Chapter 23

Blossom's Disclaimer: As much as all of us would like to say that Rowling stole Harry Potter from us, and we are the real owners of the wonderful series, the little angel in our hearts won't let us. Oh, well.

Ekaterina's Note: Gosh, being in a different time zone and on vacation makes your really unmotivated :P If you guys review more and often, then I think all of us would like to spout chapters more often 333 Reviews pleeeeaaaaase~ they make me very very very happy.

(By the way, for any Bollywood fans, did anyone notice that the song 'aacha lagtha hai' from Aarakshan was 100% Tonks/Remus? I was absolutely delighted. Oh. And the song from Mausam- the one where he practically stalks her but it's still cute- made me think of James/Lily... Just saying! :D ) OH, and I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes... watching Tom Felton as that creep was like watching a sadistic Malfoy... :(

Lily raced down the halls toward the Gryffindor common room. Alice hopped nimbly into the portait hole after hole, Lara and Nadia followed behind, clutching their sides and panting.

Lily glanced behind since the first time she had started to follow James, "Oh... You guys really do need to get into shape..."

Lara glared daggers at her, "Says the girl who gets personal quidditch training from the captain hisself..."

"Mate... you... really... need... to... learn how to... slow down..." Nadia was grasping the plush chairs by the fire for support,

"Ahaha... yeaaaaah..." Lily giggled a bit then turned around to find James. She frowned when he wasn't in sight. "Hey... did anyone notice where James went off to with Death?"

"Well, to get us is a pretty reasonable answer," came a lazy response from the top of the boys dormitories.
Lara beamed, "Sirius!"

"The one and only," he gave a smug smile which immediately disappeared when Lara whacked him upside the head.

"I bet the nargles have clouded darling's mind and made her think that she's a white cat who hates us. The hating must be from warlinknurls, they are horribly harmful to the mind," analyzed Alice.

"Come again-" started Sirius uncertainly.

"What she means is that it is not what we thought, luckily the Imperius curse was not used. Instead it is a simply disillusionment spell that works differently on cats, changing color rather that making them invisible. As for the hating part-" Remus translated.

"She must have managed to make our clothes smell like... mm... probably a sickening amount of whatever Death doesn't like... what doesn't Death like?" finished Lily.

Nadia gave a thankful smile, "Fried shrimp... Death hates fried shrimp..."

"Er, then I guess we- ah no, you guys, just don't have to smell like fried shrimp then..." concluded James thoughtfully.

Everyone looked at each other and burst into hysterical laughter at the anticlimatic end to their disastrous adventure.

"Of all things keeping us from darling, it was fried shrimp.!" giggled Alice, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

Gasping for breath, Nadia stopped for a moment, her mouth a perfect 'o,' "Ah, I forgot all about Adrian! He was searching for Death too, and he was looking up spells, and- Oh dear, oh dear, Death, come here love, let's go find him."

"Ah wait, you forgot-" Lily winced as Death yowled and raced out of Nadia's arms, still a shrimp avoiding white cat. "You forgot to take off the spells..."

"Oh shi-" Lara raced after Death as she raced out of the common room, past entering (and extremely startled) students.

"Bloody cat causes too much trouble," growled Sirius.

"Yes, yes it does," agreed Remus as he joined the chase.

Lily grabbed James and pulled him aside, "Okay, no one else is going to listen, so I need you to do me a favor..."

"DEEEEEAAAAAAAATH, COME BACK!" called Nadia.

"NAAAAADIAAAAA, WAIT UP!" Lara called after her.

"LAAAARAAAA, I HATE THAT BLOODY CAT!" Sirius yelled after them.

"DAAAARLING, COME TO ME, I DON'T LIKE SHRIMP EITHER!" Alice tried to coax.

"WHY DON'T THE GUYS GET THE DAMN CAT SINCE WE DON'T BLOODY SMELL LIKE FRIED SHRIMP?" Remus cried in exasperation.

"Way ahead of you guys there," James and Lily stepped out in front of where Death was headed.

"Death... I have the most delightful sardines for you..." called out James cautiously.

"Come on, your favorite... sardines!" Lily called out. "And I don't smell like fried shrimp! I changed the spell to catnip."

Lara stopped running and gaped at Lily, "Oh... OH. Oh yeah, I could have changed it too... God I feel so stupid..."

"Deaaaaaath!" Alice practically purred (fitting, eh?) the name while skipping towards the cat airily. Mewling with fear, Death propelled herself into James.

"Gotcha!" he cried triumphantly.

Three hours after their now highly public adventure, the group sat exhausted in the kitchens.

"Really, the things I do for you," Nadia crooned at Death while feeding her sardines.

"Glad you realized it," said Sirius dryly.

"Shut up Padfoot, wouldn't you do that for Lara's owl?" James asked.

Sirius's answer was immediate, "Hell no!"

Lara looked at Sirius with a highly offended look on her face. "Well guess what! I wouldn't give a piece of my eyelash to your owl if it would save your life!" she snapped.

Sirius stared, "Your... eyelash?"

"Well, yes, my eyelash!" she replied, her face flushing.

Trying to stifle his laughter, Sirius nodded in what would never pass as a serious manner. "I...see...?"

"You might not be catching this, but I'm actually serious right now." Lara glared furiously at Sirius, muttering under her breath, "Blithering idiot."

