For the first time in a long time, Sarah dreamt of her parents. She imagined them young, as teenagers, running around Hogwarts, passing the moving paintings that yelled dafter them to keep it down. Themselves being the ones who were shouting louder. They were just laughing. She couldn't help but to see herself and Fred, no red hair but same breathless and complicit snickers from almost getting caught.
Remus had told her some stories about them, how their story started. She liked thinking of it sometimes, imagining Remus, James, Sirius and her father young, she wondered how much she was alike her own mother.
*twenty two years ago*
"Run."
Their feet were set into motion just as soon, the command was pretty common among them. But if it were to be shouted to anyone else, they might stir up panic. And at a rightful cause, one might find pulling a prank on a Professor panic worthy, the kind of action one would avoid.
Problem was, four of them didn't actually know why they were running, but they had learned years ago to run first, and ask the questions later.
Daniel forcefully ushered them into a corner where they could witness it all, had to grab Peter by the collar to bring him against the wall, otherwise he would have continued running. They hid until Mrs Norris passed.
With flushed cheeks, Peter setting his collar and tie straight, James ruffling his hands through his hair, Sirius completely unfazed and snickering at Remus who had his hands on his knees and wheezing. As much as he enjoyed sneaking around the castle and fist bumping into corners at a well put joke, he wasn't fond of the part where they had to run away in case of a retaliation.
"Want to fill us in on what you did? So we know at least where we stand on the lie scale?" asked Sirius while he peaked around the corner and crossed his arms, a sly smirk drawing on his face.
"When Flitwick walks into the Charms class in about five minutes," Daniel smirked and tucked the longer strands of his hair behind his ears before tilting his chin towards the classroom they spend they Thursday afternoons, "It'll only take one step to pour the bucket of vinegar turned into wine above the door—"
James and Sirius exchanged a small nod whereas Remus leaned towards him abruptly, unsure he'd heard that right, "You're going to drench Flitwick in wine? Are you mental?"
"I'm not that basic. Please, give me some credit," he pressed a hand to his chest dramatically like he'd just insulted his entire bloodline. "I will make a tornado out of it, let him levitate in the center of it for a few seconds. He gave me such a hard time last week when I couldn't turn the vinegar into wine, he'll know it's a joke."
"The question isn't if he'll know it's a joke. It's more a matter of how well will he take it," said Remus skeptically. Often he found himself being the voice of reason, Sirius, James and Daniel were tasked with talking him out of his logicality.
He leaned his shoulder against the tall brick wall, tilting a painting to the side in the process.
"Hey!" the old man inside shouted at him, "Careful boy!"
"Sorry." Remus repositioned it and they all tried to ignore the angry grumbling man, waving his striped hat in the air. When Remus glanced at him again, clearly uncomfortable, Sirius flicked his wand and set a Silencing charm on the painting. The man dropped his hat and still tried to shout but nothing was heard.
Sirius slid his hands in his pockets and winked at Remus before going back to the trial of Daniel, both of them clearly biting down on their smiles.
"Don't worry about that, he loves me," Daniel assured them, a nonchalant shrug falling off his shoulders when he looked at the door again.
"Besides, what's the worst thing that could happen? Detention?" he muttered the word with an ironic tremble then grinned at all of them. "James is still finishing off the detention from Slughorn for dyeing Snape's uniforms gold and red."
"However did you even manage that?" Sirius inquired, most intrigued, almost impressed. He'd never succeeded sneaking into Slytherin's common room.
"You snogged that Guinevere girl, didn't you?" Remus playfully slapped James' shoulder and made him grin widely while he nodded.
That seemed to surprise Daniel greatly. His eyebrows furrowed "Guinevere? What about Evans? Weren't you whining over her giving you the cold shoulder again last week?"
James immediately straightened up and pointed a threatening finger at him, "You watch it, Jester. You bring up Evans, I bring up Nash."
"Oh, no. What did you do to her this time, Daniel?" asked Remus worriedly.
He cocked an eyebrow, showing by his expression he wasn't sharing his concern, "It's not my fault she's pretty when she gets mad."
