a/n: hmm, so I started this whole thing a looooooong time ago...and just in case people are actually reading it, I thought I should tell you- I think this is going to be more of an actual story from now on than just missing moments...I'm not sure WHY, exactly, but I think it is...oh well, happy reading! And, obviously, this has turned kinda AU because changing Sirius's family is much too difficult, although I DID try...
Chapter 5- moving along
James was fuming...just because stupid Evans had been made a prefect last year, she seemed determined to make his 6th year at Hogwarts a living hell. Okay, so MAYBE turning all the Slytherins into rodents and then setting the owls loose MIGHT have been a little drastic, but honestly, what was he supposed to do when that disgusting Severus Snape had come across his path AGAIN? She really didn't need to be such a stick in the mud about everything. The fact that his best friends, and fellow pranksters extraordinaire got along amazingly well with her and didn't share this view of her in the slightest didn't deter James from his nightly hour of Lily- bashing. Never mind that her astonishingly green eyes were beginning to captivate him, and the way she tossed her hair over her shoulder when she laughed could hold his attention for hours on end...no matter what Sirius said, James was most definitely NOT falling for Lily Evans.
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Mandy sighed, and rubbed her temples tiredly. Out of all seven of the 6th year Gryffindors, Mandy had been forced to mature the most quickly- her 'gift' and Voldemort had assured that. While both Lily and Kate were also bearers of their own unusual talents, Mandy's was the only one that had proven to be a force to reckon with, as of yet, although Lily was well on her way. And Voldemort, seeing this, had chosen to focus his attentions on Mandy for the moment, and had been persistently trying to persuade her to join his side- his latest attempt had consisted of killing her parents and little sister, and then promising to bring them back should Mandy choose to forsake the light. It was a good thing that she and her parents had a mutual hate flowing between them, although her sister's death WAS regrettable. No, what was bothering her the most was that she was sure that Voldemort was on his way to discovering that it wasn't her family, but her friends that she valued and cared about. If he should come after them, Mandy wasn't quite sure WHAT she would do.
Her visions weren't exactly reassuring either. Every night, she saw horrible things, not all of which she understood- Sirius, his handsome features replaced by haunted eyes, and limp hair, his skin sallow and sunken. Remus, grieving and alone, chased by inner demons so vile they took toll on every aspect of him. Lily and James- for oddly, they never appeared separately in her visions, something she'd have to ponder at a less stressful time,- being shot down in their prime by the unmistakable green light of the Killing Curse. Little Peter, frightened and alone, threatened by a monster who Mandy could only believe to be Voldemort- how would sweet Peter defend himself against that?
And then there was Kate, who would writhe in her mind every night, as Voldemort himself administered the Cruciatus over and over again- Mandy would normally wake up as Voldemort prepared to do something more, but never saw it. Kate was beginning to be something of a sore topic with Mandy- a rift was starting to form between the two supposed best friends, and although Mandy knew that they were equally at fault, she couldn't help but blame Kate, who seemed to take nothing seriously, even in these dark times. She knew that Kate's incessant flirting and almost superficial nature was simply a façade, hiding her own troubles and dangers- hell, everyone from the first years upwards knew that- but what exactly was so horrible that she had to pretend to be someone she wasn't completely escaped Mandy. After all, she was only a naturally born animagus, it wasn't like she saw people suffer each night, with little she could do about it.
Mandy had talked to Dumbledore about all of her visions, and the fears that accompanied them, but while he seemed concerned about her well being, little else seemed to bother him. He assured her that this type of thing was normal, even for seers, and that it was most probably simply a side effect of her worry for her friends. Somehow, she didn't think so. A voice interrupted her gloomy thoughts.
"Hey- you weren't at dinner, so I brought you something- are you all right?"
Smiling, Mandy looked up to greet James Potter, her friend since they were very little. She accepted the sandwich and pumpkin juice he offered her, and gestured for him to sit down.
