Disclaimer - It's not mine. It never was.
A/N - Hello again everyone. What are you guys up to? I hope you are enjoying the story. Things start to heat up here in a minute. Hope you have something cool to drink, cause the fists are about to fly. Well, I don't want to give anything away. So, enjoy.
Confrontation
When Remus opened the door, he was expecting to see Lily, not some angel from heaven. He blinked a couple of times to make sure he was seeing straight before trusting himself to speak.
"Uh...I'm looking for Lily." he said. "I have a message to give her from James. Is she in there?"
"Yes, Remus." Sable said quietly, stepping down from the doorway. "She's in here. Come on in." Remus blinked a few times and shook his head.
"Sable? That's you?" he asked shocked. The girl shook her head and frowned.
"Is there another one running around this school somewhere, that I'm not aware of?" she asked sarcastically. She walked over to the other side of the room and started taking the mask, crown, and jewelry off and placing them back in the boxes. Remus watched as she carefully tucked the jewels into their boxes before shutting the lids. Lily walked in and smiled.
"Remus? What are you doing here?." she asked. "Where's James?" The boy turned his head towards Lily and stared at her.
"Huh? What?" he asked. "Oh. James. Yeah. He said that they were going to be running practice a little longer tonight. He said to tell you he should be done in another half hour or so." Lily nodded and turned to the other girls.
"I think that's all for tonight, girls." she said to the other girls. "We've got some good ideas of what we want to do now that Sable's showed us her costume. Now, we just have to wait until a Hogsmeade weekend to get what we need." The other two girls nodded and left through the doorway, saying their goodnights to Sable and Lily as they left. Lily looked over at Sable and shuffled some of the papers. "I'm going to put these in my room." she said. "I'll be back in a minute." Sable shook her head, wishing Remus would just go away and quit looking at her. She felt her skin crawl because she knew he was staring at her. 'Just go away, Remus.' she pleaded silently. 'Please, go away before I say something I don't need to.'
Remus, on the other hand, was not budging. He stared at the girl, amazed that what she had on was a costume. The dress was clingy, but not enough to look trashy. The creamy white color set off her dark hair and eyes. She was beautiful. 'That's her costume for the ball?' he thought. 'The costume she's wearing when she goes with me. Oh, Merlin, I'm in for one Hellashish night.' He cleared his throat and Sable looked up at him, a guarded expression in her eyes.
"That's your costume for the ball?" he asked. Sable nodded and continued to remove the jewelry. The mask still covered her face, but that was probably a good thing since she was blushing furiously..
"Yeah, it is." she muttered. "My parents sent it to me a few days ago."
"It looks good on you." he said quietly.
"Thanks. I think." she said.
"Not a problem." he answered cautiously. Sable nodded and pulled the mask off of her face. Remus shook his head and walked over to her. Sable pulled back as he got closer to her. "I think we need to talk, Sable." He whispered.
"About what?" she answered evasively.
"Last night." Sable cringed and nearly dropped the mask.
"What do you want to talk about?" she asked evenly. She just wanted to forget what had happened. Obviously, he didn't. "I thought I evened everything out in the note I left." She was starting to panic.
"Why'd you leave?" he asked. "What'd I do to make you leave so early?" Sable turned her back to him and placed the mask in the box.
"I didn't want things to be awkward when you woke up." she answered truthfully. "I figured it would be better if I wasn't there since the whole mess was my fault anyways."
"How do you figure it was your fault?" he asked.
"Well, I was the one that fell asleep in the dorm and......." she said. About that time, Lily emerged from her room. She smiled at the two like nothing was the matter and sat down at the couch, pulling out her books to do some homework. Sable looked up at Remus and shook her head. She grabbed her school uniform that was lying beside the box and quickly retreated to the bathroom to change out of the dress. Remus growled and walked over to the portrait hole, intent on going to Sable's room and waiting until she got back. 'We're going to get to the bottom of this, or die trying.' he thought. He told Lily goodnight and left the room.
Lily grinned as the frustrated boy left the room. 'That's it, Remus,' she thought, 'get angry enough to actually do something about it.' She glanced down at her books and grinned when she heard her bathroom door open slowly.
"He's gone, Sable. You can come out." she called out. Lily smiled when Sable's audible sigh of relief was heard. The dark headed girl walked around the small couch, clothed in her school uniform.
