Sirius
The girl's mouth dropped open. She was stunning, even as she stood there looking like a goldfish.
"Don't you recognise me, Sirius?" She asked, her mouth growing into a wide smile and her blue eyes flashed green. She threw her arms around me and I stood, taken aback, before I remembered.
Just as I put my arms around her too, someone bounded out of the door, knocking into the girl with such force that the two of them fell down onto the grass, "OLLIE?!"
Remus pushed himself onto his elbows to look at her, "Woops, got a bit carried away." He said, before bursting out laughing. She too laughed a true, guffawing laugh as she looked at Remus.
"You might want to fix your skirt there, Ollie, you're putting on quite the display," I said, to which Olimpia sprang up to her feet, pulling her skirt down. Her face flushed and contrasted greatly against her light blonde hair, but her smile still almost split her face in half.
"Sirius didn't recognise me." She said in a teasing voice to Remus who looked at me incredulously.
"Well, don't blame me, I didn't know you were coming here. I thought you were in Norway." I said, looking pointedly at Remus, who had obviously chosen not to tell the rest of us of Ollie's visit.
"I wanted it to be a surprise." He said grinning sheepishly.
"And a lovely surprise it was." I said looking into Ollie's eyes, who looked away quickly. Something seemed to shift behind my navel.
"Did someone say Ollie was coming over to visit?" James asked walking down the stairs, rubbing his eyes, his hair pointing in every direction. He had just woken up from his one O'clock nap.
He looked through the doorway straight at Olimpia. He bent forwards slightly, squinting his eyes, "Who's tha-"
"Put on your glasses, numpty, it's me!" Ollie said as she rushed forwards to hug him, too.
Olimpia
The boys had carried in my trunk and bag, though I had insisted to carry in my staff - I didn't like other people touching it - and Remus had offered me a glass of ice tea which I had accepted gracefully. The climb up here really had been exhausting.
"So," James said in a mock stern voice, which was hard to take seriously as he had biscuit crumbs on his cheek, "How come you're back here, and how come you didn't tell the rest of us?"
"Well," I said slowly, exchanging an excited smile with Remus, "I'm coming back to school again."
There was a moment of silence as the words sunk in before James jumped up on the couch and started dancing a sort of jig, his hands in the air and his already messy hair flying everywhere, "Yes, yes, yes!" He exclaimed. Sirius jumped up and joined in and I smiled at the two of them. I had missed them all so much. Remus laughed at their dorkiness and bit into another biscuit.
James calmed down again and sat down again, looking seriously at me, "I knew it- well I didn't know it, but I thought so! That's excellent. Perfect!"
I felt rather touched, and knew that my face was crimson. It was all I could do to prevent myself from letting tears leak out of my eyes. It had been a while since I had been around people so excited to be with me.
"Where are Hope and Lyall?" I asked Remus, wondering why they weren't there.
"Oh, they're away on some cruise, they wanted to see you but we figured out we'd meet up with them in Diagon Alley."
"And guess who else will meet us in Diagon Alley?" James asked, but not giving anyone time to respond before bursting out, "Lily!" He beamed.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, excited to see her too, "How'd you convince her?"
"The thing is, I didn't! I just sent her an owl, asking if she wanted to join us and she said she wouldn't mind that."
"So you still like her, then?" I asked.
"Like her?" Sirius scoffed, "He's obsessed with the girl."
"I'm amazed he hasn't started dressing like her, to be honest." Remus said smiling slyly at James who looked unabashed.
"She's well worth being obsessed over."
I smiled at him. I had always enjoyed his honesty, people in Norway were always very direct as well.
"Okay Jamesie, now. When shall we leave for the barn?" Remus asked, looking around at us.
"We're going to the barn?" I asked excitedly. Remus, his parents, my mum and I had always gone to 'The Barn' every summer. There weren't any animals there any more, but it was a large, open building Lupin's parent had bought a long time ago. I had loads of happy memories there, and looked forward to going there with the boys.
