DISCLAIMER: I still don't own anyone that you recognize from JKR's books. Period.

Chapter 10 is here at last! In this chapter…

Remus falls ill, but what's Sara got to do with it? Dumbledore makes an announcement that will change everyone's Christmas holidays, as well as several relationships among students.

Ready for it? Here it is…

SIT VIS TECUM—Chapter 10

The next morning was a miserable one; the cold, drizzling rain beating against the castle windows only amplified the mood. Sara awoke at 6:20 the next morning, dressed quietly, made her bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her hair and teeth so that she could make her way out of the statue-guarded tunnel out of Ravenclaw tower in plenty of time to say goodbye to Arabella Figg (who, by the way, is the daughter of the Arabella Figg that we meet in JKR's books). Pulling her hair up into a ponytail out of her face, she slipped out of Ravenclaw tower and found her way, with no problem at all, into the entrance hall of the castle.

Glancing at the watch on her wrist, she saw that it was only 6:30 and there was no sign of activity in or near the atrium where she stood. She sat with uncertainty on a step of the great staircase, resting her head in her hands. Though she had only known Arabella for a couple of weeks, she understood the girl's pain much more than anyone else knew, having lost both of her own parents in the previous summer. She also understood the feeling of being pulled away from friends who had known you for five years, and of leaving a school that you had attended for a good part of your life.

After waiting for ten more minutes, Sara decided to just go up to Gryffindor tower and find them, seeing as how everyone would probably wait until the last minute to come downstairs and watch their friend leave. She made her way quietly and cautiously through the corridors until she came out in front of a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress. This, she knew, was the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, she had found out from Lily. The lady woke from her doze with a start, and realized quickly who it was standing in front of her.

"You again!" she jumped up, looking startled. "This isn't your House, why do you keep coming here?" Sara rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" she said dryly. "I don't even know the password."

"Damn right, you don't, and you shouldn't," said the Fat Lady with some contentment. Sara regained her composure, looking the portrait straight in the face.

"Do you think that you could go into the common room and tell Lily Thompson that I'm here?" she asked politely. The portrait lady eyed her, again with suspicion. She seemed to be considering this.

"Oh, fine, fine," she said, somewhat irritably. "I'll go and check, but mind you, it's early, she might not be awake yet." The lady disappeared through the side of her portrait, and the scene that she had previously occupied was left momentarily vacant. After a minute, she reentered the portrait gracefully, but in a huff. She patted her hair in a dignified manner and turned her eyes back on Sara.

"She's coming out now," the lady said. "She didn't seem at all surprised that you were here." She said this last bit in a manner which indicated to Sara that Lily should have been alarmed at this.

"Thank you very much, Ma'am," Sara said, trying to smile sweetly at her without laughing. At that moment, however, Lily rushed out of the portrait hole, thick dark-red hair swept back in a messy bun and wearing a blue dressing gown over her pajamas. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and the area around them looked pink and puffy, as if she had been crying (which, she reminded herself, she probably had). She smiled widely at
Sara, beckoning her into the portrait hole.

"Hi, Sara, thanks a lot for coming," she said. "She'll be glad that you came for this." If Sara was planning on looking for the others, she didn't have to go far. As it was so early in the morning, the common room was deserted except for a small crowd of very somber and depressed-looking people huddled together in chairs by the fire. As Lily made her way back over to them, they turned their heads in their direction.

It appeared that Sara and Arabella were the only ones who were actually dressed, everyone else sported slippers, dressing gowns and unkempt hair, not to mention bleary eyes. Though only Arabella, Rena and Lily appeared to have been crying, the guys, usually cheerful, were looking especially downtrodden and depressed. It reminded Sara a lot of the way that she and her friends had been on the morning of her departure to England.

"Morning, Arabella," Sara said quietly, looking into the girl's teary, empty-looking eyes. Then, without warning, Arabella threw her arms around Sara's neck and broke down, sobbing.

"She's been like this since yesterday," Rena said in a low voice to a very shocked Sara, who awkwardly hugged Arabella back. She suddenly pulled away, wiping her eyes with a tissue that was crumpled in her hand.

