Chapter 15

Ekaterina's Disclaimer: Sigh... Why, why can't we own the Harry Potter series? Oh yeah, the same reason that we cannot own half the world :P haha...

Blossom's Disclaimer: Well, I never could will my sisters to give me their stuff, and somehow I don't think I will ever be able to will Rowling to give me the Harry Potter series either.

Ekaterina's Note: Heya! So how was the last chapter? :) I found all the character interactions to be quite a nice change from the usual chaos and humor. It was a pleasant surprise that it worked out. We hope you liked it :D. OH. If our updates are slightly spaced out, do forgive us, we have finals comin' up and it's suuuuper important that we score well on them. If we don't... well, in short- we're screwed. Yep. But, on a happier note, our story has a lot more views now and it makes us absolutely escatic. Or at least me. ^^

Blossom's Note: It's not just Ekaterina who is delighted with reviews. All of us are. Or at least Ekaterina and me. Hehe! Thanks, readers!

Love you all, Umbrella Co. /J\

"Sirius!" Lara called. "No more fetch! Please? It's extremely tiring!" She did look tired. Her hair was rather tangled and her hands were grimy with dog saliva and dirt.

Sirius whined but reluctantly dropped the branch in his mouth.

"Now can you please turn back into human? Please? I wanna see boyfriend Sirius again. I miss him," Lara said without thinking.

In a moment, Sirius the Dog was gone and replaced by Sirius the Human. "You missed me?" he asked eagerly, spitting out specks of dust and dirt from his mouth.

"Huh? Err...Let's go eat!" Lara said, smiling awkwardly.

"Lara, answer me! It's an order!" Sirius said, winking.

"Ugh! Fine, you always make things difficult, huh? Yes, I did miss you in a regular form of a human and not a dog that so resembles the Grim it freaked me out and almost took my life! YES!" Lara bellowed and tossed her hair indignantly. "Merlin!"

Sirius chuckled. "I know what James means now," he said.

"What do you mean?" Lara asked, curiosity overtaking her anger.

"Huh? Do you really want to know? I think you'll be mad if I tell you..." Sirius said thoughtfully, then snapped his fingers. "I got it! I order you to not get mad when I tell you...or frustrated, okay?"

Lara gave a curt nod. "Fine, just tell me!"

"Well you know he always says that Lily looks cute when she's mad? Well I-"

"SO YOU AGREE THAT LILY LOOKS CUTE WHEN SHE'S ANGRY? ARE YOU INSANE?" Lara screeched, her cheeks a brilliant red that resembled the setting sun.

"Whoa, chill girl! And obey my orders!" Sirius said, laughing even harder.

"I'm not mad! Or frustrated! I'm enraged and baffled! I am obeying your rules...technically!" Lara said, glaring at Sirius.

Sirius smiled. "And that wasn't what I meant, you know. I meant that I think you're cute when you're mad!"

"Whaaa...?" It took a moment for that to register. "Wait, what? You think I'm...?" Lara's face looked like she might explode.

"Well, yes. And don't get mad!" Sirius said, exploding in chuckles.

"UGHHH, YOU!" Lara giggled in spite of herself. "Okay, then, let's go...I'm hungry."

"You are?" Sirius asked as his stomach grumbled loudly. "Heh heh I must be hungry, too! Ohh, we must have missed dinner!"

"Bleh, Sirius! I told you we should stop playing and go!" she whined, frowning.

"It's okay. We'll visit the kitchen and the house elves should serve us well." He smiled at the thought. "C'mon!" He grabbed Lara and pulled.

"Are you sure we can do that?" Lara yelled as she got dragged along toward the school towers.

"No worries! I go there all the time!" Sirius responded.

"And you're still hungry every moment of your life?"

"...Well...I'm a growing boy!" Sirius responded indignantly.

"Uh-huh. And I'm a gorgeous princess locked in a tower and waiting for a handsome prince to come by and marry me. Uh-huh," Lara said dryly.

"Really?" Sirius' eyes were wide. "Okay, then, I'm your Prince Charming!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh, Merlin!" Lara said, rolling her eyes, exasperated.

"Come here, my Princess Lara!" Sirius reached out and swept a startled Lara into his arms and lifted her easily.

"Hey, you!" Lara said, laughing.

And neither of them noticed that Lara hadn't struggled at all-without Sirius' orders.

Ugh. Slaves... Why did she have to be a slave to the slimy git next to her? It was like dangling a flame over kerosene, the possibility of an explosion that might wreck the castle.

"...Oi... James... Where the heck are we going?" Lily grumbled. There was an extremely dark aura surrounding her head but James, too caught up in his happy mood didn't notice.

His cheeks flushed a bit, "Oh, um, you see. I decorated the Room of Requirement so that maybe you can have some fun... I .. I wasn't entirely sure what you like but I tried my best." He looked so happy, like a five year old with big, irresistible puppy eyes. Too bad they didn't work on Lily.

"Oh... Okay..." she responded uncertainly.

"Oh, we're here," James said awkwardly, stating the obvious.

"Yeah," Lily nodded. "Um, so, what's next?"

"Err...Let's go in...?" James asked tentatively.

"Uh, sure, I guess," Lily responded, wanting desperately to be somewhere else.

James opened the door of the Room of Requirement.

"Shhh! Geez, will you be quiet! If you want to see where they're going, be quiet, okay?" Remus said, quickly ducking into an empty classroom and pulling Alice in with him.

"OW! You pulled my hair!" Alice yelled.

"Oh. Sorry." Remus looked apologetic as he quickly removed his hand from Alice's shoulder.

"Okay, we should go back out now!" Alice said. "We don't wanna miss Lily and James. Oooh! I wonder what they're up to!"

