Chapter 122: A Bad Feeling
"Sirius Edward Black! Are you out of your mind to suggest something as ridiculous as that!" Lily was yelling at Sirius the moment their professors left via the fireplace in their spacious hallway. After Sirius had came out with what he thought was the most brilliant solution, Lily glared at him pointedly. She was too fired up to say anything, besides the fact that her professors and her friends were all present in the room and she did not want to look immature.
Luckily, Dumbledore quickly said that it was getting late (although it was morning) and everyone was tired, so the professors left as soon as possible and the other adults left the room so as not to embarrass Lily further.
"You've got to admit that's it was the truth." Sirius said in an honest manner, backing away from Lily as she moved forward.
"Lily, calm down! Sirius was just kidding around." James held onto Lily's shoulders, preventing her from nearing Sirius. She looked like she was about to pounce onto Sirius if she was near enough.
"How can I?" Lily rarely flared up, and this was probably one of the few times. Her face was red with both anger and embarrassment and she was too stumped for any intelligent words. "He – he is out to embarrass me in front of everyone!" She glared at James for a moment; his hands left her shoulders instantly, and turned her attention back to Sirius.
"Lily, it's nothing really. I mean, since, you know, everyone knows that er.. someone will come into existence, and he, well, I think he will defeat Voldemort.. That would be saving everyone's life. It's really noble of you." Sirius was trying to pacify Lily while slowly backing away from her.
"AAAHHHH!" Lily screamed suddenly. At that moment there was a yellow glow emitted within her. Everyone just stared at Lily, looking shocked at the outburst and whatever magic she was performing. "This is terribleee!" The yellow glow seemed to enlarge and formed a spherical yellow glow surrounding her. And Lily did not seem to realize anything yet.
"Er.. Lily, you might want to calm down." James walked closer to Lily, trying to calm her down. She might have some undiscovered magic within her that she didn't know. "Lily, look at me." She was slouching down on a couch with her hands covering her face. "Lily, it's me, James." He tried to move closer but could not pass the protective sphere. Whenever he come in contact with the spherical force field, he felt like electricity going through his body.
"NOOO!" She sat upright again and suddenly the yellow protective sphere seemed to burst and sent everyone flying outwards.
"AAHHH!" Stefanie and Arabella screamed as they were thrown backwards all the sudden.
"OUCH!" All five of them were sent flying backwards, hitting against the wall and tapestries in the room.
"What the hell was there?" James muttered as he tried to sit upright, rubbing his back.
"Lily! What was that?" Arabella walked forward towards Lily. She looked up, for the first time, at her friend and leaned against her as she sat down. "What happened?"
"I'm totally pissed. And that was so embarrassing!" Lily mumbled, only loud enough for Arabella to hear.
"No dear, I didn't mean that." Arabella patted Lily's back. "I mean how did you send us flying backwards?"
"What?" Lily looked up for the first time, feeling confused. "I didn't do anything. My wand isn't even on my hand." Earlier as Moody and the rest were rescuing them, he had retrieved their wands from some Deatheaters and checked to make sure that they were okay before returning to the five teens. After all, he did not want the wands to burst into flames or something when they kept it in their back pockets. He always muttered about wands casting suspicious spells to the butts although no one had witnessed any scene like that before.
"You just emitted some yellow light and sent us all flying backwards. You didn't know that?" Arabella looked at Lily, who looked as confused as ever. "My back is aching now, care to heal me?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't know what I just did." Lily placed her hand over Arabella's back and immediately the pain and any possible bruises were gone.
"Stef!" Remus' shouts alerted the rest of them. Lily and Arabella dashed towards Stefanie's side. Instinctively Lily placed her hand over Stefanie, trying to heal her from her unconsciousness.
"Stef! Can you hear me?" Lily was moving both her hands back and forth above Stefanie. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what I just did." Stefanie stirred for a moment.
"That throw hurts, you know." Stefanie said weakly and mustered a smile for Lily.
"How are you feeling? I will feel terrible if anything happens to you." Lily looked as if she was about to cry.
