Six
"Wow, that took a while," Remus said as Celina closed the door behind her.
"Sorry – we had a lot to catch up on," she responded truthfully. But John's words still rang in her mind.
Remus must have sensed her unease, because he asked, "Is something wrong?"
"No, of course not," she replied. "Let's get to lunch, I'm starving."
Remus smiled his amazing, thousand-watt smile and took her hand. He led her down to the Great Hall. He was unusually quiet – usually, whenever he walked with her, they were both chatting a mile a minute. But Remus was now absolutely silent.
"Remus, is something wrong? You haven't said a word to me since we left the classroom," she said warily, sitting down at the Gryffindor Table.
"Nothing, nothing at all. Nothing that should worry you," he said.
Lina smiled weakly and replied, "Anything you have a problem with is my concern as well. You can rely on me, Remus; just tell me what's wrong."
"Don't worry about it, Lina; I'm sure that if we stay together for more than a month, which I can guarantee, then you will figure it out. I promise you that much," he said shortly, dropping the subject.
Lina was still worried, but realized that it was irritating Remus that she was talking about it, so she stopped and dug in to her lunch.
The conversation was rich. It was great, having Lily and James back together – she knew somehow that they would be going much farther than just school-year romance.
After lunch, the group went up to the Gryffindor Common Room, to do homework. Lina sat diligently, doing the assignment John had given her. The others, however, seemed to be sucking on the ends of their quills quite often – too often.
"Let me see that," Lina said rudely, grabbing the quill from between Sirius' teeth. She examined it closely, but found nothing wrong with it. But then, accidentally, she brought it to her nose, and realized that it did not smell like a normal quill. Cautiously, she reached out and touched the end with her tongue. Instantly, a sweet taste erupted on her taste buds.
"Ah-ha!" she cried. "Sugar quills. Oh, Sirius, you didn't think you could get past me, did you?"
Sirius grinned sheepishly and said, "I hoped I'd be able to."
Lina conjured a bag, labeled with Sirius' name, and threw the quill in.
"You can get it back when your work is done. They're distracting, I know – I once almost failed a test because I was sucking on one the whole time."
Lina watched as Remus slowly removed one of the quills from his mouth as well, trying to hide the fact that he had one. But Lina was too fast. She conjured up a bag for him as well, and stuck it in.
"But, Leen, I'm on a sugar-low. I need sugar!" he exclaimed.
"Well, that she can give to you," James hinted. Lina didn't need an excuse. She leaned over and planted a serious kiss on his lips. James and Sirius whooped, Lily aw-ed, and Peter laughed uneasily.
Lina wrapped her arms around him and they fell on the floor, rolling around like children at play. They unlocked lips, and Remus was completely in awe, as though Lina had some sort of magic touch. Maybe she did.
The rest of the day went on, and was actually quite boring, compared to the rest of the day – finally seeing John again, realizing that Remus had a secret but was unable to figure it out, that searing kiss. In her eyes, it had been a good day.
That's how it went for a while. Slowly, September faded into October, and with Halloween approaching, there was quite a lot of excitement amongst the students. For this year, something was going to happen that had never happened before in Hogwarts History.
"So, Leen, I'm assuming you have no date to the Costume Ball," Remus said one day.
"Of course not, Remus," she scoffed. Remus gave her a look, to which she replied, "Well, I don't have a date, but I've had a couple offers."
And she had. A hot fifth-year had asked her, but she had to turn him down – he was not as hot as Remus. And then there was an adorable little third-year who had asked, but she, politely, turned him down as well. Then, she noticed a girl who was about his age staring at him. She had gone over to the third year girl, and was talking to her, and eventually encouraged her to ask out the boy, whom she had been crushing on. She had been quite proud of that little match-making incident.
"Like who?" Remus exclaimed, bringing her back to reality.
"Oh, come on, Remus, it was a fifth-year and a third-year. There was no competition. Besides, if you think I'd go with another guy, you don't know me well enough."
He sighed and said, "Sorry, Leen, I was just worried, that's all. See, I've only ever had one girlfriend, and she cheated on me and went out with some other guy."
