment, excusing Sable for being tardy. "I take it you do well in that class as well, Ms. Robbins. You do have a very firm grasp of both concepts, as is shown in your skill with potions."

"Yes, sir." she said. "My mark in Charms is rivaled only by the mark in this class." Treble actually smiled at her. He nodded and waved a hand in her direction, his usual, gruff demeanor coming back.

"You are dismissed, Ms. Robbins." he said. "Good day." Sable nodded and turned to leave the classroom.

"Good day to you also, Professor Treble." She turned to walk out of the door, but bumped into someone else rather hard. She looked up and saw Snape's face in front of her own.

"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, Severus." she said quickly. "You okay? I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going." She looked up and saw him grimace.

Snape had been going down the hallway when he realized that he had left one of his books in the Potions classroom. As he had walked back down the corridor, he heard the voice of his Head of House and Sable. He figured it would be prudent to find out what they were speaking about, since it was obviously personal enough to have a teacher-student conference. He crept up to the side of the door and caught the ending of the conversation.

"..something to help them, but I couldn't. I didn't know how. It's almost like they loose their minds when, ..... well you know........." Snape's attention was immediately drawn into the conversation. He listened until she had told Professor Treble good-bye. He stood, but he had miscalculated his timing along the way, and Sable walked out of the door and right into him. When he saw her look up, he realized that he had some fast thinking to do.

"Severus, are you okay?" Sable asked. The older boy shook his head and nodded.

"I'm fine, Sable. I apologize for running into you. I'm afraid I was coming to retrieve an article that I had left behind. Excuse me, please." Snape swept past her and into the classroom. Sable heard as Professor Treble questioned why he wasn't in class. Snape gave him some sort of reply that seemed to satisfy him. As Snape walked out of the classroom again, Sable was throwing her books back into her bag. She turned to leave when Snape stopped her.

"Is everything okay, Sable?" he asked. "You seem a little pale."

"It's nothing. Professor Treble needed to speak with me about my project for the year. It's nothing." she fibbed.

"If you don't mind my asking," Snape said, "what is the problem with your project. You're topic is lycanthropy, isn't it?" Sable nodded and started walking towards the end of the hallway.

"I'm surprised you remembered." she said. "Yes, it is, though."

"What are trying to find, a cure?" he asked. "You know that's close to impossible." Sable nodded and frowned.

"Unfortunately, I am aware of that." she answered. "I was hoping to find a potion that will counteract the affects of lycanthropy on the mind of infected humans."

"So, what was the problem?" he asked.

"I have no one to test the final potion on." she said. "If I brew the potion, I won't have anyone to test it on because the test subject has to be infected with lycanthropy. I don't know of anyone that is. And even if I did, who says they'll trust an eighteen year old witch with their life?" Snape snorted and Sable hid a smile. She knew he was thinking about Remus being a werewolf. He was probably wishing she would make a fatal mistake in the potion and use him as a test subject. 'Not likely, buddy. You wouldn't get that lucky.' she thought.

"So, are you going to change your project topic?" he asked. Sable shook her head.

"No, if anything, this just makes me more determined to try. I'll find someone to test the potion on; even if I have to go back to America to do it." she said. Snape nodded and stopped as they reached a split in the hallway.

"You will make progress, Sable." he said quietly. "Good day."

"Good day to you also, Severus." she said, turning to the left. She walked down the hallway and was soon out of sight. Snape watched her until she disappeared around the corner.

'Lord Voldemort will be pleased to hear of this.' he thought. With that final, sadistic thought, he turned and went to the class he shared with the Ravenclaw students.

A/N - Okay, how's THAT one go? Guys, please, leave me something to work with here. I'm not threatening to cancel the story or anything, but if I don't get any feedback about the story, I'm going to give up hope on it. Please, tell me something.