Chapter Eight:

Summer's End

Torie sat in her house nervously. She knew that Lila was stubborn, and wasn't sure if their friendship would last through this. More importantly, she wasn't sure if Lila would really call off the prank.

But, when Lila, George, and Jaime came, they acted perfectly normal. Lila assured her that they weren't going to prank Remus, and all was fine and dandy. The guests started to come, and soon, the party was in full swing. However, Torie couldn't find Remus anywhere.

"How's it going, birthday girl?" Jared asked her, grinning.

"It's great. Thanks for 'supervising' Jared. I know Mum didn't want me to even have this, and I wouldn't, if it wasn't for you."

"It's no problem. Anything for my favorite little sister."

Torie rolled her eyes. "Hey, have you seen Remus at all?"

"No, I haven't."

"Oh." Torie's face fell.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, he promised me he would come. But I haven't seen him. I'm just worried that-well-never mind."

"What's wrong? And don't say nothing, because I know that's not true."

"Well, you see, the only reason I became friends with Remus was because me and the girls wanted to prank him, and this was the perfect time. But then, I really got to know him, and I really like him. So, I called it off. Lila was really mad, and I think that she's still going to do it, even though she said she wouldn't. I want to find him to warn him."

"You're really tangled."

"I know."

"When did you start to appreciate him?"

"When he came to the Hospital. He had only known that I was at the hospital because of Mum. And I told the girls that too. But, he came to help me. Only him. The others didn't even ask how she was doing."

"He's really special Tor. Go and find him, before you lose him forever."

"You're okay with that?"

"I've realized that you love him Tor. You love him more than anything. And I can't stop that. So, go find him, and get him out of here. I'll keep an eye out for him."

It wasn't until 11:30 that Remus, Sirius, and James had arrived. They entered the crowd getting funny looks, as no one recognized them. At the same time, both Torie and Lila saw them. "Remus!" Torie called out to him, but he didn't hear her over the music.

Lila grinned wickedly as the prank began. But, her face fell as Torie grasped Remus' arm and dragged him outside. She, George, Jaime, James, and Sirius followed them out.

"Don't go in Remus, it's all a trick!" Torie cried.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

Torie looked up and saw small bags under his eyes, and fresh scrapes on his arms. "What happened to you?"

"Never mind. What do you mean by it's all a trick?"

"The only reason I invited you in the first place was to prank you to show you that you weren't wanted here." Remus' jaw dropped and his face showed betrayal. James had to hold Sirius back from attacking her. "That's what me and the girls planned. But, once I got to know you, I truly liked you." Tears began to run down her face. "I tried to get them to call it off, but they weren't going to. Just go Remus, before you get hurt."

"I trusted you," Remus growled, his face now showing anger. James and Sirius groaned. This had to happen right after full moon, when Remus' wolf side was the worst. "And all this time you've been lying to me. How do I know what was real? Did you like me when we went swimming? When we kissed? At the hospital? In London? How am I supposed to know? Merlin, I trusted you, and you betrayed it. I don't forgive easily, just ask Sirius." He turned around and stormed away. Suddenly, he stopped, turned around, and threw a small, neatly wrapped package at her. "Happy birthday, by the way."

Then, he ran back to his own house. James and Sirius looked at Torie sympathetically, and began to follow him slowly. Torie grabbed Sirius' arm. "What's going to happen?" She asked through her tears.

"He's going to wallow in self-pity in his room, go back to school with us, and forget about you," Sirius said, "I know, he doesn't forgive easily. Hell, I'm lucky he forgave me at all when I did something to betray his trust. He spent four months without even looking at me."

"Good luck at getting him back," James said, his hazel eyes blazing, "He loved you, Malaekey, he loved you. Go ahead, open that gift." Slowly, Torie opened the box, which revealed a heart pendant on a thin gold chain. Torie's jaw dropped.

But, when she looked back up at James and Sirius, they were gone. She leaned against the nearest tree and cried into her knees.