Lina grimaced. She remembered how Remus had said that he only liked a girl when he was really serious about her. And how no girl had ever loved boring, plain old Remus, with nothing special but something he couldn't tell anyone.
There it was again. What was that secret that Remus would give his life to keep?
"Well, anyways, I was wondering if you'd go with me," he said, breaking the awkward silence that was between them.
"Of course," Lina said, kissing his cheek.
As the Halloween Ball drew closer (to be held on Halloween night), Lina noticed a change in spirits between the Marauders. James and Sirius would often wander off late into the night, coming back with handfuls of dung bombs and stink pellets, ready to put into the Caretaker's office. There was talk of dares, of people being dared to go to the Shrieking Shack, the most Haunted Building in Britain. For some odd reason, Remus seemed incredibly uncomfortable with that idea, and the rest of the Marauders didn't seem too happy about it either, even though it was the kind of thing that was right up James and Sirius' alley.
Also, she noticed, that John often began looking at her differently than before. It was sort of intimidating, but at the same time, it scared her.
And of course, there was the ever-watching eye of Snape. He was always watching her. It was really creepy. She told Remus about it, who simply responded with, "Oh, come on, Leen, he creeps everyone out. He creeps me out. Don't pay any attention to him." But even so, it seemed different. He creeped Remus out in a much different way than he did with her.
Finally, the day of the ball came. Lina and Lily had been working on their costumes for weeks. Lily was going to go as Bride of Frankenstein – she had a tall wig, a long, white dress, and put little fake stakes on the sides of her head like Frankenstein. James was the original monster, and together, they were quite a site – they looked, quite frankly, scary.
Sirius was going as the Phantom of the Opera – and he had done quite a good job with his costume as well. Peter was going as Quidditch player, and everyone could guess why. Peter lived for James, and wanted more than anything to be like him. They had magically shrunk James' robes down to Peter's size, and gave him his old broom to borrow. For Peter, this was going to be the most exciting Halloween of his young life, which was a pretty sad statement.
As for Remus, he was going as Dracula. He looked wicked sexy – he had slicked his hair back and painted his face white. They had magically elongated his teeth, so that they were pointy, and he was wearing black pants, a white puffy shirt, and a black silk cloak, red on the inside. When Lina saw him, her eyes widened.
"Wow, Remus, you look . . . sexy," was all she could say. She noticed him looking her up and down multiple times. She struck a pose, threw her hands behind her head, ruffling her hair, and said, "What do you think?"
Remus' mouth hung open. He could say nothing. She could tell he was happy with her appearance.
She was wearing a long, straight black dress, with a pointed collar at the top. The fabric had a black spider-webbed pattern, and she wore a black leather pendant with a spider on it. Her stockings were black fishnets, with black pumps. Her long, dark hair was perfectly straight (covering her ears, of course), and her eyes were shining brighter than ever.
"I know, I'm to hot for words," Lina said jokingly.
"No, really, Celina, you are too hot for words."
Lina smiled and turned around, showing Remus the scar she had on her neck. Since he was going as Dracula, they decided for her to be Dracula's victim, he had given her a small hickey. Just a small one. Nonetheless, it was fun while it lasted.
"Thank you for the last little piece, Remus," she said as he wrapped one arm around her waist, escorting her to the Great Hall.
"Oh, it was no trouble, really," he said, a hint of a smile on his face. "I did quite a nice job, didn't I?"
"Quite a nice job."
They arrived in the Great Hall. Instantly, jaws dropped. The third-year watched her, his jaw hanging open. The girl she had set him up with grabbed his chin and turned his face so he was looking her in the eye. He smiled sheepishly. The fifth-year who had asked her followed her as she walked away and muttered, "Damn, I hate you, Remus." Remus threw him a sly smile as they made their way over to where the Marauders stood.
"Hey guys," Remus said. Sirius and James' eyes widened. Peter's mouth opened and closed repeatedly. Lily elbowed James, who cried, "Ow! I mean, um, you look . . . nice."
"Thanks, James; you don't look too bad yourself." That was a complete lie – James looked hideous, but that was the point.
