See? Making me happy really pays off! I got my first review and was so happy about it that I decided to post this early. The next chapter will probably take a bit more time, sense the ones already here were just waiting to be posted when I added the story here.

Oh! And I promised you a picture didn't I? I put the link to my profile page sense the one here didn't really work.

(I know its a address monster, but its a link to a picture in my blog so don't worry. ) I know you really wanted to see Sirius and I actually made one of him also but didn't like it, so you will have to wait for it for a while longer ^^. Please make me happy again and review! I would really like to know what you think.

Chapter 3

Where a first taste of the future feels bitter

The next morning Valerian was sitting at breakfast, sipping her herbal tea and inspecting her schedule for the day. First thing in the morning she would have Charms with their house head professor Flitwick. He had actually been rather kind to her on the night of her arrival. It was nice to have at least one teacher who wasn't completely human either. It made her feel less alone, less different. The rest of her schedule was somewhat altered from the ones the others had, or so she had been told. Her noon was completely empty, and late afternoon were Herbology, Potions and Astronomy in the evening. Apparently her potions professor had kindly agreed to give her private lessons upstairs after classes, sense the classroom it was normally held, was underground and full of iron. Even the thought of it made her shudder in disgust.

On the other days, she would also have Defense against the Dark Arts, Ancient Studies and some Art lessons. It didn't sound all that bad, and it would be interesting to see what humans were teaching to their offspring. And sense she wasn't here to become a full member of the wizarding community; she wouldn't have to worry about the exams or anything like that. Her father couldn't care less of her marks at some human school as long as she did well in her other studies back at home.

After stuffing her schedule back to her bag, she drank what was left of her tea with one gulp and headed off to find the first classroom she would enter in her entire life. Not really knowing what to expect. Fortunately it wasn't hard to find, partially thanks to Johns thorough instructions last night. She had been somewhat relieved, after he had told her that he would not be attending to the class with her. Listening to that endless chatter had exhausted her completely last night. After taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she entered the first of many classes ahead of her.

-XXX-

Sirius was sitting in the back of the classroom, leaning casually back in his seat and yawning like there was no tomorrow. James was sitting next to him, classes crookedly on his nose and looking equally tired. They had been up most of the night last nigh, preparing a prank for Filch. Now all they had to do was wait for the show. The room was full of ravenclaws impatiently waiting for the lesson to start. It was annoying, but not at all at the same level as the slytherins, witch they had DADA with. The good side of the situation was that the back of the classroom was almost empty except for the two of them and Remus, who was sitting next to them, buried behind the book he had been reading yesterday.

Flitwick was already starting the first lesson for the day, when the door behind them opened and someone entered the room silently. It was the girl, the fay, with an uncertain expression passing through her face. She carefully seated herself on the other side of Remus, few seats a way of the boys. Looking around, it seemed that nobody even noticed her coming in. Even the teacher didn't say anything at all, despite of her being late for the class.

"Did you see that?" Sirius whispered to his friends, nodding his head towards the girl.

"What?" came a sleepy answer from James that sounded more like a yawn than a real word.

"She came late, and nobody said anything." he whispered leaning towards the other two in order to not be overheard by the other students.

"Don't you think its weird, how she sort of just appeared out of thin air, without any introductions or anything of the sort? I mean, why is she even here? I have never heard from any other sidhe studying here, have you?" It was clear, that this was really bugging Sirius. Nothing itched like an unsolved enigma, and the nameless girl two seats across from them, to him was exactly that.

"I guess…" started Remus thoughtfully, "-that when you think about it, it kind of makes sense. Avoiding attention I mean. She isn't human after all, and such a thing can cause a lot of problems when everyone eventually finds out. This way, if she keeps low profile as long as she can, it will probably take some time for the word to spread to everyone. Now she will already have some footing here when that time comes." It wasn't a surprise, that it was Moony who understood this side of the situation so easily. He had some first hand experience of the subject after all.

"That does make sense, but it doesn't really cover the part why she is here in the first place." Sirius was pulling at the roots of his black hair frustrated. James seemed to be the only one not taking apart on the conversation. Opting instead to ogle a certain redhead few rows in front of them, who was listening intently at the teacher scribbling notes at an enthusiastic pace.

"Well, I think that eventually we will also know the answer to that question. This is Hogwards; nothing really stays a secret for long in here." Remus said after a pause.

"Almost nothing that is." barked Sirius grinning roguishly and leaned his chair back against the wall behind them. Gray eyes examining the puzzle he had taken upon himself to solve, who was now torturing her lover lip between her teeth, eyes unfocused. She hadn't even bothered to take out her books and was just sitting there with an empty expression on her eerily beautiful face while the lesson dragged on.

