The meeting started. It was about Harry's safety, and the fact the indeed, Voldemort was back. We briefly talked about Cedric's death by Peter Pettigrew. Sirius and Lupin filled you in on anything you missed, and when you had been all caught up, their attention was directed at you. They were talking about you staying here, so you could help clean, since the house also technically belonged to you as well. You didn't like the idea of staying here, it was so dreary, but spending time with Harry was more important to you. You accepted the offer, and the meeting was adjourned. You left the room first, accidentally running into Harry on your way out. You flushed, apologizing.
"Wait." Harry said. "I never got to talk to you." You smiled, turning to him.
"Yes?" You asked cheerfully.
"Why couldn't you take me in?" He asked. "You're my Godmother, right?"
"Oh, yes, but you see Harry, I'm an Auror." You tried to think to yourself. Why exactly couldn't you take him in? "Well, you see, you know what an Auror is right?" -he nodded- "Well, that's what I am. I have dark wizards with me all the time; I wasn't safe to be around. Dumbledore agreed with me, so we sent you off to those people." You stuck your tongue out in disgust. You'd never understood how Petunia had been related to lovely Lily. "I wanted to take you in, more than ever."
"Oh." He murmured. "Well, what about now? Until Sirius is able to get back on his feet, or maybe we can both live with you." You smiled happily.
"I wouldn't mind the two of you staying with me at all, but Sirius has to have his name cleared before he can do anything. He's more likely to get caught in my house, which is much smaller than this place." You looked up the stairs that towered up to the ceiling. "Man, this place is creepy. But, anyway. It's nice to see you again Harry." Your hand caressed his cheek, before you brought him into a hug. He hugged you back. You let out a small sigh, tears gathering at the corner of your eyes. This reminded you of so many things.
"Lily, we're not together anymore."
"WHAT? Why not?"
"He's afraid he'll hurt me."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Krista."
Lily's hug was as warm as her smile; she let you cry into her shoulder all night about Remus. You sighed, releasing him from your hug after you were sure you had wiped away all the tears. Harry said goodbye, walking back up the stairs to be with his friends. Sirius walked out, a smile on his face.
"Why, hello there, Krista." You giggled and wrapped your arms around him again, hugging him close. He was just another person from the past that you missed that also reminded you so much of Remus. "You know, if you need a hug, there's always Remus. Your eyes narrowed considerably. "What? Don't you remember the first time you met him?"
It was your first year.
You were in the Library, a rather large book in your hand. You were walking along when you came upon a boy, with light brown hair and hazel eyes. He seemed to be occupied in his work, so you sat a short ways from him and began reading. A few bumbling seventh year Slytherin's slipped into the room, laughing to themselves. You could feel their eyes on you, but when they looked down at saw the Slytherin crest on your robes, they smiled proudly and looked over at the light haired boy, who had the Gryffindor crest on his chest. I became tense.
"Hey there, Gryffindork." The Slytherin slammed the book in the light haired boys hand onto the table. You had jumped a bit at this.
"Um, please, I'm trying to read-" He was cut off when another Slytherin pulled him from his seat. I was flushed by now, standing up and ready to walk away from the scene. The poor kid was going to get it badly. I saw the biggest one there with his wand tightly. It was kind of a normal reflex for me, I whipped out my wand and pointed it at the Slytherin.
"Stupefy!" I shouted. The Slytherin flew back a few feet, hitting the stone wall and landing with a loud slam. The boy looked surprised. I grabbed his hand, and the book he had in his hands before running from the Library. When you had gotten to a corner, you stopped to catch your breath. The boy looked at you, amazed.
"You managed to take down seventh years, that was amazing." You smiled.
"Thanks. Anyway, my name is Krista Marlyn Black, and you are?"
"Remus J. Lupin." He replied with a smile. "I thank you very much, but I must get back to the Library to finish."
"Okay, but next time, don't hesitate to kill those Slytherin prats." He chuckled as you looked down at the Slytherin crest on your robes. "I swear, I only got this because of my family." You stuck your tongue out in disgust. He chuckled again, and you both went your separate ways.
"I thought it was amusing." You stated airily, your finger placed on your chin. "It's an interesting, non-forgettable way to meet someone."
"What about how you met James? Setting the Potions classroom on fire." Sirius clucked his tongue, and wagged his finger at you, like he used to do when he was younger. It was a nice sense of nostalgia. "It was pretty brilliant, seeing as the walls were made of stone."
"That's not the point!" You exclaimed. "What about when Remus and I tricked you and made you seem like an idiot?"
