Chapter 24

Ekaterina's disclaimer: We solemnly swear that we do not own Harry Potter~

Ekaterina's note: HIIIIII! Ugh, it's so sad that summer is practically over :l Ah, oh well, the joys of high school now await as does loads of homework -_- OH MY MERLIN. We saw Harry Potter 7 Part 2 today again, but with Mimiona and Blossom this time (and a bunch of school friends that do not work on this story) and seriously, we talked, laughed, commented, and sobbed through the entire movie~ thank goodness the theater was practically empty! I want to cry for a lot of parts, but my nature is such that I have a hard time with more depressing emotions :l What really set me off this time was when Snape said~ 'always...' to Dumbledore and showed his patronus :( WAAAAAH! Ugh... anynow, we are getting to the end of this story for sure this time by mutual consent, so as much love as I can convey through these notes.

"Did you make up with Lara?" Remus asked Sirius, getting out his Advanced Potions book.

Sirius sighed. "What do you think?" he asked in an unusually grouchy voice.

"Alright, okay, no need to be so cranky!" Remus muttered under his breath. Then, speaking aloud, "Get your book out, Padfoot."

"Huh? Why?"

"Earth to Sirius! We have double Potions today, remember? With the Hufflepuffs!"

"Eh? Oh, okay."

"Lily! Lily! Lily!"

She didn't need to turn around to see who it was. "What?" she said, exasperated.

"Lily! Lily! Lily!" James sang.

"Oh, stop it. I have to get ready for class. We're making the Truth Serum today!" Lily said in an annoyed voice, continuing to read her Advanced Potions book and refusing to turn around to face him.

"So what? You'll make the best one in the class anyway!" James commented, causing Lily's face to flush bright red.

"Oh, but I have to prepare-"

"Oh, no you do not!" James said, poking Lily on her back.

"Ack!" Lily shrieked, turning on her heel. "Ja-" She found herself only a couple inches from James. Her emerald eyes widened as she stared into his dark eyes. After a moment of awkward silence, she stammered, "I, uh, have to, uh... um... read!" She rushed to her desk, pulled out Hogwarts, a History from her tote bag, and proceeded to read it- upside down.

"Remus! Do you hear the Nargles? They're all around! All around!" Alice said excitedly, jumping up and down. She reached out and waved her hands everywhere, thwacking Remus on the head.

"OUCH!" Remus cried.

"Ooh, that must have hurt!" Alice said, leaping to him. "I was just trying to catch a Nargle. I was going to ask it if it would show me its true form..."

"No, it's okay," Remus said, laughing in spite of the bruise starting to appear on his forehead. "Here! I caught one!" he cried, reaching out to "catch" something, and handing it to Alice.

Lara was sitting at her desk quietly, peering into her Potions book in silence. Sirius sat in his own desk, which happened to be next to her's, silent as well, but staring openly at Lara with an apologetic look on his face.

After a moment or two, Lara looked up, caught Sirius' eyes, and looked away uncomfortably, she would never admit to the light blush on her cheeks.

Nadia was sitting with Death in her lap at her desk in the corner of the room. Adrian sat next to her quietly, looking at her figure wordlessly, but with a slight grin on his face. Nadia did seem to notice his presence, from the slight pink in her cheeks, but she didn't seem to mind at all.

"Class! Come to order!" Professor Slughorn said, licking his fingers after a mouthful of crystallized students' chatter gradually died down to a silence.

"Okay, today we're making the-"

"Truth Serum!" exclaimed Lily, her hand shooting up.

"That's correct. Five points to Gryffindor," Professor Slughorn said, smiling. "Okay, then, pair up into twos to make the serum. Materials are in the cupboard; directions are on page 67 of your Advanced Potions book. You may start." With that, he went back to snacking on his pineapples.

"Lara!"

It was a familiar voice. Lara didn't want to answer- or did she? Her face flushed as she thought of this and, instead of answering, called to Lily instead:

"Hey, Lily! Wanna make the serum with me?"

Lily looked from Lara's pink face to Sirius' saddened one."Heh, I'd love to but I'm making it with- with...James!" she finally said, pointing to James who had been beside her, patiently awaiting the right time to ask her to make the serum with him.

