Call On Me

Chapter Ten-Graduation

I was stunned.

"Why?"

"Because I had hoped you would try and stop it from happening," Dumbledore continued. "But it happened anyway."

I looked over at Caitlin now sobbing, holding onto Lily.

"What happens now?" I asked.

Dumbledore sighed. "Nothing. This was meant to be,"

I nodded.

"Go comfort your friends," he said gently putting a hand on my shoulder. "They need you now more than ever."

I nodded and turned, heading back into the hospital wing.

I sat down beside Lily and Caitlin and put an arm around each of them.

"We'll get through this," I whispered.

Caitlin buried her face into my shoulder and cried. So did Lily.

I gently squeezed them and Caitlin raised her eyes to mine.

"I so thought you were a goner," she whispered as tears streamed down her cheeks. "If I lost you I don't know what I would have done."

I looked at her startled.

"I mean 'we'," she said recovering.

She continued to sob.

"James," Lily wailed and pressed her face deeper into my shoulder.

My throat ached with grief and I soon pressed my face into Caitlin's hair and began sobbing myself.

Sirius and James' body had been put in the hospital wing. Caitlin's back healed as well as her arm.

We were able to leave the hospital wing and head back to Gryffindor tower. The rest of the Gryffindors were solemn as we entered. A first year named Katie Owens rushed forward and gave Caitlin a hug.

"You poor thing," she said sympathetically as she looked at Lily and I as well. "You guys have been through a lot."

"How would you know?" Lily snapped. "You've never lost two people you cared about."

Katie's expression faltered and became emotionless.

"Actually, I did," she said in a low tone. "My grandparents. They were killed by You-Know-Who."

Lily muttered an apology and plopped down on the couch, curling into a fetal position and she pressed her face into a pillow.

Caitlin sat down on the loveseat portion across from the couch as if in a trance. Katie gave Caitlin a squeeze again before giving Lily a sympathetic look and then left the common room.

I sat down beside Caitlin and draped my arm over the back of the loveseat behind her.

"I just can't believe this," Caitlin said staring at the table in front of her. "It's like a dream."

Those words brought back the horrible memory of what had originally happened…actually, it did happen. Caitlin was originally supposed to die, but Dumbledore sent me back in time to try and fix it. But it was just meant to be.

"I know," I said my throat aching again.

Caitlin raised her eyes to mine.

"Why did this happen? Why did it have to happen?"

"I'm not sure," I said quietly.

We fell silent and the silence was thick for a bit with the only sound being Lily's sobs.

"We have to graduate without James or Sirius," Caitlin said quietly. "It's never going to be the same again."

"I know," I said gently as tears formed in my own eyes again.

Suddenly, Lily jumped up from the couch, causing Caitlin and I to jump apart from the shock.

"Oh just admit it you two!" Lily shouted as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Admit what?" I asked confused.

"Admit that you're crazy for each other!"

I went to open my mouth but Lily continued.

"I'm not blind! I see it as clear as day!"

"Lily…" I began but again she cut me off.

"DON'T TRY AND TELL ME THAT LINE 'OH WE'RE JUST BEST FRIENDS'! THAT'S BULL! I KNOW IT AND SO DID JAMES AND SIRIUS! JUST ADMIT IT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD AND GET ON WITH IT!"

Caitlin and I looked at each other.

"Well," I began slowly. "I…"

"I think of him as a best friend, Lily," Caitlin said slowly interjecting what I was about to say. "I've never really seen him as anything else."

Lily's tears continued to stream down.

"Then you're lying to yourself," she spat and she turned and fled the common room, heading toward the girls' dorm.

My heart felt like it had been ripped out and stomped on.

"We've been through a lot," I said quietly trying not to let the hurt show. "I'm heading to bed."

With that, I too, headed off to the boys dorm and climbed into bed.

CAITLIN.

Remus headed off to the boys dorm. I felt like I really hurt him…like I tore off his left arm.

