Tales of the Forest: A Tale of Blood and Sorrow

Kaleese, Morgan, Shannon, Sarah, and Genevieve – otherwise known as Ivy or Delphi - trekked around the camp. Finally, they found a cabin. Kaleese looked out the window and sighed.

She looked back at the group in terror. “We’re lost, gals. We’re lost,” she said softly.

Panic broke out among the four noisier girls until a hoarse cry of “Quiet!” silenced them. They looked swiftly at the outside campsite where Ivy was building a fire from a few twigs and matches.

“Ivy, what you doing?” wondered Sarah.

Ivy’s clear, cadet-blue eyes looked around at the group. She tossed her head, causing her coppery-blond hair to swirl. “Panic’s no use in these situations. We’re stuck here, we might as well make the best of it and tell stories. How many people have read the Harry Potter series?”

All hands went up.

“Good,” said Ivy gently in her strong, clear voice, her eyes expressionless and wise, her cats-eye glasses reflecting the moon. “I am about to tell you a tale about a friend of Harry’s parents…”

“You mean Sirius Black?” said Morgan eagerly.

“No, but at least you’ve read the book. Good. Sit down, around the fire. I’ll tell you.”

The four girls settled around the fire, watching as their twelve-year-old friend settled herself on a smooth black stone curiously shaped like a panther. She looked around at the group and said the introduction:

“This tale I am about to tell is not to be taken lightly. For there is death and sorrow in the story. Hence the name ‘A Tale of Blood and Sorrow.’

“It is the tale of a centaur who was accepted into Hogwarts. She was in Lily’s year, and she fell in love with a human. Now, before I tell you the rest, there is one thing you must know: Centaur law forbids falling in love with a human.” She looked slowly at the group. “Are you ready?” she asked quietly. The other four girls nodded their assent, and the story began…

Butterfly leapt into the air and kicked with her hind legs, sending her reddish-brown tail into disarray. She had just been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which had never before had a centaur pupil. She lashed out with her front legs at the tree which she used as a frustration vent. The people there had also planted a Whomping Willow next to her home, and that was not fun for her, her mother, and her younger brother, Firenze. Butterfly’s father had been killed by one of Voldemort’s deputies. She always loathed the Dark Lord, but her hatred had reached its peak when a deputy left his calling card on her father’s corpse a year ago.

Her brother Firenze came out of the shack that they lived in. They looked very much alike, save the fact that Butterfly had reddish-brown hair and turquoise eyes that actually seemed to be carved out of the gem and Firenze had silvery-blond hair and dark, midnight-blue eyes. "What are you doing here? Mom said she wanted you to come in for the ceremony an hour ago!" he said.

Butterfly rolled her eyes and laughed. Her mother had said that she would turn her into a human for the school year and when she needed to go to Diagon Alley. They’d also changed their living arrangements so the truth wouldn’t be found out – on the day that Butterfly left for school, they would move into a wood near an abandoned building in Hogsmeade which the local centaurs stayed well away from – the stars had told them that it was a werewolf lair, and centaurs and werewolves are sworn enemies.

Butterfly ducked into the shack. Her mother tossed her a red nightgown, and Butterfly pulled it over her head. It would fit over her legs once she became human. Whenever she transformed one way or the other, she’d wear this gown. Butterfly closed her eyes as her mother brought her wand down and a stream of golden light came out. When she opened her eyes again, she was a human girl.

"It worked, Mother, it worked!" she shrieked happily. Her mother smiled gently at the bare-footed girl before her.

"Well! Before you go, you need to promise me one thing."

"What is it, Mother?"

"Before you go, you must swear that you will never fall in love with a human boy, for the stars informed me that if you do, your life will never, ever be the same again."

Butterfly gulped. No centaur in the world had ever fallen for a human, save Nessus of Greece. After his tragedy, a law had been internationally imposed on all centaurs that no centaur anywhere could fall in love with a human. If any centaur ever broke this law, they would be condemned to die – unless the condemned centaur had turned into a human. Should that happen, the centaur would immediately be expelled from their home and can never show their face in that wood on pain of catapult.

An hour later, Butterfly was in Diagon Alley, wearing a sky-blue shirt with a white butterfly design, a black skirt, and a pair of sandals. She remembered what she was to say to anyone who asked her name. She was to give them her human name, and not Butterfly, for reasons of safety. Her mother was deathly afraid of what the humans would do to Butterfly if it was told that the girl was a centaur, so she had prepared a good alias for Butterfly.

Butterfly walked into Flourish and Blotts. She checked out the booklist and tried to look for the books, but she, having been raised in a rural home, didn’t know the first thing about bookstores. She decided to check out the aisles for the books.

"Hey, d’you need any help finding your books?" asked a voice from behind Butterfly. She wheeled around. There was a girl with a glowing tan, curly dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes.

"Uh, yes, please," Butterfly said quickly. The girl steered Butterfly to a section that had the Hogwarts books. Butterfly quickly took note of the place and got her books.

On the way out, the other first-year chirped, "My name’s Janet Ripley, by the way. Who are you?"

"Uh, I’m Rowena O’Connell," she told Janet. She was relieved that she had remembered her human name. (At this point, I think it wise to tell you that for the rest of the "Centaur" stories, Rowena will go by her human name. The centaurs alone will call her Butterfly.) Janet grinned as they walked into Madam Malkins’ Robes for All Occasions.

When Rowena and Janet got into the shop, Janet whispered, "D’you see that girl in the corner, the redhead? That’s Lily Shannahan. I met her an hour ago in the bookstore. She’s a nice person, and she’s a Muggle-born." Rowena blinked serenely. Muggles were nonmagic people. She didn’t mind – it was all the same to her.

Lily walked over to where Janet and Rowena were standing. "Oh, hi, Janet! Who’s this?" she asked.

"She’s Rowena O’Connell," Janet said cheerfully. Lily smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Rowena," Lily said quietly. They got their robes and got out of the building, chatting the whole time. Rowena had, though she didn’t know it, just made her first friends since the young witch of three years ago who had died.

On September 1^st, Rowena’s family had just moved to the Hogsmeade wood and Rowena herself had to leave for Hogwarts. She wore a white shirt with an embroidered monarch butterfly, a pair of jeans, and tennis shoes. Her trunk was unbelievably heavy, so she hurried to get it onto the luggage rack on the Hogwarts Express. Getting to Platform 9 ¾ wasn’t so hard – all she had to do was cross through the barrier at Platform 9.

As soon as she got onto the train, she flopped into a seat, very tired. She looked at her small snowy owl, which she had named Hope. She thought vaguely of sending a note to her mother and Firenze, but that would need to wait until after she got Sorted. She hoped for Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw was okay too.

As soon as she put her owl down – BLAM! An explosion in the next compartment! She looked surprisedly at the door. Slowly, it slid open and a boy with shaggy black hair and flaming copper eyes rushed in, wheezing and muttering something along the lines of "Lousy Snape…that stupid git…"

"Okay, what just happened?" Rowena asked, her turquoise eyes flashing.

"This git Snape, okay, he decided to explode a Filibuster Firework in my compartment," the boy explained, brushing his hair out of his face. "Hey – who are you, anyway?"

"Rowena O’Connell. Who are you?" she said stiffly.

"Sirius Black. Nice to meet you," he said, grinning. He sat down in a seat directly across from Rowena’s, still cursing Snape. Rowena knew at once that whoever Snape was, she wouldn’t like him. She flopped back down onto her seat.

At that moment, Janet, Lily, and three other people came in. Janet was furious about something. Must be Snape, Rowena thought. Janet shot Lily a slightly irritated look. Lily was talking to a boy with unruly black hair and glasses.

"Now what?" Rowena and Sirius said in unison. Janet still looked slightly irritated.

"This freak Snape decided to start an explosion in our compartment, and Lily and James here are bloody concentrating on their bloody talk instead of the <beep>ing explosion!" Janet roared, fuming.

"Look, Janet, calm down. We all have that fault, so you can’t expect everyone to have perfect attention spans," Rowena said wisely. Janet sighed and shook her head.

"Okay, maybe you’re right, Rowena," Janet murmured. The other three people introduced themselves as Remus Lupin (now in one of the corners resting), Peter Pettigrew (cowering next to Remus), and James Potter (the one next to Lily).

They came to Hogwarts a moment later. A voice called, "Firs’ years over here!" There was a person about two times the size of an average adult holding a lantern.

"Who d’you think that is?" Rowena whispered to Janet.

"My mother told me that this is Hagrid. He’s the groundskeeper," Janet whispered, her dark brown eyes wide with shock. Rowena snorted. She’d forgotten – Hagrid lived clear across from the Whomping Willow, and her friend Bane had met Hagrid once or twice. Bane was about her age, perhaps one year older.

Hagrid led the first years to a dock with a bunch of boats. "No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid called over the heads of the scared first years. Rowena, Janet, and Lily walked to a boat and got in. They were joined in a moment by a girl named Nadia Moon. A moment later, Hagrid yelled, "Forward!" and the boats were off.

Their boat sped up quickly to a boat occupied by three people Rowena had met in Diagon Alley and that she hated: Lucius Malfoy, Jonathan Crabbe, and Allen Goyle. As soon as they saw the fourth – a boy with greasy black hair – Janet groaned, "Oh, no. The grease-head is Snape!"

From the other boat, Snape yelled, "You’re all a bunch of freaking idiots, you know that?"

"Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure. After all, you’re the one who has totally unclean hair," Rowena shouted back. Snape went a dark red as Janet, Lily, Rowena, Nadia, and the boat on the other side of theirs (occupied by Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter) howled with laughter.

"And Allen there’s so dumb ‘e can’t hold ‘is bloomin’ wand th’ righ’ way!" Nadia yelled. Rowena grinned mischieviously at Nadia as, again, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Janet, and Peter went off into hysteria.

"Don’t forget Malfoy, he’s a stupid, spoiled git," Sirius called from the other boat. Yet again, the two anti-Snape boats went off into peals of laughter. Rowena and Janet had to lean against the boat, they were laughing so hard.

Before any of the gits could respond, the boats landed at Hogwarts. Everyone got off. Snape had just gotten Sirius in a headlock. The first years were watching intently, and Rowena’s heart was beating quickly. She didn’t want anyone hurt, but there was no centaur born yet who had saved a human from a noogie! Still, Rowena was different…she’d wept at the little girl’s funeral…she’d been accepted at Hogwarts…and hadn’t she just laughed at a joke? Hadn’t she chosen who were to be her friends and enemies and gone against the stars?

Rowena rushed over as soon as Snape was about to give Sirius a noogie and screamed the classic "NO!" Snape wheeled around in shock, which allowed Sirius to give Snape a noogie of death.

"Thank you!" Sirius called cheerfully. Rowena didn’t know what to do, except walk into the castle. There, Professor McGonagall left the students to wait to be Sorted. Rowena stood rigid with shock. She had just saved a human from injury. Oh, she knew she’d be a bad influence on her seven-year-old brother, Firenze, but she didn’t really care. She flung her head back to look at the ceiling, as many of the other students were, and studied the planets and stars. She sighed with relief and stopped stargazing. The night sky had just told her that she was going to have saved Sirius anyway, human or centaur, stars or no stars. And they told her that the Sorting did not involve battling trolls, which was a relief.

A few minutes later, the students were lead to the Great Hall. There was a stool with a hat on it. Janet yelped in shock, "That’s it? All we need to do is try on that hat?" Suddenly she looked extremely irked. "I’ll kill Arthur Weasley, he was going on about dragons, but it serves me right for listening to a problem-causing sixth-year," she muttered angrily.

"When I call out your names, you must come up here and try on the hat," said Professor McGonagall. She unrolled the parchment. "Hmm…hmm…Black, Sirius!"

The hat took a while, and Rowena suspected that Sirius was giving the hat a hard time. Then it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Crabbe, Jonathan!"

"SLYTHERIN!" Rowena let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Goyle, Allen!"