James' eyes widened. "Me?" Lily jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "Oh, yeah, we are! Of course!" He grabbed Lily's arm. "See? We're partners!" he exclaimed. "Let's go to get the materials!"

With that the two made their way to the cupboard without arguing-for the first time ever.

Lara sighed. "Nadi-" She stopped as she noticed Nadia and Adrian peering into the book together. "Alice?" she groaned. She didn't need to look to know that she was with Remus already. Lara looked through the entire room, but all the other students had paired up-leaving to only available person to be none other than Sirius.

"Lara?" Sirius asked cautiously.

Lara sighed. "What?" she growled and grabbed her Potions book, furiously flipping to page 67 (almost ripping the book in the process). "Here!" She threw it to Sirius, who caught it with a broad smile. "Get the stuff."

"Evil! You're evil, Lily!" Lara said shrilly the moment she was alone with Nadia, Lily, and Alice.

"What? What did I do?" Lily asked innocently, grinning broadly.

"What did you do? What did you do?" Lara demanded, her face beet red. "You paired me up with Sirius! On purpose! That's what you did, Miss Angelic-Looking-Evil-Witch!"

Lily laughed. "I did not! You were the one always bugging me to pair up with James, so I did!"

Lara was quiet. "Point taken," she finally said.

"Okay then, how was Potions with your boyfriend?" teased Nadia.

"You be quiet!"

"Well, how was it?" asked Alice, dancing around daintily.

"Horrid, thanks to someone!"

"Hey," Lily recalled, "you were having a good time! He made you laugh a couple times, although you didn't let him see, and-"

"Sure. Sure. And I'm a hippopotamus!" Lara retorted.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Hmm...I don't know, you might be... Lara the Hippo... very catchy!"

"LILY!"

"Okay, okay, you're not a hippo. But you can't fool us into thinking that you don't like Sirius. It's time you forgave him for saying that about your owl. Lara, you love him! I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it! You're my best friend. Stop trying to fool us-and yourself." As Lily said this, Lara's eyes filled up with tears.

"But-but, I can't! How could he say that about (insert owl's name)! It's just...he doesn't seem to have any interest in my feelings whatsoever! I just can't!"

"Lara," Lily said, giving her friend a hug, "you know you can-you already have! Just let yourself admit it, it's-"

"No." Lara's voice was cold. "I won't forgive him. No, I can't forgive him! I don't love him. I won't love him!"

Lily smiled. "Well, we'll see about that." She held up a small flask.

"Ooh! What is that?" Alice asked, bursting with curiosity as usual.

"This," said Lily with a grin, "is the Truth Serum. Let's see...if I just sprinkle a couple drops into your oatmeal at breakfast..."
"Oh, you would not!"

"Oh yes I would!"

Lara looked around nervously. "Well what if it's not properly made? That's the one that you made, right? What if you did something wrong? What if I get sick because of it, and I die? Wouldn't you be guilt-ridden?"

Lily chuckled. "Nice try, love. But you know that Slughorn said my serum was perfect." She grinned broadly. "I slipped a little flask of it into my robes...for this purpose precisely."

"What did I say about you being evil?" Lara muttered. "Lily, my answer remains the same. And don't you dare try using that thing on me!"

"Today, students, we will be studying boggarts," announced the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Mildan.

The entire class groaned as there was a loud banging noise from Professor Mildan's desk drawers and the desk shook violently.

"Sir! We already covered that, like some years ago!" some Gryffindor named Tyler said, holding up his hand.

"I understand you have covered this lesson already, but as practice makes perfect, and it's never bad to review, we will be doing so again. Since you seem to be so knowledgeable about boggarts, why don't you tell me: what is a boggart, exactly?"

"Uh, doesn't it, like, change shapes and stuff...?" he answered.

"Correct. So you children do keep some of the things you learn at Hogwarts in your head..." the professor muttered, causing the students to laugh and whisper. "Anyway, a boggart is a shape-shifter that changes into the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most. The spell to repel it is Riddikulus. When the boggart faces you in the form of what scares you the most, as it will to each of the students here, point your wand at it and say Riddukulus! while concentrating on making it look comical and funny. For you see, what defeats a boggart is laughter. I'm sure you all remember this from your third year? Okay, then, Tyler, why don't we start with you?"

