A/N: So! Chapter Four's here! Hurrah, hurrah! Thank you all so, so, so much for all your reviews! They made my day and seriously encouraged me to keep going. Thank you, thank you, and thank you! This chapter's a bit darker than the others, which were mostly just a fun kick-start to the story. Romance (*insert very undignified squee*) coming in next chapter!

CHAPTER FOUR:

Lynx

"Where could Nat possibly be?" Lily asked, looking worried, "she wasn't at Charms."

Malia shrugged. "Maybe she decided to skive off this time," she suggested. Lily and the boys looked at each other, but said nothing. They all knew Natalia would not skip classes – she had a perfect record and perfect grades. However, Malia didn't know Natalia very well.

"Maybe," replied Lily, looking skeptical. She gave James a look, and he sighed but nodded as he dragged his three friends away.

"Why can't Lily skip to look for her?" Peter grumbled as the four of them trudged around the school, mostly Sirius leading.

"She needs her perfect attendance award," replied Remus, "though I guess I'm not getting one now," he added moodily.

"Fine, you two head back to the school, James and I will look for her," Sirius rolled his eyes. Within a flash, Remus and Peter had disappeared back into the school.

"Prats," mumbled James, grinning slightly, "But whatever. Where would Nat be?"

"In the library, or outside," Sirius replied after thinking for a moment, "but I think she'd be outside; Madam Pince would throw her out if she caught her out of class."

James agreed, and the two of them outside. Sirius pointed to the oak tree, and James nodded, but didn't move.

"I'll leave you to her, mate," grinned James, "I've got Care of Magical Creatures with Lily." He dashed off before Sirius could call him back.

"Bloody smitten with Lily," Sirius muttered to himself. He cautiously climbed up the tree silently, where he found a familiar figure among the branches.

Her head was resting against her knees, which was propped up against her chest. She stared dazedly, in front of her. She looked fragile; from her glassy eyes, to the small hands that wrapped around her legs.

"Hey you," said Sirius softly, giving her a small smile, "didn't see you at Charms."

"Yeah," Natalia answered after a short pause, "I didn't go."

Sirius snorted and plopped down beside her. Something was familiar about this scene...

"Why not?" he asked after he made himself comfortable.

"I got a letter."

The last time she got upset like this, it was from a letter too... and it was from –

"Who was it from?" Sirius asked grimly, though he knew full well who sent the letter. From the tone of his voice, Natalia laughed slightly and her posture relaxed a bit.

"You guess, mate."

"I'll kill her. She calls herself a mother," Sirius growled.

"And I'll be sitting beside you in Azkaban," grinned Natalia.

"What was the letter about?" asked Sirius, after a more comfortable silence. Natalia took a moment to answer.

"It was a Howler," she finally said, "You know, threats, death promises, torture; the usual. The woes of having a Death Eater mother," She stretched, rubbing her left shoulder.

Sirius nodded. He knew all about Meredith Lynx, the famous assassin, who killed hundreds of confidential targets for Lord Voldemort. Natalia was a failure in her mother's eyes.

"Come on, I'm feeling better. Let's go shoot bogie balls at Professor Binns," Natalia laughed as she got up. Sirius, however, stayed put. She looked at him questioningly.

"The last time we were in this tree, you pushed me off and broke my arm," Sirius told her bluntly. Natalia laughed, obviously remembering the memory.

"Well, you said you could catch yourself, couldn't you?" she said amusedly, "oh come on, I won't send you pummeling down the tree again, alright?"

Sirius looked at her carefully, and sensing no lie, carefully got up. The two of them climbed down the tree and slowly made their way to the castle.

"Hey Sirius, are you good at diving?" Natalia suddenly asked him.

"Wha - what? I - Nat, what are you -"

He hit the lake with a loud splash. Natalia choked with laughter as Sirius came back up from the water, glaring at her through his dripping black bangs.

"Aww, it's okay, love, you look absolutely sexy with your clothes and hair wet," she sniggered, trying desperately to stable her laughter, "Especially since the white shirt lets everyone see your toned body. Bloody hell, I need a camera. Where's Malia Beauregard when you need her?"

