25 May, 1976
Exams are less than a week away, and I am incredibly nervous I've met with Professor McGonagall about my future goals, we all did, but what I want to do is so demanding, it only made me more nervous. The Professor has been really great helping me out, though I don't think anyone else sees all the pressure she puts on me to get things right as helpful, but it is. Hopefully it will mean that I will get all the O.W.L. s I need to continue on with the classes I'll need to get into the Ministry. Cross your fingers for me.
Annicka Llewellyn
5 June, 1976
The exams are over and Lily's life is falling apart. Severus Snape called her a "mudblood" today. It was the final straw for her, and she swore she's never going to speak to him again. And when I say never, I mean never, she is done with him. They have been having problems for almost a year and now I don't think anything will fix this. I hope this doesn't cause another fight between Lily and Potter. They're not talking right now either, and believe me when I say this is best for everyone.
Annicka Llewellyn
Annicka kept her head down as she made her way to the Quidditch Pitch, until someone stepped in front of her. "Snape!" she gasped stepping back, "What are you doing?"
"I need your help," Severus Snape stated desperately.
"I'm late," Annicka tried to push past him, but Snape grabbed her arm and pulled her into an alcove in the hall.
"I need to talk to Lily, you have to get her to talk to me," he pleaded.
"Snape, no one can get Lily to do anything, you should know that better than anyone," she argued. Snape looked so dejected she gave in, "I'll talk to her. I make no guarantees, but I'll talk to her," she promised and walked away. Annicka almost ran out of the castle to catch up with her friends, they were waiting for her, half-way to the Quidditch pitch.
"Ann what took you so long?" Mary asked as she approached.
"I got held up," she answered a little breathless, "Lily can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure," Lily agreed, "Go ahead," she said to the others. The group shrugged and walked on, "What's wrong?"
"Snape just pulled me aside and begged me to convince you to talk to him," Ann explained quietly so the others passing them wouldn't hear.
"I can't believe this!" Lily exclaimed. "He has been ambushing every friend I have."
"Lily I'm not going to tell you what to do, he was your friend, but you need to find a way to deal with this," Annicka stated with a sympathetic grimace.
"Any suggestions?" Lily asked.
Annicka laughed lightly, "Lily you are always the one who know what to say, you'll figure it out." With a shrug they moved off to the Quidditch pitch. The game was well underway by the time they arrived. The girls made their way to the edge of the stands. They stayed standing until the game was over. Gryffindor had won and the stands as everyone went to congratulate the team. Lily was quiet, obviously still thinking of how to deal with Severus.
20 June, 1976
I have a couple more days until I go home with Remus. For some reason I keep changing between calm hope, and extreme anxiety. I think I'm just worried about things changing again, things haven't been exactly been changing for the better lately. Well … I'll see you next year.
Annicka Llewellyn
The train platform was crowded, but Remus found Annicka quickly and pulled her along to the barrier between the wizarding world and the human world, his parents were waiting nearby. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Lupin," she greeted them tentatively.
"There's no need to be so formal," Mrs. Lupin informed her with a smile, "you can call us John and Amanda." Annicka smile and agreed with a nod.
"I'm hungry," Remus announced, "Let's go home!" they all laughed and headed out of the station.
1 September, 1976
The summer seems to have gone by so fast. I just got used to living with the Lupins when it was time to come back to school. The girls have all written over the past few months, all of them have been worried, but I think I convinced them that I'm fine. Lily wrote more than anyone else. Since she and Snape stopped being friends she's turned to me to talk to. Things are worse than ever with her sister, if that's possible. I don't know how she can go home to that every year, but she does. Things should be a little easier soon. Her sister Petunia is doing her best to move out.
Annicka Llewellyn
. . . The train ride was awful, I actually had to leave all of my friends and go to my compartment. On the way down the train Black and Potter ambushed me. I was only able to get rid of them because I shut the door and they can't open it. I really hope that they will realize they won't get anything from be about my summer and give up. This is going to be a long year.
Annicka Llewellyn
10 September, 1976
My friends have finally stopped bugging me about my "holiday home" which means that Lily is now bugging me about Remus. I've told her hat nothing has happened between the two of us because Remus doesn't care about me that way. I don't think she believes me. I also think she's trying to distract herself from her problems with Snape, he hasn't given up on her, but at least he's stopped ambushing the rest of us. The oddest thing about it all is this boy. He's a Slytherin, he's always with Snape and for some reason he has been staring at me. No one else seems to have noticed and I don't rally want to say anything to Remus, he'll probably attack the guy if I say anything. He doesn't really do anything, it's just strange.