"There's nothing you can't heal, right?" Stefanie managed to sit upright with Remus' support.
"Your pendant flickered." Lily caught a glimpse of the pendant on Stefanie's neck.
"I think it's just the light. Nothing's serious." Stefanie said in a very relaxed tone. Remus frowned at Stefanie's words. He had seen her pendant flickered earlier at St Mungo and he swore that it definitely was not a good sign.
"I saw it flickered earlier at St Mungo. Are you sure it's nothing? Maybe we should tell Dumbledore." Remus' said worriedly. His energy was draining off him as it was going to be a full moon night in about twelve hours.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Stefanie tried to stand up, while Remus supported her. Lily helped her up as well knowing Remus was probably too weak to support her all the way.
"Sorry guys don't know what happened over me just now. I guess we better have some sleep. We're getting a little zoned out." Lily looked around at the tired and worried faces of her friends. Sirius was hiding behind James, keeping very quiet for the whole time, just to be on the safe side.
"Lily, let me." Arabella walked beside Lily. "You must be exhausted with all that outburst and energy consumption. James, why don't you escort Lily back to her room?" She nodded at James and he seemed to get the hint.
"C'mon Lily. You must be tired. Let Belle take her back. They'll be fine." James coaxed.
"But-" Lily resisted but James cut her off.
"Stef is only in the room next to yours. You will see her later on in the day. Let me tuck you to bed first." James ushered Lily along to the room next to Stefanie. Arabella entered into Stefanie's room supporting her all the way. Sirius had dragged Remus into the room opposite Stefanie so he can get some rest before his transformation.
"Tell me what happened just now." Lily kept her hands crossed in front as she turned to stare at James. He closed the door after him and walked closer to Lily.
"Let's talk about this tomorrow. You look terrible." James shoved Lily into her bed gently.
"Wait, I've yet to shower and change. Tell me first." Lily took a seat on the couch next to her.
"Why don't you shower first? I tell you later." James sat down opposite her, smiling and not saying anything else.
"How do you expect me to shower in peace while I know I had done something to Stef?" Lily snapped.
"I understand. But it's no use if I say now. I suggest you shower first and I promise to tell you what happened after that." James was refusing to say anything.
"Fine. You better keep that promise of yours." Lily stood up and went straight into the bathroom. The moment water could be heard splashing against the floor, James left the room. He knew Lily would take a longer time to shower them himself. So he might as well go for a quick shower at the same time. Who knows I might be sleeping in her room tonight?
X
"Are you alright?" Arabella asked worriedly the moment Stefanie's door closed behind her. "I know something is bothering you. You didn't want to let the others worried about you earlier, I can understand that. It's only me and you here, right now. Tell me about it." She supported Stefanie to the nearest couch.
"I don't know what's happening to me either. It's like I'm feeling weak all over. In fact I'm having some dizzy spells, not sure if I overworked or what." Stefanie shrugged, although the word 'worry' was written all over her face, literally.
"Remus and Lily mentioned that your pendant flickered, what's going on exactly?" Arabella asked further.
"I don't know either. It's like I'm feeling weaker and weaker by the day." Stefanie looked up. "I wonder if it might mean I'm going to die soon or something." She closed her eyes, preventing her tears from forming.
"If only I had my powers, then I would have known." Arabella muttered. "We've to tell the rest."
"No, what happened today was a close call for all of us. We don't even know how many casualties in St Mungo today. Lily had lots of things in her mind right now, and she's really confused and lost. Remus is transforming later tonight and he's not feeling too well. James and Sirius need their rest for later in the night. This will need to wait."
"I don't think they will want anything to happen to you either. Lily will not forgive herself if she believe what happened today was her fault. Neither will the rest of them. I'm going to call an emergency meeting with them here right now and this is serious." Arabella stood up.
"Belle, please. I don't think anything will happen to me in the near future." Stefanie said weakly. "Can we talk about this tomorrow instead?"