Feeling even worse than imaginable, I headed off to the girls' dorm.

6 MONTHS LATER

JUNE 12th

It was graduation time. I had such a mixture of emotions I had no idea which was the more powerful one. The ceremony was being held in the Quidditch pitch. The raised stands were now smaller and ground level. Each house would be called forward and then the names of each student. Gryffindor was first.

We had our graduation robes on. They consisted of the house colors as well as the embroided Lion on the back. I had left my hair down and it fluffed around my shoulders. Lily was looking at the two empty chairs beside her that would've belonged to Sirius and James. I could see tears forming in her eyes all over again. Remus was sitting next to her, whispering to her.

Remus caught my eye and then turned his attention onto Professor Dumbledore. The parents were sitting in the stands behind each house.

I turned around in my seat and saw my parents. They eagerly waved at me and beamed. My mom pretty much looked like me. We could really pass for twins. My Dad had short, dark brown hair and green eyes. He was tall, thin and was wearing dark green robes. My mom was of medium height and was wearing light blue robes.

Remus got his teaching license and wanted to come back to Hogwarts to teach. Lily I think just wanted to leave the magic behind for a while. I also wanted to become a teacher, but teach in a Muggle school.

"Welcome parents to the Graduating class of 1975," Professor Dumbledore called cheerfully.

The parents behind us cheered and clapped.

I didn't feel very cheerful at the moment. Remus seemed to be avoiding me like the plague.

As Dumbledore continued on with the speech, I sank deep into my thoughts.

Could Lily be right? Could I be lying to myself about my feelings toward Moony? I mean he's a wonderful guy…been there for me when I've needed him and not to mention risked his life just about to save me and Lily. He was after all the first person I trusted after Sam assaulted me.

He cheered me up when I needed it most and he's never left me down not once. He's thoughtful, kind, caring, compassionate, funny, gentle…

I stopped myself. I could go on forever about him.

Oh man…I've made a huge mistake! I do love him! I've got to talk to him though.

I tried to catch Lily's or Remus' eye, but they were watching Dumbledore with rapt attention.

Professor McGonagall began calling the names alphabetically. We had to get up, walk toward a small raised stage and then step onto it, basically like the Muggle graduation and the diploma was a scroll stating that we had completed 7 years of magical study and was now able to use magic properly in the real world.

I was called first. I got up, and taking a deep breath I began walking down the aisle. Every house had chairs set up in front of their stand where the entire student body of that house was sitting. At least 300 in were in each house. I felt all eyes on me as I walked across the stage. I shook Dumbledore's hand and then headed over to McGonagall. She gave me the scroll and a hug.

"I'm going to miss you," she whispered softly before releasing me.

I took the scroll and then headed back to my seat. Shortly, Lily's name was called. I continued to try and catch Remus' eye but he was avoiding eye contact.

I felt my throat aching.

Finally, the Gryffindor house was complete. Each house would then head into the castle with the parents for a little party.

We entered the castle. My parents saw me and rushed forward.

"Lin!" my Mom gushed as she threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

"Mom," I said and burst into tears as I pressed my face into her chest and cried.

"What's wrong, Caity?" Dad asked concerned.

I sobbed for a bit before pulling back.

"Oh Mom," I said as tears streamed down my face. "I made a bit mistake!"

I then proceeded to tell them what happened.

"He's around here," Dad said scanning the crowd of parents and students. "I saw the Lupin's 5 minutes ago."

I saw Lily and her parents coming toward me. She rushed toward me and wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm so sorry I was mad at you!" Lily sobbed. "The worst part of it is now we can't hang out or spend time together! We could've all those months!"

"It's okay," I said hugging her back tightly.

We sobbed and hugged each other for a while.

I told her we can always send letters to one another and hang out in the Muggle world.

"Where's Remus?" I asked.

"I think he left already," Lily said wiping the tears from her eyes. "I saw him leaving with his parents a few minutes ago."

"Dammit!" I said. "I wanted to tell him how I feel!"