"SLYTHERIN!" Again, Rowena sighed with relief. If Crabbe and Goyle got into Gryffindor, she would go berserk.

Rowena paid absolutely no attention after Allen. She flung her head back to do some more stargazing. Then…"Lupin, Remus!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" Rowena snapped her head down sharply. That hat had taken a bit less time than it had with Sirius, perhaps because Remus hadn’t given the hat a hard time.

"Malfoy, Lucius!" Lucius strode briskly to the platform.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled.

"Moon, Nadia!" called the professor. Nadia put on the hat, shaking a bit.

"SLYTHERIN!" it screamed. When Nadia’s face resurfaced, she had gone very pale. Rowena had almost known that the hat would put her in Slytherin – when Lily had said something contrary to Nadia’s opinions, Nadia had nearly punched the living daylights out of her. Rowena listened a bit more attentively. Then, at last…

"O’Connell, Rowena!" Rowena walked up briskly to the hat, her reddish-brown hair flowing in waves as she did so. She lowered the hat onto her head.

"Well, what have we here? A centaur? No, no, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about you, dear. But, sadly, you are not going to Ravenclaw, since you’re not totally the ideal Ravenclaw, even if you bear the foundress’s first name. You’re no Slytherin, even if you did destroy your brother’s telescope…" Rowena winced. When Firenze had used her "punching tree" for a tree fort, she had totally annihilated his telescope so he couldn’t read the stars as accurately. "You’re quite brave, to have risked a Howler to save the boy from a noogie…Oh, that settles it! You’re going to GRYFFINDOR!" screamed the hat. Rowena took the Sorting Hat off and walked to the Gryffindor table. She sat down in a rather vacant spot.

"Pettigrew, Peter!"

"Um…um…GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Rowena suspected that the hat was totally uncertain about the house, that it had tried (and failed) to put Peter in Slytherin.

"Potter, James!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" James sat right next to Sirius, looking extremely happy.

"Prewett, Mairi!" Rowena had already met this girl on the train. She was a scholar.

"RAVENCLAW!" Rowena rolled her eyes. Putting Mairi in any other house would have been pointless.

"Ripley, Janet!" called Professor McGonagall. Rowena crossed her fingers under the table. She really wanted her friend in Gryffindor.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled after a millisecond. Janet sat down next to Rowena and the two high-fived.

"Shannahan, Lily!" Janet and Rowena crossed their fingers.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Lily sat next to Janet, looking quite happy.

"Snape, Severus!"

"PUT THIS GUY IN SLYTHERIN NOW!" yelled the hat. Rowena laughed under her breath.

A few minutes after dinner was over, Headmaster Dumbledore began the announcements.

"First of all, a Whomping Willow has been planted on the grounds. I would advise you not to go hitting this tree, because it will hit back, and you could get seriously hurt." Rowena already knew this one; her family had lived a few feet away from the tree!

"Second, the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all students.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone who is interested should contact Madam Hooch." The first years paid no attention, since no first year ever got to play for their house teams.

That was when the announcements ended and the students began to sing the school song. After that, everyone went to their houses.

Gryffindor was a very nice place to be, no doubt about it. The prefect directed the students to their dorms. As soon as Lily, Janet, and Rowena got into their room, Janet yelled, "I call the bed next to the window!"

"No way! I get that one!" Lily shouted. They decided to hold a race, and the winner was, oddly, Rowena. Of course, Rowena did feel a bit guilty afterwards because she had been using her centaur running reflexes, but it was worth it.

"You know, this really isn’t a bad place," Rowena said amiably.

"Well, I told you so," muttered Janet. Janet and Lily were asleep within seconds. Rowena stared out of the window, looking at the forest. She sighed, flopped down onto her bed, and went to sleep.

*

"Hey, lazybones, wake up!!" Janet shook her friend awake roughly. Rowena rubbed her eyes and got out of bed. She walked to the center of the room, where Lily was standing impatiently.

"Girl, you have got to straighten out your hair!" Lily pointed at Rowena’s frizzy mess of hair. Rowena muttered darkly.

"Okay, hang on, Lily! We can’t all be expected to be fashion models." Rowena flipped through her book of spells. She found one that would get rid of the bed-head frizziness pronto. She pointed her wand to the back of the mop and muttered, "Frizzerama Finale!" Her hair was, at once, sleek and wavy. She smiled and stuffed her wand into her bag. The three girls went to the common room.

There, Sirius was in the middle of trying to feed seventeen Filibuster Fireworks to a single salamander. Rowena could not suppress her giggles. "Need any help, Sirius?" Rowena asked sweetly.

"Uh, yes, Rowena, thanks." Rowena set down her bag and helped Sirius feed the final firework to the salamander. At once, a simply enormous spray of sparks erupted from the salamander’s mouth and tail. It sprang into the air and zoomed around the room. Sirius and Rowena laughed themselves hoarse. They high-fived. "Thank you!" Sirius said gleefully as the thing exploded into a brilliant blue-green display of sparks.

Rowena looked at her two friends. As soon as Sirius left, Janet sang, "Rowena has a boyfriend! Rowena has a boyfriend!" Rowena slapped her on the shoulder – hard. "OW! I was jus’ joking, Rowena!" Janet rubbed her sore arm.

*

In Transfiguration class, the group was asked to turn a match into a needle. After many minutes of practice – and much smoke – all the students had turned their matches into needles. All of them except Rowena. She had turned hers into a small, blue feather.

At the end of class, she was called to stay behind. Professor McGonagall peered at the shaking first-year through her steel-rimmed spectacles. Suddenly she smiled. "Miss O’Connell, this is the first time any student has worked magic on this level! Only centaurs can do this!" Rowena gulped.

"I-I am a centaur, P-Professor McGonagall."

"WHAAAT?! You? A centaur? Impossible!"

"You ever hear of Butterfly Lightwing?" McGonagall took out Centaur Racing Weekly and checked under the Lightwing racing family. She looked with shock at the girl.

"You are Butterfly Lightwing? Three-time winner of the Centaur Decathlon?"

"Oh, please don’t tell anyone! I don’t want them to know!" Rowena looked pleadingly at the professor.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," McGonagall grinned. Rowena smiled, bowed, and left.

*

Potions was a lot harder. Professor Vendictius, the Potions Master and the head of Slytherin, always favored Slytherin. In the middle of class, he said, "See how perfectly Lucius and Severus have made their potions? Seven points to Slytherin."

Rowena jumped to her feet. "Those boys didn’t even make any sort of potion! They just sat there dawdling! You should not have awarded those seven points!" Sirius winked at Rowena. Janet made a sign in their special code that meant "I think Sirius was gonna blow you a kiss." Rowena signaled with her right hand, which was behind her back, to say "Shut the heck up, Janet!" She faced the professor.

"Detention, Miss O’Connell." Janet leapt to her feet in protest and made a rude gesture with the fingers of one hand. Nadia nearly fainted.

"And you, Miss Ripley!" Slowly, Lily and the four troublemakers rose to their feet and waved signs reading "Down with Oppressive Professors!"

"And you, Miss Shannahan, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Pettigrew, and Mr. Lupin!"

After class, Rowena met up with the troublemakers. "Which one of you suggested that you risk detention?" James, Peter, and Remus pointed at Sirius.

"He did it," they said together. The bell rang and James, Peter, and Remus left for their next class. Rowena stood rigid with shock, staring at Sirius.

Finally, she managed to choke out, "Why?"

"Uh, well, I thought I oughta be able to break the record for earliest first detention too," Sirius said sheepishly. Rowena rolled her eyes. Of course! The earliest first detention was given in Charms, the class after Potions. They walked to class together.

*

"Why the heck are you late, Rowena?" Janet peered suspiciously at her friend. Rowena smiled and blushed a bit. "Don’t tell me you waited around for Sirius!" Janet gasped mock-shockedly. Rowena nodded. "Knew it! You are gonna be his girlfriend! I am good with this matchmaking thing!"

" Matchmaking?" Rowena asked, surprised.

"Lily and I had a bet on that I could tell what guy you’d end up with – forgive me, Rowena – and she bet twelve Galleons that I would say you wouldn’t end up with Sirius. Now I got twelve more Galleons!" Rowena smiled.

"Uh, may I have your attention please?" squeaked Professor Flitwick. The students at once sat stick-straight. The first thing he told them about was a Levitating Charm. The first thing Peter did was totally get the spell wrong. Sirius, James, Lily, and Rowena, however, got the thing right. James and Lily even succeeded in making their feathers zoom around the classroom. Flitwick was so delighted he fell off of the pile of books he sat on and awarded Gryffindor ten points.

"Told ya!" Rowena said, smiling, to her green-eyed friend. "You are gonna be great in this school – I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up Head Girl!"

"What about you?" Lily asked.

"Me? The Head Girl? Oh, the horror! I couldn’t stand the shame!" Rowena said jokingly.

*

Soon, there were flying lessons. Nearly Headless Nick had given Rowena a few hints on flying. "Don’t try to swerve too fast, that’ll just get you in trouble. And, don’t flirt on the brooms, that just causes trouble too. Of course, that’s just on the school brooms…next year, you girls can flirt with the boys."

"Excuse me? Romance advice from a ghost?" Rowena stared blankly at the pearly-white ghost hovering next to her.

"Well, actually – a-hem! – I’m in love with the Grey Lady. I’m hoping that works of goodwill will endear me to her." Nick blushed silver. Rowena rolled her eyes, laughed, and left.

As usual, Janet gave Rowena a small teasing about her and Sirius. She didn’t want to talk too much. She was still waiting for the detention. Then, Madam Hooch told Lucius Malfoy, "Hold the broom in your right hand, Mr. Malfoy, your right! Not your left! You’ve been doing this wrong for years!"

Rowena boarded her Shooting Star. Then she kicked off and flew into the air. Janet and Lily followed suit. They did some formation flying. Then, the four troublemakers leapt into the air. Lily went with James, Janet with Pete and Remus (and it was odd, Rowena noticed, that Janet blushed scarlet when Remus managed to fly right next to her), and Rowena with Sirius.

"Did you see the way Remus was looking at Janet? I think there’s something going on there," Sirius commented. Rowena nodded her agreement. She veered off into the distance, tied a bungee cord to herself and the broom and leapt off, bungeeing.

She closed her eyes. She hummed the tune of Tom Petty’s "Free Falling" while listening to the wind whistle by her. Then, all of a sudden, the jump stopped. She opened her eyes. Sirius was holding her by the wrists. She noticed fearfully that Lucius had snapped the cord and stolen her broomstick.

"You okay, Rowena?" Sirius asked, concerned. She smiled.

"I’m okay. Just wanted to do a little bungeeing." Sirius laughed and pulled her onto his broomstick. They landed. Rowena reported Lucius’s trick. One point was taken away from Gryffindor for unauthorized bungeeing, but 20 points were taken off Slytherin for putting a classmate in life-threatening danger. Lucius was publicly humiliated, but that simpering ditz Nadia stuck by him, with much romantic, lazy sighing. She’d probably end up his girlfriend!

Finally, it was time for detention.

*

Rowena and the other first-years climbed out of the portrait hole to the Forbidden Forest. They stuck in a group. Peeves gave them a rather harsh time when he found them by pelting them with walking sticks. Peter choked on many sniffles. Occasionally, Remus and Sirius would shut him up by punching him in the face. Rowena, Janet, and Lily talked in hushed tones. Rowena couldn’t believe they thought she was actually part of their group…almost like the three were sisters or something! Was this what being human meant? Maybe there was more to being human than simply looking blank and working. Maybe you also had to feel things like friendship, jealousy, hate…and love…

The girls linked hands happily. Rowena decided that, if she should lose her fame as a centaur, she still had her friends as a human.

"So, who’re we working with in the Forest?" Lily whispered. Janet shrugged.

