Thanks for the reviews, marycaity, LizziePixie-Aiko, thewrittenword87, weasleytwinslover87, and JulesDragonlady! :]
Long chapter is looooooong.
If you read my first story, you'll recognize a few things in this chapter. ;] If you didn't, then no worries.
You know what's really good? Chips and salsa. You know what's also really good? Reviewing! (Please? :D)
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS JESUS!
CHAPTER 51
Audrey returned to the common room that afternoon to find just Remus and Lily studying. Marlene went off to practice in the dance studio with Sarah, James and Sirius had Quidditch practice, and Peter tagged along.
"Someone looks appalled." Remus mused, as Audrey made her way into the common room.
"I like the dress." Lily said, looking up from her Charms textbook.
"Thanks, Lils." Audrey replied, undoing the bun Hisoka had styled her hair into.
"So how was it?" Lily asked.
"I don't even know where to begin." Audrey replied, sitting next to her friends and telling them about the party.
"Wait…Sirius' parents were at this party?" Remus asked, eyes wide.
"Obviously, Remus. Pure bloods…" Lily said.
"Did you tell Sirius?" Remus asked. Audrey shook her head. "I just got back now…I need a bath, I need to wash their stares off of me." She was half serious, half joking.
After sitting in the bath for a while, Audrey came back down to find all of her friends now in the common room. As always, they snuck Sarah in.
"Audweee!" Sarah chirped, excited. "How was the gig?"
Audrey exchanged a look with Remus and Lily and sat down on the couch next to James, recounting the party once more.
"WAIT…you saw them?" Sirius asked, he seemed alarmed.
Audrey wasn't so sure why he was so alarmed, but she replied calmly. "I didn't see them, I merely heard your mother speak."
Sirius cringed and replied. "That woman is not my mother."
"Sorry." Audrey said quietly.
"Its alright, it's not your fault." Sirius bit his lip for a moment.
"So what were they like?" Marlene asked, wanting to change the subject. "The purebloods."
It was such a funny question, for the McKinnons were pure blooded, and so were the Potters.
"Well, three of them are in this room, I don't know if I should say anything." Audrey retorted, a smirk on her lips.
"You have our permission." said James.
"To rip on them as much as you want. Seriously." Sirius finished.
"You both are weird." Audrey laughed.
"It's the blood, love." Sirius grinned, brushing his lips to her knuckles.
I felt a little jolt up my arm, but I repressed…
"They were the worst sort." Audrey sighed. "One woman was complaining about her house elf being pregnant. I wanted to strangle her with my C-string."
"Typical." James snorted.
"I bet the women were walking around with five tons of jewelry too." Marlene laughed.
"They were!" Audrey exclaimed. "On my way in I saw this stick of an old woman wearing about ten necklaces, they were weighing her down!"
Everyone burst into laughter, Audrey felt a little better.
The first snow came in late November, and none of us could be happier. There was two feet on the ground and as soon as class let out one Friday the group took to the grounds.
"Ahh!" James said, spinning around. "How I love the first snowball fight of the season."
Marlene and Audrey snorted simultaneously. The had snowball wars every year since they started school. Every year they became a little more elaborate and intense. Since their first year, and since their second year when they all had found out about Audrey's abilities, they established a solid set of rules for their snowball fight.
Every year, James and Sirius took it upon themselves to recite some of these rules.
"Rule number one, Russia isn't allowed to aid you in flying or fly herself." recited Sirius, shooting Audrey a look.
"Rule number two, Russia isn't allowed to cause any earthquakes." said James, shooting Audrey a look as well. She rolled her eyes.
"That was one time!" Audrey protested.
"Rule number three, there will be no pulling of hair…especially mine." said Sirius, shooting a look at Marlene, she flipped him off.
"Rule number four, tackling is allowed, however do not break the bones of the person you're tackling." said James.
"Rule number five, there are no more rules." said Sirius.
As usual, Marlene drew the battle line in the snow and four lined up on each side. All chaos ensued.
We always went a little overboard when we had snowball fights, anything went, and new things were always thought of to get around the rules.