"I'm s-sorry," she sobbed. "I know that I d-don't know you that well, b-but I feel like, s-somehow, you un-un-understand." She continued to sob quietly, while everyone else, though still full of pity for their friend, turned to Sara in perplexion.

"Yes," she said quietly, "more than you know." Arabella nodded and fell into a hug with Remus, who stroked her hair as if he was comforting a little sister. Lily looked at Sara with mild pity before wiping her own eyes again and checking the large clock in the common room which loomed above them.

"It's 6:40, we've only got twenty minutes," she said with alarm. "We'd better go change." They all nodded at her, going up the stairs to their respective dormitories, leaving Sara alone for the first time in the Gryffindor common room. In a matter of minutes, they were all back in the room again, and James was levitating Arabella's trunk ahead of him as she took one last, tearful look around the common room. One by one, they stepped out of the portrait hole. As the Fat Lady's portrait swung shut behind them, the Fat Lady waved at Arabella.

"Have a pleasant journey, dear," she said kindly. Arabella gave her a tiny smile, silent tears running down her cheeks.

By the time they reached the entrance hall, she seemed so grief-stricken that she had stopped crying altogether, looking at them all with crestfallen eyes. As they all fell into a group hug, Sara began to feel awkward again, as if she was intruding upon a very private moment. She hung back for a moment, and the seven of them broke apart; even Remus was dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief. Someone pulled out a camera, wanting to capture a last moment together for them.

"I'll take it," Sara said, "So that you can all be in it." James looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Duh, O'Hanlon," he said, rolling his eyes teasingly. "We are in the magical world—nobody needs to actually hold the camera."

"Besides," Arabella said quietly, "I want you to be in the picture, too." She gave Sara a tiny smile.

"Okay," she said, stepping over to join them on the steps of the great, sweeping staircase. James hit a button on the camera, and Sara watched as it fluttered out of his hands and hovered fifteen feet in front of them. Everyone gave the biggest smile that they could manage while the camera emitted several clicking noises and flashes. When it had finished, it fell to the ground it ad hovered over.

"Thanks, guys," Arabella said, seeming to have momentarily forgotten about crying in light of wanting her last moments with her friends to be happy ones. At that moment, Dumbledore appeared in sweeping robes, his eyes slightly dimmer than they had been when she last saw him.

"Miss Figg," he said calmly, "Your carriage is waiting outside. I will accompany you to the Hogsmeade station to ensure that you catch the correct train back to London. You may take a few minutes to say good-bye to your friends before your departure." He silently leaned against the wall, adjusting his half-moon glasses on his long, crooked nose.

"Well," Arabella said, fighting tears again. "I guess I have to go."

"Hey, don't worry, it's not really good-bye."

"I know that we'll see you again."

"Yeah, we'll see you at Christmas and the summer holidays."

"And we'll all write to you, you know that."

"Yeah, I guess," Arabella said, looking slightly better about these words of comfort. "I'm sure that I'll have time to, I can't see what else I'll be doing." She gave them a small, sad smile before drawing her wand for what would probably be the last time in a long time, muttered wingardium leviosa, and her trunk flew into the air in front of her.

She gave everyone in turn a last hug; the marauders and company bombarded her with one last group hug before she gave them one last smile, turned, her long, black hair swinging behind her, and walked with her head held high down the walk to where the carriage was waiting at the gates to the school. Dumbledore followed behind her. Just like that, she had gone, and the great oak doors shut behind her.

Sara blinked in slight disbelief, glancing around at the others. Lily was wrapped in James' arms, Sirius had his hands jammed into his pockets, Peter was staring at the floor, and Rena had her head on her brother's shoulder. Soundlessly, she left them to their moment, slipping silently up the great, sweeping marble staircase and back up to Ravenclaw tower.

The days seemed to slip by quickly despite the void that Arabella's absence left in the school. It surprised Sara, however, that nobody—except for those who had been close acquaintances—seemed to miss her much at all; some truly didn't notice her disappearance until it was mentioned to them by a friend. This had been the case with the fifth-year Ravenclaws, who only noticed that Arabella had left when Sara mentioned it three days later.

