I really have no excuse for this delay, so all I can do is apologize. I am so sorry that this chapter took such a ridiculous amount of time, and isn't even an awesome chapter to make up for things. SORRY! I'm working on the next chapter, but I don't want to make any promises when my track record hasn't been very good.

Moving on. This chapter is somewhat filler I guess. I'm not super happy with it, but I wanted to get it out to ya'll. It's doing no good sitting on my computer, so might as well share.

And I'm just going to apologize one more time. SORRY, SORRY, SORRY!

What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth. ~Jewish Proverb

My hands shake as I open the letter. I know it was from my mom. She is the only person I know who would use lilac colored and scented parchment for a quick note to her daughter. I hope this was one of her silly letters, saying nothing of importance, just jabbering away. I don't know why I think this letter is going to be different. Her letters usually have no purpose, but from the minute I picked this letter up I knew something had to be wrong. Please just be a letter telling about the new restaurant dad took her to or the new dress gown she's sending me!

My dad calls me "his little empathy." I'm sad whenever someone else was sad, and I can pick up people's emotions, no mater how good they were at hiding them. This wouldn't be the first time I've gotten a sense of a letter's contents before I opened it.

I read my letter and my shaking hands still. I guess I was being silly. All it is is another note about the silly lady in the office next to my mom and my parent's most recent dinner date with people from my mom's office. She signs it "We love you!" like always, and I laugh at myself. I get worried over nothing, as usual. I'll work on that in the future.

I roll over under the covers, Artemis hopping onto the bed after her midnight excursion. Not waking all the way up, I shift again and fall back to sleep.

"I'm so sorry Adrienne. We tried everything the last few weeks. I'm so sorry for you and your mother's loss." The Head Healer at Saint Mungo's watched me with remorse. I stood where I was, frozen. I could hear my mother sobbing somewhere behind me.

Dead? My father couldn't be dead. He was fine, less than a week ago! I got my regular letter from my mother, and laughed with her as she wrote about Dad's "sock hunt." That letter was from last Tuesday. He was fine. He can't be dead. He can't be.


I woke up, startled, and not wanting my memory to continue. Anything is better than that day, even waking up too early to get up, but too late to go back to sleep, the morning after the second worse day of your life.

God. I hate that dream. Nightmare is probably a better word. But in all actuality it's a memory, which makes it that much worse.

I used to have the memory replayed every night the minute I went to sleep. I'd wake up creaming, and woke the entire dorm the first few times, until Lily and I found a spell that would put a sound box around my bed. Over time it became easier to sleep through the night, and this was the first time since the end of school last year that I had the nightmare.

It was 6:30 in the morning, and I was supposed to be up at 7:30. I didn't have enough time to fall back asleep, but I wasn't ready to leave the warmth of my covers. I snuggled down with Artemis, who still lay on my pillow.


I mentally prepared myself for today's confrontations. I needed Lily more than I liked to admit, and though I still thought she was in the wrong in this case, I would go to her first. I would explain my feelings, she would apologize, and hopefully explain hers, and we would move on like it never happened. Then I would ask her if she knew anything about the Remus thing. She had always been better friends with him that I was, so maybe she knew what was going on. I would apologize if I had to, to Remus or do my best to stay out of his way.

I felt better having a plan. Usually I'm artsy, more just go with the flow than make a plan, but I didn't always do well expressing m feeling in front of people. Having a plan in these situations helped.

Satisfied, I rolled over. It was still too early, but if I was going to do this, I would do it right.

I was the first one in the bathrooms and I had plenty of time, so I spoiled myself with a luxurious bubble bath. They always relaxed me and I just felt wonderful after. I washed my hair with my pomegranate shampoo and conditioner, and did a quick drying spell that let my hair shiny and silky. All dry and strait, my hair reached halfway down my back, and my bangs were slightly over my eyes. I probably should have trimmed my hair before I left for school, but now I'd just wait for the first Hogsmeade visit and hopefully take care of it then.

By now, the rest of the dorm was up and moving, some slower than others. I debated asking, but I finally worked up the courage to ask for help.