Audrey was dodging Sirius and Remus' attack, out of nowhere, Marlene had tackled Remus to the ground.
"Thanks Marly!" Audrey called, still running from Sirius. She levitated a few snowballs and threw them behind at her attacker.
Sirius let out a frustrated grunt as he got smacked directly in the face with a snowball.
"RUSSIA!" He roared, Audrey giggled.
It was nearly impossible for me to maintain this tough guy exterior around her, whenever I saw her smile or heard her laugh I melted.
Sirius dove for her but she got away just in time, instead he got another face full of snow. Audrey found her way to Sarah turned and laughed again, Sirius lifted his head, spitting out some snow.
"I'm going to get you Russia-" Sirius growled, a smirk on his face.
"And your little Puffer too!" added James.
"BADGER AWAAAAAY!" Sarah yelled, skipping through the snow. Peter went after her but she sped up easily. Audrey looked to her left and noticed Marlene and Remus snogging in the snow.
"OI! MARLY!"
Marlene looked up at her best friend, who gave her the look that said 'This is war, remember?'
"Oooh, right." Marlene said, still pinned under Remus…She made a face at him and lightly slapped him across the face. She rolled out from under him and ran.
Remus sat up, wearing a wolfish grin and ran after her. Marlene kicked into gear and sprinted full out, Remus followed her, anticipating her movements.
Sirius and Audrey were pelting each other with snowballs. Ahead of her, Audrey could see that James had cornered Lily easily, he was smirking and Lily looked pissed. She had to laugh, how many times had James cornered Lily and nothing happened? Poor James.
To her left, Marlene and Remus were battling it out. She hid behind a makeshift snow wall and he was slowly advancing. When she heard Marlene yell and then laugh she knew Remus had gotten her.
Then to her right, she noticed Sarah had cornered Peter and was pelting him with snowballs….well, that wasn't surprising.
And then she fell, face first into the snow.
"SIRIUS!" Audrey yelled, struggling against him.
"Payback for the face plant earlier, love." Sirius whispered in her ear from on top of her.
The white snow had turned into familiar intricate wood tiles…
Audrey took a sharp inhale and shook for a moment.
I didn't know what was happening, she shook and then she seized up for a moment, her eyes went black. She wasn't angry, I could sense it…there was this fearful expression on her features…
"Audrey?" Sirius rolled off of her so that he was right next to her, her breathing was shallow. The commotion around him told him that the snowball fight was still happening.
I saw the blood on the floor…my blood…
"Audrey?" Sirius gently turned her over, her eyes were still black.
I looked up and I saw Alina just lying there…then…
Snow again.
Her eyes returned to their normal state, Sirius was relieved to see the familiar light hazel irises. Her eyes bore into his, she didn't register what had just happened. She sat up shakily, Sirius wrapped his arms around her for support.
"What happened?" Audrey asked faintly.
"I should be asking you that question." Sirius looked her square in the eyes, she rested her head on his shoulder.
"I haven't the slightest idea…" Audrey lied, she knew what she saw, she just didn't know why. "I feel like I was just hit by the bloody Knight Bus." Audrey groaned, rubbing her temples for a moment. Her whole body felt heavy.
"I think we should get you to the infirmary, you were acting odd…" Sirius mumbled, concerned.
"Was I really?" Audrey bit her lip. Sirius nodded.
"What's going on?" said Lily, running over. "Are you alright? Sirius what did you do?"
Audrey noticed the rest of her friends running over as well.
"Lils, Sirius didn't do anything…" Audrey said.
"For once." Marlene mumbled, Audrey gave her friend a tiny smile.
"What happened, Audwee?" James asked.
"She blacked out for a moment, scared me to death." Sirius said.
"Oh, you should go to the infirmary." Sarah bit her lip.
Before Audrey could insist that she was fine, a brilliant red and orange flash swooped in front of her.
"Fawkes!" She said weakly, petting the phoenix and taking the note tied to his leg. She read it quickly.
"I've got to go see the Headmaster about something." She said, getting up. "I'll meet you all back in the common room later, okay?"