"Thanks, Lily." she said. Lily only nodded and smiled.
"No problem. But if you'll excuse me, I've got major cramming to do for tomorrow." Sable nodded and levitated her boxes out of the portrait hole.
"Later, Lily." Sable called out as she left out of the room. Lily only smiled and waved. She settled back down to her books with only one thought on her mind. 'Let the fireworks begin.'
♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤ Now, in Sable's Room...♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤
Sable walked down the Defense Against the Dark Arts hallway as quickly as she could. It was getting late and she didn't want to have to deal with any wondering students passing through the area. She stopped at the suit of armor, said the password, and went into her room. As soon as she went into the little hallway, she picked up on the scent of another person. She frowned when recognition hit. It was Remus. She growled in frustration and swept down the passageway, intending on giving that werewolf the chewing of a lifetime. When she pushed aside the drape hanging in the way, she froze stiff.... and not from fear or anger. She was frozen stiff!!! Remus was standing beside the entrance, holding his wand in one hand.
He had hit her with a full-body bind curse. 'What in the hell does he think he's doing?' she thought angrily. She tried to say something, but instead of words, only a gurgling sound was heard. She tried to glare at the boy, but found that she couldn't move any of her facial features into the patented Remus-Lupin-you're-a-dead-werewolf glare. She only stood there, leaning against the wall like some immobile statue.
Remus, on the other hand, was sweating bullets. He knew that she wouldn't want to listen to reason at the time, but he needed to talk to her. So, after leaving Lily and her, he went down to her laboratory and waited for her to come back.
"Alright, Sable." he said firmly. "We need to talk." He picked her up and brought her to the little bedroom that was attached to the laboratory, pocketing her wand in the process. In most cases, he wouldn't have done that. But he really didn't feel like having glass beakers of unknown potions thrown at him as soon as he lifted the curse. He lay her down on the bed and backed away. He put a silencing charm around the room. When he was on the other side of the room, he lifted the curse.
"....DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!!! I'M NOT SOME PRACTICE DUMMY TO TEST YOUR BASIC HEXES ON!!!!" she screamed at him. She immediately set up and glared at the boy. Just to emphasize her point, she picked up the closest thing to her and hummed it straight at his head. Because of her anger, the pillow flew far off of its course and landed next to him.
"Sable," he said reasonably, "calm down. We need to talk." The girl reached into her pocket, searching for her wand, only to come up empty handed. Remus smirked and held up the desired piece of wood. "Looking for this?" he asked. Sable looked up and glared at him even harder.
"Give me back my wand." she stated firmly.
"Not until you listen to what I have to say." Remus said, twirling the wand between his fingers. Sable huffed up and sat back on her bed, crossing her arms in the process and pasting a foul grin on her face.
"Talk." she ordered. "I've got work to do." Remus crushed the urge to hex the annoying girl into her next life-time. They had to get some of this mess out in the open before it killed both of them. Remus sat down in a chair and wondered where to start.
"Why are you still working on the Wolfsbane Potion, Sable?" he asked quietly. She looked up at him and scowled. She hadn't expected him to say something like that.
"Are you self-centered enough to think you're the only person in the world who suffers from lycanthropy?" she asked icily. "I'm doing it to help my parents and other people who are cursed enough to have been infected. Besides, what has that got to do with this." Remus glared and tried not to throw something at her. 'Leave it to her to make this difficult.' he thought.
"Good point. It has nothing to do with this, but I wanted to know." Remus said. "Now, listen to me, Sable." he said. "You interrupt and I'm going to put another curse on you." The girl only glared and sat back down on her bed. "Good. Now, I know that you are mad about what happened last night, but it wasn't all your fault. I'm just as much responsible as you are. You told me that you weren't going to try to avoid me, but that's all you've been doing all day long. Why?" Sable looked down at her bed guiltily.
"Remus, you know why I'm doing what I am right now." she muttered. "I know what was going through your head last night, because I was thinking the same things, if not worse. And I didn't want things to change between the two of us."
"I've got news for you, Ms. Robbins." Remus said. "The closer the full moon gets, the more things change between you and me. It's nature and we can't change that."
"Well, Mr. Lupin." she stated. "I can do my best to ignore what starts changing. I don't want to hurt you, and I know you don't want to hurt me, but what would happen if we let our emotions get in the way of common sense? You know as well as I do that everything that went through our heads last night was fueled by our instincts that come out during the time of the full moon."
