Thank you guys for being patient with me. You guys wanted a longer chapter and in turn, it took a little longer to write. Thank you all who have read, alerted, favorited, and those who have reviewed. I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations. I'm trying to bring this story into a new story line and this is kind of the beginning of it.
Just a quick reminder for this chapter. Almost all the sentences that are in italics are visions of the future. You'll see what I mean when you start reading. There are a lot of visions in this chapter and they are all a bit broken up and short.
So with out further delay, please enjoy this next chapter.
When morning broke over the mountains surrounding the castle, students were already bustling about. It was unfortunate that they had classes already since September 1st happened to fall on a Wednesday. Which meant for the new sixth years, they would be getting all their NEWT classes which had been rumored to be worse than OWLs times a million. Last year, it was no uncommon to hear of a seventh year (and a sixth year every once in a while) that had a mental breakdown.
"Think we'll stay sane this year?" James sarcastically asked at the breakfast table, munching on a muffin.
"Stay? Are you implying—"
"That we are currently sane?" Sirius finished Ursula's sentence. The twins shared an identical smirk at James's not entertained expression.
Ben just shook his head, "As much as I would normally try to argue this, we are insane Prongs."
"What proof do you have?" James challenged.
Elyse piped up, "Think aboot woot we're gonna do tonight."
After a quick glance at Remus's slumped over figure, exhausted due to the full moon later that night, James conceded. "But we're still brilliant." He qualified.
Before they could discuss anything further, McGonagall walked over with their schedules. "Who shall I start with, hm?" She asked, consulting her records. "Remus, I assume that you will continue with all of the classes you registered for in the summer?" Remus nodded, his eyes drooping from exhaustion. McGonagall handed him his schedule and instead of shooing him off to class, she instead said, "I do not want to see you in any classes today. To your room or to the hospital wing you go."
Surprisingly, Remus didn't put up any fight. He must have just been that miserable that he knew he couldn't go through a day of classes. There were no hiccups through the rest of their schedules, most of them just agreeing to continue the classes they passed and signed up for. That is, until she got to Elyse and handed her a full schedule.
"Professor," Elyse began, looking at the parchment in confusion. "I didn't pass any o' these classes on me OWLs."
McGonagall nodded. "When we got the report back it was too late for you to retake them. But the professors all agreed that due to the fact that you had a brain tumor and possible…distractions during the tests, they based their acceptance into their courses based off of your previous grades and interest in the subject. However, if for any reason you do begin to fail in a certain class, you will undoubtedly be forced to drop. Is that understood?"
Elyse smiled widely, thankful that she would be able to continue taking more than two or so courses. "Understood."
"Um, Minnie, I don't mean to be a bother, well, actually I do, but why is Transfiguration on Tuesdays? It's always on Monday and Wednesday for sixth years?" James questioned.
"James, it is Monday and Wednesday." Ben said, showing James his schedule.
Sirius shook his head, "I have the same thing wrong with mine."
"Me too." Ursula said.
The three looked at McGonagall who didn't look annoyed at them. Instead, she looked proud and happy about something. "That was our deal was it not? Pass your OWLs with an outstanding grade and I would place you in my seventh year NEWT class."
The three just stared at her in shock. "But…" Ursula began. "Remus and Ben got Outstandings. Why aren't they in the next class?"
"Because, Black, they didn't score higher than the score I got when I was a student. At least you and your brother did. Mr. Potter on the other hand…" she trailed off, smiling, actually smiling, at James like a proud mother would, "actually beat the school record by a full point."
"Wicked!" James exclaimed, a warm feeling rushing through him. He may make McGonagall's life a living nightmare sometimes but there was no one in the castle he respected more. "Whom did I beat?"
McGonagall nodded her head towards the Head Table where Dumbledore was watching with a small smile on his face and twinkle in his eye. James's jaw dropped and for once, all his arrogance and cockiness abandoned him. "I—him—record—what?"
She simply raised an eyebrow, "Hopefully your ability to form sentences comes back before you begin classes. Any other questions? No? Good. Now kindly head off to your first class." With that, she was moved down the table to go hand out the rest of the schedules.
"You heard Minnie. Time for class," Ben said, getting up. He held one hand out to help Ursula stand and with his other handed over her book bag. Their hands remained together as they walked down the hallway.
"What is our first class?" Sirius wondered, looking at his schedule. "Defense! Yes!" He shouted happily. "This is a bloody brilliant way to start out the school year. Defense, Charms, food, and then nothing for the rest of the day. I am going to love Thursdays."
Ursula laughed at her twins antics, "You are an idiot." She said fondly, a small, crooked smile on her face.
