Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Harry Potter. Please don't sue me, as all I have is a… er, no, scratch that. Coin purse is gone! (Gah!)
::AN:: Not much to say about this chappie except that it starts off where the last left off (obviously) and I hope you like it!
randomblinx: I've discussed most of it with you (lol) so I'll just say thanks for your review and NO!, I am not going to read it aloud to you again! I was stuttering like two daft stuttering things! (lol)
sweetiepiepirate: I'm glad you liked the chappie! Your favorite? Really? (lol) Change of heart? What on Earth are you talking about? (bats eyelashes) You'll find out the secret soon enough, and it was faeries (as in plural), you were right the first time, it's just that only Camden spoke – the rest just giggled… And they don't show up in this chap, it's still only Camden who speaks and shizdoodle, lol.
Tintalu: ::stands up:: Ahem, my name is Hunni and I am a cliffie addict… Kidding, kidding (ish), and yes, James and Remus will become more "important" again, you just wait and see!
madderthanyou: Your nic is very cool, and I'm glad you like the fic! I update kind of regularly… Usually no more than a week (and even that's a long time), but obviously, as you can see, I'm updating pretty soon right now! (yay)
ME: "sappy lovey dovey romancey… stuff" huh? There will be marauder hang-age soon enough, so do not fret! (Er… that didn't quite come out right…)
Jubily-Lollypops: Sorry! I know people you hate cliffies, I just couldn't help it! It was compulsive! The cliffie urge overtook me! I had no control! It was all, "End it now, you know you want to… Cliffie… Make it a cliffie…"
msj: Your welcome! I'm delighted that you don't like Helen (teehee) and Camden's rhyming was supposed to be annoying (although if it really bothered you that much, I'm sorry), thus the Faylinn scream-age. No, not all fairies rhyme, just Camden, because he's annoying. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) And yes, I'm also very happy that you don't like Gabrielle. (I like the way you worded that – "I can't stand her and she hasn't even said anything yet!" lol)
ominix: Welcome to the fic, and of course Helen will get what's coming to her, as do all horrible people in fics. (Now if that only happened in real life…)
Mrs. Drew Malfoy: You're welcome for both and er, wow. (lol) I'm glad you liked the diary entries and I have to say, if you thought the rhyming was kind of annoying (or confusing, whatever), then try and imagine WRITING it. I was about to scream, but I kind of like the way I wrote Camden (especially in this chappie, teehee!). Anyways, I hope you like the chappie, and yes, I'll email you! Don't worry! (If you want me to email you every time I update, just say so, I don't mind. But you might have to remind me, lol.)
Moviesavvy: Thanks for your review, but I just JUST got it before I went to upload the fic so... lol... Best chapter yet, huh? I liked it but sheesh, you're gonna make me get all blushy or something... lol I hope you like this chappie, and I promise you, in the next one, things will be "happy" so it's all good, and your other review didn't bother me or anything so don't worry! (lol)
ALSO! For those of you who don't know (and I don't know exactly how many of you that is, besides msj), IADOHYFB stands for 'It All Depends On How You Fly The Broom' and it is one of my other fanfics. 'The New Girl' is a prequel to it! (As is 'Sorcha') You don't have to have read those to get this fic, though, so don't have a nervy b or anything. (Deep breaths, deep breaths.)
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"Behind you Fay. It seems your humans have come to play."
Faylinn whirled around and squinted through the darkness. She didn't have to squint for long, however, when a bright white light shone in her eyes and she glanced to her left to see that Camden had transformed into a almost-human form. She had a quick recall of Remus's mother Mel saying how Faylinn's own mother, Keelty, had turned into what appeared to be a human, but looked more "elfish."
Camden shook his bangs out of his eyes. His hair was a dark blue and ended in waves just below his ears. He had high cheekbones and sharp, delicate features. The shadows in his face were a soft blue that made anyone who glanced at him out of the corner of their eye do a quick double-take before they realized that he wasn't all blue. He was tall and lean, with just enough muscle to keep him attractive without being overly gaunt or beefy. He stood straight and defiant, with an apparent air of arrogance that made Faylinn want to hit him, only she didn't. Once she looked down, she thought better of it.
"Gah!" Faylinn screamed and shut her eyes, not even caring that five humans could possibly have been watching her talking to Camden in the forest.
Camden was naked.
"For Merlin's freaking trouser's sake, Camden!" She screeched, turning away abruptly. "You know how to transform with clothes on you sick, sick freak!"
"You should be proud." He said in a much deeper voice than the one he had spoken in when he was about six feet shorter. "Humans do not have the glory of physical perfection."
"OHMIGOD!" Faylinn screeched loudly, keeping her eyes squinted shut. "I do not want to see you, or your glory, NAKED!"