"We'd both be happier, and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." Remus stated heatedly.
"No. We'd both be wallowing in guilt and sulking because we let our barriers down during one of our weakest points. Therefore, we would hurt each other even more than we are right now." Sable countered. Remus looked at her skeptically. "Remus, you know that when the full moon is out, we are more susceptible to follow our carnal instincts than our common sense. That's too dangerous. Wolves are predatory animals that run in packs, and they follow their protective instincts. There are only a few in its life that it consciously recognizes, survival, hunting, and procreation. What would happen if we went with only those emotions? We'd be in more trouble than either of us want to mention."
"What do you want to do?" Remus asked quietly. "Stay away from each other at all times the closer the full moon gets to us?" Sable shuddered and shook her head. "I can't do that, Sable, and you know it."
"I don't know what we're going to do." she admitted, "but I do know that neither of us want to be hurt, or drug into something that's going to change what our friendship has built." Remus, having enough of this 'friendship' talk stood up from the chair and walked over to the bed where Sable was sitting, staring at her bed.
"Sable, what we've got is not a friendship, at least not at the moment." he stated quietly.
"Then what is it?" she asked, staring up at him with a slight look of surprise. "Because I really want to know." Remus looked pensive and shook his head.
"I don't want to see you hurt, and you don't deserve to have to put up with me, or anyone else around here for that matter." he said quietly.
"I don't 'put up' with you or anyone else, Remus." she said. "I stay here because I want to. I love all of my friends, and you're no different, no matter what you think."
"So you're not doing the potion out of some sick sense of commitment to me?" he asked. Sable grinned and stood up from her bed, shaking her head.
"Remus, you're a special person to me." she said. "And like I said before, if I didn't like you, I wouldn't be around you. I like you before, during, and after a full moon. So don't try to think that I've got some psycho sense of commitment to you. I want to help everyone with my research, not just you. What we feel during the time leading up to the full moon is just an extension of what we already share. Our feelings are heightened."
"But...."
"No, listen to me." she cut him off. "It's time I gave you lesson in wolf psychology. Imagine the head male and female wolf of a natural born pack. They do everything together. It's sort of like they are married. When something happens to one, it's only natural instinct for the other one to protect its mate. Remus, we're the only two lycanthropic students in this school. Even if I had never met you, never been put into Gryffindor, never had any type of connection with you or the others, you would know what I was because of what we are. And you would feel and act the same way towards me if we ever transformed together. You're the alpha-male, and with the wonderful rules of evolution, you think it's your job to protect and take care of the members of your pack. However, at the moment, I'm the only other member of that pack. The same thing goes for me."
"But...."
"Remus, why are you so protective of Lily the closer it gets to the full moon." Sable asked quickly. "She has James to take care of her, why do you act like her big brother?" Remus shrugged and shook his head.
"She's a girl." Sable grinned and nodded to the somewhat confused boy.
"As chauvinistic as that is, that's my point." she answered. "The more your wolfish instincts take over, the more you want to protect the females you care about, even if they don't need the help."
"So what your telling me is that I have no control over anything I consciously or unconsciously think the closer it gets to the full moon.?" he asked. "There is no way to stop what I think."
"Not unless you find some wonderful cure for lycanthropy before I do. The only other alternate is for you to die. And personally, I don't want that one." she said with a nod. Remus seemed to grimace and shook his head again.
"This is going to be difficult." he said.
"I know." she answered. "But I have an idea that may help."
"I'm listening." he growled. 'She's driving me nuts!!' he thought.
"Well, since it seems that we are going to drive each other nuts between now and the time the end of the year lets out, I suggest that we find some way to keep ourselves sane." 'Oh, Merlin. I hope I'm doing the right thing here.' she thought, crossing her arms in front of her.
"And you suggest....What???"
" I can't believe I'm saying this." she muttered, "I propose that we do whatever we have to to keep from killing each other. If it means acting on the instincts that we have, then so be it."
"All of them?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "Sable, now you're talking about dangerous." 'She's adding fuel to the fire.' he thought. 'I'd go to Azkaban if I did what I wanted. This girl doesn't know what she's getting into here!!!'
"Not all of them." she said, blushing scarlet. "Just enough to keep you from getting mad and me from getting totally fed up with you."
"Sable, that's not a much better idea, and you know it." he stated.
