Sirius had finally wrestled his way out of the Wesley's grasp by telling them I was here. Sirius gave me a lopsided grin and sat down beside me.
"Um," I said, the Weasly boy had all grouped around me, "I'm Leigh?"
"Well are you or are you not?" The eldest said with his arms crossed.
"I am, and who are you?" I said, just a little defensive.
"Bill Weasly, I'm eleven." he gave a little smile, "How old are you?"
"Ten, but I'll be eleven in a week," I replied.
"Charlie!" A boy jumped in front of Bill, "I'm nine!"
"Charlie! Get otta the way!" a younger boy with thick black glasses pushed his way to the front, "Percy! I'm four!"
"Fred"
"George" two little twins had crawled up into her lap.
"They're two, and my baby, baby brother is Ron. He's one." Bill informed me, holding up a chubby baby.
Bill had long dark red hair and just a few freckles across his nose and green eyes, Charlie had spiky bright red hair and freckles all over his face with dark blue eyes. Percy had a light red hair, like a strawberry blonde and brown eyes. I thought Fred and George were absolutely adorable, they had chubby freckled cheeks and flaming red hair. Ron was covered with freckles, all down his arms and legs and he had big blue eyes that reminded me of Liam's.
"I have a sister on the way, and I'm gonna get to name her," Bill bragged. I gave a small smile, it sounded like he was bragging.
"You wanna go the river?" Charlie asked excitedly.
"I don't--" Remmy started.
"Yes, go on ahead," Sirius gave Remmy a little nod towards my direction.
I nodded and then lifted the twins off my lap, "Can they go?" I gestured to Percy, Ron and the twins.
"Oh no, they can't," he then brought them over to his mother.
"Don't stay out too long!" Molly yelled. I excused myself from Alice and Frank and then jumped up to join the Weasly boys.
"Wanna race?" Charlie asked.
"I don't know where to go!" I objected, but they had already shot off. I gave a heavy sigh and sprinted after them, my adrenaline rushing. I was a fairly good runner, the fastest in my class at one time, so I soon caught up with them. I laughed at Bill expression as I passed him, I followed at small path into the forest. I thought I could hear the boys yell at me, but I didn't want to turn my head and loose my lead. I came to a clearing and the path split into two, I hesitated and took the one that looked the most traveled. My breath started to fall short so I slowed down and started to walk.
I would look over my shoulder every now and then, but I saw no red hair. I debated on weather I should turn back or not, but Bill and Charlie struck me as the 'let's-scare-the-heck-out-of-her-and-then-jump-out-from-behind-a-tree-and-make-her-scream' kinda type. I didn't want to embarrass my self because I would know it would be coming, but still scream my head off. Also, my curiosity to where the path led to got the better of me.
I walked on and the path became harder to see, part of me wanted to turn back but the other kept saying 'walk the path less traveled'. My shirt got caught on a sharp branch and ripped, it also left a deep scratch on my bruised arm. I thought I heard water running up ahead so I carried on. When no creek or river came into sight, I began to get a little nervous and walked back except there was nothing to follow.
"Charlie! Bill!" I called out. Only silence followed, there was no twitter of birds or a little crash in the underbrush from a squirrel, there was nothing. Butterflies started to flutter big time in my stomach, and I called out again. I started to ramble through the silent trees, looking for any sign of a trail or Bill and Charlie.
"Guys? Where are you?" my shaky voice echoed. I slowly breathed in and out, trying to stay calm the last thing that needed to happen was to lose my head completely.
"Bill! Charlie! Where are you!" my voice cracked, I was on the edge of tears. I heard a loud crash behind me, I spun my head around. "Bill? Charlie? Is that you?" No reply.
I started to walk faster, but then another crash came from behind me, and I started to run. A large stitch in my side was aching my, but I was scared. The branches and other undergrowth tore at my clothes and face. My breath was coming in ragged and my head was beginning to hurt. The crashes came closer and closer and I ran as fast as my tired legs would let me.
I saw some light up ahead of me: the path! I turned my head just a little and screamed, I didn't know what to describe it, but it wasn't Bill and Charlie. I had whipped my head around to see a protruding branch, I couldn't duck quick enough. A large explosion of stars clouded my clouded my eyes and I cried out in pain. The last thing I saw was a large blue blot.
"Leigh?" A woman's voice reached me, "Leigh, honey, you need to wake up. Everything's all right, wake up."
"Wild Thing, wake up," Sirius, I thought sluggishly. My whole body ached really bad, especially my head, like it did this morning.
"Here, drink this," a hot drink was held to my lips. It was the same thing Remus had given me. After all that was left of the tasty concoction, my head began to clear and I was able to think better.
"Leigh?" James's voice said and my eyes fluttered opened. I heard an sigh of relief from the circle faces around me. I gave a grin and let out a little chuckle,
"I think it's just destined for my head to hurt all the time."
"That's why we're here," Sirius laughed.
"Leigh, I'm so sorry!" Bill apologized.
"Yeah, Leigh, we lost you when you entered the forest," Charlie kneeled beside me. I was moved from the leafy forest floor into the family room's couch, "We are so sorry!"
I gave a huge smile, they're faces and big eyes just melted me, I could never say no to that, "It happens. Don't worry about it." I sat up and they all moved away.
"Well, Lily, thank you for inviting us over, but it's time we got back." Molly pulled the boys away.
"Aw, Molly, you don't have to leave," James said and ruffed Charlie's hair.
"No, no, its time I went home and made some dinner," she said and then rounded up all her boys and bid them farewell.
"What happened, Leigh? We found you passed out," Lily asked concernedly after Molly and the boys had left.
