Chapter 23: The Start to A Night of Surprises

It was early morning and Harry was looking at his photo album. The picture he was looking at was of everyone at a Halloween Dance. They were all smiling and waving. The picture was one of the few that were in black and white. Other pictures on the page were of James and Lily dancing, Remus and Sarah dancing and Faith and Sirius laughing as they danced. Next to the page was a piece of parchment that had Faith's loopy, slightly cursive handwriting telling the story of how she and Sirius had gotten Lily and James together.

"Harry?" Ron asked sleepily and looking over from the bed across from Harry.

"Whatcha lookin at?" He asked yawning/

"A book." Harry replied.

"It's not that Oppression of House Elves book is it?" Ron asked and Harry shook his head.

"Good. Hermione keeps bugging me to read my copy of it. Shes nuts she is." Ron said getting out of bed and walking over to see what Harry was reading.

"Whoa, where'd you get this?" Ron asked when he saw the smiling picture of James and Lily staring back at him.

"I got it for Christmas." Harry said.

"Wow….that's a great gift." Ron said as Harry turned it back to a random page.

"Oh Look! Theres a picture of ol' Snape." Ron said pointing. Harry looked at the picture and sure enough it was a picture of Faith and Snape sitting at a table in the library. They were pouring over several books.

"Yeah, she use to tutor him." Harry said turning the page again.

"Wow harry…your mum was really pretty." Ron said looking at a picture of Lily from Valentines Day. There was a little piece of parchment underneath the picture that said

'Female Winner for the most Valentines.'

Lily sat in front of a table beaming at the camera. In front of her she had piles and piles of letters. The next page had a picture of James, Sarah, Sirius, and Faith all decked out in their Quidditch uniforms. Other team pictures on the page had just Sarah and James. There were 4 pictures of each person whizzing around on their broom and doing little tricks. Sarah was hanging upside down from hers and letting it go in upside down circles. Sirius stood on his broom and made quick upside down circles. Faith also stood on her broom but she would let it go vertical so that she fell off the back. The broom would begin to fall and so would grab back on and whiz into the sky before she hit the bround. James was being quite the show off and was doing everything from hand stands to jumping up and down on his broom. Another picture had Sarah whizzing around the large golden posts, blocking quaffle after quaffle. Another had Faith and Sirius tossing a quaffle back and forth. At first they started out slow but then the quaffle was going so fast they were barely touching it. The last picture was of James and he was chasing after the snitch, zooming around, hand outstretched until he finally caught it.

"Harry! Ron!" A voice called up the stairs.

"Come on lazy bones. Breakfast." Ginny said bursting into the room and then running back out.

"Yeah! Thanks for knocking! I could have been naked!" Ron hollered after her. Harry just laughed and followed his friend downstairs.

"Any Flavor?" Fred asked.

"Any Flavor." Faith said confidently.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked as he and Harry took a seat at the table. Fred and George sat on one side and Faith sat on the other. In between them were several cases of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

"Where'd you get all these?" Ron asked.

"From Bertie Bott of course. We're in business with him now." George said matter of factly.

"Yup. We came up with 5 new flavors for him." Fred said.

"And what are those?" Harry asked taking a handful of beans.

"Toilet Water, Dust, Fire, Car Oil, and Mint." George said smiling.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Faith asked as Harry returned the handful of beans.

"Nope." Fred said with a large smile.

"Faith here says she can eat any flavor." George said rolling his eyes.

"I can." Faith said crossing her arms across her chest and smiling.

"Here. Eat this one." Harry said handing Faith a light brown one that everyone recognized as dirt. Faith popped it into her mouth and chewed.

"What….did…I just eat?" Faith asked slowly.

"Dirt." They all said at once.

"Fantastic." She said flatly.

"Here." Fred said handing her one.

"Mmm…yummy." Faith said sarcastically as she bit down into it.

"Earwax." They answered before she could ask.