The days at Hogwarts seemed to pass with an ease that she never could have imagined months ago. Sara understood where and when her classes were, and from James and the other Marauders she found some nifty tapestry-hidden passageways that would allow her to bypass trick staircases and, most useful, Peeves the Poltergeist, who had taken a new glee in tormenting 'the new girl.' She spent more and more time with the Marauders and company, much to the disappointment of her Ravenclaw friends, but Sara didn't mind as she still spent most of her time with them. The only places that she could really sit with the Gryffindors were the courtyards, the library, and the Great Hall between meals, and as it was much too chilly to wander about the grounds and the library didn't allow talking, it was seldom that she spent time with her new friends.

Halloween came quickly, and before she knew it, Sara was going into Hogsmeade for the first time. She had had to write home the week before, as her permission slip hadn't been signed, but it was well worth it as she explored Zonko's, Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks for hot mugs of butterbeer on the cold, windy day. She returned from the journey chattering with Paige and Noah and laden with sweets and dungbombs, entering the castle to find James, Sirius, Rena, Lily and Peter in the entrance hall. Remus hadn't been seen for the last two days; he told them that he was visiting his mother, and that he would be back after Halloween.

"You guys didn't go to Hogsmeade?" she asked breathlessly, breaking apart from the crowd to talk to them. They looked at one another mischievously.

"We did," Sirius said, amused, "we just have more efficient ways to get there than with the school group."

"It's more fun, too," Peter said. Sara nodded slowly. Someone called to her from the mass of people still reentering the castle.

"I've got to go," she said. "See you at the feast!" They didn't get a chance to answer before she was swept back into the crowd up to Ravenclaw tower.

The Hogwarts Halloween feast was like no other she had ever seen. Hundreds of live bats and bewitched Jack-o-lanterns floated above the house tables, which were so packed with delicious-looking food and sweets she could hardly find her own golden plate and goblet. She had promised Lisa that she would sit with them for the Halloween feast, so she took a seat between her and Serenica Boggsworth.

"So, why were you so keen on me sitting with you guys?" she asked them, biting into a shiny red apple. They gave each other looks, and it was Lisa who finally explained.

"Every year, the marauders play some huge Halloween prank."

"It is usually directed at the Slytherins," said Christian with a grin, "but the point is that they usually get into a lot of trouble for it."

"Not that they mind," Lisa said, as if trouble was some sentence worse than death.

"But we just wanted to make sure that you didn't take a hit for something you didn't do," Paige said pointedly, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.

"Oh," Sara said.

"Actually," Alaina said, twirling a lock of her hair absentmindedly, "I don't see them over there at all," she finished, gesturing toward the Gryffindor table. Sure enough, when Sara turned in her seat, she saw that only Lily and Rena sat in the section of the table usually occupied by the marauders. This would have seemed normal to her—after all, it probably had something to do with the prank—if not for the fact that they both looked mildly worried and were whispering quietly together rather than chatting merrily with the students surrounding them. She shrugged when the Ravenclaws looked at her as if for an explanation of some sort.

"I dunno," she said, now pulling a cupcake onto her plate and peeling off the wrapper. "Maybe since Remus is away they don't feel up to a prank." Lisa looked skeptical.

"Maybe," she shrugged, looking unconvinved. They ate in silence for about half a minute until the guys struck up a loud conversation about Hogsmeade and quidditch, which carried them successfully through the rest of the meal. A sudden clinking of metal on glass caused them all to redirect their attention to the High Table where the teachers sat. They saw that Dumbledore had risen to his feet and was clinking his spoon against his glass, preparing to make an announcement. The buzz of conversation quieted almost immediately.

"Welcome, welcome," he said heartily. "I am glad that you all are enjoying our phenomenal Halloween feast. I hope that you won't terribly mind my interrupting your culinary pursuits for a quick, albeit hopefully pleasing, announcement." Sara looked at Paige and Noah, who sat across the table, both with looks of puzzlement on their faces; she could tell that Professor Dumbledore didn't make announcements in the middle of the year often.