With that, he pointed his wand at the desk. Jets of sparks flew from its end and hit the drawers with a boom. The drawers burst open and from them emerged a werewolf.

"Riddikulus!" yelled Tyler, and there was a loud crack. The werewolf was dressed up as Red Riding Hood's grandmother.

There was a loud roar of laughter as the boggart turned to the next student. And so on it went on. The boggart became a mummy, which started tap-dancing-a huge rat, which started doing circus tricks-a Basilisk, which lost both its eyes.

"You're doing well; it's confused because there are so many of you," said Professor Mildan.

The boggart, now in the form of a tiger with pink and blue stripes, faced Nadia. It immediately turned into a fluffy white cat-Snowflake-that was feasting on a bowl of fired shrimp next to a smirking Shantall.

"Death! NO!" yelled Nadia in hysteria.

Lily took a hold of her. "It's a boggart! Hurry and say the spell!"

Nadia nodded shakily but pointed the wand at Snowflake the Boggart and said, "Ri-Riddikulus!"

Shantall was transformed into a duck, causing a lot of laughter and giggles.

The boggart turned to face Sirius next. As it changed into what Sirius feared the most, Lara gasped audibly as the rest of the class was silenced immediately. She stumbled back as she faced the cold and dead body of herself. Blood was splattered everywhere, her eyes were only half-shut.

She turned to look at Sirius, who was facing the dead body of herself, frozen with fear, a small tear starting to roll down his panicked face. Her face streaming with hot tears, Lara dashed out of the classroom.

"Oh, do something about Lara! She hasn't eaten a thing since yesterday's DADA class, and she's been like that this entire morning!" Lily whispered, peering at her best friend who was sitting on a chair in the Gryffindor common room, staring into space.

"What is there to do?" James brought a hand to Lily's shoulder. "Are you okay? You don't look too great, either..." He smiled warmly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, just look at that girl!" Lily said.

Nadia sighed. "Lily is most positively NOT fine. It wasn't only Lara that didn't eat a thing since yesterday, Lily stayed with Lara the entire time she has been like that. Even during meal time. Plus she stayed up all night trying to coax Lara-"

"Ugh, whatever! I'm okay! I ate that slice of bread you got me! I slept this morning! Whatever! She's my friend, and I have to do something about it!" Lily moaned.

James smiled adoringly. "Oh, Lily, you are an angel!" She immediately slapped him.

"Some angel..." muttered Remus. "Anyway, Sirius has been basically the same as Lara..." He motioned towards Sirius, who was also staring into space. "But he did eat, although really little. Only two platefuls of breakfast today..."

Alice gasped. "Oh, Merlin! There must be something seriously wrong with him if he only ate that little!"

"You are so right, Alice," nodded Remus.

"We have to do SOMETHING!" yelled Lily.

James suggested, "Uh, how about a game or something? To perk them up? And who knows if they might feel closer or something while playing?"

Lily looked at James with wonder. "James, you are a genius. How does hide and seek sound like?"

Remus shrugged. "Sure, why not? We can always go to the Room of Requirement..."

"I'm so going!" Alice said enthusiastically, giving Remus a huge hug.

Nadia sighed. "Well I guess it sounds okay...anything for Lara, you know?" She started to look around for Death.

"Okay! I'll go tell Lara, okay? You guys convince Sirius. I think it'll be better if I talk to Lara alone."

Lily walked over the Lara and pulled up a chair next to her as the others surrounded Sirius.

"Hey, Lara? You okay?" Lily asked quietly.

Lara nodded.

"Lara, how does hide and seek sound like? Fun, eh?"

Lara nodded.

"Great! You'll play?" Lily said brightly.

Lara shook her head. "Y'all go."

Lily's face fell. "Lara~! Come on, let's play! It'll be so much fun! With you and me and Remus and Sir—uh, James and..." She sighed as Lara's eyes reddened with tears.

"Lily?"

"Hm?"