"Stef! This is serious. You don't think we're just going to sit here and wait till something happen to you, do you? We're your best friends, and we need one another, especially in times like this." Arabella was trying to convince Stefanie gently.
"I – but-"
"No more buts. You rest here. I'll get the rest over in a minute." Arabella made sure Stefanie was safely resting on the couch before leaving her room. All their rooms were adjacent and directly opposite one another so they could rush to one another's aid in case anything happened.
"Lily! Lily!" Arabella dashed out to the room next to Stefanie and started knocking. "James! This is urgent!" She banged on the room opposite Lily. "Sirius! Emergency!" After knocking the room on the left of James, she knocked on the door directly opposite Stefanie's room. "Remus! Open up!"
"What's going on?" Sirius opened the door; he looked as though he was sleeping and rudely awakened by the banging.
"Belle! What happened?" Lily dashed out of the room; water was still dripping from her hair after the shower.
"Something happened to Stef!" Arabella shouted loud enough for Sirius, who was the furthest to come dashing in.
"Stef!" Remus rushed into the room to Stefanie's side. "What happened to her?" He turned to ask Arabella, his face looked panic-stricken.
"Remus, it's nothing serious. I'm not feeling too well, that's all." Stefanie said softly. The small orange gem on her pendent flickered again.
"No! I'm getting Dumbledore here right away!" Remus stood up and scribbled something on the parchment. With a whistle, his owl flew in from the window immediately. "Take this to Dumbledore right away! It's urgent! Thanks!" After securing the parchment, his owl took off into the misty morning. Although it was already morning, it was gloomy and looked as if it was going to rain.
"Stef! I won't let anything happen to you!" Remus held onto Stefanie's hand tightly. By now all of them were gathered in the room, looking extremely worried.
"I'm sure there's something we can do to save her." Sirius exclaimed. "After all, we're supposed to have extraordinary powers." Lily was holding onto Stefanie's left hand while Remus on her right. She was trying her best to heal her best friend with all the concentration and powers but it was not helping much. "We've the power to change one's destiny and rewrite history, right?" James and Lily looked up at Sirius, thinking deeply. Remus, on the other hand, never left his eye contact from Stefanie's pale face.
"What can we do now?" James frowned. "Think! There must be something!" He thought, looking around for inspiration.
"I think we can transfer some of our powers to keep going while we try to think of something." Lily spoke up. "But I'm not sure if it works. Our powers are nearly there with all the constant practice, I think we can pass some to Stef to keep her going first."
"I don't know if that works. But it will definitely lower our current powers." James mumbled. "But that's our only hope for now. Let's do it!"
"Ok, concentration." Lily held her right hand tightly with Stefanie's left while grabbing James' hand with her left. All six of them held their hands and closed their eyes, concentrating fully on transferring magic over to Stefanie. They had to ensure not to pass her too much or it would be an overdose, while at the same time this would weaken all of them significantly if anything happened.
A swirl of glowing colors could be seen circulating among them, towards Stefanie's resting body. Her eyelids were moving a little while she breathed heavily all of a sudden. They had a tough day and not much energy was left within them to help Stefanie. After five minutes, they released their sweaty palms and opened their eyes.
"Stef!" Remus shook Stefanie's hand gently. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes." Stefanie smiled. "I feel better. Thanks for all your help! You guys better recuperate and get some sleep. I don't want to burden you all more than I've already did."
"Stef, I'm not leaving your side tonight." Lily told her. "Don't even think of saying no!"
"Yes, both of us will be keeping you company tonight as you rest!" Arabella added.
"I'm going to stay and make sure you're fine. How can I even sleep peacefully knowing that you're not feeling well?" Remus told her. He was looking frailer by the minute as he had not rest to prepare for his transformation that night.
"Guys thanks for the offer. James, Sirius, please ensure Remus get some rest. They can keep me company tonight. I don't want to see you looking like this. It pains me." Stefanie held out her hand to touch Remus' haggard face.
"I – I won't leave." Remus insisted although he knew that he would not win this argument.