The Great Hall was in a completely different form than usual. Thousands of pumpkins floated in mid-air, bats flew around the ceiling, and about fifty coffins stood, lined up along the walls, closed, and rattling every so often. Bandages hung out of the coffins, as though they contained a mummy.
In that moment, Dumbledore stepped up to the teacher's table. He searched the crowd of people with smiling eyes, but when he found Lina with Remus' arm around her waist, he frowned. Celina stepped away quickly from him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing, I just . . . Dumbledore was watching us, that's all."
"Well, why should that matter?"
Lina had to think quickly. "Well, I just felt uncomfortable with him staring at me like that, that's all."
"Welcome, students, to our first annual Hogwarts Halloween Costume Ball!" The students applauded politely. "I am quite excited to be holding this Ball for you. It is an exciting opportunity, and I hope it will become a tradition and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now, without further a due, let the festivities begin!"
Immediately, music came on, all the hits of the age. Not one person wasn't dancing, singing along, or chatting gaily with friends. It wasn't long before a slow song came on.
"Come on; let's go, before Dumbledore can stare at you again. Then again, how can he not stare at you? You really look great tonight."
Lina almost hurled. The thought of her own dad thinking she was sexy was disgusting. But Remus couldn't know that.
In that moment, she looked back on the last couple of months. She realized how many times she had said, But he couldn't know that.
They moved over to a dark corner of the Great Hall. Remus wrapped his arms around her waist, and instantaneously, she felt like she was lying underneath the sun on a hot June day. They swayed back and forth like branches in a storm, with her head resting on his shoulder. She took in his ashy boy smell – it made her knees buckle. She felt like nothing could tear them apart.
Near to the end of the song, Lina lifted her head and looked into Remus' eyes. He grinned wider than she had ever seen anyone grin. Slowly, very slowly, she leaned in and kissed his lips. He responded by doing the same, and wrapping his arms tighter around her waist.
Funny how a simple dance can make you feel so warm and happy inside.
After the dance, Remus escorted her back over to where Peter was.
Remus knew that James and Lily were probably gone still, but he didn't see Sirius anywhere. He looked around and asked, "Where's Sirius?"
"I dunno. He found some chick that was hitting on him and took her off to dance. I bet we won't see him all night," Peter said. Lina made note of how he was alone, not talking to anyone, admiring the uniform he wore.
After a moment or two, Lina saw the door to the Great Hall open. In walked Lily and James, Lily giggling madly. Sirius joined them a minute or so after that.
"Hey guys. How was your dance?" Sirius asked.
"It was . . . er, sweet. What about you?" Remus said, motioning to Lily and James.
"Oh, it was fine," James said sarcastically. Lily giggled again.
"Yeah . . . Alexa and I had a good time," Sirius said.
"You sure pick up girls fast, huh?" Lina asked.
"Hell yeah!" he cried. They all laughed. Then, Sirius had an idea.
"Seeing as it's Halloween and all, why don't we play a little game of truth or dare?" he said. The Marauders willingly agreed. Sirius continued, "Alright, I'll go first. Er, Remus, truth or dare?"
With a mischievous glint in his eye, he replied, "Dare." Lily and Lina "ooh-ed."
"Alright, then. I dare you to go up and flirt with Carolina."
There was a stunned silence among the group. James' jaw dropped, Lily bit her lip, Peter let out a small squeak, and Remus looked to the ground. Only Lina seemed to be confused.
"Sirius, I . . . I don't think that's quite fair," Peter piped up.
"Nonsense, guys, we all know that Carolina won't fall for it. And besides, Remus' got a better girl now. None of it matters anymore, right?"
Still, Remus looked a bit uncomfortable. But then he said "Fine," and turned and walked away.
When he was out of earshot, James said, "Sirius, mate, that's not exactly fair."
Lina leaned over to Lily and whispered, "Who is Carolina?"
"Carolina was Remus' ex-girlfriend, the one who cheated on him in his fifth year."
Lina's heart sunk. This was the same girl who broke Remus' heart for some other loser. Perhaps this time, she would do the opposite – go after him.
"Don't worry about it, Leen; he was heartbroken because of her. He hates her and would never get back together with her. Besides, he loves you too much. What reason would he have to go with some other freak who just wants to make out with him, and not love him for who he is?"