"This year at Hogwarts, it has been decided that we will host a Winter Formal Ball." At these words, several people smiled brilliantly; a few clapped and wolf-whistled at him. "The ball will take place on New Year's Eve at 7:00 in the evening and will be open to students in the third year and above. Younger students are welcome to attend if invited by an older student." There was a pause, though a few of the first- and second-year students had let out audible groans. "That is all! Now, all of you may return to the befuddlement of our indulgent Halloween feast!"

It was only a matter of seconds before an excited buzz of chatter began to fill the Great Hall; nearly every student seemed to be making plans and talking longingly about the ball that would be held on the eve of the new year. Of course, the table at which Sara sat was no different.

"So that's what the dress robes were for, then?"

"Oh, so you don't usually need them for school?" Sara asked curiously, turning toward Lisa, who shook her head.

"No, we don't," she replied. Her eyes suddenly widened. "You did bring some, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course, they were on the supply list that I got before the year started, I just wasn't sure what they were for exactly," she told them, smiling. Talk of the ball carried them through the rest of the feast, and, Sara guessed, through much of the following months. As the feast ended, however, she had other things on her mind. As quickly as she could, the fought her way through the students exiting in droves from the Hall to catch up with Lily and Rena. She finally caught up with them halfway up to Gryffindor Tower, skidding to a halt and nearly out of breath. She called to them, and they turned to speak to her, stepping to one side of the crowd so as to avoid being mauled over by the masses.

"What's up, Sara?" Lily asked in what she clearly thought was a happy-go-lucky sort of voice. Being close to them, she could tell something was wrong; there was an oddly dark look to both of their faces, a combination of fear and fatigue. Indeed, Rena looked so shaken that she didn't want to speak, which was a first for her.

"What's wrong with you two? Where are the guys?" Lily's eyes darted toward Rena, then toward the wall, as if trying to will a door to appear and give and escape.

"They're…um…they're not here at the moment."

"What do you mean, 'not here?'" Both girls shrugged, strange, indecipherable looks upon their faces. Sara blew a stray hair out of her face in frustration; there was nothing, however, that she could do to comfort them if she didn't know what was going on. "Okay, look," she said, the expression on her face softening, "I'm not going to try to get this out of you anymore, alright? You can tell me when you are ready to, or, you know, I can figure it out," she mused to herself. "But that's not the point. The point is, I'm not going to bug you about it anymore, okay?"

"Thanks," Rena said in a small, albeit grateful, voice. She gave Sara a small smile. "That means a lot to me." Lily nodded in agreement. They stood in an awkward silence for a moment before bidding each other goodnight, and Sara, feeling rather outcast and slightly worried about the four marauders, trod the path back to her dormitory.

The next morning, James, Sirius and Peter were back for breakfast in the Great Hall and, despite looking exhausted, were completely their normal selves. The day after that, Remus returned to the school, and though he looked rather pale and peaky he seemed as normal as ever, though he for some reason threw an occasional glance at Sara as if she was on the verge of discovering something she shouldn't know.

True to her word, Arabella continued to write lengthy novels of letters from home; she wrote to at least one of them every day, filling them in on what she was up to without them. It turned out that her mother had enrolled Arabella in the local Muggle secondary school, which was sure to be a tough transition when she started the next quarter.

"Muggle school?" Sirius asked, wearing expressions of mixed horror and revulsion. "What for?"

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Lily said, picking at her breakfast. "If she leaves the magical world, she might as well know how to survive in the Muggle one. It's very practical."

"Yeah, but Muggle school?"

"It's not that bad," Sara interjected. She had been sitting with them for about every other meal at the school; she could tell that the Ravenclaws were slightly irked about this (Basti had muttered something about fraternizing with the wrong people, and in response Sara had acted deaf to that comment).

"How do you know?"

"I'm muggle-born, remember? I grew up in muggle schools, and my parents had me in summer school when Beaumore let out so that I would have more opportunities open to me if I decided I didn't want to continue with it." She rolled her eyes.

"How did you have time to do that with summer homework?" Remus asked curiously.

"Didn't have any," she said simply.

"Oh, that's cool."

"So, do you think that you're going to continue that here in England?" Rena asked, spearing a bit of fried egg with her fork. Sara shrugged.

