Awakening
Chapter Three: Christmas is Over
By: Star*dust
"Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say throw cares away-"
"Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!"
"One seems to hear words of good cheer-"
"From everywhere filling the air-"
"Uh, guys?" Ginny interrupted. "I hate to bust your bubble.er bubbles, but Christmas is over. It's August."
"So?" Fred and George replied in unison. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Never mind," She mumbled. The twins shrugged and continued devouring their breakfast, but thankfully didn't pick up their carol again.
"I wouldn't mind it being Christmas," Ron remarked thoughtfully. "We'd be back on holiday."
"We've been on holiday for two months," Ginny pointed out.
"So?" Ron replied. "That doesn't mean vacation should stop!"
"You're Head Boy," Harry said.
"And what does that have to do with it?" Ron replied.
"Aren't you supposed to.enjoy school?"
"NO!" Ron cried in horror. Fred and George let out sighs of relief.
"That's good," George said.
"That would've been the final straw." Fred said decisively.
"On top of being Head Boy, that is," George continued. The twins sighed, and said in unison, "Such a disappointment."
"I don't understand why he wouldn't consider it an honor," Percy interrupted with his nose in the air, sitting down and absentmindedly pouring syrup in his coffee.
"See what happens when you go to the Dark Side, Ronnie?" Fred whispered with a dark look in the general direction of Percy's coffee. Ron stared, paling several shades. Harry just shook his head, trying not to laugh.
"All right, now eat up boys!" Mrs. Weasley said, bustling into the kitchen. "We need to get on the train."
"Ugh. Don't remind me," Ginny said. She certainly didn't look ready to go anywhere. Her neon green pajamas were rumpled, and we're not even going to get into the state of her hair. And speaking of pajamas.in a few moments they had several coffee stains. Ginny groaned. "Great."
"Seventh year.Ron, you're growing up. And Head Boy!" Mrs. Weasley said fondly, looking as if she were about to cry. Fred mimed a gag, while George pretended to die.
"Mum, you're not going to get all misty eyed on me again!" Ron exclaimed as George fell off his chair behind his mother. "Go cry at Harry, he's Quidditch captain you know!"
"Ron, if you don't see the difference between Head Boy and Quidditch captain, you need to be strangled," Fred said solemnly, while George shuddered from his current rather awkward position on the ground.
"Hey!" George said suddenly, "There's gum under here!" He was looking under the Weasley's kitchen table.
"Gum?" Mrs. Weasley echoed sounding horrified as Fred ducked down to have a look.
"Yeah!" George said, sitting up suddenly and banging his head on the table. He stood up, and Fred started laughing.
"What?" George asked, looking annoyed.
"The gum.it's in your hair!"
"WHAT!?" George exclaimed. Mrs. Weasley stood up and bent her son's head so she could see it.
"This isn't gum, dear," She said soothingly.
"Well, what is it?"
"It's that porridge I made last Tuesday-"
"Ugh, no wonder it was under the table," Ron muttered.
"What was that?" Mrs. Weasley said sharply.
"Uh, nothing I was just leaving." Ron said quickly getting up.
"Ron we are leaving in ten minutes! You have to catch your train. Ginny you had better go get dressed."
"Oh no." She said as she rushed up the stairs.
"Ron are your things all packed?"
"Not really, I'll get it in a minute," Ron said reading the newspaper.
"You only have nine minutes left!" Mrs. Weasley cried.
"Don't worry about it Mum,"
"Hey I think this is a piece of bacon from last year!" Fred said plucking it up from under the table leg.
"It is not!" Mrs. Weasley cried. Harry watched amused as they slid the fossilized piece of bacon onto Percy's plate.
He was reading a report for work and didn't notice when he picked it up. He took a bite and immediately spat it out. Fred, George, and Harry rolled with laughter.
"Mum! Are you a bit off this morning? I wasn't going to say anything about the coffee, but the bacon is terrible too!" This just caused everyone to laugh harder.
"My own son dares to accuse me of bad cooking?" She cried.
"Well, I normally wouldn't say anything but take a look at this bacon,"
"Fred and George Weasley!" She said rounding on the twins who were red in the face from laughing. Both tried to look innocent. She was about to yell but gave up at the last minute.
"Ron are you packed yet? You've got four minutes!"
"Four? That's plenty of time," He said nonchalantly.
"Ron! Get upstairs and get packed right now!" She screamed. Ron burst out laughing.
"Relax Mum. You always get so stressed out when you have to take us to the train station. I've already packed," He said.
"You mean to tell me you have been ready to go this whole time?" She said in shock. "Ronald Weasley I would beat you over the head if I weren't so tired," Ron breathed as she said the words 'if I weren't so tired'
"Luckily I've got my wand with me." She said and Ron ran from the room shouting something about going to see if Ginny was ready. The five of them cracked up.
At the train station Ron, Harry, and Ginny said a rushed good-bye and hurried on the train. Ron watched his family slowly move across his line of sight. *Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells-DAMN IT!*
* * *
The man's eyes moved past Kirsten and fell on Angie with an almost unbelievable shock. He didn't trust his eyes. He was sure that that woman was on the other side of the ocean.
"Remus?" Angie finally said in a shocked voice. And suddenly he knew his eyes weren't playing tricks. This was Angela Star. It was his turn to say 'oh my god' His mind was spinning in a sort of confused state trying to recall everything he had heard about her lately and figure out how she came to be here.
"I.I didn't know you were a professor," Remus blurted out putting all the confusing thoughts aside.
"What are you doing here?" Angie asked. Kirsten could see this conversation was going nowhere fast and while those two obviously knew each other Kirsten had yet to be introduced.
"Hi, I'm Kirsten Star," She said with a smile to knock any guy off his feet. Remus blinked and looked at her.
"Kirsten?" He echoed his expression changing. "This is Kirsten?" He asked Angie in a shock. "You were just a little baby-" *Oh great. Another person who knew me when I was a baby* Kirsten thought. *How many of these people can there be in the world?*
"I just came by to introduce myself to the new Languages professor, but I never expected." Remus said stepping inside.
"I didn't expect to be here either," Angie said truthfully.
"Well, I guess we're colleagues," He said. "I'm teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again. That is if a mob of parents doesn't throw me out first," He said.
"And why is that?" Angie asked with a frown.
"Well because of." He trailed off as he realized that she never knew what he was. "Because of." He searched his mind for something. It would absolutely mortifying for her to find out now. That must have been one of the years she went back to Beauxbatons.
"You can't be any worse of a professor than me," Angie interrupted mistaking him.
"Oh.yes, I suppose I can handle it," He agreed.
"Um.have a seat," Angie said offering up the little couch and Remus gratefully accepted.
"Angela, you look great," Remus said.
"Oh stop," She said sarcastically.
"No really," He said honestly. The last time any of them had seen her she was looking her worst right after her suicide attempt.
"You're sweeping me right off my feet," She said laughing.
"You know, I saw that Josh got that position in the ministry but I didn't really think about it."
"Oh, that has nothing to do with us coming here," Kirsten interrupted. She hated anyone thinking that her mother and father were still together.
"I'm divorced," Angie said.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Remus said. Angie laughed.
"Don't be. It's the best thing that happened to me for a long time,"
There was silence for a while. Then Angie shook her head. "Kirsten, this is Remus Lupin. I went to school with him. He's to be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
"Well, nice to meet you Professor. You are the last teacher I have to meet,"
"Well, do you have any questions for me?" Remus asked. Kirsten considered for a moment and her face suddenly lit up. If he knew Angie when she went to school than maybe he knew her after school and maybe, just maybe he knew her middle name.
"Do you know my middle name?" She said quickly.
"No!" Angie cried. "Remus, don't tell her." Remus frowned. How could a person not know their middle name and why in the world didn't Angie want her to know.
"I have no more of an idea what your middle name is than you do Kirsten," Remus replied confused. Angie seemed satisfied.
"How many times must I tell you, just leave it alone," Angie told her daughter. Kirsten gave her mother a look and shook her head. A sudden thought struck her. Maybe her other teachers, or Dumbledore had some idea. She would have to remember to ask later.
Just then there was another knock at the door. Angie and Kirsten exchanged equal looks of confusion. Angie opened the door and smiled as she saw Sierra and Hermione.
"Remus!" Sierra cried as he rose to greet them. "Don't tell me you're teaching Defense this year?"
"Lupin!" Hermione cried with a huge smile.
