DAMASCUS GATE

CHAPTER FIVE-CHRISTMAS TIME

Christmas rolled around. The castle was decorated with mistletoe, garland and other Christmas ornaments.

Lily was allowed to write to James in Azkaban

She wrote daily filling James in on the holidays and what was happening at the castle.

Derek was revived and mostly kept to himself, although he shot death glares toward us at each chance he could get. But knowing Dumbledore, he told him not to come within 3 feet of us.

"God," Sirius said as Derek glared at us before heading out of the Hall after breakfast that morning. "You'd think he was constipated or something."

"Maybe he is," Remus said thoughtfully, but there was a grin on his face.

"A little ExLax will take care of that," Lily added.

She was a bit more cheerful, but not by much. She missed James terribly. She told us that on one hand she was pissed at him for using the curse, but on the other hand she was worried about him and the wedding.

Remus assured her that James would marry her even if he was blind.

"An improvement? I think so," Sirius cracked.

Lily smacked him up the back of the head.

"You know, you keep doing that, you're going to make him stupid permanently," I said.

"Like that's any different than now?" Lily retorted.

We laughed.

Sirius scowled at Lily.

We headed to class.

First class was Transfiguration. We were now learning how to do human transfiguration.

Each of us was able to choose an animal to change into and then concentrate on it.

Lily chose a cat; Sirius was the black dog; Remus however, asked to skip this lesson, but he remained in the classroom watching us.

I chose a horse.

"A much harder animal, but good luck," Professor McGonagall said.

I stood up and concentrated.

REMUS.

I leaned back in my chair at the back of the classroom and crossed my arms over my chest.

We all watched Kelly intently. Lily had already successfully changed into a black cat. Sirius, naturally, changed into the black dog he always did when I changed into a werewolf once a month. Little did Professor McGonagall know, James, Sirius and Peter and already mastered changing.

I felt my lip twitch when I thought about it.

Kelly dropped to her hands and knees and before we knew it, a beautiful white horse appeared with a long flowing mane and tail. Several girls squealed with delight.

"Very nice!" Professor McGonagall said approvingly as she smiled for the first time.

The horse turned around and walked toward me with the hooves clopping on the floor. It stood beside my desk and stared at me with dark brown eyes.

The long ears flicked back and forth.

"Nice job," I grinned.

A bit of the mane hung over the eyes as the horse blinked at me.

Then, the horse extended its muzzle and clamped its teeth on my textbook, pulling it off the desk.

"Hey," I scolded lightly as I got to my feet.

The horse jerked her head up and the book sailed cleanly over it backward.

The textbook landed on Professor McGonagall's desk with a 'thud'.

I stood in front of the horse.

"Thanks a lot," I said. "That wasn't funny."

"We thought it was," Sirius said laughing.

Even Lily and the teacher were chuckling.

I slowly extended my hand toward the horses' forehead.

My fingers barely touched the forehead when Kelly transformed back into her human form.

She was grinning broadly.

"I had to do that," she laughed heartily. "You should've seen the look on your face!"

Still laughing when the bell rang, Kelly grabbed her things and headed out of the classroom. I grabbed my textbook and stuffed it into my bag. Lily and Sirius began walking a head of us with Kelly. I tore after her and playfully tackled her from behind.

"You're in for it now!" I cried laughing.

I used a little too much strength and ended up knocking Kelly forward.

She landed on her stomach. I playfully wrestled her over onto her back, pinning her wrists up by her ears. I was straddling her.

She was breathing heavily. Her hair had fallen over her face and fluttered with each breath.

Lily and James were watching amusedly from at the end of the corridor. I saw them whispering to each other.

I gently brushed the strands away from her face and returned my hand onto her wrist. She was grinning up at me.

"What do you plan to do now, wolf boy?" she teased.

But I began realizing what position I was in with her.

KELLY.

Remus was straddling me and he had my wrists pinned up by my ears.

I was grinning up at him, but the grin left his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

He cleared his throat and released my wrists. He quickly scrambled off of me, picked up his school bag and tore up the corridor.

I propped myself up onto my elbows and turned, looking at Sirius and Lily.

Sirius shrugged and headed off after him.

Lily helped me to my feet.

"What happened?" I demanded picking up my school bag.

Lily and I began walking back to the common room.

Lily had a huge grin on her face.

"If it's what I'm thinking, it's normal," she said.

I looked at her quizzically.

"Listen carefully," she said talking slow. "I think Remus got a bit 'excited'"

It dawned on me what she meant.

"Oh," I said.

"Come on," Lily said grinning as we continued to head to the common room.

REMUS.

I paced the common room. I couldn't believe that sensation rolled over me like that. Sirius managed to catch up with me. He entered the common room.

"Moony? What's wrong? What happened?" Sirius demanded dropping his bag on the floor. "Did you get a strange sensation?"

I stopped pacing and looked at him shocked.

"How'd you know?" I asked scrutinizing him.

Sirius had a goofy expression on his face.

"Please," he said rolling his eyes. "I see the way you look at Kelly. I am not blind, man."

"But we're just friends," I said. "Best friends."

"Doesn't matter, bro," Sirius said shaking his head. "That's how Lily and James started out isn't it?"

"Lily and James hated each other if I recall," I said flatly.

"Yeah but that's not you and Kelly," Sirius said reasonably. "You actually can stand being within 3 feet of each other."

His lip twitched as he said this.

"We're still just friends," I said shrugging.

"Go a head and deny your feelings," Sirius said shrugging too. "But I know what I see."

With that, he headed into the boys dorm room.

I stood, pacing again, thinking about what he said.

I had to admit, my feelings did start to change a bit toward Kelly. I sighed and continued to pace the room.

I really didn't want to say anything to her because I wasn't sure how she felt about me and I didn't want to ruin our friendship. I'd rather have her as a best friend then possibly lose her all together.

I sighed again. I was really confused. I really was going to have to talk to Sirius about this. Ugh. Admitting he was right was the first step because he won't let me live it down. But still, he'd tease me for a bit but he'd offer his help.

At that moment, Kelly and Lily entered the common room.

Immediately, Kelly's face filled with concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

I nodded.

"Why'd you run off like that?" she continued.

Her green eyes were locked on mine.

"I-I was getting stomach pains," I lied offering a grin. "Must've been the sausage I had for breakfast."

"Oh," Kelly said raising an eyebrow.

She didn't look convinced, but she didn't press the subject any further.

She glanced at Lily.

KELLY.

I glanced at Lily. She just shrugged one shoulder.

I didn't want to pressure Remus into telling me what the real reason was why he took off like that, but with Lily's explanation, I didn't press the subject anymore.

"I'm heading to the library for a moment," Remus said nervously running a hand through his dark brown hair. "I'll be back shortly."

With that he headed out of the common room.

I turned to Lily.

"What on earth…?" I began.

"Do you honestly think he's going to tell you that…excuse my language…he got a hard on?" Lily said.

I blushed when she said that.

"No," I admitted. "I guess not."

"Would you?" Lily asked.

I shook my head. "I'd be too embarrassed,"

"Probably the same thing with Remus now," Lily said. "He's embarrassed."

"But I hope not around me after this," I moaned. "I just got him back!"

Lily looked at me quizzically.

"Just got him back? What do you mean?"

That's right. I didn't tell her yet. I've only told Remus.

I began telling her what happened.

When I was done, she raised an eyebrow at me.

"So," she said slowly. "You're telling me you could've saved James from going to Azkaban and you didn't?"

I looked at her.

"I was only able to save Remus! There was no way to save James too! He already had opened his mouth!" I said shocked.

"YOU STILL COULD HAVE SAVED HIM!" Lily exploded at me, rounding on me suddenly. "INSTEAD YOU SAVE MOONY!"

"Would you have rather let me just let Remus die?" I cried next.

At that moment, Remus had come back into the common room and stood, frozen near the portrait entrance. He was watching intently, looking from both me to Lily.

Sirius had also come out of the boy's dorm at this moment.

Lily stepped closer to me, so that she was right in my face.

"You could've saved both of them," she hissed her green eyes flashing. "There was plenty of time."

"James should've been more careful about what the spells he used," I said.

"DON'T YOU DARE BLAME THIS ON JAMES!" Lily roared.

I stood, completely at a loss for words now.

I felt a faint glistening of tears rising in my eyes.

"Lily," I heard Remus begin. "James should've been a lot more careful."

He began walking toward us.

Lily turned to him.

"That's right," she said stiffly. "Stick up for your girlfriend."

"I'm only saying what's true," Remus said his tone firm. "Both James and Derek were at fault."

Lily didn't say anything. Instead, she roughly brushed past me, jostling me as she left the common room.

"Don't worry about her," Remus said turning his blue eyes onto me. "She's just upset over James and the engagement. Things'll be alright."

"What was that about?" Sirius asked puzzled.

Remus thankfully told him what happened.

"Oh," Sirius said. "That's not your fault, Kel. Maybe it was just meant to be that way that James was supposed to be sent to Azkaban."

"Don't let Lily hear you say that," I muttered lowering my eyes to the floor.

I plopped down on the couch and buried my face into my hands.

"When did everything go wrong," I moaned.

I felt someone sit down beside me on both sides.

I slowly raised my head.

Remus was on my right while Sirius was on my left.

Sirius put an arm around my shoulders.

"Listen to Moony," he said. "Things'll be fine…you'll see."

I slumped against Sirius and gave his arm a squeeze.

Christmas came.

I woke up and found a dozen presents at the foot of my bed.

Lily had woken up already and opened hers. She wasn't in the dorm.

I sighed and opened my gifts.

I had received a new journal from Remus, a new book of spells from Lily, a joke quill that makes a farting noise when you write a certain word, and James' gift wasn't there. I sighed.

I got dressed and headed out of the dorm room, heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Remus, Sirius and Lily were already sitting there.

The minute Lily saw me she quickly finished her breakfast and abruptly left the Hall.

My heart sank even more.

I took a seat beside Sirius. Remus was across from me.

"She's still pissed at me, isn't she?" I said sighing as I helped myself to some porridge.

"I think she's just in shock over the fact that James is actually in Azkaban," Sirius said helping himself to a breakfast roll.

"James was at fault," Remus said reasonably. "He could've used any other curses or spells to jinx Derek and he didn't."

I sighed.

"That's true,"

"Trust me," Sirius said. "Lily's just upset over the entire thing. She'll get over it."

"I hope so," I muttered.

I began eating.

Remus' eyes lingered on me for a bit before they lowered to his breakfast.

We headed to our classes.

Lily stayed away from us at all costs.

So, Remus, Sirius and I stayed together.

I had no idea that things would get worse…much worse.