Upon hearing this , Sirius' face hardened. "I heard that, you know."

"Uh-huh. Whatever."

Sirius stared at Lara's face, his expression softening as he realized she was really mad. "Lara, why are you-"

"Shut up. I don't care to hear your voice right now." Lara, who was sitting next to Sirius, scooted as far as she could away from him.

Sirius was taken aback. Looking for a solution, he turned to face Lily questioningly.

Exasperated, Lily mouthed to him, "Apologize!"

"What? No! Not my fault!" he mouthed back.

She glared at him and proceeded to move away too.

James prodded him a bit and nodded towards Lara with an 'apologize or she'll kill you' face.

Scowling, Sirius sniffed and left the table. Lara looked up in shock, she had expected him to realize his mistake and apologize, not walk away. She turned to Lily and Alice, concern and panic speckled in her amber eyes. Alice put a comforting hand on her arm and gave a warm smile while Lily motioned for her to follow. However, the moment Lara stood up Sirius came back into the room. Everyone was silent, James looked relieved and nodded his approval for apologizing.

Sirius nodded curtly and looked to Lara again."I'm sorry..."

Lara turned around to face him. "Do you know what you're even sorry for?" she demanded.

"Wha...? Me, I- I-" Sirius glared at Lily. She shrugged and looked away. "I don't know... but I'm sorry for whatever I did!" Sirius finally answered.

Lara laughed dryly. "You don't know anything, right? NOTHING! Not even how I might ever feel!"

Sirius' face reddened. "And you? Do you know anything? You don't even know that your boyfriend doesn't HAVE an owl to offer a piece of your eyelash to!" yelled Sirius, standing up.

"Who are you calling boyfriend? Yourself?" Lara snorted, also standing up to face Sirius. "Are you kid-"

"Chill, chill," interrupted Remus, chuckling dryly, "We don't want to put of with you love birds having an argument at this moment."

Sirius cleared his throat awkwardly and sat down promptly, but Lara continued to stand, breathing heavily and glaring at Sirius with such piercing eyes that Lily pulled on her robes until she sat down.

Lily and James were sitting down by the lake to avoid all the tension, everyone in the Gryffindor house was taking sides on the Lara/Sirius dispute. Fangirls for Sirius and fanboys for Lara. The extent of their affairs was so widely spread that even some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had taken side, a couple of Slytherins (much to general shock) had expressed their support for Lara as Sirius should have been more gentlemanly. But as Sirius secretly admitted to James and Remus, he still didn't know exactly what he had done wrong.

"They really are pretty upset, huh..." said Lily.

"Mm, yeah..." responded James, playing with her hair.

"It started with something so small too... he should have remembered that her last owl was killed during a Death Eater raid..."

"The thing with Sirius is that he doesn't quite think," James said thoughtfully.

"Hm, yeah..." They watched the setting sun slowly sink over the calm waters of the lake, it was an unusually warm day for November. As they sat peacefully, they noticed Alice and Remus sitting some distance away under a tree. They appeared to be laughing and talking about something unknown to Lily and James.

"So peaceful," murmured Lily drowsily.

"Yeah..."

"I like thestrals a lot, you see... I can't see them, but I can feel them," Alice said.

"I know what you mean, it's sort of a cold yet warm feeling, right?" Remus asked.

"That's right! Most people don't feel it really..."

"I have an interest in magical creatures, especially ones that have to do with dark arts," he explained. Alice laughed and shook her head then leaned against him. He laughed at her knack for knowing just how he was feeling.

Nadia hurried down the halls, Death at her feet as usual, with a small package in her hands. She peeked into the library desperately hoping that the person she was looking for would be there. Hah, he was! Uncertainly, she walked towards him and abruptly placed the package in front of him.

"Er... Um... I. I just... I guess I just wanted to say thank you for looking for Death and everything," she managed to get out.

He blushed a bit, "Oh! Um, thanks... you really didn't have to!"

She smiled, "It's okay..."

"I heard about your friends' fight... I hope everything sorts itself out."

She snorted in an unladylike manner, "Who hasn't heard about it? Hmph, knowing them they will have some sort of war that will end up with one of them dead or worse!"

Adrian laughed, most people would not prioritize something as worse than death, "Hey, if you're not busy, let's go for a walk!"

Nadia looked startled for a moment then, with a bright smile, gave her consent.

The next morning, bright and early, the indignant quacks of a very, very, hysterical pink duck were heard all throughout the castle. It waddled down the staircase, it's pink wings fluttering every so often to maintain balance. The crowd of students gathered down beneath with interest, wondering if this was some new stunt to get them interested in studying. However, when a giant banner accompanied by fireworks dropped down, the whole school was seen grinning for the rest of the day. It was even rumored that even Professor McGonnagal had smiled when banner flew down and had delayed as much as possible the transfiguration of the duck back into the wailing and sobbing Shantall.

General A/N: Oh Merlin, the last Harry Potter movie was simply brilliant! I (Ekaterina) was broken down when Remus and Tonks died D: I might have a new songfic idea for them :D Haha, and thanks to good friend of ours, I have been converted from a Dramione shipper to a Fremione shipper... I now sail the pages of Fremione fanfics in great delight~ recommendations are welcome! Especially works you guys have written~!