Disclaimer: I don't own anything that J.K. Rowling has created, anything that you can or might associate with the totally awesome movie Tangled, or any of the songs that I may use. And obviously it is purely fiction when my character says she wrote the songs, 'cause clearly, I did not. Things that you don't recognize, obviously, are my own.

Chapter Two

Back To School


Days seemed to fly by after that little incident. Sirius, James, and Remus stayed with me for the rest of the summer and the days flew by relatively uneventful. Seems luck was on the side of me not seeing the wanted thief.

The train ride over was boring. Sirius was visited by his many "girlfriends", Remus and Lily were at a Prefects meeting, and James was at the same meeting hidden by his Invisibility Cloak just to make sure no one was hitting on "his" girl. And me, well, I was wandering the hallways once everyone had moved into a compartment. I hadn't wanted to go with James and stalk Lily with him, but even less had I wanted to stay back in our compartment just to watch my brother snog some random slut. So the best alternative was walking up and down the corridors of the train, no matter how weird that seemed. If people had yet to figure out, I was a pretty weird person and had no intentions of changing that.

But even pacing the hallways couldn't cure my boredom for long. So, absentmindedly, I found myself heading to the compartment that all of Hogwart's music practitioners were.

That was another thing about me…one of the main things I was known for was my vocal talent and my ability to write songs. Whenever you saw me alone, I was usually singing or humming to myself, or coming up with new songs. It wasn't unusual for me to just burst into song at the most random places or join in or be joined by the musically-talented ones of the school.

"'Ey Brochevska," Brecc Hanneken, a good looking fellow sixth year Hufflepuff said as I walked into the room.

"'Sup Hanneken?" I asked the dark-haired boy with a smile.

"Nothin much. You?"

"Same."

"You're just in time, as usual," Khriste Lawrence, a small fifth year Gryffindor said, sitting up straighter in my presence.

I waved a hand at her. "Relax. Jeesh. I'm not that important." She and a third year boy exchanged glances, but said nothing. "Anyways, what'd I miss?"

"Well," Brecc started, his eyes lighting up. "We're gonna have a party for third years and up tomorrow night. You know, kind of a 'welcome back' thing. We've already OK'd it with Dumbledore. And we," he gestured around him at everyone in the room. "are going to be the live performance. And we've found some pretty cool Muggle music that we thought would be fun to perform."

"Cool. What is it?"

He grinned wickedly. "Be warned, some of the songs are kind of dirty."

"M'kay. How many?" I was used to singing some pretty bad songs, and really, those were the songs that got the best reaction from the crowd.

"Four or five," Khriste answered.

"Great. So who's got lead?"

All eyes locked on me.

"On every song? Really guys?" I rolled my eyes at all of them. Same old same old. "One more question."

"Yeah?" Adrian Triada, a seventh year Gryffindor (and the hottest guy in school) asked, smiling at me sweetly. "Let me guess. You want to know how many of the songs are going to make you sound bi."

"Exactly. I mean, I'm used to it and so is everyone else…but I just want to prepare myself."

It was true. I was the main vocals for our little group, and since I rarely picked out the songs, about fifty percent of them were songs that men sang about women. And when it didn't sound right when we changed the point of view…I got to sing it the original way. Wonderful, right? While everyone in the school knew that I was straight, some had to wonder. Like my friends that weren't.

"Only a couple…" Adrian said. "I didn't pick them out this time."

"Yeah, the fault is all mine," Brecc agreed, having the decency to look at least a little bit embarrassed by his choices. But most of the guys, for reasons far beyond me, they thought it was "hot" when I sang those kind of songs.

"'K then. Let's here the names then," I said, sitting on one of the seats.

"Okay. 'Next Contestant', 'Something In Your Mouth'—"

"Are you guys trying to make me sound like I'm in need or something?" I interrupted Brecc. "'Cause trust me, I am not."

"No. Not at all. But they're really good songs and we've been practicing playing them almost all summer. Please?" Khriste pleaded. "Don't back out now."

Just then there was a knock on the door, followed moments later by a tall, muscular, dark haired guy that had golden brown eyes…

"Oh Merlin," I muttered.

He'd found me.