"She'll never go out with you if you keep pissing her off."
"Let me worry about that, Moony," Daniel clapped his shoulder, gave his hair a friendly ruffle. "I know what I'm doing."
They were all so engrossed in the teasing of Daniel and James about Lily and Lyana that they didn't notice the two girls actually making their way towards the classroom, they usually came in early, a detail Daniel had forgotten.
Only Sirius, who was quite fond of chaos, had caught the red of Lily's hair. It was already too late when he tapped Daniel's arm, "Speaking of, isn't that Evans and Nash?"
Lyana entered the room, Lily following a few steps behind. Lyana was turned to her with a bright smile, talking about whatever book they were reading.
Before Daniel react, the wine poured over Lyana's head, making her scream in fright and fall to the ground. She'd pushed Lily out of the way, the instinct of protecting her best friend kicking in at the first sign of trouble, but now her robes and hair were drenched, her parchments and notebooks scattered across the floor.
"Now, she'll definitely never go out with you, mate," snickered James quietly, squeezing his shoulder. Daniel gripped onto the wall and stared in horror at the scene, he started to hit his head repeatedly on the wall.
"Are you alright? Godric, what was that?" Lily asked her in panic, scanning the door frame they were under. "Who would be stupid enough to set up wine above a door—" When she asked that question, they heard a snort not far from them. Lyana sent her a look and they both knew who it was.
She took a deep breath and pouted, pushing her now wet hair out of her face while categorizing in her mind the different hexes, slurs and curses she could throw at them. "MCCAULEY!"
Her feet made a splash when she stepped up, and Lily backed away with a wince, careful to hold her robes up, "I love you, L, but I'll support you from afar on this one."
Lyana squinted angrily only for a second at her, she wasn't the one she was after. "McCauley! You unbelievable prick!"
Daniel had his back pressed against the wall, he'd slapped the back of James' head when he gave them away by laughing. His eyes were squeezed shut and his stomach all in knots, breathing in and out pure desperation.
Remus sent him a compassionate gaze and popped his head from around the corner. He was the less likely to infuriate them any further.
He sent them a small wave and smiled apologetically. "I think it goes without saying that it wasn't intended for you," he explained gently, half expecting to have a wine drenched notebook hurled at his head.
"Is he hiding behind that wall?" Lyana asked, shaking her head, completely fuming. She took a few steps closer, a squishing sound coming from her shoes that made Lily bite down as hard as she could on her lip so she doesn't laugh. She loved Lyana like a sister, which is why her first instinct was to laugh, and she's also known her for far too long to take her anger seriously when it came to Daniel. She didn't get completely red faced, her nostrils didn't flare, she didn't stumble on her own words when she spat them. It was more of a composed anger, like she unconsciously remained aware of her appearance.
"In what world is this funny, McCauley? Huh?" spat Lyana, looking over Remus' shoulder.
She couldn't see Daniel's dark golden hair yet. If she was honest with herself, she'd admit catching the glimpse of it passing the hallways always made her heart skip a beat, but in moments like these, which were much more frequent than the last instance, she would gladly throw a fireball at him.
Daniel slowly walked out, James, Sirius and Peter followed his steps awkwardly.
The green of Daniel's eyes scrutinized the scene and the first thing that came to his mind wasn't an apology, which shocked pretty much everyone. He somehow thought he could joke his way out of this. He brought a hand over the nape of his neck and stroked it anxiously, "Well, you're Gryffindor, aren't you? They match your robes."
Sirius and James' eyes fluttered closed for a split second, mentally chastising their best friend. And if their reaction told Daniel something, it was that he'd mucked it up completely. They were now preparing for the worst.
She was far beyond angry at this point, staring at him disbelievingly, "I am not going to glorify that with an answer."
"Seriously, guys?" muttered Lily, a wrinkle between her brows. James and Remus mouthed a quick apology, Daniel was too busy staring at Lyana, his entire life flashing before his eyes.
"Tell me something," Lyana crouched down to gather her soaked parchments and notebooks, "Do you ever surprise yourself with how daft you can be? Or is it just everybody else?"
