Three
Celina had a bit of trouble getting to sleep that night. That kiss had been magical. She was up for hours thinking about it. So this is love, she thought to herself. Or was it? She didn't want to say she loved James. What he had done was kind of mean, seeing as Remus had just admitted that he liked her. And Remus seemed like such a nice guy. How could James do something like that to one of his best friends? It was a huge lie, and that ruins friendships. Perhaps guys didn't understand the concept that lying is bad and can do things like tat to a person. But at the same time, his kiss was so enchanting . . .
You've got to stop this, Celina, she told herself. Just because this guy's a good kisser doesn't mean he's a good guy. Even though he seemed to be a good guy.
That night, she went to bed about three in the morning. She had never gotten to sleep that late before. It seemed like twenty seconds had gone by when she felt someone shaking her awake.
"Lina! Lina! Breakfast in ten minutes," said the blurry outline of Lily over her.
"W-what?" she muttered.
"Get dressed and stuff! Breakfast is in ten minutes! Sirius and the guys and I will be waiting for you there," Lily explained quickly. Then she turned and ran out the door of the dormitory.
"Oh, great. Now I have to face James and Remus," Lina whispered. She got up and got dressed, but some light makeup on, then ran down to the Great Hall. Just as Lily had said, she, Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were waiting for her. They had saved a place between James and Remus. Such a coincidence.
The whole meal, James was sulking. But when he looked at her, his lips hinted a smile. And Remus was talking to her a lot, and staring at her whenever he wasn't talking. But he seemed and looked a bit sick. In the middle of his French Toast, he started choking.
"Remus, are you alright?" she asked after he recovered from the incident.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I might be sick though."
Immediately, Lina put a hand to his forehead. "You're not warm," she pondered.
Sirius gave Remus a stern look, then asked, "Full moon tonight, huh?" Remus nodded curtly.
"What do you mean by that?" Lina asked. Sirius and Lily exchanged looks.
"Well, you ever heard of how sometimes on full moons, people act funny? That's what he meant," James said quickly. Everyone else nodded in agreement, like he was telling the truth.
But Lina wasn't so sure.
Her first class was Transfiguration. The class went pretty normally. They were learning how to transform large rocks into pillows. Lina succeeded greatly, much to Professor McGonagall's pleasure, and was awarded ten house points for a perfect spell.
"Jesus, maybe I should transfer to Durmstrang," Remus said jokingly. Lina laughed.
After that, the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. She fell asleep in History of Magic, but was rudely awakened by Lily, who had kicked her in the shins when Professor Binns asked her a question.
"Miss Peterson, what did I just say?" Binns demanded.
"Uh, erm, you were just explaining about the relationship between King Arthur and Merlin," Celina said, making it up as she went along. Binns clucked disapprovingly.
"Miss Peterson, just because of your special circumstances, do not expect that you can get away with sleeping in class," he said. Lina gave him a look. He smirked at her. Finally, a teacher had something against her. He turned on his heel and walked away.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Slytherin boy who had glared at her last night. He was smirking.
Remus leaned over from his desk and asked, "What was that all about?"
Lina had to think fast. "He means that I used to be in Durmstrang and I'm not quite used to Hogwarts yet," she said quickly.
"Oh," Remus said.
But Lina sensed that he wasn't so sure.
Next was Divination. She had been looking forward to this. She had always heard of the sight of fortune-tellers, but she had never met one.
The Professor was named Professor Trelawney, and looked a lot like a large, glittering beetle. She was kind of scary. She would float along, stopping from table to table, looking at each person's palm, and predicting what would happen to them.
"Ah," she said, coming over to Remus. His gaze focused on her. He had told her that he feared Professor Trelawney. When she had asked why, he had dismissed the question.
"Now, let's see here . . . oh, Mister Lupin, quite a short lifeline! And I also see you have feelings for someone, eh? Well, don't worry about that, dear, you have more important things to worry about. And you also have a dark secret to keep . . . a very dark secret . . . and unfortunately, somehow the secret will come apparent to one you do not want to know about it . . . and, goodness, my dear, it shall turn against you in a horrible way. I am terribly sorry, Mister Lupin."
Professor Trelawney glided away from him and moved on to her next victim, leaving Remus wide-eyed and fearful, looking at his palm in awe. He looked to Sirius and mouthed something Lina couldn't make out, then they looked to her. She gulped. What was going on that she didn't get?"
