Chapter 3 – Evening Conversations

She continued to walk until she got to the great hall. She avoided the Slytherin table, not wanting to have to eat with Draco. She looked around the room, and found Todd sitting over at the Ravenclaw table. She walked over to Todd.

"Is this seat taken?" She asked, pointing to the empty seat next to Todd.

Todd looked up, paused, then smiled. "Ah, no. Go right ahead. You're a little late." She looked up at the podium as Dumbledore approached it. Snape was not at the staff table, but nobody seemed too worried.

"Ahem." With Dumbledore's voice, the entire hall fell to silence. "I welcome you all to yet another feast. I will not keep you too long from your magnificent feast, but just always remember... the egg is not as important as the flying chicken." There was a long pause, filled with very quiet murmurs from the students. "Thank you. As for now!" He waved his hand, and the food appeared. "Enjoy." Todd smirked, and grabbed some chicken.

"I sometimes think he's senile." Taking a swig of pumpkin juice, she paused. "But he's the smartest man I know."

Giliana smiled. It felt good to have a friend now. She had separated herself from people so much that now she was finally opening up again. The feast made her happy, she had always loved Dumbledore's speeches. She was content. She gathered her thoughts, and began to enlighten Todd of why she was late.

"I ran into Draco on my way here." She began.

"Oh?" She had her mouth full of chicken, so she chewed and swallowed before talking again. "What did he want?" She looked suspicious.

Nothing really. Nothing important. He just asked me to some party." Giliana began to poke at her food.

"That's weird... don't trust him, I doubt his intentions are completely friendly." She looked up when she heard the doors to the hall open. Snape was storming to the staff table. "Hmm.. wonder where he was?"

Giliana continued to peck at her food, pretending not to care. "Heheh, yeah, I wonder what got into him." She smiled mischievously.

Todd giggled. "You never know." Just then, the doors opened again, and an older shaggy looking, but very handsome man walked in. It took Todd a moment to look up, but when she did, she couldn't help but hide a huge grin. "Ah... heh. I'll see you after the feast? Someone's here for me." The man walked up to the staff table, shook Dumbledore's hand, and then walked towards where Todd was sitting. She stood, brushed off any crumbs from her robes and walked beside him and out the door. Giliana watched as Todd walked away, puzzled.

Lupin looked down at Todd, his eyes tired, but seemed to be very happy to see her. He took her to a darker part of the hall outside and stopped. "Todd." She cracked her neck, as an old habit.

"Sir," She teased.

"How's school this year?"

"Ah, not so bad, you know... considering." She was referring to Harry Potter, and her father.

"Ah, right... you shouldn't let that get to you, though. Harry has little knowledge of your involvement."

"Ah, I know.." She scratched her head and scrunched up her nose. "It's just hard. I miss him, Remus."

Lupin nodded in understanding, and shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking slightly on the balls of his feet. "Well, that's part of why I came here today, actually." Todd saw hope for the first time in a while.

"Oh? Does this have something to do with the order?" Lupin nodded. "Yes, I came here to address Professor Snape and the Headmaster on certain issues... as you know, we've been using Sirius's home for the order's headquarters. And, well...this year, I thought that maybe if things calm down, you could meet him again." Todd grinned.

"You think?" But the smile faded as she remembered... "Any chance that he'd recognize me?" She frowned to herself. Lupin frowned.

"It's really hard to say. I don't think Sirius remembers much of his life right before Azkaban. All he was focused on was killing Pettigrew." Todd's eyes teared up a bit, but as soon as she saw his sympathetic look, she straightened up and showed a fake smile.

"Yeah...silly of me to think he'd want to see me more, right?"

Lupin sighed slightly. "You know he loved you. He loved you more than anything. He'll be glad to see you…even if he won't remember right away. I'm sure of it." He put his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Yeah." She smiled weakly.

"Look, things in the wizard world might be getting crazy soon, and as you know, I'm on one of the front line of Aurors... so, I just want to make sure you take care of yourself while you're here."

"Haha, don't say that!" She laughed a little, a tear running down her cheek. "Oh, look what you did." She reached up to wipe her face, but Lupin got there first. Lupin wiped away a couple of tears with a single finger. Slowly, he ran a hand through her short hair and smiled a little. "You're too pretty to cry like that. Silly girl."

And with that, Todd wrapped her arms around him, and they shared an embrace for a long moment. The crowd from the feast started to pile out the doors. Lupin spoke quietly into her ear. "I think I'm staying tonight down at Hagrid's, we have Giant business to discuss... quite literally. So, if you want to come see me, you know where I am. Might want to put on the old disguise, just to be safe."

Giliana was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, poking at her food. She thought about Snape...and how she couldn't stand how he was so rude to her. But oh well, it could have been worse, she reminded herself. She continued eating contently.

"Hey you, you're at the wrong table! Haha!"

Giliana rolled her eyes and looked up. It was one of the Slytherin girls. She had long golden blonde hair, and was also very attractive. Giliana took one good look at her, and then went back to eating, she didn't care.

"Hey, Lenore! Did you hear me? You're at the wrong table." The girl was getting impatient.

"Yes, I can see that, but why have you come to join me?" She asked, as she continued to eat.

"Well, Slytherins only eat with Slytherins. What kind of shit are you trying to pull? Draco's girlfriend should be eating with him anyway." She said with her arms crossed.

"Haha, I'm not his girlfriend. You can have him." Giliana smiled in amusement.

"So now you're in denial? Well too bad for you the word is already out. He's already told the whole Slytherin table, about how he's dating the new girl."

Giliana laughed.

"You know what I think? You're an insult to Slytherins. Sitting with the Ravenclaws. Befriending one of them. I can't believe he picked you."

"Neither can I." Giliana said, and she shrugged. Getting fed up with this girl, and assuming Todd wasn't going to be coming back, she got up, and walked out of the hall. As she walked, she overheard Todd talking, and she stopped to find her. Lupin pulled back and motioned to the crowd. "We wouldn't want to start any nasty rumors, would we?" Todd grinned. "What sort of rumors, Remus?" "Aha.. I'm sure you can guess." He then leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead. "Go try to get some sleep."

"Alright! If you insist!" She rolled her eyes teasingly and stepped back. "Later, Moony." She turned and walked towards the crowd, seeing Giliana. "Ey."

"Good evening Todd." Giliana smiled. "I saw that by the way. So you ditches me for your romantic affairs?"

"Saw what?" She said innocently, knowing she saw. Giliana smiled.

"Heh, no matter, that's pretty cute," Giliana teased.

"Hah. You know little of what you speak of." Todd laughed a little and continued to walk with her.

"Heh, true. Very true." She smiled at her.

"So who is that man?" Giliana asked, "Moony, or whatever his name is."

"Heh. His name's Remus. Remus Lupin." She looked up at the tall ceilings.

"And how did you meet him?" She continued to question her.

"He looked after me when my father...died."

Giliana just looked at her sympathetically when she realized what she brought up.

"I'm sorry. I know how it feels to lose a loved one..."

She nodded. "Yeah…it's hard, but.. It's okay, mostly." She shrugged. "Life goes on..."

"Yeah, life goes on..." She stared out the window they were passing.

Snape was walking down the hall. His eyes focused on the ground, then he spotted Todd and Giliana. He stopped, looking as if he wanted to talk. Todd looked confused, but she probably knew what was coming.

"What's wrong Todd?" Giliana asked her.

"Ah...oh..."

"...Miss Black, where has Lupin gone off to?" She hesitated, hating Snape.

"I believe he went down to Hagrid's for the night..."

"Oh, right..." he looked over them both with a sort of annoyed glare. "It would be wise to stay in for the night, Todd..."

Giliana couldn't help it. She let out a laugh, then promptly covered her mouth. She was acting quite strange as she's never that open with her emotions. Todd raised an eyebrow at Giliana. Snape did the same. "What is so funny, Miss Lenore?" He was annoyed. Very annoyed.

"Nothing..." she just smiled, and quickly looked away from them. Trying to distract herself.

"...Right. Anyway. It would be my greatest joy to catch you out of school after hours, Miss Black. So don't think I won't be watching." He was about to walk again. "Oh, wait." He almost snarled. "I believe you don't know where the Slytherin common room is?" He stared at Giliana blankly, his pale face full of annoyance.

"Yeah, that too...care to escort me Professor?" she asked cheerfully.

"If I must..." He gave one final glare at Todd, and started walking quickly down the hall, robes flowing behind him. Todd smirked.

"Have fun... see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow..." Giliana whispered at her, smiling.

Todd watched them till they turned the corner, then climbed the stairs to Ravenclaw tower, thinking about later tonight the whole way.

Snape slowed his pace slightly. "Keep up." He turned to a set of spiral stairs leading down.

"Sorry Professor, I'm a bit tired I'm afraid." She picked up her pace.

He went down the stairs. "It's fine. Just in a hurry." he began to mumble. "I'm determined to catch her this time..."

"Pardon me, but did you say 'catch her?' May I enquire as to who you are talking about Professor?" She knew who he meant.

"Ah.." He turned a sharp stone corner, the temperature was getting colder. "Miss Black has a habit of being out after hours. Very late. I've never caught her red handed, but...never mind, it's none of your business."

"I believe it's a bit cold in here Professor..." She began to rub the sides of her arms. "And if you don't mind me suggesting...Perhaps you should find something more valuable to do with your time?"

"It's the dungeon." He stated what he thought was obvious. Snape slowed down and glared at her. "And what I do with my time is none of your concern."

"Of course it isn't. My apologies Professor." She smiled, feeling satisfaction.

Snape then turned into a hall full of portraits. He approached a rather nasty looking female who was sowing and said: "Albino." The portrait swung open. "Albino is the password... obviously. So, here it is."

"Thank you. T'was kind of you to show me around." She smiled slightly, out of honesty.

"Er." He paused, nobody was ever nice to him, least of all a student. "No problem." He turned and quickly and began to walk away.

"Have a good night Professor, and get your rest. You need plenty of sleep to deal with all the students tomorrow, no?"

Snape stopped, looked at her, his lip up in almost disgust. You're the only one I'm dreading dealing with.

"Right." He hesitated walking, but did so around the corner and out of sight.