"Well, it's either that, or we each stay on either side of the classroom and castle until the week of the full moon is over." she stated simply. " Talk about awkward then. What would we tell the others? Besides, I know a couple of Ravenclaws that would let me dorm in their rooms until this was all over with. In fact, Casey seemed to like the idea." She said thoughtfully. "I don't know why though."
"Casey Loque?" Remus nearly sputtered. "The guy that wound up hanging upside down in the broom closet last year? You've got to be kidding me! You'd be safer with me; that guy's a pervert if I ever knew one!!" Sable grinned and shook her head.
"Not that Casey." she said hastily. She suddenly had the feeling that he thought she was going to abandon them. "Casey Sauderville."
"Oh." he answered. Sable nodded as realization settled into Remus' face. Casey Sauderville was one of the little girls she tutored after classes. Now, he felt like an idiot. "Sable, you do know that if we do agree to the terms of this...... agreement..... we still have to live with ourselves after the fact."
"I've already thought about that." she said with a slight frown.
"And you've got what?"
"We forget about it and act like it never happened. Whatever goes on, stays with us. And only us." she stated firmly. Remus looked dumbfounded. 'If I ever did what I wanted to, she'd have one hell of a time forgetting it.' he thought. 'Hell, I wouldn't be so quick to forget it either.'
"So you're basically suggesting that we use each other whenever it's convenient. " he said. "You're kidding me? Please tell me you're kidding?"
"Call it what you want. Do you have a better idea?" she asked. 'Oh boy, now I've gone and done it.' she thought. "Cause I'm fresh out." Remus looked thoughtful for a moment. Now was his opening to say what he wanted from her, but he wasn't sure if he could ask her.
"I do have one idea." he said timidly. "But I don't know if you'll accept it."
"I'm listening." she answered. "Enlighten me."
"Well, you see." he began. "I was noticing something between the two of us." Sable looked a little skeptical.
"What?" 'I mean besides the working chemistry we've got?' she thought sarcastically
"Sable, what did I do the last time Snape or Flint talked to you?"
"You went berserk, if my memory serves me correctly." she stated.
"Exactly. And why exactly did you prank Sedera Walsh when we were in the Slytherin Common Room that night?"
"I don't like the girl." she stated as if it were common knowledge. 'Uh-oh. Danger zone!!!!!! Please back away!!!!'
"Well, neither do I, but you don't see me giving her huge elephant ears." he stated with a smile. "Do you?"
"What are you getting at, Remus?" she asked testily. She felt her face begin to warm up, but she fought to keep the blush at bay.
"Why did you prank her?" he asked again. "Besides the fact that you don't like her." Sable tried to think up a logical excuse that wouldn't pin her to the truth. She didn't want him to know it was because Sedera had kissed him.
"Uh....well....." she stuttered. "I just don't like the girl."
"Sable, you also don't like the other girls in Slytherin, but you didn't prank them. Why did you do it?" He asked. "Was it because of what she did to me?" Sable blushed lightly and turned around, hoping he wouldn't notice.
"Partly." she admitted. "I know what girls like her can be, and I didn't want her to hurt you."
"You were jealous." he stated with a grin. Sable turned around and almost slapped him, but he caught her hand.
"I was not." she stated, a little too quickly. "I was not." Remus just looked at her and shook his head. Sable cringed at the look and turned back around after wrestling her wrist from his hand.
"You can't lie to me, Sable. You know that."
"Okay, maybe a little." she admitted. Remus gave her THE look again, and she cracked. "Okay, okay, maybe a lot. What did you expect me to do? Just let her go after she done that?"
"What if I hadn't minded it?" he asked with a grin. 'I shouldn't have said that.' he thought.
"Then I would be sending you to St. Mungo's psychiatric ward right now." She dead panned. ' And Sedera Walsh would be missing in action.' she growled.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about." he said.
"I'm missing something here, Remus. Care to enlighten me?" she asked nervously, not liking where the conversation was going.
"Do you remember at the beginning of school when I first found those passage ways into the other Common Rooms?" Sable nodded and waited for him to continue.
"Yeah, I remember." she said. 'Not exactly something I want to remember right now.'
"Do you remember what I told you right before I went into your room when you were about to add the wolfsbane to the potion?" he asked.
"You told me that you didn't know where I belonged anymore." she said quietly.