"It was an accident, I swear it Nash—" Daniel gulped and crouched down to help her, but she didn't accept it, she quickly got up instead and glared at him, "You wanted to borrow my notes from last week's class?"
He straightened up again and she got so close to his face that when he could smell the sour from the wine. Her breath fanned over his lips when she stated, her anger at its peak, "Be my guest, Daniel."
He would have given anything to close that insignificant gap between them.
She slammed them on his chest, drops of red landing on his cheeks, although they were already red.
"Lyana—"
She poked his chest and stepped away to take off her robe, some wine still dripping from the bottom, "I'm obviously not going to that class, could you just hand me your notes tonight?" she asked Lily, suddenly her expression shifting into a more calmer one.
"Of course," nodded Lily, gathering up the last of her notebooks from the floor.
Once she'd taken off her robe, she was left in the gray Gryffindor jumper and pants, since she'd never been that fond of the skirt, something McGonagall would often fault her for. Her uniform stuck to her skin, drawing out more precisely the shape of her than before. Daniel, James, Remus and Peter all looked up, to the right or down, leaving Sirius to smirk, his gaze trailing her up and down for those short seconds.
"Something you'd like to add, Sirius?" she shot him a glare, remaining unfazed while she wiped the few droplets she felt on her face.
"No," he looked away then, this being one of the rare occasions he got called out. "Sorry."
The two girls rolled their eyes at him and turned to walk away. Flitwick arrived moments before, eyes Lyana strangely but didn't ask what it was about. Lily and Remus had made sure to wipe the wine from the floor when they saw him coming from across the hall.
"Flitwick would have killed you," Lily chided before walking away, her and Lyana splitting up when the latter continued her way towards the Gryffindor common room instead of attending that class.
The five of them watched the two walk away, Daniel holding the dripping notes, the ink had smeared across the pages making them unreadable. He didn't need the notes last week, he just wanted an excuse to talk to her.
James winced at him, "She just first-named you, mate."
"Couldn't you just have said that you're sorry?" sighed Remus.
Sirius' gaze followed her intently, "I want to kiss her a little bit, is that mental?"
Daniel elbowed his stomach, so hard he had him double over and wheeze out a pained chuckle, "Oi, I'm joking, lover-boy. Partly. You were right, she is pretty when she's mad."
James slapped the back of Sirius' head while Daniel shot him a dark glare. It only made him grin cheekily at Daniel, "And you are also pretty when you're mad."
He rolled his eyes in response and glanced down at the ruined parchments, "What do I do with this, now?"
"Oh, isn't he lovely, Sirius?" James mused while throwing an arm around his neck.
"But he is," sang Sirius, continuing on his lead, locking an arm around Remus. "Our boy is intoxicated on the sweet elixir of love."
James set his other arm around Peter who had been silent and a bit set aside until now, the four of them started swaying. "The troubadours shall sing! No-" James exchanged a a playful look with Remus who joined in gladly. "They shall proclaim! "Lyana! My love, your smile fills my dreams, and then I spend three days raving to my dorm mates about the time you touched my arm."
"I hate you all," huffed Daniel, his hand itching to draw his wand.
"She's made you lose half a brain in a flash," chuckled James, snapping his fingers to amplify the quickness of it, "You throw those away. Unless you want to keep them, put them in a frame."
"Don't joke with that, he actually might," cautioned Remus sarcastically.
"Cut it out, will you?"
"What happened to you, mate?" James questioned him.
"Yeah," Sirius chimed in teasingly, "I thought you knew what you were doing."
Daniel rolled his eyes, hands in his pockets he turned to watch Lyana walk away. She hadn't made it that far away, she was carrying her shoes in one hand, her wand in the other. Every other step she would turn around and flick her wand to wipe the droplets of wine she let behind because it was in her nature to be considerate and think of others stepping into the corridors.
"He's completely gone, that's what's happened," chuckled Remus. James and Sirius grinned at Daniel, who didn't even hear them.