"Suit yourself, pretty Fay." Camden's voice said silkily and Faylinn opened her eyes slowly.
"Are you dressed?" She called out, her eyes open, but her face turned away.
"No." He responded with a hint of amusement in his voice. "But I doubt it matters. Did you not hear me when I said your humans were present?"
Faylinn looked around, making sure she completely avoided the direction Camden was in. 'Sick, sick, sick.' She repeated in her mind. Pulling her wand out of her pocket, she whispered "Lumos" and gasped suddenly, almost dropping her wand when she saw what was a few feet ahead of her.
James and Sirius stood staring at Faylinn – or rather, Camden, while Remus and Peter were kneeling on the ground next to a bundle of clothes. Faylinn's brow furrowed. That was NOT a bundle of clothes.
"Bloody hell." She murmured, rushing forward and landing on her knees roughly. "Helen?!" Her eyes shot up and shifted between all four human boys. "What happened? What are you doing here? What is she doing here? Why is she – she – she –"
"Stunned?" Remus finished for her. He shook his head slowly. "We were looking at the Marauders' Map and we saw that Helen was following you into the forest." He dipped his head lower and whispered. "We figured you wouldn't want her to know about you… you know."
"Of course she wouldn't." Camden spat. "A silly little human? I'm shocked she told those three boys already." He shrugged. "A werewolf's not so bad, though."
Faylinn whipped her head around to glare at Camden. She regretted it immediately and covered her eyes with her hand. "Gah! Camden, just SHUT UP!"
"At least he's stopped rhyming." James whispered – loud enough for everyone to hear. "Man, that was annoying."
Faylinn stood up and took a few steps back from James and the others. "How long have you five – er, four - been standing there?"
"Long enough." Sirius grumbled.
"Pretty boy is upset, Fay." Camden chuckled. "Look at pretty boy. Sad boy, poor thing. Doesn't understand that Fay just can't be his." He rested his hand on Faylinn's lower back.
"WHOA!" Faylinn shouted, moving away from Camden, making sure she didn't look at him. "There will be absolutely NO touching while you are in the nude, Camden!"
"Fine." Camden muttered as a white light shone brightly around him once more. Once the light faded, he was wearing a loincloth.
"I'm going to go blind." Faylinn said dizzily before she focused her attention back on the others. "Okay, can someone tell me what you're all doing here?" She held up her hand when Remus opened his mouth to speak. "And if it's because you saw Helen following me, that doesn't mean you had to stun her and linger around for a bit." She paused. "Although stunning her was a very brilliant idea. How long do you think she'll stay like that?"
"Not long; Peter stunned her." James replied, followed by an indignant "Hey!" from Peter.
"Humans can leave now." Camden said dryly as he wrapped an arm around Faylinn.
"Shut up." Faylinn said, shrugging his arm off and turning to Remus. "Do you think you could carry her back to the castle? Or you James, could you? Please?"
"Sure." Remus agreed, picking Helen up off of the ground gently before turning around and walking away slowly. "Wormtail, come on." He called over his shoulder and Peter scampered after him.
Faylinn faced James and Sirius. "Er…" She blinked at them. "You two can leave also. I'd go with you, but I need to find someone."
"We'll go with you!" James offered quickly.
"Tough luck." Camden sneered. "We're flying. Right, Fay?" Faylinn had frowned and begun to shake her head slowly when Camden spoke again. "That's the only way I'm taking you to where Edith is."
"Fine." Faylinn said, crossing her arms over her chest. "But I'm staying this size, I don't care what you say."
"You're going to fly?!" Sirius exclaimed, stepping forward. "You mean with your wings?!"
"No, with her ears, pretty boy." Camden said sarcastically as he began turning away, disappearing behind a large tree.
Faylinn stood where she was for a moment, staring at James and Sirius before looking away and turning in the direction Camden had gone in. Sirius bounded towards her and grabbed her elbow. "No, Faylinn!" He hissed.
"What now?" Faylinn groaned, shaking her arm in a hopeless attempt to free it from his grasp.
Sirius blinked at her. "Your wings." He said slowly. "You can't… do that. I won't let you. You'd be in too much pain."
Faylinn's brow furrowed and she looked into his eyes for a moment. She looked away and wriggled out of his grasp. "I'll be fine." She whispered, then cleared her throat and spoke a little louder. "If I get hurt, I'll just stop by the hospital wing when I get back to the castle. Madam Pomfrey knows what I am, so it's all right."
"No, it's not all right." Sirius said, taking another step towards her.
Faylinn rolled her eyes and turned away. "I don't care what you two do," she said, "but don't follow me. I don't want you to watch." She disappeared in the direction Camden had walked off in, her footsteps fading away.