"Lily?"

"Yes, Lara, my best friend?"

"Does he—does he really care about me that much, Lily? Lily, you're smart. You should know... Does he really love me that much?" Lara's eyes briefly met Lily's before staring off into space again.

Lily nodded.

Lara managed a smile. "I really hope so."

Lily smiled. "Now, about that hide-and-seek..."

"I'll play," said Lara with a grin.

"One, two, three, four, five..." Remus chanted, his eyes tightly shut as his friends scurried through the room to find a place to hide.

Lily dove behind the couch, and noticing this, James followed. What resulted was a whispered argument between the two that caused James to be kicked out from behind the couch.

Lara peered around, and finding no where else, slipped into a broom closet, leaving the door open just a crack.

Alice promptly lay flat on the floor with her arms and legs sprawled out.

Nadia grabbed Death before crawling under the kitchen table to be hidden by the long, draping tablecloth.

Sirius, who had been finally convinced to play, unenthusiastically walked into a closet as Remus yelled, "Ready or not, here I come!"

"James!" he yelled with a laugh. "Who do you think you are? Alice? Why are you sitting there right in front of me?" He motioned from Alice, who was lying on the floor with her eyes closed, to James, who had been kicked out from behind the couch and was sitting on the rug.

"My dear, sweet Lily kicked me out from behind the couch!" he said happily, before realizing that he had given away Lily's hiding spot.

Lily emerged and shrieked, "POTTER! You gave away my spot! Let's see if I ever talk to you again!"

"Aw, Lily! I love you!" James said, giving her a hug. Lily's face turned pink, but she didn't resist his embrace.

Lara jumped as a dark figure entered the closet where she was hiding amongst the various mops and brooms and robes.

"Lara?" It was Sirius' voice.

She didn't know she should answer, so she just emerged from the back of the closet until she could see Sirius in the darkness.

"Sorry. I didn't know you were hiding here. You're probably uncomfortable with me here, so I'll go, okay?" whispered Sirius, a sad smile crossing his face.

He was just about to leave when Lara whispered hoarsely, "Wait! Sirius—I..."

Sirius turned.

Tears welling up in her eyes, she said, "Sirius, I—I just wanted to say...it's just that-"

Sirius had placed a finger on her lips. Lara blinked confusedly for a few moments.

"Shh... Me first, okay?" Sirius brought his hand back to his side. "Lara, I'm really sorry. I didn't realize how much it would hurt you when I said that. I didn't mean it like that... I'm so sorry that I couldn't even know how you felt."

Lara shook her head. "No... I should have known... that you..." Her voice trailed off.

Sirius smiled and brought himself closer and closer to Lara. She closed her eyes gently...

"Where's Nadia and Sirius and Lara?" asked Remus.

James laughed. "Wanna ask Death?" With a wink to Lily, he started making small cat noises, soon echoed by Death's from under the table.

Lily giggled. "There they are!"

An annoyed Nadia emerged from under the table. "JAMES!" she roared. "You cheater!"

James laughed. "Chill, chill! We still gotta find those two arguing love birds."

Nadia shrugged. "I dunno where they are...did you check the hallway?"

"I don't think either of them would be enthusiastic enough to hide themselves there..." answered Remus.

"Okay, then, the closet?" Nadia suggested, pointing at the small broom closet.

Remus snapped. "Aha! One of them must be there!" He ran over and burst the door open. "Huh? Weren't you two fighting?"

At these words, the others rushed over to find Lara and Sirius stepping out of the closet holding hands with a broad smile on their lips.

"Ooh, you found us," commented Lara with a giggle.

James raised an eyebrow. "What happened in there? Why are you two all...lovey dovey again?"

Sirius jabbed James. "That's for me to know—not you."

And so everyone was happy. We think. We hope. ;)

Quick last note: Well, alas, the time has come. This story is coming to an end. This is the second-to-last chapter. Thank you to all our faithful reviewers, you totally mean the world to us. NExt chapter is the epilogue, the last chapter. We honestly hoped you enjoyed your time with us ;D

Ps. Mimiona's note: Do any of you totally love AVPM? Cause I totally do. It is like the world to me.