The dark trees of the Forbidden Forest swayed overhead, and I walked silently as a ghost across the dry leaves on the ground. A sort of fog had settled around the forest, making it feel almost like a memory.

Suddenly, the leaves rustled, and a girl walked out, looking around. When she faced my way, it was clear she was Heartian. I blinked, and stared. Was that Evirah?

I followed her carefully. She looked quite uncertain, as if she were breaking a rule or two by walking around out here in the Forest. But that couldn't be right… could it?

Suddenly, the silence of the forest was broken by a tiny sniffle, like that of a child. Evirah's eyes widened, and she quickly headed in the direction of the noise. I followed her from a distance.

Was this a dream? A premonition of the future, maybe? But, no, if anything, Evirah looked younger.

When I caught up to her, she was kneeling a small human child who couldn't be older than two. He was very quiet, not babbling her ear off like any other child I could think of (believe me, I was like that).

"Are you lost, little one?" Evirah asked in faltering English. The boy nodded hesitantly. "Where are your parents?"

"Don't know," he said quietly.

Evirah muttered something in Heartian, and picked up the small boy, who offered no resistance. "We're going to go to my home, okay? My mother can help you find your parents."

"Okay," the boy said.

Evirah started walking again, and I rushed to catch up with her. She couldn't see me, that I was sure of. The boy wasn't facing me, and I couldn't recognize him. But what was this dream then?

Suddenly, the boy turned and looked back at me. He, on the other hand, could see me, and we made eye contact for a split second, leaving me intrigued and shocked by the startlingly familiar grey eyes.

I shot up in bed, rubbing my eyes and grappling for my glasses. That dream… that boy with Evirah… he looked just like Sirius! Could it be possible Evirah had known Sirius when he was a child? Obviously Sirius didn't remember her, but maybe Evirah did.

I swung my legs over the edge of my bed quietly, careful not wake my friends, before pulling on some shoes and a jacket, and grabbing my Invisibility Cloak. I wanted answers, and I didn't want to wait until morning.

I paused at the door of the room, listening. I heard Peter snoring, and Remus's and Sirius's light breathing, along with Regulus sleep-mumbling about lead and bananas (or something; I couldn't very much understand him).

As silently as I could, I crept out of the dorm and down the stairs. I was safe. I kept walking, only to run into Lily in the Common Room, looking like she was about to do the same thing I was.

"Lily!" I exclaimed, and she yelped, "James!"

"What are you doing up?" we both asked. "You first. No, you first!"

"I'm going to ask Evirah something," I said.

Lily blinked. "Huh. Me too. I had this really weird dream-"

"-with Evirah and Sirius?" I completed. She nodded, looking surprised. "I had the same dream."

"That's weird," muttered Lily. "Let's both go then. Hopefully we'll be back by morning."

I grimaced. "Yeah, if I'm not there when Sirius wakes up, he'll freak and tell Dad. And then Dad will freak and tell Mum-"

"And then we're both doomed," said Lily gravely.

I nodded. "But let's go anyway."

I pulled the Cloak over our heads, and we left the Common Room and headed out of the castle. As we reached the woods, I realised we were in a bit of a predicament.

"Lils," I said. "You don't happen to know the way to the Heart, do you?"

Lily froze. "I thought you did."

"Um…" I said awkwardly. "Shall we just wander the Forest and hope to find it?"

"Unless you'd like to go wake Sirius," she said sarcastically.

"Let's not," I grimaced. "I'm sure we can find it… eventually."

So we started walking again. It was very dark in the forest, so I grabbed Lily's hand to keep her close. She squeezed my hand reassuringly, and I sent her a smile.

We continued to walk, and I started to muse on the dream, simultaneously remembering what Sirius had told me earlier. Could Evirah be the reason he healed? Perhaps that had something to do with… well, everything.

After a while, Lily sighed exasperatedly, breaking me from my thoughts.

"James, we're lost," she said flatly.

I plopped down onto the leafy ground, staring up at the sky. It was starting to get light outside, and where were we? In the middle of the Forbidden Forest, at least a mile from the school.

"Should we start heading back?" I asked her. "I don't know which way we came."

"Maybe we'll run into something friendly if we wander a bit more," Lily reasoned, pulling me to my feet. "Let's just keep walking."

"Alright, Lils," I said. We started forward again, freeze as something flew in our way. I clutched my wand, hoping it wasn't something threatening.

The creatures stopped flying about and grinned at us, one of them waving a hand and giggling.

"Fairies?" I asked in shock.

"Oh my gosh, they're so cute!" Lily squealed, and several fairies fluttered over to her, looking quite pleased. "James, maybe they can help us!"

"I dunno," I said, crossing my arms. "Fairies aren't that smart."

In response the that comment, the fairies swarmed around me, pulling at my hair, a couple pulling off my glasses and unbalancing me, making me fall backwards and land on the ground.

"Okay, okay, you're smart, you're smart!" I exclaimed quickly, waving my arms. "Now leave me be, will you?"

Reluctantly, they flew away from me, dropping my glasses, and flew back over to the giggling Lily. I unhappily put my glasses back on.

"It's not funny," I told Lily.

"Sorry, James," she said, not sounding very sorry at all. Then she looked at the fairies. "Can you lead us to the Heart?"

The largest one (most likely the leader) did a flip and trilled happily before flying forward a ways, pausing to beckon for us to follow. Lily beamed, and started forward as well. I stubbornly stayed put.

After a moment, though, I sighed and stood up, running after Lily and the evil fairies; if I wanted to find Evirah, I had no choice but to follow.