"I'll tell you what," Remus put an arm around him and pulled him out of his trance for a few minutes. He poked his shoulder to get his point across, "Convince Lily to let you take the notes for Lyana, hand them over to her and apologize. Use that McCauley charm."
"I'll hex the lot of you if you don't stop grinning like the idiots you are," spat Daniel, not wanting to admit he was grateful for Remus' idea. "You all owe me chocolate frogs for the singing, I mean it."
"Okay, we deserve that," Remus brought a sincere hand over his chest, then realized the others weren't joining in. "Don't we?"
He knew he needed to get one of them to break and the others will follow compliantly. He stared at Sirius, raising his brow progressively higher as he awaited his input, and as if he just couldn't bear disappointing him, Sirius nodded and mumbled half-heartedly , "Yeah, fine."
The story went as such, and Remus had told it to Sarah in detail. From that moment Daniel actually got his act together. It took him the rest of his sixth year, though.
The dominoes cascaded flawlessly, and by some stroke of luck, she agreed to a single date, which led to another, then another and another. They spent their seventh year hand in hand, not letting go even at their lowest, not even in their last moments.
Now Sarah had definitely heard something, she felt something as well, a sharp pain in her left arm. She thought it had just fallen asleep, it had been tucked between her and Fred for a good part of the night but once she'd freed it, it still didn't stop.
The blueish scar on her arm stung again as she stared at it, convalescing from being ripped away from such peaceful thoughts.
The sharp pain felt as fierce as a skin burn, she fought with everything she had not to cry out this time. Thankfully Fred wasn't a light sleeper.
She schemed a whole strategy to get out of his grasp without waking him, finally managed to step outside, her hand pressing on her forearm, trying to get the burning to stop, unsuccessfully.
She had noticed Harry wasn't inside either, by now she understood this had something to do with him being hurt. He wasn't at the usual spot, that only made her panic more.
There was a loud splash coming from the lake a few yards away but she couldn't see anything, just heard some whooshing sounds. By the time she had located where they were coming from, the loud wind sweeping through the bare branches hadn't been helpful at all, the noise had stopped completely, making for a eerie atmosphere.
She found Harry soaking wet and panting, next to none other than Ronald Weasley.
When he saw her, he jolted up and ran towards her, without a warning wrapped his arms around her, "I'm so sorry. For what I said. You're family, mine, ours, always have been."
"It's okay, Ron," she assured him quietly, "I know, it's okay."
He pulled away, squeezed her arms before letting her go fully, letting the words sink in so she'd know he means it.
"How did you find us?" asked Harry through the clicking of his teeth.
"My arm burnt, I knew you were in trouble, but, you were a bit too far, and with all nature's noises around— What was that whooshing sound?"
"Oh-" Harry pointed at something resting on a large rock.
"Long story short is that we found the sword," Ron filled in hastily. She realized something had happened and he would rather not talk about it.
"And destroyed a Horcrux," continued Harry.
"What?!"
Her eyes shot towards the something Harry pointed at and it took a while for her eyes to adjust, getting some help from the cracks of light peaking through the gray sky.
"Oh, Merlin," she wondered, taking a few steps closer to pick it up. The locket that tormented them for such a long time was gone, "We're another one down."
"Only three to go," Ron commented brightly, attempting a smile.
Harry shrugged, "No biggie, then."
"What happened to you?" Sarah scanned him up and down, he looked like he was freezing, moments away from becoming human popsicle.
"Almost drowned when I dived for the sword," he explained casually.
To that Sarah crossed her arms and nodded, didn't appear shocked in the slightest. She knew normalcy was long gone when it came to them, "Not a big deal, then."
"Exactly." He rubbed his hands together and blew some hot air between the palms of his hands.
"Should we go wake Hermione?" Ron inquired eagerly. "I-uh-"
"Yes, you should. And if you don't mind, I'll retreat for that one, I do not want to witness her wrath bestowed upon you," said Sarah ominously, ended with an eyebrow raise to show she was teasing him a bit.