"Moony." James started. "They're right. We need you to get your rest, and prepare for your transformation. We don't want you to overwork yourself now. We all need you to be able and healthy, in that way you can help Stef more than what you can do now."
"That's right." Sirius added. "Your powers are as important as any one of us and we need to make sure we won't be weakened regardless what happens. Do get some sleep. I'm sure they will take care of Stef well."
"See, Remus, I'll be fine. I see you tomorrow morning when you're back." Stefanie smiled. "Promise."
"Well – I guess so." Remus gave in, feeling defeated and a little frustrated. Damn this werewolf transformation.
"Guys, take Remus back to his room. We'll be here all night." Lily told them. "C'mon, let us help you to your bed." Both girls supported Stefanie as she walked towards her bed.
"Good night. I love you." Remus gave Stefanie a lingering kiss on her lips before departing from the room along with James and Sirius shoving gently behind.
"Tell us the truth." Lily turned around and studied Stefanie's expression, trying to find out the truth. The guys had just left the room and they all knew that Stefanie would not tell the truth if the guys were around. The last thing she wanted was everyone to start worrying and fussing about her when there were more important matters on hand, like defeating Voldemort.
"Honestly, I don't know either." Stefanie sighed as she pulled her covers higher. She was sleeping in between Lily and Arabella in the king-sized four-poster bed. "As I've said earlier, I was starting to feel weaker by the day. Not sure why or how either. Could be work? Or perhaps my powers are weakening."
"Stef, you know that we'll never allow anything to happen to you if we can help it." Lily held Stef's right hand under the covers.
"Thanks. I really appreciate that. But I've got a bad feeling about this. I don't know why, woman's instincts or something." Stefanie looked distant; her eyes were not focusing anywhere in particular. Lily and Arabella stared at her.
"What makes you say that?" Arabella whispered almost inaudibly, choking a little due to the shock.
"It's a gut feeling. I just feel like I'm about to vanish from the face of this earth, just like that. But yet, I can't really explain. But I definitely believe the future has changed, not as the way Belle had predicted a long time ago. Although I can't remember what she had foreseen back then."
"You won't disappear!" Lily assured Stefanie. "We'll stay around until you recover."
"That's not the point. I got this strange feeling, perhaps what's muggle call reincarnation or something along that line. I felt like I'm going to reborn as someone else. The feeling I have is really confusing, I can't pinpoint it myself either." Stefanie closed her eyes and heaved out a loud sigh. "I'll take it as everyday is the last day of my life and I'm going owl all my friends and see them once last time."
"NO!" Both girls practically yelled.
"I'm sure Dumbledore will be able to come up with something." Lily suggested.
"What we've within us are very ancient magic beyond the wonders. No one really knows who we are, what we can do, or if we really exist in the first place. We're a mystery that can't be solved by other people but ourselves." Stefanie was sounding very philosophical at this point of time. "Of course Dark Arts are as mysterious, but our magic is wonders. We've the gift of unique kind of magic that are not common among magic folks. If we consider the bloodlines, it's quite untraceable now. I don't think both of you can understand how I truly feel, but I must say it's not exactly the best feeling around." Lily and Arabella kept quiet while letting Stefanie continued. "I could feel that my days are numbered as Stefanie Black. I'll reappear or reborn or whatever as another identity. My assumption is Voldemort had somehow done something on me that I don't know, and I can't exist as Stefanie Black for some reason or other anymore."
"Noo.." Lily somehow or rather started hugging Stefanie's arm unconsciously. "I don't want you to leave us."
"I don't know why but somehow I know we're all going to have a happy ending together." Stefanie said finally. "It's getting a little 'early', shall we sleep now?" Stefanie looked at her friends who were dumbfounded from her profound reasoning.
"Yeah, it had been a tiring day. Let's sleep." Lily agreed, trying to sound optimistic.
"Nitey." The three girls remained silence and fell into an uneasy sleep one after another.
