After OWLs were over and done, there was a period of one week before they would be able to go home for the summer holidays. Ursula sighed in longing, thinking about the Potter house, the place she now called home. James was thrilled that this year his house wouldn't be empty for he now had two new 'siblings' living there. It was almost too good to be true in Ursula's eyes. She felt like she was just waiting for something horrific to befall one or all of them.
It wasn't just her who thought that something was going to go wrong; they were all suspicious. They had taken their OWLs, all of them expecting to pass the ones they wanted to, they may have lost their chance at the House Cup but Ravenclaw (another team out of the running) offered to play an unofficial scrimmage and the Gryffindors won that, James and Lily were being civil to each other and could even call each other friends, according to the letter from two days ago, Mr. Potter was on the mend for the time being so he would be able to meet them at King's Cross, and McGonagall had called James, Sirius, and Ursula into her office to offer them a place in NEWT level transfiguration as long as they met the stipulation that they received Outstandings on their OWL.
"Ursula, what are you still doing up here?" Ben asked as he landed his broom on the balcony edge.
She turned and faced him, relaxing instantly at the sight of him. Ben reached out and grabbed her hands that were tightly gripping the railing. He took her smaller hands in his own and rubbed his thumb over the back of hers. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head, feeling silly for worrying over nothing. "I just feel like something is wrong."
Ben chuckled, "What? Do we have another seer on our hands?"
Ursula rolled her eyes and freed one of her hands, only to hit him on the chest. "You know what I mean. There's something wrong."
"Muse," he wrapped his arms around her, her tense body relaxing against his, "I know it seems impossible but maybe after all the crap that's been thrown at us, maybe karma's finally come around and given us a break."
"I hope so," she said against his shoulder, "I sincerely hope so."
"I just don't understand woot yer sayin'," Elyse complained as she walked next to Sirius. He had been so bored and was driving everyone else in the Tower up the wall so Elyse grabbed him and took him on a trip to the kitchen.
"It's simple transfiguration theory. If someone forces you to transfigure yourself, you're literally turned into that animal and therefore has a lower level of knowledge. You are at the complete mercy of the caster to change you back because you probably aren't smart enough to realize that something has happened to you. But for our transformations, we willingly made the change and we control it. We may lose our human shape but we keep our mind."
"But that doesn't make sense," Elyse complained, not able to understand why it wouldn't work.
Sirius started to explain complex transfiguration theory that he and James, along with Ursula, had read about in the past year or so involving human transformation. He was just getting to the basis to molecular morphing and permanent molecular manipulation when Elyse suddenly froze, stopping in the middle of the hallway.
He groaned. He knew she couldn't always control it but it was aggravating to be talking to someone only to have them thrust into a vision of the future. He tapped his foot while waiting for her to come back to the present. Hopefully, this vision wouldn't be along as some in the past were.
But something seemed off. Her eyes were completely out of focus. They were still the misty green they changed to when she was seeing something but her eyes were actually focused on something and moving down the corridor.
Then suddenly, it wasn't like it always was.
She started to shake, her breath became labored and irregular, and she broke into a sweat. Sirius placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently, something that usually brought her out of her visions. This time, however, it did no good.
"No, NO!" She screamed, scrambling back at what she was looking at, almost tripping over her own feet multiple times.
Sirius jumped back as if he had been burned. With his hearing still ringing from the shrillness of her yell, he ignored her continued cries and wrapped his arms around her upper body, trying to hold her in place.
This didn't help. She frantically scratched at his skin as she continued to watch with horror at whatever was happening. "REMUS! NO! REMUS!" She screamed down the hall, fighting Sirius even harder. Chancing a look, Sirius saw no one at the end of the hallway yet, yet Elyse continued to scream and beg for Remus to leave and for someone else to leave him alone.
"ELYSE!" He shouted at her. She continued to fight his hold on her even more violently.