"Here." George said handing her one that Harry had only seen once. Vomit.

"Hmmm. From Harry and Ron's expressions I'm betting that this is a nasty one." Faith said. George nodded/

"Ugh!" She said making a face after swallowing.

"Uggh is right. How can you do it?" Hermione asked when she realized what they were doing.

"It's all psychological. I just try not to think about it." Faith said shifting around through the boxes.

"Ok. Enough. Eat." Mrs. Weasley said placing steaming plates of food in front of them. (Yeah the whole part with the ever flavor beans was totally pointless but was fun to write.)

"I'm so excited for tonight." Ginny said with a broad smile.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Its New Years Eve of course. And there's the Masquerad-" Ginny started.

"What? You can't even go to that thing. Its an adult thing." Ron grumbled.

"Well maybe I could sneak in. I'd be wearing a mask so no one would notice." Ginny snapped. Ron just rolled his eyes.

"What are we going to do all night?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Well, I'm that if we want we can all stay up late and eat like horses. Me, I'll be finished The Injustice of House Elves Throughout the Ages." Harry rolled his eyes and said sarcastically

"Gee sounds fun."

"Oh it is. House elves have been treated unfairly for centuries-" Hermione started but Harry just tuned her out. After a few minutes they heard talking in the hall.

"Several of the giants have joined Voldemort." One voice said. The room fell quite and Harry, Hermione and Ron moved closer to the door to hear better.

"Damn that Riddle! I swear he was just as hard to deal with in school and now he's just a pain in my ass." Another voice said.

"That's Faith." Hermione whispered.

"I wish we could have just killed him then." The first voice said.

"Sarah." Harry whispered.

"I swear He's building the superior army. Giants, Dementors, next thing you know he'll have the boogeyman himself." Faith grumbled.

"I wish we could find a way to throw a wrench in his plans." Sarah said.

"Or in his face." Faith muttered and Sarah chuckled.

"There has got to be a way. We just have to figure out where he wants to get to next and find a way to stop him. If we can slow him down enough then maybe we can get the upper hand in this war." Sarah said as the two continued down the hall and out of earshot of Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

"Well, Tonks you clean up nicely." Faith said as she and Sarah walked down the hall. Tonks gave a slight blush. Being able to change your looks at will certainly had its advantages. Tonks had changer her hair to an ash black. Her hair was also much longer and in loose waves, mostly piled on top of her head. Her eyes were now an aqua color that almost rivaled Sarah's. Her skin was a smooth olive color except for the red blush in her cheeks.

"Well….umm….thanks….Hostess role….show up early to greet guests." Se said with a smile and then went into her room.

"Guess that means I have to be getting ready." Faith said sighing.

"The thing with Voldemort…that wasn't what I came here to tell you. Sarah said as they neared Faith's room.

"Ok. What is it?" Faith asked letting Sarah into her room. Before Faith could shut the door a voice called out to her. Faith popped her head out the door.

"Where in the hell is Calvin Hebar?" Serverus asked her.

"He is….Oh! He was sent to this mountain place, I forget where. To see if he could stop some of the giants from joining Voldemort. " She said nodding. Serverus sighed and muttered something under his breath.

"Well..I'll see you tonight." He said walking off.

"If you come, you'll see me." Faith said then closed the door.

"Just friends huh?" Sarah asked chewing her tongue and giving Faith a skeptical look.

"Yes. Just Friends." She said.

"You may be just friends but he…not so much. I can tell. Just simply by the way he talks and looks at you." Sarah said, her accent coming out thick as she examined Faith's dress.

"Its weird how you can do that. Tell a persons show size just by the way they drink their tea. The whole personality thing. It has to be an American trait." Faith said her hands on her hips.

"Well I was blessed by a Seer once." She replied.

"Hence why you are teaching Divination." Faith said with a wink.

"All I'm saying is be careful around him. I mean it is Serverus so I can't expect much but he has a record…" Sarah said.