"Hagrid and that wolfhound o’ his, Fang." Rowena gulped as Janet finished the names. That meant some kind of a weird mission involving lots of screaming and hooded, deadly figures. Finally, they arrived.

This detention’s mission: "Them centaurs bin actin’ awful funny lately. Almost like them celebrities, th’ Lightwings, mighta left th’ forest or summat. Lily, Janet, Rowena, you go with Fang. Th’ rest of yeh, yeh’re followin’ me." The groups separated.

Almost at once, Rowena found Bane and Ronan. They were both cursing. "You two, leave. I’m an expert at centaurs, I can handle this solo," Rowena said dismissively. Janet and Lily left at once.

"Hey, Ronan, Bane, what’s up?" They turned around. Rowena folded her arms and looked at her centaur friends.

"We got a rather disturbing note from the stars," Ronan said, smiling at Rowena.

"Well, tell all. Won’t hurt me," Rowena said, sitting on a stump.

"It will. Ronan, I think you better leave, you’re wimpier than me." Ronan left. Bane continued. "Butterfly, the stars told us that on your sixteenth birthday, you will leave us for ever. I’m so sorry." Bane’s gentle dark eyes held a lot of sorrow.

Rowena sat motionless with shock. Leave her home, her family? Why would she ever leave them? She sighed, told Bane and Ronan not to be acting funny anymore (and to pass it on to the other centaurs) and left. What could ever come between her and her mother and brother? What on earth could separate them?

*

The rest of the year was rather dull for Rowena, Lily, and Janet. Finally, it was time to go home. Rowena didn’t especially look forward to home, especially since Firenze already knew that she would leave. Her mother would be furious, she knew. But, nothing really mattered anymore to her. Even if she’d have to leave in sixth year, it was what could not be changed. She exited the Hogwarts Express, her mind totally clear. She’d enjoy the time she had, even if she would need to leave.

On the way to King’s Cross, Janet slid into Rowena’s apartment. She was giggling and holding a small box. She gave it to Rowena. Rowena looked at the note and realized what Janet was laughing about. It read:

Dear Rowena,

Thank you for helping this year. I expected it to be boredom hall, but I think you livened it up a bit. Thanks for the help with the salamander, by the way. You don’t know how much trouble it caused. It was so beautiful! Hope this helps with a summer of boredom.

Sirius Black

Rowena opened the small box delicately. There was a How to Be a Troublemaker pack, complete with a stash of Filibuster Fireworks, Dungbombs, and other assorted goodies and, for good measure, a book of troublemaking spells.

Janet observed, "You know, it’s said among troublemaking girls that, if a boy gives you a troublemaker’s kit, you’re close to winning his heart." The girls looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"Yeah! Right! Janet, my friend, you have read one too many romance stories! Get a grip!" They collapsed against their seats, laughing.

*

At home, Rowena put up a bit of a fight when her mother wished to return her to her normal form. Finally, in a fit of anger, her mother yelled a curse that went like this:

"Butterfly, a curse is laid on you for your rebelliousness

From this day forth as a centaur you’ll never wake

On the prophesied day, this curse will break"

Meaning, Rowena could never return to her centaur form until sixth year. Then, her mother would give her the choice of being a centaur or a human. If she chose human, she’d be kicked out for life. If she chose centaur, she’d lose her friends. What a choice! Oh, well, Rowena thought. Best make the most of my time as a human.

That summer, she got a note from Janet:

Rowena,

Hello! Hope your – ahem! – boyfriend has paid you some visits. I don’t know why you can’t see it, but you two are such a cute couple! See you next year!

Janet

Rowena laughed. She hadn’t expected to laugh that summer. She tucked it into her bag of keepsakes, along with the gift Sirius had given her. Her life would need a few small repairs, she knew, but it was alright.

Ivy ended the story and gave the girls a sad look. “Do you wish to hear the rest?”

“Mmm-hmm,” said Morgan.

Ivy sighed, shrugged her shoulders, and continued…

It was now second year. Nothing much had happened, at least, not for Rowena and Janet. Oh, sure, they’d been sorted into Gryffindor and such, but the only real highlight was the classes for Rowena. It wasn’t like Rowena really cared about Hogwarts or anything, but she did wonder if she was never meant to be a centaur at all. Janet had noticed that Rowena never invited anyone over to her house and that she never spoke about her family. Also, Remus was disappearing during the full moon. One day, Janet decided to speak to Rowena about her family.

"Hey, Rowena, why don’t you ever say anything about yourself?" Rowena went pale.

"I…don’t want to speak about them," Rowena said plainly.

"Come off it, there must be a reason you don’t talk much. I mean, it’s almost like you have some wacky secret or something."

"Uh…yeah." Janet’s brown eyes went wide.

"No way! You, of all people, have a weird secret?"

"Oh, yes, I do, Janet."

"Is it just me, or are you like a centaur when it comes to astrology?" Janet asked sternly. Rowena smiled.

"Janet, I am a centaur," Rowena said quietly.

*

The three boys sighed in their dorm. Absolutely nothing to do, and Remus had disappeared. James was off in dreamland.

"Hello, James! Wake up – you better stop dreamin’ about Lily!" Sirius’s annoyed yell brought James back to reality. He had been thinking about Lily.

"So sorry – what did you say, Peter?" James cleaned off his glasses as he listened to Peter’s anxious squeaks.

"I said, Remus has been disappearing an awful lot lately. And it’s always at the full moon! I think he might be a werewolf!" Peter squeaked.

"No way, Pete! Remus is no werewolf!" James said.

"Still, when he gets back, we oughta ask him." Sirius muttered. The two others agreed, then went back to their heat wave torpor. James was, as usual, thinking about Lily. Peter was thinking about Hogsmeade, and Sirius wasn’t really thinking about anything. Sirius took out his electric guitar and played the beginning riff of Led Zeppelin’s "Stairway to Heaven."

At once, James yelled, "NO ‘STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN,’ SIRIUS!!"

"No ‘Stairway’? Denied!" James and Peter burst into fits of giggles. Sirius couldn’t help it. He grinned too.

*

"I still can’t believe it. You’re a bloody centaur!" Janet was ranting about it in the girls’ dorm. Lily listened, shocked. A small smile appeared on Rowena’s face.

"Oh, really, couldn’t you have guessed? We centaurs are so much faster than you humans. That’s why I won the race in first year. Have you even heard of the Lightwing racing family?"

"Oh, yeah," Lily and Janet chorused.

"The Lightwings, I hear, are the fastest lot around in the centaur races," Janet added.

"Well, I am a Lightwing. The full name is Butterfly Lightwing." Janet stuffed her fist in her mouth to stifle a round of giggles. "My younger brother, Firenze Lightwing, he’s already shown signs of bein’ th’ next great racer. I’ve already got a trunkful of awards. My dad had 17 trunks of awards."

"Duh! Stellan Lightwing was the fastest thing around till he got killed by one o’ You-Know-Who’s deputies," Lily said brightly. Rowena rolled her eyes. Of course, her dad had won the Centaur Olympics umpteen times. It was all racing, and her dad had won all the gold medals. The judges finally had to ask him to leave, he was draining the centaur gold medal supplies dry.

"Wait a sec. You’re Butterfly Lightwing?" Janet gasped.

"Yep. Why?"

"I’ve heard of you before – the only one who likes humans, right?"

"Ah, yes. I’m sort of a prodigy. Well, d’you think it matters?"

"Well, I didn’t expect to have a centaur roommate, much less the Lightwing prodigy!" Janet gasped happily. Rowena went scarlet and grinned. She was aprehensive to fame. She didn’t like fame, really. She wanted to be totally normal. Oh well!!

*

Sirius had, by now, gotten pretty ticked off at James for not caring about anything but Lily. Rowena was angry at Lily for not giving a hoot about anything except James. Finally, Rowena was so mad, that in another of Lily’s long romance lectures, she stormed out of the tower, spitting cursewords. At the same time, Sirius was upset enough that he yelled, "SHUT YOUR TRAP!" at James and left the tower. Rowena and Sirius at once began discussing the lazy lovebirds, punctuating their talk with a few curses.

"So, how in blazes are we gonna get back at those two?" Sirius said, looking straight at Rowena, as though she had an answer.

"Actually, I have an idea. We’re going to need to wait till fourth year, that’s the big dance. Anyway…" Rowena suggested her idea.

"Good idea! But why does it have to involve romance?" Sirius frowned.

"Because Janet – and Lily and James, I’ll warrant – will be shocked to death. It’ll be the greatest prank ever pulled!" Rowena’s turquoise eyes flashed mischieviously.

"Ohhh! Right!" They hatched their plot, put it down on their "Pranks To Pull" sheets, and walked back to the tower. Rowena’s mind was buzzing. This would end up driving her to the brink of insanity and back!

*

A few moments later, Janet had challenged Rowena to a duel. Rowena started.

"Rictusempra!" she bellowed.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Janet yelled back. Rowena floated a few feet off the ground.

"Expelliarmus!" Rowena yelped. Janet’s wand flew over to the now non-levitating Rowena, who caught it deftly.

"Mercy! Mercy!"Janet wheezed. She had surrendered. "Girl, you’re good at dueling! How come I can never beat you?"

"Just lucky, I guess," laughed Rowena. Janet slapped her on the shoulder.

The two friends walked to their dorm. A moment later, Lily joined them. Rowena was able to forgive her now. After all, falling in love was only…human.

*

The next week, Lily came back with some utterly important news. "James has signed up with the Lions as Seeker, and Sirius is Beater!" The Lions were the Gryffindor House Quidditch team. Of course, by this time, everyone in the room had a bunch of hobbies. Remus had taken up dueling, Peter had taken up studying – something he really didn’t do too often, Janet had become a hippie (and a drummer), Lily was dating James (and playing the keyboard), and Rowena was a soccer player and singer. The three girls were, by this time, hoping to set up a band.

"Well, ain’t that just lovely. You figure out your boyfriend while I do my meditating," Janet murmured. "An’ you better come with this time, Rowena, got a bit of news I gotta tell ya." Rowena followed her friend into the girls’ dorm.

"I heard about that ol’ prophecy. Sixteen? Why in blazes would you leave your home at sixteen?"

Rowena shrugged. "I might fall in love soon. Who knows, I probably figured it out. And I have some gossip fresh from the grapevine."

"Ooh! What is it?" Janet asked eagerly.

"You will never believe this one. Okay, so I’d stayed up late to see all the late-night happenings and Lupin asks me what your fave flower is. O’course, I say it’s the forget-me-not, and he goes off to get a bouquet. I think he’s in love with you!" As soon as Rowena said it, Janet nearly fainted with shock.

"What?! Remus Lupin? In love? With me?"

"Oh yeah. Kudos, Janet."

*

A few weeks later, Sirius was studying the moon charts. Frowning, he scribbled something on a piece of paper. "What’s up, Sirius?" Rowena had just come into the library to find a book on astronomy.

"Ah – just checking if Remus is a werewolf or not." Rowena frowned.

"D’you mind letting me take a look at those charts?"

"Not at all. Maybe you can figure something out, I can’t." Rowena took out a calendar with days circled in black ink. She compared it to the moon charts and, with lightning speed, made a white circle on the days marked with black.

"Well, it all lines up perfectly, doesn’t it? The times when Remus was ‘sick’ were times of the full moon. Unless it’s a really, really weird coincidence, your friend is a werewolf." Sirius leapt up from his seat in shock. Rowena shrugged. "Sorry, Sirius, but that was just the honest truth."

A few days later, after another of Remus’s sick days, he was confronted by Peter, James, Lily, Sirius, and Rowena.

"Okay, what is it with you and full moon sicknesses, Remus?" James started.

"It’s really odd that you, of all people, are always sick at the full moon," Lily continued.

"And the only other beings that are sick that often are werewolves," Rowena added.

"Are you a werewolf or something?" Sirius finished.

"No point keeping secrets from my friends. I’m a werewolf," Remus said.

