YAY new chapter :D Just as a warning, chapters after this one are gonna get a lot darker, so please, if you don't want to, or aren't supposed to read torture/pain/rated M fics, after this chapter, stop reading. Thanks:DDD OH and don't forget to review. i need them!
AJ slowly came to in a blindingly white room. Am I in heaven? She blinked slowly as the room came into focus, not that there was much to see. A white ceiling directly above her, and as she turned her head, a white side table with a white lamp and a white marble pitcher upon it. As she sat up she saw that the room had six identical areas in it; three on her wall and three on the wall opposite. As she glanced around, directly across from her something black started moving on the white pillow.
Abruptly the white sheets were shoved aside and a familiar person sat up. They two betrothed children stared at each other for a moment before screaming. They promptly fell off of their respective beds, trying anything to avoid each other. Unfortunately for them they fell off onto the same side, forcing themselves to see each other. In a final mad attempt to escape AJ tried rolling under the bed, which was a mere 2 inches from the ground, and Sirius tried rolling through the bedside table.
They slowly rose to their feet gripping their heads tightly. They glared warily at their counterpart before carefully making their ways forward. When they were 1 foot apart they began examining each other. Finally AJ spoke.
"Nope, I'm in hell." After those words the conversation became unintelligible.
"I refuse to marry you."
"Yeah well you're-"
"Your just not my-"
"Of course-"
"Why did this-"
"How could they-"
After several minutes of similar rambling they had finally calmed down slightly.
"Whatever happened to the cute prince that would come for me?"
"I don't know- Wait a minute! I am too cute!"
"Are not."
"I know you think I am."
"Do not!"
"Then why were you giving me that "you are damn FINE look earlier? We BOTH know that I am, so stop denying it."
AJ suddenly became very amused and asked hesitantly, "Did- did you just call yourself fine?"
"Yah, why wouldn't I?"
AJ was speechless. She sat there giving Sirius an odd look for a few minutes, giving them enough time to begin calming down. They began to think over the day's events. Or at least that's what AJ did. Sirius was too busy watching AJ out of the corner of his eye. It was then that the oddest thing happened.
"We shouldn't be fighting each other over this." Sirius said cautiously.
"Why not?"
"Well because I didn't do this and you didn't do this, but we both know who did." At Sirius's words AJ began to smirk.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" They both began simultaneously.
"Yep." They said smugly at the same time.
"We need to get pranking." They both finished simultaneously.
A small giggle filled the room AJ turned to glare at Sirius, saying, "Why the hell are you laughing at me? You said the same thing I did!"
"I didn't!"
"Yes you did!"
"I didn't laugh at you." He pointed to the doorway. "He did." AJ swung around and there, hands over his mouth in an attempt to stifle his giggles, was James.
"What is your problem?" AJ demanded. He could hold it no longer. James burst out laughing. Sirius and AJ looked at each other in confusion.
Finally he choked out, "Y-you guys are so… weird!"
"What?!" Sirius and AJ cried in unison.
Then Sirius whispered behind his hand, "If anything he's weird."
"Yah I know," AJ whispered back, "nothing was even funny!"
James continued laughing. "First you two faint off a stage. Then you just see each other and start screaming." He giggles for a few more minutes. "Then you fall off your beds in the same direction, still squealing!" He sniggers. "Then you smash your heads into solid things and are all like, 'ow!' and you start acting all dizzy. Then you argue and are nice and argue some more."
Finally James had gotten himself under control though his face still contained a huge, goofy grin. AJ and Sirius gazed at James for a moment then began to giggle themselves. Once they had all calmed down they plopped down on AJ's bed.
"So should we get to your revenge?" James questioned.
"All I've got with me are a moving potion and a color-change potion." AJ sighed. The two looked at her in awe.
"How the Hell did you get those?" they asked.