"Miss Peterson," Professor Trelawney crooned. "Let's see what we have here . . . my goodness, dear, I have never seen such a long lifeline . . . now, you, too have a secret. But this is secret is completely different from that of Lupin's. Oh, people will discover your secret, dearie, but they won't mind. At first. Then more people will discover your secret, and they will not be so comforted by this. I would advise you not to tell anyone, dear, and do not let anyone touch your hair."
Lina almost slapped her. Remus and James both gave her sideways looks at that last comment as Trelawney drifted away from her table. Celina nervously flattened her hair over her ears.
After classes were over, she went to the Common Room to do homework. She anticipated the coming of her walk with James. She somehow felt uncomfortable, like she knew she wasn't supposed to be near him. It was like some outside fore was telling her that this wasn't right, and even if she started to go out with him, it wouldn't last. She thought back to what the divination teacher had said. "Do not let anyone touch your hair." What if James tried to kiss her again, and pulled her hair back behind her ears? What if he saw the pointy ear, told everyone, and she was mocked and never got her chance with either Remus or James?
Yet another question plagued her. What if Remus caught them? Would James' actions destroy their friendship? Would he stop liking her because he thought she was a player? Or would it change nothing? Her heart pounded in her chest the later the hours grew.
It was around nine when James, Sirius, Lily, and Peter came back into the Common Room. Remus wasn't among them.
"Where's Remus?" she asked, concerned. She saw James' face fall a bit at this last comment.
"He doesn't feel too well," Sirius said quickly.
"Is he alright? What's wrong?" she questioned. She heard more worry in her voice than she wanted.
"He's just sick, alright? Haven't you ever been sick before?" James snapped. Lily shot him a disapproving look. Lina drew back cautiously.
"Yeah. Of course. Sorry I asked," she said to a disgruntled James. She never took his eyes off him. He seemed annoyed by this. She stopped pressing the matter and buried her nose in her homework.
"We're headed off to bed. Shall I wait for you?" Lily asked.
"No, that's alright. I've got a lot of work to do," Lina replied, not lifting her gaze.
"Alright. See you tomorrow, then," Sirius said, yawning. He gave Lily a quick kiss on the lips and then headed to the dormitory, followed by James. Lily stayed a little while.
"Don't be too worried about Remus. He's fine," was all she said before heading upstairs.
"I'm not too worried about him," she whispered. "Am I?"
Suddenly, she noticed and extra piece of paper on the table which she was working. She picked it up and unfolded it.
I'll see you tonight.
James
Lina sighed and returned to her homework. She found it hard to concentrate.
Celina had headed up to bed around eleven, having finished all of her work. She didn't actually go to bed, though. She dressed herself for her walk. She picked out a white cami with a blue sheer top that went over it with puffy sleeves, a pair of flair jeans, and a pair of strappy blue high-heeled sandals. She left her hair down, but made it slightly curly. (She hated how she could never do any up-dos. She wished she could just make the pointy ears disappear.) Then, she put on some black mascara, light blue eye shadow, and a hint of blush. She put on some vanilla-smelling lip gloss, preparing for a tasty kiss. She laughed at her girlish obsession.
She thought back to what Lily had said, about Sirius.
"Yeah, I'm dating Sirius," she had said. "But it doesn't feel quite right."
"Why?" Lina had asked.
"Well, because. Have you ever had that feeling that you think you love someone, but you aren't sure if you love someone else?"
Lina knew the feeling. It was gnawing at her right now.
"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean," she had said.
"That ought to explain enough," Lily had said. "G'night."
That conversation had weirded her out a bit. Why was she going out with Sirius if she loved someone else? And who was the someone else?
Finally, the clock in the dormitory struck twelve. As if on cue, the door opened, and she knew James was there, under the invisibility cloak.
That second, he ripped it off and stood to full height. He was wearing khakis, with a bluish sweater with a gray stripe across. His hair was untidy and sticking up all over the place, but his green eyes behind his glasses sparkled mischievously.
"Ready?" he asked. He looked her up and down. "You look great," he said.
"Thanks. I try."
He held out his hand to her. She took it, and he threw the cloak over the both of them. He cautiously opened the door and they snuck out of the dormitory and into the main part of the castle.
It wasn't long before she noticed a piece of parchment in his hand. It was blank.
"What's that?" Lina whispered.
"You shall see," James replied. He tapped the piece of paper and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Instantly, a map appeared on the paper. Small dots with names next to them indicated the position of each person in the school.
"It's called the Marauder's Map." James grinned widely in Lina's amazement. He pointed with his wand to a dot labeled James Potter.
"That's me," he said. "And there's you."