"My OWL scores say otherwise, Sissy."
They turned down the hallway together. Well, they all did except Peter.
James was the on to comment, "Wormy, where are you going? Defense is this way," he said, gesturing grandly down the corridor.
"I didn't get the score to take that class," he admitted shamefaced. "But with the war everyone has to take DADA all seven years, I'm in remedial sixth year DADA."
"Damn it, Wormy, why can't you actually be somewhat intelligent?" Sirius complained.
"Shut up Sirius," Peter grumbled, glaring darkly before storming past and shoving his shoulder against Sirius's, knocking the unsuspecting boy into the curtain that hung from the window.
Sirius stumbled back, his eyes trained on the two familiar faces, as he fell backwards into the billowing veil that moved with no wind.
Elyse sighed, despondently as she was painfully reminded of the vision she had had years ago. She had seen Sirius's probably in their third year but had tried not to dwell on it. To see his emancipated, worn, and prematurely aged face, her heart broke every time she saw his young, handsome, vibrant face now. It was all stolen from him, forcing him to suffer far more than anyone deserved. All he had ever wanted was to be loved and with his family and fate couldn't even give him that, with the deaths of everyone he cared for and the decades spent in Azkaban.
Oh yes, she knew of that too. Arrested for selling out Lily and James Potter to Lord Voldemort, a secret Death Eater that had switched sides sometime during the war and betrayed his friends. She didn't believe it. Looking at him now, how he acted and behaved around his friends…he would never go dark side. He loathed the dark arts and all who supported them. Some part of the story was missing, something she hadn't seen, that would explain all of it. But even if she knew the story, it still didn't change the ending.
"Damn, what's he got shoved up his arse?" Sirius grumbled as he shoved the fabric off his shoulder.
James shrugged, watching him leave. "Maybe he woke up on the wrong side of the rat's nest," he suggested.
Ursula rolled her eyes, "Maybe he's tired of all the crap you always give him. Peter's not stupid. He's just not as quick as us and you can't treat him like less of person because of that." She gave Sirius a pointed look, knowing that he was usually the one to antagonize Peter.
Sirius just snickered, "It's just too easy. But more importantly, what's wrong with this year's teacher? Vamp? Boogie man? Another Death Eater? I know, a shape shifter."
"Why is it impossible that we might have a normal teacher?" Ben suggested.
Giving him an incredulous look, Sirius began counting off on his fingers, "In order, one has been killed by a werewolf, one was a Death Eater, the next one was killed by a Death Eater scum, the next was some foreign minister's son who ended up biting the wand over the summer, and last year was driven mad from guilt from one of his students taking his advice and becoming an invalid. So this one is going to die, be one of the people who is going to cause other people to die, or accidentally get someone killed. No matter what, it means death."
"Aren't yeh a ray o' sunshine," Elyse sarcastically muttered. Sirius still heard her and laughed, throwing his arm around her shoulder good naturedly.
"Come on, we're going to be late for class," Ben said, forging ahead, Ursula at his side.
They made it to the classroom with time to spare. They all looked at each other and the two person desks. With five of them, one person would be the odd man out.
Ursula took initiative and grabbed Ben's hand before pulling him over to an empty table and putting her books down. "You guys figure out the rest."
"We should save a seat for Moony. Who wants to sit with him?" James questioned.
Before anyone could answer, a voice near the front of the room called over the chatter from the other students, "James!"
They all turned, Ben and Ursula included, to see Lily turned facing them, sitting alone at a double desk. She flushed slightly but motioned to the seat next to her, "Would you like to sit here?"
James simply stared, unable to comprehend in his brilliant mind that Lily Evans was not only speaking to him without threatening his life, but also asking him to sit with her willingly. Before he could spout off some gibberish, Sirius shoved him forward, "He'd love to. He's having a bit of a slow morning, forgive him."
James glared at him was he stumbled forward from the shove. He straightened his glasses before walking down the stairs to sit next to Lily. The pair spoke to each other in completely civil voices. The rest of the them couldn't hear from the back but they all felt their jaw drop when Lily laughed at something James said and put her hand on his arm to shove him gently in a teasing manner.
"Is it me or has hell frozen over?" Ursula whispered to Ben.
"Hell's frozen." He responded quickly. "It's the apocalypse."
"I can't bloody believe it. It's definitely a full moon tonight."
Ben just chuckled and gave Ursula a quick kiss. Sirius gagged from the seat behind them. "Damn couples being damn coupley." Sirius complained. "I'd go insane if you had your boyfriend here too. I can only hand so much lovey-dovey nonsense." He lamented.
"Quit complainin'." Elyse chastised.