It felt like we were walking forever. We most definitely wouldn't make it back before Sirius awoke.. As it had turned out, we had been going in the opposite direction of the Heart, so by the time we reached it, it was daylight outside. Lily graciously thanked the fairies, cheerfully fashioning several green leaves into dresses for them (the fairies absolutely loved her).

Luckily, most of the Heartians were awake, including Evirah, who greeted us happily.

"Good morning!" she said, walking over and embracing both of us. "What brings you here so early?"

"We wanted to ask you something," I said, skipping right to the chase. Evirah blinked, but shrugged.

"Alright," she said, peering at us. "But you two need some sleep first. I have a guest room at home. I'll answer your question after you sleep."

"We have school today!" Lily insisted futilely, as Evirah steered us towards her house.

"Then you can miss it," decided Evirah. "Better you sleep here than collapse in the woods on the way back."

I had to admit she was right, and Lily must've agreed, because she didn't complain again. Evirah's house was very large, and much like the place we'd stayed last Christmas. The guest room had two beds, and I collapsed onto mine happily.

I fell asleep in minutes.

"James! James, wake up!"

I groaned, and blinked my eyes open to stare at Lily. "Wha-huh?"

"It's almost one in the afternoon!" she exclaimed. "We've been sleeping all day!"

I cursed under my breath, hopping up. "Has Sirius come looking for us yet?"

"I asked Evirah," said Lily. "He hasn't. He's probably panicking- probably didn't even think to look here."

I chuckled, stretching and yawning at the same time, making it sound really weird. "That's Padfoot for you. Never thinking of the obvious."

Lily snorted and nodded in agreement. "Let's go see Evirah, then. She's prepared lunch and everything."

I blinked. "Why do I get the feeling she's really happy to have guests?"

Lily shrugged, and entwined her hand in mine. We walked out of the room and downstairs to Evirah's dining room. She was cheerfully bustling about, setting the table.

"Hello, James," she said happily. "Both of you, sit down, sit down. I'll have lunch out in a moment."

"Do I smell burning?" asked Lily worriedly.

Evirah gasped. "Ae, apa, ku blo'unaiu! Arvec av illa!"

With that, she raced out of the room.

"I wonder what that means," mused Lily. "It's weird. I'm getting accustomed to hearing Heartian; I can almost make out words."

"I know I've heard Sirius say 'arvec av illa' or whatever," I chuckled. "I should ask what it means."

"It means 'blast it all'," said Evirah, walking in the room with a plate of brownies and giving us both an apologetic look. "Sorry, my brownies were burning! I managed to salvage most of them."

Lily smiled sympathetically. "I'm sure they're fine… do you have visitors often?"

Ecirah blushed. "Rarely. I'm respected, yes, because of my magical prowess and because my father was on the Strav'ila- a very respected council of elders. But most people find me… quite odd."

She didn't say anything else, instead abruptly turning and going back into what I assumed was her kitchen. Lily watched her go with a sad expression. "Poor Evirah. We should visit more often."

"Lils," I said lowly. "I don't think we should bring up our dream."

"What?"

"Well, not the contents, anyway," I reasoned. "We should ask why we had the same dream. But I feel like now isn't the right time."

"But why not?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "But I get the feeling there's more to this than either of us can imagine. We'll try to figure it out on our own, okay?"

Lily bit her lip. "Alright, James. If you insist."

Evirah bustled back into the room, balancing three plates that she set down on the table. I eyed the food for a moment- it looked like some sort of noodle dish, but I wasn't sure what it was.

"It's a traditional Heartian dish- Veni Pa'aduu," she said cheerfully. "Transliterated, it means 'rain noodles'."

Lily took a hesitant bite, but her eyes lit up. "This is magnificent, Evirah!"

I took a bite as well. It tasted of teriyaki and cheddar cheese, along with the slightest hint or… peppermint? Somehow, though, it went really well together. "Wow, this is great!"

Evirah beamed very widely and turned red. "Thank you. So… what did you want to ask?"

"Just…" Lily paused. "Is it weird to share dreams?"

"It's rare, but certainly not unheard of," said Evirah with a shrug. "Why?

Lily and I exchanged looks, and a look of understanding dawned on Evirah's face. "You two shared a dream, I suppose?"

We both nodded sheepishly.

"Well, don't worry," said Evirah happily. "It could only be something good. I don't know much-" here she turned sheepish- "but I do know it only happens to those with a close bond."

Lily smiled at this.

"Is that what brought you all the way here?" asked Evirah, giving us a calculating look. "Certainly not; you could have easily asked your headmaster."

It seemed there was no way around it. "Actually, it more had to do with the content of the dream."

Evirah gave me a smug look. "And then you decided you didn't want to bother me?"

I nodded, reddening.

"Well, what is it?" Evirah prompted, taking a sip of her drink.

I cut right to the chase: "Evirah, did you know Sirius when he was little?"

Evirah nearly spit out her drink, and she stared at me with wide eyes. "How did you know that?"

"So you did," said Lily smartly.

"But how did you know?" insisted Evirah. "Was that your dream?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "What's the big deal about it, anyway?"

Evirah sighed heavily. "I did indeed know Sirius when he was very young. But it's a very, very long story. You see, it all happened about twelve years ago…"

And she launched into her tale.

A/N: AHA! Cliffhanger! Stay tuned for some backstory! :D Yes, I finally updated. I hope you all enjoyed- share with me what you think happened twelve years ago! Big thanks to my lovely reviewers (who get some Veni Pa'aduu, which I made up in ten seconds :P): N. E. Person, Imaginer.012, Queen of Wit, sk8boards4ever, Betty.S, and jkawesome! You and all my readers rock!

Heartian Translations

Ae, apa, ku blo'unaiu! Arvec av illa!: Oh, no, the brownies! Blast it all!

I don't own Harry Potter.