Annicka Llewellyn
5 October, 1976
Okay, I know it's been almost a month, but live has gotten a little too crazy to even think about. I have been stuck in detention 3 times with the Marauders already this year. Lily and Potter had a detention of their own when a fight of theirs disrupted Professor Binns' class. I have never heard of Professor Binns giving a detention. Even when I was on his bad side he didn't give me one.
I'm about ready to kill Black, he just will not leave me alone, and I am barely holding it together. Alice has confessed to all of us that she's head over heels for Frank Longbottom. We've all known it for quite a while, now all that need to happen is Frank has to make a move. So that's all on a personal front. Mary and Margo have been living quietly so far, but who knows how long that will last. Academically life is harder than ever. I'm stuck with the Marauders and a bunch of Slytherins, the only people Professor Slughorn let into his N.E.W.T. level class. McGonagall has nearly killed us with the amount of homework she's given us. Not to mention this is the year we get to learn non-verbal spells, which means everyone's brains are about to explode. I'm going to go crazy!
Annicka Llewellyn
15 October, 1976
Halloween is approaching, and the most eager boys are already asking girls to go to Hogsmeade with them. Thankfully all the boys are staying away from her. Lily hasn't been so lucky. Potter has already asked her to Hogsmeade, twice, he won't five up. We all know that he won't, we're all just tired of it. Because when he and Lily fight we all suffer. Though to be fair I'm sure my friends feel the same when I fight with Black, at lest Remus does. Somehow I am more tired of all this than I have ever been before. I don't know why, but it's starting to worry me.
Annicka Llewellyn
1 November, 1976
Last night was a disaster, the feast was ended abruptly by Dumbledore when all of the pumpkins started exploding, the candles within falling on the table and setting them on fire. Lily was already in a bad mood, so when it happened she immediately blamed the Marauders. Potter and Black of course denied it, and they started arguing, again. Remus told me they really didn't have anything to do with it, and I believe him. Still that's not rally comforting, because if it wasn't a prank gone wrong by the Marauders there could be sinister motives behind it.
Annicka Llewellyn
"Remus do you know who that Slytherin boy is?" Annicka asked finally giving voice to her curiosity. He looked across the hall toward the group of Slytherins she'd indicated.
"What boy?" he asked.
She looked again and saw that the boy who had been staring at her was gone, "Never mind, he's gone."
"Why did you want to know?" Remus asked as they filed into their classroom.
"Oh, it's nothing important, I just didn't recognize him," she evaded and went to sit by Lily.
20 November, 1976
School keeps getting harder and harder, the strain is already making some people crack. Remus and I have been studying with Lily as much as we can before the Christmas holiday. Lily has been giving Remus suspicious looks lately and I don't know if that means she's hasn't given up believing that Remus likes me. Or she may have figured out his secret, and if she has, I don't know what will happen.
Annicka Llewellyn
5 December, 1976
Lily asked to talk to me privately later. This does not bode well.
Annicka Llewellyn
"Okay Lily," Annicka sighed as Lily sat next to her in the library. "Remus is meeting us soon. What do you want to talk about?"
"Ann . . . is Remus a Werewolf?" Lily asked hesitantly.
"Why do you ask?" Ann questioned in turn.
Lily stared down at her hands as she answered. "I suppose I've been wondering about it since Severus tried to convince me of it. Then this year I've been noticing the timing of it all, and he frequently has strange cuts and bruises when he comes back from the Hospital Wing," she paused and looked up to Annicka. "I just want to know if it's true. I don't really care if he is, I just want to know."
"If you don't care, then why do you want to know?" Ann challenged. Lily was silent for a while before Annicka sighed. "Look, if you want to know you should ask Remus. He will be honest and tell you what you want to know, but you could loose him as a friend, forever," she stood and Lily followed. They met Remus in the hall and Annicka led them into an empty classroom.
"Why are we in here?" Remus asked completely confused.
"Lily wants to ask you something, and I thought we should be alone when she does," Annicka answered vaguely. Remus turned to Lily and waited. His steady gaze made Lily very nervous.
"Okay – I want to know . . . actually I need to ask so I can stop wondering. Are you a werewolf?" Lily froze immediately after she spoke waiting for Remus' reaction. He glanced back and forth between Lily and Annicka several times before he answered.
"Yes, I am," he answered honestly with quite a bit of fear of his own. The room was silent for a minute as Lily processed this revelation. "Okay," she sighed and hugged Remus. A moment later she pulled back and left the room.
"What just happened?" Remus asked.
"Lily just accepted your secret," Annicka clarified.
"Are you sure?" he asked, still nervous.
"Positive," she assured him. "I think we deserve a night off from studying. Let's go down to the kitchens, we still have an hour before we need to get back to the tower." Remus linked arms with Annicka and they left the classroom laughing.