"No, I'm fine, just thinking...I wasn't really hungry earlier, but I'm starved now, I was just heading to the kitchens."
In all honesty, she didn't understand the hatred that marked the relationship between James Potter and Lily Evans. She knew them both intimately well, and they were probably better suited for each other than anyone else she had ever met- although Kate and Sirius came very, very close. If only they could get over how much they despised one another...
The two friends chatted about little things on their way to the kitchens, as Mandy's hunger hadn't been abated by the sandwich. Suddenly, James turned to Mandy, and asked urgently,
"Mandy, this is going to sound so strange, but...you don't LIKE me do you?"
Mandy was taken aback, and stuttered, "Of course, I like you! We've been friends for what, like 12 years?"
James shook his head, and said "No, I mean like more than a friend."
"No, of course not," Mandy replied, as she giggled at the look of immense relief that washed over James' face. Still amused, she asked, "Well, mister Potter, why exactly would it be such a horrible thing if I were to like you? Tell me, am I really that ugly and unwantable?"
Mandy broke out into peals of laughter as James' face returned to its previous look of utmost horror. "NO! that's not it at all, I just meant- hey! You're not supposed to do that to me!" He exclaimed as he realized she was just kidding.
They walked a little farther in silence until James broke it as he began to rant about Lily. Mandy rolled her eyes, but noticed almost immediately that his voice didn't hold as much contempt as it usually held- in fact, it sounded more as if this was his half-hearted attempt to preserve that hatred, and that he realized he was failing miserably. Delighted with this turn of events, Mandy cut of his joke of a tirade, and linking arms with him, said, "Oh, James, DO lets talk about our darling Lily..."
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A disgruntled Kate trudged her way up to the Gryffindor common room, completely miffed with the entire Slytherin house in general, but specifically Bellatrix Black, Sirius's notoriously insane younger-by-a-year cousin. What disgruntled her even more was that, despite her many attempts to ignore said madwoman, she had failed, and not in her preferred way- she hadn't hexed darling Bellatrix into the next millennium- no, she was walking along with TEARS in her eyes, to her absolute disgust. Kate hated weakness, if only in herself. Anyone else- well, almost anyone- was completely free to cry, and Kate would be there with tissues, ice cream, and a plan for revenge, if needed, but in herself, tears were something she could not handle. So, disgruntled, disgusted, and utterly angry, Kate arrived in front of the Fat Lady, only to find that someone had changed the password. She emitted one all powerful shriek, causing the Fat Lady to almost jump out of the frame, and stalked off.
This was not her day.
As she was wandering off to nowhere, she tried not to think about her argument with Black, who she was sure was a death eater. Death Eaters, however, brought her thoughts to Voldemort, another topic that put her in a bad mood. Well, most people, she reasoned, would be put in a bad mood when thinking of a man who was out for your friends' blood, never mind your own. And the thought of ANY of them in the clutches of someone madder than Sirius's cousin made Kate's stomach churn. And of course, THAT brought her thoughts to Bellatrix AND Voldemort, which was enough to make her not only cry, but ready to hex the next person who approached her.
Unfortunately, the next two people who approached her found her in this very mood, and this ultimately resulted in Remus laughing hysterically at the tentacles growing out of Sirius's face.
Laughing a little for the first time that night, Kate removed the curse from a glaring Sirius Black, which was indeed a comical sight, and just set both Kate and Remus off again. Finally, Sirius cracked, and an expression of mirth passed over his face, as all three friends grinned at each other. Still chuckling a little, Remus asked,
"What on earth had you so riled up that you were ready to avada kedavra the next person you saw? Wait- Kate, were you CRYING? What's wrong?" Remus's expression immediately changed from amused to concerned, and Sirius moved closer, worry evident as he observed the tears that Kate had neglected to wipe away as of yet. Everyone knew Kate didn't cry just as well as they knew that her image was fake. Right now, however, Kate looked a little apprehensive.
