" The boys, the girls, they all like Carmen
She gives them butterflies, bats her cartoon eyes
She laughs like God, her mind's like a diamond "
--CHAPTER EIGHT--
September 5, 1977
Monday
"Arabella, you need to calm down; stop being so dramatic. It was just a simple question, for gods sake!" Arabella muttered to herself as she got to the door of her classroom. All she needed was a little alone time. She certainly didn't want to take her problems to Benji or McGonagall, so her best option was to hide out in her office.
Opening the door, she turned on the lights and looked around the room; it was just like she had left it. She took out her muggle Walkman and searched the many tapes she had stored in her office drawer. After deciding what she wanted to listen to, and popped into the little device and let it play out loud. During her third year at Hogwarts, Sebastian had gifted her the Walkman but charmed it to play out loud instead of playing through a connected headset.
Arabella moved from her office to the main area of the classroom, bring her music with her.
The song Vienna by Billy Joel was heard throughout the classroom; Arabella had made sure to pick a tape with songs from the '70s because if someone had heard anything other, she knew they would have questions she didn't want to answer.
"Slow down you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile"
Arabella started singing along to the music.
"But then if you're so smart tell me,
Why are you still so afraid?"
The song reminder Arabella of her father.
Joe Goldstein would play music ridiculously loud on Sunday mornings to wake his children up. He was screaming the lyrics in the manor's kitchen with his wife laughing at him from her place at the table. Sebastian and Arabella would come out of their rooms and groan because they were woken up. They would walk down the stairs and into the kitchen to see their father using a spoon as a microphone pretending to be Billy Joel. Sebastian would take out his camera to capture the moment.
Joe would notice his children lingering by the doorway, laughing. He would dramatically offer Arabella his hand, and she would graciously accept. They would waltz around the kitchen, making sure to bump into as many things as possible. Mia and Sebastian would laugh at them and join in on the fun. Sunday mornings were reserved for screaming lyrics and dramatic dancing in the Goldstein kitchen, and Arabella wouldn't have it any other way.
Arabella snapped out of her daze and noticed a small tear slipped her eye, but she was quick to wipe it away.
Making her way to the large bookshelf in the corner of the room, she looked for a new book to start. She eventually picked out a muggle book called This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald and sat down on the closest couch.
----
She spent a few hours in the confines of her classroom, listening to music and lounging on the couch with a book in her hand.
It was around 4:30 pm when she heard a knock on the door.
Without looking up from her book, she yelled, "come in."
As the door opened, she made sure to finish the last words of the page before marking it. Looking up, she made eye connect with a shy-looking Remus Lupin.
"Hello there, Remus, need help already?" she teased.
Remus laughed as he became a shade darker. "no, not yet. I just wanted to come by and make sure you were alright. You ran out of the classroom before I got the chance to ask."
This is the Lupin I remember. Always so caring. Arabella thought.
"Thank you, Remus, for coming to check on me. I'm fine, just a topic that I didn't want to discuss on my first day." She said, smiling, but Arabella knew it came out more like a grimace.
Remus nodded, "Sorry about that. We didn't mean pry. I understand, and I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's alright, Remus. It happens; I know that Peter didn't mean anything by it. Make sure he knows that. That I know, I mean."
"I will," Remus said with a smile.
To Arabella, Remus Lupin looked so much different from his older counterpart. He was still ridiculously tall and had the same floppy chestnut brown hair. But there was a youthful glow that surrounded him. Remus didn't look so worn out like when she knew him. Yes, he looked a bit tired, but his hazel eyes still held the extraordinary hint of mischief to them.
He turned away from her and started looking around the room. It was much different from the other classrooms at Hogwarts. Remus almost felt safe in there.
"I like what you did to the room. It's very uh cozy."
"That's exactly what I was going for. Cozy. I noticed that all the rooms in Hogwarts are always so cold and dull. So I did what I could to prevent that."
"Well, I like it; it looks a lot like the Gryffindor common room without all the red."
"Yea, I'm not a big fan of red, if I'm honest."
Remus raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
It reminds me of blood. Arabella thought.
"I don't know. It's much too bright for my taste. I prefer cooler colors like greens and blues." She lied. "how about you? Is red your favorite color?"
"Um, no, I mean, I like it, but it's not my favorite. I say green is, but not like Slytherin green, more like the color of sage."
"Yes, I like sage green too. More of muted green. Oh, sorry, how rude of me. Would you like to sit Remus?"
"Loved to." He said as he took a seat next to her on the couch.