Audrey ignored the questions and suggestions of her friends, the calls of "Are you sure you're alright?" and the "You should go to the infirmary."
I was not sure at the time what the Headmaster needed from me, but I was grateful for his timing.
"Lemon drop." Audrey said quickly to the Gargoyle who jumped out of the way.
It shouldn't have been too shocking to me that Albus wasn't alone in his office, Hisoka was there as well.
"She's rather quick, isn't she, Hisoka?" Albus mused, opening the door.
"Sir, there's something I need to ask you…but first, what did you need me here for?" Audrey asked.
"Hisoka actually wanted me to call you." said Albus, smiling as Fawkes had returned to him and perched on his shoulder. "I'll leave you two to talk."
Albus went into the other room, and Audrey turned to Hisoka giving her a bow. Hisoka nodded, gesturing for her to sit with her.
"I have been thinking a lot during your first two gigs…we need to change something."
"Change what?" Audrey asked, a little alarmed.
I had thought my start had been decent…
"These clients, they want more than pretty music. Especially the men." Hisoka began. "It's a very small change, Ayla, but I assure you it will help greatly."
"Alright…" Audrey replied, confused. "May I ask what?"
"Your eyes." Hisoka said.
"How though?" Audrey cocked her head. "I've never heard of it, or seen it done before."
Hisoka pulled a small vial from her kimono, inside was a silvery liquid that reminded Audrey of a memory.
"What is it?"
"It's a potion that changes iris coloring." Hisoka replied calmly. Audrey didn't mind the idea of altering something that miniscule but she wasn't sure about it.
"Don't get me wrong here…I completely trust you…but, I don't know what my parents would think of me if I altered anything."
"I asked them a few days ago." Hisoka replied, taking out a folded piece of parchment from her kimono. She unfolded it and Audrey realized it wasn't a letter at all, it was a photo of Airleas.
I wasn't sure how old the photo was of my mother, it wasn't in black and white, but wizarding photography had always been ahead of muggle photography by at least thirty years. It was a peculiar photo, my mother was a younger, not much older than myself at the time. My mother's eyes were brown, all of my life I had known her eyes to be emerald green.
"I did not know my mother had brown eyes at one point in her life…" Audrey said, looking at the photo closely. Airleas was laughing.
Hisoka nodded. "It is common folk lore that when a banshee's eyes change color like that it means she will be a leader someday."
Audrey resisted the urge to snort at that, her mother already was a leader…the leader of their household at least.
Audrey nodded instead and said. "That's why she was okay with this?"
"And your father." said Hisoka in her musical voice. "He took that photo, after all."
Surely enough, on the back of the photo there was a familiar scrawl. Taken by Isaac.
"Will it hurt?" Audrey asked, motioning to the vial.
"From what I understand, it does sting a bit." Hisoka frowned. "I have some saline to soothe it, it only lasts for about two days and then the burning goes away."
"Is it permanent?"
Hisoka nodded.
Since that horrible Christmas, I was very determined to change and forget. The grief I felt was like fiendfyre, unstoppable, inevitable. But to be someone else while I worked, to adopt that persona was like a counter curse.
The pain that potion brought upon my eyes was incredible, it felt like the fire had spread into my irises. My eyes teared an awful lot.
Audrey made her way from Hisoka's quarters, down the stairs, into the entrance hall. She stumbled down the castle's steps and sat on the last one. Her vision was a bit blurry from all of the tearing.
"Audrey! What happened?" A familiar voice exclaimed, running up to the steps and sitting next to his best friend.
"Oh it's nothing, Sev." Audrey said casually, covering her eyes.
"Then why were you crying?" He retorted, gesturing to her tear streaked face.
"I wasn't." She said. "I just was summoned to the Headmaster's office to meet with Hisoka."
"Your mentor?" He replied, remembering how fond she was of Hisoka, and wondering what she had said to her to upset her.
"Yes. She told me we needed to change something. She says it'll benefit me later" She was still covering her eyes.
"That's awful!" Severus scowled. "Shouldn't music just be about the sound, rather than the appearance of the person?"