X
"I'm not leaving your side today." Remus insisted. It was a full moon last night and the guys had just returned in the morning after Remus' transformation. Peter had came back to assist them in the usual transformation, and that's probably the only time they ever saw Peter, as a rat.
"It was terrible last night." Sirius started telling everyone. "Moony was so unlike himself. You could see worry written all over his eyes, his face, and even his furs." He sat down on one of the couches in Stefanie's room and slouched, looking totally tired. "He was wilder than the wildest beast and that was like the first time I ever saw him behaving like that. Can you imagine? He even managed to outrun us, for the first time. We had to run the whole night just to catch and tame him." Lily and Arabella exchanged a quick look and turned back to Stefanie.
"Ooh. You poor thing." Stefanie caressed Remus' pale and haggard face lovingly.
"I was so worried about you." Remus admitted. "The animal instinct in me felt very uneasy as if I could sense that something terrible will happen."
"Actually, he was not the only one who felt that." James added. He opened his eyes and looked intensely at the three girls who were sitting across him on Stefanie's bed. "I had that same feeling too."
"So did I." Sirius added quietly. James and Sirius exchanged a worried look. Animal instincts were usually very accurate, and all three of them having the same feeling were definitely a bad omen.
"Don't be silly." Stefanie gave a small laugh. "I'll be alright. Didn't Dumbledore say that yesterday?" Upon receiving Remus' owl yesterday morning, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Pomfrey had floo over for a visit to check out the situation. None of them could pinpoint what was wrong with her.
"But – but I don't know how to put it." Remus looked down. "I don't like the feeling that I'm having right now." His face was so tired and paled that he looked like he would collapse any moment due to overexertion.
"Lil, can you accompany downstairs to get some food?" Arabella looked at Lily and was trying to hint her.
"I'm not-" Lily paused as if she got Arabella's hint. "Yeah, let's go." Both girls stood up and pulled James and Sirius along despite their protests.
"I want to stay here." Sirius insisted.
"You stink. Can you please get a shower?" Arabella rolled her eyes since Sirius was totally oblivious to the most obvious hint.
"I do?" Sirius sniffed his shirt. "Oh yah, I really do." He muttered and stood up without a second question. Lily and Arabella turned to nod and Stefanie and left the rooms with the guys.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Remus started the moment he heard the door closed. "I'm really worried."
"Remus, listen. If anything really happen to me, you all must try your best to defeat Voldemort. Even though I'm not around physically-"
"No! I won't let you." Remus cut her sentence.
"Remus! Listen to me first." Stefanie said a little more forcefully. "If anything ever happen to me, or for some reason I'm not around, you all must be strong and defeat Voldemort by yourself. Remember that I reside in all your hearts and memories forever. I believe even if I vanished, this pendant will remain." Stefanie touched her necklace, the orange gem flickered again. "Keep this well, and give it to someone worthy of wearing this."
"I-"
"Listen first!" Stefanie interrupted. "This necklace is more than what it seems to be, whoever that wear it might exhibit my powers, though I'm not too sure of it myself either. Just keep it well. I recalled vaguely that Belle had foreseen some undesirable future. I believe your powers are more than what it appears to be. In any case if you felt that you can change the history to alter the future, do it. This part of present is not the part where we all want to be in, change it if you could, but not at anyone's expense." Remus nodded quietly.
"Don't talk as if you're going to leave me. I don't like it." Remus said in a very low voice.
"You can change the future, and you know it, Remus. If you find a way where we can have a happy ending, along with everyone else, go ahead. It might be the most absurd idea you ever have, but make sure everything is in control, and no one gets hurt. And defeating Voldemort is the main reason why we're all here."
"Yes, Stef, I'll remember that. Now, take a rest first. Don't overwork yourself. You need rest." Remus pushed Stefanie backwards gently.
"Thanks Remus. I love you and always will. If we could go through the whole life another time, I'll choose you again." Stefanie told him, a tear slid down her right cheek.
"I love you too. And I'll make sure that we'll have a happy ending together. Believe me." Remus wiped the tear off her cheek and pulled her close to him.