He indicated to the dot next to him. Lina's eyes widened in alarm. The dot was labeled Celina Dumbledore.
"It's amazing," she said, trying to distract him from the map. "Come on, let's keep going. Where did you get it?"
"I made it, along with Remus, Sirius, and Peter. We are, together, known as the Marauders. It shows every room in the castle, and every way out. Even the ones no one knows about," James explained. He pointed to a small statue that they were approaching on the map.
"This one leads to Hogsmeade, through Honeyduke's Sweetshop. Hogsmeade is an all-wizard village. We're allowed to visit it every so often, but it's the perfect place for a midnight walk."
It wasn't long before they reached a statue of a one-eyed witch. James took out his wand, tapped it, and whispered, "Dissendium!" The hump on the back of the witch opened, revealing a portal for them to crawl through.
"Ladies first," James said, gesturing towards the hump. Lina uneasily slid herself into the passageway.
"James, are you sure this is safe?" she asked quietly.
"Of course. I've done it multiple times before with other girls."
Lina's eyes widened. "Other girls?"
James stopped smiling, realizing he'd said the wrong thing. "Go ahead," he said briefly.
Lina slid down the hole and entered a passageway. It wound around in the dark and seemed to go on forever. She pulled out her wand and whispered, "Lumos." A small light appeared at the end of the wand. She began crawling into the dark space, not knowing where she was going.
"Jesus Christ, James, are we there yet?" she asked about an hour later.
"Almost. Lift up your head, but gently. Don't bump it," he ordered. Lina lifted her head, and felt a trap door above her. She pushed on it and entered the basement of Honeyduke's.
She and James went up the trapdoor and headed up the stairs to the main floor of the shop. She had been in here before – her Dad had taken her once on her birthday, when she had turned four thousand, three-hundred years old. But she had to act surprised. James couldn't know that.
The rows were filled with sweets – gums, lollipops, tarts, chocolate, everything she could ever imagine. It made her mouth water.
"You want something?" James asked.
"Yeah, but there's nothing we can do. The shop's closed," she said. James smiled roguishly.
"Oh, James, you're not going to steal it, are you?"
"Of course not. I'll just leave money on the counter. I've done it before. Don't worry," he said sneakily.
"What, for the other girls?" Lina asked edgily. James' face went red. They walked out without buying anything.
He took her to a clearing, where there was a small fountain shooting water from the mouth of Cupid and a stone bench just the size to fit two of them. He gestured for her to sit.
"Am I romantic enough for you?" he asked quietly. His face was right next to hers.
"It's not about how romantic you are, James," Lina said. "You could be the most romantic guy in the world, but if you're a jerk who would take a girl over one of his best friends, then I can't go out with you."
James looked at the ground. "It's not that I would take a girl over one of my best friends. I mean, Remus is one of the greatest guys I've ever met. It's just that . . . you're, like, my perfect girl. You're beautiful and mysterious and sweet and everything I need in someone. And yes, though there were other girls, none of them were like you. I mean, I liked them, but they were just . . . different."
Lina smiled. No one had ever spoken to her like that before. But at the same time, it didn't feel right.
"Come on, let's go for a walk," she said. She stood and took his hand. And he showed her around Hogsmeade.
"That's Zonko's Joke Shop. You can imagine that that's Sirius' and my favorite store –"
"There's the Quidditch Store – I go there all the time, especially to look at the brooms –"
"Oh, and the Three Broomsticks has the best Butterbeer you've ever tasted – actually, it's the only Butterbeer you've ever tasted, but oh well –"
She and James had a pleasurable walk around Hogsmeade. They talked about their lives before they came here. Naturally, Lina had a lot more to talk about that James, but she tried to hide it and get to know him better. He seemed like a great guy, but with one flaw – he was a bit self-centered. He talked about himself a lot, and seemed to be obsessed with Quidditch. It kind of bugged her, but at the same time, she had to listen. She had to know whether she liked him or not.
By the end of the night, she had had a great time, but hadn't said much. He took her back to the clearing around four-thirty in the morning, when the sun was just peaking over the horizon.
"Well, this was great. I really had a good time," Lina said.
James smiled sheepishly and asked, "Can I kiss you goodnight?"
Celina bit her lower lip. "Sure," Lina answered, leaning in loser to him. Her heart pounded in her chest. She brushed her lips against his in a gentle kiss. And it was good.
Until she heard, "James? Lina? Oh, my head."
Celina pulled away from an awestruck James and snapped her head around. Staring back at them, with James' arms around her waist, was Remus.