AJ smirked. "A witch never tells her secrets. "After a few minutes of begging she gave in. "Well three days ago my mother beheaded my puppy," James gasped in shock while Sirius just sat emotionless. "Of course I was a little upset at her," AJ continued, "so when my parents went up to bed I snuck down to a potion closet near our kitchen where the best potion are. The door was locked. I had no idea what to do next so, like a 'proper pureblood' I ordered it to open. The door blew right off its hinges. It's good our manor is huge. My parents never heard a thing. Anyway, I grabbed as many potions as I could carry and snuck back to my wing. I hid them all in this one secret room. These two were the only one's I could get here."
Sirius sat up from where he was lounging on her pillow. "You know James, we stored a lot of Filibuster's Fireworks here last year. Maybe now is the time to put them to use."
James's eyes started to gleam. "I've got an idea." The others turned to look at him.
"Well?" they said at the same time.
James gave them an odd look. "You know that's starting to creep me out right?"
"What's starting to creep you out?" They said at the same time.
"That!"
"What?" they asked.
"How you guys are always saying the same thing at the same time!"
"What?! No we don't." they said. AJ and Sirius looked at each other. "Wow, guess we do." The two children burst out laughing.
Suddenly AJ stopped and said, "Now James, what was your idea?"
"Oh! Yeah, well I was thinking we use the motion potion to- shut up Sirius!" Sirius had begun to giggle.
"But it rhymes! 'Motion' and 'potion' rhyme!"
AJ glared at him and he immediately shut his mouth.
"As I was saying," James continued, "we use the motion potion to send the fireworks up to the ceiling of the ballroom.
"Oh I have an idea!" AJ and Sirius said. They glanced at each other again. AJ gave Sirius a glare.
"How 'bout you go first AJ," Sirius said with a forced grin.
"Well, how about we soak the fireworks in color potion so that-What is your problem thistime Sirius?" Sirius giggled again.
"Color and potion! Hee hee. They rhyme!" AJ gave James a startled look.
"Um, Sirius?" James cautiously began, "Color and potion do not rhyme."
Sirius looked crestfallen. "They don't?"
"No. They don't."
"Oh."
"Yeah..."
"Damn."
"Yeah...Oh well, AJ just keep going."
"With what?"
James shot her a startled look this time. "You're prank?"
"What prank? OH! That one!"
"How can you- never mind, just say your idea for the prank."
"I forgot."
"What?"
"Really. I did."
"No you didn't." Sirius interjected.
"Yeah I did!"
"Didn't!"
"Did!"
James, seeing where this was going, interrupted, "You said something about your color potion."
"Oh! Now I remember! You soak the fireworks in color potion so that when it explodes everyone and everything will change color."
"Hey wait a minute! That was my idea!" yelled Sirius.
"Then why didn't you say it?"
"Cause you were gonna kill me if I did."
"Nuh uh!"
"Yah huh!
"Sirius! AJ! SHUT UP!" To be heard over the two children's arguing James was forced to scream. "Ok," he said sweetly, "Now that we're all quiet… I agree to the prank."
AJ sat up. "Me too!"
"Count me in!"
The three kids promptly set about arranging it. They almost had everything in order when Walburga Black and Loraine Jenkins threw open the door to the infirmary.
"Sirius, Alice, please come here," Mrs. Jenkins commanded sweetly.
The two children shoved their pranking items into James's hands and made their ways warily to the door. Mrs. Black tugged the two out of the door and down the hall. They heard Mrs. Jenkins say, "Don't worry Mr. Potter. They shall be back in no time." Before they were shoved into an empty room.
Meanwhile with Robyn and Remus
Robyn was incredibly confused and this bothered her. She was never confused. She kept her eyes open, nothing ever went past her, but this time, obviously she had missed something.
Everything had been just fine for these past two days, she and Remus were rapidly becoming the best of friends, but she had noticed how he was quickly becoming more and more sick. What she didn't understand was why this didn't bother him at all. He seemed almost to expect it. The other thing that she found a little strange was that his father also didn't seem too worried. If she had been as sick as Remus now looked, her mother would have been frantic. Something was not right.
The four of them had met on the way to a week-long summer get-away located in a large magical building in London. Apparently Robyn's mother and Remus's father had been friends in Hogwarts back in the day and upon seeing each other on the Knight Bus had been shocked to learn they were going to the same place. They were thrilled to introduce their quiet, highly intelligent children, hoping that they would become friends and help each other through the rapidly deteriorating situation at Hogwarts.
Both children had been warned countless times that Hogwarts was becoming very dangerous for those with any muggle parents. A terrorist group led by a man named Lord Voldemort had just emerged this year, and already he had killed many muggleborns and half bloods. For Remus and Robyn this hit very close to home. Remus's mother was a muggle as was Robyn's father. They were going to have to watch their backs.
She slowly walked down the hallway leading to Remus and his father's room. The light was slowly dying from the sky and she wanted to ask Remus if he wanted to go down for the moonlit swim located in the room off of the lobby. There was a rumor that there were going to be a few Hippocampuses (Half horse and half giant fish) for the kids to ride. She carefully knocked on the door and waited…and waited…and waited some more. Finally she was forced to conclude that no one was there. Disappointed, she turned and went back to the room she shared with her mother. For some reason she didn't feel much like going for a swim anymore.
Margaret Douglas, Robyn's mother, realized something was off immediately as Robyn entered the room.
"Love, what's wrong?"
"Do you know where Remus and Mr. Lupin went? They aren't in their room."
"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot to mention, John said that they had somewhere to be for tonight, and he'd return in about an hour. He said he wasn't too sure when Remus would be back, but he hoped it would be within the next two days."
"Oh…well I think I'll go out for a walk then."
"Alright love. Be careful."
"I will mum." Robyn quickly exited the room, the wheels in her head turning. Where did they have to go that was so important that they had to leave the retreat? Why hadn't Remus told her he'd be leaving? She had thought he trusted her! Why didn't any of this make sense!
Robyn needed to walk when there was a problem she couldn't solve, and so that's exactly what she did. She walked. She went upstairs as far as she could go, and then she turned around and went down. The building went surprisingly low into the ground, but then again, it was a magical building, there were no limits to what it could do.
Suddenly she reached a closed door. When she tried to turn the handle she realized that it was locked. Frustrated, she sat and glared at the door.
"How is unlocking the door coming little mudblood?" came the mocking voice of a young man behind her.
Robyn jumped to her feet and spun around. "Who are you?" she asked slowly.
"Me? My name's Carran. Carran Avery. I'm going into my third year at Hogwarts. Who might you be?"
"Robyn Douglas." She replied, still wary.
"Ah. And you're friends with the Lupin boy right? What are you doing all the way down here?"
"I- well I was walking."
Carran laughed. "Of course. Do you want to go back up with me? I'm sure I would be much better company."
Robyn paused, thinking about his invitation. "No. I think I'll stay here a while longer."
Carran's eyes flashed a moment before a smirk came over his face. "Well in any case I'll at least help you get through this door." He pulled out a wand and cast a quick spell and Robyn heard the lock click open.
"Thank you, but won't you get in trouble? My mother said we can't use magic outside of school until we're older."
Carran again laughed. "The Ministry wouldn't dare mess with my family. Don't worry about me. You'd better watch your own back little mudblood. Things aren't safe for you anymore. There are plenty of people who wouldn't hesitate to do things to hurt you. Not everyone is as nice as me." With that he left, still laughing.
Robyn watched him go before turning around and cautiously entering the pitch black hallway. She walked in the dark a while longer before faintly hearing howls of what sounded like an animal in pain. She hurried forward with her hand on the wall to avoid getting lost. She could tell she was getting closer. Suddenly a flickering light turned on about 20 yards in front of her. Robyn stopped abruptly, afraid she had been found, but no one emerged. After a few minutes she moved forward, the howls were deafening now. Ahead she saw iron bars forming the front of a cage and something inside was moving around and was the source of all of the howling.
She closed the last few yards quickly and was shocked at what she saw inside. It was a boy. A boy who wasn't quite human. He wasn't quite shaped the same and he was sprouting hair. He looked up at her with a gaze filled with pain, shame, and sadness.
"Remus?"