*

Rowena walked to the common room at once. Janet had already developed a crush on Remus, and after Remus had gone to all that trouble with the flowers…She walked straight to her meditating friend, who was listening to Loreena McKennitt’s "The Mystic’s Dream."

"A word, Miss Hippie?" Janet turned down the music a bit.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I am so sorry to tell you this, Janet, but I can’t bear keeping the secret. Remus is a werewolf." Janet’s eyes widened and she turned off the music altogether.

"What? Remus? A werewolf? How can it be?"Janet asked her friend.

"It just is. I’m sorry." At once, Janet slapped Rowena on the face with one of her sharper fingernails. Rowena was sent sprawling across the floor. Her cheek was bleeding.

"You could have told me before I fell in love with him, you traitor! You could have spared me the pain!" Janet spat bitterly. She didn’t know that Rowena had just found this out. She thought Rowena had known for weeks.

"But – Janet…"

"Don’t you dare ‘But, Janet’ me, missy! And as for our friendship, consider it over – and I will make sure that Lily isn’t your friend, either!" A trickle of blood ran down Rowena’s cheek. Janet swept out, spitting bad words. Rowena walked unsteadily to a chair and sat down. Soon, she was crying. Why didn’t Janet listen to her instead of her violent mood swings? She dabbed at her bloody cheek with a tissue. She’d lost her best friend.

*

Sirius swept into the room. He’d gotten wind of Janet’s violent mood swing. He wanted to help any and all victims of the temper. There, sitting in one of the good chairs, was a figure with reddish-brown hair, blank turquoise eyes, and a bloody cheek. It was Rowena. "What’s up, Rowena?" She got up and turned around. Sirius saw a slapmark.

"I – I simply told Janet the truth…she wouldn’t listen…thought I’d known for a long time – it was awful…" That was all Sirius could catch between the sobs. Rowena ran off to the girls’ dorm, still crying a bit. Srius tried to piece it together. Rowena had, obviously, told Janet about the whole werewolf thing, and when Janet thought Rowena had known for a long time, Janet had canceled their friendship and slapped Rowena. Ouch.

A few moments later, Rowena came back down, no longer crying. Her cheek had a bandage on it. "Sorry for storming out like that, Sirius. It’s just – I can’t stand it when Janet goes on one of her madness outbursts. And this one’s gone way beyond the normal ones, I assure you." Rowena smiled weakly.

"Well, if it went beyond normal, then you got nothin’ to apologize about. And I don’t mind the whole storming out bit, God knows I do that all the time when James goes into la-la-land." Rowena laughed. It was the first time she’d laughed since the boat ride last year, Sirius noticed.

"Sirius, you comedian!" She laughed again. Sirius smiled. Maybe life was going to be all right after all, if he could manage to make someone laugh.

*

Janet ran headlong into Lily at the library. "Watch where you’re goin’!" Janet snarled.

"What happened now?"said Lily.

"Rowena has kept a secret from me – that Remus Lupin, the love of my life, is a werewolf." Janet’s dark eyes were flashing angrily.

"Actually, she and I just found it out. She just didn’t want to keep the secret for over seven minutes." Janet immediately sobered from her violent outburst and remembered that Rowena, even as a human, was as fragile as, well, a butterfly.

"Oh, dear Lord! And I actually slapped her – I think I traumatized her for life! I have got to go talk to her!" With that, Janet ran back to the tower. Lily shrugged and went off to meet James someplace.

*

Rowena and Sirius sat together in the common room, smiling and discussing either Quidditch or their pranks. Occasionally, they livened it up by throwing a firework into the fire to see what happened. The fire immediately roared to the skies, often scorching Snape or Lucius Malfoy on their brooms. They were both on the Quidditch team.

"You think this prank’s actually gonna work?" Rowena whispered. "I mean, it might go horribly wrong."

"Positive. We’re both good at acting. And besides, so far so good." Rowena’s jaw dropped.

"Sirius! You know the rules – someone says that, the plan blows up in their face! You shouldn’t have said that."

*

A while later, Rowena was resting in the girls’ dorm, rubbing her sore cheek. She wished that Janet wasn’t so violent. At once, the girl in question came in.

"God, I’m so sorry I did that, Rowena. I didn’t mean what I said – please forgive me, please!" Rowena stared at her friend.

"Do you know this is the third time you’ve gone mad over some little thing? You must learn to control your temper." Janet smiled, then began her meditating.

Rowena checked her watch. It was late. She’d been slapped at precisely two minutes after dinner. She clambered into bed, and in a second, all that could be heard from her was her distinct, whinnying snoring. Janet rolled her eyes. Even as a human, Rowena snored like a centaur! She climbed into her bed, then…

"Oh, good God!" That was Rowena! Janet shook her newly reconciled friend awake.

"What happened? You didn’t have a nightmare?"

"I – I didn’t, Janet. I saw Lily and James getting married…then fire and screaming…and darkness fell over the world…but a light shone from a small infant with a lightning scar – I think I saw the Dark Lord being overthrown!" Janet was shocked. No way. Her friend, a Seer? No way!

*

On the Quidditch Cup tournament (Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw), Rowena wore a scarlet scarf that fluttered in the breeze and a golden gown, just to show house spirit. As it seemed that Ravenclaw was about to score a goal, Sirius blocked it with a Bludger. Rowena was so happy she deliberately unwrapped the scarf from her head and waved it wildly. Janet eventually had to snatch it away. Then, in a moment of many gasps, James caught the Snitch as the Ravenclaw Chaser was stopped by a Bludger from Sirius. They had won the Cup! Rowena jumped up and down like a maniac. "Calm down," Lily and Janet chorused.

There was a gigantic party, with much dancing. Then, Lily and James tangoed. Everyone cheered those two on.

"Do we start the prank now?" Rowena whispered as soon as Sirius came over.

"Oh yeah. Perfect opportunity. Let’s go!"

*

Remus and Janet were talking and laughing. Then, in the middle of a slow dance, Peter squeaked, "I don’t believe it!" There were a couple dancing together. One had dark hair and copper eyes. The other had reddish-brown hair and turquoise eyes. It was Sirius and Rowena!

"Oh, dear Lord," Remus said under his breath.

"Someone put the coins over my eyes, cause I do not believe what I’m seeing," Lily said in shock. Janet had gone quite pale. Sirius? And Rowena? Dancing together? Soon enough she’d be the one talking about her boyfriend, Janet knew it!

As soon as the dance ended, Rowena came over as if nothing had happened. Her face was set in a solemn, absent expression that scared the living daylights out of Janet. Rowena in love? Scary alert! Scary alert!

After the dance, Janet could only utter "Why – how – how?" and Lily was so shocked she couldn’t say anything.

"Well? What’s so odd that you aren’t chattering?"Rowena said simply.

"You were dancing with Sirius Black! You have a boyfriend! That is so scary!" Lily shrieked.

"And not even I thought you’d actually fall in love!" Janet chimed. After the other two went to sleep, Rowena smiled maliciously. Plan A was now finished. Sirius would initiate Plan B once she gave the signal tomorrow.

*

The only Gryffindors who woke up creeped out about the fiasco were the second year girls. They shied away from Rowena because they were still a bit freaked out about the dance. Rowena was as happy as a lark. Sirius couldn’t believe the prank had gone so well. Then, Rowena blinked three times. Sirius smiled. Time for him to bring about the second part.

One day, Sirius was caught by Remus in the act of tying a small, white rose to Hope’s leg. "What are you trying to do to that poor owl, the same thing as the salamander – WHAT THE – YOU’RE SENDING ROWENA A ROSE?!?!" Remus shrieked in shock.

"I am," Sirius said simply. Remus racked his memory.

Slowly, Remus gasped, "Oh, good Lord. You don’t have a crush on her, do you?"

Sirius didn’t answer. Remus took this to mean Sirius did have a crush on Rowena. Remus made an odd squeak and ran to the common room. Sirius sent a jet of dark red sparks into the skies. Plan B accomplished, they meant. A set of silver sparks came back. Okay, be ready for fourth year dance for Plan C, I’ll be waiting too, they meant.

*

The rest of that year was very boring. Finally, it was the end of the year. Arthur Weasley and Molly Rosen (his girlfriend) were Head Boy and Head Girl. Sirius had managed to scorch Snape’s broomstick a lot. Rowena was made Quidditch commentator by Professor McGonagall (Rowena did this whole "I’m not worthy" act when she was presented with the megaphone) and promised many biased commentaries. (A/N: Rowena will, in fact, be the person whose commentaries Lee Jordan draws inspiration from.) On the way home, Rowena thought, So far, so good – D’oh! I shouldn’t have thought that and slapped herself on the forehead. Janet no longer annoyed Rowena so much about the whole dance fiasco, since she had fallen for Remus all over again. Lily…the less said about Lily, the better!

At the Hogsmeade forest, Firenze was pleased as punch to learn his sister was back. He complained loudly that a werewolf had been keeping him awake on full moons. Rowena rolled her eyes. That was probably just Remus.

In the middle of summer, Rowena got a note from Janet…

Rowena,

Hope you haven’t gone too…er…crazy about Sirius, we still need ya! Also, Lily and I decided we should have a band. We do need a name, though. Any ideas?

Remus has been awfully sweet this summer. You think he might ask me out?

Your friend,

Janet

Rowena laughed. They all had the love bug, but she’d faked hers. Ooh, it would be the greatest prank ever pulled – so she thought to herself as she wandered around the woods. She also needed to practice biased commentaries, but she assured herself she’d be able to once she went back to Hogwarts. She smiled more often. She was going to be alright.

Ivy fell silent again. Morgan munched on a s’more, then looked indignantly at the younger girl.

Kaleese said gently, “Go on. I think you’ve got something going here. Maybe you’ll become a writer.”

Sarah nodded agreement. Shannon said, “Come on, none of us can get to sleep, even with these damned air pillows.”

Ivy rolled her eyes. In that section of California, air pillows were one of the big things. Then she sighed and started the third part.

Rowena leant back in her seat on the Hogwarts Express. A second later, the compartment slid open and gray-eyed, wise Mairi Prewett came in. Rowena waved her hand weakly. "Hi, Mairi."

Mairi smiled back. "Hey, Rowena. Um, listen, last year I caught wind of you an’ Sirius planning to pull a prank at the big dance next year. Can I help?" Rowena stared at her. Mairi of Ravenclaw, possibly the only person who had never broken a rule in her life, help Rowena pull off the biggest prank in history? Rowena grinned.

"Thank you, Mairi. I’m gonna need all the help I can get." Mairi smiled and sat right next to Rowena.

"I got a buddy in Hufflepuff who can get you a flower hairpin – she’s got tons. What’s your fave flower?" Mairi asked.

"My favorite flower is, oddly enough, the dahlia. Especially those white ones."

"Hey, my friend’s gonna be pleased as punch. She’s always complaining that she’s got one too many white dahlia hairpins. She’s Kiki Fortune, by the way." Rowena gaped at Mairi. She knew Kiki Fortune, the most popular girl in the school? Rowena was shocked. Here she was, talking with one of the more elite students! Mairi continued, "So, what new classes you takin’, Rowena?" Rowena stared again. She was talking to one of the most popular girls in the school!

"I’m taking Care of Magical Creatures, Study of Ancient Runes, and Divination," Rowena squeaked. She could never speak in front of the popular girls.

As if in response to Rowena’s unspoken question, Mairi said coolly, "Oh, please. Your friends – Janet and Lily, I believe? – they’re already the big heartbreakers of the school as well as Kiki an’ me. Kiki told me that she has a feeling you’re going to be next."

"Me? A popular girl? No way!" Mairi grinned.

"Not a popular girl, eh? Here, let’s see if my Parisian mirror can confirm that – it is one of those fashion-concerned types." Mairi handed Rowena her mirror.

At once, it whistled, "Well, well, well! You were born zis beautiful, I presume, madam?" Rowena, shaking, nodded. "Ooh la la! We Parisians are always appreciative of beauty, and you might knock ze boys dead along with your friends!" Rowena went pale and handed the mirror back to Mairi.