It was sometime during third year, you were in the Library as usual with Remus by your side. Your mind was whirring as you tried to think of a way to get Sirius back for embarrassing you in front of everyone. He told everybody that you'd never even gone on a date before. Everybody thought he was kidding, until they saw your face, and then the teasing began. It ended quickly, however, when you threatened to smash their faces into the pavement, muggle style.
"Remus, I need your help. I have to do something simple and so obvious that he'd have to fall for it." You often confided in the intelligent boy, though he never seemed to be as into your antics as much as Sirius and James were.
"I'm not sure, Krista, I'll help if I must, but I'm not the one who comes up with the ideas for this."
"Do they have dictionaries in here?" You asked bluntly. Remus raised an eyebrow, but nodded silently.
"I believe they do." A grin made its way to your face. Remus shivered noticeably.
"I know what to do. Play along for me, 'kay Remus?" You grinned as you spotted Sirius walking into the Library with James and a pretty girl. You smirked, deviously from behind the shelf you were hiding behind, a dictionary in your hand. You wondered how you found it so fast. Sirius introduced the girl to them, and then it was your cue. You walked out, the dictionary flipping open to the letter 'G'.
"Remus, you're right, gullible isn't in the dictionary." You pouted. "So odd." Sirius raised an eyebrow, snatching the dictionary.
"It's not, but that's the whole joke-" His face fell as he dropped the book on the table. You were on the floor with James, both of you trying to hold back tears. Even the pretty girl on Sirius' arm giggled a little. Remus had a slight smile on his face.
"I got you!" You laughed. "I win!"
"Oh, the war is on!"
"It really was on, wasn't it?" You giggled, remembering the small prank war that had gone on during that year. If you had remember correctly, you hadn't talked to each other the whole year, but at the end, you called a truce and decided you should prank with each other, not against each other. You accepted of course, though you had still teased Sirius about his cute nose, that was tad too large.
"I remember the time you nearly killed Slughorn."
"Let's not remember that." You deadpanned. "Let's talk about...um..." You crossed your arms as you tried to think. Your life in Hogwarts had been based all around your pranks, and you friends, the only other thing that came to mind was-
"Romance." Sirius smiled. "I had a bunch of it, how about you?" Your lip twitched.
"You know damn well how it was. And, my dear, you had no romance in your relationships, you had flings, where you'd snog a girl in a hallway closet. Snogging next to a mop isn't romantic." You stated bluntly, flicking his nose playfully. "You were a womanizer, Sirius, you weren't looking for love, you were looking for some cheap floozies for a quickie." He smiled at you sadly.
"Well, lucky me, I didn't break anyone's heart when I went to Azkaban." Your grin fell from your face. "Well, maybe my mother, but she didn't expect me to become anything either way. I had already strayed from the path she wanted."
"Oh, shut it Sirius." You snapped. "You're not the only one whose parents were disappointed in them." Your parents had been nearly ecstatic when they had heard you were placed in Slytherin, but when you refused the Dark Lord, the good mood was destroyed and replaced by animosity. They hadn't talked to you in months because of this, they supported the Dark Lord, and you didn't. You refused to have any part in it. So, you were shunned from the normal group of Slytherin, one who were happy as he rose to power, but you found comfort in your close cousin Sirius and his friends.
James hadn't trusted you very much at first, Remus had been the first person outside of your family to meet you, and Peter, well, he followed whatever James did. In fifth year, in the beginning when Remus had decided to tell you he was a werewolf; James hated you because you had refused to talk to Remus and the rest of their group. He had even told you that you were being a bigot for judging Remus on the problem. You snapped on him, like you had on Sirius. After the whole thing was cleared up, and showed it was only the matter of trust you were worried about, he seemed to gain great respect for you. Or, he said you were 'pretty decent for a Slytherin.
"You'll never understand how upset I was when you went to Azkaban. I couldn't believe it. Then, I heard what had happened, you killing all those muggles and Peter." You shook your head. "It wasn't something you would do. I never believed for a second it was you." He turned and gave you a look.
"Say that while looking in my eyes." You leaned forward, your face a few inches from his as you stared into his dark eyes. If anyone walked in on this, it would be rather awkward.
"I never thought you were guilty." You stated in your normal harmonious voice, smiling as you flicked his nose again and strode towards the kitchen door again. "Now, Molly might need help making dinner or something, God knows you don't do anything." He rolled his eyes.
"You know where my room is, stop by tonight, Dumbledore dropped off some Pensieve or somethin' for you. Said he has some memories you might like to see again." You stopped short, your hand still on the door as you were ready to push it open. "I don't know what it's about, but when you come, you'll figure it out." Sirius shrugged his shoulder as he walked up the stairs. "You know where it is." You let out a sigh of frustration as you pushed into the kitchen. Tonks and Moody had since disappeared, probably back to work. Remus sat at the table, talking with Arthur Weasley. He glanced up, your eyes meeting for a second before you looked away.