"It's not only music that these clients want." Asia sighed.
"Muggles." Severus snorted in disgust.
"It's not only the muggles, Sev." Asia hissed. "I performed for Zacharias Flint last Saturday, he did nothing but stare." She shivered in disgust.
"Oh…" Severus said. "What did she alter?" He added quickly, wanting to change the subject.
Audrey took her hand off of her eyes and looked at him, he noticed her startling emerald green irises, so similar to the shade of green on the hem of his robes and gasped.
"I know." Audrey sighed "Quite a change. It burns like hell."
"She changed them by potion?" Severus said curiously.
"Yes, she said its a very old potion, originated somewhere in northern China. She told me the burning stops after two days." Audrey groaned, thinking of how she would have to wait so long.
"It's different, deeper than your normal eyes." Severus observed. Audrey nodded.
"It'll take some getting used to, I suppose."
They stayed on the steps for a little while longer, talking about school and other random things. When they both started to feel a bit cold they went inside to their separate common rooms.
As I made my way back through the nearly barren school, I wondered what my friends would think when they saw me. I wondered if they'd even notice.
When Audrey came through the portrait hole, she was greeted with a bunch of Where were you's? and Are you alright's?
"I'm fine." Audrey held her hands up in surrender. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Lily bit her lip.
"Yes! Don't worry, I'm fine." Audrey laughed, her friends were like a bunch of overbearing mothers.
"Why were you crying then?" said a sly voice.
Sirius, of course.
"Audrey! You liar!" said Lily.
Audrey groaned, still covering her eyes, she sat on the couch next to Marlene and Remus. "Can I explain myself?"
"You'd better, Russia." James said, in a fatherly voice.
"I was summoned to the Headmasters office because Hisoka wanted to see me about something."
"Well?" said Sirius, impatient.
"Let her finish you git." Marlene snapped, throwing a pillow at Sirius. Remus congratulated her on her direct hit.
"You're so whipped, Moony." Sirius snarled, James laughed.
"Can Audrey get back to her story now?" Lily said to the boys, giving them a look. They quieted.
"Hisoka was telling me how she thought that my first two gigs went well, but I needed something more."
"What more could you possibly need?" Sirius asked.
I was lucky that my hand was covering most of my face, I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.
"Sirius, let her finish." said Lily, looking annoyed. Sirius stuck his tongue out at her.
"So…then this happened." Audrey said, loosing her train of thought because of Sirius. She took her hands away from her eyes.
Marlene fox whistled, Lily squealed, Remus grinned, Peter and James smirked, and Sirius' jaw dropped.
James walked over to Sirius and closed his mouth for him.
"Hell-o, Russia!" James growled seductively. Sirius shot him a nasty look, he knew James was kidding, but still.
"James, never do that again." Audrey laughed. "It's freaky…this whole thing."
"No, it's not." said Remus.
"Yeah, I really like it." Marlene grinned and clapped her hands together. "You're going to be followed around by every guy in this school!" She and Lily then squealed together.
Bloody girls and their squealing…
"We have to show Sarah!" Lily said giddily, jumping off the couch. James grabbed her by her hips and pulled her back down.
"Relax, Evans. Sarah will see her at breakfast." James said, giving her a look.
"Are you going to tell…you know?" Marlene nudged Audrey.
Marlene, Lily, and Sarah did not utter Karl's name, especially around the Marauders. Though they had gotten along for the latter part of the previous year, we were all under the impression that James and Sirius especially weren't fond of him.
Audrey shook her head. "I haven't written to you know in a month."
"Maybe it's for the better then…" Lily suggested, wiggling her eyebrows.
Like all teenage girls, we often spoke in some form of code. For example, whenever one would make a reference to Sirius Black, she would wiggle her eyebrows.
"Oh shut it, Lils!" Audrey growled, throwing a pillow at Lily.
The rest of the night was filled with jokes and laughter, along with the occasional pillow fight. It was then that Audrey had realized that she forgot to tell the Headmaster about what had happened during the snowball fight. But she shrugged it off, hoping it wouldn't happen again.