Jared saw the tears on Torie's face as Remus ran away, and chased after him. "I knew this wasn't going to work out," Jared said, "Damn it, I knew, and I didn't do a thing about it!"

He finally caught up to Remus, and grabbed his arm roughly. "What the hell Lupin? What did you do to my sister?"

"Nothing! It wasn't me! Now, let go of me." Remus' voice was deadly.

"No, talk to me."

"Get the hell away from me!"

"No!"

Then, to Jared's amazement, Remus pulled a thin stick out of his back pocket. "Perfectulas Totalus!" He cried, pointing the stick at Jared.

The next thing Jared knew was he was as stiff as a board, lying on the ground. "Leave me alone," Remus said, and continued running away.

"Remus mate, you've got to stop beating yourself up," James said, "She used you, and abused you. It's not your fault. It's all hers."

"Look, Moony, we're going to Hogwarts tomorrow. You can just forget about her. Don't even come back here next year."

"That's not it guys, I don't think I can forget about her. She's in there forever-your first love always is," Remus said, collapsing onto his bed.

"I know mate, I know," James said, nodding his head wisely.

"Can you guys just go?" Remus asked, "I just want to be alone."

"Wallowing in self-pity, just as we suspected," Sirius said wisely, nodding his head. He dragged James out of Remus' room and closed the door.

"We can't just let him do this to himself," James cried.

"But what do we do Prongs? I have no clue."

"Lily," James whispered, "Lily can help us. She's good at these kind of things."

"I'll go get her," Sirius said, and apparated away.

"What happened?" Lily asked James.

"Well, you know Torie? She used him. He's beating himself up about it now," James said.

"We, being the two clueless guys we are, decided to get you as we didn't know what the hell to do," Sirius added.

"I'll go talk to him," Lily said, and walked into his room.

Lily had been in Remus' room for ten minutes when someone knocked on the door. Sirius went to open it, and was surprised to see Torie at the door. "I wouldn't have come if I were you."

"I need to talk to Remus," She said angrily, "I don't think I've been the only one keeping secrets."

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked.

"Do you really think I'm that naïve?" She asked, "Let me in."

"I don't think so."

"Just go Torie."

"Wizards, is it? You're all wizards!" Torie was hysterical.

"Shit," James muttered, "Come in."

"You don't think my brother would tell me about that 'skeleton' he found out about Remus? He's a bloody wizard! He did some sort of curse-"

"-Hex," Sirius corrected her.

"Fine, hex. I want to see what the deal is."

"Just listen to me Torie. Yes, we are wizards. The school we go to is for magic. We learn how to brew potions, change things from one thing to another, make things live, and yes, hex and jinx things," James said.

"Prove. It."

Sirius sighed and closed his eyes. In an instant, he was replaced by a great big black dog. Torie looked over at James. He pulled out his wand and waved it. Small yellow birds flew out the end and fluttered around her head.

"It's real then, isn't it?" She whispered, sounding terrified.

Sirius changed back and said, "Yeah, it is. That's Remus' secret. Could you just leave him alone now?"

"No," Sirius said, "I'm sorry Torie, but he's not good right now. Maybe when he comes home at Christmas or something, but not now. The wound is still too deep."

Torie took a deep breath. "Okay, but make sure you tell him that I said that I'm sorry, very sorry. And, maybe, when he cools down, could you get him to just write me a letter or something. Please?"

"Of course Flame. But, don't get too eager."

"Bye Sirius. I'll see you."

"Yeah, bye."

Torie walked away from the Lupin's house, tears falling down her face. She glanced back and saw up in Remus' room, through the window, he was watching her. She turned back and continued on her way home.

A/N: Aww, poor Torie, poor Remus. I think this is the end of this-though I'm not sure. I wrote this in two days, because it's still raining here. Poor me! Anyway, thanks for reading. I don't know if I'm going to write some sort of epilogue for this-I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it'll be long enough. We'll just have to see. What I think I might do is just pass this off as a completed story, then possibly write a one-shot story about what happens to them. I dunno, we'll have to see…I'm rambling again. Please Review! Thanks!