"But don't you think we're kinda invading their privacy?" he asked.

"Huh? How?" Alice shrugged and tip-toed out of the classroom in a ballet twirl to continue following Lily and James.

Sighing, Remus reluctantly left the classroom after her.

Lily gasped. It was a garden.

Right in the middle of the huge room was a lovely cream-colored bench, which was surrounded by a ring of beautiful lilies. Along with lilies, there were violets, bluebells, daisies, roses, tulips, and ferns all planted carefully. Vines hung from the ceiling, and butterflies fluttered around, decorating the air with flashes of color.

There were all sorts of trees, cherry trees with beautiful blossoms floating down, fir trees, oak, maple, and pine trees smelling freshly of sweet pine. The floor was carpeted with soft green grass. The walls were brick and covered with ivy and wild growing blossoms. Moonlight shone in gently from three windows.

The room was pleasantly scented with a mingle of the flowers' smells. Leading to the bench was a winding road, paved in cobblestone and lined with old fashioned clock towers, each with messages in them. The road was sprinkled with delicate rose petals, and a bouquet rested on the bench.

"Oh, James! It's gorgeous!" Lily exclaimed, beaming with delight.

"Yeah, oh, okay. Well the thing is, I wanted to spend some time with you, so I prepared this place, and um, yeah..." James managed, his face scarlet even in the moonlight. "Will you come with me to the bench?" he asked nervously.

Lily nodded and followed him to the bench. Sitting down, she inhaled deeply. "Mmmm...It's wondrous!" she said, looking around again. "Lilies...they're beautiful!"

James shook his head. "Nothing compares to you. No, not even these flowers," he said, handing Lily the bouquet. "Here. I want you to have this. I made it...Think of it as my heart to you."

Lily received the bouquet. She could see it was carefully, gently made from the most perfect lilies. "James! I don't know what to say! How did you know all my favorite flowers? It's just simply...oh, magical!"

James stared unblinkingly at Lily, who was bathed gently in moonlight. "Lily, you look beautiful in moonlight." He reached out and gently fingered a strand of her auburn hair.

Lily looked at James. He was dressed so nicely, come to see, and she could see that he had attempted to smooth down his hair.

"Lily? Will you um, hold hands with me?" James asked cautiously.

Lily blinked. "Is that an order?" she asked.

"No, no, of course not. I'm just asking. It's just, I'd be so-" He stopped as Lily gently slipped her hand into his.

"Hurry! Come on, let's go!" Alice said excitedly. "We'll lose them!"

"Ah, they went into the Room of Requirement. I believe that James mentioned something about having set up a botanical garden-" Remus stopped when he saw Alice's expression, her eyes were large and sparkly.

"Ooooh, I love flowers, there are so many faeries, you know..." she hinted.

"Um, I guess that as long as we don't interrupt them it should be alright..." said Remus, his cheeks were tinted a light pink. "But you've got to be quiet once we're in there, you know. They shouldn't know we are in there with them. Okay?"

"Yaaaay! lalalalalal laaaaa!" Alice skipped along the hall singing and giggling.

"Ah... so... where is Nadia?" questioned Remus.

"Umm... OH. she went off with Death to find sardines in the Great Lake!" she exclaimed confidently.

"Err. Alice. I don't think there are sardines in the lake..."

"Meh. The merfolk will find them for sure," she said in a carefree way. Alice began to twirl around until Remus caught her and reminded the said girl of their secretive mission. The two crept along slowly and waited until Lily and James had entered the Room of Requirement and probably moved on from the door then entered as well, holding their breaths.

"Oh..." Alice gasped in wonder at the large room, she fit in well, like a fairy bought to her homeland of magical flowers. Remus stood, slightly awestruck, as he watched Alice's face soften as she bent down to smell some roses then slowly move away to look at a couple of butterflies lazily fluttering.

"Sort of like Alice in Wonderland..." he muttered to himself. "Except cuter."

Alice turned around and gave him a beautiful smile, not her usual out-of-it-I-am-in-dreamworld smile, but a real, soft smile.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Remus. I really adore flowers and gardens, you see."

"No problem, I wanted to see it too..." he answered. There was a light companionable silence for a few moments.

"Oh! Our mission!" Alice ran down the cobblestone path in little leaps until the bench came into view. At that point she crept behind a large bush right under a low tree from where she beckoned for Remus to join her. The two sat watching Lily and James converse, the couple on the bench had their hands entwined and James was blushing furiously.

"It's a bit reversed, no?" Alice noted thoughtfully.

"What is?"

"The fact that generally the girls blush when they see James, but here is Lily sitting normally and James uncertain of what to say or do..." she continued.

After a small chuckle Remus responded, "Yeah... sometimes the roles are reverse, I guess."

Alice contented herself with leaning against the tree and watching the multitudes of flowers until she looked above them. Then she looked with a more concentrated gaze until she was frowning.

"Er, Alice, why are you starting at the tree?" Remus asked.

"Why is there mistletoe when it's not even Christmas?"

"... Oh," he wasn't sure how to react. He looked up and quickly brought his gaze back to Lily and James.

"Did you know that mistletoe contains nargles which are terrible for the health of one's sanity, I could lose my sanity from sitting under this, but then again it also has healing properties for some illnesses so is could be curing some illness that I have but don't know about. Although there are some-" she was cut off when the space between her and Remus closed up and all she could see was Remus. "Remus...?"

"Really?" Remus' voice was a whisper, his breath was soft. "All I remember is that people kiss under mistletoe." He looked into Alice's eyes gently and came closer.

"...Oh..." Alice, said, her eyes closing delicately as Remus leaned in.