Sirius didn't scare easily. He lived in hell for fifteen years, ran away from his family, faced a werewolf each moon, and still had never felt properly scared. His heart was pounding and he felt unadulterated fear rushing through his veins. His friend, someone he cared for, was in horrible pain and he couldn't do anything to help her. He also wasn't an idiot so for her to be this terrified and inconsolable and screaming the name of their friend in heart wrenching pain, something terrible would happen to Remus in the future and it seemed like none of them would be there to stop it.
Finally, just as abruptly as it had began, her eyes changed back to their usual green. She was still fighting him but not as violently. She collapsed against him, sobbing over Remus, her words barely understandable through her sobs.
He had no idea what to do so he did the first thing he always did when he needed help.
"JAMES!" Sirius shouted at the mirror he pulled out of his pocket. "GET REMUS AND FIND US!"
"Wormy, you seriously need to bloody calm down," James said as he watched Peter nervous twitch for the millionth time while reading a book.
It was a slow day in the Tower. All of the years besides fifth and seventh were just starting their final exams and everyone who had already taken the tests were taking some well deserved relaxation time before they had to go back home.
"But we won't get the results of the tests soon. I need to know," Peter said nervously. He had been having nightmares the last few days, all of which involved him getting his results back only to find out he failed all of them.
"Worrying about it won't change your scores," Remus reminded from his part of the room. The full moon had been two nights ago and he was still recovering from it.
They deal they had eventually struck regarding his transformation was that anyone who wanted to go could as long as three of the larger animals agreed to go. In the end, James, Ursula, Ben, and Sirius were the only three that went. Elyse had a headache that night and Peter wanted to study for his tests.
Suddenly, the voice of Sirius came from the drawer of James's nightstand. ""JAMES! GET REMUS AND FIND US!"
Remus's and James's eyes met for a second before they were both scrambling out of the room, James pulling the Marauder's map out of his pocket. While running, he pointed his wand at the map and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good!" He jumped down the last four steps, unfolded the map and searched it for a moment, before leading Remus and Peter, who had followed along, out of the common room, and into the seventh floor corridor no one used.
Sirius was crouched down, holding onto Elyse, who was folded up in the fetal position, crying. The second she heard their footsteps, she looked up. Seeing Remus, she launched to her feet and flew into his arms. He almost feel back with the force of the impact but Peter helped steady him.
"I'm here, Lucky." Remus said comfortingly, rubbing circles on her back like his mother would do for him after the full moons to calm him down.
"You're okay," she sobbed, barely coherent. Her hands grabbed desperately at the fabric of his shirt, anchoring herself to him.
He rocked her back and forth a little bit, still attempting to sooth here. "Of course I'm okay. I'm always going to be here and okay."
The four boys all shared a confused and concerned look as Elyse continued to sob into Remus's shirt. There was something wrong here. Her visions had never prompted a reaction like this before. Whatever she was seeing, it was something new and something they couldn't protect her from. And that was the worst part- seeing a friend suffer for something they hadn't done yet.
Later that night, the five boys were sitting in their rooms. It was absolutely silent as they waited for Ursula to give them news about their Irish friend. After calming Elyse down, Sirius pulled out his mirror and called Ursula to help them get Elyse back up to the dorm. That was almost two hours ago.
Ursula had promised that as soon as possible, she would come to them and tell them what was wrong.
A knock on the door knocked them out of their different trains of thought. Being closest to the door, Sirius opened it to reveal his twin. Her eyes were rimmed in red and she looked drained.
"What the hell happened, Muse?" Sirius asked as soon as she was sitting on top of his trunk.
She shook her head in disbelief. "Her visions aren't normal anymore. She's seeing them like we are looking at each other."
"What?" Peter asked, not understanding at all what Ursula was trying to say.
"She's seeing the future play out in front of her now. And she's not getting any warning either. About a month or so ago, this started and some of the visions haven't exactly been pleasant."
"What do you mean?" Remus asked, knowing that this current one was almost certainly about him. To get that response from her...he dreaded to think of what was in his future.