Before Sirius could comment, the professor walked out from the office upstairs.
He was an intimidating man. He was probably was tall as Remus but he had none of Remus's softness. Everything about him seemed sharp and capable of causing pain. His face was rough, a scar ran down the side of his left cheek all the way from his eye to his jaw. Because of that, his left eye didn't open all the way. His greying blonde hair was clipped closely to his head and his sharp blue eyes seemed to analyze everything in the room.
"Alright, listen up." He didn't need to say that. The second his imposing stature entered the room, everyone had gone silent. They were mildly surprised to hear that he had an American accent. "My name is Professor Lawson. If you don't think I'm qualified, then you're sorely mistaken. I'm the Auror from America. The way you can think of it is that I'm the yankee Moody. Got that. I'm not going to put up with any bullshit in this class. This is NEWT level class. I expect that you know what the hell I'm talking about. I'm not here to be your little professor buddy that will give you good grades because you tried. I'm here to make sure you don't end up in a hole in the ground. If you expected this class to be unicorns and rainbows, get out of my class and to your care of magical creatures class."
The students stared at him in shock, their mouths slightly agape. He smirked at the slight fear and panic in some of their eyes. The corner of his eyes crinkled in some sort of laughter before he turned to write on the boards. "Alright, today we're starting with the big guns. The Unforgivables. What are they?" He questioned as he wrote the title on the board.
"The Imperious Curse," Gabe Abbot called from the front of the room.
Professor Lawson nodded. "What does it do?" He demanded.
"Gives you complete control over a person's body and actions," Lily recited.
"Wrong!" Lawson shouted, slamming his hands loudly on his desk causing many students to jump back in their seats. "This is the only Unforgivable you can fight. If you are strong enough in will then you can resist the control over the person. We'll go into more detail later when we get to the practical."
"Did he just say practical?" Elyse whispered to Sirius, slight fear and trepidation in her voice. Sirius just nodded gravely and grabbed her hand to squeeze it once comfortingly.
"Next curse!" Lawson barked.
"The Killing Curse," Snape's voice droned.
"He would say that one," Ursula grumbled, her hand itching to grab her wand and hex him into next week.
Lawson nodded, "No counter curse. No chance to defend. Nothing. If you get hit with this, you are dead. There has been no person to survive the killing curse and there never will be."
Lily spun as she fell to the ground in the nursery in front of her son's crib, a green light illuminating her body.
Elyse gasped, knowing she didn't get that extremely short vision for nothing. She had known that Lily was going to die young, more than likely the same day that James died. But to actual see that, the brief moment of Lily's death…tears gathered in her eyes as she looked longingly at her dear friend who would be dead in four years. Four years. That was all she had now. The years were being stolen away quicker than Elyse though possible. One tear escaped her eye and she hastily wiped it away hoping that Sirius didn't notice. Thankfully he didn't, for he was engrossed in what Lawson was saying about the Killing Curse.
"What's the last one?" He challenged the class.
They were silent as they all thought of the last curse, none of them wanting to be the one that said what many considered to be the worse curse. Finally, a soft voice from the front said, "The Cruciatus Curse." Alice said, her expression oddly grave. It was unnerving considering she was usually happy go lucky and bright all the time.
"Correct. What does it do?" He barked at them.
Once again, no one wanted to answer.
"Aw," he sarcastically cooed. "Kiddies don't want to know what the bad curse does? It's pathetic that someone of you seem so adamant to fight in this war on both sides yet you squirm at the mention of the curse. I bet none of you have the guts to even withstand the curse, let alone cast it." Lawson sneered.
Ursula felt her hand shaking, her anger barely being contained. Pure fury rushed through her veins when he began speaking. However, by the end of his little speech, she literally was seeing red. Unable to control herself, so beyond remaining calm and level headed at this point, she jumped to her feet, knocking over her chair loudly, "Shut up!"
The entire class turned to look at her. Lawson's cold stare that would have sent a weaker person running just fueled her rage. "You want to know what the Cruciatus Curse does? Fine. It makes you feel like your skin is on fire. Like you thousands of knives are tearing up your insides and trying to work their way out your body. It feels like your eyeballs are going to pop out of your head and your head will explode from pain. You can't control your body because the pain is so terrible you can only scream and wait for it to end. You just beg whatever being is up there that it ends soon before you lose your damn mind. You would rather die than feel that pain."
There was a beat of silence. Ben slowly stood up next to her, picked up her chair before placing his hand on her shoulder. Placing slight pressure on her shoulder, he guided her to sit down. "Come on, Muse." He whispered gently. Slowly, she saw down, her eyes never leaving Lawson's. Once she was sitting, Ben noticed that she was shaking. His heart twisted painfully in his chest and he wrapped one of his arms around her waist, trying to offer some degree of comfort.