Once he was finished with his lecture about different kinds of shied charms and their different uses, Professor Flitwick started to divide the class in pairs for the practical part of the lesson.

"Now what I want you to do, is taking turns at creating different shields and then testing them with your partner. Bear in mind, that this is not a duelling class, so I don't want to see you doing any funny business." He looked meaningfully at the marauders while saying this.

While students were standing up and chatting with their partners, starting the exercise, Flitwick suddenly appeared in front of the fay.

"You can pair up with Mr Loopin here Miss Nightshade. Don't worry, he is a good student and will be able to help you out should you ever need it." he said introducing the two. Remus was smiling kindly at her, offering his hand for a shake.

"Hi, my name is Remus, and these two goofballs are my friends James and Sirius." his voice apprehensive and friendly, like he was trying to tame a hippogriff or something, while the girl took his hand.

"I'm Valerian, but you can call me Val." she said, glancing at the two other boys before fixing her intensive dark blue eyes back at Remus.

"So how are we going to do this?" she asked, when for a moment, nothing really happened. The boys were all just standing there staring at here stupefied.

It was a first time any of them had heard a voice like that. It was melodic, like wind chimes and blackbirds singing, soft and low. You could easily imagine sirens having a voce like that. It glided inside your ears and made you all fuzzy and tingling inside. Apparently Val had forgotten to alter her other attributes along with her looks. Remus was the first to recover from his shock, shaking his head a little to clear it.

"Well you will need your wand for one thing." he said after noticing that her hands were empty. Val looked down at her hands and then the wand the boy was holding securely in his.

"Umm… I don't really have one. "she answered tilting her head slightly, staring at him with a remotely apprehensive expression on her face.

"Oh?" was his intelligent answer, and nothing else came up to his mind even as he tried hard to think of something to say.

"I don't actually need one either, so what's the second thing?" she eventually continued when the silence had went on for too long and no one else said anything.

"We could start by me making the shield first, and you testing it for few times before shifting places if that's all right?" Remus suggested scratching the back of his skull frowning slightly. He didn't really know how to deal with this girl. Her face was a hard one to read, holding a vacant expression firmly in place, other emotions just passing shadows around her eyes and mouth every now and then. She didn't really feel like she was thinking alike with other people he was used to, and that confused him even more.

They did exactly what Remus had suggested, and after he had his shield up he gave her a nod to sign that it was her turn. She lifted her other hand slightly, contemplated for a minute what kind of spell to use and then flicked her slender wrist with a quick movement. They all saw a flashing blue light, that was reflected from Remus' shield, and with a slight frown Val tried again. This time the light was brighter and it let out a cracking sound when it hit the shield. The third spell broke the shield and pushed him backwards lights flashing in his eyes, ears ringing and skin prickling. His senses were full of the effects of the spell for a while, and evaporated after that. He had braised himself for something worse to happen, but nothing did.

"It was a good shied charm." Val admitted when Remus' eyes focused on her again. Taking one step away from him, she shut her eyes for a split second and let out a low humming sound. Opening her deep indigo eyes she coked one eyebrow at him, challenging him to break the charm she had created. To say that Remus felt nervous would be an understatement. The girl in front of him appeared to be so fragile, so tiny with nothing visible there to protect her, that it felt wrong to throw a hex at her. Deciding to start with a simple silent tickling spell he aimed his wand at her.

-XXX-

The lunch time had arrived, and Remus sat in his chair hunched over his plate almost visible black clouds hanging above his head.

"Come on Moony, It wasn't that bad!" James tried yet again to cheer up his pouty friend. It was the same conversation that had been going on all through potions class. He was getting frustrated with Remus' the low spirits while he was almost pouncing on his seat, anxious to get back upstairs to see, if Flinch had found their little surprise yet.

"No Prongs admit it, it was. That tiny sprite totally beat his charms. It was rather hilarious really." barked Sirius with an amused grin, drumming the edge of the table with his fingers with fast uneven pace, that made all the others around him feel restless. Apparently James was not the only one waiting to get to see the results of their nightly adventures.

"I didn't know that fay magic could be that strong." he added a bit more thoughtfully scratching his chin, looking very much like the dog he was.

"What happened?" asked Peter, confused by his friends' behaviour.

"Oh right, you weren't there… well Moony here had to pair up with the fay in our charms class. We had to do this practise with shields and she totally broke every one that Remus was able to cast, yet he didn't get a single hex to hit her!" Sirius hurried to explain. He was quite thrilled that even Remus didn't shine in all of his classes in spite of clearly being the smartest one of the four.

"Oh?" was all Peter said. His mind was back thinking about the awfully big cat he had seen with the girl and he could feel a lump forming in his throat.