"You're stalling." Faith said with a smile.

"You can't tell anyone promise?" Sarah said blushing.

"Promise." Faith said grabbing a large glass of water. Sarah told Faith and suddenly the glass Faith was holding came down with a large CRASH! Spilling water and glass everywhere.

"Don't tell anyone. I have to get home. I'll see you at the party." Sarah said getting up and apparating. Faith stood there stunned for a minute and then decided to get dresses. She quickly got dressed and tossed her hair up onto her head. A few stubborn pieces fell back into her face. She just rolled her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror. Faith had found a midnight blue dress with white accents. The dress cut down low in a square shape and had cap sleeves.

Faith ventured downstairs and saw that the party had already started. Tonks had done a fantastic job. She had manage to velar out an old ballroom that Faith didn't even know existed. There were people all over dancing with brightly colored masks and outfits. Faith felt like she had just stepped into the middle of one of those cheesy muggle romance novels.

Faith surveyed the room and her eyes quickly caught Sarah. Sarah was dressed in a beautiful dress that a soft baby blue color. It wrapped around her torsto tightly and then fanned out behind her. A foot or so trailed behind. Sarah's mask covered just her eyes. It had a series of sparkling stars on it that Faith would later swear were real. Remus didn't look bad either. He had donned on a dark blue renaissance get up. The sleeves had white frills and his mask was one that went over his entire face. He looked like the perfect gentlemen, which he was.

Faith's gaze fell on a man with the back talking with a woman dressed in a pale yellow dress. The man wore an outfit of black that the minus the frills of Remus's. He stood tall and Faith wondered who he was. When he turned around she got her answer, even with his mask on she could tell it was Serverus Snape.

Suddenly Faith recognized two people in the way back of the room. A sly smile crept onto her face. Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley. What in the world where those two doing here? Faith wondered. Faith moved to cross the room. On her way she passed a man standing menacingly against the wall. He was dressed in a dark gray suit. A gold chain watch was at his waist and several of the girls were staring at him. He wore a mask that covered his entire face so Faith could not recognize him. He captured her curiosity as someone pulled her into a wild dance.

"I knew you could still dance." Dumbeldore said as he whirled Faith around the dance floor.

"Nothing gets past you." She said with a smile.

"Not even Potter or Weasley standing there." Dumbeldore said with a wink. Before Faith could respond she was switching partners.

"Told you I would show up." Faith said staring up at her partner.

"I never doubted you." Serverus said with a smile.

"Do you recognize him?" Faith asked motioning to the mustery man. Serverus looked over at him and the man sort of went rigid and joined the dance.

"No…never…" He said with a puzzeled voice. Faith only nodded and began to think.

"Ah, but don't worry about him." Serverus said with a smile as they switched partners again. Faith caught herself dancing with several strangers when she finally came to the mystery man, she had started referring to him as PocketWatch.

"That's a beautiful watch. Where'd you get it?" She asked. The man simply tapped a finger to his nose and Faith could tell he was smiling.

"I don't recognize you. Have we met before?" She asked. Suddenly they changed partners but Faith had just enough time to see the man give a subtle nod she wasn't even sure if she had seen. She found something oddly annoying yet friendly about PocketWatch.

"Something is slightly off about him." Faith said.

"Sarah thinks so too." Serverus said. Suddenly the music slowed down.

"Do you think they could be a Death Eater?" Faith asked.

"Possible." Serverus managed to whisper as he breathed in Faith's perfume. He could feel his insides churn.

"But they would have just killed us all off don't you think?" Faith asked, continuing to watch the man, and totally oblivious to the closeness of Serverus.

"No. e would just be here to see who is in the Order and who isn't." Serverus said.

"Well I wll find out before the night is over." Faith said. She then went silent as she thought of PocketWatch.

(A/N: Chapter 24 will be mostly about Sarah and Remus with a bit of Faith.)

(A/N: Who is your favorite female character?)