Ursula shook her head, "She told me, but Remus, you honestly don't want to know. Please, trust me when I say that it is something that I don't even want to know."
James interjected that line of conversation. "More importantly, are you saying that her visions are advancing?"
Ursula shrugged. "I don't know. I've never heard of a seer who has experienced anything like this."
"So basically what you're saying," Ben said slowly as he tried to wrap his mind around the information, "is that the future is bleeding into Elyse's reality and she can do nothing to stop it."
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
"Why now?" Sirius asked. He was viciously tossing a wad of paper back in forth in his hands, his anger stemming from the fact that he didn't have the ability to help his friend. He always had an answer, always. His best friend is a werewolf, become an animagus. Another one is a seer, look out for her visions and make sure she accidentally doesn't run into a wall. But this...this was something he couldn't stop help with, with what happened earlier proving it.
Ursula shrugged and answered for the rest of them, "I don't know...I honestly don't know."
It was the very next day when everything came crashing down. It seemed like nothing could go right. James, Sirius, Remus, and Ben were all in detention. They simply walked into the Great Hall the morning after their stressful night and what happened next was like dominoes falling. Snape saw James, hexed James, James retaliated but Snape ducked and it hit Avery. Avery, infuriated, threw a glass of pumpkin juice that James expertly avoided from years of Quidditch and coupled with Avery's horrible aim, it hit Remus on the side of the head. Remus knocked into Ben who fell into Mulciber. Mulciber retaliated by hexing Ben. Sirius then hexed Mulciber and it turned into a free for all.
Quickly, the Professors broke up the brawl and all students involved received detentions for the next three days. Ursula and Elyse were exasperated when they heard what happened. Peter had thankfully been spared getting involved in the fight and therefore also didn't have detention.
Later that night, when the boys had to leave for detention, Ursula was sitting next to Peter in front of the fire, teaching him some strategies for wizard leaned over the back of the sofa and kissed her on the temple, "I've got to go. Have fun, yeah?"
She nodded not looking away from the board. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she analyzed the board. Ben looked over the board as well and hummed before reaching over and moving one of Peter's pieces, "Check." He said.
Ursula glared at him and shoved his shoulder. "Go away, I hate you."
Ben laughed and grabbed her hand, kissing the back of it, "No you don't."
She sighed in defeated, "You know I never can." She pulled her hand back, keeping hold of his and reciprocated the kiss, she squeezed his hand once, purposefully ignoring Sirius fake gagging from the entrance of the tower.
"See you later," she said in farewell. Ben nodded and soon left with the other three.
Peter tried to look anywhere but at Ursula, sure that his face gave away his true feelings. He had tried to convince himself in his mind that Ursula wasn't happy with Ben but this just seemed like the nail in the coffin; she was happy.
"So, what's new in Pete's world?" Ursula asked as she ordered her knight towards his bishop.
Peter shrugged, "Nothing." He said despondently.
"Really? How about that girl you said you fancied a few months ago? Did that ever turn into anything?" Ursula questioned as she tried to recover from the famage Ben had caused her in the game.
Peter didn't answer right away. Instead, he asked a question of himself, "Have you ever loved someone before?"
"Of course," Ursula's responded immediately.
His eyes bulged out of his head. Seeing his shocked expression, she decided to elaborate. "I love my brothers, I love James's parents as if they were my own, I love the Quidditch team, I love Elyse like a sister-"
"No, no," Peter cut her off. "I mean, have you ever been in love with someone?"
That caused Ursula to take a moment's pause. She looked up from the board and stared into his eyes, like she was trying to telepathically answer the question. She opened her mouth to respond when suddenly there was a sickening series of crashes coming from the girls' stairwell.
Before anyone could react to the noise, a distorted heap of limbs, robes, and terrifyingly familiar red hair came to a stop at the landing. Ursula shot up from the sofa and frantically searched for a pulse, careful not to move Elyse to agitate or exacerbate any of her injuries. "Please..." Ursula begged, not aware of the commotion surrounding her. Some students were shouting to get McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Pomfrey. It didn't matter who; they just needed someone.