"Alice, Turq?" I asked quietly. I wasn't one to usually dress up or care about my looks, and I wanted to avoid any of the questions the others would ask about the change. We were friends, but some of the girls weren't above gossip.

"Hey girls. What's up?" Turq asked as she joined me in the bathroom, Alice following behind her.

"Would you guys mind doing me a favor?" I asked, embarrassed for some reason that I was asking them to help with my hair and makeup and because had to ask them. I had no idea what I was doing. "Can you guys help me a little with my hair and makeup and stuff?"

"Of course Addy," Alice said kindly. "It'd be no trouble."

"I've waited seven years to do this you know!" Turq said with an evil laugh.

Turq pushed me over to the counter space, and I hopped up onto it so we were eye level while Alice headed back to the dorm to get everything.

I had some potion rubbed into my hair to make the reds and caramels and undertones of amber shine brighter in the light. Alice did two French braids that pulled some of my hair back into a clip and left the rest hanging. I had some cream on my face that evened out my completion and added a splash of blush to my cheeks. I stopped them before they could do much of anything else, with a promise that I'd actually let them give me a complete make over before the Halloween dance. I wanted to look pretty, but I didn't want to make it look like I obviously had spent extra attention to my looks this morning.

Alice and Turq forced me out of the dorm before I could back out of anything. They basically frog marched me to the Great Hall and then into Transfiguration. The N.E.W.T.'s level Transfiguration class was the largest of the classes offered for seventh years. Everyone would be here. I'd have to face them all together. What a great start to a Wednesday morning.

I slid into a seat on the Gryffindor side of the room. Alice slid in beside me, and we had said goodbye to Turq as we left the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall was being her usually intimidating self, staring down everyone in the room at the same time. She was an excellent teacher, for all her gruffness. She was generally fair, and never favored Gryffindors, unfortunately. But I liked Transfiguration all the same.

It was one of my better classes, and the only class I was better in Lily at. I wasn't better by a lot, just enough to make her competitive.

Lily was sitting in front of me, with James of all people beside her. It was shocking that they were sitting so comfortable, but even more surprising that James wasn't sprinting in a half second before the bell, as Remus and Sirius did, sliding into seats behind Alice and myself.

McGonagall started right into "this is the most important year of your schooling" talk, not saying anything about the near tardy boys, ignoring them except for a sharp glare. She lectured briefly about the plan for the year, and what the N.E.W.T.'s themselves would look like, before sending us off to practice the spells we had learned last year and read about over the summer. Sound filled the previously silent room, as friends joked and the few bullies laughed at struggling students.

This was my shot. Probably my best shot all day. I just had to talk my self into it.

I decided to start with Remus. We weren't that close, so honestly? I couldn't care as much about his obvious distain for me than about Lily and my friendship. She was the focus, because she was the most important. She had been there for me since we entered school and we were closer than friends. People already said we were "attached at the hip," and not always with kindest intentions, but she was the closest thing to a sister I had. I needed her. I was weak when it came to emotions. I'd rather just ignore them until they disappeared. It was easier to bottle things up than deal with them. I was good at that.

Lily was good at knocking sense into me. Good at reminding me that it was okay to have emotions, and to get mad at people. And hen she was always there for the fall when everything I bottled up came pouring out. I needed her.

So I had to talk myself into the confrontation. Usually Lily would talk me into it, but this time I was on my own. Basically meaning I was screwed.


"Hey Remus!" I turned around and said cheerfully once Professor McGonagall headed over to help a struggling Slytherin on the other side of the classroom. He seemed guarded as he said a stilted hello in return, and Sirius didn't even look up to acknowledge me. I in turn ignored him, focusing on Remus. "Sorry about any awkwardness in Runes yesterday. Are you okay?" I still couldn't believe that Remus could hate me, but something was wrong.

"I'm fine." he paused for a moment after his sharp response, but his good manners go the better of him and he continued. "Thank you for your concern." I could tell he was uncomfortable and wanted to say more, but he stayed silent.

I waited for something, anything else, but he had nothing more to say. I quickly turned around, not a very Gryffindor like move, and started my spell work. I saw Lily and James turn around quickly, doing a terrible job pretending they weren't just eavesdropping.