"Do ya need any help Molly?" You asked enthusiastically, a bright smile making it's way to your voice. She let out a sigh as she sunk into a chair.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to need a lot of help cleaning around the house." She replied. "And the portrait upstairs, it keeps screaming in the middle of the night." She sighed again.
"The portrait of Sirius' mother? I've seen it, or rather, heard it before. Sadly, the picture isn't that far from his actual mother." You took a seat beside her. "How's everythin' been, Molly?" She smiled at you tiredly, standing up and motioning for you to follow her. You walked with her, through a door on the other side of the kitchen, and into a hallway that led to a door, outside.
"Well, if you hear anything from the girls about you and Remus-" Your mouth dropped and you gave her an astonished look. "I'm sorry dear, they asked me about it, since we'd gotten into a conversation about it when Remus first came, and I might've told them what happened, but not a lot, but they're very curious." You turned to the tattered walls, promptly slamming your head against it. "Krista!"
"I can't believe it! I've already been thinking about him all night long, now if they ask, I'll have to relive painful memories." You sighed, this time so softly it was barely audible, and you rested your head against the wall. "I don't want to remember those bad times."
"Then remember the good ones." She stated sternly. "I know you were devastated when he told you that he didn't want to hurt you, dear, but remember all the good times you've had?" You nodded. There were plenty of good times, like the Christmas dance, when you first found out that Remus might've had a tiny crush on you.
"Sirus Bernard Black!"
"Stop calling me that." You smiled.
"Never. Now shut up, and tell me which girl you chose to go with to the dance, so I can call her by the correct name this time." Sirius grimaced as he remembers exactly what you meant.
"I'm going with Mira, from Ravenclaw, with the blonde hair and green eyes. Good enough description for you." You smiled again, looking into the sky again.
"Why not?" You asked playfully, plopping down onto a chair.
"Who're you going with anyway?" Sirius asked boredly, sitting on the arm of the chair. You shrugged your shoulders.
"No one, I presume." You stated. Sirius bored expression turned to one of amusement,
"Well, if me and James have our way, which we will, you won't be lonely much longer." You gulped.
"Sirius, I don't want to go with Peter!" You exclaimed. "He's sweet and all, but no." He shook his head.
"Guess again, love." There was a pause, and then a look of confusion made its way to your face. Not James, he was too stuck on Lily, not him, he was your cousin, not Peter, you would say 'no' anyway, then that left-
"Wait-"
"REMUSSSS!" Sirius yelled loudly as he saw his three friends pop into the room. The shy male looked at the black haired boy curiously.
"Yes, Sirius, is there something wrong?"
"'Course not, mate." Sirius left the arm chair and walked over to Remus, patting his shoulder. "Remember what me and James talked to you about, do it now." James and Sirius gave the now flushed boy a push towards you, and with that, they grabbed Peter and dragged him from the room. It was now empty, kind of empty, a few people were a few seats away, but you were far enough away from them that you didn't have to worry about them overhearing you. Remus coughed, covering his mouth as he walked closer to you.
"Hullo, Remus." You greeted him, tilting your head to the side with a smile. "What're those nutters talking about? And your cheeks are quite a lovely shade of pink." You pointed out. This made the nice shade of pink turn to a nice shade of red.
"Oh, yes. I believe they were talking about the Christmas dance that Dumbledore is having for us, at Hogwarts." You nodded.
"Oh yes, I have no one to go with it seems. Sirius likes to tease me about these things." You admitted dryly. "Just because he has millions of girls at the ends of his fingers. Sounds kind of like a spider, you know, letting it's webs down..." Remus chuckled again.
"Krista," Your attention was on him once more. "I was wondering, if-as friends, youd-I don't know, maybe-"
"Go with you to the Christmas dance?" You finished his sentence. You felt a weird feeling set off in your stomach. "I'd love to." He seemed to cheer up a lot more than before.
"Oh, thank you-" You grinned.
"Remus, darling, the next time you ask a girl out for anything, don't say thank you." You giggled as he looked away embarrassed. "But, you're welcome." With a new sudden giddy feeling, you hopped up the stairs to go and tell Lily of everything that had happened. And you thought about maybe, somehow making Lily go to the dance with James.
"Ah, yes, great memory." You murmured. "Just lovely." Your stomach churned again, just like it had back then, and with great effort, you followed Molly through the kitchen. You looked over at Lupin once more, his hazel eyes met your powder blue eyes for one second, before you flushed and walked from the room. You walked upstairs, and stopped outside of Sirius' room. You were ready for these memories, whether they were painful or not, because they all involved him.