Then Ursula heard the most beautiful noise she had ever heard; Elyse groaned in pain. Noise meant she was alive. The pain meant that she could be fixed.
"Shush," Ursula comforted her, gently stroking her hair. "Peter and I here. You're going to be fine."
Ursula looked up at Peter in panic, looking vulnerable and broken. Peter was shocked by her show of weakness but he used it to his advantage. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said as condifently as he could, "She'll be okay. Help is coming."
Help arrived a few seconds later. McGonagall showed up with Dumble and the two of them transported Elyse to the hospital wing. Ursula and Peter followed closely behind but they weren't allowed past the hospital door.
Ursula collasped agains the wall, sinking to the ground. She buried her hands in her knees and her entire frame shook slightly, like she was chilled.
Taking full advantage of his opprotunity to be the knight in shining armor, he knelt down next to her. "It will be-" He reached out to wrap his arms around her but she flinched back.
"Hey, Peter," Ursula asked in a shaky, barely controled voice. "Could you go get Ben?"
"What?"
She turned to look at him, tears building in her eyes. "Please. I need Ben right now."
At that moment, Ursula answered his question from earlier; she was in love. And it wasn't with him. It would never be him. It always had and always will be Ben. That realization snapped something in him. Cold, angry, stinging rejection rushed through his heart. For the first time, he wasn't angry at Ben. No, this time it was directed at Ursula. She had hurt him and played him. Was he not good enough for her? Even if Ben disappeared from the picture, he would always be second best in her eyes and that infuriated him beyond reason.
Unable to sit next to her anymore, he nodded curtly and walked down the corridor with no intention at all finding Ben. Once he was far enough away, all lis emtions burst and he punched a wall. "I hate her!" He screamed at the wall. "I bloody hate Ursula Black!"
"That makes two of us."
Peter jumped when he saw Dalton Avery emerge from the shadows.
"W-w-what do you want from m-m-me?"
Avery shrugged. "I've heard things around the castle. Apparently, you aren't exactly happy with your so called friends right now. Call it an educated guess, but they haven't exactly been in your favor for a while, have they?"
Peter shook his head and tried to back away but only ended up running into a wall. "No. You're a Slytherin You're evil. You just want to manipulate me."
Avery chuckled, "Honestly, Peter? Who told you that? James Potter? Ursula Black? Sirius? All of them are Gryffindors; how can they know how Slytherins are. Besides, isn't making someone else out to be less of a human being exactly what they claim to preach against? Doesn't it seem hypocritical that they've told you that I'm evil simply became I'm ambitious, driven, and I value tradition?"
"But-"
"But nothing," Avery asserted. "Tell me truthfully that you have never doubted what your friends have tried to brainwash you to believe."
Peter's silence was answer enough. Avery smirked for just a second before his compassionate and sorrowful expression was back in place. "I'm sorry, Peter. But a fair number of us have noticed how poorly they treat you. Like you're some sort of dog at their beck and call. If you would like, just spend a few days with us. Trust us; Slytherins may be difficult at times but once you've befriended one of us, we are the truest friends you'll ever make. We defend our own, Peter."
"But I'm not a Slytherin." Peter protested weakly. "I'm in Gryffindor." The house of the brave. Peter grimaced at the thought. Brave. Honorable. Chivalrous. None of his friends were any of those. Ursula was vindictive to all those who she deemed to have crossed her, Ben was a coward who ran away, Remus is morally weak, Elyse stands idly by when horrific things she has seen come to pass without trying to stop them, James never felt remorse when he bullied someone, and Sirius treated everyone below his intelligence level like crap.
"A house does not define a person, Peter. Surely you have figured that out by now. So, what do you say?"
Peter with just barely a moment's hesitation, pushed away from the wall and nodded at Avery. Avery smiled victorious and threw his arm around Peter's shoulder as he led him down the corridor. "Wonderful! You made the right choice, I promise you Peter. You will not regret this."