"You see? Even Venus – that’s the mirror – knows you might just be the next belle of the ball! I am honored to help you!" Rowena went a furious red. "Oh, now, look, Lily was as nervous as you about becoming a heartbreaker. And look what’s happened now – she’s got James going red whenever he sees her. Who knows – you might just soften Sirius’s heart a bit. Everyone knows the premise of these things – guy and girl fake relationship to get back at other lovebirds and they actually fall in love. And, in some cases, they actually kiss before the fake relationship starts up and the fake relationship becomes the real thing. Come on! You two are going to end up together!"

*

At the school, a rumor spread like wildfire. Finally, Lily blurted it to Rowena. "I heard that you’re the new Quidditch commentator!"

"I am, Lily, I am. And I promise many pro-Gryffindor commentaries." Rowena grinned wolfishly. Lily beamed. The next day was the first Quidditch game of the season.

"And here’s our Gryffindors! James Potter, Sirius Black, Tony Spinnet, Anna Lawrence, Fortuna Adrian, Tobias Jordan, and Hope Brown! The best team Hogwarrts has ever seen, they won the Quidditch Cup last year and…" The rest of Rowena’s comments were drowned out by boos from the Slytherins. She frowned, then waited for the Slytherin team. "And here are the Slytherins, the record losers – You see that?! They got seven losers on their lousy team! Seven! And two of ‘em are Lucius Malfoy the stinker and Severus Snape the cheater! As you all remember, Malfoy put my life on the line during that bungee-jumping stunt! It was my fault I was bungeeing in the first place, but…" More boos. "Ah, shut up, Slytherin!" Gryffindor whooped and clapped. Rowena smiled and went on to narrate the commentary.

Remus sat in a lonely spot in the Gryffindor stands. Janet, being the compassionate person she was, sat next to him. "What’s up, Remus?"

Remus went dark red. "Uh, nothing. Just that whole incident last year…" He shuddered.

"Aw, come on. Your friends wouldn’t give a hoot if you was a werewolf or not! I don’t. You’re still the same person!"

Remus looked straight at Janet. "What? You mean they wouldn’t care either way?"

"Yeah!"

There was a pause. "Do you care, Janet?"

"No, Remus! I mean – you’re still the same person, you just got a little problem with full moons, that’s all! At least, that’s how I see it." Remus smiled.

"Listen, did you get permission to go to Hogsmeade?" Janet nodded, making her curly hair bob up and down. "Meet me at the Three Broomsticks, okay?" Janet nodded again, smiling this time. Remus smiled a bit, too.

*

"HE GOTTHE SNITCH! YEA FOR ‘IM!" Rowena jumped up and down, yelling the results. "It’s Gryffindor 250 points, Slytherin nothing! The Snakes are gonna hafta get up a bit earlier! Looks like they’re such damned idiots that they can’t bloody win a fricking Quidditch game, you fricking Snakes! Up yours…" At once, Rowena had to dance out of McGonagall’s way. She was, for the first time ever, going to chastise a commentator.

"One point off Gryffindor!" Rowena hung her head and walked shame-faced to the Gryffindor tower.

*

Sirius burst in an hour later, grinning. Rowena was slumped in a chair, worn out. "Hey, Rowena! You did great!" Rowena smiled weakly.

"Thanks. You did pretty darn good yourself." Sirius smiled and sat in the chair next to Rowena.

"You goin’ to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Unless there’s a book of advanced potions here, I need to find that Animagus potion." Rowena looked over at Sirius in shock.

"WHAAAT? You’re planning to become an Animagus? Why?" she demanded.

"Well, somebody’s gotta keep Remus company. Why not James, Pete, and me?"

Rowena paused. "Good plan – and good luck, Sirius." She smiled.

"You going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Sirius said, glancing over at Rowena.

"Yep. I got good grades las’ year, so Mother gave me permission to go."

"Maybe we oughta meet at Zonko’s, what do you think?"

"Sirius! We’re only s’posed to be faking a relationship next year!"

"This has absolutely nothing to do with that. Just a spur-of-the-moment type thing."

"Oh," Rowena said quietly. "In that case, sure." She didn’t want to go falling in love till she was totally sure what in blazes she was doing. Sirius nodded, grinning happily.

*

A while later, Janet came back, her face flushed in excitement. "Rowena – Remus asked me out!" Rowena smiled.

"Good for you. Sirius asked me to meet him at Zonko’s…"

"God, we both got dates! Aren’t we lucky?" Rowena stared at her dark-haired friend.

"What? You sayin’ Sirius asked me out on a date?"

"Yep. That’s how it happens – oh-oh, I see. You ain’t supposed to fall in love with a human, are ya?"Janet breathed.

"Yes. It may well result in my death…unless…" Rowena broke her own train of thought. She hadn’t fallen for Sirius, they were faking it…right?

*

Remus and Janet met in the Three Broomsticks the next day – which was, oddly, Valentine’s Day. Remus presented Janet with a small, homemade valentine card. "Aw, thanks, Remus. Got somethin’ for you, too." With that, she handed Remus a valentine card on which she had repeated a heart motif. Remus went red and smiled. They sat down in a table in the back.

"Um, Janet, I really like you," Remus muttered, going red again and avoiding Janet’s eyes.

"Well, I like you, too, Remus. And remember what I said – I’d still like you, even though you’re a werewolf. I wouldn’t care." Janet was shocked by what she’d just said, but soon enough she realized she was simply speaking what she thought – something that often got her in trouble. Remus grinned, leant across the table, and kissed her.

Janet was stunned beyond belief. Did this mean Remus was in love with her? "Happy Valentine’s Day, Janet," Remus said. He’d already gone bright red again. Must be how people are around the one they love, Janet thought. She grinned back and blushed a bit herself.

"Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too, Remus. An’ – in case you was wondering – I love ya too. An’ I still don’t care if you’re a werewolf." They smiled together and kissed again.

*

Clear across the street, Rowena checked her watch and clucked her tongue. Sirius was supposed to have been there an hour ago! Of course, it wasn’t an official date, but even a centaur wants to make sure she wasn’t set up. And after she’d taken care to wear her decorated red robe, whip her hair into a bun, and borrow some very pale blue eyeshadow from Kiki Fortune, Sirius was late! She sighed, threw her hands up in exasperation, let loose a string of curses, and walked into Zonko’s.

"Hey, Rowena, need anything?" It was the kind cashier named Fiona.

"Uh, yeah, Fi, I do. You got anything that would appropriately punish a guy who’s late for a date?" Fiona raised her eyebrows, letting her grey-blue eyes sparkle.

"Oh-oh! Got set up, didn’t ya?" Rowena nodded glumly. "Well, I got some Filibuster Fireworks – wait, ain’t yer date Sirius Black?" Rowena nodded, this time, more angrily. "Well, when ‘e sez ‘e’s gonna come ‘ere, ‘e’s usually an hour late, so I guess that it works th’ same way with dates. Mebbe ‘e’s off a few minutes, but still…" Fiona shrugged.

"Oh, thanks, Fi. Maybe he’ll be here in a while, I don’t know…" Her train of thought was broken by Fiona pointing toward the door and looking urgently at Rowena, then looking at the door. Rowena wheeled around. It was Sirius.

"Hey, so you got here on time. Great!" Sirius grinned and walked to the back of the store, where Fiona and Rowena were.

"Sirius, I thought you were going to come here an hour earlier. Thanks to Fi here," - Rowena shot a smile at Fiona - "I won’t make the same mistake twice." Sirius laughed.

"Suppose I oughta leave you two alone – behave, ‘kay?" Fiona Disapparated.

"Huh! What d’you think Fi was talkin’ about, Sirius?" Rowena shot a look at Sirius.

"Oh, just wait!" Sirius grinned mischieviously. He leapt onto the desk, and everyone in the store turned around to face him. "Hey, everyone! May I have your attention, please? The cashier’s outta the store! PAR-TAY!" Everyone whooped and clapped and, within minutes, Zonko’s was thrown into total chaos.

Rowena was already wheezing with laughter when Sirius hopped off the desk and walked over to her. "God, Sirius, you do know how to throw a perfectly placid place into chaos, don’t you?" she wheezed.

"Yep. That’s me, the great…uh…" Sirius couldn’t exactly find the word.

"The great mischief-maker!" Rowena yelled. Sirius looked extremely happy.

"Yeah! That’s the word! Thank you, Rowena." Sirius grinned. Rowena smiled a bit herself, and they walked out, giggling at the trouble they’d caused – and it was a good thing they had chosen exactly that second to leave, because Fiona Apparated back a second later and was so mad she might have yelled something along the lines of "You hooligans! I’m gonna kill you!"

*

A few moments later, Janet and Rowena met up in the Gryffindor Tower. Janet noticed that Rowena looked like she’d just escaped death. "What happened to you?" Janet asked, staring at Rowena.

Rowena smoothed out her now-frizzy reddish-brown hair. "Well, Sirius and I go to Zonko’s, see. The cashier – Fiona – leaves and Sirius throws the whole place into chaos – I tell ya, Fiona’s going to be in serious rehab for weeks! Two cashiers down!"

"Good Lord, Rowena, how many cashiers are going to be put in the loony bin before this year’s over?!" Janet shook her head, disbelieving. Last week, Sirius had gotten the other cashier, Ferguson, into an insane asylum when he started a riot. How long would this madness go on?

Lily burst in, her emerald eyes flashing angrily. "Rowena, did you put that cashier, Fiona, into a loony bin?"

"Duh, Lily, that’s my purpose in life. To put cashiers into loony bins is what I was sent on this earth to do."

Lily went berserk. "How could you – I’m gonna kill you!" With that, she chased a laughing Rowena throughout the tower and, indeed, the whole school. She finally managed to get a headlock on Rowena and was giving her a severe noogie when the dreaded Professor Vendictius showed up.

"Seven points from Gryffindor. Fighting is against Hogwarts rules," the professor said silkily.

"God, how idiotic can these people get?" Rowena asked, still stuck in the headlock.

"Ten points off Gryffindor!" Rowena cursed silently. Lily stopped noogieing Rowena. She was so mad she had totally forgotten what she was doing there.

"Come on, Rowena. We don’t want to get caught by Filch." They left, shaking with rage.

*

"THAT – MORON – NEVER – SHOULD – HAVE – TAKEN – OFF – THOSE – POINTS!" Rowena was still thundering an hour later.

"Hey, Lily, got an idea," Janet whispered, beckoning Lily over. Janet grabbed a red sheet, leapt out in front of Rowena, and did the whole bull-fighting thing. Rowena was so mad she actually ran straight at it. "Whoa! WHOOOAAA!!" Janet ran out of the way as fast as possible, screaming like a banshee.

In a few seconds, Lily and Janet had managed to get a clawing, kicking, swearing Rowena – she’d taken over the mood swing department from Janet, and now was in a total, point-of-no-return rage outburst – into a chair and duct-taped her hands to the chair’s arms. "Rowena, listen. You can not get so upset over all this. You need to conserve your energy for when you need it." At once, a small jar burst into shards. The duct tape bagan unwinding.

"Holy shipwreck. Which one of us may be Carrie White’s" (from the movie "Carrie") "long-lost relative?" Rowena put her hand up embarrassedly.

"That’d be me. I’m telekinetic." Janet gasped.

"So you do have special powers, aside from the basics! Wow – hey, I bet McGonagall’s gonna die of shock!" Lily chirped.

*

A while later, Rowena, Janet, and Lily were at Transfiguration class. "Now?" Rowena whispered to Janet.

"Not yet…not yet…NOW!" Rowena concentrated on McGonagall’s desk. Janet and Lily had helped her practice. All of a sudden, the desk floated into the air – just a few feet, but it was something.