I looked at the others to tell them to get the hell out of here, but saw that they weren't freaking out like they should. They were acting like he was a regular guy and not a dangerous criminal. Which made me come to one conclusion:

Polyjuice Potion. And it figures I'd see through it. I could with most potions. It was like I was immune to them all.

"I couldn't help but overhear…but I happen to know those songs quite well," Rider said, flashing a dazzling smile at everyone. I just narrowed my eyes. What was he playing at here? I didn't know he went undercover to get his jobs done.

"Cool. You'll get to hear our version then," Adrian said.

Rider seemed to think about something for a moment, and then shrugged and said, "Well, I don't mean to intrude or anything…but could I possibly help out?"

"No," I snapped while Khriste (who was currently checking him out), said,

"Can you sing?"

As a reply the imposter sang,

"'I judge by what she's wearing just how many heads I'm tearing off of assholes coming on to her.

"'Each night seems like it's getting worse.

"'And I wish she'd take the night off, so I don't have to fight off every asshole coming on to her.

"'It happens every night she works.

"'They'll go and ask the DJ, find out just what would she say, if they all tried coming on to her.

"'Don't they know it's never going to work?

"'They think they'll get inside her, with every drink they buy her, as they all try coming onto her.

"'This time somebody's getting hurt.

"'Here comes the next contestant…' "

Even I was shocked by his ability. His voice was…amazing. It was by far the best voice I'd ever heard. I hate to admit, but I was entranced by it. As was everyone else.

"Oh Merlin you're damn good," Khriste breathed. "You've got to sing for us!"

"I think people would enjoy having you and Brochevska singing," Brecc agreed.

"I can't wait to see how your voices sound together," Khriste's friend spoke up.

"So I'm in?" Rider asked.

Everyone looked at me expectantly. Rider gave me an unreadable expression. I don't know how I knew, but I think he knew I could see through his disguise.

"What's your name?" I asked finally.

"Eugene. Eugene Fitzherbert," he replied stonily.

"Well Fitzherbert, I think it might be kind of out of your profession."

"What?" Brecc exclaimed.

"Uh-uh girl. That man is joining our group," Khriste said indignantly.

I knew I wouldn't win this argument. "Fine."

"Really?" Khriste seemed relieved. She'd been scared to stand up to me like that.

"Yeah. Sure. See you guys later. I've got to go check on Sirius."

"He hasn't jumped you like every other girl, has he?" Adrian asked, his face screwed up in disgust at the mention of my brother's name.

Of course, no one but the Marauders, Lily, Regulus, and Dumbledore knew he was my brother. Even though we looked exactly alike, no one had pieced it together yet. We had the same wavy black hair (of course mine was longer and a little bit more ratty 'cause unlike Sirius, I didn't really care about my appearance), we both had the same complexion and skin tone, and the same storm grey eyes. We both were tall, and we both were well built (he more so then me because he was a guy and liked to build up his muscles). We both participated in sports that we were crazy about; him Quidditch, me soccer (which I had formed wizarding teams for), and we each always helped the other train for their sport, with occasionally James and Remus participating too.

If you thought about it, it was obvious we were related. But then nobody these days ever actually thought.

"Oh Merlin no. He's my best friend," I said, horrified at the thought.

I mean, it wasn't because he was bad looking or anything. Because really, he was the best looking guy in the whole school, even equal with Adrian Triada, which was saying something, really. It was the fact he was my brother, my twin to be exact, that repulsed me. How could siblings even think of that about each other? If I ever found out he thought about me like that at least once, I would seriously kick his butt.

"Just be careful around him, okay?" Adrian asked. He was a good guy. Another reason I liked him so much.

"Always. Besides, he wouldn't dare touch me in a way I don't like. No one dares 'cause they value their life." When your family consists of the Marauders and a quick-tempered red-head, you were pretty well off in bad situations.

Everyone laughed at my comment except for Rider, who was looking at me in a calculating way. I raised an eyebrow at him, and then walked out of the compartment.

As I expected, seconds later the door slid open and then shut, and I heard him behind me.

"Sozo Brochevska," he said casually.

"Flynn Rider," I replied, just as casually.

He glanced at me sideways, and then just spoke what was on his mind. "Look, just give me back my satchel and I won't harm you. I'll forget about this whole thing and you're life will be spared. I give you my word."