Back in a different wing of the castle, Ursula was still sitting outside the hospital, simply staring at the door. Her mind seemed to have gone numb. She couldn't think at that moment. Everything had been fine and then it just...wasn't. But it should have been. They got through their OWLs, they were going home in five days! Everything should have been fine. That was before Elyse took a tumble down a set of stone stairs. Ursula shuddered when she remembered the moment when she recognized the person as Elyse. The gut wrenching fear that clenched her heart was the worst and the sick feeling in her stomach ended up a close second.
A door opened, breaking Ursula out of her thoughts. Madame Pomfrey raised her hand and waved Ursula in. Ursula scrambled to her feet and entered. McGonagall was gone and Dumbledore was standing at the side of Elyse's bed. She was unconscious but she looked better than she had earlier. Her face was void of bruises and her arms and legs appeared to be straight. It just seemed like she was sleeping.
"Ah, Ursula. We have a few questions about your friend that might help us. Has anything odd happened in the last few months for Elyse that caused you concern? Some change or alteration in anything she did?"
"Her, um, her visions were kind of going wonky."
The two adults shared a concerned glance before trying to mask their concerns. "What do you mean by that?"
"She's been seeing the future and present at the same time. Like apparitions of the future in the present. She sometimes can't tell which is reality and which is the future."
When neither adult spoke, Ursula nervously looked between the two of them. "There's something more." She realized. "Something else is wrong."
Madame Pomfrey was the one to ask the question. "Have you noticed in the last few months that Elyse has been forgetful and a bit clumsy? She might even forget things that she should know for certain and lose things easily. She also might have some headaches more often than usual."
Ursula nodded, "I guess so. But that was just OWL stress. She was so worried about those tests, we thought her reactions were normal. They're normal right?"
Dumbledore shook his head, "I'm afraid I cannot say anymore until her parents arrive. Professor McGonagall left a few minutes ago to retrieve them. Until then, it would be best if you go wait for the rest of your friends outside."
Ursula held firm, crossing her arms over her chest, "I would rather just sit with her, if that isn't too much of a problem."
A pop from behind them signaled that Professor McGonagall had returned. Mrs. and Mr. O'Brian gasped when they saw the state of their daughter. Mrs. O'Brian ran to the bed side and grabbed her daughter's hand while reaching out for Ursula's with the other.
"Woot's 'appened?" She asked through her tears.
"She feel down the stairs." Ursula explained. "I tried to help her..."
Mrs. O'Brian wrapped her arm around Ursula's waist and pulled her into a half hug. "Yeh did everythin' yeh coulda." She assured her daughter's friend.
"Woot's wrong then?" Mr. O'Brian asked.
Madame Pomfrey looked at Ursula, unsure if she should continue but then Mrs. O'Brian nodded so she continued. "Elyse hit her head on the stairs when she fell so we checked for internal damage. We didn't find any bleeding but we did find something. There is a tumor in her brain."
Ursula was much more composed than the parents were. Elyse's parents, mainly her mother, burst into tears while her husband had tears silently run down his face.
"But can't magic fix it?" Ursula questioned, wondering why it already hadn't been done.
"That's where the problem lies. The tumor is cancerous and it might have spread already. In addition, it is inside her brain, Ursula. The mind is a very delicate thing. One wrong cell can be vanished and the Elyse you know would cease to exist."
Just as panic was beginning to overwhelm her, there was a commotion outside the door. Dumbledore looked at her with his unnervingly calm eyes, "I think you should go explain to the rest of your friends what has happened."
Mutely, Ursula nodded and walked out of the hospital wing, looking over her shoulder one last time at Elyse's prone form. Was this how Elyse felt when Ursula was unconscious after the werewolf accident last year? The uncertainty, the fear, the feeling of no control...she had never realized what her friends had gone through those days when she and James were unconscious but now she was barely able to comprehend what they went through.