"I dunno, probably not. I'll ask my grandparents if they know any good schools, though. We'll see."

"Why your grandparents?"

"They know the country better than I do," she said honestly. Lily and Rena exchanged looks, but seemed to silently decide not to press the matter further.

"So," James began eagerly, "I forgot to ask you how your quidditch trials went."

"James, that was like a month ago!" Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, well, the season hasn't started yet, it hasn't been fully on my mind."

"That's a first," Lily muttered.

"So anyway," James said, redirecting his eyes to Sara. "What happened?" Sara shrugged, taking a sip of her tea.

"I kind of got on the team," she said, smiling a little.

"How do you 'kind of' get on a quidditch team?"

"I am the alternate chaser, so that if one gets ill or stuck in detention (which, by the sound of it, has happened before), I play in their place. So I still get to train with the team and stuff, but it's not like a for-sure thing that I'll play."

"Cool! So there's a chance that I could play against you!" James said, his expression halfway between a smirk and a grin.

"Yep, though if you're the seeker I probably won't see too much of –" her voice was drowned out by the first bell; they would be late to lessons if they didn't hurry. Bidding good-bye, Sara turned out toward the greenhouses while the others headed up the great marble staircase, starting to take strides toward the great oak doors into the castle when she heard someone cry out behind her.

"Sara, wait, I think your necklace fell off." She turned on her heel. Sure enough, on the ground several feet behind her was a necklace that had once been her mothers, the silver chain coiled in a small heap on the ground. He bent to pick it up for her, leaving the rest of his friends to go up to class without him.

"Thanks a—" her voice trailed off. Suddenly, as if she was watching some horrible movie unfold its plot, every puzzle piece seemed to nestle together in her mind, and she understood. She understood what it all meant—the lunar charts, James' mention of a "furry little problem," illness at the full moon, the phony excuses, the nickname Moony—and it all made sense to her. But something else, something terrible, she knew, was about to happen if she was right…she suddenly felt her stomach drop to her feet as she sensed a horrible, undeniable foreboding…

"REMUS, NO!" she shouted, darting forward, schoolbooks forgotten—

But she was too late, she watched his fingers graze the chain before she could knock it out of his hand, and immediately, horribly, her suspicions were confirmed. The empty halls echoed eerily when he moaned in pain as if his skin was on fire.

"Oh, no," she whimpered, beginning to panic and dancing uncertainly on the spot. "You need to get to the hospital wing, come on—" She quickly bent down to scoop up the necklace and tuck it hastily into the pocket of her robes. Remus seemed not to hear her, but she could see that the part of his finger that had contacted the chain of the necklace had already erupted into tiny, bloody blisters. Without thinking, she grabbed his other hand and with all of her weight began to pull Remus to the hospital wing. Remus was crying out as if his blood was boiling and seemed oblivious to who and where he was. Tears of fear glistened on both of their faces as they burst through the door of the hospital wing, Sara struggling under Remus' weight; he seemed to have been rendered unable to move on his own. Luckily, the nurse saw them almost at once.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked urgently, practically pushing Remus into the nearest bed. Sara seemed unable to speak as she pulled her necklace from her pocket and showed it to her. Madam Pomfrey looked as if she had been struck across the face. She began to struggle; Remus had begun to seize, thrashing about in the bed. "Go get the headmaster, quickly," she ordered Sara. "GO, RUN!"

She didn't need to be told twice; she turned on her heel and sped down the stone staircase out of the hospital wing, her hair flying behind her. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, heart pounding in her ears, trying not to think of what might become of her friend…reaching the stone gargoyles, she skidded to a halt and shouted "Fizzing Whizbee." The gargoyles sprang aside and she ran desperately up the staircase, hardly knocking before she burst into Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Sir," she said breathlessly, crying with fright. "You have to come…it's Remus…he's ill…Madame Pomfrey…" she needn't have said more. In seconds he was off his feet and nearly running toward the door. He breezed past Sara, who closed his office door hastily and ran to follow him.

"What's happened?" he asked in an uncharacteristically sharp voice.

