Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that are familiar to you. They are owned by J.K Rowling, and this fan fiction is written solely for entertainment.

Snowowl201- Thanks for your great reviews! From the way it looks, we seem to have a lot in common! Haha!

Chapter 27: Problems Solved-Secrets Revealed

"Lily! Hey! Lily!" I called out. I was trying to run with my book bag and looked like a complete fool. Fortunately, Lily heard me the first time and stopped. I was panting when I caught up with her.

I had gotten out of library pretty soon after Lily had managed to get out. Sirius had checked his wrist watch about five minutes later and said he had to go. This was following five grueling minutes of scrutiny from Sirius about the fat second year.

"Lily, are you all right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Lily. I was in the library."

Lily closed her eyes and sighed.

"Sirius was with me."

The color faded from her face.

"Oh no, did he see?"

"No. But he did see a very large pimply Hufflepuff. You owe me big time."

Lily rubbed her forehead.

"Lily, you realize that if Sirius had seen, he would have told James or even had killed Snape himself. "

"I know…"

"You just can't hide this anymore, Lily."

"It was terrible this time…" she whispered. I could hear her voice quaver. I put a hand on her shoulder.

"James would know what to do about it if you told him. He'd do anything for you, Lily."

She looked up at me, her eyes wet and her lips curled affectionately.

"I know he would."

"Oh Merlin, I think I'm getting a wrinkle." Alice said, buttoning her robe the next morning. Lily and Kelsey had gone to breakfast early with their boyfriends and it was just me and Alice to ourselves.

I rolled my eyes, putting down the Quidditch book on my pillow.

"You're turning eighteen in three months. Why on earth would you have a wrinkle?"

She turned from the mirror.

"This is coming from the girl who still looks sixteen."

I frowned.

"I do?"

"Yeah. You and Kelsey both."

I got up and stood beside her in the mirror.

It was true.

I looked as I did the year before.

Alice, however, looked like she was turning twenty.

Then I remembered.

Kelsey and I won't age. I sighed. What a bummer. I was turning eighteen in June. Kelsey was turning eighteen in February. Then, I thought for a second. Maybe we didn't have to not age. Maybe Dumbledore could do something…yeah! Maybe he could! Maybe Kelsey and I could ask him. I nodded to my reflection with satisfaction. Maybe it would make my boobs bigger.

At lunch that day, I got up the nerve to go up to the teacher's table. It wasn't like it was embarrassing or anything. It must be a Muggle-getting-sucked-into-Hogwarts thing, I guess.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

He looked up at me, his blue eyes twinkling as usual.

"Caroline! How good to see you! What can I do for you?"

His friendly greeting lifted my confidence a bit.

"I'm sorry. Would you mind if I talked to you in private for a second?"

"Not at all!"

Dumbledore excused himself from the table and beckoned me to the corner of the Great Hall.

"What would you like to tell me?" he asked quietly.

"It's about this whole…not aging thing that comes with us being able to be here."

Dumbledore chuckled.

"Ah. I see. So I'm guessing you're asking me if I am able to let you get older physically."

"Yes sir."

"Yes, I can do that for you, Caroline. But, I'm warning you. When you eventually go back to your own world in however much longer-which you know, I'm afraid you won't be able to go back to your regular selves. "

"I know that, sir. It's just that people are noticing." I said.

He nodded. "Well, come with me."

There was a door to our right and Dumbledore opened it and gestured for me to follow.

We were standing in the kitchen and a VERY large kitchen at that. The place was swarming with house-elves. I had never seen a house-elf before and looked around me in awe.

The minute Dumbledore and I walked in, it was pandemonium. They hurried this way and that, rushing up around us, offering us any sort of food or sweet they could find. Dumbledore merely smiled and said that we were just taking a short cut.

I felt sorry for their wasted effort and generously took some of the sweets they were so eagerly offering to me. The most adorable little house-elf batted her lashes at me bashfully.

"Mizzy thanks you." She said in a high, squeaky voice. I grinned.

"She's welcome." I said and hurried after Dumbledore.

"Mizzy hopes we meet again, kind Gryffindor!" she squeaked after me. I tried hard not to laugh. Dumbledore bid goodbye to the squealing house-elves and led me through a back door.

"Here," he said. "This is a back staircase to my office. No one knows about it."

