Author's Note: Seeing as I have no clue what to do now and kamers left me with nothing to work with, I guess I'll just make things up as I go.
xoxox
Whisper of a Thrill
CHAPTER FIVE: Come What May
Storm clouds may gather
And stars may collide
But I love you, I love you,
Until the end of time
I plopped down on my favorite scarlet-and-gold pinstriped cushioned chair in the Gryffindor common room that evening. Allie and James had been gone for hours and I knew it couldn't just be for tryouts – the other hopefuls had long ago come in from the field with disappointed looks on their sorry faces. I smirked and set a thick, pink journal on my lap. "Allie" was scrawled across the front in thick black ink with a child-like flower drawn beneath it. It was old and battered, from when Allie was five years old. Allie rarely got new things, but I think that her journal is the only thing she doesn't mind being old. My own journal, personally, was blue, leather-bound, and a maximum of two years old. Then again, I only wrote in it when something was truly troubling me, whilst Allie wrote in hers nightly. It was thanks to a convenient Refilling Spell that she hadn't run out of paper in almost eleven years.
Muttering a few words and waving my wand, I quickly broke through the few fragile enchantments she had for diary security. Honestly, I'd only read her diary on two other occasions, once in our second year after my mother died and once in our fifth year when I began dating Sirius. I decided that now I would get to the bottom of this James mystery. I flipped through the pages until I found last night's entry.
September 13, 1974
So, I'm dating James Potter. I can still hardly believe that I can write that and not have it be a total lie. I'm still a little shocked. Everyone is finally passed the, "Are you sure you're dating?" or "Kiss NOW" thoughts, so it's finally actually settling in my brain that it's really happening. I've liked James for quite some time now - who would've thought? But it's like…now that we're dating and he's starting to tone down all of the dumb habits he used to have (hexing random people, playing with that stupid Snitch, all the big Jamesisms), he's been a bit more…er…not interesting. I know - it makes no sense. It was the only thing that I could actually agree with Evans on, actually. But, now he just doesn't seem as James as he used to be. Maybe it's just the shock… I'm sure I'll get used to it in time.
Well, that I knew. She'd already told me that much - that he was acting differently. Maybe if I flipped through to September 1st…
"What's that, Natalia?"
I jumped as someone suddenly loomed over my shoulder. I slammed the book shut and spun around, falling out of the chair as I did so. I bumped my head on the thick carpet and for a second my vision spun. After a second, though, I could focus enough to see that my attacker was the great Remus Lupin.
"Bloody hell…"
"It's not nice to swear," he mock chided, taking my seat. That was no problem, however, for I promptly got up and sat on him, setting Allie's diary in his hands. "So you're reading her diary again? Anything interesting?"
I shook my head. "Nothing I didn't already know. And as for the 'again' part, this is really only the third time I've ever read it."
He gave me a skeptical look.
"Honest!"
"Okay, I believe you. So what were you looking for this time?" He pushed some of my red hair behind my ear and put his arms loosely around me. I leaned my head on his chest, breathing softly. Remus was a great mate to just have sometimes.
"A clue as to why Prongs is really dating Nat. I still don't believe it."
He chuckled softly. "I didn't at first either, but they seem pretty happy with each other. Maybe it's real…"
"Maybe… And maybe you won't turn into a bloodthirsty monster in three days." I grinned up at him to show that I was only teasing, but it was unnecessary as he was quite used to my odd sense of humor after all these years.
"Maybe." He grinned back. We just grinned at each other for a second before he suddenly averted his eyes, a look of pain shooting across his face.
"Remmy?" I asked, shocked. By the way, I'm the only one allowed to call him that. He stood up sharply and I nearly fell off him. "What's wrong?"
"I think Sirius was looking for you earlier."
"Remmy-?"
"I'll tell him I found you."
"Remus!"
He turned sharply and stomped up the stairs to his dormitory.
Ouch.
What the bloody hell was that? Had I done something? Was it my comment about his transformations? It couldn't be that… I've always said stuff like that! It's just how I am! I could feel angry tears threatening to fall and ran up the stairs into my own dormitory. When I got up there, only Lily and Dorcas were there, and Dorcas was on her way out. I plopped down beside my trunk and pretended to be rummaging through it for something as I forced myself to swallow my sudden uncharacteristic burst of emotion. As soon as I was calm, I pulled out a random book – my age-old copy of Hogwarts, A History – and sat down on my bed. It was only after five minutes of pretending to read that I noticed Evans was staring at me, a troubled expression on her face.
Great. More drama.
"Yes?" I asked her, not looking up.
"Nothing, nothing," she said, shaking her head. However, she continued to stare at me.
Merlin, that girl is odd.