"What do we do now?" James asked, stepping forward to stand next to Sirius.
Sirius scratched his head and shrugged, but froze suddenly when a thought struck him. A grin spread slowly across his face. He quickly pulled his wand out of his pocket and flicked it with a swift wrist movement. "Accio broomstick!" He shouted.
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"Come on, Moony." Peter said as he walked towards the castle steps.
"I'm going as fast as I can." Remus grunted, when suddenly he stumbled and fell backwards, dropping Helen in front of him. "She's waking up!" He hissed at Peter as he sat up.
Sure enough, Helen was slowly coming back into consciousness, rolling onto her side and opening her eyes hesitantly. Peter and Remus exchanged worried glances before Peter mouthed the words, "What do we do?" All Remus could do was shrug.
"What are you all doing on the ground?" An amused voice asked behind them.
"Lily!" Peter exclaimed.
Remus stood up suddenly and turned to face Lily. "Helen." He said, pointing to Helen as she lay on the ground, not fully awake quite yet. "Faylinn." He said turning back to Lily and pointing in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. "Forest." He pointed back to Helen. "Stunned." He said.
Lily looked more confused than ever and she frowned. "What are you talking about?!" She hissed, acknowledging only that Helen had been stunned as she knelt beside the blonde girl and rolled her onto her back. She glanced at Remus over her shoulder. "Who did this? What happened?"
"I did." Peter said, in answer to her first question.
Remus knelt next to Lily on the ground. "We were looking at the – I mean, we, er, saw that Helen was following Faylinn into the forest, and we thought…" He smiled sheepishly at Lily. "At least Helen didn't see anything."
"See what?" Lily asked quickly. "What happened? Where's Faylinn?" She turned to Peter. "Was it just you two who saw Helen?"
"No, James and Sirius did, too." Peter answered, backing away a step as Lily glared at him.
"Where are they?" She hissed at Remus. "What happened? Tell me now."
Remus shook his head. "Not just yet." He whispered, nodding to Helen. "We have to get her inside first. If you can get her up the stairs to the Girls' Dormitory stairs, we'll explain everything to you in the common room or in our dorm." He looked around for a moment. "But not here. Not now."
Lily shrugged and stood up. "Fine then." She said curtly. "But hurry before she wakes up all the way."
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Faylinn leaned against the tree trunk and panted heavily. "Camden…" She breathed. "I can't… My back…" She slumped forward and closed her eyes, wincing. "Sirius was right… It hurts too much…"
Camden turned back and fluttered towards her, his large wings beating in a blurry frenzy as he knelt down next to her. "Are you bleeding, Fay?" He asked softly and when she didn't answer, he touched her back gently. "Okay, Fay, you're not bleeding. Would you like me to carry you, though?"
Faylinn nodded and leaned against his chest as he lifted her up and flew into the air. "Are we there yet?" She muttered into his shoulder and he let out a small laugh.
"Here we are. It wasn't far." He set her down gently in the dewy grass and helped her to stand up.
"For Merlin's sake, stop rhyming." She grumbled.
"Can you stand on your own?" He asked her. She nodded. "Alright, wait here. Edith is in one of the trees and I don't think you're strong enough to be shrunk."
"You're not so bad, Cammie." She giggled as he disappeared into the darkness and she was left alone. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She hadn't expected her wings to hurt that much. She presumed it was because she had had them retracted for too long, like Mel had said. Five months didn't seem that long, but Faylinn guessed it really was too long to go without her wings.
She heard a small noise behind her and she opened her eyes, turning around slowly and wincing at the pressure her wings had on her back. She squinted into the trees. "Hello?" She whispered and jumped back suddenly when two figures on a broom flew towards her.
"Wow!" James exclaimed as they jumped off the broom in front of her, his eyes wide. "You really do have wings!"
Sirius's eyes were wider – if possible – than James's as he stepped towards Faylinn, a clumsy grin spreading over his face. "You're beautiful." He breathed and James stifled his snickers as he watched his friend.
Faylinn backed away from him and winced. "I… told you… not to… follow…" She said, breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" Sirius asked, frowning.
"…I…" Faylinn began when she heard Camden walk up behind her.
"Are they bothering you, Fay?" He asked as he picked her up into his arms and turned around without waiting for the answer to his question. "Edith is right over here, but she's small. Can you see her?"
Faylinn glanced back at Sirius and James before looking around briefly. "Er, no." She said dumbly.
"Over here, Faylinn dear!" Came a tiny squeak from above her head.
"Oh, hi Edith!" Faylinn sighed when the little fairy floated above her nose. "Can I talk to you?"
"Of course dear." The fairy said, flicking purple bangs out of her eyes and floated towards Camden's face. "Set her down next to that tree right there, Camden."