"What the – Oh, dear Lord! Class dismissed!" screamed the professor. There were many shouts of "Yippee!" and "Woo-hoo!" as the students left. Rowena decided to drop the desk. It floated down like a feather.

"Didn’t I just tell you three that class was dismissed?" Rowena looked at Lily, who gave her the thumbs-up.

"Didn’t I just lift your desk a few feet into the air?" Rowena shot back. The fact that she was wearing smudged black eyeliner, spiky hair, and a leather jacket made her look the part.

"WHAAAT?!?! You – you…"

"Eh, it runs in the family. One does get used to it."

"Perhaps I’ll…well, don’t expect it too often…but who trained you?" Rowena nodded toward Janet and Lily. "Alright…seventeen points to Gryffindor. Like I said…don’t expect it too often." Rowena, Janet, and Lily left the room, very happy that they had won back those seventeen points.

*

Near the end of the year, there was another Quidditch game. Rowena got into the usual place. It was Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin. She didn’t know which to support, but since she did need that hairpin, she supported Hufflepuff. Kiki Fortune sat in the first row. Her distinct short white-blond hair marked where she was exactly. Mairi sat next to her, wearing a yellow tassel on her hat and dandelions lighting up her dark, shiny hair.

"And it’s our Hufflepuffs! Let’s give them a round o’ applause, okay? And I’m bettin’ the Badgers can beat the Snakes ‘cause the Badgers have dignity – and a darn good Seeker, too." There was much applause. A white flash appeared in the front row – but that was just Kiki giving her the thumbs up. "Now, let’s play a funeral dirge for the Snakes – urk…" Nadia Moon was now strangling Rowena.

"Don’t you dare insult my boyfriend’s team, you freak!"

"Y-your boyfriend?"

"Lucius Malfoy. The finest boy on earth!" With that, Nadia walked back to her seat, her long, shining silver-blond hair flashing.

"New gossip, everyone, listen up! Nadia Moon and Lucius Malfoy are in lo-ove! And back to the commentary." Rowena delivered a very curse-filled commentary, ending only when she yelled, "Told you! Told you stinkin’ Snakes that the Badgers were gonna beat you! Who’s the tough team now?"

Kiki and Mairi walked up to Rowena, their faces flushed. For the first time ever, Kiki Fortune spoke to Rowena. In a timeless voice, she said, "One thing I gotta tell ya, you can deliver a danged good commentary. If you’re going to do anything in the fake romance section, I’d be glad to help you, Rowena." She smiled sweetly, and left with Mairi.

Rowena kept on smiling on the way back to the tower. For the first time in two, nearly three years, Lily and Janet didn’t know what to say.

*

It wasn’t a very eventful rest of the year. James and Lily were constantly out of the tower, on dates in Hogsmeade. Janet and Remus were already planning to go to the dance together. Rowena and Sirius were deathly sick of it!

Sirius was really ticked off, so the next day, he fed a hundred fireworks to a cat to vent the anger. Rowena, at the moment he fed the thirtieth firework to the cat, stormed into the tower. "Darn it! Those lousy lovebirds are at it again…said that if I didn't take the spikes outta the hair, I'd never get a date…" That was all Sirius was able to catch between the curses.

"I don't think the spikes are all that ugly. Just get rid of the eyeliner, and you'll do ok." Rowena smiled.

"Thanks, Sirius, you're a lot of help. Mom does disapprove of it, she hates the Gothic look. I don't know why she has something against punks, I really don't know." She flashed a smile at Sirius and helped him feed the fireworks to the cat.

"Thank you, Rowena. I don't mind the help. Oh, yeah, about next year…" Rowena gave him a look. "…This is going to blow over by the week after the dance, you realize. It ends next year. Then everything's back to normal, and you're on your own."

"Of course," Rowena said sullenly. She walked solemnly to the girls' dorm and flopped onto her bed. She felt a ripping sensation in her heart. She knew at once that she wasn't as strong as she used to be. If Sirius said, at the dance, that he loved her…"Don't say you love me," she whispered. "Don't say you love me, don't say you love me." She repeated the sentence, trying to ward off the feeling of weakness that had suddenly come over her. She undid the spikes in her hair and washed off the eyeliner. She wasn't as strong as she had been. Finally, she destroyed the leather jacket. She could only be a punk for one year, she knew in sudden shock. And next year, she knew she'd fall for someone, and when it happened…She shuddered to think of it. She sat down in front of the fire. The flames crackled and leapt. Softly, she repeated the sentence.

*

A while later, Janet came into the dorm. Faintly, she heard a soft voice whispering, "Don't say you love me" over and over again. She turned sharply, facing the fire. There, in a gown of the palest blue (which went well with her vivid reddish-brown hair), was Rowena. She was repeating the sentence.

"Rowena, what are you doing?" She rose and turned around. Her turquoise eyes seemed so sad.

"Janet - next year, I'm going to be faking a relationship with someone. And - I don't want him to say he loves me. I know you're thinking I should want him to say it, but if he does, I might not be strong enough to survive."

"Hey, hey, everyone goes through this. It's called adolescence. During it, no person is safe from their emotions - God knows my cousin Adrian Ripley is a teen, and he's fallen in love repeatedly. Don't you worry about it."

"Oh, thank you, Janet, thank you. You are an inspiration." Janet waved away her thanks.

"Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, girl."

*

Rowena leant back in the train home. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup - but this time, Ravenclaw won the House Cup. She ran a hand through her sleek, shiny hair. The door slid open and in came Kiki and Mairi.

"Hi, Rowena!" Mairi grinned. Kiki dug around in her pocket and withdrew a small hairpin shaped like a flower. For the petals, the artist had used silver, and around the edges were a few pale sapphires. The stones glimmered sadly and made the hairpin stand out well. Kiki fixed it among a lock of Rowena's hair, then stood back to examine the effect.

"Well, you did make a good choice, asking Kiki and I to provide this. It looks much better on you than ever it did on me. Keep it. It is supposed to be a good luck charm. God willing, it will help you next year," Kiki said formally. Rowena smiled weakly. Kiki and Mairi, in their lavender dresses, glided out of the compartment.

*

A while later, Rowena went off to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. Madam Malkin smiled brightly at Rowena. "Hogwarts dance, too?" Rowena nodded. "If you'll let Rebecca help you, you will have a perfect dress. And I might as well tell you that if ever you need it, I have all gowns in different lengths. I'll keep a longer version ready in case you have a growth spurt." With that, Rowena walked unsteadily over to where another witch was waiting for her. She glanced around. There was a simple red gown in one corner.

"How about that one?" Rowena asked, pointing at it.

"No, that one isn't for you. I think I've got it…excuse me for a second." Rebecca hurried over to a dark black dress with a slightly pleated rim. On it was a green vine pattern. "Here we go, dear, it suits you. It goes well with the eyes and your personality. No doubt you will win a date." Rowena looked at the dress. It did go well with her light, pale skin, serene turquoise eyes, and reddish-brown hair. It also went well with the hairpin she wore.

"Thank you, miss," she whispered. She paid for her dress and left.

*

During the summer, she constantly talked to Janet and Lily. Often, when Rowena and Lily went to Janet's house, there would be a big party (Rowena made absolutely sure to wear an old outfit and not her new one) which would result in the three girls dancing on a table with lampshades on their heads. And then Janet's mother would chase the three into the back yard with a desire to bash in their skulls. It evaporated once the girls did a whole fake drama act.

Janet, Lily, and Rowena often enjoyed these moments when they were free from society. Then, one day, as they turned on the radio, Rowena decided to switch the station. The three listened to the music.

"Time cast a spell on you…but you won't forget me…I know I… could have loved you, but you… wouldn't…let me…I'll follow…you…down till…the sound…of my voice…will haunt you…" It was "Silver Spring," by Fleetwood Mac. Janet turned off the radio.

"Well, girls?" Lily got out the keyboard, Janet got the drums, and Rowena set up a microphone. "Okay, maybe we ought call our band Rip Tide! Oh yeah!" Rowena began singing the song as the Lily played the keyboard and Janet did the drumming - possibly one of the most important jobs in a band.

*

"I'll follow…you…down till…the sound…of my voice…will haunt you…" Sirius woke up in midsummer to the haunting tune. "You could be my…silver spring…my…blue-green…co-lors fla-a-ashing…" He slammed his fist against the wall. God, why did he hear the song in his dreams and when he wanted some peace and quiet? It was almost like someone was doing this on purpose!

"Shut up!" Sirius shouted. The tune faded away fast. He glanced over at the class photo. There, eyes glittering sadly, was Rowena. She'd chosen the back row, but the eyes could be seen as two crystalline sparks. He remembered that this whole thing was revenge, but somehow…someway…it seemed stupid to him now. When he got to school again, he'd call the whole thing off. But then he saw something that made him renew his faith in the prank: There, in the photo, James was holding up a sign that said "This guy is a moron" and pointing at Sirius. Oh, James would die of shock, and that would be enough. That was enough for him.

*

Rowena reviewed her summer. It had gone pretty well, except when Firenze wanted to know what the Whomping Willow did. He got a black eye and a broken leg, so he was cursing for weeks about it. Rowena didn't like it either when Nadia Moon via owl had dared Rowena to touch the tree. It was not fun. She had a broken finger because she'd leapt out of the way of a branch in time, but she did get three Galleons from Nadia.

"Firenze, how many timed must I tell you not to annoy the Whomping Willow?" their mother said unhappily.

"Mother, I went too!"

"Well, you didn't get a broken leg!" complained Firenze.

"Aw, shut up!" Rowena shouted angrily.

"Butterfly Lightwing, you're not to speak that way! You'll be a bad influence on Firenze."

"Mother, I'm a teenager! I have to live my life!"

"You're grounded."

"Mother! No - please…" There was no way Rowena could get herself freed from the punishment. She was grounded. She walked off angrily, kicking up clouds of dust. She was grounded for the rest of the summer. She sent a few owls to Janet and Lily. Now, all she had to do was wait to go back to school.

Ivy looked around at the group, unscrewed her thermos, and drank some Aquafina water. Then she closed her eyes. Her voice became a sort of strong, Cher-like voice. She continued.

Rowena wheezed and flopped into one of the Gryffindor chairs. What a trip! First, Snape had blown up yet another compartment. Then, Nadia taunted Janet, Lily, and Rowena about their boyfriends – Rowena didn’t even have a boyfriend! She got so mad that Janet had to stop her from using her telekinesis to blast Nadia all the way to Antarctica. After that, Remus had thrown the compartment into total chaos by turning off the lights. What a ride!

Rowena felt in her bag for the flower hairpin – her flower hairpin. She always wanted to know it was there. Even if she might not be Head Girl (she definitely wouldn’t, since she could not beat Lily in Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions), she might still be successful, and the hairpin was a good luck charm, after all. It might help.

Janet bustled in an hour later. "The dance is next week, and I’m going with Remus!" she said happily.

Rowena smiled. "Good for you," she said. It was nice to see happiness around the tower.

"An’ Lily’s going with James."

"Duh, Janet, we all knew that was going to happen." Rowena fixed the small hairpin.

"Hey, where’d you get that?" Janet asked.

"Kiki Fortune."

Janet’s jaw dropped. "No way! So…you’re one of the so-called ‘popular girls’ now. I am too, and so’s Lily."

"I knew that already. Mairi told me all about it." Janet nodded and grinned.

*

A few days later, there was a Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match. Mairi had already said that it was okay if Rowena wanted to insult the team. "And – oh, see that? They let a godless monkey-**** S.O.B. cheater on the Ravens! Who is the God damned captain of that team?!" Mairi winked at Rowena. Indeed, there was a cheater on the Ravens – someone who always attacked the Keeper when not in the scoring area. Mairi was very happy.

A while later, there was a bit of excitement when the aforementioned cheater attacked Keeper Tobias Jordan. Rowena got so upset that she uttered a string of really, really bad words that were much worse than her usual repertoire.