A few minutes later, Remus came back. He wore a look of shock, and at the same time, disgust. His lips were bright red. With lipstick.
Lina almost screamed.
"Leen, I swear on my life, it's not what you think!" Remus cried before she could say anything.
"Whoa. Jesus, man, how much did you flirt?" Sirius exclaimed.
"All I said was, 'Hey. Lookin' good tonight,' and then she just reaches out, grabs my cloak, pulls me in and kisses me. It was absolutely the most vile thing I have ever encountered," Remus said, wiping the lipstick off his lips, leaving big red streaks on the back of his hands. Then, he looked to Lina, who was still standing there with her mouth hanging open.
He grimaced and said, "You do believe me, don't you?"
"It's kind of hard to, Remus. I mean, you had her red lipstick all over your lips."
"I just told you – all I said was that she was looking good, and she kissed me! If you know me at all, you know that I would never cheat on you! You heard me talking to James that night. I never have those one-night loves. I would never cheat on you," Remus said firmly. He bit his lower lip.
But Lina wasn't so sure.
He took her hands gently and said, "Celina Artemis Peterson, I will bet anything in the world that I did not do anything more than I have said, and I did not want her to kiss me. I will tell my deepest, darkest secret to this entire school before I let her do it again. I despise Carolina – she hurt me, and I would never go back to her for that."
Lina looked at her hand in his. How could she be so sure that he was telling the truth?
But when she looked back up at him, she saw something in his eyes that pushed her off the fence. His eyes were pleading, begging for her forgiveness. She knew, in that one glance, that he was telling the truth.
Remus pulled her closer, one arm around her waist, and whispered into her ear, "I love you, Lina, and there's nothing in the world that will ever change that."
In response, Lina turned her head and kissed him softly.
When it was over, Remus ran his hand down her arm and said quietly, "I'm sorry."
"It's alright," she said, turning back to the rest of the Marauders, who were now looking at her as if in a trance.
"You guys alright?" Remus asked, laughing.
"Yeah, we're fine," Lily said.
"It's just that . . . Jesus, man, you have such a way with the ladies," James said.
"Yeah," Sirius added. "There is no way in hell I could get a girl to come back to me if something like that happened to me."
"You two must really love each other . . ." Lily sighed.
Remus threw Celina a look, and then said, "Yeah, I'd say so."
"Alright, James, it's your turn to dare someone."
The group had just made James go in the middle of the dance floor and do the Chicken Dance. It had been quite funny, but the only problem was that since James was so popular, he started a trend, and soon, everyone was doing the chicken dance.
"Okay, then." James scanned each person's eyes, looking for a sign of hesitation. He stopped at Lina.
"Ah, Celina Peterson. You look a bit nervous here . . . truth or dare?"
Celina sighed and said, "Dare."
James raised his eyebrows, and then motioned for Lily, Sirius and Peter to lean in. They whispered together for a moment, but then emerged with huge smiles on their faces.
"What do you think it is?" Remus whispered in her ear.
"I don't want to know . . ." she whispered back.
"After much discussion, we have decided upon your fate," Lily said. She looked at James, trying to contain a huge laugh.
"Your dare . . ." the four of them burst out laughing until James calmed them down again. "Your dare is to ask Snape for a slow dance."
Lina's mouth dropped open in horror. "There is no way –"
"You have to, Leen. It's the rules of the game," Lily said.
"Yeah. You don't want to be branded as a chicken, do you?" Peter piped up.
As if on cue, a slow song came on.
"Go!" Sirius said, pushing her away. She turned around. She gave Remus a pained look, and then continued to find Snape.
She found him, hanging out in a corner by himself. She almost wanted to puke. She slowly walked over to him, forced a smile and said, "Want to dance?"
Snape looked around, as if thinking she was talking to someone else. "Yeah, you," Lina said. He practically jumped forward. He wrapped his arms around her waist, smiling broadly. Lina cautiously put her arms around his neck.
It was the worst three and a half minutes of her life. His hair was so greasy that he could oil a car with it, and he smelled of the dungeons. He wasn't exactly a great dancer, either – he kept stepping on her feet and apologizing inaudibly. She had a feeling that after the forth time of him doing so, her big toe on her right foot was broken.