Remus noticed the little blue book on the couch, "is that a Fitzgerald book?" he asked.
"Oh yes, it is! I just picked this one up, I've never read it before. Fitzgerald is probably my favorite author, if I'm honest."
"I'm more of an Orwell type myself, but I do enjoy his books."
And with that statement, they launched into a heated debate on different kinds of muggle and wizard books. They had spent hours lounging on the couch; they talked about everything, trying to get to know each other. Well, Remus getting to know Arabella since she already knew a lot about him. She spoke about her time in America and everything she could reveal to him without giving anything too personal away. She hated having to lie to him since he was so honest, but it had to be done.
----
It was around 7 when they both made their way over to the great hall for dinner. At the entrance of the hall, Remus turned to her once more.
"I had a really good time today. Thank you for that." He said with a crooked smile.
Arabella shook her head, "Anytime, Remus! I'm always going to be in my office, so when you want to have another debate!"
With one last nod of gratitude, Arabella made her way over to the teacher's table and Remus to the Gryffindor one.
"Hey, moony, where have you been?" asked Sirius black as soon as Remus sat down.
"Oh, I've just been with Arabella. I wanted to make sure she was alright after that defense class."
Sirius nodded, "Is she? Okay, I mean?"
"Yea, she said she's alright, just that she wasn't expecting a question like that," Remus answered while grabbing a bread roll.
"Shit, I should probably go apologize for even saying anything..." Peter said nervously, looking up to the teacher's table where Arabella sat.
Remus shook his head, "no need wormy; she told me that she knows you didn't mean it in a bad way."
To this, Peter signed in relief and went back to eating his food.
Sirius spoke up once more, "but moons, if you were there to check on her, why did it take you until dinner time?"
"Oh right, I ended up staying and talking to her in her classroom. You guys should go see it. She has couches and blankets in there. And not to mention the glorious selection of books and the shit ton of muggle music she has. Might start studying in there instead of the stuffy old library." Remus said and went back to stuffing himself with food.
Sirius nodded, making a mental note to pay a visit to Arabella's office, and started a conversation with James across the table.
A few seats away, a group of girls sat talking about the new teacher's aid.
"I feel like we should get to know her, you know, like be her friend." Said Lily, while mary nodded.
Marlene stared at them in confusion, "why? She's a teacher, isn't she? Probably just going to get us in trouble."
Alice shook her head, "no, I don't think so. She's said countless times that she's not a teacher, and honestly, she doesn't seem like the type to snitch."
"Yea, I mean, being the only member of the staff that still just a kid must get lonely. We could go to her classroom or something to keep her company." Dorcas agreed.
"Dork, you're supposed to be on my side; you're my girlfriend!" Marlene pouted.
Dorcas just looked at her and laughed, "I know that Marley, but you're judging Arabella without getting to know her first; give her a chance. If she does end up being stuck up, then you get the satisfaction of saying I told you so."
"I do like being right... okay, fine, well, hang out with Arabella." Marlene surrendered.
"Yay!" Lily and Mary said by doing a happy dance together.
Back over at the teacher's table, Benji was trying to get Arabella to talk about her feelings.
"Benji, this is hardly the place to talk about this, and honestly, nothing happened, I'm fine. Just got a little overwhelmed, that's all." Said Arabella while taking a bit of her chocolate pie.
Benji didn't look convinced but let the topic go, knowing that if something did happen, she would tell him.
"So where did you end up going for the rest of the day?" he questioned.
"Oh, I just when back to my classroom. I listened to some music and read."
Benji looked shocked, "you read for hours?"
Arabella rolled her eyes, "what's so wrong with reading for hours? I thought you were a Ravenclaw. And no, for your information Remus came over to check if I was alright."
"Okay, not all Ravenclaws are nerds, bells. And he did? That nice of him. So I'm guessing you guys got to talking?"
"Yes, we did. He told me about his whole life story, while except the part about his little problem, not that I didn't know everything about him already." She casually said.
Benji looked confused, "His problem?"
"You know... that he's a werewolf," Arabella whispered.
"Right, sorry. It slipped my mind. Dumbledore told me about that. But anyway, how was it? Was it weird talking to his younger self?"
Arabella shook her head, "mhm, surprising no. The Remus I knew was basically like my second dad cause when my parents died; he was there for me. So I've never felt uncomfortable around him, and his younger self isn't too different. We mostly spent hours talking about books and music. He got me caught up on most of the drama of Hogwarts. Who knew that Remus Lupin was such a gossip!"