"Hmm…well I'm sorry to say that the word of a thief and murderer doesn't mean much to me."

His lips rose in an almost-smile, then dropped just as quickly as it'd come. "And I'm sorry to say that answer isn't suitable for me."

"I'm used to disappointing people."

"I'm not leaving until I have it back," he said, anger clear in his voice.

"You're not bothering me. I can continue on with my life like you're not even there. I'm just that kind of person," I said nonchalantly.

Before I knew what was happening, my back was pressed against the wall with him blocking any and every escape. He put his angry face in front of mine, only inches away.

"Listen here Brochevska," he growled in my ear. "I will not rest until that satchel is back in my possession, which means you as well will be affected by that. I will either leave your life the way it was with no further intrusion, or I will make your life hell if you choose to not corporate. Do not make things worse on yourself."

I was a little taken aback by the venom in his voice, like he was real close to breaking my neck then and there. Not to mention I wasn't used to being this close to anyone but one of the Marauders.

"I'll take my chances," I spat back. Despite all that, he was starting to tick me off. No one told me what to do, not if they knew what was best for them. Even Sirius knew better.

He grinned coldly, his eyes full of ice, danger, and certain death. "Wrong answer." He put a hand on my neck. "Shame really. The Dark Lord could use someone like you," he said thoughtfully, rubbing the back of my neck absentmindedly. "You can't have them all though, can you?"

All I could do was glare at him, waiting for my death to come already. He had me in a position where I couldn't even throw a punch. He'd learned from our last encounter to not let his guard down around me.

"Enjoy the afterlife," he said, and just as he was moving his other hand to my neck, we heard,

"My god! Brochevska works fast," a female scoffed. Both of our heads snapped up to glimpse my savior and his intruder.

Would you believe it to be fitting that my "savior" was the one girl I hated the most?

Kildee Brooks, an average height, fake blonde-haired, dull green eyed, skinny, sixth year girl who was in Slytherin. She thought she was everything, and she treated everyone, including her "friends", like they were trash. Not to mention the fact that she was always trying to seduce my brother (the two main reasons; one: she wanted him really bad like every other girl 'cause he was just that tempting, and two, which is the one that I think she focuses on mainly: she thought he and I had some sort of relationship going and she wanted to ruin it). And, not surprisingly, my brother wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, and he made that perfectly clear, first politely and now just downright rude, but she throws herself on him whenever she gets the chance, which is basically every time she lays eyes on him.

Oh, and there was one other thing. She saw me as the one and only thing that stood between her and everything she ever wanted (for example, Sirius). And now she saw it as her job to eliminate me. Brilliant, right?

"Yeeeaaah. Riiiightttt. With this guy? Forget it. He's too much like you," I growled.

Rider's eyes narrowed and he backed away from me, his eyes locked on me. He must've been thinking how to see if his satchel was on me, and if so how to get it.

"Oh, you poor baby," Brooks crooned. "You weren't warned that you need to stay away from that piece of shit. All she does is use guys like you and then she throws them away when she's bored with them."

I rolled my eyes at her. "I think you get us mixed up dear," I said sweetly, and I walked off to find Sirius.

The truth was, Kildee Brooks was the one who used guys. Me? Ha. Freaking. Ha-ha. Far from it. I'd never even had a boyfriend, much to the dismay and disapproval of Sirius, James, and Lily. I just wasn't what you'd call the "trusting type". To me, the only people I needed were the Marauders and Lily. And I thought I was turning out just fine, thank you very much.

When I walked into our compartment, Sirius was snogging some Ravenclaw girl that I knew but didn't care for.

"Get out," I snapped.

The girl jumped off of him and gave me an embarrassed, bewildered look. "Oh, h-h-hello Sozo," she stammered, a frightened look in her eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Why are you still here? Do I need to repeat myself?"

She shook her head and dashed out, casting one last longing look at Sirius.

"Damn Eridani. You have the worst timing ever," Sirius said, leaning against his seat.

"Siblings are supposed to," I retorted, sitting across from him.

"Do you have a good reason for it at least?"