"Not quite." he said. "I told you that you were more than a friend to me now. But I couldn't figure out exactly what you were." Sable looked a little wary, but he could pick up on her increased heart rate. 'She's nervous.' he thought. He put his arms around her and hugged.
"I finally figured it out." Sable was trying to keep her breathing under control, and failing miserably. The close proximity to Remus was starting to make her blood boil... in a good way.
"Really, what was it, Remus?" she asked, trying to even out her breathing.
"I like you, Sable." he admitted. "As more than a friend. I care about you more than anyone else in this world." 'There, I said it.' he thought grimly. 'Now here's the critical moment.'
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" she asked hesitantly.
"Well, if you think that I'm asking you to be my girlfriend," he said with a smile, "Then yeah, I'd say you were on the right track." Sable nearly passed out with that statement. She turned around and faced him, still with in the confines of his hug.
"Wait a minute." she asked. "Are you asking me to be yours?" Remus grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, blushing slightly.
"Yeah, I guess I am." he said. "Really articulate of me, isn't it?" Sable smiled and shook her head. 'If you only knew how long I've waited to hear this.' she thought happily.
"Are you sure, Remus?" she asked. "I don't want to..."
"... hurt me.... yah, yah, yah" he said. "We've already went through all of this. So, what's your answer?" Sable turned to him and smiled.
"Well, how's about this?" she asked with a sly smile. She wrapped her arms around him and the last thing he consciously processed was that kiss........
***************************************************
Well, needless to say, Remus and Sable were officially 'together' after that 'conversation' that had taken place that evening.
Breakfast the next morning was a comical affair. Remus and Sable had decided to let the others figure it out themselves what the new status of their friendship was. All through breakfast, the two acted like they hated each other, throwing food and insults at each other until Lily and James separated them to opposite ends of the table. They hadn't caught the quick grin Sable had passed to Remus as she huffed away. Needless to say, the entire group was confused by the time it was all over with. When breakfast finally finished, everyone headed to their first class. Sable and Lily were going to Potions when the boys caught up with them.
"Get over your fit yet, Sable?" Remus snarled at the girl.
"Don't you have somewhere to go, Remus?" she shot back. "Like the dog pound." She turned and began to walk a little faster, leaving Lily to stare in wonder. Remus, hiding a grin, caught up with her and stopped her.
"You coming with me? Cause last time I checked, you need to be there just as much as I do." He said sarcastically. The others caught up to them and James got in between the two before any fists could fly.
"What is going on with you two?" he demanded. "You've been trying to kill each other all morning." Sable and Remus looked at him innocently and shook their heads.
"What are you talking about, James?" Sable asked.
"Yeah, Prongs, we're fine." Remus said with a sly grin. Lily noticed the looks and smiled.
"Is there something you're not telling us?" Peter asked cautiously.
"Well....." Remus began. At that moment, Allen Baker, one of the other Gryffindor seventh years came up to the group with a goofy smile on his face.
"Morning everyone." he said cheerfully.
"Morning, Allen." Sable said. "What you up to?"
"Nothing, really." he said. "Sable, there's something I wanted to ask you before classes start."
"What is it?" Sable asked. "Something wrong?"
"No, not really." he answered. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me next Saturday." Sable looked a little shocked, but smiled none the less. Allen was a nice guy, but he had guts to ask her in front of her friends. She shook her head, but Remus interrupted.
"Sorry, Allen." he said with a frown. "She's already going with someone else."
"Remus, I can speak for myself, thank you!" she admonished. "I'm sorry, Allen. But I'm already going with someone else."
"Oh, okay." Allen said. "I guess I'll see you later then." The boy walked off quickly and Sable rounded on Remus.
" Keep your big trap shut for once, will you?" Sable said.
"Well, you're already going with someone else." he said. Sable sighed in exasperation and threw her hands up in the air.
"Moron." Sable said loudly.
"Bitch." Remus replied. Sable glared at him and turned her back to leave them in the hall. Meanwhile, the rest of the group just stood there, waiting for the fight that was about to commence.
"Wouldn't you like to know."
"Too late. I already do." Remus snickered.
"That's what you think."
"I don't think, I know."
"Well, then you should know that you're getting on my nerves." Sable replied quickly.
"Well, then I'll just have to remedy that, won't I?" Remus said.
"Yeah, you need to. Before I really get mad at you."