"Hermione! Are you Head Girl? I'm not surprised."
"Thank you professor," Hermione said. "Hi," She said shortly to Kirsten.
"Well," Sierra said. "I was just coming to tell you that Dumbledore scheduled the faculty meeting for 3:30PM."
"Yes, I need to speak to him beforehand," Remus said. "I think I'll go do that now. See you around."
"So how are you holding up?" Sierra asked her friend.
"I think I'm going to be OK," Angie said.
"Good,"
"Have you been to your classroom yet? I want to see it," Sierra said enthusiastically. Angie noted that Sierra seemed much more comfortable and relaxed today. She was wearing the standard black robes and her hair was down.
"Come on, I'll show you," Angie said grabbing her keys. "I'll just be a minute Kirsten, maybe Hermione can show you around a little more," Hermione smiled at the professor though it was not what she was looking forward to.
"So, have you been sorted?" Hermione asked as the two set off.
"Yes, I'm in Gryffindor,"
"Oh," Hermione said, sort of disappointed. "So am I. So, have you seen the dorms?"
"Yes, actually. I was hoping you could show me where Herbology is,"
"Oh sure, it's outside. I'll take you to meet Hagrid too. He's the gamekeeper," Hermione babbled on for most of the time. She was rather excited to be back to school as Head Girl and for her final year. And not even Kirsten could make her feel unhappy.
~*~
They all (Remus, Sierra, Angie, Kirsten, and Hermione) all met up for tea in Angie's dorm later. They all chatted mostly about Angie and what she had been doing for the past sixteen years and the extremely boring faculty meeting.
Hermione, finally getting bored of talking about the school glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost time for the train to arrive. "Everyone should be here soon!" She cried interrupting everyone.
"Oh, you're right," Sierra said standing up. "I'm supposed to be in the great hall to supervise when everyone comes in," she said. "I'm sorry I can't help clean up, I need to get going."
"Here, let me get that," Remus said reaching for the tea cups.
"Don't worry about it, I'll get it later. Let's go down,"
"Sure," He replied offering his arm.
"Such a gentleman," She said with a laugh as she took the proffered arm. Hermione and Kirsten followed closely behind. When they reached the top of the final staircase Angie stopped.
There was a mass of black below which were the students entering the great hall. Hermione and Kirsten stood at the very top looking down. Hermione's eyes scanned the students and she started recognizing students. She saw Ginny and was about to go and greet her until she realized whose arm she held on to: Draco Malfoy's.
"Are you OK?" Remus asked as Angie gripped the railing.
"I just need a moment," She said. "This is the biggest thing I've done for.a long time." She said. "I know you don't understand. It's just.I haven't been back for all those years and now."
"Too much too fast?" Remus asked.
"Sort of, but I think I'll be OK,"
"It's OK, I understand," He said as they stood and watched the students.
Suddenly Hermione saw another shock of red hair and she immediately recognized Ron. He was taller than everyone else and he was easily making his way through the students. She rushed down the stairs leaving Remus, Angie, and Kirsten to watch.
"Ron!" She called to him as she reached the bottom step. His eyes immediately found her out and he grinned. She quickly made her way through the crowd and gave him a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks. "A summer is way too long!" She exclaimed. Ron agreed. "Hey, where's Harry?" Hermione asked immediately noting his absence.
Ron just laughed. "When we got off the train Harry had a few people who REALLY wanted to talk to him,"
"Reporters." Hermione said. It wasn't a question.
"I left him to it. I really didn't feel like seeing my picture in the next issue of Teen Witch Weekly," Ron said with a laugh.
"Poor Harry though. I hope they don't attack Lisa too, I suppose she's with him, isn't she?"
"Lisa? Lisa Turpin? Haven't you heard this Hermione? They broke up almost two months ago,"
"What? Why?"
Ron shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't dump her,"
"Well why didn't anyone tell me? I'm extremely annoyed," Hermione informed him.
"I think you were in France at the time,"
"Yeah, and you know what, I could have sworn I saw S-well, you know, Him everywhere after those headlines. He had me going crazy with nervousness for a while there. Speaking of.that, I heard the last week has been a little less than routine at your house."
"You could say that again. But we'll talk later," Ron said glancing at people on either side of him.
"OK," Hermione agreed. "Let's go get a seat,"
~*~
Kirsten watched from above. She was plagued with nervousness as she looked down on the hundreds of students. Sure, the hat had declared her a Gryffindor and she had been accepted into the school, but she still had to meet the people. They had to accept her. And even though there was no language barrier she felt like a foreigner.
Then there was always the Harry Potter factor.
Her stomach knotted. In a few moments she would meet him live and in person. This may have been a dream come true, but she hadn't lived through it yet to see if it was a nightmare.
Kirsten hadn't seen him yet but Harry hurriedly walked inside. He looked very bedraggled and as he immediately saw professor Lupin he gladly dashed up the stairs to get away from all those people.
He reached them straightening his robes and trying to flatten his hair. "Rough weather?" Remus asked him upon his arrival.
"Worse, reporters," Harry said extremely annoyed. Kirsten was staring open mouthed and Angie had not yet looked upon the face of the only heir of Lily and James Potter.
Remus frowned. "Well, the rest of your evening should make up for that."
"Yes, well, how are you Professor? I never expected to see you here. You are teaching Defense, right?"
"Of course,"
"Great!" Harry said enthusiastically. He then noticed Angie and Kirsten and gave them a cursory look. He turned back to Remus and then did a double take. He suddenly recognized that girl. This was the Kirsten Star who had written that strange letter and sent her picture.
"Are you.Kirsten?" Harry asked. Kirsten quickly drew in her breath. Normally, she was a confident, outgoing young person, but she suddenly found herself nervous and at a loss. She mumbled 'hm-mmm' and Harry smiled warmly.
"Well, then," He said turning to Angie. "You must be Professor Star," He said shaking her hand enthusiastically. "Good to meet you. I look forward to your class first thing tomorrow morning,"
"Kirsten has the same class," Remus said.
"Are you in Gryffindor then?" Harry asked. "Fabulous!" He said without waiting for a reply. "We should go get a seat before the sorting starts. Come on, you can sit with my friends. Talk to you later!" Harry said and quickly set off down the stairs with Kirsten nervously following behind.
As Harry led Kirsten through the great hall he kept her occupied with many questions. He was really curious about this girl and she was starting to relax. She realized he was just a regular guy. with a smile that would melt iron.
"So, you're from the United States of America?"
"Yes," She said excitedly. She was walking next to Harry Potter!
"You've never been to Europe before?" Harry asked.
"Oh sure, but not since my parents got divorced,"
"Your parents are divorced? Sorry," Harry said.
"No big deal, my dad and I aren't exactly close."
"Hey Harry!" A fairly pretty Ravenclaw called to him. He grinned at her. Several others stared after the pair of them with mild curiosity.
"Harry, you head boy?" Someone else asked leaning out from the row of students at the table.
"No, it's Ron Weasley!" He called. He began shouting greetings and waving to people and explaining to Kirsten who each one was.
"Do you play quidditch?" Being the quidditch captain for Gryffindor Harry just had to ask her.
"I've played Chaser before but in America we play Quad-pods."
"Well, you can come to tryouts anyway. I'm Quidditch captain."
"Oh, OK," Kirsten said beaming. She couldn't believe the luck she was having. Not only was she being accepted but she was being accepted by Harry Potter himself!
"It's the quidditch captain himself!" Seamus called out. "How was your summer Harry?"
"The train ride was the best part!" Harry called with a laugh. Suddenly Kirsten saw a red head a brunette talking to each other. She immediately concluded that the red head was Ronald Weasley. She had read about him. The brunette's hair bounced as she talked to Ron.
And that must be Hermione Granger. She was particularly interested in how Harry and Hermione greeted each other.
Ron's eyes shifted and he spotted Harry. Hermione turned and stood following Ron's gaze.
Kirsten abruptly stopped. It was impossible. How could she have been so STUPID!?!?!
Harry had stopped two feet in front of her and looked oddly back at her. "Are you OK?" He asked. Kirsten's mind was racing and she was blazing mad at herself. She saw no point in letting on, however.
"Oh.yeah," She said shaking herself. "Sorry." And with an odd look from Harry they started walking again.
Kirsten mentally envisioned whacking herself over the head for being so obviously dumb. Now she couldn't imagine how in the world she could have missed it? How could she not have put it to together.?
"This is my friend, Ron Weasley and this is Hermione Granger," Harry was saying. "Guys, this is Kirsten Star."
Hermione's jaw dropped with such force and speed it hurt. How could she have been so stupid, so incompetent? How could she not have put it together? Hermione was mentally envisioning herself banging her head against a book. In the middle of her mental punishment Hermione remembered to close her mouth.
Ron took Kirsten's hand and was about to greet her when he suddenly swore loudly and called her something that will not be repeated. Harry, Hermione and Kirsten were all shocked.
"Excuse me?" Kirsten said sharply.
"Oh no!" Ron cried realizing he was shaking her hand. "Not you! I just saw my sister with her boyfriend, and well, hm," Ron stopped frustrated not really knowing how to explain. "I'm sorry, I wasn't talking to you. Really, it's a pleasure to meet you. It's really good to see a fresh face." Ron continued to compliment her as her helped her into a seat.
He grimaced at Harry. "Malfoy is going to die," He said out of the corner of his mouth to Harry as he glanced at Slytherin where Draco and Ginny were laughing pleasantly. The sight made them all sick.
In the meantime Kirsten and Hermione both could not believe their mistakes. Kirsten had never thought to associate Sierra's daughter Hermione with Harry's friend and Hermione had never thought to associate Kirsten from the US, with the annoying girl who was writing to Harry.
"Nice to see you again, Hermione," Kirsten said.
"Yes, likewise," Hermione said with a rather forced smile.
"You two previously know each other?" Ron asked.
"Yes, we've met." Hermione said with a laugh. "But that's a long story," They both agreed. "I saved a seat for you Harry," Hermione said.
"Oh, I think I'll sit here," Harry said not paying attention to her as he sat down next to Kirsten and started to talk to her again. Kirsten smirked at Hermione who was giving her a murderous look.
* * *
Angie remained speechless for a few moments after Harry and Kirsten had gone. "Are you OK?" Remus asked with a concerned look.
"No," She said. "I don't think I can do this."
"What are you talking about?" Remus asked.
"I just can't handle it, Remus. Doesn't it bother you? Seeing Harry? I mean, don't you agonize over Lily and James every time you look at him?"
"Just put it out of your mind. There is no way to side-step it. What happened happened and that's all there is to it. But that's no reason to turn away." He told her.
"You don't understand!" Angie cried becoming panic-stricken. "I've spent years distancing myself from this! I've spent so much time trying to forget about it. You know what happened when.when." She was, of course, referring to her suicidal days.
"Angela!" Remus said sternly. "There will be no more talk like that. I realize that this must be a huge thing for you, but can't give up that easily.
"If you face your past maybe you can move past it. Otherwise, it will haunt you for the rest of your life," He sighed. "I know it's not easy. But what else is there to do? You have to look out for Kirsten. You have a job to do and classes to teach tomorrow.
"But I know you, Angela, and if you are the same person you were two decades ago, then you would not walk out that door. You could have handled it." Angie forced a smile.
"That's better," Remus said. "Look, I'll always be here if you need to talk. And Sierra is too. We're just glad you're back," He said. This time she really did smile, her brief moment of relapse passing, for now.
"And if mental toughness isn't enough, I've got a large bottle of brandy in my office," He added with a grin. She laughed.
"Thank you Remus,"
"What are friends for? Now come on, show Hogwarts your best," He said linking arms with her and leading her into the great hall.
~*~
After the sorting ceremony several people tried to engage Angie in conversation. She was getting sort of bored with the conversation and started to focus her attention other places. Her eyes fell on her daughter, who was blending perfectly with the Gryffindors. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were talking to her but Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Colin Creevey, Dennis Creevey and several other boys had noticed her presence. And she wasn't totally unaware of their eyes either.
"I can't believe she's going to sit with him the entire night!" Ron grumbled as he carelessly spooned out mashed potatoes causing them to land half-way on the plate and half-way off.
"Ron," Hermione said rolling her eyes. "The point of the plate is to put the food on it." She said helping to clean it up while he continued grumbling about Ginny. "If it bothers you so much why don't you tell her?"
"I have told her. I've tried to tell her, many times. But it does not work. She always gets all hysterical on me and starts going on about Malfoy like he's a person or something. I just don't know where we went wrong with her. I mean, she was put in Gryffindor-"
"RON!" Hermione shouted suddenly interrupting most conversation around them. Kirsten's eyes flashed as Harry was distracted from their conversation. "What is that and why didn't you tell me?" She was still shouting and pointing at Ron's shiny head boy badge positioned on his chest.
"Oh that," He said softly, his cheeks reddening.
"Yes, that. I apparently need a major update on your life!" She said. "First Harry doesn't tell me about this major break-up. You don't tell me about being head boy, when I asked you, for Merlin's sake! You guys are not telling me anything anymore!"
"Calm down," Harry said. "He didn't even tell his parents, he didn't even tell ME!"
"Why not?" Hermione demanded.
"Because I didn't want everybody acting exactly the way you are,"
"The only reason we found out is that Malfoy knew, told Ginny, which was overheard by---oh, um, well, it's not really important," Harry finished lamely after he was kicked under the table by Ron.
"I still can't believe you wouldn't tell me," Hermione said. "That is a big thing. It's a great accomplishment,"
"Hermione, could you please stop making a scene?" Ron said softly as he glanced at some Ravenclaws nearby who kept looking their direction.
"Fine. I won't say anymore about it."
"So, is that some kind of huge thing around here?" Kirsten asked. "I see this head boy thing and this head girl thing and prefects."
"Yes, those are your authority figures. They tell you what to do and they can take points away for rule breaking," Hermione said with a look at Kirsten.
"Sounds like a teacher's assistant or something to me," She said.
"Well, the professors need extra people to help with those who don't care, like you," The conversation would have progressively gotten nastier had Harry not distracted Kirsten by asking about Quad-pods.
Kirsten was a natural born beauty and what was worse, she knew it. It kind of went to her head. She always made sure she looked her best and she wasn't exactly an amateur at flirting. And she was laying all her moves on Harry. However, they feel on blind eyes. He just wasn't interested, and while he enjoyed discussing things with her, a romantic thought had not entered his mind.
~*~
"So, Angela, what did you do over in America?" Professor McGonagall asked her. It was the same sort of question she'd been getting all night.
"I worked for a muggle law firm. I was a secretary. I wrote all sorts of documents. I got paid to make things sound complicated."
"Muggle? I bet that was interesting,"
"Well, the pay was good, so that kept it from bothering me. I would just exchange the money.but I suppose it was interesting. Of course, they thought I could work so fast! I was very careful about using my magic, but I did full off a few things they would consider spectacular. My boss was hilarious. He just couldn't understand how I managed to do so many things at once.
"Little did he know that his coffee machine was powered by magic and the creamer was poured by magic, it was stirred by magic, and all the while I took care of phone messages.
"Ah well, muggles, you have to love them." Angie forced a smile that she had been forcing since the third time she told this an hour ago.
She leaned toward Remus and said to him in an undertone. "I think I'll take you up on that brandy later." Remus laughed out loud and Professor Flitwick had given him a look.
At the end of the meal all listened as Dumbledore introduced the new professors and Kirsten. She blushed slightly but smiled big and made sure to look around at as many people as possible.
Dumbledore reminded everybody of the rules and asked the prefects and head boy and girl to help lead students to their dormitories.
"Harry, can I follow you to our dorm? I don't really know where I'm going," Kirsten said with a big smile.
"Sure," He said. Kirsten smirked at Hermione as they walked out of the great hall together.
* * *
Hermione and Ron led the way up to Gryffindor tower equipped with the password. "I need to talk to you and Harry later. Meet me downstairs with the invisibility cloak in half an hour," Hermione said to Ron out of the corner of her mouth. Ron really did not want to talk to Hermione at this hour but there was no way around it.
Half hour later, the boys came out of their dormitory and nearly jumped as they ran into Hermione on the way down. "Shut up!" She hissed. "There are still two people downstairs, but I don't think they'll notice us under the invisibility cloak."
The three of them walked as quickly as possible out of the common room and ended up in a corridor they didn't all together recognize. "I'm sure I've been here before." Ron said puzzling.
"It doesn't matter. In here," Hermione said opening a door and entering into a rather large classroom. "I've never been in here before," Harry remarked.
"Neither have I,"
"That's because it's the languages classroom." Hermione said pointing to the chalkboard which read: Professor Star, Magical Linguistics. "We should have no trouble finding this in the morning," She added.
"Hermione, what is this all about?" Harry asked.
"I want to know what's been going on with Sirius. We couldn't really talk at dinner and since no one has bothered to owl me,"
"I owled you twice!" Ron exclaimed.
"Yes, well, you did a very poor job of describing the situation,"
"Look, he showed up because he got hurt. It seems he had a close encounter with professor Lupin. He was pretty sick for a while and he still had a little bit of a limp when he left-"
"This is really encouraging Ron," Hermione said sarcastically.
"I'm just trying to tell you what happened. He did get his hair cut, and let me tell you, he needed it. He looks SO much better. Doesn't he Harry?" Harry nodded.
"This is not what I'm talking about. I don't care about this kind of stuff. I care about how you explained to most of your family about Sirius and you said something about Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer,"
"Oh that," Ron said. "You don't have to worry, it was close-"
"Too close," Another voice said. Suddenly the three of them stopped and looked guiltily towards the door. "Naughty, naughty, students out of bed, and after midnight. What am I going to do with you?"
* * *
"I suppose it's a little late for brandy," Remus said as he led Angie out the great hall. "Tomorrow maybe," Angie was silent. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I guess." Angie said uncertainly. "I just don't know what I'm doing here,"
"You don't want to be here?"
"Truthfully? No, I'd rather be back in the States. Far from this.place,"
"How can you feel at home over there? I mean, they talk funny," Angie laughed.
"You know, I actually lost the accent for several years."
"No!" Remus cried dramatically. "Have you lost all nationalism?"
"It was easier to sound like everyone else. As you can see, I adjusted when I came back,"
"Well, Ms. Star, if that's what you're going by these days. I'm glad you came back. And I hope that tomorrow will change your mind about coming here." Angie remained silent as they came to a stop in front of her door.
"You're a good friend Remus. A really good friend."
"Well, I try," He said with a smile. "Hey cheer up. It can't be that bad," He said looking at her golden hair and soft blue eyes, those red lips. "Good night Angela," He said just before their lips met. He quickly pulled back. "I.I don't know what came over me, I just-"
"Good night Remus," She said cutting him off with a smile. Without another word she turned and went inside leaving him sort of shocked out in the hall.
* * *
"Sirius!" The three of them hissed as the dark form took on an appearance. And the three of them jumped in with questions.
"SLOW DOWN!" He roared over the three. "I am perfectly fine, except that I could do with a shave and a shower would definitely NOT hurt. I will not get caught, unless you do, in which case we are ALL screwed, I've been around and I came here because it used to be an unused classroom, apparently not anymore. But, what is new with all of you?" All three of them started talking at once again. "Well, obviously, you are not tired." He added sarcastically.
"What happened with the head of the IAA?" Hermione asked as the other two silenced.
"Mr. Weasley came in and he was pretty quick to throw the floo on the fire. Ron hexed him but it was a little too late. I turned into a dog and Molly glazed the whole thing over. It could have been a big deal, but luckily, it's not,"
"Sirius.I saw the papers. I was in France at the time, you know,"
"You didn't try to come look for me did you?" He asked visibly paling.
"I would liked to have tried, but since I was job shadowing at the time, I couldn't really get away,"
"It's a bloody good thing too," He said severely. "I was on some particularly nasty business and I would not have wanted you to witness anything or get in any kind of danger,"
"Danger? What were you doing?"
"Something I have been working on for two or three years now. Don't worry about it," Hermione was about to protest. "I mean it." He added sharply running his fingers over his growing goatee.
"I'll get a razor!" Ron said whipping out his wand. He could see that the conversation needed a change.
"NO!" Sirius cried. "As much as I would love that I don't think it would be the best thing for Filch to see a razor floating down the hall,"
"I guess you're right," Ron said. "But next time if you'll just let us know when you're going to scare the hell out of us then I could bring one with me,"
"I play things by ear,"
"Well then, you're just going to have to grow a beard,"
"Yeah, I was afraid of that," Sirius said. Suddenly, a woman's high pitched scream of terror rang through the halls and sent the four of them jumping with shock.
Sirius instantly pressed himself into the shadows against the wall. The other three stood frozen as voices could be heard nearby.
* * *
A/N: Another chapter comes to an end. I tried to write this one as quickly as possible since my Christmas break is ending and I have to go back to school. This one was shorter than usual, but I don't really intend on making the chapters as long as they have been. This brings us one step closer to Halloween! Halloween has one of my favorite scenes in this whole book in it! I've been planning it since the middle of The Last Laugh.
But anyway, I wanted to take the time right now to FINALLY thank you all who have reviewed. I kept saying that I was going to do that from The Last Laugh, and I never did. I'm really, really, sorry.
So, anyway, I think I'll just list all of you who reviewed so far for Awakening and just make the necessary comments!
Ax: As always your reviews are really great. I was wondering where you were at because, well, you always read and reviewed so promptly before and you did such a good job. Everyone loves it when they're complimented!! And I have to agree; the more I screw up everyone's life the more fun I have writing the story!!! Lol. Well, anyway, hopefully you'll get the e-mail for this update this time. Thanks for sticking with me!
HPdreamer15: Well, at the time I am writing this little thank-you thing I haven't had time to read your story yet, but I will. I did however, read the little summary and that is a really awesome summary. It makes you wanting more. You want to know the truth. Ok, my little bit is over now. And I like the title.
Agent Kiwi Snoop: I like your reviews. You comment on like everything! Hopefully the next chapter I will get some more things explained.like why Hermione is adopted. Yeah, well, thanks for the reviews!
Erica The Flying Tree aka Miss Flyin Tree: Well, I updated, I'm glad you love it and I have no idea what you think you figured out, but good job if you did figure something out. Your review cracked me up!
Hazelmist: You have been with me for a long time now and I thank you for all your continued support. I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you!
Sabre Black: As always, I appreciate your support and opinions!
Ltnikki: Thanks for e-mailing! I hope you like the chapter and sorry to disappoint you. It wasn't Sirius at the door, but trust me, they will meet.
Libertygrl413: I always love your reviews and I really thank you for reading and reviewing throughout this story (so far) and the last one. One day I will probably come back to dreams..thanks again!
Animegirl: I'm sorry that you cried, but I suppose that was the intended effect for the end of The Last Laugh. Thanks for your reviews!
Britz: I have to tell you I really am loving A Novus Vita. Thank you very much for all your input for this story and TLL, it's appreciated very much! Can't wait until I can get to the third chapter of ANV. Talk to you later!
Lily Lupin: I really liked your Christmas Carols and your poem when I read them the other night. You've got some talent. Well, anyway, thanks for the reviews!
EaRtHaNgEl831: Thanks for the reviewing and I plan to mess with relationships a little bit in this story. Lol.
Buckbeakbabie: As always, I really appreciate your reviews. I appreciate you sticking around and e-mailing as well. I know your theory is not going to go away. I guess you're just stubborn like that. Lol.
Harmony Slytherin: Well, thanks for the outrageously hilarious and long reviews. Appreciated very much and I hope you enjoyed your review for Never Turn Back. I'll get the rest read later. You know, I think it actually takes me longer to review than it does to read the chapter. That's pathetic. Lol. I know what you mean by you feel like you're reviewing your own things. You did write like two whole pages of this chapter! Lol.
*Cough!* Star*dust *Cough*: Well, that was an interesting review including the reviewer's name. Well thanks for it and I hope you can continue with the story soon. I can't believe I'm behind in "Eyes." you really need to send that to me so that I can read it. I feel horrible. And I also need to insert in your profile don't I? Oh great.that should be interesting.
SilverPhoenixWings: Thank you extremely much for reviewing, as always. I very much enjoyed the first chapter of Indigo Fire. I will get back to it soon! By the way, has Harmony sent you a letter yet? I swear to you she has one. I've seen it and everything.now if she ever gets a stamp.
hp_4ashley2000@hotmail.com: I'm sorry I don't know your penname. but anyway, thank you for the reviews. I posted in a relatively short amount of time for me. I hope you enjoy!
Chelsey: Thanks for the review. I hope you like the story.
If I forgot anybody: FLAME ME!
Next chapter: Classes.letters.Kirsten and Hermione competitions.Angie and Remus.Angie and Sirius.dreams.interesting conversations.am I missing anything? Survey says: Probably. This stuff probably doesn't make much sense to you. Sorry, it's the best I can do.
~Star*dust
"Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say throw cares away-"
"Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!"
"One seems to hear words of good cheer-"
"From everywhere filling the air-"
"Uh, guys?" Ginny interrupted. "I hate to bust your bubble.er bubbles, but Christmas is over. It's August."
"So?" Fred and George replied in unison. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Never mind," She mumbled. The twins shrugged and continued devouring their breakfast, but thankfully didn't pick up their carol again.
"I wouldn't mind it being Christmas," Ron remarked thoughtfully. "We'd be back on holiday."
"We've been on holiday for two months," Ginny pointed out.
"So?" Ron replied. "That doesn't mean vacation should stop!"
"You're Head Boy," Harry said.
"And what does that have to do with it?" Ron replied.
"Aren't you supposed to.enjoy school?"
"NO!" Ron cried in horror. Fred and George let out sighs of relief.
"That's good," George said.
"That would've been the final straw." Fred said decisively.
"On top of being Head Boy, that is," George continued. The twins sighed, and said in unison, "Such a disappointment."
"I don't understand why he wouldn't consider it an honor," Percy interrupted with his nose in the air, sitting down and absentmindedly pouring syrup in his coffee.
"See what happens when you go to the Dark Side, Ronnie?" Fred whispered with a dark look in the general direction of Percy's coffee. Ron stared, paling several shades. Harry just shook his head, trying not to laugh.
"All right, now eat up boys!" Mrs. Weasley said, bustling into the kitchen. "We need to get on the train."
"Ugh. Don't remind me," Ginny said. She certainly didn't look ready to go anywhere. Her neon green pajamas were rumpled, and we're not even going to get into the state of her hair. And speaking of pajamas.in a few moments they had several coffee stains. Ginny groaned. "Great."
"Seventh year.Ron, you're growing up. And Head Boy!" Mrs. Weasley said fondly, looking as if she were about to cry. Fred mimed a gag, while George pretended to die.
"Mum, you're not going to get all misty eyed on me again!" Ron exclaimed as George fell off his chair behind his mother. "Go cry at Harry, he's Quidditch captain you know!"
"Ron, if you don't see the difference between Head Boy and Quidditch captain, you need to be strangled," Fred said solemnly, while George shuddered from his current rather awkward position on the ground.
"Hey!" George said suddenly, "There's gum under here!" He was looking under the Weasley's kitchen table.
"Gum?" Mrs. Weasley echoed sounding horrified as Fred ducked down to have a look.
"Yeah!" George said, sitting up suddenly and banging his head on the table. He stood up, and Fred started laughing.
"What?" George asked, looking annoyed.
"The gum.it's in your hair!"
"WHAT!?" George exclaimed. Mrs. Weasley stood up and bent her son's head so she could see it.
"This isn't gum, dear," She said soothingly.
"Well, what is it?"
"It's that porridge I made last Tuesday-"
"Ugh, no wonder it was under the table," Ron muttered.
"What was that?" Mrs. Weasley said sharply.
"Uh, nothing I was just leaving." Ron said quickly getting up.
"Ron we are leaving in ten minutes! You have to catch your train. Ginny you had better go get dressed."
"Oh no." She said as she rushed up the stairs.
"Ron are your things all packed?"
"Not really, I'll get it in a minute," Ron said reading the newspaper.
"You only have nine minutes left!" Mrs. Weasley cried.
"Don't worry about it Mum,"
"Hey I think this is a piece of bacon from last year!" Fred said plucking it up from under the table leg.
"It is not!" Mrs. Weasley cried. Harry watched amused as they slid the fossilized piece of bacon onto Percy's plate.
He was reading a report for work and didn't notice when he picked it up. He took a bite and immediately spat it out. Fred, George, and Harry rolled with laughter.
"Mum! Are you a bit off this morning? I wasn't going to say anything about the coffee, but the bacon is terrible too!" This just caused everyone to laugh harder.
"My own son dares to accuse me of bad cooking?" She cried.
"Well, I normally wouldn't say anything but take a look at this bacon,"
"Fred and George Weasley!" She said rounding on the twins who were red in the face from laughing. Both tried to look innocent. She was about to yell but gave up at the last minute.
"Ron are you packed yet? You've got four minutes!"
"Four? That's plenty of time," He said nonchalantly.
"Ron! Get upstairs and get packed right now!" She screamed. Ron burst out laughing.
"Relax Mum. You always get so stressed out when you have to take us to the train station. I've already packed," He said.
"You mean to tell me you have been ready to go this whole time?" She said in shock. "Ronald Weasley I would beat you over the head if I weren't so tired," Ron breathed as she said the words 'if I weren't so tired'
"Luckily I've got my wand with me." She said and Ron ran from the room shouting something about going to see if Ginny was ready. The five of them cracked up.
At the train station Ron, Harry, and Ginny said a rushed good-bye and hurried on the train. Ron watched his family slowly move across his line of sight. *Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells-DAMN IT!*
* * *
The man's eyes moved past Kirsten and fell on Angie with an almost unbelievable shock. He didn't trust his eyes. He was sure that that woman was on the other side of the ocean.
"Remus?" Angie finally said in a shocked voice. And suddenly he knew his eyes weren't playing tricks. This was Angela Star. It was his turn to say 'oh my god' His mind was spinning in a sort of confused state trying to recall everything he had heard about her lately and figure out how she came to be here.
"I.I didn't know you were a professor," Remus blurted out putting all the confusing thoughts aside.
"What are you doing here?" Angie asked. Kirsten could see this conversation was going nowhere fast and while those two obviously knew each other Kirsten had yet to be introduced.
"Hi, I'm Kirsten Star," She said with a smile to knock any guy off his feet. Remus blinked and looked at her.
"Kirsten?" He echoed his expression changing. "This is Kirsten?" He asked Angie in a shock. "You were just a little baby-" *Oh great. Another person who knew me when I was a baby* Kirsten thought. *How many of these people can there be in the world?*
"I just came by to introduce myself to the new Languages professor, but I never expected." Remus said stepping inside.
"I didn't expect to be here either," Angie said truthfully.
"Well, I guess we're colleagues," He said. "I'm teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again. That is if a mob of parents doesn't throw me out first," He said.
"And why is that?" Angie asked with a frown.
"Well because of." He trailed off as he realized that she never knew what he was. "Because of." He searched his mind for something. It would absolutely mortifying for her to find out now. That must have been one of the years she went back to Beauxbatons.
"You can't be any worse of a professor than me," Angie interrupted mistaking him.
"Oh.yes, I suppose I can handle it," He agreed.
"Um.have a seat," Angie said offering up the little couch and Remus gratefully accepted.
"Angela, you look great," Remus said.
"Oh stop," She said sarcastically.
"No really," He said honestly. The last time any of them had seen her she was looking her worst right after her suicide attempt.
"You're sweeping me right off my feet," She said laughing.
"You know, I saw that Josh got that position in the ministry but I didn't really think about it."
"Oh, that has nothing to do with us coming here," Kirsten interrupted. She hated anyone thinking that her mother and father were still together.
"I'm divorced," Angie said.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Remus said. Angie laughed.
"Don't be. It's the best thing that happened to me for a long time,"
There was silence for a while. Then Angie shook her head. "Kirsten, this is Remus Lupin. I went to school with him. He's to be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
"Well, nice to meet you Professor. You are the last teacher I have to meet,"
"Well, do you have any questions for me?" Remus asked. Kirsten considered for a moment and her face suddenly lit up. If he knew Angie when she went to school than maybe he knew her after school and maybe, just maybe he knew her middle name.
"Do you know my middle name?" She said quickly.
"No!" Angie cried. "Remus, don't tell her." Remus frowned. How could a person not know their middle name and why in the world didn't Angie want her to know.
"I have no more of an idea what your middle name is than you do Kirsten," Remus replied confused. Angie seemed satisfied.
"How many times must I tell you, just leave it alone," Angie told her daughter. Kirsten gave her mother a look and shook her head. A sudden thought struck her. Maybe her other teachers, or Dumbledore had some idea. She would have to remember to ask later.
Just then there was another knock at the door. Angie and Kirsten exchanged equal looks of confusion. Angie opened the door and smiled as she saw Sierra and Hermione.
"Remus!" Sierra cried as he rose to greet them. "Don't tell me you're teaching Defense this year?"
"Lupin!" Hermione cried with a huge smile.
"Hermione! Are you Head Girl? I'm not surprised."
"Thank you professor," Hermione said. "Hi," She said shortly to Kirsten.
"Well," Sierra said. "I was just coming to tell you that Dumbledore scheduled the faculty meeting for 3:30PM."
"Yes, I need to speak to him beforehand," Remus said. "I think I'll go do that now. See you around."
"So how are you holding up?" Sierra asked her friend.
"I think I'm going to be OK," Angie said.
"Good,"
"Have you been to your classroom yet? I want to see it," Sierra said enthusiastically. Angie noted that Sierra seemed much more comfortable and relaxed today. She was wearing the standard black robes and her hair was down.
"Come on, I'll show you," Angie said grabbing her keys. "I'll just be a minute Kirsten, maybe Hermione can show you around a little more," Hermione smiled at the professor though it was not what she was looking forward to.
"So, have you been sorted?" Hermione asked as the two set off.
"Yes, I'm in Gryffindor,"
"Oh," Hermione said, sort of disappointed. "So am I. So, have you seen the dorms?"
"Yes, actually. I was hoping you could show me where Herbology is,"
"Oh sure, it's outside. I'll take you to meet Hagrid too. He's the gamekeeper," Hermione babbled on for most of the time. She was rather excited to be back to school as Head Girl and for her final year. And not even Kirsten could make her feel unhappy.
~*~
They all (Remus, Sierra, Angie, Kirsten, and Hermione) all met up for tea in Angie's dorm later. They all chatted mostly about Angie and what she had been doing for the past sixteen years and the extremely boring faculty meeting.
Hermione, finally getting bored of talking about the school glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost time for the train to arrive. "Everyone should be here soon!" She cried interrupting everyone.
"Oh, you're right," Sierra said standing up. "I'm supposed to be in the great hall to supervise when everyone comes in," she said. "I'm sorry I can't help clean up, I need to get going."
"Here, let me get that," Remus said reaching for the tea cups.
"Don't worry about it, I'll get it later. Let's go down,"
"Sure," He replied offering his arm.
"Such a gentleman," She said with a laugh as she took the proffered arm. Hermione and Kirsten followed closely behind. When they reached the top of the final staircase Angie stopped.
There was a mass of black below which were the students entering the great hall. Hermione and Kirsten stood at the very top looking down. Hermione's eyes scanned the students and she started recognizing students. She saw Ginny and was about to go and greet her until she realized whose arm she held on to: Draco Malfoy's.
"Are you OK?" Remus asked as Angie gripped the railing.
"I just need a moment," She said. "This is the biggest thing I've done for.a long time." She said. "I know you don't understand. It's just.I haven't been back for all those years and now."
"Too much too fast?" Remus asked.
"Sort of, but I think I'll be OK,"
"It's OK, I understand," He said as they stood and watched the students.
Suddenly Hermione saw another shock of red hair and she immediately recognized Ron. He was taller than everyone else and he was easily making his way through the students. She rushed down the stairs leaving Remus, Angie, and Kirsten to watch.
"Ron!" She called to him as she reached the bottom step. His eyes immediately found her out and he grinned. She quickly made her way through the crowd and gave him a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks. "A summer is way too long!" She exclaimed. Ron agreed. "Hey, where's Harry?" Hermione asked immediately noting his absence.
Ron just laughed. "When we got off the train Harry had a few people who REALLY wanted to talk to him,"
"Reporters." Hermione said. It wasn't a question.
"I left him to it. I really didn't feel like seeing my picture in the next issue of Teen Witch Weekly," Ron said with a laugh.
"Poor Harry though. I hope they don't attack Lisa too, I suppose she's with him, isn't she?"
"Lisa? Lisa Turpin? Haven't you heard this Hermione? They broke up almost two months ago,"
"What? Why?"
Ron shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't dump her,"
"Well why didn't anyone tell me? I'm extremely annoyed," Hermione informed him.
"I think you were in France at the time,"
"Yeah, and you know what, I could have sworn I saw S-well, you know, Him everywhere after those headlines. He had me going crazy with nervousness for a while there. Speaking of.that, I heard the last week has been a little less than routine at your house."
"You could say that again. But we'll talk later," Ron said glancing at people on either side of him.
"OK," Hermione agreed. "Let's go get a seat,"
~*~
Kirsten watched from above. She was plagued with nervousness as she looked down on the hundreds of students. Sure, the hat had declared her a Gryffindor and she had been accepted into the school, but she still had to meet the people. They had to accept her. And even though there was no language barrier she felt like a foreigner.
Then there was always the Harry Potter factor.
Her stomach knotted. In a few moments she would meet him live and in person. This may have been a dream come true, but she hadn't lived through it yet to see if it was a nightmare.
Kirsten hadn't seen him yet but Harry hurriedly walked inside. He looked very bedraggled and as he immediately saw professor Lupin he gladly dashed up the stairs to get away from all those people.
He reached them straightening his robes and trying to flatten his hair. "Rough weather?" Remus asked him upon his arrival.
"Worse, reporters," Harry said extremely annoyed. Kirsten was staring open mouthed and Angie had not yet looked upon the face of the only heir of Lily and James Potter.
Remus frowned. "Well, the rest of your evening should make up for that."
"Yes, well, how are you Professor? I never expected to see you here. You are teaching Defense, right?"
"Of course,"
"Great!" Harry said enthusiastically. He then noticed Angie and Kirsten and gave them a cursory look. He turned back to Remus and then did a double take. He suddenly recognized that girl. This was the Kirsten Star who had written that strange letter and sent her picture.
"Are you.Kirsten?" Harry asked. Kirsten quickly drew in her breath. Normally, she was a confident, outgoing young person, but she suddenly found herself nervous and at a loss. She mumbled 'hm-mmm' and Harry smiled warmly.
"Well, then," He said turning to Angie. "You must be Professor Star," He said shaking her hand enthusiastically. "Good to meet you. I look forward to your class first thing tomorrow morning,"
"Kirsten has the same class," Remus said.
"Are you in Gryffindor then?" Harry asked. "Fabulous!" He said without waiting for a reply. "We should go get a seat before the sorting starts. Come on, you can sit with my friends. Talk to you later!" Harry said and quickly set off down the stairs with Kirsten nervously following behind.
As Harry led Kirsten through the great hall he kept her occupied with many questions. He was really curious about this girl and she was starting to relax. She realized he was just a regular guy. with a smile that would melt iron.
"So, you're from the United States of America?"
"Yes," She said excitedly. She was walking next to Harry Potter!
"You've never been to Europe before?" Harry asked.
"Oh sure, but not since my parents got divorced,"
"Your parents are divorced? Sorry," Harry said.
"No big deal, my dad and I aren't exactly close."
"Hey Harry!" A fairly pretty Ravenclaw called to him. He grinned at her. Several others stared after the pair of them with mild curiosity.
"Harry, you head boy?" Someone else asked leaning out from the row of students at the table.
"No, it's Ron Weasley!" He called. He began shouting greetings and waving to people and explaining to Kirsten who each one was.
"Do you play quidditch?" Being the quidditch captain for Gryffindor Harry just had to ask her.
"I've played Chaser before but in America we play Quad-pods."
"Well, you can come to tryouts anyway. I'm Quidditch captain."
"Oh, OK," Kirsten said beaming. She couldn't believe the luck she was having. Not only was she being accepted but she was being accepted by Harry Potter himself!
"It's the quidditch captain himself!" Seamus called out. "How was your summer Harry?"
"The train ride was the best part!" Harry called with a laugh. Suddenly Kirsten saw a red head a brunette talking to each other. She immediately concluded that the red head was Ronald Weasley. She had read about him. The brunette's hair bounced as she talked to Ron.
And that must be Hermione Granger. She was particularly interested in how Harry and Hermione greeted each other.
Ron's eyes shifted and he spotted Harry. Hermione turned and stood following Ron's gaze.
Kirsten abruptly stopped. It was impossible. How could she have been so STUPID!?!?!
Harry had stopped two feet in front of her and looked oddly back at her. "Are you OK?" He asked. Kirsten's mind was racing and she was blazing mad at herself. She saw no point in letting on, however.
"Oh.yeah," She said shaking herself. "Sorry." And with an odd look from Harry they started walking again.
Kirsten mentally envisioned whacking herself over the head for being so obviously dumb. Now she couldn't imagine how in the world she could have missed it? How could she not have put it to together.?
"This is my friend, Ron Weasley and this is Hermione Granger," Harry was saying. "Guys, this is Kirsten Star."
Hermione's jaw dropped with such force and speed it hurt. How could she have been so stupid, so incompetent? How could she not have put it together? Hermione was mentally envisioning herself banging her head against a book. In the middle of her mental punishment Hermione remembered to close her mouth.
Ron took Kirsten's hand and was about to greet her when he suddenly swore loudly and called her something that will not be repeated. Harry, Hermione and Kirsten were all shocked.
"Excuse me?" Kirsten said sharply.
"Oh no!" Ron cried realizing he was shaking her hand. "Not you! I just saw my sister with her boyfriend, and well, hm," Ron stopped frustrated not really knowing how to explain. "I'm sorry, I wasn't talking to you. Really, it's a pleasure to meet you. It's really good to see a fresh face." Ron continued to compliment her as her helped her into a seat.
He grimaced at Harry. "Malfoy is going to die," He said out of the corner of his mouth to Harry as he glanced at Slytherin where Draco and Ginny were laughing pleasantly. The sight made them all sick.
In the meantime Kirsten and Hermione both could not believe their mistakes. Kirsten had never thought to associate Sierra's daughter Hermione with Harry's friend and Hermione had never thought to associate Kirsten from the US, with the annoying girl who was writing to Harry.
"Nice to see you again, Hermione," Kirsten said.
"Yes, likewise," Hermione said with a rather forced smile.
"You two previously know each other?" Ron asked.
"Yes, we've met." Hermione said with a laugh. "But that's a long story," They both agreed. "I saved a seat for you Harry," Hermione said.
"Oh, I think I'll sit here," Harry said not paying attention to her as he sat down next to Kirsten and started to talk to her again. Kirsten smirked at Hermione who was giving her a murderous look.
* * *
Angie remained speechless for a few moments after Harry and Kirsten had gone. "Are you OK?" Remus asked with a concerned look.
"No," She said. "I don't think I can do this."
"What are you talking about?" Remus asked.
"I just can't handle it, Remus. Doesn't it bother you? Seeing Harry? I mean, don't you agonize over Lily and James every time you look at him?"
"Just put it out of your mind. There is no way to side-step it. What happened happened and that's all there is to it. But that's no reason to turn away." He told her.
"You don't understand!" Angie cried becoming panic-stricken. "I've spent years distancing myself from this! I've spent so much time trying to forget about it. You know what happened when.when." She was, of course, referring to her suicidal days.
"Angela!" Remus said sternly. "There will be no more talk like that. I realize that this must be a huge thing for you, but can't give up that easily.
"If you face your past maybe you can move past it. Otherwise, it will haunt you for the rest of your life," He sighed. "I know it's not easy. But what else is there to do? You have to look out for Kirsten. You have a job to do and classes to teach tomorrow.
"But I know you, Angela, and if you are the same person you were two decades ago, then you would not walk out that door. You could have handled it." Angie forced a smile.
"That's better," Remus said. "Look, I'll always be here if you need to talk. And Sierra is too. We're just glad you're back," He said. This time she really did smile, her brief moment of relapse passing, for now.
"And if mental toughness isn't enough, I've got a large bottle of brandy in my office," He added with a grin. She laughed.
"Thank you Remus,"
"What are friends for? Now come on, show Hogwarts your best," He said linking arms with her and leading her into the great hall.
~*~
After the sorting ceremony several people tried to engage Angie in conversation. She was getting sort of bored with the conversation and started to focus her attention other places. Her eyes fell on her daughter, who was blending perfectly with the Gryffindors. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were talking to her but Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Colin Creevey, Dennis Creevey and several other boys had noticed her presence. And she wasn't totally unaware of their eyes either.
"I can't believe she's going to sit with him the entire night!" Ron grumbled as he carelessly spooned out mashed potatoes causing them to land half-way on the plate and half-way off.
"Ron," Hermione said rolling her eyes. "The point of the plate is to put the food on it." She said helping to clean it up while he continued grumbling about Ginny. "If it bothers you so much why don't you tell her?"
"I have told her. I've tried to tell her, many times. But it does not work. She always gets all hysterical on me and starts going on about Malfoy like he's a person or something. I just don't know where we went wrong with her. I mean, she was put in Gryffindor-"
"RON!" Hermione shouted suddenly interrupting most conversation around them. Kirsten's eyes flashed as Harry was distracted from their conversation. "What is that and why didn't you tell me?" She was still shouting and pointing at Ron's shiny head boy badge positioned on his chest.
"Oh that," He said softly, his cheeks reddening.
"Yes, that. I apparently need a major update on your life!" She said. "First Harry doesn't tell me about this major break-up. You don't tell me about being head boy, when I asked you, for Merlin's sake! You guys are not telling me anything anymore!"
"Calm down," Harry said. "He didn't even tell his parents, he didn't even tell ME!"
"Why not?" Hermione demanded.
"Because I didn't want everybody acting exactly the way you are,"
"The only reason we found out is that Malfoy knew, told Ginny, which was overheard by---oh, um, well, it's not really important," Harry finished lamely after he was kicked under the table by Ron.
"I still can't believe you wouldn't tell me," Hermione said. "That is a big thing. It's a great accomplishment,"
"Hermione, could you please stop making a scene?" Ron said softly as he glanced at some Ravenclaws nearby who kept looking their direction.
"Fine. I won't say anymore about it."
"So, is that some kind of huge thing around here?" Kirsten asked. "I see this head boy thing and this head girl thing and prefects."
"Yes, those are your authority figures. They tell you what to do and they can take points away for rule breaking," Hermione said with a look at Kirsten.
"Sounds like a teacher's assistant or something to me," She said.
"Well, the professors need extra people to help with those who don't care, like you," The conversation would have progressively gotten nastier had Harry not distracted Kirsten by asking about Quad-pods.
Kirsten was a natural born beauty and what was worse, she knew it. It kind of went to her head. She always made sure she looked her best and she wasn't exactly an amateur at flirting. And she was laying all her moves on Harry. However, they feel on blind eyes. He just wasn't interested, and while he enjoyed discussing things with her, a romantic thought had not entered his mind.
~*~
"So, Angela, what did you do over in America?" Professor McGonagall asked her. It was the same sort of question she'd been getting all night.
"I worked for a muggle law firm. I was a secretary. I wrote all sorts of documents. I got paid to make things sound complicated."
"Muggle? I bet that was interesting,"
"Well, the pay was good, so that kept it from bothering me. I would just exchange the money.but I suppose it was interesting. Of course, they thought I could work so fast! I was very careful about using my magic, but I did full off a few things they would consider spectacular. My boss was hilarious. He just couldn't understand how I managed to do so many things at once.
"Little did he know that his coffee machine was powered by magic and the creamer was poured by magic, it was stirred by magic, and all the while I took care of phone messages.
"Ah well, muggles, you have to love them." Angie forced a smile that she had been forcing since the third time she told this an hour ago.
She leaned toward Remus and said to him in an undertone. "I think I'll take you up on that brandy later." Remus laughed out loud and Professor Flitwick had given him a look.
At the end of the meal all listened as Dumbledore introduced the new professors and Kirsten. She blushed slightly but smiled big and made sure to look around at as many people as possible.
Dumbledore reminded everybody of the rules and asked the prefects and head boy and girl to help lead students to their dormitories.
"Harry, can I follow you to our dorm? I don't really know where I'm going," Kirsten said with a big smile.
"Sure," He said. Kirsten smirked at Hermione as they walked out of the great hall together.
* * *
Hermione and Ron led the way up to Gryffindor tower equipped with the password. "I need to talk to you and Harry later. Meet me downstairs with the invisibility cloak in half an hour," Hermione said to Ron out of the corner of her mouth. Ron really did not want to talk to Hermione at this hour but there was no way around it.
Half hour later, the boys came out of their dormitory and nearly jumped as they ran into Hermione on the way down. "Shut up!" She hissed. "There are still two people downstairs, but I don't think they'll notice us under the invisibility cloak."
The three of them walked as quickly as possible out of the common room and ended up in a corridor they didn't all together recognize. "I'm sure I've been here before." Ron said puzzling.
"It doesn't matter. In here," Hermione said opening a door and entering into a rather large classroom. "I've never been in here before," Harry remarked.
"Neither have I,"
"That's because it's the languages classroom." Hermione said pointing to the chalkboard which read: Professor Star, Magical Linguistics. "We should have no trouble finding this in the morning," She added.
"Hermione, what is this all about?" Harry asked.
"I want to know what's been going on with Sirius. We couldn't really talk at dinner and since no one has bothered to owl me,"
"I owled you twice!" Ron exclaimed.
"Yes, well, you did a very poor job of describing the situation,"
"Look, he showed up because he got hurt. It seems he had a close encounter with professor Lupin. He was pretty sick for a while and he still had a little bit of a limp when he left-"
"This is really encouraging Ron," Hermione said sarcastically.
"I'm just trying to tell you what happened. He did get his hair cut, and let me tell you, he needed it. He looks SO much better. Doesn't he Harry?" Harry nodded.
"This is not what I'm talking about. I don't care about this kind of stuff. I care about how you explained to most of your family about Sirius and you said something about Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer,"
"Oh that," Ron said. "You don't have to worry, it was close-"
"Too close," Another voice said. Suddenly the three of them stopped and looked guiltily towards the door. "Naughty, naughty, students out of bed, and after midnight. What am I going to do with you?"
* * *
"I suppose it's a little late for brandy," Remus said as he led Angie out the great hall. "Tomorrow maybe," Angie was silent. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I guess." Angie said uncertainly. "I just don't know what I'm doing here,"
"You don't want to be here?"
"Truthfully? No, I'd rather be back in the States. Far from this.place,"
"How can you feel at home over there? I mean, they talk funny," Angie laughed.
"You know, I actually lost the accent for several years."
"No!" Remus cried dramatically. "Have you lost all nationalism?"
"It was easier to sound like everyone else. As you can see, I adjusted when I came back,"
"Well, Ms. Star, if that's what you're going by these days. I'm glad you came back. And I hope that tomorrow will change your mind about coming here." Angie remained silent as they came to a stop in front of her door.
"You're a good friend Remus. A really good friend."
"Well, I try," He said with a smile. "Hey cheer up. It can't be that bad," He said looking at her golden hair and soft blue eyes, those red lips. "Good night Angela," He said just before their lips met. He quickly pulled back. "I.I don't know what came over me, I just-"
"Good night Remus," She said cutting him off with a smile. Without another word she turned and went inside leaving him sort of shocked out in the hall.
* * *
"Sirius!" The three of them hissed as the dark form took on an appearance. And the three of them jumped in with questions.
"SLOW DOWN!" He roared over the three. "I am perfectly fine, except that I could do with a shave and a shower would definitely NOT hurt. I will not get caught, unless you do, in which case we are ALL screwed, I've been around and I came here because it used to be an unused classroom, apparently not anymore. But, what is new with all of you?" All three of them started talking at once again. "Well, obviously, you are not tired." He added sarcastically.
"What happened with the head of the IAA?" Hermione asked as the other two silenced.
"Mr. Weasley came in and he was pretty quick to throw the floo on the fire. Ron hexed him but it was a little too late. I turned into a dog and Molly glazed the whole thing over. It could have been a big deal, but luckily, it's not,"
"Sirius.I saw the papers. I was in France at the time, you know,"
"You didn't try to come look for me did you?" He asked visibly paling.
"I would liked to have tried, but since I was job shadowing at the time, I couldn't really get away,"
"It's a bloody good thing too," He said severely. "I was on some particularly nasty business and I would not have wanted you to witness anything or get in any kind of danger,"
"Danger? What were you doing?"
"Something I have been working on for two or three years now. Don't worry about it," Hermione was about to protest. "I mean it." He added sharply running his fingers over his growing goatee.
"I'll get a razor!" Ron said whipping out his wand. He could see that the conversation needed a change.
"NO!" Sirius cried. "As much as I would love that I don't think it would be the best thing for Filch to see a razor floating down the hall,"
"I guess you're right," Ron said. "But next time if you'll just let us know when you're going to scare the hell out of us then I could bring one with me,"
"I play things by ear,"
"Well then, you're just going to have to grow a beard,"
"Yeah, I was afraid of that," Sirius said. Suddenly, a woman's high pitched scream of terror rang through the halls and sent the four of them jumping with shock.
Sirius instantly pressed himself into the shadows against the wall. The other three stood frozen as voices could be heard nearby.
* * *
A/N: Another chapter comes to an end. I tried to write this one as quickly as possible since my Christmas break is ending and I have to go back to school. This one was shorter than usual, but I don't really intend on making the chapters as long as they have been. This brings us one step closer to Halloween! Halloween has one of my favorite scenes in this whole book in it! I've been planning it since the middle of The Last Laugh.
But anyway, I wanted to take the time right now to FINALLY thank you all who have reviewed. I kept saying that I was going to do that from The Last Laugh, and I never did. I'm really, really, sorry.
So, anyway, I think I'll just list all of you who reviewed so far for Awakening and just make the necessary comments!
Ax: As always your reviews are really great. I was wondering where you were at because, well, you always read and reviewed so promptly before and you did such a good job. Everyone loves it when they're complimented!! And I have to agree; the more I screw up everyone's life the more fun I have writing the story!!! Lol. Well, anyway, hopefully you'll get the e-mail for this update this time. Thanks for sticking with me!
HPdreamer15: Well, at the time I am writing this little thank-you thing I haven't had time to read your story yet, but I will. I did however, read the little summary and that is a really awesome summary. It makes you wanting more. You want to know the truth. Ok, my little bit is over now. And I like the title.
Agent Kiwi Snoop: I like your reviews. You comment on like everything! Hopefully the next chapter I will get some more things explained.like why Hermione is adopted. Yeah, well, thanks for the reviews!
Erica The Flying Tree aka Miss Flyin Tree: Well, I updated, I'm glad you love it and I have no idea what you think you figured out, but good job if you did figure something out. Your review cracked me up!
Hazelmist: You have been with me for a long time now and I thank you for all your continued support. I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you!
Sabre Black: As always, I appreciate your support and opinions!
Ltnikki: Thanks for e-mailing! I hope you like the chapter and sorry to disappoint you. It wasn't Sirius at the door, but trust me, they will meet.
Libertygrl413: I always love your reviews and I really thank you for reading and reviewing throughout this story (so far) and the last one. One day I will probably come back to dreams..thanks again!
Animegirl: I'm sorry that you cried, but I suppose that was the intended effect for the end of The Last Laugh. Thanks for your reviews!
Britz: I have to tell you I really am loving A Novus Vita. Thank you very much for all your input for this story and TLL, it's appreciated very much! Can't wait until I can get to the third chapter of ANV. Talk to you later!
Lily Lupin: I really liked your Christmas Carols and your poem when I read them the other night. You've got some talent. Well, anyway, thanks for the reviews!
EaRtHaNgEl831: Thanks for the reviewing and I plan to mess with relationships a little bit in this story. Lol.
Buckbeakbabie: As always, I really appreciate your reviews. I appreciate you sticking around and e-mailing as well. I know your theory is not going to go away. I guess you're just stubborn like that. Lol.
Harmony Slytherin: Well, thanks for the outrageously hilarious and long reviews. Appreciated very much and I hope you enjoyed your review for Never Turn Back. I'll get the rest read later. You know, I think it actually takes me longer to review than it does to read the chapter. That's pathetic. Lol. I know what you mean by you feel like you're reviewing your own things. You did write like two whole pages of this chapter! Lol.
*Cough!* Star*dust *Cough*: Well, that was an interesting review including the reviewer's name. Well thanks for it and I hope you can continue with the story soon. I can't believe I'm behind in "Eyes." you really need to send that to me so that I can read it. I feel horrible. And I also need to insert in your profile don't I? Oh great.that should be interesting.
SilverPhoenixWings: Thank you extremely much for reviewing, as always. I very much enjoyed the first chapter of Indigo Fire. I will get back to it soon! By the way, has Harmony sent you a letter yet? I swear to you she has one. I've seen it and everything.now if she ever gets a stamp.
hp_4ashley2000@hotmail.com: I'm sorry I don't know your penname. but anyway, thank you for the reviews. I posted in a relatively short amount of time for me. I hope you enjoy!
Chelsey: Thanks for the review. I hope you like the story.
If I forgot anybody: FLAME ME!
Next chapter: Classes.letters.Kirsten and Hermione competitions.Angie and Remus.Angie and Sirius.dreams.interesting conversations.am I missing anything? Survey says: Probably. This stuff probably doesn't make much sense to you. Sorry, it's the best I can do.
~Star*dust