"O’CONNELL! ARE YOU A COMMENTATOR TO BE CURSING AT THE OTHER TEAM? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!" Professor McGonagall shouted.

"Sorry, Professor. Cheater – I mean Chaser Barry Boot nearly kills the Gryffindor Keeper, which, I’m really sure, could happen to anyone…"

The commentary went on, laced with many cursewords (Rowena’s specialty), until, finally… "Ha ha! Gryffindor rules, man! Take that!" James had just caught the Snitch. Rowena happily shouted, "Looks like even a son-of-a-***** cheater can not beat the Lions! Up yours, you fricking cheater! Urk…" Rowena was dragged away from the megaphone by the hair by Professor McGonagall.

"What did I tell you about the cursing?" McGonagall said in a deadly whisper. Rowena gulped. It was a three-strikes law: If Rowena did at least three commentaries that consisted mostly of cursing, she’d have to stop being commentator. "This time, however, I’m going to condone it. God knows Barry did break the rules. No points off Gryffindor, but I will go give that" (McGonagall said something so nasty that Rowena was shocked to hear it) "a detention. Excuse me…" With that, Professor McGonagall left the room. Rowena took the opportunity to throw seven parchment airplanes around and write on one of them "Snape is an idiot!!" She ran back to the tower, laughing her head off.

*

A week later, it was time for the big dance. Sirius was not in the least nervous about it – just a few dances, sit together for a while, then once the party was over, separate. It was that simple. James, on the other hand, constantly asked if his hair was okay, if his tie was on straight, and a bunch of other things. Finally, Sirius snapped, "James! Your hair’s ok, the tie’s on straight, just stop being so bloody nervous!" James shut up after that. James, Sirius, and Remus walked down to the Great Hall for the dance. Poor Peter had been kept in by Vendictius for botching a potion.

The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor girls sat nervously at one end of the room. Janet, wearing a bright red dress, was swept onto the dance floor by Remus. Lily was taken by James. Looks like Rowena's not showing, Sirius thought. He settled himself into one of the chairs. Then, there was a nerve-racking sob. Sirius whirled around. It was the ever-crying Mairi Prewett. Kiki was comforting her. On Mairi's left was Rowena. Her reddish-brown hair was swept into a bun, and a shining silver hairpin glittered. She wore a black dress with a green vine design on it. She patted Mairi's hand and said softly, "Oh, there, there, Mairi. We all have our time for being set up." She glared at a Ravenclaw named Christopher Chang. Apparently, Chris had set Mairi up. Sirius crossed over to the corner.

"Hi, Rowena," he said casually. Rowena looked up and smiled a bit.

"Oh, hi, Sirius. Listen, I can't dance right now - poor Mairi got set up by Chris - so could you wait a few minutes?" Sirius shrugged and swept off to the statue of the one-eyed witch and went to Hogsmeade for a butterbeer.

A few minutes later, he heard a rather haunting solo. Hogsmeade could always hear the Hogwartian parties, so Sirius listened closely. " And all the vampires…walkin' through the valley…move west…down…Ventura Boulevard…" It was Tom Petty's "Free Falling." Sirius hummed the rest of the tune as the clear, bell-like voice coninued on the verse. Then, someone else took over and Sirius went back to telling jokes. Then he realized that it was probably time togo back, so that's what he did.

*

"Where is he?" Rowena whispered. Kiki shrugged and ran a hand through her curly white-blond hair.

"If I were you, I'd just stop looking. You're faking it…right?"

Rowena thought about it. In the past week, she'd been daydreaming about the dance. And she'd been making sure her hair was nice and that her dress was clean. That wasn't the effort one would put into a scam, Rowena realized with enough shock to knock a hippogriff over. She was either taking it a bit too seriously, or…or…she'd fallen in love!

Kiki's eyes widened as she saw the clarity in Rowena's eyes. "Oh, no. This isn't a scam anymore for you, is it? You've fallen for Sirius. Now you're in trouble." Rowena was still too shocked to speak or move. If she'd fallen in love, then she was becoming human! She thought about it, but it was clear as any piece of glass: She was in love. If her mother learned about it, then she'd be in really hot water. But then she realized that she couldn't have stayed emotionless forever.

Sirius arrived a few minutes later. Kiki whispered, "Don't give up. You've got you, and as long as you've got yourself, you can choose your fate!" Sirius came over and swept Rowena onto the dance floor. It was a slow dance. Rowena tried hard to concentrate on the dance and not the fact that she'd fallen in love. It worked. They danced gracefully across the floor. Rowena concentrated on Kiki's words. She could go her own way, and she'd found out about a charm that, should she need it, would transform her into a human. The charm had been used on a small talisman which she needed to find. But she could if she wanted, if she was absolutely certain she wanted to live as a human and not a centaur.

*

After the dance, Sirius couldn't believe it had gone so well. He wished he had had a camera to capture James's extremely shocked look. He chuckled as he walked back to the dorms. Peter was already there, since the dance had been as long as his detention. "So, how'd it go?" Peter squeaked.

"Oh, just fine. You should have seen James's face, Pete, it was hilarious."

"I didn't mean the prank, I meant the dance!" Peter's eyes narrowed swiftly in concentration.

"Oh, yeah, that too. It was okay, too." Peter's jaw dropped.

"What? Don't you even care for her? And I thought I was apathetic."

"This was a fake thing, stupid," Sirius said harshly, glaring at Peter. Peter couldn't get a witty comeback right then, so he simply glared back. As far as Peter was concerned, Sirius was apathetic.

*

Rowena checked all her books. Her mother, who was now tolerant of humans and her daughter's interest in them, had told her about the talisman. Janet barged in. "What's up, Rowena?" she asked.

"Janet, d'you know what this talisman that turns centaurs into humans permanently looks like?"

Janet laughed, "You're wearing it."

Rowena took the hairpin out of her hair. This silver dahlia with inlaid sapphires, this was the talisman? "How - how d'you work the thing?" she asked, running her hands over it.

"I don't know myself. Maybe Kiki knows - she obviously must have known what it was." At once, however, Rowena found a small paragraph in her book of talismans that showed her what to do.

"It's so simple, Janet, listen to this. 'To use the Morphoran Talisman, a centaur must affix it to his or her hoof by a silver string. When the centaur is ready, he or she must stamp the hoof against a stone and say, "Bring peace to my spirit and two legs to my form."' It's that easy!"

Janet looked concernedly at her friend with the sparkling turquoise eyes. "Are you ready? I mean, your mother hasn't removed that ol' curse yet…"

"Then I wait until sixth year!" Janet glanced sadly at Rowena.

"But why? Why would you wish to become human?" Rowena gave Janet such a look that Janet gasped, "Oh, dear Lord. That's romantic, but are you certain?" Suddenly, Rowena became less sure she wanted to become human. She realized that Sirius didn't, after all, care for her, that to him, the dance was still totally fake. She sighed and threw the small pin into one of her suitcases.

"What's the point?" Rowena moaned, both hands clasping the sides of her head.

*

"I can't believe you didn't even say thank you!" Peter was still groaning. Sirius hit him with a tongue-tying curse. "Owww. That really hurt," Peter complained.

"What is it with you and being weak?" Sirius said venomously. Peter shrugged.

"What you call being weak is what I call caring for others." Peter was lying, though. He didn't care for anyone, but he was a darn good actor.

Sirius thought about it. Well, perhaps he was a bit of a savage in the friendship department - he knew that; he and Peter were never friends! - and he had been a bit rude at the dance, not waiting for her. He decided to apologize the next day.

*

The next day, Rowena was bullied by Nadia Moon. She fled to the tower during a break, crying. A few moments later, Sirius walked in and saw what had happened.

"What's up, Rowena?" He was now truly concerned for the girl.

"Oh, it was just Nadia again. She's such a bother lately." Rowena tried futilely to keep the quaver out of her voice. Sirius sat down next to her.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Sirius asked gently. Rowena related what had happened.

They sat together, watching the fire burn. Rowena and Sirius held hands and leant against each other. Finally, they looked at each other and kissed. Rowena didn't know what was happening, but she remembered that she had fallen for Sirius. She sort of enjoyed it.

*

"G'night, Remus!" Janet called on her way back from a date. She wandered dreamily to the girls' dorm, happy that she had a boyfriend. There, she saw Rowena, who was watching the sky blissfully. A small dove alighted on Rowena's outstretched hand. Rowena nuzzled it, then let it fly free.

"Isn't the lawn so beautiful today, Janet?" Rowena asked, still gazing at the window.

"Rowena, what are you doing?!?! You've never been this at peace before! It's almost like you got a kiss from Sirius!" Rowena smiled and nodded happily, her eyes sparkling. "Oh, good God, no. He didn't kiss you, did he?" Janet gasped.

"He did. I kind of liked it." Janet fainted on the spot. Lily swung the door open.

"Okay, why did Janet faint, Rowena?" Rowena gave Lily such a look of joy that Lily gasped a bit.

"You have a boyfriend? How - why?"

"I don't know why I fell in love with Sirius." Lily woke Janet up and brought her to a psychology ward.

*

Sirius thought about what had just happened. So he had fallen in love with Rowena! It was really no wonder; she was kind, mischievious, and pretty. He didn't know what to do now except yell at a passing Snape, "You suck!" He was in love! Now he understood why James so often went into dreamland over Lily. Heck, he was dreaming about Rowena a bit. Peter came in, a glowing grin on his face.

"You didn't kiss Rowena, did you, Sirius?" Sirius grinned a bit. Peter fainted, being a weak person. "You fell in love - oh my Lord, Sirius! You, of all people!" Sirius threw a pillow at him. Peter started a duel, at which he failed miserably, losing to Sirius. Sirius wanted to shout to the world that he had a girlfriend.

"God, Sirius, what is it with you and spontaneity?" Peter asked.

"Pete, what is it with you and being an idiot?"

"Uh…"

"Witty repartee." Peter lunged at Sirius, swearing.

*

Rowena didn't know how she managed to get through the rest of the year, what with her relationship with Sirius. They had become inseparable. One day, Sirius led Rowena to a secluded shrub and revealed a flying motorbike. "Nice, huh? Want to go for a ride?" Sirius asked.

Rowena nodded shyly and got onto the bike behind Sirius. They flew into the air at such a rate that Rowena had to use one hand to hold her hat in place. Sirius laughed. They flew over the forest. Next year, Rowena knew, would be total chaos. Oh, well…

Again, Ivy caught her breath for a moment, then looked around.

“Well said, Ivy. Well said.”

“Shut up!”

“You shut up, Morgan!”

The animosity between Sarah and Morgan was about to come to blows when Ivy sighed, “Tear each other up after the story, please. I’m going to continue.” And continue she did.

Rowena walked around Hogwarts again. How familiar, and yet not so familiar, it seemed. Perhaps it was her love for Sirius that had changed her point of view about things. She fingered the rose-red cloak she now wore. She had gotten a new, red cloak to celebrate her fifth year. Sirius had told her that he had found a way to become an Animagus. She was happy for him, that he could accompany Remus. Peter and James were going to become Animagi, too. Sirius had told her to watch for the next full moon - they'd be spotted easily.

She didn't know why she'd fallen for Sirius. Perhaps it was sheer madness. All she knew was, if her mother found out, she was a sitting duck. She watched the ground at night on the first full moon. Nothing…nothing…nothing! She'd been tricked!

Suddenly, she saw a big stag come out of nowhere. It made a sort of signal by nodding its head. Rowena took off her bright yellow scarf and waved it out the window. A large black dog, which had just appeared, looked straight at the window - more importantly, at Rowena.

It winked.

She began waving furiously. It was Sirius! Then, a small rat and a large wolf came out of nowhere. Sirius smiled wolfishly and left with the other three. Rowena grinned, her face flushed with triumph, and flopped into a chair. She immediately went to sleep.

*

Moony stared at the other three. "Who was that?" he asked.

"That was my girlfriend," Padfoot responded at once.

"Your girlfriend? Didn't know you had one," Prongs chirped.

