Gwen stared out the window into the courtyard below and sighed. Snow had covered the ground overnight and everything seemed so peaceful. It really was a shame she was going to have to leave all of this soon. She almost wished she had let the others talk her into going to Hogsmeade one last time.
It would look so pretty all covered in snow… more magical in its freshly painted scenery. Why wasn't she going? She was going to be leaving anyway? Why shouldn't she have fun? Why not?
And if you're mother comes? Her voice of reason argued.
Her eyes went to the book that Lily had let her borrow. Pride and Prejudice graced the cover. It was a good book. She'd read it many times before, as she sat alone in the hut wondering where her mother had gone. So what if she does? Let her come? Why should I punish myself more by remaining here when what I want is to go? I'm letting her win…
She stood and started walking towards the common room. She had to hurry. If she didn't then she might not be able to catch…
Plop!
She turned and watched as a fat snowball slid down the window. What the…?
Plop!
Another hit the window and she slowly walked to look out. She couldn't see anything through the snow so she slowly pushed the window open and looked around. But she didn't see anything.
"Look out!" a voice yelled and she saw the snowball coming and moved just before it smacked her right in the face. Plop! It hit the now open window and slid to the ground. She looked out the window and this time she saw Sirius standing sheepishly on the ground.
"Sirius? What was that?"
"Uh… sorry, didn't see you… Gwen, will you come down? You know… talk to me before I head into Hogsmeade."
Gwen opened her mouth to tell him she was coming but changed her mind. She'd let him sweat it out as little. Besides he obviously was going to try and talk her into going. Maybe she'd let him so he'd think he was really persuasive. That would be fun… "Why?"
"Because… Look, I said some pretty stupid things and I…er… I wanted to apologize. Please come down?" he grinned in his usual smirk-like way but she could tell he really wanted her to come.
"Well…"
"Please, Gwen?"
"I'll be down in a minute. I have to grab a jacket. Meet me in the entrance hall."
"Okay!"
Gwen closed the window and ran down the hall to the girl's dormitory. She opened the door and ran in and to her bed. She opened her trunk to grab her mitts and hat but then she saw that they were already laid out on her bed. Along with a scarf and hat she didn't recognize…
"Lily and Raven… why you two little schemers… I just bet this was James idea…" she smiled and slipped them and her jacket on over her. Then she headed down to the entrance hall… She was going have a great day… no matter what.
Sirius waited nervously in the entrance hall. What if this didn't work? Gwen was a fairy after all. If she didn't want to go, what to stop her from cursing them? Or worse yet, just refusing to every speak to them again.
He looked towards the doorway, outside of which he knew James and the others waited to ambush them the moment they walked out the door. He hoped this worked…
Footsteps echoed and he looked up to the top of the stairs. Gwen stood in her favorite pair of old boots. She wore blue jeans and a snug old grey winter jacket that was old and worn. On her head a bright blue cap sat gaily and a matching scarf adorned her neck, gifts from Lily, of course. The gloves of course were hers. They were old, black and holey. And not in anyway that has to do with church.
Her smile was wide and her eyes gleamed with laughter. It was almost as if… but no, of course, she couldn't know. He forced his lips into a grin and walked to the bottom of the stairs and she walked down to him. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Uh… well, I… I just wanted you to experience the snow first hand. We're leaving in a few minutes but… we could go outside."
"Uh… sure, I guess."
They headed towards the doorway and Sirius took her hand. Her hand was so small. He'd never really noticed it before. But everything about Gwen had seemed so frail, almost as if one bad look and she would fall apart under your gaze. But now he looked up at her face and she smiled. Her smile was so serene. As if she knew things that no one else knew and that it would all be okay. Now he came to know that despite all her fragility when she had come to Hogwarts she had grown up. And under all that sweetness was a will of steel. If only she could see it…
"What?"
"Hmm?" Sirius came back to reality and realized Gwen was frowning at him and she had stopped walking to look at him.
"You were looking at me weird. What is it? Is something on my face?" she took her hand from his to subconsciously feel for something.