"You okay?" Alice asks quietly, as we take turns turning our mouse into different things.

"I'm fine, I promise." Alice is a sweetheart. I forget that more than I should, with all the time I spend with Lily and all the time Alice spends with Frank. I made a mental note to get her something extra special for Christmas this year.

"Hi Lily. Can we talk?" I asked quietly after Transfiguration as everyone packs up. She didn't answer, but turned to James and told him she'd have to meet with him later to work out the schedule for the prefects. We walked out to the lake in silence, neither having to say where we were going.

Ever brave Lily broke the silence. "Your hair looks very pretty today."

"I finally let Turq get her hands on it..." Why am I in Gryffindor? I'm not brave. I'm the biggest wimp ever, afraid to talk to my best friend. I should be in Ravenclaw, with the other bookworms who don't know how to deal with people.

"So... You and Niko are together now? When did that happen?" Lily once again broke the silence.

"What are you talking about? We're just friends. You know he has a girlfriend, you met her this summer!" What was she talking about?

"Oh." Lily looked confused, an expression which hardly ever crossed her face. "Then what was up with his display yesterday?"

"Lupin was being weird yesterday in Runes and Niko didn't like it. End of story. We aren't together. Who told you we were?"

Lily looked ashamed. "No one told me, per say."

"Lily..."

"Well... It's just all over the school. Niko's one of the more attractive boys here and he's so nice, but he's been relatively safe from the slutty girls, because he's so dedicated to his girlfriend. But now... People think you two are together."

"That's ridiculous. We're just friends! Can't a girl have a friend that's a guy?"

"Addy... That's not all." Lily was looking down and playing with her rings. I waited for her to continue. "Some people are... insinuating... that you stole Niko or that you're letting him cheat on his girlfriend with you."

"So people are calling me a slut." How did my life go downhill so quickly?

"We can fix it! We'll just make sure everyone knows it's a complete rumor with no truth to it and it will all go away as soon as the next big scandal hits!" Lily jumped in quickly. By not disputing my claim, it was obvious that it was "slut" or worse that people were referring to me as.

I sighed. "I have to go find Niko." Lily and I were best friends, but Niko was important to me too. Especially after his confession yesterday. I felt closer to him than ever, and I had t do something. I know we hadn't sorted anything out, but other things seemed more pressing. Like Niko and my reputation. And Niko's life if his girlfriend ever heard about the rumors.

"I'm coming with you!" Lily said certainly, with a "don't-mess-with-my-best-friend-or-else"

look.

"Thanks." I said with a grateful smile. "But I think I'll go talk to him alone. Would you mind…" I paused, feeling awkward asking her for anything when we were still technically in a fight.

"I'll go make sure everyone knows the lies are just that- lies." My eyes welled up and I gave her another thankful smile. She drags me into a smothering hug before I can hurry back towards the castle, and I let myself sink into it, needed the contact. "I'll save you a seat in DADA!"

I had another half an hour before Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I hoped that was enough time to find Niko and sort everything out. Maybe he had more information than Lily had given me. Even if he didn't, he and Shane would be together, and they could direct me to Missy who would certainly have more information.

I thankfully found the three of them lounging around the Great Hall before Missy had to walk down to Care of Magical Creatures and us 7th years would go to N.E.W.T. DADA. I stood next to Missy and as far away from Niko as possible. There were hundreds of eyes on us and I didn't want anything else to be started if I stood next to Niko. People were making up stories out of nothing and I couldn't give them any more ammunition.

So... Just as a quick clarifier. I kind of imagine the schedule to be like a college schedule, where you go to a class two or three times a week and are left with a lot of free study time, especially as my main characters are seniors. And this is just how I imagine Addy's schedule. And as another side note, I think "Study" would be more like open officer hours held by professors, rather than the study hall we all had in high school.

MONDAY

Transfiguration

Defense against the Dark Arts

Study

Charms

TUESDAY

Potions

Ancient Runes

Herbology

WEDNESY

Transfiguration

Defense against the Dark Arts

Study

Charms

THURSDAY

Double Potions

Ancient Runes

Herbology

FRIDAY

Transfiguration

Defense against the Dark Arts

Study

Charms