I struggled to remember, the drink did a lot but my memory was still a little foggy, "Well, I remember that when the path went away, I turned back and tried to find it. I heard a loud crash behind me and then started to run, when I looked back the next time I saw a big shadowy thing chasing me, when I turned my head forward I hit a branch."
"That was me, I was chasing you." Sirius said quietly and Remmy punched his arm.
"Are you deaf? I told you not to, she's never seen you like that before!" she ranted.
"How?" I was getting confused a lot lately.
"I'm an Animagus." Sirius said.
"What?"
"He can change into an animal," Remus explained.
"Remmy and I can do it too, " James informed me.
"Not in the house, James!" Lily warned. Remmy gave a little smirk and then with a faint pop turned into a gray wolf. I blinked and then Sirius turned into the big black thing in the forest.
"Why can they do it and not me?" James complained. The dog-formed Sirius walked over to James and raised his leg.
"Sirius! Don't you dare!" Lily grabbed his black ear. Remmy crawled up on the couch with me and laid her wolf head in my lap. She had some features that were the same as the human Remmy, like her eyes and one inconspicuous blonde patch on her back. Sirius had the same shaggy black hair and sparkling gray eyes.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Sirius turned back into his normal self and Lily let go. I looked down at Remmy, her wolf mouth was in a sloppy grin and her body was shaking with laughter. I had kinda gotten use to the whole magic thing right about now, so I was expecting nearly about everything.
"That is awesome!" I said and they all laughed, "What else can you do?"
"Well, we can have lunch," Lily said and then waved her wand. The food zoomed out of the kitchen and set itself on the dinner table.
"Yes! I was starving!" Remmy jumped down from the couch and changed back.
"Oh, the babies are awake!" Lily said.
"How do you know?" I strained to hear them.
"A charm," Lily replied simply, "Do you wanna help me?" I shrugged and followed her to Harry's room.
"Where is Frank and Alice?" I asked, I had just noticed they weren't one of the many faces that I had woken up to see.
"Um," Lily hesitated, "They are on a mission."
"Mission?"
"I should wait until Dumbledore gets here to tell you," Lily replied.
"Who?"
"He's the headmaster of Hogwarts and our…advisor," Lily explained and then opened the door. Liam and Lane had managed to climb out of the crib, a feat they had been able to do ever since they could crawl. Harry was leaning against the crib bars, blabbering at the twins.
"Leigh!" Lane cried and ran over to me.
"Did you have a nice nap?" I picked him up. Lily had lifted Harry out of the crib and set him down on the floor, he and Liam had already walked out the door. Lane nodded in reply.
"I'm hungry." he stated.
"Well, we're going to get somthin' to eat right now," I replied.
"Harry! Careful down those stairs!" Lily walked quickly in front of me and grabbed Harry before he could tumble down to the landing. Liam was already down the stairs and in Remmy's arms. We continued to the dining table and Remmy conjured, out of thin air, two more high chairs for Liam and Lane.
"What to eat, Leiwgh?" Liam asked.
"Steak and mashed potatoes," Lily answered and then started to cut up little pieces for the babies.
"Yes!" Sirius said and then took a bite," Lily, you are the best cook ever."
"Suck up," Remmy muttered.
"Your just jealous you can't cook like this," Sirius replied.
"Or cook at all," James said. Remmy glared at him until he apologized and I just laughed. They were like children trapped in an adults body. The dinner was very humorous, and it reminded me of meals I used to have with my parents. I didn't think about them much, it was too painful, but this was a happy memory and it made me smile all the wider.
Remus struck me as shy, but smart, he would be the one sitting in the chair reading one of his favorite books and half listen to the conversation that would be going on. But when he was with James and Sirius it was a whole different story. They all completed each other some how, James and Sirius brought out Remus's funny and wild side and so forth.
"Where's Peta?" Remmy asked.
"Peta?" I repeated. I was trying to clean up some of the potatoes that Lane had throw at Liam.
"Peter, its just what I call him, he's another one of these troublemakers over here," Remmy explained.
"He said he had something important going on," Lily replied, "don't know what it could possible be though."
"You're not an innocent yourself, Remmy!" Sirius objected.
"Yeah, weren't you the one that started dancing on top of the Slytherin table?" Remus pointed his fork at her.
Remmy blushed, "That was for a bet! And did you hear the awful rumors going around after that happened?"
"Rumors are always fun, remember the ones that used to go around every month?" A reminiscing look crossed Sirius's handsome face. Remus cleared his throat loudly and Sirius was brought back down to earth.
The door bell rang, interrupting their fun, I automatically stood to answer it when Lily said that I didn't have to do anything. I sat back down rather embarrassed.
"No!" We heard Lily yell. The three men stood up quickly and went to Lily, Remmy stayed behind with me but she looked upset and concerned.
"Dumbledor!" she said and my head whipped around so fast that my neck cracked. A tall, aged man dressed in sliver spangled robes with a beard that grew to his waist and bright blue eyes behind half-moon spectacles stood behind me.
"Remmy, the Longbottoms have been injured during their mission. Would you please take Remmy, her brothers and Harry to your house? I will be their shortly." he said solemnly, his gaze moved to me and I quickly looked away from his piercing gaze. Remmy stood and nodded sharply, she told me to get Lane while she got Harry and Liam. She led us over to the fire place and reached up to a small basin on the mantel.
"You learn fast right?" She showed me some sparkling green powder and told me to step in to the fire place with a handful of it. At first I thought she had gone insane, but a lot of things happened today that were usually considered 'insane'.
I know it was a long chapter, please forgive me if it seemed a little mudane...Please R&R! Lov ya'!