He gave me a look giving me the assumption he didn't want me to tell anyone and I nodded. I smirked to myself. I bet James, Sirius, Remus and Peter didn't know about this one.

We entered his office but instead of going to his desk, he beckoned me towards a glass cabinet. He took out two glass bottles containing a substance that looked like Scope mouthwash.

"Here." He handed them to me. "You and Miss Jistel drink one of these each. You'll feel very light-headed for quite some time afterwards. I recommend drinking it just before you go to bed."

I nodded. I tucked them into my robe, nodded in goodbye and left his office through the main doors. I would give Kelsey here bottle later. Maybe she would talk to me a little more after this. She had been talking to me more often and I was very grateful of that. Maybe we wouldn't have to go to Hogsmeade together after all. Not that it was a bad thing, but for some reason, Sirius's offer was very intriguing.

Quidditch practice again started a week ago. It felt good to be back on a broomstick. It's one of the most liberating and exciting things I've ever done. I can see why James loves it so much. Besides, the view from up there is INCREDIBLE.

James has been pushing us incredibly hard since we've been a bit behind because of what happened our last game. We're against Slytherin our next game and apparently they're our toughest competition. They have incredibly aggressive beaters so James has been having Sirius and I train overtime.

We've both come in from practice far more exhausted than the other players. James could care less with the game coming so close. I don't whine or complain though. I know how important it is to him. Sirius told me he should have been named Captain our fifth year but the Quidditch captain then wouldn't give up the position. He graduated last year.

"Okay. We'll practice again tomorrow same time." James said after practice. I dismounted and began to walk across the field.

"Wait! Caroline!"

I groaned.

"James, do Sirius and I really have to practice more today? I still have an essay due."

James shook his head as he approached me; Sirius was not far behind.

"Sirius told me he saw you and Lily talking in the hallway yesterday."

"So?"

"Caroline, she looked like she was crying." Sirius said. There was nothing more I wanted to do than tell James everything. I wanted him to beat up Snape because frankly, after what he's been doing to Lily, he deserved it. Maybe not by the lake their fifth year, but now he did. The urge was so strong now that I was truly considering it.

Until I thought of Lily.

She was trying so desperately to keep her problem with Snape a secret that I didn't know what she would think of me if I told James. The last thing I wanted was another ruined friendship. And yes, I would not be surprised if James went into an all out rampage and I don't know what Lily would do if he got expelled.

"She wasn't crying." I finally said. James was getting impatient.

"Shite Caroline, I know something is going on and I'm worried sick about it. It's been bothering me for weeks and please, if you know something, just tell me. If she wasn't crying then what was wrong?"

I was doing some very fast thinking.

"She was telling me about the necklace you gave her and she just got a bit choked up." Change the subject, change the subject…

"That was really, really, really nice of you." I added.

James smiled and shrugged. Good, he bought it.

"Well, she deserved it. I've just been waiting for the right time to give it to her."

"Yes. Yes, she does. It's quite a necklace."

"Thank you."

Awkward silence.

"I have to go give something to Kelsey, so I'll see you later, I guess." I said, remembering the ageing potion.

"Are you talking to her?" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes lighting.

I sighed slightly.

"I'm talking to her more. I took your advice. I apologized to her. And she apologized to me so…we'll see where we turn up. But we aren't fighting anymore."

"Thank Merlin."

I shrugged and smiled before quickly leaving, not wanting to lead to another question on the hot seat. Besides, I had to give Kelsey her aging potion as well.

It wasn't until after dinner that I was able to get to Kelsey alone. I pulled her into a small corridor off of the main hallways and she came without a complaint or fuss (thankfully).

"I know you're going to thank me for this." I whispered to her. Kelsey looked excited.

"What is it?"

Looking around me cautiously, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the two vials of the aqua liquid. Kelsey eyed it suspiciously.

"What is it exactly?"

"It's an aging potion that Dumbledore gave me. It'll let us get older."

Kelsey had first looked extremely hesitant.

"Aging as in…Fred and George in Goblet of Fire aging?"

I had to laugh at this.

"No, no. Age as in we'll look 18 when we turn 18; look 20 when we turn 20."

Kelsey smiled broadly.

"Let's drink it now!" she exclaimed, seizing her vial.