The second she stepped out of the door, Sirius tightly latched onto her shoulders, "What happened?" He demanded, his face was tense and his eyes gave away his anxiety.
"Elyse fell down the stairs."
"Will she be alright?" Sirius shouted at her while he shook her violently.
Tears well up in Ursula's eyes and Sirius stepped back from her in shock when he realized that something was wrong. Ursula shook her head, "They healed her from the fall but they found something else."
"What did they find?" Ben questioned, pulling her gently towards him. She leaned into his embrace, gathering strength from him.
"They found a tumor in her brain." She admitted softly, though in the silent corridor, she might as well have been shouting. "It's cancer."
The four boys stared at her in shock as if they couldn't believe what they were hearing. "Cancer?" Remus asked for all of them.
Ursula nodded. "They don't know if it's spread."
"Well isn't that damn wonderful!" Sirius shouted, kicking the wall in frustration. "Why wouldn't it be a bloody wonderful thing if Lucky got damn cancer?! It's not like people die from that crap!"
"Please, Sirius, calm down." Ursula begged.
"Why? You have some more news full of unicorns and rainbows?"
"Her visions have been affected, Sirius." She said seriously. "What if the cancer has spread to her magic?"
James shook his head in denial, "It doesn't do that. It can't do that."
"Well it might have!" Ursula shouted back, not necessarily furious at James but at the entire situation.
There was no more noise from the quintet. Ursula then noticed that Peter wasn't with them and she asked Ben while James and Sirius paced, "Where's Peter? I thought he would have stayed with you guys?"
"Peter?" Ben questioned. "Peter never got us. We got back from detention and heard what happened and ran here."
"Darn it, Pete's probably lost in the castle by now."
Someone should have gone to look for Peter but no one did. Their hearts were to heavy at the moment to worry about Peter; he could take care of himself. James came to lean against the wall next to Ursula and Ben.
"How did we miss this Muse?" He questioned as he reached for her hand. She intertwined her fingers with his and squeezed his hand tightly.
"I honestly don't know."
"It was right in front of us," James lamented. "The memory loss, headaches, loss of balance, hell, she was seeing double visions - literally!"
Ben answered, "I think we all just thought it was OWL stress. Why would we immediately think cancer?"
James fixed Ben with a hard glare, "Because we're brilliant that's why."
There was no more talking after that. They all just stayed sitting outside the door for the next hour. Remus and Ursula left to get food at one point and do a quick check for Peter but other than that, they all just stayed in place, all lost to their own train of thoughts, each blaming themselves for not noticing earlier.
McGonagall opened the door at some point and when she saw them, she smiled sadly. Exhaustion had set in at some point and they had all fallen asleep on the floor or leaning against the wall. Sirius was sprawled across the floor, James nearby him, both of their heads were resting on a black robes McGonagall assumed to be Remus's since he was the only one not wearing one. Remus was laying on his side with his arm as his pillow. Ben was sitting up against the wall, his head lolled to the side to rest atop Ursula's, who was curled up on Ben's lap and using his shoulder as a pillow.
She found it odd that Peter was no where to be found. The boy idolized James. He was never far behind the arrogant (though, now an admittedly less arrogant) boy. Considering that Elyse was also his friend, it was weird that Peter was not sleeping with them.
Apparently opening the door had woken up James who sleepily blinked his eyes to try to focus them. When he saw McGonagall, his eyes flew open in fear or excitement, she didn't know. So insall tead, she settled on stating the reason why she was there. "Elyse has woken up and wishes to see all of you."
James shot to his feet and quickly shook the rest of his friends awake. Once they were all up, they stood excitedly in front of the door, waiting for McGonagall to let them back in. She had some last warnings to them all, "Do not overwhelm her. And please, try to make her see sense."
Before any of them could question what she meant, she opened the door and they all flew to Elyse's bedside. Elyse smiled when she saw all of their relieved faces.
"'Ello," she greeted sheepishly.