Lawson finally spoke, "Black right?" His voice was different now. It no longer held the gruff and hard quality to it.
She simply nodded.
"I've heard about you. More specifically, I've heard about your abilities and skills in this class. But you couldn't know the curse like that from a book."
It wasn't necessarily a question but she answered him anyway. "No I didn't." She said flatly.
Ben's eyes widened in horror. He hadn't known that she had been subjected to the Cruciatus Curse. He had been with her when they fought Death Eaters and he had never seen her cursed with an Unforgivable. She had never mentioned it. He had never seen her treated for it. Yet at some point, someone, something, had used the unforgivable on her and he hadn't known. He hadn't been there to protect her. A feeling he had never felt before so strongly swelled from somewhere deep in his chest. It was more than rage. It was more than anything he had ever experience before.
Someone had harmed her and he had done nothing. She hadn't even told him. Here he thought that everything was better and they were getting better. Then he found out that she hid this from him? That someone she knew – that would be the only explanation he could think of – used the Cruciatus curse on her. It took all his will power to remain sitting in that seat and not storm out of the room to go kill whoever did that to her.
It was Ursula, the girl who had been friends with since he was eleven and dating since he was fourteen. With horrific realization Ben somehow knew that this happened during the year he went missing, the year he broke her heart. He hadn't been there not because he didn't know but because he didn't care at that point. He had left her broken, destroyed, and hurt and someone had found a way to hurt her even more and he never noticed. A wave of shame washed over him. He knew that his friends hadn't had interaction with Death Eaters during that year but who could have cursed her.
He looked over at Sirius. Ursula's twin was tightly gripping the edge of his desk so tightly that his knuckles were white. His glare at the Professor was so intense that Ben was expecting Lawson's robes to catch fire in a few seconds. Yet Sirius never said anything. He looked to the front of the room and saw that James was turned around looking at Ursula with pity, regret, and anger in his own eyes. It took all Ben's control to not slam his fist into the desk in frustration. James knew!? And he didn't!? What was this coming to? Even Elyse looked sympathetic towards Ursula. Had none of them thought at any point that it would be a good idea to let hi know about this?
It was someone they knew. He was sure of that. For a moment, just a moment, he wondered if Ursula and Sirius had fought and he had cursed his twin. Immediately dismissing that idea, Ben wracked his brain, growing more and more angry and frustrated that he didn't know who had harmed the girl he cared so deeply for. She was the one good thing in his life with this War. He didn't even want to think about where he would be right now if she wasn't there by his side. He was a horrible person, someone who hurt the people around him, yet somehow an angel had agreed to be with him. He still didn't know what he had done to deserve someone who would look past everything wrong with him. All he knew was that he was blessed and that he was never letting her go again.
You let her go once. A cruel voice taunted in his head. Who's to say you won't again? No. He wouldn't. At least, that's what he tried to convince himself. Fighting all the self-loathing and anger at himself, he spied a quick glance at Ursula's profile. Her expression was level though there was such horrific pain in her beautiful silver eyes that mad his heart clench painfully. He thought that they had moved past their past problems yet now he knew; she had been through so much the past year, things she hadn't told him. And that infuriated him. Whoever had done something to her changed her, hurt her.
The anger swelled in him again and his fists unconsciously tightened. He took deep breaths, knowing that getting angry here and now would do no good. He knew Ursula no you don't, you didn't even know about her being tortured. He closed his eyes tightly and shock his head infinitesimally. No, he knew Ursula. But he didn't.
Lost in the mess that was anger, hatred, and frustration, he didn't even notice that class had ended until Ursula placed her hand on her shoulder. "Come on, let's get to Charms."
He mutely gathered his things and followed her out the door. He waited a moment to compose himself, knowing that he needed to be calm and not snap like he desperately needed to. "Ursula, what was that back there?" He asked as calmly as he could.
She purposely ignored his gaze. "I don't know what you are talking about." Before he could stop her, she picked up her pace and caught up with the others who were farther down the hallway. He grunted in frustration, knowing that this was far from over.
Charms was simple enough. Honestly, none of them pain much attention. Their knowledge was superior and they knew that. What they spent time doing instead was going over different combinations of charms and defensive spells that would come in handy if they were ever in a tight spot. Well, James and Sirius did with some assistance from Ursula and even less from Peter and Elyse. Ben was silent the entire time, still fuming from the earlier discovery.