"If it's nothing, Evans, than why do you continue to stare at me as if I've grown another head, which I haven't." I felt my neck to be sure. "Nope, still only one."
Okay, so maybe I'm a little odd, but in this world of magic, anything could happen.
"No, I just… I was wondering if I could…talk to you?"
I raised my eyebrow, putting away my book and turning to face her. "Okay. Although, I must warn you that I'm currently in an unstable mental and emotional state."
She looked for a moment as if she didn't know whether or not to laugh, and eventually settled with a sort of half-grin, half-grimace thing. "Well, uh… Does Potter really fancy Batsakis?"
"Wow." My eyebrows shot up higher than I ever thought possible. What should I tell her? The honest answer: No, he's only dating her to make you jealous enough to like him and it's apparently working. The answer I knew I should give her for James and Allie's sake: Yes, he does really like her. Seeing as I was only acting on theory with the first one and I'm just too wonderful a person to ruin James' plot, I chose the dishonest answer. "Yeah, he does. Why?"
"Just curious…" She turned away for a moment and I started to do the same when she blurted out, "But why'd he stop liking me?"
"Excuse me?"
"Er, why'd he decide to not fancy me anymore?"
"What, do you want him to?" This girl was annoying. For years she'd been shooting him down, and now she wanted to know why he didn't like her anymore? Told you she was the odd one, not me. "You've been telling him time after time to get over himself – and you, for that matter – and now he has. IT's really very simple."
"I guess… It was just… I've kind of grown used to it, you know? The constant cat-calling and asking for dates, the never-ending surprise snogging and mid-hallway serenades. It was kinda…I dunno."
"Flattering?" I supplied helpfully – cause I'm just that helpful, you know.
"Yeah, I guess. In an annoying kind of way, it was really flattering to know someone fancied you so much that they'd never give up no matter what everyone was telling them."
"And then he gave up," I said simply, understanding perfectly.
"Yeah…"
I caught a flicker of something in her eyes and recognized it instantly as the flicker Allie got when she looked at James, or when I looked at Sirius. "Do you fancy him, Evans?"
"No!" she exclaimed, trying to appear horrified, but failing rather miserably. "No, it's just quite a change to get used to, you know?"
I decided to let her get away with her obvious lie. "Yeah, I know. Listen, you'll adjust. Things are different for all of us, lately."
She nodded. "Thanks, Natalia."
"It's Nat," I corrected amiably.
She grinned. "Okay, thanks, Nat."
"Anytime, Lily."
We both lay down and went to sleep.
xoxox
I woke up the next morning feeling quite hyperactive. In fact, I skipped around the common room before breakfast singing The Witching Hour's latest hit "You're my Elixir" – which I only know half the words to – for a half-hour before Allie dragged me to a chair and forced me to sit and be quiet. The younger students were giving me very strange looks.
"Morning, Allie!" I sang.
"Good morning, Nat. What have you been drinking?"
"Nothing, actually. A first, I know. So did you make the team?"
She broke out grinning. "Yes! And James's broom is amazing! It's such an amazing flier! Even that Gwenog Jones girl in Hufflepuff is gonna have to look out once my dad convinces my mom to get me one of those!"
"So, what took you so long getting in after practice?"
She flushed. "Er, actually, we went down by the lake together. It's really very pretty out there at night."
"The lake at night, huh?" I wagged my eyebrows at her.
She threw a pillow at me. "Nothing happened, Nat!"
"Poor thing…"
She just glared.
"You know what, Allie?"
"What, Nat?"
"I love you, Allie."
"I love you too, Nat."
"Like, you're going to be my head bridesmaid thingy at my wedding." I paused. "Or whatever it's called."
She raised an eyebrow. "Maid of honor?"
"Yeah, that thing!"
"Git."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing!" She smiled in her falsely innocent way. I threw at her the pillow she had previously chucked at me. "Nat, you are way too hyper, you know that? What upset you?"
I frowned. She had this odd ability to decipher my odd moods. Best friends were annoying that way. "Remus." I told her the story.
"Oh, that? That's cause he likes you, Nat."
"What!" I exclaimed.
"Did you honestly not figure that out? You can be so thick sometimes, you know that?"
"Gee, thanks, Allie."
She grinned, but then her face turned serious. "He likes you like I like James, Nat. He's bound to get a little pissy, and the full moon is coming up. Just let it go."
I didn't say anything. I just nodded and headed out the portrait hole to go down to breakfast early, humming "You're my Elixir" as I went.
xoxox
Author's Note: Hello, dear fans! I wrote another one! Yay! I'm hyper. And its 3:52 AM. That would explain the oddness of that last bit. But yeah. I'm gonna put this up now, so review it and tell us what you think!
-Carp