Camden did as he was told and then walked a few yards away from Faylinn as she sat in the grass, leaning against the tree for support. He glared at James and Sirius. "Fay told you to go away." He hissed, then winced suddenly and glanced in Faylinn's direction. "…Er, didn't mean to rhyme just now. But she did tell you to leave."
"We had to see what was going on." James said.
Camden shrugged, his wings stilling in their fast movement. "I don't trust you humans."
"Why not?" Sirius grumbled. "Faylinn's half human, you know."
"That is her weakness." Camden replied coolly. He raised an eyebrow when both boys glared at him. "It's true. Being a half-breed has done nothing but hinder her abilities. Her wings are too fragile. They will probably fall off before she is two hundred years old." He paused. "If she lives that long. Humans tend to have short life-spans."
Sirius looked over at Faylinn who was whispering to the small fairy as it braided strands of her hair together playfully. He turned back to Camden, who stood watching him fixedly. "What?" He asked.
Camden smirked and shook his head. "Do you know who that is?" He waved his hand in Faylinn's direction. "That is Edith Reese. She is highly respected amongst many of our people, as she is one of our most powerful Aged Ones. Er, an Aged One means she's old, is all." He shrugged. "Not amongst all, but that doesn't matter." He smirked again. "She was a good friend of Keelty, Faylinn's mother. She took Faylinn into her home once Keelty's wings stopped flapping."
"You mean when she died?" James asked lowly.
"No, I mean when she burped." Camden said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Of course I mean when she died, you daft human!"
James opened his mouth to say something when Faylinn walked up to them. "I'm ready to go now." Faylinn said, waving to the small fairy as it flew away. She smiled at Camden. "Bye Cammie."
Camden stood up a little straighter. "I'll carry you." He offered.
Faylinn shook her head and pointed to her back, where her wings had been a few moments ago. "It's all right. Edith fixed me." She spun around in a circle for them to see that she no longer had her wings extracted.
"All right then." Camden shrugged and gave her a quick hug. "Come back and visit in the day, Fay. We can pick flowers and fly over the creek." He turned and flew off into the air, disappearing quickly out of sight.
James snickered. "Pick flowers…" He laughed, holding his stomach.
Sirius touched Faylinn's shoulder. "Are you alright?" He asked, looking genuinely concerned. "I'll walk back to the castle with you."
Faylinn shook her head. "I'm fine." She stepped towards James, letting Sirius's hand fall limply off of her shoulder. "You can fly the broom back, Sirius. I'll walk with James."
Sirius eyebrows furrowed and Faylinn looked away from him, grabbing James's hand. "Come on, James." She said, pulling him through the forest and leaving Sirius behind with the broom.
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"She what? You what? He what?" Lily was looking back and forth from Remus and Peter, wide-eyed.
"Faylinn talked to you about Padfoot, er, Sirius, right?" Peter asked.
Lily groaned loudly. "No, that's just it! She hasn't told me about anything!" She shrugged. "I mean, I know there's something going on, or there was. And she knows I know. She just won't talk about it."
"She didn't say anything about it to me, either." Remus said. "I only found out from Sirius tonight, too."
Lily frowned. "So, what happened with them? Or between them? Or whatever?" She shook her head then and held her hand up. "No, no, no. Don't tell me. I don't want to know unless Faylinn tells me on her own."
"I wonder what they're doing…" Peter mumbled as he gazed at the time-teller on the wall. "It's almost midnight…"
Lily stood and walked to the door. "I suppose I'll go wait in the dorm room." She said, nodding to them before exiting, shutting the door quietly behind her.
Peter frowned. "Tomorrow's what… the thirteenth?"
Remus nodded and managed a small grin. "You know what that makes the day after, right?"
"The fourteenth…" Peter said, staring at Remus like he was crazy.
"Yeah." Remus laughed. "Obviously. The fourteenth of February, Wormtail." He leaned back on his bed and pulled the covers up close to his neck.
Peter stayed sitting upright on his own bed a few feet away. "Is it a full moon, then?" He asked, scratching his head.
"No, Peter." Remus chuckled into his pillow. "It's not a full moon. Should be just as interesting, though."
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::AN:: There you have it, it's not really a cliffie, non? Then again, what ISN'T a cliffhanger when a fic isn't finished, huh? And I'm sorry about that last scene, as it makes Peter seem far too stupid and Remus slightly OOC (I think). Anyways, this isn't my best chappie (::tear::) - a lot of you really liked the last chppie, tho! - but oh well. At least I updated soon, huh? And I plan on updating the next chapter soon as well, okie dokie? (I just have to get it all sorted out and typed up and uploaded and labeled and then "fix" any errors and then… blah blah blah.)
Review! Please and thank you! (Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale)