A/N: Well, I'm sure you've all heard the very exciting news about the publication of book six at this point, and I'm sure you're just as thrilled as I am! It's made me even more determined to finish this story before it becomes AU, so you should be seeing quite a few rapid updates for the next month . . . and maybe even after that!

As for this chapter . . . all you fans of Remus and Laura, enjoy!

I don't own Harry Potter.

Dreams and Nightmares

And yes some dreams come true,

And yes some dreams fall through . . .

Belle, A Muppet Christmas Carol

James drew a deep breath as he left his office. This was it. With the ring of the bell, his seventh year NEWT class would begin.

He walked into the classroom as the bell was ringing. His students – twenty of them – were already seated at their desks. They had their book and quills out, and were chatting amongst themselves.

"Good morning," James said as he shut the door.

"Good morning," the students replied. They lapsed into silence.

He walked to the front of the room, his "game face" securely in place. It was the face he had always won when disciplining students during his days as Head Boy – the face that made it clear that he was the one in charge, and that he would not tolerate being spoken to with anything but respect.

"I am Professor Potter, and this is NEWT level Defense Against the Dark Arts," he said. He glanced around the room. "I think I know most of you already, but let's be sure." He picked up his class list, and began taking role.

The students were respectfully quiet as he went over their names. He had been right about remembering them – there were only three students whose names he had forgotten. His class held ten Ravenclaws, five Gryffindors, three Slytherins and two Hufflepuffs. He wasn't surprised by the skewed numbers; all the NEWT level classes were always Ravenclaw-heavy.

"Right," he said once he had placed the roster back on his desk. "Before we begin, I want you to understand that this year will be a bit different than your other Defense classes. We are going to focus completely on fighting dark magic. I know that you have done some work with this in the past, but this year will take your abilities to a new level."

A hand went up to his left. James nodded at Jacob Kent, a Ravenclaw that he remembered as being particularly studious.

"Yes?"

"How will this affect our chances to do well on our NEWTs?"

"It will only increase them," James assured him. "Nearly every spell, charm and counterjinx that you learn this year will show up on the NEWTs. And even more than doing well on your exams, you'll be better prepared to defend yourself once you've graduated from Hogwarts, which is perhaps the most important thing of all."

The students all nodded. They were aware of the events taking place in their world. Many of them had already lost loved ones to the war. Judging by the fires burning in their eyes, they were ready to help in the battle efforts – on which side, James wasn't sure. He didn't want to know. He merely wanted to prepare them for what they would encounter in the future.

"You should all know before we begin that this is not going to be an easy class," James stated. "You will do your homework and required readings. You will come to class prepared, and you will participate. You will achieve top marks on all your assignments. If you fall behind, you will work incredibly hard to catch up. I will not go slowly to coddle you. We have a lot of material to cover, and we need to finish it before your NEWTs in the spring. If you feel that you can't keep up, there is the door. Go ahead and leave now."

No one moved. The twenty teenagers stared at him with wide eyes. Professor Prewett had never threatened them with difficult work like this.

"Today, we're going to assess your abilities," James continued. "I want to see where you are in this realm of defense. So, one by one, you are going to come to the center of the room. I am going to try to hex you – and you are going to defend yourselves."

A collective gasp ran through the room. A girl in the center of the room looked terrified.

"Isn't that illegal?" she gasped.

"No," James smiled. "I'm not planning to use Unforgivable Curses on you. I'm actually not going to use anything that could do any lasting damage. Besides, you've been studying advanced Defense for a year already. You should be able to defend yourselves, right?"

"Of course we can," a Slytherin sneered. "He's just trying to scare you, Patti."

"And you, Mr. Malfoy, can be my first victim," James smiled, trying to keep his tone light. He wanted desperately to make this one squirm, if only for the reason that he was the younger brother of Narcissa's husband. If only Sirius could see this . . . James quickly stopped that thought. If Sirius were in the class, he wouldn't go nearly as easy on this cocky young man as James was about to.

Elton Malfoy nearly swaggered as he stepped into the middle of the room. James shook his head.

"You seem rather confident, Mr. Malfoy," he said.

"I'm not worried," Malfoy replied easily.

"That's good," James said. "It's a good idea not to be too worried, but I think a healthy amount of fear can be a good thing."

Elton laughed. "I'm not afraid of you, Professor Potter. If you hurt us, you'll be fired."

James smiled. "Have you spoken with Professor Dumbledore about this, then?"

"I don't need to," Elton replied. "I mean, we all know how it works. If a teacher –"

He was suddenly silenced as James hit him with a jelly-legs jinx. The other students gasped, then began to laugh. James removed the jinx, and gave Elton a hard look.

"Don't be over-confident," he said.

"You didn't warn me!" Elton exclaimed. "I didn't know – I wasn't ready!"

"Do you think for a minute that the person you're dueling in battle is going to wait for you to be ready?" James asked incredulously. "We're preparing for war, ladies and gentlemen, not a classroom drill. I am not going to let you know when I'm going to hex you, I'm just going to do it. You need to be ready, and you need to deflect anything that I throw at you. Now, Mr. Malfoy, let's try this again."

An hour later, the bell rang. James smiled at his class.

"Well done, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "We'll work more on deflecting unfriendly spells next time. For homework, please read the chapter in your book on basic deflection spells."

"Do we need to give you a summary?" one of the Ravenclaw girls asked.

James looked at her in surprise. "No," he said. "We'll work with it in class. I trust that you will read it. If you don't, you'll be lost next time."

The Ravenclaws immediately wrote the homework in their planners. James grinned.

"I'll see you on Thursday, everyone."

He walked back to his office, still smiling. That had gone rather well – and he had been able to nearly humiliate a Malfoy. He was going to like teaching the NEWT students.

Sirius Apparated into Olivia's flat with a crack. He looked around the empty living room with a slight frown.

"Liv?" he called.

"In here!"

He followed the sound of her voice to her bedroom, where she was curling her hair in front of the mirror. He smiled, and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"Hey, love."

She gave him a slightly strained smile. "Hey."

Sirius wanted to sigh. Apparently, things had not managed to work themselves out. He decided to try again for a civil conversation. "So, after we find Remus and Laura's present, do you want to go out for dinner?"

Olivia looked at him in the mirror for a moment, then put down the wand she had been using to curl her hair. "Sirius, what are we doing?"

Sirius frowned. "We're going to find a wedding present for Emus and Laura. After that, we're potentially going out for dinner. That part is only if you want to."

"No, I don't mean right now." She turned to face him. "I mean, what about us? Our relationship? Where is it going?"

Sirius looked at her blankly. "We're together, Liv. We're a couple. We love one another. What more do we need?"

"What more do we need?" Olivia exploded. "Is this what you're content with, Sirius? Just being my boyfriend?"

In spite of his confusion, Sirius was trilled that she was yelling at him. They were finally going to be able to get everything out in the open. Besides, there was something about the fire that snapped in her eyes and the color that rushed to her cheeks that he absolutely loved.

"I love being your boyfriend, Liv," he said slowly. "And I love that you're my girlfriend."

"Sirius. We've been dating since seventh year. Don't you think it's time that we moved on? Don't you think it's time that we at least talked about marriage?"

Sirius choked. "Marriage?" he squeaked. "You want to get married?"

"Don't you?"

"Yeah – someday. But we're way too young!"

"Oh, are we really? Is that why all our friends are getting married? Because we're too young?"

"We aren't our friends, Liv," Sirius said, trying to keep his temper in check.

"No," Olivia conceded, "no, we're not our friends. But I think that we love each other as much as Lily and James love one another, or as much as Laura and Remus love one another. I thought . . ."

"You thought what?"

"That we were headed for marriage," she said simply, shrugging her shoulders. "If I didn't think you were the man I would marry, why would I waste my time with you now?"

"Is that what this is to you?" Sirius yelled, completely losing control of his temper. "Is this whole relationship just a waste of time to you?"

"Sirius, that's not what I meant!"

"Well, that's what it sounded like!"

Olivia's eyes began to snap fire again. "Well, you would be the expert at wasting time in relationships, wouldn't you? You ran through more girlfriends in a month at Hogwarts than most people do in a lifetime!"

"You criticize me for my dating habits after you dated my best friend, knowing full well that he was in love with your best friend?"

Olivia flinched. "James and I have been over for years, Sirius. And I never loved him – not the way that I love you."

"I love you, too, Liv," Sirius said. "It's just . . . I'm not ready to be married. Can't you understand that?"

"No," Olivia said coldly. "No, Sirius, I can't. I love you, and I want to marry you. I don't understand how you can say you love me, yet not want to marry me."

"I never said that I don't want to marry you," Sirius said, an icy edge creeping into his voice. "I just said that I don't want to now. I don't see why you can't respect my wishes."

"And I don't see why you can't respect mine!"

Sirius slammed his open palm down on her dresser. "Damn it, Olivia!"

"Don't talk to me that way!" Olivia spat.

"Fine," Sirius said coldly. "I think we're through talking for now anyway. Good night."

"Sirius!" Olivia yelled.

But it was too late. He was gone.

James stared at the stack of essays on his desk. They were three feet of parchment each, except for the one that had been handed in by the over-achieving student who had written more. He sighed as he picked up the first one. He really needed to start assigning shorter essays.

A rapid knock sounded on his door. He looked at it blankly for a moment, trying to remember if he had an appointment with a student.

"Come in," he called.

The door opened, revealing Sirius. James looked at him in confusion.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, that's a nice way to greet your best mate."

James grinned. "Sorry. Let me try again." He cleared his throat. "Sirius, mate, how good of you to drop by!"

"You're a prat, Potter," Sirius grinned. He sat down across the desk from James. "My God, James, how long are those essays?"

"Three feet," James replied with a grimace. "I have no one to blame but myself."

"That's the truth."

James looked at his friend intently for a moment. "Why are you here, Sirius?" he asked. "I mean, it's great to see you, but this is really unusual. Even when I worked in the Ministry, you rarely came to see me."

Sirius sighed, and ran his hands over his face. "I came straight from Olivia's flat."

James glanced at his watch. "Yeah, shouldn't you be shopping for a wedding present right now?"

"We never made it," Sirius replied. "We had quite the argument."

"What was it about?"

"She wants to get married, James."

James's eyes widened. "She said that?"

"Oh, yeah."

"And what did you say?"

"That we're too young. But you and Remus ruined that one for me. Couldn't you have waited a bit longer before marrying Lily?"

James grinned. "Not a chance. Not even for you, Padfoot."

"Well, she threw you and Lily up to me, believe me. So, I said that we aren't you and Lily, or Remus and Laura. I said that I wasn't ready for marriage."

"How did she take that?"

"The opposite of well," Sirius said dryly.

"Where did you leave things?"

"A mess," Sirius admitted. "Nothing is resolved, and neither of us is about to give in." He shook his head. "I love this girl, James. I don't want to lose her."

"Not to take her side, but if you love her and want to be with her, why not marry her?"

"For the same reason I told her – I'm not ready. It's true. I'm not read to be a husband. It would be awful – our marriage would fall apart before it even started. We're far better off dating."

"But she doesn't agree with you?"

Sirius shook his head. "What should I do, James?"

"Make up fast," James advised. "Remus's wedding is in a week, and you don't want to come to that fighting."

A ghost of a grin flitted across Sirius's face. "At this point, I'll be lucky to show up with a present."

"Does she need help?"

Lily shook her head as she stepped out of the church's bridal room, closing the door behind her. "She has her mother and her sisters helping."

Olivia smoothed the deep blue satin of her skirt over her hip. "Why did she need us here so early again?"

"We're bridesmaids," Lily laughed. "It's our job to be here early."

"Where's Dana?"

"She went to give her purse to Aidan."

Olivia nodded. "Should we go back inside?"

"Let's give them a few minutes to make sure she's dressed,' Lily grinned. "They're going to need maneuvering room to get that gown on her!"

Olivia grinned. "I think it's even bigger than yours was!"

"Hey! I thought you loved my wedding gown!"

"Oh, I did. I'm just saying that it was a lot of dress."

Lily shook her head. "Are you saying you won't have much dress when you get married?"

Olivia bit her lower lip. "You say that like I'm getting married."

"Oh, Liv . . ."

Olivia shook her head. "Sirius doesn't want to marry me, Lils."

"That's not quite right," Lily contradicted. "He said he's just not ready to get married now."

"I don't see the difference."

"It's a huge difference! He does want to marry you, Liv, just not yet."

"Well, he could at least ask me to marry him! Then we'd be a bit closer. It could be a long engagement."

"Engagements can be broken, you know," Lily said softly. "Just because you're engaged doesn't mean you're going to get married. And, for as long as you two have been together and as much as you love one another, I'd say you're pretty close right now."

Olivia looked at her with sorrow written plainly on her face. "I don't know, Lils. Everything's so confused right now."

Lily opened her mouth to ask Olivia what she meant, but was cut off as a pair of arms encircled her from behind. She smiled at Olivia, and leaned against her captor's chest.

"Hi, James."

"How did you know it was me?" James asked, turning her around to face him.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Who else does things like that to me?" She smiled. "You look fantastic in that tux."

"You look quite gorgeous yourself, love."

Olivia grinned mischievously. "I'm wearing the same dress as she is, James. Do I look gorgeous, too?"

James laughed. "Of course you do."

Lily looked up at James with a smile. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but shouldn't you be keeping Remus calm right now?"

"Sirius is on it," James said easily. "To be honest, I'm supposed to be looking for the ring bearer. Have you seen him? Short little guy in a tux? About five years old?"

Lily laughed. "You lost the ring bearer?

"Technically, Peter was supposed to be watching him," James grinned. "But once the little guy ran off, I volunteered to help find him."

Olivia shook her head. "Well, I know two guys I'll never ask to babysit my children."

Lily laughed again. "Hey, one of those guys is going to be the father of my children!"

"I guess you're never going to be away from your children, then," Olivia laughed.

"Shhh," James whispered.

"Are you insulted?" Olivia asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"No, I think I see him! I'll see you girls later, all right?"

Lily and Olivia watched him hurry off after the rogue ring bearer, then turned to each other. As soon as their eyes met, they both burst into laughter.

"Come on," Olivia said, taking Lily's hand. "Let's go see how Laura's doing with that dress."

"Are you ready for this?"

Remus nodded, and straightened his tie.

James grinned as he looked at his friend's reflection in the mirror. "You look a little nervous, mate."

Remus nodded again. "I am nervous. This is the rest of my life."

James raised his eyebrows in an unasked question.

"Yes," Remus said. "Yes, I want to marry her. I love her." He turned to look James in the eye. "Laura is my life."

"Then there's no reason to be nervous."

"Yes, because you were the picture of calm before your wedding," Sirius laughed. "And I seem to remember us having a similar conversation then."

"Well, now I speak from experience," James grinned. "And now, as the old married man of the group, I must offer some advice."

"Oh, boy," Sirius grinned. "This should be good."

"Now, I'm trying to be serious here," James laughed. He calmed down, and turned to face the nervous groom. "They say that this is the greatest day of your life, Remus, but I disagree."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "What is, then?"

"Tomorrow," James replied. "The morning after the wedding, when you wake up and realize that she's your wife forever. That's the greatest day."

"Would that be the morning after you've shagged her all night, and realized that you can shag her all night, every night for the rest of your lives?" Sirius grinned.

"Padfoot, you really know how to ruin a moment," James laughed. "That's a benefit, too, Moony, but not the one I was talking about."

"I know what you were trying to say," Remus smiled. "And thank you."

The door opened, and Peter appeared.

"It's time, guys. Let's go."

Remus took a deep breath, and straightened his shoulders.

"I guess I have to live through today to get to tomorrow."

Laura looked around the bridal room as she absently fingered the ends of her veil. It had been her mother's, and her older sisters had worn it before her. After today, it would be carefully packed away, waiting to be worn again when her younger sister was married.

Hannah was with her, along with her other sisters and her friends. They would all stand up as her witnesses when she married Remus. She looked at her older sisters, and at Lily. Had then been as nervous on their wedding days as she was now?

A knock sounded on the door, and it opened slowly. Laura's oldest brother, George, peeked around the corner.

"Is everyone decent?"

"Yes, you can come in," Cassie, one of Laura's sisters, replied.

George stepped into the room. "I came for Mum. I need to seat her now."

An unexpected panic filled Laura. She didn't want her mother to leave her yet. Mrs. Bond nodded at her son.

"Can you wait a moment? I need a minute with my daughter." She crossed the room to stand in front of Laura, and took her daughter's face in her hands. "Oh, Laura. My little girl. You are a beautiful bride, and you are going to make a wonderful wife. And, Remus is going to be a wonderful husband."

Laura smiled. "I love him, Mummy."

"I know you do," Mrs. Bond smiled. "And we all love him, too. We're so glad that you brought him into our family. You father and I are proud to call him our son-in-law."

"Thank you," Laura whispered, fighting back tears.

"We're proud of you, Laura," Mrs. Bond continued. "We're proud of the powers you have, and the way you've chosen to use them. We're proud of the woman you've become."

"I love you, Mummy," Laura managed to utter. She swallowed hard, and wiped at the tears that were now falling.

"We love you, baby," Mrs. Bond replied, blinking back tears of her own. She took out a tissue, and wiped Laura's tears away. "Go fix your makeup while George seats me."

"Okay," Laura laughed.

Mrs. Bond touched her cheek again, and kissed her forehead. Then she left, following her son out of the room.

Laura glanced at her reflection in the mirror and gasped. "Help! I'm a mess!"

Lily, Dana, Olivia and Hannah glanced at one another. Hannah nodded.

"Girls, let's let Dana help her. She's the best at quick beauty fixes," she said, leading her sisters to the door.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "If you want to do . . . whatever it is that you do without us, just say so."

Hannah laughed. "Well, there are these laws, and –"

"We know," Cassie laughed. "We'll go outside. You girls make Laura presentable again."

As soon as the door was shut behind them, the girls pulled out their wands. Laura eyed them a bit dubiously.

"Just close your eyes," Dana advised. "It'll all be over in a minute."

Remus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt a gentle pressure on his shoulder, and turned to his father with a smile. This was why he had chosen his father to be his best man. He had been one of the most supportive people in Remus's life since his birth. As much as he loved and trusted his friends, his father was the one man he had complete, absolute trust in.

Strains of music began, and the bridesmaids began to make their way down the aisle. Hannah grinned at Remus, who winked back. He could hardly wait to call her his little sister.

Then Laura appeared in the back of the church, on her father's arm, and all thoughts of Hannah flew out of Remus's mind. The only thing his eyes could see or his mind could focus on was Laura.

She looked like an angel in her white gown, with her lacy veil obscuring her face. As she drew closer, he could see her broad smile, and smiled even wider in return. All doubts, all nerves were gone. This was right.

The music stopped as she reached Remus. Her father kissed her cheek, and shook Remus's hand, then joined their hands together. Remus looked down into Laura's misty eyes, and felt tears pressing the backs of his own. This was it. This was their moment.

Their eyes remained locked throughout the entire ceremony. Laura couldn't have taken her eyes away from Remus's even if she had wanted to. It was as if he held her with some invisible force. It was the same force that kept them together everyday: Love.

They both cried as they repeated their vows. No one who heard the emotion in their voices as they swore their undying love could leave the ceremony unaffected. James lifted his eyes from the bride and groom to look at Lily. She looked at him and smiled, blinking back tears. He smiled back, realizing anew exactly how much he loved her.

Like Lily and James, Remus and Laura had elected to have a Muggle wedding. Laura had chosen the reception hall and DJ because her siblings had used them for their weddings, and highly recommended them. Remus had accepted her decisions, conceding his limited knowledge of the Muggle world.

Before dinner began at the reception, the DJ handed Mr. Lupin the microphone. Sirius leaned closer to James and Peter.

"Do you think he knows how to use that thing?"

Peter laughed, and James rolled his eyes.

"Probably, since his mother was a Muggle," James stated.

Peter laughed again. Sirius grinned as he watched Mr. Lupin easily turn on the mike.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I only need a moment of your time," he promised. "I just want to say how proud I am of my son. Remus has overcome many obstacles in his life, and he's had to make many difficult decisions. As parents, we only want the best for our children. We want them to suffer as little as possible.

"I know my son has suffered. But even if I had the power to do so, I don't think I would change anything about his life. The suffering he has endured has made him stronger. It has made him the person he is today. It's made him the man that Laura fell in love with.

"Laura, I want to thank you." Mr. Lupin raised his glass in her direction. "Thank you for loving Remus, and for making him so happy. Thank you for coming into our family, and for sharing your love, your strength, and your vitality with us. Our lives are richer for having you in them.

"Remus and Laura, I wish you all the happiness in the world. I wish you strength for the harder times, and laughter when laughter seems impossible. Rely on one another for your happiness, your strength and you laughter. Your love has brought you this far. Let it take you through the rest of your lives."

Tears stood in Remus's eyes as he stood to hug his father. He barely heard his guests applauding as he father held him tightly.

"I love you, Dad."

"I love you, Remus," Mr. Lupin replied. "And I meant what I said. I am so, so very proud of you."

"Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming our bridal party to the dance floor!"

Sirius smiled, and went in search of Olivia, his partner for the wedding. He found her just as the DJ announced their names; they walked out onto the dance floor together. Sirius cringed at the cold smile Olivia gave him.

"Would it kill you to at least look happy?" he asked. "This is for Remus and Laura, you know."

"They're the only reason I'm dancing with you," Olivia replied in a syrupy-sweet voice.

"Liv, we seriously need to talk about this."

"About what?" she asked, her eyes wide with feigned innocence.

"This!" Sirius exclaimed. "This rift that's developed between us! We need to talk it out."

"I don't see what more there is to talk about."

Sirius looked deeply into her eyes. "So this is it, then? We're going to end our whole relationship?"

The song ended, and Olivia dropped her arms from their position around Sirius's neck. She turned to walk away, but Sirius caught her arm.

"Don't you walk away from me, Olivia. You're not going anywhere until we've talked this out."

"Do we have to do this now?"

"Yes," Sirius said through clenched teeth. "Come with me."

He led her out of the ballroom, out of the building, into the cool evening. He stopped outside the door, and dropped her hand.

"All right," he said. "Let's talk."

Olivia sighed. "Sirius, I don't know what you want me to say. It's like I said before – I think we need to move forward with our relationship. Obviously, you don't agree."

"I want our relationship to continue," he said. "I love you, Olivia. I don't want to lose you."

"You don't want to marry me, either."

"Not right now," he conceded.

Tears gathered in her eyes. "If we don't want the same thing from this relationship, it's not going to work, Sirius."

"Are you saying . . .?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her tears spilling over. "If we're not in the same place, this has to be over." She stood on tiptoe to kiss his lips. "Good bye, Sirius." She turned to go back inside.

"Olivia, wait," Sirius said, his voice cracking. Was she really leaving him?

She stopped, and turned to face him again. "Yes?"

He drew a shaky breath. "I love you."

"I know," she said, giving him the saddest smile he had ever seen. "I love you, too."

She turned again, and walked back into the building. She tried her best to remain calm as she made her way to the ladies' room. Once inside, the tears began in earnest. She clutched the sink to stay on her feet, letting the sobs shake her body.

Sirius hadn't moved from his spot outside. He stared up at the starry sky, feeling the tears press against the backs of his eyes. He blinked rapidly. He couldn't cry. Not here. Not now.

The door opened again, and James and Peter came out, both gasping with laughter. They stopped short when they saw Sirius.

"Padfoot, you missed it!" Peter exclaimed. "Laura's family has this tradition . . ." His voice died in his throat at the sight of Sirius's anguished face. "What happened?"

Sirius just looked at them for a moment, then drew a shaky breath. "Olivia has decided that we're not in the same place anymore." He cleared his throat, and blinked several times. "We broke up."

"Oh, man, Sirius, I'm sorry," Peter said.

"Are you all right, mate?" James asked.

Sirius shook his head, and sank down to sit on the sidewalk. He rested his elbows on his knees, and buried his face in his hands.

James and Peter looked at one another, then sat down on either side of him. The three friends sat in silence as the minutes ticked past. Between friends, words aren't always necessary.