I studied him closely, wondering if it really was a good idea to tell this carefree young man something as important as this. But then, he'd proved to be very responsible in past times. After a moment of arguing with myself, I finally decided to go with it. No matter what, I trusted him with my life, as he did me with his. He'd want to know anyways.

"He's here."

Sirius looked confused. "What? Who?"

"Think real hard and I'm sure you'll figure it out," I said, rolling my eyes at him.

"Oh!" His eyes darkened at the realization. "You mean him."

"Nah."

"Then who do you—"

"Yes Padfoot! Him!" I exclaimed. Merlin he could be so dense sometimes.

"How?" He wore a hardened expression and his voice was flat and angry. He was taking on that protective brother role.

"Well there's so many schools in this country that a sixteen or so year old witch can go to to further her education in wizardry," I said sarcastically.

"Oh, okay. You're freaking out. I get it," he said slowly.

"Yeah, well—what? You get what? There's nothing to get."

"You're being sarcastic."

"And…?"

"You're sarcastic when you're freaked out."

I blinked at him. "Did you seriously just say that?"

He nodded.

"Sirius…my gods how are you even considered the slightest bit bright? I'm always sarcastic! All the time!"

"Really? I never noticed."

"Hmm… Could that be because you're always so sarcastic to the point you can't tell what sarcasm is and what isn't?"

"I am?"

I sighed, giving up, knowing he was playing dumb.

"Nope. Not 'playing dumb' my dear," he said, shaking his head. "I am dumb."

"I don't doubt that," I muttered just as Lily, Remus, James, and Peter came through the door.

"Hey guys—" I kicked Sirius, shutting him up.

Don't worry them right now. They have enough of their own problems, I thought to him.

The others didn't notice though. Lily and James were arguing (no surprise there) while Remus was shouldering past them so he could get to us, and Peter was right on his heels.

"We'll be there in an hour or so," Remus said, sitting next to me. I took a good look at him and noticed he didn't look too awfully good.

"Is tonight…?"

He nodded tightly.

"Hasn't it gotten any better since…?" I tried to comfort him.

"Kinda."

I put an arm around his shoulders. "Afterwards, if it's bad or something, I'll fix you."

Sirius started cracking up at that.

"Oh shut-up," I snapped. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Mmm-hmm," he said, a conceited grin on his face.

"I'm here for you, and you know that," I told Remus, ignoring Sirius pointedly.

"Eridani, we've argued about this every month—"

"And I always win, so shut your trap."

"Thanks Eridani," he muttered.

"Anytime Remy."

He rolled his eyes at that hated nickname of his. "I will kill whoever came up with that."

"So you're going to kill me?" I asked, giving him an innocent look.

"Only when the sun goes down," Sirius said, chuckling.

Remus and I froze, unsure whose ability he was talking about. Remus, who turned into a man-eating wolf, or me who became an entirely different person as soon as the sun went down every day.

I became weaker, vulnerable, and every now and then very unstable. I had barely any power, only enough to heal Remus, but even then it caused me to lose consciousness until noon, when the sun was highest in the sky. That was why Remus hated having me heal him, but it kept the healer and everyone else from finding out about him, and to me, that was worth it. He took comfort from that, and the fact that I didn't have to heal him every full moon.

My appearance changed too as soon as the sun disappeared. I became a golden haired, green eyed, tall, pale, lanky girl. It made me utterly defenseless, except for my ability to run fast and long distances for a long time. I wasn't as fast and my stamina wasn't as great as it was when the sun was visible, but it was enough for me to escape the "furry little problem".

Sirius and James liked to joke about how it was like I was night and day mixed up: night during the day and day during the night. It was oh-so true.

Sirius kicked me lightly. "Hey. I was kidding. You two know that."

Remus looked at his feet and I nodded, watching Lily and James' argument as it got heated up.

After that everything was quiet except for Lily and James' endless bickering. Maybe that was why I got a headache that felt worse than being hit with the Cruciatus Curse. But I knew better.

Slowly my whole body was engulfed in that same pain, and when I looked down, the change was taking place. My dark skin was painted snow white. My wavy black hair went straight and gold. My muscles that I had built just disappeared on me and I felt myself shrink a few inches. Then that feeling that you get when you're going down a really steep drop on a hill wouldn't leave my stomach.

"Eridani—" Remus started to say before his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell on the floor in a heap.