She was so intense in her laughing that she didn't see or hear Sirius emerging out of the water, until cold hands suddenly grabbed hold of her. Startled, she sent a hex at Sirius, who immediately dropped her, groaning in pain.

Unfortunately, in hexing him, she was dropped in the lake as well.

"Feather," Sirius grunted, holding his nose, "Do you have to carry that blooming wand with you everywhere?"

"Well, do you have to drop people in lakes?" retorted Natalia, shivering in the lake, "It's freezing in here! And no kidding; it's practically winter for Merlin's sake!"

"You're also wearing a white shirt," Sirius told her frankly, earning him a hard swipe on the back of the head.

"Perverted drunk monkey," she muttered, pulling at her wet shirt to hide herself.

"Aw, come on Lynx," Sirius teased her, "You look gorgeous."

"Stop staring!" Natalia snapped, sending a Blinding Hex at him.

"Did anyone else hear about the Howler?" asked Lily worriedly.

Soon after classes that mainly consisted of uncontrolled and wild mischief, Lily had finally managed to drag Natalia away into the girls' dorms to talk. She sat on her bed and looked at Natalia skeptically.

"Bit of the staff was there, and maybe a few other students, but don't worry, no one could hear," replied Natalia confidently and cheerfully, her eyes sparkling.

"Why's that?" Lily asked, looking dubious.

"Everything was in the ancient Lynx tongue," she shrugged, lying on her bed.

Lily nodded carefully, still watching Natalia.

"So what did she say?"

"She's back, You-Know-Who's reign will persevere, she's going to take great pleasure in killing me, she'll be here when I least expect it, and of course, the ever popular disgrace to the Lynx name'," Natalia listed off everything as though she were reciting her grocery list. Lily frowned at her.

"You should take this more seriously," Lily scolded her, "You should really tell Professor Dumbledore, he'd know what to do."

"It's just a letter, it's nothing to worry about," Natalia grinned at her, "besides, he couldn't get into Hogwarts if he tried."

Lily looked extremely doubtful, but sighed.

"What else did he do?"

"Sent me her love," replied Natalia dismally, and Lily cringed. She glanced slightly to the left of Natalia and gave her friend a tight hug.

"I'm always going to be here for you," Lily smiled reassuringly, "just remember that."

"Even if I move to America, marry a murderer and change my name to 'Doolis Murlahoof'?" She grinned, shaking her head comically.

"Then I'd change my name to 'Yularda Hollivern' and go with you," Lily laughed.

"What's the date for today?"

"July 23, 1459."

Natalia nodded slowly as she quickly scribbled down what Sirius told her, before it finally struck her. She messily scrawled out the date and glared at him.

"What's today's date?"

"November 10, 1976," said Sirius, biting back a chuckle. Natalia grumbled to herself as she dipped her quill into her inkbottle and prepared to write the date again.

"What's the title?" she asked after a short moment of quiet scribbling.

"Ten Reasons Why Sirius Black is the Best Looking Boy at Hogwarts," replied Sirius smugly. Natalia was halfway through writing the title when she stopped and looked at Sirius. She ripped the bit of parchment off and started again.

"Give me the title, Lily."

"The Astronomical Discoveries of Jupiter and Mars," replied Lily, shaking her head at Sirius' ridiculing laughter. James looked mock offended.

"Padfoot, I'm choked," he said, clasping his heart for dramatic effect, "How could you forget about me?"

"I'm very sorry, Prongs," grinned Sirius, "I would've added you as worst-looking boy at Hogwarts, but I supposed Snivellus would have already taken it." James gave him the finger while Lily, Natalia and Peter snorted with laughter. When Natalia was done, she glanced at the title, and sighed.

"I think I actually prefer doing Sirius' essay," she muttered. "This assignment is the most boring I've done. I could finish in half an hour and still get an Outstanding."

"I know, right?" Sirius said smugly. "Personally, I can think of far more reasons that just ten. First off, it's the hair." He ran his fingers through his dark locks. "It's perfect - the shine, the length, the style. Then, the eyes," He winked at Natalia, showing his deep gray eyes that were identical to her amused ones. "Brilliant, aren't they? And the voice, there's nothing that sounds better - "

"Except when you shut up," Natalia interrupted him, grinning. "And you have the most terrible singing voice, honestly, it broke the entire Great Hall's goblets!"