If there was one person on the fact of the earth who hated Bellatrix Black more than Kate, she knew it was Sirius. For him, Bellatrix was a constant reminder of the evil that existed in his family, the evil that he had always known was his heritage, but one that had only really manifested itself when his parents had passed away, victims of a bombing in Diagon Alley. They had been his shield from his horrible family, one that he had gotten to know too well in the one year between his parents deaths and his move into James's house. His terrible, dark arts obsessed aunt, uncle, cousin Regulus and house elf Kreacher had driven the stake of hate so far into him, he practically spat blood each time he came across almost anyone who was related to him. His aunt had insisted on adopting him legally as her son, and trying to instill Black pride in her 'son' with Bellatrix as the model child. This brought Kate to look at Sirius with apprehension as she contemplated what to tell him and Remus.
Sirius, however, saw the look, and anger smoldered in his eyes as he asked, with deceiving calmness, "What did my dear cousin do now?"
Kate flushed, and looked down for a moment, before she met Sirius's gaze defiantly. She looked in his eyes and saw concern, and at that look she almost told him- still, she caught herself quickly, and said,
"I can take care of myself Sirius, and words can only hurt me so much."
Sirius gaped at her- her knew whatever it was, it must have struck a chord with Kate, and he also knew that it would have been even nastier than usual because Bellatrix saw Kate as her rival in everything- except that she also knew that Kate was BETTER at everything. Still, Sirius knew better than to pursue it- Kate could do much worse than simply make him resemble the giant squid. Lightly, he changed the subject, and hoped that Kate would tell Lily and Mandy, and he could worm it out of Lily.
"Well, what say we go reorganize McGonagall's classroom?"
Laughing, Kate, Remus and Sirius ran off to wreak havoc on poor, unsuspecting souls...
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Lily smiled at the sight that lay before her- her painting was complete. Although Lily wasn't exactly Van Gogh, she enjoyed painting, drawing, anything artistic because it relaxed her. She brushed he hair out of her face, being careful not to get any paint in it. She had just finished her best piece yet- Hogwarts during a full moon night- lots of stars, the amazing castle, and four animals in the distance- a wolf and dog running free as a stag with a rat perched on its antlers watched with amusement. Seeing that particular part, Lily beamed as she thought of her greatest accomplishment- for she was positive that without her watching over them, and helping the four every step of the way, they surely would have gotten themselves killed, or turned themselves into some sort of half animal. Her expression darkened, however, when she remembered the night of the actual transformation.
She had insisted that she be a part of the whole thing, from beginning to end- and this included becoming an animagus herself. When she had actually taken the potion, however, she had felt her blood burning, and her eyes rolling back into her head, and she thought her skin was being peeled off- she had never felt that kind of pain in her life. She had awoken in James Potter's arms, with him looking at her wearing an expression she had never seen before- in fact, if they didn't hate each other, she would insist that it had been something akin to love- or at least very strong like. She had passed out then, and when she woke up, she wasn't sure whether the expression had been her imagination or not. The bottom line, however, was that she couldn't do the transformation. Later, as she had researched the matter, obsessed with knowing why Potter could do it and she couldn't, she had found that mages very rarely could become animagi, and when they could, they often couldn't turn into a human or animal at will. She comforted herself with that thought. It wasn't her lack of abilities, so Potter WASN'T better than her. Ha.
Her mage abilities were strengthening, and as a result, the danger from Voldemort was increasing too. Sighing, she couldn't help but be grateful that she wasn't Mandy, who was clearly a target, and almost envious of Kate, who, it seemed, wasn't in danger of BEING a danger to anyone. She knew Mandy, as a result of the stress than went along with being one of the top targets of the most evil wizard of the modern era, was rather vexed with Kate's flippant air about almost everything. Lily, on the other hand, felt that Kate was relieving the tension, and didn't wonder that maybe Kat did it simply for that reason. The trio would certainly be a boring bunch of paranoid freaks without her smile and wit.