At this Sirius smiled, because even with all the self-confidence she had gained there was still a little bit of the self-conscious Gwendolyn Farr under it all. "No, you look great. I was just thinking…"
He took her hand again and they walked across the foyer and walked outside. As the blast of cold air hit their faces Sirius glanced quickly at Gwen and found her smiling her eyes shining with a reverent awe. "Wow… it's so beautiful…"
Sirius grinned and then pulled her farther out so that a light dusting of snowflakes smattered among her brown hair. Her hazel eyes sparkled and she grinned at Sirius. He smiled back at her. Then she heard Filch yelling for the last of the students and she frowned and looked back into the building.
"I should probably get going inside. You have to go…"
"Gwen… come with me. Please. See Hogsmeade. It's beautiful in the snowfall. Please, come see it."
"Sirius, I shouldn't… I really shouldn't…" she edge towards the door and then Sirius frowned.
"To bloody hell with what you shouldn't do." He found himself yelling. "What do you want?"
Her eyes went wide and then she seemed to be frozen. Time ticked by and he just shook his head and then made the signal for James. "Took to long. Now you don't get a choice."
Gwen frowned at him and then suddenly went ramrod straight. James held her from behind. His cloaked hand over her mouth and he whispered something to her. "You are now my hostage, do as I say and no one will be hurt."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Okay, come on let's get going." He pulled her along and they headed for the school exit. As they walked along the path, Remus, Lily and Raven joined. They all refused to look at Gwen and though she walked amiably along her eyes were narrowed and she refused to look at Sirius.
They had just made it past Filch and the professor standing guard when suddenly a voice hailed them and they turned to see Dumbledore headed towards them. Gwen felt James shrink back as hiding behind her. But why would he? Dumbledore couldn't see him… could he?
"Ah… Miss Farr, I see that you've made many friends. Is everything alright?"
Gwen looked up at him with wide eyes and then she found herself nodding. After all they had done so much for her. She couldn't possibly turn them in. No matter how stupid and child-like their antics…
"Hmm… Funny, where's Mr. Potter. He's always hanging around you, Mr. Black. And yet today… he seems surprisingly missing. Why is that?" Dumbledore's eyes glimmered and for a moment they moved to just beyond Gwen's head as if they could see James crouched behind her.
"James went ahead of us. We were waiting for Gwen and well… you know James. He never was one to wait around for anyone. Not even his own friends. We told him we'd meet him at Honeydukes. "
"Hmm… yes, well, shouldn't keep him waiting. Good to see you again, Miss Farr. Don't think ill of your friends. They may at times seem a little brash but they always mean the best. At least, they think they mean the best."
Gwen frowned. It was almost as if he knew what was happening. She felt James' hand slip away from her mouth and smiled at the professor. "Uh… Thank you, professor. I'll… keep that in mind. But we should be going. James is waiting for us."
She smiled again and managed to turn even as the Dumbledore smiled his blue eyes dancing. "Yes, I see…"
If only you knew half of it, Gwen thought and she continued along her thoughts growing stormy. When they reached Hogsmeade she was going to… well, Sirius and the others wouldn't like it one bit.
James lay laughing on the floor rolling back in forth in the snow. The friends were sitting on the side of the road just outside of Hogsmeade. Gwen was still standing glowering down at James while the others were either sitting on the two boulders or standing like her. "Can you believe we pulled that off? I thought Dumbledore had us for sure…"
"Yes, it was hilarious. Right up there with the five of you abducting me against my will." Gwen said sourly crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at all of them. "What were you thinking?"
"Aw, come on, Gwen, did you really want to just sit in the common room waiting for your mom to come for you?" James said rolling on his belly to look up at her. "We were doing you a favor."
"A favor! A favor? Yes, it was most definitely a favor when you dragged me past Dumbledore and put me on the spot. I should have turned you all in right then."
"So why didn't you?" Sirius asked and she turned to face you. "You could have. So why didn't you?"
"Because… because Dumbledore wouldn't have believed me."
"Why?" asked Lily asked this time. "We are at a school of magic. Why shouldn't he believe you that someone was taking you against your will using an invisibility cloak?"
"She's right," said Raven "and I for one think you didn't turn us in because you wanted to come. You just didn't know how to say so."
"How to say so? I don't have to say anything. If I'd wanted to come all I had to do was walk out that door and through the gates. I wouldn't have needed to wait for you guys to abduct me. I have legs of my own. Thank you very much."