Once they were released, Ben grabbed Ursula's arm and led her away from the group, ignoring her protests and attempts to shrug her arm back. When he finally let her go, she painfully slapped his arm, "If you ever, ever," she hissed, "manhandle me again, I will not hesitate to hex you. Do you understand me?"
Instead of answering, he met her furious silver eyes with his equally sparking brown. "Who was the person who cursed you?" He demanded softly.
She snorted and stepped back from him, "The hell? That's what this's about? Seriously?"
"Who. Cursed. You?" He demanded in a deadly serious voice. He couldn't go on not knowing. He had to.
Ursula shook her head, "Why does it matter? It happened."
"I want to know. Someone hurt you," he growled, his fury at the person who hurt her seeping into his words towards her.
Unfortunately, her temper, which was already shot, snapped, "Oh, like you gave a damn when it happened."
"Oh, don't act like it's my fault! I care about you and I want to know what thing thought it was acceptable to use an Unforgivable on you. Someone used the Cruciatus Curse on you, damn it!"
She glared at him so intensely he was sure he would be dead if looks could kill. "It doesn't matter."
"Like hell it doesn't!" He shouted, finally losing his temper completely with her. How could she act so nonchalant about this? Why was she so adamantly refusing to tell him? "Someone raised their wand, cursed you to feel like you wanted to die, and you think that it doesn't matter!?"
"Well, you were able to accomplish all that without an Unforgivable," she hissed at him. "What makes this person so different than you?"
Ben recoiled as if he had been slapped. Had he really made her feel like that? He had done that to her? She laughed humorlessly at his expression. "Yes, Benjamin. Do you know what it's like to watch someone you let into her your heart, someone you trust to not hurt you, tear you apart? To make you feel like you were right to believe that no one could ever care for you. So yes, I've been cursed with an Unforgivable. But that's not the worst thing that has happened to me." She ground out, her teeth clenched as she glared at her boyfriend.
"Why are you not telling me who?" Ben tried to redirected the conversation back where he originally intended it to go. "This person hurt you, damaged you—"
He wasn't expecting it. He didn't even comprehend it until his face was meeting the floor and the pain in his cheek exploded and he realized that Ursula had punched him in the jaw. She stood above him, tears filling her betrayed and hurt eyes. "Don't you dare—" her voice cracked, "Don't you dare call me damaged." She threatened, her wand point at him.
With that she spun away, her name dying on his lips. He swore loudly and punched the ground, not feeling the pain of his flesh hitting the cold stone.
Across the castle, Elyse winced as she ordered her knight to take Sirius's bishop. Ben looked up in shock from the ground, blood flowing freely from the cut on his face, a familiar name passing his lips as he breathed his last.
"Elyse!?" Sirius shouted, shaking her shoulder.
"Sorry. Vision." She explained quickly, wishing that he would just leave it. The sudden of the vision had left her with a dull pain in her head and she didn't feel like dealing with Sirius's pestering.
Unfortunately for her, Sirius seemed to be in a rather observant mood. "Are you hurt?" He questioned suspiciously. His eyes widened when he connected the vision and the headache. "Are you getting headaches again? How often have these been happening? I thought that your visions were sorted out? Are you able to walk in a straight line again? Do you remember what your last move was? When was the last time that you were able to sleep through the night?"
The questions never seemed to end. Elyse threw her hands up in the air, "Sirius! I'm fine. Me visions are fine. Everythin's fine!" She shouted at him.
He crossed his arms and leaned back, his face becoming serious and cold. "It appears that it isn't."
"Damnit, Sirius, leave it!" She shouted at him. "I'm tired o' bein treated like a doll!"
"If you didn't have cancer six months ago, I wouldn't be doing this!" He shouted back, his temper even shorter than hers.
She glared at him over the chess board, furious he brought that up again. She stood up without saying anything and stormed towards the girls' staircase, fully intent on escaping his penetrating glare as he tried to analyze anything and everything that could be wrong with her.
"Lucky, wait!" He shouted, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. Since h was so much taller than her and stronger than her, she couldn't fight it when he pulled her into a hug. Finally she stopped her futile struggling and let him old her. It was then that she realized that he was shaking slightly. "I'm sorry."
She pulled back in shock at the apology. Sirius never apologized. Never. He scratched the back of his neck nervously, "I just…Elyse, I thought you were going to die. Die. I know that you have seen a lot of death, hell you've probably seen how I die, but I haven't. And I can't go on living life if you are dead. You're my…you're my friend Elyse. It terrifies me, the thought of you dying."
"Sirius," she said softly, touched and saddened by his confession. She had never really thought about what her friends might have felt about her illness. She knew certain things for sure, like when someone would die, or get married, or graduate, or buy a house. He didn't. He had no clue what the future held and it terrified him. "I'm still livin' 'n kickin'. Yeh don't need ter worry aboot me." She assured him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him a moment. She felt him dip his head down and rest it on top of her short curly hair. "Yer me best friend, Sirius."