"Darn it, Elyse, don't scare us like that again." Remus chastised gently as he took a place by her bed.
She laughed, "I promise."
"So now that's everything sorted and you're tumor free, when can you go back to the Tower?" Sirius questioned.
Elyse looked everywhere but at them. Sirius reached for her hand and forced her to look at him, "Everything is alright, right?" He asked slowly, an almost threatening undertone to his question.
"They fixed me body from teh fall."
"But..." Ursula trailed off, just knowing that the but was still there.
"I haven't taken teh potion yer fer teh tumor."
"WHAT!" Sirius shouted at her. Elyse winced at the volume. "What the hell do you mean you didn't take it!?"
"Teh potion's several side effects. I might lose me visions." She admitted softly, as if that was the worst thing in the world.
Sirius tightened his hold on her hand, unable to speak at that moment without saying something he would regret. James however, spoke up. "If you don't take it, you might lose your life. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"I'm nothin' witoot me visions."
"Don't you dare say that," Sirius growled.
"You're Elyse O'Brian, our dear friend. Please, I beg you, take that potion," Ursula begged.
Elyse seemed hesitant still. She knew they won't fully understand. They didn't know what her visions were to her. They were literally a part of her. Imagining going on without her visions would be like one of them not being able to use magic ever again. A part of her would be gone. But then she looked up at their terrified faces, their fear of losing her spelled across their faces. Sighing with defeat, she nodded once and looked over at Madame Pomfrey who was talking to her parents.
"I'll take teg potion now," she said. Immediately, everyone in the room relaxed. Sirius leaned back on his heels, his relieved, joyous, bark like laugh echoed around the room.
Madame Pomfrey handed her two potions. "This one will destroy the tumor. The next one will allow you to sleep the rest of the day. It won't be pleasant to say the least."
"Anything else?" Elyse questioned.
"You will probably feel nauseous the next two weeks or so. You may experience some temporary memory loss but it will come back in a few days. Also, unfortunately, your hair will fall out. There's nothing to do avoiding that complication of the potion. But in regards to consequences/benefits, this is worth it in my opinion."
"Great. I'll be bald." She said deadpanned.
James shrugged, "You'll look good with short hair." he said, ruffling the top of her curly hair. "I've never seen you without a bun so that'll be new."
Elyse held the potions in her hands. She held them up like in a toast and said, "Cheers," before quickly downing both of them. She gagged. "Bloody 'ell. Those're rancid." Already she could feel the drowsiness fill her mind. After taking one last look around her bed, she let the darkness overtake her.
Stepping off the train at King's cross just under a week later, Elyse had never felt such trepidation. She hadn't had a vision. She had tried but nothing happened. Her friends tried to reassure her that her ability would come back but she couldn't believe them. It wasn't like they could see the future, now was it?
She said goodbye to her friends, and after promises of writing and spending time together, they all went their separate ways. Ben and Ursula exchanged a chaste kiss before going their separate ways. Ben went to his parents and Ursula, Sirius, and James went to the Potter's. Peter found his mother and Remus found his father. In a few minutes all of them disappeared with a crack as they were apparated back home.
Elyse pulled the scarf around her head a little bit, still paranoid that it would slip off. She quickly got her trunk and wheeled it across the barrier to the muggle side of the station. She saw her parents and her brothers and was shocked to see a familiar silhouette standing with them wearing a dark duck billed hat.
"Lysie!" At Sean's shout, the figure turned and Elyse froze on the stop. Pat smiled brilliantly and ran towards her.
He gathered her in his arms and kissed her forehead, "Welcome home, Love," he said in his gorgeously loving Irish accent. He kissed her and then reached up to play with the tie of her red scarf. "Yer mam mentioned woot 'appened." He explained. "So I did somethin' impulsive."
"Woot?" Elyse asked, wondering what on Earth he could have done. Based off his cheeky grin, he thought it was something spectacular.
With a flourish, he reached up and pulled his hat off his head to reveal-
Nothing.