"Which you did." Sirius pointed out and she turned to look at him. His silver eyes glistened so she was suddenly suspicious. "You walked out the door and through the gates."
"Yes, but not of my own accord." She said stubbornly though she knew she was losing the battle. "You made me come. And then put me through that ordeal with Dumbledore…"
"Hey, that wasn't our fault!" Remus said speaking for the first time. "We didn't know that Dumbledore would come to talk to us."
"Still the fact of the matter is…"
"The fact of the matter is we're wasting time." Raven said impatiently and she jumped from the boulder to her feet. "Gwen, all you're doing is waiting for your mother, right? Right?"
When Gwen nodded she continued. "Alright then, so while you're waiting. Have a little fun. Do some stupid things. Make some memories. After all soon you might have to say goodbye to this so why not take a tiny piece of it with you? Huh? Whaddya say?"
Gwen crossed her arms again and looked down the road to Hogsmeade. As usual Raven was right… "Well… for the record I'm still mad at all of you. Why did you do something so stupid?"
"Why didn't you tattle on us?" Raven returned.
"Because we're friends."
"Exactly… and besides that. Do you really think we could make you do something you really didn't want to? So are we even?"
Gwen flopped down into the snow and slowly played with it before she glanced around at her friends. Each of them watched her and she felt the glow in her heart spread. Over the last two months they had been through so much with her. They were her family… How could she stay mad at them…?
The snow felt cold through her gloves and a sudden idea came to her. With one fast movement she deftly packed a snowball and threw it at Raven, who was hit smack dab in the forehead. "Ah! Cold!" Raven managed to gasp out and stared at Gwen who stood and smiled challengingly.
"No… now we are." Gwen said and laughed as Raven padded up a snowball of her own. Raven threw it but Gwen managed to dodge it though it hit James smack in the face. But instead of getting mad James grinned. "Oh, its on now."
Snowballs flew and before they new it they had an all-out snowball fight going on. No one remained untouched until finally the five of them called a truce and they headed into Hogsmeade for a nice warming up at the Leaky Cauldron and some butter beers.
As they walked to the tavern Sirius came up behind Gwen and took her hand. "So how do you feel now?"
"I'm still a little mad at you. It was a stupid idea."
"Yeah, I know but I was desperate to get you here. I knew you would love it and besides don't ends justify means?"
"Well… in this case they do. But don't go getting cocky. Just because I went along with you this one time doesn't mean I won't take my revenge later. Fairies are known for that and just because I'm only half doesn't mean anything." She said wagging her finger at them.
"Yes ma'am." he said saluting her. "I guess I'm lucky. It could be worse. If you were full fairy you might never forgive me. I read somewhere that since fairies are so small they can only feel one emotion at a time so they tend to be single-minded."
"Single-minded. Yeah, I know someone like that." She smiled and he raised one of his eyebrows in curiosity.
"Who?"
"Not a fairy. He's a wizard. Black hair, silver eyes, charming and handsome as the devil himself. A real sweet talker until he sticks his foot in his mouth. Then he's just adorable."
"Oh really, and this wizard... Exactly what does he have on his mind?" he said taking a step closer to her.
"I dunno. Why don't you ask yourself?"
"Charming and handsome as the devil himself am I? Hmm… I think I know what I have on my mind." He stepped closer and pulled her into a hug. "Come here you little vixen."
Gwen laughed and hugged him back. Then the hug ended and the two of them found themselves staring into one another's eyes. The connection might have lasted one second but for all they knew it lasted an eternity until Raven's voice interrupted.
"Hey are you too, coming? Or are you just going to sit there staring at each other?"
Gwen looked at the floor and Sirius tossed Raven a glare, which she parried with a saucy grin before heading into the store. Sirius shook his head and then looked back down at Gwen. "Come on, we better get going before she sends James and the rest after us."
"Yeah."
"Hey, are you okay?"
No… because I know without a doubt that when I leave you my heart will be ripped from my chest and I will never again be the same. "Oh yeah, fine. Come on. I want some butter beer."
"Okay, but one more thing." He leaned down and plopped a kiss on her lips. Gwen stared up at him in surprise and then smiled and they headed inside.
Well, she'd take some advice from Raven. She'd build up her memories for when it was time to leave… Not that she'd leave if she could stop it… If she could help it she'd never leave… not in a million years… maybe not even after that…