Lily was forever the understanding one, perhaps the reason she was the most popular of the three girls. She was respected even among the Slytherins, an admirable feat considering she was a muggleborn, and well liked by almost everyone else. Mandy kept to herself a good deal, only really socializing with the other 6th year Gryffindors, and Kate was either loved to the point of worship or hated beyond all else- there was no in between. Lily liked her position in her group, the unacknowledged leader of the three, and the best one to talk to under any circumstance. She had a knack for being able to see all sides of a situation, and it came in handy considering how many misunderstandings her friends got involved in, and how itching they were to curse any offenders, especially Kate and Sirius.
Thinking of those two, she grinned a little, although she was exasperated at the thought that Sirius was still dating left and right, and Kate still made sure all the guys were lined up and at her beck and call, although she didn't date as much- probably the only reason she wasn't exactly loved by everyone in Hogwarts. Both of them liked the other, Lily simply didn't understand why they didn't just go out with each other- or at least ADMIT they had feelings for one another. Lily had only gotten both of them to admit it once to her, and then they had each proceeded to make her swear that she wouldn't tell a soul. So there she was, the only one who knew. Oh well, they'd figure it out eventually.
Lily's thoughts turned to the bane of her existence- James Potter. She cringed just thinking of that conceited, pig-headed JERK- for that was what he was in her mind. He HAD improved since last year, but she could still just barely stand him- although she had caught herself thinking his unkempt hair, which at one point had been cause for more annoyance than Snape, was actually somewhat cute, and that his eyes WEREN'T windows into the devil's. She shook her head- she WOULD not think of Potter that way- she shuddered. James Potter, a boyfriend?! EURGH!
It only occurred to her before the fell asleep that that was the first time she had ever thought of James Potter as boyfriend material.
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Lily was almost asleep in front of her muffin when Sirius's characteristic "LILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" startled her out of the realms of sleep. Irritated, she looked at him, her perfected glare very much present.
"WHAT exactly do u want, Sirius?"
"Why, my darling Lily, only to have your company as I eat my breakfast. You do brighten things up and make the world a more beautiful place."
All three girls snorted at this- Sirius's flattery was almost legendary, and as far as Hogwarts knew, there were only 5 girls unsusceptible to it- 3 of them were sitting in front of Sirius, while the other two, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, sat prim and proper at the Slytherin table.
"Sirius, DO be a doll and go stuff yourself," Lily muttered, ready to fall back asleep. Faintly, she heard Kate get up, something about a hippogriff? Lily honestly didn't care at the moment. She had almost reached the point in sleep where talking wouldn't wake you up when the maniacal, and unfortunately familiar, tones of Lucius Malfoy, current boyfriend of Bellatrix Black, disturbed the Gryffindor table. Blearily, Lily opened one eye, only to find that Malfoy actually wanted to speak with her, not exchange the customary, week-before-a-match insults with James. As she looked at his smug expression, she wanted nothing more than to break his nose and sleep again.
"Evans- I thought I should tell you to look out for your friend- she's in about 3 times the amount of danger you all think she's in."
And with that remark he left. At first, Lily was simply stunned that in the entire conversation, the word 'mudblood' hadn't been uttered once. Then what he said struck her, and she leaped up, finally noting that neither Mandy nor Kate was at breakfast anymore. She sprinted out of the Great Hall, leaving 4 very confused boys to stare after her, and debate whether to follow or not. Sirius had decided it was much too early to go running after raging, hormonal girls, as he had taken to calling any female who seemed anything less than in awe of him, when Remus got up, saying,
"We'd better go see what we can do. When Malfoy's involved, you never know."
A little upset, Sirius abandoned his toast and reluctantly followed, although the promise of turning Malfoy into something Mrs. Norris would find delicious did make him slightly more cheerful.