"Silver…his fingers." She knew that she understood, and he picked up the pace. They ran back up to the hospital wing. A curtain was now up around Remus' bed (Dumbledore dashed behind it immediately), blocking him from view, but he seemed silent. Somehow, Sara thought, this was more terrifying than ever. She caught snatches of the whispers of Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore from behind the curtain.

"Having seizures…"

"Not enough potion…"

"Trying to control it…"

"Transfer to St. Mungos…"

Suddenly, Dumbledore came out from behind the curtain, looking intensely at Sara. He had a strange look of mixed fear, concern and urgency that filled even the wrinkles on his face.

"Miss O'Hanlon," he said urgently. "I need you to tell me, quickly, exactly what happened to Mr. Lupin before he fell ill."

"My necklace fell on the floor, he started to pick it up, and I knocked it back out of his hand, but by then it was too late," she said, starting to feel a burning in her throat, but she knew that she had to continue. "His skin started to erupt in tiny raised blisters where the necklace touched him, and he started moaning, I kind of dragged him up here, and then Madam Pomfrey took over." Dumbledore looked as if he was contemplating her for a minute before nodding over his half-moon spectacles.

"Very well," he said resolutely. "Well, Miss O'Hanlon, we will be doing everything we can to help him, but for now, I'd like you to go on to Herbology class, but before you do, please kindly fetch Miss Lupin out of Charms class." With his wand he conjured two pieces of parchment, a quill and ink out of thin air. A moment later, he gave them to Sara. "One of these is for Professor Flitwick, and the other is for Professor Sprout. Do try not to miss too much more of your lesson."

With that, Sara understood herself to be excused. She looked at him, puzzled and upset, before he turned and, with a swishing of his robes disappeared behind the curtain again. Sara cast one more worried, helpless glance at Remus' silhouetted bed before turning to find Rena. She knew that it would be more difficult to face her and the rest of the Gryffindors than anything. It was all her fault that Remus was ill…he could die. The image of the way he was groaning and shaking, skin blistering before her eyes…she could have prevented it, if only she had been a little faster…

A tear rolled down her cheek as she approached the charms classroom, which she hastily wiped away with the sleeve of her robes. She gave a tentative knock on the closed door and it sprang open. The students all seemed busy with their work and seemed not to notice her. Sara walked as quickly as she could, unnoticed, to the front of the room and gave Flitwick his scroll from Dumbledore. He read it.

"Very well," he said, "You may fetch Miss Lupin, then." Sara nodded, looking around to find her.

"Oy, Sara!" Sirius called from across the room. He was beaming as the rest turned to look at her in mild bewilderment. Sara walked over to them as if her legs were moving on their own.

"Rena," she said, her voice shaking. "I'm supposed to get you out of class." Rena, looking confused, stuffed her things into her bag, muttered a goodbye to the others and followed Sara out of the room.

"What is it?" she asked curiously, half jogging to keep up with Sara, who was walking unnaturally fast. She tried to speak for a moment, but her voice seemed to stick in her throat. She swallowed hard before trying again.

"Remus—" she began. "He—well, he's ill. In the hospital wing right now."

"But what—"

"Just go to the hospital wing, okay?" she said, her eyes watering like mad. "Dumbledore will fill you in when you get there. Go quickly…I've been told to go to class," another tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. She hoped that Rena hadn't noticed. "Go quickly," she repeated. "I'll see you later." The quickly distant sound of footsteps told her that Rena was gone. A powerful feeling of overwhelming guilt seemed to break through a dam in her chest as she bent down to gather her long-abandoned schoolbooks back in the entrance hall, and there was nothing left that she could do except sob.

Okay, so I know that the ending's kind of lame and depressing. The next chapter, I promise, is a lot more fun. Sara's secret will be told, and she'll find out about the guys being animagi.

And we can't forget about the ball! If you can guess who asks Sara or who she goes with, I'll give you 10 house points…of course, you have to specify the house you're in. Actually, I'll also give you 10 points if you can tell me where Sara will be for Christmas, though that won't be for a couple more chapters.

However, you MUST mention a house if you want the points!

Thanks for reading, guys!

Callista Rose