He sighed and nodded, "I know." He pulled away. He smiled weakly, "Now let's go have some fun with Moony. Care you accompany me, my lady," he bowed dramatically and offered her his arm. She laughed and looped her arm through his.
"Let's go."
The next morning, the group was walking back to the castle in the dim light of the morning dawn. Ursula and Elyse walked behind the guys. Elyse kept noticing Ben looking back at Ursula only to look down in shame before turning back around. And she also noticed that every time, Ursula wouldn´t meet his eyes. Elyse drew them back a little further, making sure that they were out of ear shot for so she could talk to Ursula as privately as they could with friends like theirs.
"Yer just reactin' like that because yer scared."
Ursula started at the comment and immediately began to try to deny it. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yeah yeh do. I saw yeh avoidin' Ben all last night. Yeh'd a fight. Everyone does. Now put on yer big girl pants and suck it up!"
Ursula bristled next to her, "You don't know what you are saying."
"Let me guess. Ben wanted ter know something 'n yeh flew off the handle 'n he said something 'n then yeh snapped. Yer just avoidin' him because yeh's scared."
"What am I scared of?" Ursula scoffed.
Elyse stopped her and looked her straight in the eye, "Yer scared because yer realizin' yer fallin' hard 'b fast fer that boy. Yer lettin' someone inter yer heart 'n it terrifies you."
"Elyse—"
"Look me in the eyes," Elyse ordered. Ursula rolled her eyes but did as she was told. "Now tell me that there isn't a part of yeh, no matter 'ow big, that's in love wit Ben."
Ursula sneaked a look at Ben. In the brilliant morning sun, the light danced off his fiery red hair. Sirius said something, causing his warm, soul soothing laugh to carry over the landscape. He turned around a moment and her eyes met his warm, concerned, understanding, loving eyes—
She turned back towards Elyse, her pale, bright eyes wide as if her entire world had just been turned upside down.
Ursula's eyes widened in shock as she realized what was about to happen. Her face, which spoke of horrific pain, settled into one of acceptance and forgiveness, as if she was trying to comfort the extremely familiar person – the one responsible for her death. The corner of her mouth quirked up for just a moment before the green light hit her chest.
Elyse gagged slightly when the expressions on Ursula's past and present faces eerily resembled each other.
"You okay? Moony didn't get a lucky shot at you?" Ursula asked with concern. She chuckled a second later not realizing her unintentional pun.
"I'm fine. Just a vision."
Ursula threw her arm around her shoulder and started dragging her up the hill. "Come on, we have potions first thing."
At dinner, Ursula very tellingly sat between Peter and Sirius with Ben on the other side of the table. For the entire meal, she didn't even look at him. Elyse's words kept repeating herself over and over in her mind, tormenting her with the truth.
"Why do we have to go to bloody potions, anyway," Sirius lamented. "Who even made that a subject?"
"The first potionmaster," Peter snarked, bruised and exhausted from dealing with a werewolf the previous night.
Sirius slammed his hand on the table, "And what was he thinking!? Think about it. Who goes, hm, I fancy putting this thing I found in a goat's stomach in this here cauldron. For shits and giggles let's add some bat eye juice, some leaves that are poisonous otherwise, and how about some pus from a blasted end skewt! And now here's the kicker, let's drink it and see what happens!"
"I don't think it happened that way, Paddy," James said.
"Really? Were you there James?"
"No but—"
"Then I think you don't have anything to say on this subject matter!"
"Like you do?" Ben sarcastically questioned.
Sirius brandished his spoon at Ben in a semi threatening way, "Watch it giant cat boy."
"Shut it mutt."
"I'm surrounded by children," Ursula complained, dropping her head into her arms resting on the table.
Sirius rolled his eyes at his twin's antics and shoved her shoulder, "You're dating one of those children and shared a womb for nine months with the other. What does that say about you?"
"That I need therapy."
James wasn't able to hold back his laughter at her comment and Sirius's facial reaction to it. Peter too joined in the laughter, though there was a bit of tenseness to it.
Ignoring their immaturity, Elyse stood up and gathered her books for the day, "Come on, we got ter get ter class."
With Sirius mumbling the entire way there about not needing to learn this stuff and that it was completely possible for them to learn this stuff in a more practical manner, Elyse was ready to hex him by the time they arrive.