"Gladly." Then, to the surprise of the Marauders, Remus grabbed her by the waist and kissed her in full view of the people in the hallway. When he let her go, Sable looked up to see the shocked faces of the boys and the triumphant grin of Lily's. The poor boys looked like their jaws couldn't drop much further. Remus grinned and Sable giggled.
"Something the matter, guys?" Sable asked innocently. Sirius was the first to recover from the surprise and he quickly let it be known what was going on.
"IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME YOU TWO REALIZED WHAT WAS GOING ON!!!!" he shouted. Remus cringed and James shook his head, glancing at his watch.
"Well, as wonderful as this revelation is," he said with a grin. "We need to get to class." He walked over to Remus and grabbed him by the scruff of his robes. "And you've got an explanation to tell, Moony." Sirius followed suit and Peter pulled up the rear as the boys left to go to class. Sable watched them exit, with a smile playing on her lips. Lily's chuckle brought her back to reality.
"Not fighting anymore, huh?" she asked slyly. Sable blushed and turned to walk to class with the red-head.
"Very funny, Evans." she smiled. "Very funny." The day went on as usual, and before the it was over with, the whole of Hogwarts breathed a collective sigh of relief when they found out that the two temperamental Gryffindors were officially 'together'. Well, almost everyone was happy for the new couple. A certain Slytherin seventh year began throwing things at the wall of his dorm when he found out about it late that evening.
Slytherin Dorm Rooms
"Will you calm down about this already!" Snape growled. "It's not like you're dating the girl." Cody Flint paused enough to glare at the boy and continued on to his ranting.
"It doesn't matter!" the Quidditch star yelled back. "Now it's going to be three times as hard to get the girl by herself so we can do what we need to. If we don't start accomplishing more, Lord Voldemort will have our heads! I don't know about you, but I like my head attached to the rest of my body!!"
"Lord Voldemort will not hurt us beyond repair." Snape said smoothly. "We are the only reliable spies that he has here." He shuffled some papers and went back to his work. "Besides, we know when Lupin won't be around her. We just need to plan our attack on the next full moon." Cody stopped pacing and glared at the boy.
"I thought you said Robbins was a werewolf?" he said. "You said yourself that she exhibited the traits. She'll be with him on the next full moon." Snape shook his head and sighed.
"I thought she was a werewolf." he corrected. "My suspicions were not un-founded. However, I went to speak with her the night that Lupin transformed. She was in the hospital wing after sundown. There is no way that she can be a werewolf. Even her diary only hinted at it. Unfortunately, I didn't finish reading all of the entries before those annoying prats took it back. But what confuses me the most is that her parents are both full blooded werewolves. She should transform along with them, however, she stayed in her human form that night."
"Maybe she can control it." Flint suggested.
"Don't you listen in Defense class?" Snape countered icily. "Werewolves can't control their transformations on the night of the full moon. It's impossible."
"Well, if that's the case, then what's our next step?" Flint asked, tired of the apparent chase they were leading.
"We wait." Snape answered. "The Polyjuice Potion will be ready in a little over two weeks. When it is finished, we will be able to break up the golden group and take Ms. Meadows out all of the way."
"Will Lord Voldemort wait that long?" Flint asked.
"He is aware of my plans. And he has accepted them." Snape answered. Flint nodded and sat down at his desk, beginning to work on some homework that he hadn't finished.
'This is getting harder by the minute!!!'
The rest of the week went by rather quickly. The upcoming Halloween Ball was on everyone's mind. In fact, the Marauders were woken up rather Saturday morning by their significant others. It was common knowledge that when there was no Quidditch practice scheduled, James and the others tended to sleep until after noon. Well, Lily decided that the boys needed to see what their costumes for the ball would look like. After the other girls had seen Sable's dress, they had all decided to coordinate their costumes around her and Remus' costumes. So, needless to say, the boy's costumes were already picked out and ready to go since the girls had decided that the guys had absolutely no fashion sense at all. After the girls managed to get into the boy's dorms, the boys had a very rude awakening.
Arabella closed the door to the room behind her and tip-toed across the room to the sleeping form of Sirius. Lily, Amanda Keiss, and Sable were already standing next to their respective beds. Loud snores could be heard throughout the room and the girls stifled their giggles to keep from waking the others up. With a silent signal from Lily, the girls readied the pitchers and unceremoniously dumped the contents onto the unsuspecting boys.