Finally, the dance was over. She was about to thank him when he pulled her closer to him and kissed her. It was even worse than the dance itself had been.
When they unlocked lips, he turned and ran, without even saying good-bye.
Lina wiped her mouth and limped back over to the Marauders. When she got there, they were all applauding her greatly.
"I would have to say that that is the bravest thing anyone has ever done," Lily cried.
"Bravo!" James exclaimed. Sirius whooped with laughter, and even Peter was chuckling. Remus was the only one who seemed displeased.
"Come on, Remus. You flirted with Carolina, I danced with Snape. We both know it was only a game," Lina said.
"I know. It's just . . . I know that Snape likes you. He kissed you, didn't he?" Remus asked uneasily.
Lina bit her lower lip and said, "Unfortunately, yes, and I can say to you, without a doubt, that if I was asked who the better kisser was, it would most definitely be you."
He smiled and leaned in to kiss her again, but Lina stopped him.
"You might not want to do that . . . try again after I wash my mouth out with soap."
The rest of the dance went on fairly normally – everyone else was dared to do something, but nothing equally as horrible as poor Lina, who had conjured up mouthwash and had used the full bottle. She began to notice, however, a group of Slytherin boys were all crowding near to the coffins, one at each. They were each holding their wands with a tight grip, and kept looking around anxiously at one another. Lina couldn't help but think that something was up.
"Remus, have you noticed those guys?" she asked him.
"What about them?"
"Well, they're just standing there. I know they're up to something, but I don't know what."
Remus smiled and said, "Oh, relax, Leen, it's fine. They probably just don't think themselves cool enough to dance or anything."
But Lina wasn't so sure.
Around eleven o'clock, the ball was just about over. The band that Dumbledore had conjured was getting tired. A voice boomed from the microphone.
"Well, this is the last song of the night. Everyone grab your sweetheart for one last slow dance."
Remus smiled and extended his hand. He bowed and asked, "May I have this dance?"
Lina laughed. This was partly why she loved him. He was a gentleman, but still had a sense of humor.
"Of course," she replied, taking his hand. He led her over to a dark corner, away from Dumbledore's watchful eyes. Again, he led her in the rhythmic movements of the song. Again, his kiss was warm, his lips full and soft, and his hands stroking her face gently, like a breeze tickling her cheeks. But unlike this time, they didn't get to finish the dance.
When Remus withdrew from her, she buried her face in his cloak. He may have looked like a monster, but he was still hot to her.
But all of a sudden, a coffin nearby rattled loudly. Lina raised her head, and Remus turned around, his arms still around her waist.
"What was that?" she asked.
"I have no idea. But it would be really great if it didn't disturb us again."
But Remus' request was not granted. For in that moment, a nearby voice whispered, "Alohomora!" All the coffins in the Great Hall flung open.
Instantaneously, a large wolf came bounding towards Lina from one of the coffins. She screamed and jumped back. Remus' eyes widened in horror. But then, he seemed to get a hold of himself, and tried to calm her down.
"Lina, think of something funny! Think of something funny! It's a boggart!" Remus shouted. But she was too frightened to move, let alone think of something funny. The wolf gnashed his teeth and leaped at her.
Remus jumped in front of it just in time. The wolf froze, and immediately changed into a large, glowing orb. Remus stood in front of the orb and shouted, "Riddikulus!" The orb changed into a balloon, which flew around in circles above the heads of the staff and the students and disappeared back into the coffin.
Lina put her hand on Remus' shoulder and peeked up over him. He was breathing heavily, like he had just had the wind completely knocked out of him.
"What did you say that was again?" she whispered.
"A boggart," Remus answered. "It's a shape-shifter, which takes the shape of whatever frightens the person the most. I'm assuming, in this case, that what frightens you the most is a wolf?"
"I guess so . . ." Lina murmured. She was thinking about what Remus' shape had been. What was so frightening about a crystal ball?
But in focusing so hard, she, once again, accidentally read Remus' thoughts. Wolves . . . wolves frighten her the most . . . monster . . . .