"So you do love him," Lily said shrewdly and wide-eyed. "Why'd it take you so long to realize those feelings?"

"I don't know," I sighed. "But all I want to do is tell him how I feel!"

Lily hugged me again.

"If I see him, I'll tell him for you…or I'll tell him to contact you in some way okay?"

I nodded as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"We'd best get going," Lily said. "Oh I'm going to miss you so much! I miss the five of us already."

"Me too," I said quietly.

We hugged for a third time before her parents led her away. She waved at me and then they Apparated.

We had managed to master how to Apparate and was no able to use it.

"Shall we get going as well?" Dad asked gently.

"Yeah," I said as I looked up and scanned the castle for one last time. This was it. I'd never see this place again. Nor would I see my friends again. The sadness was sitting like a lump in my chest.

Mom, Dad and I held hands and then, in a crack of a whip, we were gone.

ANDREWS RESIDENCE

It felt kind of good to be home on one hand. I was back in my own room, with my own belongings. We had adopted a bit of the Muggle way of life as well. I had a TV in my room as well as a computer. We also had a car in the driveway. A GMC Yukon Denali, Black.

I was lying on my stomach on my bed listening to my CD player. Lily and I had been sending each other owls since graduation 3 weeks ago. Remus was also studying to be an Auror. He plans on teaching at Hogwarts in a few years. She only learned this by her father visiting the Ministry of Magic and he bumped into Remus there heading to the Auror headquarters.

Sighing, I grabbed my pillow and dug my face into it deeply.

My spell books were in my desk drawer and my wand was resting on my nightstand.

There was a knock on the door.

"Caitlin? It's Mom dear…can I come in?" my Mom's voice called.

"Whatever," I called.

The door opened and she entered. She was dressed in Muggle clothing…jeans and a tee-shirt. Her hair was pulled into a bun.

"Caitlin, you've been in the house for 3 weeks straight. What's going on honey?" Mom asked gently sitting on the edge of my bed.

"I just miss everyone," I said pressing my face into the pillow again. "And I want to tell Remus how I feel so badly."

"Listen," Mom said kindly. "Your father is going to the Ministry tomorrow for some kind of meeting. His division has to come up with a new way of dealing with the Magical Law. Why don't you take a trip with him? You might meet Remus there and this way you can tell him."

I brightened a bit.

"Really?"

She nodded.

"Absolutely,"

"Okay,"

She smiled and hugged me before leaving the room. I quickly grabbed a parchment and wrote Lily a letter. I tied it to Asia's leg (my owl. My Dad got her for me as a graduation present) and she gracefully took off into the evening sky.

I began feeling a bit more cheerful.

Dad agreed to take me in the morning.

THE NEXT MORNING

I eagerly got dressed and headed down stairs. I had pulled on a pair of jeans and a white poplin. I had curled my hair with spiral curls and applied amber colored eye shadow and clear lip gloss. In my ears were small sapphire earrings and I had a small pearl necklace around my neck.

Dad looked up.

"You look nice honey," he said. "I'm sure we'll bump into Remus. Training takes 2 years and there's classes everyday."

I felt a bit brighter.

We finished breakfast and then Dad Apparated us to the Ministry.

In the center were tall gold statues. A noble looking wizard, a witch, a centaur, a house elf and a goblin all looking adoringly up at the wizard. Water shot out from the tip of the wand that the wizard was holding straight in the air.

Dad and I checked our wands before proceeding.

"Hello Scott," a fatherly looking man said as we approached the elevator lift.

"Hello, Alex," Dad said softly. "Where is the Magical Law Enforcement Division meeting today?"

"The usual spot," the man said beaming at me. "This must be Caitlin."

I smiled.

"Yes," Dad said affectionately putting his arm around me. "Have you seen Remus Lupin around?"

The man's expression turned pale. "Lupin? Oh…I'm sorry Alex…he was killed by one of You-Know-Who's followers."

My eyes rolled up into my head as I fainted.