"That's good, Bella! I'm happy for you. I'm sure you know that these are good people, but I went to school with them. James and Sirius have seriously changed, not those little immature boys I remember. And the girls have always been great. All you need to be together, obviously I'm always going to be here for you, but everyone needs to stick together. If we break apart, we are letting him win."
Arabella smiled at his words and turned her attention to the Gryffindor table. All of the people she was meant to save were laughing together; completely oblivious to the troubles of the future. Arabella vowed to keep them safe, even if it killed her.
----
Gryffindor common room
September 5, 1977
9:00 pm
"SIRIUS BLACK, GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU!" bellowed a very angry Marlene.
"I didn't mean to, I swear! You're the one that ate the candy from my bag. This is what you get for snooping!" Sirius said, trying to defend himself.
James Potter looked up from his guitar to see what the commotion was and had to stifle a laugh.
"Pads... what did you do to her?" James said.
Sirius poked his head out from the couch he was hiding behind, "nothing, I swear. Marley was just dumb enough to eat one of those candies that the Prewetts gave us. It's her fault that her hair is green."
James, Remus, and Peter were laughing from the other side of the common room when the portrait door opened, and in came Arabella with a panicked look on her face.
"What the bloody hell is going on here?!" she yelled.
Looking around the room, she got her answer by looking at Marlene's Slytherin green hair. She had to admit it was funny but decided not to get on the blonde's wrong side.
"Well, is someone going to explain?" Arabella said in a calm voice.
Marlene glared at Sirius, "well, you wanna explain to Arabella why my hair is GREEN?!"
"No, not really..." Sirius said while going to run behind Arabella to evade Marlene's rage.
Remus stood up from his place and walked over to Arabella, "wait, Bella, not that I don't love having you here, but why are you here?"
"Oh, all staff members are required to do rounds around the castle after dinner to make sure everyone is in their common rooms. I just stopped by to talk to Elizabeth when I heard screaming." She said, trying to move away from Sirius and Marlene.
She turned to Marlene again, "Sweets, what happen to your hair? Not that I don't love the color green, by the way."
"I ate one of Sirius's candies that apparently turns your hair green. I didn't know, and that git didn't warn me!" Marlene franticly said, "I look so bad..."
"Let me guess, this candy, was it a Prewett creation?" she asked knowingly.
Sirius narrowed his eyes at her, "yes.. wait, how do you know?"
"I met them over the summer. I tried to slip one of them in my tea; I don't know how those boys are Aurors. Lucky for me, I could feel the magic coming from my cup and made them drink it instead, as a little payback." She smirked.
James came over from his spot on the couch, "what do you mean 'feel magic'?"
Arabella shrugged, "Well, magic releases a lot of energy; I mean, it's quite impossible to avoid. You just have to know what you are looking for."
Everyone stared at her like she had grown three heads. The tension was interrupted due to the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Why are you lot screaming?! Some people are trying to study!" Lily Evans screamed.
"Lily, what are you possibly studying for? It's the first day of classes!" said Remus.
"Hey now, Lily is entitled to study whenever she likes." Arabella turned to the girl, "Sorry sweety, Marlene has a little predicament."
Before Lily could reply, Alice came up to her, "Hey Arabella! Welcome to Gryffindor tower! Would you like to sit down?" she said in a dreamy voice, eerily sounding like Luna Lovegood.
"Thank you, Alice, but I really must get going. I just wanted to see if anyone was okay. Marlene, please don't kill Sirius. If he does this again, don't worry, I'll kill him for you." Arabella said by winking at the girl.
"HEY-" Sirius started.
"Hey Marlene, give me your hand real quick." Arabella put out her hand for Marlene to take. She looked at the teacher's aid skeptically but obeyed. Arabella closed her eyes and concentrated by mutter words under her breathe. She opened her eyes again. The others noticed that her eyes started changing from her normal hazel to a bright golden color.
Once Arabella felt like she had done enough, she let go of the girl's hand and smiled at her.
"There! all better. I do prefer the blonde over the green."
To say everyone was shocked was an understatement. Arabella knew that it was very risky to show her powers in front of them, but she didn't care.
"How did you do that...?" James croaked out.
Arabella simply smirked and said, "a magician never reveals her secrets." Then proceed to salute and walk out of the common room.
All the Gryffindors looked at each other and agreed to find out who exactly Arabella Goldstein was.
A/N- I'm trying to build relationships here, I'm sorry if it's a bit slow!!
Carmen by Lana Del Rey