"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS GOING ON??!!!!!" bellowed a very soaking Sirius Black. He jumped so far out of his own bed that Arabella thought he was going to hit his head on the roof. Bella quickly through the offending pitcher into a large pile of dirty clothes that were at the foot of Sirius' bed.
"Are you alright, Black?" she asked sarcastically, trying not to crack a smile. Sirius turned around and glared at her coldly. Across the room, Peter jumped out of the closed in curtains right about the time James started yelling at Lily and Remus started in on Sable.
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Peter yelled out. "THAT'S BLOODY COLD!!!" Amanda sniggered and quickly hid the pitcher underneath the bed.
"Something the matter, Peter?" she asked sweetly. Peter shot her a murderous look that came out looking like angry puppy-dog eyes because he was still over half asleep.
"LILY EVANS!!!!" James hollered. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING????"
"Morning to you too, hon." Lily said sweetly. She gave him a quick kiss and discarded to evidence under his bed. James shook his head and droplets of water scattered across the room as glared at Lily.
"MEADOW SABRIEL ROBBINS!!!" Remus called out loudly. "WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU DO THAT FOR???? IT'S A SATURDAY MORNING FOR MERLIN'S SAKE?!!!" Sable frowned and quickly filled the empty pitcher with another dose of ice water. She hated it when people used her full name.
"Remus," she began threateningly, "you know I hate it when you say my full name."
"AND I DON'T LIKE TO BE WOKEN UP ON A SATURDAY MORNING BY HAVING WATER POURED ON ME!!!" he screamed. Sable tsked and quickly poured the other pitcher of water on him while his back was turned to her. The poor werewolf let out another yelp and dove out of the other side of the bed, trying to get away from the glacial liquid that had surrounded him once again. Sable snickered and threw the pitcher on top of the bed.
"Time to get up fellas." Sable announced happily. The girls looked around the room, where the boys were in various states of wetness.
"Man, what's going on?" Sirius asked plaintively.
"Well," Arabella said sweetly. "We need you guys to come with us for a while."
"For what, you witches." he growled.
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Sirius." Amanda said in a baby-like voice. "That's right, we're witches and you're wizards."
"What's going on?" James asked.
"We need you guys to look at the costume ideas so that you know what to buy when we go to Hogsmeade next weekend."
"That's what this is about?!" Remus spluttered. "You woke us up to worry about costumes." Lily snickered.
"If I remember correctly, Mr. Lupin, you had no complaints about Sable's costume." The red-head smiled. Remus grinned and backed down in defeat. The girls grinned and the boys looked over at Remus with a curious expression.
"What time is it, anyway?" Peter yawned.
"It's after noon, already." Arabella said. "Time for you boys to get up."
"Do we have to?" Sirius whined. "I want to sleep."
"Do you want to live to see tomorrow, Black?" Bella questioned stonily. Sirius took one look at the girl and cowered. She meant business, and he knew it. Sirius sighed in defeat and hung his head. "That's what I thought." Bella said with a smug grin.
"Fine, we'll come see the costume designs." James said sleepily, wiping his eyes. "Give us a few minutes." The girls brightened up and turned to leave.
"You've got thirty minutes to be down in the Common Room." Lily warned. "Or else we're coming back up here."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Got it."
"Okay."
"Do we have to???" Bella shook her head and threw a nearby shoe at Sirius for that last question. It hit him with a satisfying 'clunk'. "Okay, okay. We'll be down there in half an hour." came Sirius' pained voice as the door closed. The boys looked at each other and shook their heads.
"How did we get mixed up in this?" Remus asked.
"It's because Lily is a hot-head, Bella is a prankster, and Sable is a sadist." James said through the huge yawn that escaped.
"What about Amanda?" Peter said. "She was here too."
"The other three have corrupted her." Sirius said. "Most Hufflepuff girls are non-aggressive. Amanda's been around them too long." The boys nodded and they shook their heads.
"I've only got one thing to say about those four." James said.
"What?" Peter asked.
"They're as bad as us." Remus finished. James nodded and went to leave the dorms.
" Yeah, but admit it boys, we love every minute of it." Sirius said with a goofy grin. The other boys only smiled and nodded and began to look around for some more clothes that weren't soaked with ice cold water.