"Did not, you broke them with your wand!" Sirius shot back, though his face reddened.

"Well, the goblets would have broken anyway, I just sped up the progress," Natalia grinned toothily. "I sing much, much better."

"Damn you and your bloody blackbird voice," he muttered.

"Ha! So you do admit that your singing voice is terrible!"

"Shut up, Nat," Sirius mumbled, whacking her with his quill.

"Wait, what do we have to do for the essay?" asked Peter, looking at Natalia anxiously. "I haven't done it yet and -"

"Remus ole pal, how was the tutoring?" said James heartily as they saw Remus shivering slightly from the cold.

"Tutoring? What tutoring?"

With Malia Beauregard, Sirius mouthed to her. Natalia snickered.

"It was fine," he merely replied, but his face was tinted pink. Sirius had a suspicion that it was not only from the cold that his face was pink from.

Apparently Natalia suspected it, too, because she pounced on Remus, her essay left forgotten.

"Really now? What did you talk about?" she asked, nudging Remus, grinning suggestively.

"The basics of the flicking of the wand and holding it properly, her grip wasn't completely correct in doing some of the transfiguring."

"Did you help her? Did you hold her hand?" Natalia kept interrogating, but Remus remained cool.

"Actually, all I did was show her how I held my wand and she got it," he answered, "It was just tutoring, nothing more."

"He's a tough nut to crack, but this isn't over!" Natalia eyed Remus comically, causing Lily to chuckle. Remus looked at her dumbly, with a dopey expression on his face, until Natalia finally burst into laughter.

"It always works," Remus smiled as she slowly regained her soberness.

"Right, so you adjust the grip of your wand a little bit and..."

"Like this?"

"Not exactly, more like this," said Remus; reaching out. It was the second time that he was tutoring Malia, and she was trying, but showing little improvement.

He took her hands and gently guided them to the proper place.

Her hands are warm... Remus thought before he could help himself.

"Thanks for tutoring me, by the way," said Malia quietly, her cheeks flushing an enchanting pink. "I was scared you wouldn't, especially since I hang around Shara and them…"

"It's - it's no problem." Remus could have kicked himself. Why was he stammering? He looked at her, noticing she had the nicest honey-brown eyes he had ever seen.

"Is something the matter?" she asked, realizing that Remus was staring at her. Remus jumped, startled, and immediately looked away.

"Good, good," he babbled, trying to find something more intelligent to say, "Erm, now flick your wand a bit and then swish it around, maybe swish it around counterclockwise then down and up, down and up and then say the incantation," he looked at everything but Malia.

"Wait, could you repeat that?" asked Malia confusedly, "I didn't quite get it. Can you demonstrate?"

"Oh, of course I could," Remus fumbled nervously with his wand, only succeeding in dropping it on the floor. Though it clattered quietly, he could feel Madam Pince's eyes glaring at him, only adding to his anxiousness.

Malia giggled lightly. She bent down and helped Remus pick it up. As she handed it to him, he felt her long, gold hair brushing against his hands. He thanked her and took a deep breath, before successfully turning the inkbottle into a small tortoise.

"Brilliant," said Malia, looking impressed. Remus felt himself redden at her praise, but was determined not to show it as he taught her the next step.

"Oh Canada, Our home and native la-and, True, patriot love, with all thy sons command," Sirius sang that evening in the common room. Lily stared at him.

"Why Canada?" she asked.

"Well, I've sung the British anthem five times now," grinned Sirius as he took a deep breath. "GOD SAVE OUR GRA-ACIOUS QUEEN, GOD SAVE OUR -"

"You're a horrible singer, you know that?" Natalia covered his ears to dull Sirius's bellowing. "I've heard Nearly Headless Nick sing better than that."

"It was better than ten minutes ago, when he was trying to sing the American anthem," James shook his head. "It's called the 'Star Spangled Banner' for a reason, honestly."

Chapter End Notes: I hope you all enjoyed that last chapter. And the ending XD. I felt patriotic and decided to stick that in. If you're wondering, I'm Canadian. Please take a minute to review if you don't mind!

Luv,

ArcanusRose