"Well, Dumbledore said it'll make you feel very light-headed and we should drink it before we go to sleep." I said. Kelsey scoffed.

"Rubbish. What's a little light-headedness?" she said, swatting her hand at me. "Come on. It's nothing to be bloody frightened of." She said, unscrewing the round top.

"If you insist." I said, following suit. She held hers up to mine.

"Ready?"

I nodded

"Cheers." We clinked our bottles together and chugged.

Unfortunately, it did not taste like Scope mouthwash. Kelsey's face crunched together in a grimace. It was cool and slippery and a combination of asparagus and liquor.

It slid down my throat with an oozy thickness that I was definitely not fond of. Kelsey wheezed, holding out her empty vial in front of her as if holding a dead skunk.

"Oh my." She croaked. "That's sickening."

I coughed unattractively.

Then the light-headedness came.

"Is it just me or is it incredibly hazy in here?"

"Merlin, I'm dizzy…"

Kelsey began to tumble and grabbed my sleeve before we both rolled into the hallway and into a heap on the stone. She looked at me with a shocked, drowsy look and then suddenly we both burst into laughter.

When Dumbledore said light-headedness, he failed to mention downright tipsy.

Kelsey and I were sitting there trying to say something, but it turned into brawls of laughter or wheezing. Kelsey was in tears.

"Woo…I don't know what was in that thing, but it definitely wasn't pumpkin juice…" Kelsey giggled, slapping my arm. I burst into laughter and slapped her arm back.

"God, I'm sorry for everything I've ever said to you. I never realized how big of a bitch I am!" I said, laughing.

Kelsey scoffed, laughing hysterically as well.

"No, really. I'm sorry! Broomsticks are cool…" She slumped over a bit and I reached over and pulled her upright.

"Are we all patched up again?" I asked, the question sliding over my tongue in almost one word.

"Oh yeah. Nothing between us anymore!" Kelsey croaked.

"What's all this?"

We both looked up to see Sirius, looking down at us as if we were both mad. We looked up at him, then at each other and once again, burst into laughter. James, Remus and Peter appeared beside him.

Remus looked somewhat relieved at out behavior. James, Sirius and Peter, on the other hand, looked scared.

"So is this…what ever this is…is this implying that you two are friends again?" Remus asked.

"Friends? Again?" I swung my head towards Kelsey and sloppily pointed my finger at her, but it sort of flopped downwards.

"Were we ever not?" I slurred.

"Yeah," Kelsey replied, still wheezing with laughter.

"Oh." I said, my vocal cords rising high for a moment. "Then, yeah. I guess so!" I managed to add before Kelsey and I both burst into giggles again.

Sirius was convinced we were both drunk.

The four of them we talking amongst themselves while Kelsey and I tried to regain our composure as much as we could. Shaking with silent laughter all the while. I leaned against the wall and turned towards the courtyard and froze.

Lily was paler than she ever had been and was trying to walk away but this time, Snape had her by the arm. Something, as far as I was concerned, he had never dared before.

Without taking my eyes off them, I reached my arm over and nudged Kelsey with my hand. I pointed toward Lily and Snape and I knew Kelsey had seen because the wheezing…and breathing had stopped all together.

I slowly turned my head towards her and her expression of anger, frustration and fear matched mine. I trailed my eyes up towards James and back to Kelsey.

Kelsey gave me a look of warning. She shook her head, frantically looking from me to Lily and Snape and subtly towards James. I returned her with a sad, determined look and nodded, contrary to her warning.

Kelsey looked away as I upturned my face towards James.

"James."

He turned from his conversation with his friends and looked down at me.

I looked up at him, but I couldn't find any words to explain it to him.

"What?" he asked after a few seconds. I looked down at the stone, and back at James before raising my hand and pointed towards the courtyard.

I watched James follow my finger and suddenly, his expression changed.

His eyebrows creased, his eyes widening ever so slightly. His jaw was clenched and his fists tightened, the veins elevating in his forearms.

I looked down at the stone once again. Kelsey had her hand up to her face.

"What is he doing?" Came James's voice. It was deep and eerily quiet.

I sighed shakily.

"He's…"

I looked up again.

James had vanished.

A/N: I'm so sorry for the terribly long delay! But I'm not so sorry about this cliffhanger. HA! My grades have been plummeting and that was a bit more important. Review please!