Twenty nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds later, the boys were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room. The common room was filled with the younger students doing homework, playing games, or just talking about nothing in particular. The girls had commandeered a large couch and a few smaller chairs in the corner of the room and were digging out the papers with the designs on them. The noise level in the room was beginning to get louder and the girls seemed to notice.
"Okay, we're here." Peter said disgustedly. He really wanted to go back to sleep. Amanda glared at him half-heartedly and shook her head.
"I think it would be better if we went to the Head's Common Room." James said. "It's too loud in here."
"You're right." Lily said, shuffling papers. "Let's go." They picked up their stuff and went to the Head's Common Room. Lily and the girls settled down on the couch and put the papers in front of them.
"Alright, boys." Bella grinned. "Time to find out what you're gonna be for Halloween."
"Just a question before we get started." Sirius said. "Do we actually get to have any say-so in the choices." The girls looked at each other and smiled evilly.
"No." they all said in unison. Sirius frowned and nodded.
"Just making sure." he said with a sigh.
"So, what's the deal?" Remus asked. "Sable and I already have ours planned out. Why are we here?"
"We need Sable here to finalize the plans." Amanda said. "We need her opinion on the other costumes."
"Yeah, we're all going as one big group, and the costumes are coordinating with each other." Bella said.
"Then can I go?" Remus whined.
"No." the girls answered. "You're staying here." Remus rolled his eyes and sat down in a chair, mumbling about how girls were all crazy. Lily picked up on the curses and grinned at the boy.
"Of course, Sable is going to have to put her costume on again, just so we can make any final adjustments to our ideas." the red-head said. Remus' ears perked up and he grinned.
"Okay, I'll stay." he said happily. Sable just rolled her eyes and went to put her costume on again. She walked out ten minutes later and grinned at them. Remus' eyes were glazed over and the boys were smiling.
"Bella, think you can find something like that?" Sirius asked. Bella threw a pillow at him in retaliation. Sirius just smirked and dodged it.
For the next two hours, the girls finished up their plans for the ball. The boys actually like the costumes by the time everything was over with. James and Lily were a couple of peasants. Remus and Sable were a 'princess' and the 'beast'. Sirius was a thief and Bella a countess. Peter was a squire and Amanda was a lady of Sable's 'court'. All in all, it worked out rather well, and the girls were all happy that the Marauders didn't put up too much of a fight.
'We may actually get away with putting them into those costumes.' Sable thought with a grin as they picked up the papers and got ready to leave. Remus put his arms around her and hugged her gently.
"Where you headed to, missy?" he asked.
"I was going to work on some stuff in my lab." she said. "I'm getting behind on some of my Transfiguration notes."
"Mind if I come?" He asked. "James and the others are going down to the Pitch."
"You'd come even if I said no." Sable said with a grin. "So yeah, come on."
"Damn right." Remus huffed. "Later, guys."
"Bye, you two." Bella said. She and Sirius were arguing over something again. Remus shook his head. Sirius liked to see Bella get upset and flustered, so he purposely made her mad any time he could.
"Where you headed?" Lily asked.
"To my lab." Sable said. "I've got some Transfiguration notes to finish off."
"Riiiiiiiiiigggggghhhhhhttttt." Sirius drawled.
"Sirius Black!" Bella shouted, "You perverted, dirty minded boy! If she says she going to work on her schoolwork, then that's what she's going to do!!! Get your mind out of the gutter!! You are the......" And so the tirade went on as Bella let into him once again. Sirius just smiled and winked at Remus before they left out. When they got out of the room, Sable started laughing.
"Something funny?" Remus asked.
"Sirius and Bella are hilarious." she said. "You know he makes her mad just to see her get upset."
"I know." Remus said with a grin. "But you're as bad as she is sometimes."
"I am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not. Am not. Am not!"
"Are too."
"Okay, I give up." Sable said. "I am." The pair grinned and walked down the hallway to the entrance to her room. Little did they know, a set of eyes watched them as they entered into the passageway that led to her laboratory. When the suit of armor slid back into place, the hidden figure came out of the shadows and fled towards the dungeons of the castle.
A/N - It's about time they got together, don't you think? **Author smiles evilly** Just so you guys know, I wasn't going to put them together right now. I was actually going to wait, but……I decided to speed things up a bit.
But don't think I'm going to let them take the easy way out. Oh no, no, no, no, no. (Where's the fun in that?) Anyway. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Later.
Oh, and leave me a review telling me how I did. I really want to know.
Later.
A.A.