The cold air hit her face, more like slapped her face, turning her quite aware of the lack of clothes. Jumper and joggers, not nearly warm enough, although they were in much warmer day until now, this particular morning was violent.
She suggested they come inside to warm up, only Harry was too wired up to settle down, he started shouting after Hermione, getting everyone else to wake in the process.
As she promised earlier, Sarah stepped away when she saw Hermione hit Ron and prepared the tea for everyone to make up for the fact they had been so brutally awoken.
"A sound sleeper you are," she chuckled at Fred, his tea in hand. "Weasley." She tapped the bed with the tip of her foot, something at the back of her mind telling her he was faking it.
He didn't move, so she crouched down, her chin resting on the back of her hand.
"Freddie," she cooed, as she brushed her knuckles over his cheek. Her lips broke into a smile, her finger curling a small strand of his hair. "I know you're faking it. Open an eye or I'll pour the tea over your head," she threatened sweetly.
Fred opened an eye and grinned at her, "Okay, I yield." After taking a second to observe her properly, his eyes widened, "You look like a mad woman."
"Thank you, Fred. That's exactly what every woman wants to hear," she chided sarcastically, well aware of what the short while she spent outside in the early morning made her hair act up again. "Your brother came back along with the sword of Gryffindor. He's being attacked with leaves and destroyed the Horcrux."
"Wicked. What a strange morning we're having," Fred mumbled with half a mouth, clearly still groggy.
"And the mad woman made you tea."
She made to stand but Fred caught her hand, set a gentle kiss on it. "I love that mad woman," he confessed with a thinly veiled regret for his previous comment.
She took away her hand and shook her head, "Nice try."
Fred sat up with a smile, spoke while he stretched his arms, "I'm not gonna live that down, am I?"
"Nope," she winked at him with a smug smile, making Fred roll his eyes and huff into his cup of tea, actively counting the numerous ways she could twist this comment of his and have it come bite him in the arse. He could see her, thirty years from now, still holding that grudge and joking about it. It made him smile to himself.
His train of thought had been interrupted by Ron and Harry storming into the tent and blabbering about some ball of light and Hermione. He didn't understand a word of it, it was too early for that, but he couldn't help himself, he had to throw a comment at him.
"You're seeing things, now, are you, Ron? Couldn't have seen reason weeks ago before you left?" sassed Fred.
"Sod off," Ron spat at him and sat with Harry on his old bunk bed.
"So where were you?" George asked him.
"Hiding from snatchers, nasty they are," he muttered. "Dumbledore's thingy helped me out, I heard Hermione's voice, actually, it was strange, but quite lovely." He smiled a bit when he thought of her, and when he noticed everyone staring at him knowingly, he cleared his throat, "Harry do you need a wand? Thought I heard something happened to yours."
Ron pulled out a wand from his bag and handed it to him, "It's not much but it's better than naught."
Harry tried to flick it towards the flame flickering before them, keeping the tent lit up. The violent heat from the fire startled Sarah who wasn't far from it, she tripped on her own foot and fell down.
"Reducio!" he shouted because his movement hadn't been precise and the spell made the fire grow immensely.
"What's going on in there?" Hermione's head appeared through the tent's drapes.
"Nothing," said Harry and Ron, while Sarah got up painfully, rubbed a spot on her back that hit the leg of the bench.
"I think I've got something, Sarah, come look at this," Hermione informed them all, she handed the book she from Godric's Hollow to Harry, Sarah walking in next to him. "There's that eye again," continued Hermione, "It means something, I just don't know what. And I think I know where we can get answers."
"And where's that?" asked Sarah, looking at the pages, that triangle with a circle inside was printed in. There was something strange about it, Hermione was right, somehow their leads were connecting to it.
Hermione's gaze swept around the room once, like telling everyone they should pack up. "The Lovegoods."
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AN
So sorry again for not keeping up with the schedule, I know this chapter doesn't have much of action but I had the idea of writing about Daniel and Lyana a few lines and it sort of unwinded into a full chapter without meaning to.
The next chapter will appear shortly, the plot continues, I promise.
Lots of love,
S