Since Peter did not get the score he needed to get into the class, he went to the common room to get ready for his next class. So when they walked in, they were immediately faced with the problem of uneven numbers once again. James once again found Lily, Sirius went with this twin, and Elyse stayed with Ursula. They would figure out who would work with Remus in the future but for now it worked.
In the middle of their table, there was a closed container of something that looked almost light water but thicker. Before they could investigate further, Slughorn walked into the room with a wide smile on his face.
"Hello class, welcome to NEWT level potions! I've been waiting years for this group to finally come together. Some of the brightest witches and wizards I have ever had the pleasure of teaching are in this room right now." He clapped his hands together joyfully and not for the first time, Ursula had to question how he was a Slytherin. "To start off the class right, I wanted to have a little bit of fun. In the middle of your table is a potion. Everyone has something different. I will give you a few minutes to open the container and figure out what it is. Begin."
Ursula cautiously opened the lid, "I have a feeling I know what it is," she murmured. She waved her hand over the top of the container and instantly reeled back, her eyes drooping. "Definitely Draught of the Living Dead. This potion will knock you unconscious in seconds and make you sleep like you're in a coma," she explained to Elyse.
"Sounds dangerous," Elyse commented lightly though she felt nervous around such a potion.
Ursula nodded gravely, "It doesn't have a taste so someone could slip it in your drink and you would be none the wiser. Then you are at their mercy, completely incapacitated."
Elyse shuddered. It was horrible.
"Alright, class! Let's begin in the front, shall we? Lily and Alice?" He questioned.
After they quickly explained that they had the elixir to produce euphoria and gave a quick summary of what it does and the telling signs of it, he moved onto the next group. It was moderately uninteresting since most of the potions they had already dealt with or read about at some point.
"Ben and Sirius? What potion do you have?"
"Amortentia." Ben answered.
Slughorn smiled widely, "A personal favorite of mine. How did you know?"
"The mother of pearl sheen, the spiraling steam, and the smell," Sirius lazily said.
"What does it do?"
"It becomes the smell of the person that holds her heart."
If anything, Slughorn seemed even more excited by his next question, "If you don't mind me asking, what do you boys smell?"
They looked at each other and in a silent debate, Ben was chosen to go first. He looked at Slughorn for just a second before looking over at Ursula, holding her eyes captive, "It smells like the lake behind the Potter's house, old books, freshly baked biscuits, and vanilla."
The entire class was silent, even Slughorn seemed to know what was going on when he followed Ben's gaze. Ursula felt like her heart was about to explode out of her chest. Elyse shoved her shoulder knowingly, with a smug smirk on her face. Ursula felt like her entire world was spinning. She gulped loudly and tried to keep her calm façade up but internally her mind had gone numb and butterflies had attacked her stomach.
Before she could even begin to process that, Slughorn silently motioned for Sirius to answer his question.
This brought more attention than Ben's did. Everyone knew that Ben had feelings for Ursula yet no one knew anything about Sirius. He hadn't ever shown interest in a girl in school before in a serious way. He would jokingly flirt with girls but everyone knew that he was just messing around with them.
Sirius tried to act nonchalant, "Smells like grass and like it's about to rain and—" he cut off suddenly as if he was about to give away something dearer than anything else in the world.
"And what?" Slughorn questioned.
He shook his head, "I'd rather not say, Sluggy."
And that was the end of that. Slughorn went through the rest of the groups with no problems and then invited the class to walk around to each table to see the other potions up close. When Ursula finally got to the table she was looking for, she made sure no one was looking when she sniffed the Amortentia. It smelled like a fireplace in the winter, the Quidditch pitch, and cinnamon. She cursed silently when the exact smell doubled in intensity. She turned and saw Ben standing there.
"Slughorn's letting class out early. We have to write a paper on the properties of our potions." He explained to her.
She nodded and just continued to look at him as if she had never seen before. "You smelled me, didn't you?" she questioned softly.
He flushed slightly but nodded all the same. She looked away and nodded her own head, trying to understand what he said. Then she looked back up at him, "When you walked over, the smell doubled for me." She said quickly. "But don't you dare think for a second this means you are off the hook." She tried to muster up a glare but it didn't work.
The corner of his mouth turned up into an easy smiled and he lazily wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a small eskimo kiss, brushing their noses together, "I know."
"Damn you," she cursed, feeling her anger and resolve dissipate.
"What can I say, I'm irresistible," he joked.
"Oi! Love birds! Before Peter here gags himself for real—actually never mind, please continue," Sirius shouted from the doorway, pointing towards Peter who had met them at their class so they could all go to Herbology together. He had his hand on his throat and pretended to choke himself at the disgustingness of their display of affection.
Peter held a silver hand to his throat and ended his own life.