Sirius was at my side in a minute, checking on him. "Oh Merlin. Tonight… How could I have forgotten?"

"We've got to get off the train," I said, knowing my voice was much softer and sweeter.

"Help me James," Sirius huffed, picking Remus up and throwing him over his shoulder. James grabbed his Invisibility Cloak, threw it over Sirius and Remus, and opened the door.

"Stay here Lily," he commanded, and we left just as Remus started to convulse, the second stage in the transformation.

"Where are we going?" Peter asked me since I was in the lead.

"We're going to jump off the train," I said.

"What?" he squeaked.

"Shh!" James, Sirius, and I snapped.

I grabbed the handle of the door, threw it open and said, "Watch your head as you jump, and Wormtail, no screaming. We don't need to alert anybody."

"Maybe you shouldn't go Eridani. I don't want you to get hurt," James started to say, but his monthly speech was interrupted by a growl, the third stage in the transformation.

"Save it Prongs." Without thinking, I jumped. I ducked my head and rolled as soon as I hit the ground. Seconds later I heard screaming, which was definitely Peter. He'd screamed, like we all knew he would. As soon as I stopped moving, I looked back just in time to see James step on the ledge, shut the door tightly, and jump.

I took off running just as the real, bloodcurdling howl began. The full moon was high up in the sky and Remus had just changed. I just hoped that I had gotten far enough away that he wouldn't see me. As long as I (and other people) stayed away from him, Sirius, James, and Peter could keep him under control.

Where are you? came Sirius's voice.

I looked around, not recognizing any of my surroundings. We weren't even close to Hogwarts, an hour or so away.

I have no idea, I replied.

Stop running. You're far enough away that I can't smell you anymore. I don't want you to get lost.

Okay. I came to a stop and sat down on the grass, waiting.

This was going to be a long night.


"Eridani!" I heard James yell several hours later.

"Over here!" I called back, standing up. James came into sight, and I shook my head. "What happened? I figured out here we wouldn't have any problems."

"We ran into some muggles five miles that way," James said, pointing right. "We tried to turn him around before he sensed them there, but he was already several steps ahead and was bracing for an attack."

"Who got the worst of it all?"

"Moony, unfortunately."

I sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. James had tons of cuts and other open wounds, some of which were bleeding freely, coming down in fast moving streams. If Remus was worse, my job was definitely not going to be the slightest bit anywhere near to easy.

"M'kay. What 'bout the others?" I asked as he started leading me to where the others were.

"Wormtail's just fine. He has a few minor cuts, but Padfoot has some broken bones and is cut up way worse than me. And I'm not gonna bother to explain Moony's condition 'cause it makes me cringe." James shook his head. "Padfoot is gonna get himself killed trying to be heroic all the time."

"He didn't let you fight much."

"Does he ever?"

"Nope." We were quiet for a minute. "How are we going to get back? We're nowhere near Hogwarts and it'll be daylight in a few hours."

"I'll turn into Animagus form and try to carry all four of you."

"Chivalrous, Prongs, real chivalrous."

"I'm trying to help."

"We'll just see about your plan," I said as we came to the others.

"Hey Eridani," Sirius said quietly. "You alright?"

"Just peachy."

"Glad to hear that."

"Shut-up all of you," I said. I took a deep, calming breath and prepared to try something that I'd never done before which would most likely end in utter failure.

I concentrated on Sirius, James, and Remus, and then I sang,

"Flower, gleam and glow…Let your power shine…Make the clock reverse…Bring back what once was mine…

"Heal what has been hurt…Change the Fates' design…Save what has been lost…Bring back what once was mine…What once was mine…"

I didn't even get the chance to see if it worked because all of my strength (which wasn't very much at the moment, mind you) abandoned me and I slipped into the familiar unconsciousness.


A/N: How'd you like that? I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with in this story, I only know how it's going to end and the impact that it has in the other books after this. So please don't get too mad at me if this story is taking a little bit longer than the one that's after this, because I'm having just a teeny-tiny little-bitty problem…so please be patient.

Also, thank you ? for your review. It was greatly appreciated!

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know!

(Oh, and here's kind of a hint, reviews make me more motivated for this story and make me work faster…)

R&R! Please?

Nike