"Yup," Remus said, "Shall we leave in an hour?"
A murmur of "Yeah, alright," answered him, but then I realised.
"How are we getting there? I mean, we can't walk all the way there, and there aren't any buses that drive there."
The boys exchanged smug looks, then Sirius stood up and sat beside me, putting his one arm over the back of the couch behind me, and fishing out a little piece of paper with the other.
"Before school ended, we figured that we might want to get up to some stuff this summer," He handed me the laminated paper, "So we conjured up one for each of us."
"Magic fake ID's?" I looked it over, impressed by the detail, "Very clever." I said, very aware of how I could feel the warmth radiating off of Sirius' body which was so very close to my own.
"Remus' idea, obviously." James grinned proudly at Remus.
"So who's going to drive us, then?" I asked, considering which one I trusted most to get us there in one piece.
"I'm best on the broom, so I will." James said and the other two groaned.
"We haven't quite agreed on just that." Remus said, ignoring James' look of fake insult.
"Hang on, why isn't Peter here? He isn't- he hasn't-"
"No," Said Remus quickly, "Nothing like that, he's on holiday with his mum in France, he'll be joining us at Diagon Alley too."
"Oh, okay," I said, feeling relieved, "Dunno, maybe you should all go out and try to actually start the car before you decide on who's going to drive. In the meantime, I need to go pee." I got up, straightened my skirt and walked up the stairs. Through a window on the left side of the staircase, I could see the house I grew up in. I decided I wanted to go visit it before leaving for the barn, and continued up the stairs. As I looked around the corridor I knew so well, I saw a framed painting of a wolf and a boy hung up in the room I knew to be Remus', having spent so many nights there myself. I smiled to myself, and walked into the bathroom.
Remus
After I had heard the bathroom door close, I turned to the other boys.
"Right. I don't know how much you guys have spoken to her over the years, but she's had some experiences that would make any person, well, fragile."
I thought back to the letters she had sent me, some of which almost made me fly right over to where she was and make her feel better.
Dear Remus,
I arrived at Durmstrang yesterday; father had been gone for nearly a week when he told me he thought he'd be a bit longer than he had expected. The journey was fine, though the walk from the house to the point where I was supposed to meet one of my professors that would apparate the rest of the way (father doesn't want anyone to know exactly where it is we live in case the information leaks to unwanted visitors) was biting cold. Usually when we go out in the January blizzards, Atle puts charms on the two of us, but as I'm not allowed to use magic unsupervised...
I'm getting off track. This morning, I woke up to find a girl in my dormitory dead. Someone had come in through the window during the night and slit her throat. The professors are trying to convince us it was just some mad muggle who had stumbled into the grounds, which could explain the muggle way of killing, but I think they're trying to cover up something darker. Things are changing around here, Remus. I didn't know the girl particularly well: I don't really know anyone here, as I'm not here much and people avoid me because of my father, but she seemed nice. I heard a rumour that her parent had done something to upset the Dark Wizards.
The thing that really scares me is that that could have been me, whether it was a mad muggle or a vengeful Dark Wizard, and though the school says they are putting up more protective spells around the grounds, they can't protect us from what's already in the castle.
Father says he doesn't reckon it's safe for me return to Durmstrang at all next year, which either means I'll be completely isolated with him all the time, or I'll be returning to Hogwarts. I cross my fingers in hope of seeing you again.
Don't write anything with sensitive information back, I don't know how long it'll before owl post is unsafe.
Stay safe,
Ollie
She had sent that letter January this year, and things had just spiralled worse since then. She never directly wrote that she was unhappy, or in direct danger, but I knew she had been in an unhealthy and unsafe environment for a long time.
The boys nodded gravely.
"What are you all looking so damn serious about you, especially you, Sirius but I guess you can't help it. And have you really not even come out the front door yet. Honestly, I suppose I have to do everything around here!" She said, though she was smiling. She strode outside, her long braid swinging from side to side.
The three of her watched her for a moment, then moved out to try to start the car.