Literally nothing. His beautiful golden, curly hair that Elyse loved running her fingers through was gone. She gasped in shock, tears filling her eyes as his gesture.
He smiled at her reaction and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her side to side. "I hope yeh didn't want ter be teh only one bald back 'ome. I thought yeh might like-" He was effectively silenced by her lips on his. When she pulled away, she looked into his happy blue eyes and a feeling rushed through her. At first, she didn't know what it was but then it hit her. It was love.
She loved Patrick Finnigan.
All reservations she ever had about their future melted away. Whatever the future held, it held. She couldn't do anything to stop it. Right now, she couldn't even see it.
"I love yeh," she whispered softly.
Pat's eyes widened comically and the goofiest, most wonderful grain spread across his face. "Woot?"
"I love yeh," she repeated a bit louder. Pat didn't answer her again. He laughed once joyously before bending down to kiss her a second time, and a third, and a forth.
Elyse didn't care that she didn't know what the future held for them. With the war looming over her like a terrible storm cloud, she knew that involving herself with a muggle was the worst thing for her to do but none of that seemed to matter anymore. She couldn't tell the future right now. For the first time in the longest time, she felt free. She no longer had the responsibility of the future resting on her shoulders. Sure, she knew of many things to come and a lot of them involved death and pain for people she loved. But when it would happen, she didn't know. And that was scary. But without her gift, the future was different somehow. Everything was scary and terrible and unknown and uncertain.
But above all, it was wonderful.
And it's done! Finally! This has been the longest a book has taken me to write but honestly, it has to be my favorite so far. I cannot wait until we start up with sixth year and really get things going. A lot of questions/problems have arisen and they all will be answered/resolved all in due time.
I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has read this story. Knowing that someone out there is reading this has kept me motivated to keep writing. And a special thank you to the wonderful people who had favorited and alerted and reviewed. You are all wonderful and I hope that you will continue with me to the next book in this series. Also, you guys got to 100 reviews so I owe you all a little sneak peak from my Doctor Who story that is still in the works. I don't know when it will be published since I leave for school in a day and I don't know what my schedule will be like. Anywho, here you are.
Her heart stopped when she came to a skidding halt in front of Mr. Sneed's home. Time seemed to slow down around her. Some men were throwing buckets of water and a few women and children were watching in twisted interest. There were flames still licking at the edge of the broken windows, the smell of gasoline still strong.
"No," she whispered horrified. "Not again, please dear God, not again," she begged. Then time began to speed up again as she ran towards the house. Once she was free from the throng of the people watching, she ran towards the house.
A hand reached out around her waist and pulled her back at the last moment. She struggled against the hold, kicking and screaming that she had to go get her friend. Her friend was in there! Why didn't this man understand that?
"Ma'am, please, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. You're friend is gone."
The worst thing about his voice was that he did sincerely sound sorry. Eventually, she stopped struggling against his hold and instead collapsed against him. He sank to the ground, still holding her tight. Another hand, a softer slender hand rested on upper back. The man moved her around so that while she was sitting on the ground, not even caring that the snow was getting in her dress, he was crouched in front of her. She raised an eyebrow at his odd dress but didn't have the heart to say anything.
He cupped her face and wiped away her tears before rubbing his arms on her upper arms, trying to comfort her and warm her at the same time. He looked up at someone behind her and she felt something come down around her shoulders, protecting her from the cold.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Lillian Baker," she responded hoarsely, tears still streaming down her face and soul shattering pain still tearing apart at her heart.
The man smiled sadly, "Lillian Baker, it's my pleasure to meet you. I'm the Doctor."
She looked at him oddly, "Doctor who?"
So there you go! I hope that this has intrigued you enough that when I finally start posting, you'll be interested in reading it.
As for A Black and White Story: Book Five, I have not started that yet. I plan for the first chapter to be up in either two or three weeks. I'll add another little alert chapter on the end of this so you all know when that happens.
Adios for now.