Elyse gasped as future Peter truly did choke himself to death, his actions seemingly beyond his control. She shuddered, forced to take your own life…what a horrible way to go.
Later that day when all the classes were done, they all walked together to the boys room. They found Remus shuffling around the room, trying to reorganize it and put all his stuff away.
"Hey guys," he greeted them, sounding better than he usually did after full moons. Since they had been running with him when he changed into Moony, they found that he had been becoming more controllable, docile, and less violent. The only problem was that he still was a little bit rough with them and last night James had taken the brunt of it.
"How're yeh feelin?" Elyse questioned as she made herself comfortable on his bed. The rest of the group followed in, Ursula flickering the lights playfully before going to join Ben on his bed. James, not feeling too hot after walking up so many flights of stairs, miscalculated how far he was from his bed and ended up falling to the ground.
James was enveloped in a flash of green, falling onto the carpeted floor.
"You okay there?" Remus questioned worriedly.
James held up a hand over the bed and waved off his concern. "Yup. Just looking for my missing socks."
Remus shrugged and went to the bathroom to put away his toiletries. The second the door closed, James hissed in pain and began massaging his leg. "Damn leg. Sirius…"
Sirius didn't need to be asked twice. He walked over and grabbed James under the arms and half lifted, half threw him onto the bed. It was done so quickly and precisely Elyse got the impression that it wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Once on his bed, James began to massage his leg and bend it a couple times.
No one said anything, each unsure of what to say. Finally James broke the silence. Deciding to completely ignore what just happened, he said, "Quidditch starts up next Wednesday. We're keeping the team together this year so we don't have to go through tryouts."
"That'll save time." Ursula noted.
He nodded, "We'll need it to make sure we are in top shape so we can win the cup like we should have been able to last year. Let's try to not have someone on the team almost die again this year."
"No promises," Elyse sarcastically responded.
"Is it sad that that is actually a legitimate concern?" Ben questioned.
"Eh," Sirius shrugged.
Remus came out of the bathroom and they spent the next hour just talking, joking around, just messing with each other like normal teenagers. Towards the end of the night, Ursula was playing a game of exploding snaps with Ursula on the floor next to his bed.
"So, Sirius," Ursula began, "what was it that you smelled in potions today?"
Sirius honest to Merlin began to blush, instantly catching Ursula's attention.
"What was it?" She questioned.
"Ursula—"
"I'm your twin, now tell me."
He sighed and put his cards down. He ran his hand through his curls nervously, a trait he picked up from James. "It was apples, alright. Green apples."
"Apples? Who smells li—" she froze and gasped. She simply sat there in stunned silence for a good minute. "Are you sure?"
He nodded grimly, "I'm sure."
Her heart ached for her twin, "What are you going to do?" she put a hand on his knee, trying to offer what little comfort she could.
He laughed darkly, "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"I'm sorry." She honestly was.
He shook his head and stood up. "So am I."
She hugged him a moment before someone called her name. Elyse was motioning towards her to look at something that was on Peter's bed. She took a step towards them but ended up slipping on the cards Sirius left on the floor. She would have become great friends with the floor had Remus not been nearby and instinctively reached out to grab her waist to keep her standing.
Remus watched as a beautiful woman feel to the ground, his arm desperately reaching out for her before he too crumpled to the ground.
"Thank, Moony."
"No problem." He said as she straightened up and went over to look at what they were gesturing at. Apparently, in his free time, Peter had found some old year books that went back to the time her uncle and the Potters were in school.
After spending another hour looking at the books and then using some of Ben's ink and parchment to write a letter to Mrs. Potter, Ursula and Elyse decided to call it a night.
Once back in their room, they found Lily was still awake, having just returned from Prefect rounds.
"Hello, Elyse, Ursula, where were you guys?"
"Just spending some times in the boys' room. So what is with you and spending time with James now?"
Lily flushed under Ursula's knowing look. "He's not as bad as I thought he was, alright."
"Is the infallible Lily Evans admitting that she was wrong?"
Suddenly overcome with exhaustion, Elyse quickly changed her clothes while the other two conversed. All of her energy just drained from her as she climbed into the familiar bed that had magically followed them no matter how many times they changed rooms. The moon was just beginning to peep around the edge of the window, illuminating the rom in a light glow. An errant thought came to her just as she was about to drift off. Back in Kiltimagh, Pat was laying in his bed looking up at the same moon. A warm feeling rushed over her and she suddenly didn't miss him as much. And with that last comforting thought, she murmured, "'night, Pat," before drifting off to sleep.
Elyse laid on the ground, bloody and beaten, one word passing through her lips in a gurgle of blood before her chest stopped rising and falling.