Wormtail groaned, "It's that O'Connell girl, and - who is that?" Two figures had appeared. One had distinct blue eyes and pale skin. The other was lightly tanned, with a shining mop of brown hair.

"Oh, no. Moony, do not attack those two, one of them is your girlfriend!" Prongs screamed.

Moony had already gone halfway to the two when he heard the sentence. But still, he walked forward. The other three backed away slowly.

Rowena sighed. In the language of the Animagi and werewolves, she said coldly, "Don't even think about attacking either of us. Go away." Moony was so shocked he actually left without attacking.

*

Rowena gave Janet an angry glare as the wolf slinked off into the darkness. "Why you had to drag me into this, just so you could see your boyfriend, I don't get. I was trying to sleep!"

"Sorry, but you know these woods better than I do. I needed a guide," Janet explained.

"Well, Mrs. Moony, you could have waited until when there was no potentially life-threatening danger." Janet boiled with rage at the nickname and punched Rowena on the shoulder.

"Ow! It was just a joke!" Rowena complained, massaging her sore shoulder. Janet laughed and they walked back to the tower.

*

The next day, the three Animagi slouched into the tower. "Ohhh, my head…" James moaned.

"Busted!" Rowena, who was keeping a vigil, nodded towards an angry prefect. "You three are so dead!" she chirped fearfully. She managed to distract the prefect, leaving the three to go upstairs. Just for kicks, Sirius threw a Laughing Charm at the prefect.

"Good job Padfoot!" James said, high-fiveing his friend. The three walked back upstairs and went to sleep - all except for Sirius. He watched the sky outside the window. What had given her the courage to defend her friend? Sirius wondered. Why had she been so unafraid for her own life to save Janet's?

Sirius snorted in amusement. Now there was no wonder as to why Rowena had been put in Gryffindor. Gryffindor was all about courage and troublemaking.

"Hmmph! Sirius, we need to make something that helps troublemakers after us." Sirius whirled around. Remus had gotten back upstairs.

"And what do you propose it is?"

"Some kind of a map. It'll help those who haven't got permission into Hogsmeade, or just knowing if one's about to meet an enemy," Remus pointed out.

"Moony, you know the truth - nobody in this room can draw. How are we supposed to make this thing now?"

Remus laughed. "We'll think of something." With that, they bickered over who was going to wear the Quidditch robes at Halloween and went to sleep.

*

Rowena was still talking with Janet. It was a good thing the full moon had been on a Friday, and there were no classes on Saturday. "First off, Ms. Moony, I want to know how in hades you found out about that talisman!" Rowena said.

"Aw, come on. We Ripleys are known for our knowledge about talismans. I simply took an interest in metamorphosis - that means form-changing - talismans. That's how I found out about the hairpin."

"Well, how'd you know that this bloody thing was a talisman?"

"The sapphires are glowing. They only glow for centaurs, since it's a one-way ticket to humandom." Rowena was impressed by Janet's knowledge.

Janet continued: "You won't believe this, but I found out about another ceremony. It's sort of complicated, but it must work. Four of the centaur's closest friends (that applies to Lily and me, you realize) must link hands. The centaur herself - that's you - must be in the center of the circle. Apparently, we need a few more people. I may be able to convince Kiki and Mairi to help.

The five people must chant Lumos de Paripski while the centaur holds the talisman in her hand and whispers 'Let me go' until the moon rises. Then, according to this book, some great thing - maybe a bolt of lightning, I don't know - will strike the center of the circle, surround the centaur with light, and turn her into a human. Then everyone goes back to the tower. It's that easy."

Rowena was struck speechless. So that was it! That was all she had to do! Then she thought about it. First, she had to have something so tremendous that she'd want to turn into a human girl. Second, she had to make sure it was during the summer, or she'd be caught for sure. But, other than that…it seemed okay.

*

Sirius walked coolly into the tower after a Quidditch practice to find Rowena scribbling keenly on a piece o parchment. "What's up?"

Rowena looked up from the desk and smiled. "Oh, hi, Sirius. I'm just sketching the castle and most of the tunnels. Nice, huh?" Sirius looked at it. It was a perfect map of the place, with all of the tunnels in their exact location. He grinned.

"Nice one, Rowena."

"Thanks. I'm hoping to enchant the thing soon - you know, to make it invisible except by a charm, but I don't know myself what it's going to be."

"How about 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'?"

"Hey, yeah! But what's it going to be called?"

"Don't know. Marauder's Map? How about James, Remus, Pete, and I take part in this, huh?"

"Okay." With that, Rowena wrote elegantly "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, proudly present The Marauder's Map." Sirius smiled and did the rest, including the rest of the enchanting. He even did a little thing that would always insult anyone by the name of Snape or Malfoy. They grinned together. Sirius showed the map to the others, and they agreed that it would be one good aid to troublemakers.

*

A few weeks later, Lily had a rather grim announcement: Her mother had died of a heart attack. Her sister, Petunia, had moved out. Obviously, Petunia was upset that Lily had gotten all the attention and was a witch. Or maybe she was just going to live with her boyfriend, Vernon Dursley. Rowena didn't give a rat's butt. When she said so in those exact words, she had to add hastily, "No offense to present company," since Peter's animal was a rat.

Sirius, on the other hand, had an idea to get Snape expelled. One day, Snape asked him, "Why does your friend Remus always go under the Whomping Willow at the full moon?" Rowena, who was hiding around a corner, deliberately dropped a long staff she was carrying. Sirius and Snape came around the corner. Rowena hid again and witnessed the whole thing.

Sirius pointed at the staff and said, "You just prod a knot with that thing. Then, the tree will freeze and you can find out." Rowena's common sense kicked in. Even though she sure would have liked Snape's butt to be kicked by the Willow, she didn't want anyone dead. She sent an emergency owl to Lily, telling her to relay the message to the first person she saw. That one ended up being James. Snape was sworn to secrecy, and Sirius and Rowena were given detentions. Rowena'd been caught out late.

*

Aside from that, Rowena didn't have much to do during the next few years. Oh, sure, she was able to switch from centaur to human and back again the next year, but it didn't really matter to her. What mattered was finding a reason to use the talisman.

Ivy shifted in her seat. “Due to a total lack of imagination in this area, I’m going to have to zip forward to after Hogwarts. Rowena’s narrating.”

“Okay, fine, get on with it!” snapped Kaleese, running a hand through her curling black hair.

Ivy’s voice rose again, telling the story.

I walked down the streets of Diagon Alley again, as a centaur. It was nice to be one again. It was 1978, and I always kept the talisman in a purse to make sure I didn't lose it. I had taken a job after graduation as a Filibuster Firework-maker. It was a job that I do not hesitate to say I was good at.

I delivered the fireworks to one of the stores on Diagon Alley and received my pay. I sighed, remembering my happy days. Lily Shannahan came in.

"Rowena, hi! Listen, James and I are going to get married next week…could you be the Maid of Honor?" I was speechless. It had been a few years since I'd met my friends, and it would be a bittersweet reunion. Oh well!

"Sure. I'd love to," I said happily. If there's one thing I love above anything else, it has to be joyous occasions like weddings.

A week later, indeed, I was forced to become human for a while. I wore my best dress to the wedding. Lily and Janet greeted me enthusiastically as I walked in.

Since the ceremony wouldn't happen for a half-hour, the group waited outside. I kept it lively by playing the guitar. Lily was so nervous that at one point she sank to the floor in a dead faint. I kept telling her, "Lily, you can't be nervous, you mustn't, your sister isn't here." Janet offered similar advice, but left abruptly when Remus arrived.

No prizes for guessing why.

I myself stayed in a garden, singing away my troubles by a clear blue lake. A large motorbike arrived. I didn't give a rat's butt - no offense to all rats out there. Then I heard someone stepping off the motorbike. I must have looked pretty classical, in the silvery dress with chestnut hair bound in a braid and clear turquoise eyes, waiting for Lily to tell me that the wedding was about to happen.

"Hi. It's been a while, hasn't it?" I jerked in surprise as I heard the voice. I hadn't known, hadn't expected it. But Sirius had come to the wedding.

I looked up. There was the same man I'd fallen in love with so many years ago. "Oh, hi. Didn't know you were coming to the wedding."

Sirius laughed, "Well, did you expect the best man not to show up? Come on, let's go." He and I walked inside the chapel.

*

The wedding went beautifully, and I swear that Janet was crying at the end. I was too.

Note to self: I am no good at weddings, even if I did become the Maid of Honor!

Everybody walked home, happy that the two lovebirds were together at last. (Of course, we all knew it would happen. They were a well-known couple.)

A few weeks after that, I ran into Nadia, who was wearing an engagement ring. She looked at me scornfully when she realized I was still single. Needless to say, she was engaged to Lucius Malfoy. As Mother always said: Queer birds flock together. Heh heh.

Janet often asked me about how to dress on dates - something's goin' on with her and Remus, I know that for certain! I was sympathetic, and often we went on shopping sprees. Don't ask! Okay, Janet loved shopping, among other things. I'd taken up official Quidditch commenting, and it was always for the Godric's Hollow Gryphons. THEY ROCK, AND EVERYBODY ELSE SUCKS!!! GOT IT? Good.

*

One day, after a particularly happy game (the Gryphons won the Quidditch World Cup! Joy!), I ran into Sirius again.

"Nice commentary," he smiled. I grinned back.

"Just gave the usual cursewords and biases." Sirius laughed.

We left on his motorbike.

"So, how's life lately?" I tried to keep the conversation light and airy.

We landed. "Rowena, will you marry me?" he asked, handing me a small diamond ring.

I was struck silent. What? Sirius proposing to me? I told him I'd think about it. I just wasn't sure then. He sort of understood.

*

I realized, a few hours later on the Knight Bus, just how much I actually meant to Sirius. But I was still stunned. Some thought - some idea - was in the back of my mind. Actually, it was two thoughts. The first I grasped immediately: This was dangerous territory, getting married was. I could easily be found out and executed.

The second was even more unnerving, but I realized it would save my life - and catapult wasn't so painful, really. One was simply tied up to a large catapult and hurtled out of the forest, usually landing in a pillow factory.

I took out my new owl, Helen. Hope had died a while back, and I'd named this one Helen because her eyes glowed with pure light, and Helen was Greek for light. I scribbled on a piece of parchment:

Dearest Friends,

I never thought I'd be asking for this, sending out the owl. But it is a dire situation. To whomever this meets first, pass it on.

But the time has come to use the Morphoran Talisman. Only then can my soul be at peace - and only then can I be free of the ties that bind me to my family. I have no choice.

Meet me at the next waning moon at the Panther Clearing in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts. This is of the utmost importance, so do not break the chain by keeping the note to yourself. Send a reply back with your owl. He or she will find me.

Yours truly,

Rowena O'Connell

*

Helen flew out the window, her wings glowing. She went somewhere, but she was intelligent enough to know where she was going. I leant back against the bed. It would be a long night.

*

On the next dawn, four owls came to me. The first was dark brown. I slit its note open and read:

Rowena,

I'm ready. Didn't expect it so soon after the wedding, but I will get away at the first sign of the waning moon. I will wait.

Sincerely,

Lily Potter

I smiled. So Lily did have a sense of responsibility in her lazy, romantic head! I read the second:

Old buddy,

Okay! Ready to go!

Janet

I grinned again. Two down, two to go! I read the third:

O'Connell,

Ready to help you. Even though I resent waning moons, I owe you. And, Chris and I got married. We hope to have a child soon.

Mairi Chang

I rolled my eyes. Those two, as far as I was concerned, belonged together! I read the final one:

Dearest Rowena,

I would do anything to help a friend in need, and I have no biases against centaurs. So I don't mind at all.

Kiki Fortune

I smiled for the third time. So I was going to be able to marry Sirius! It was dangerous territory, for sure, but I do not give a rat's butt about danger! So take that, centaurs! I was going to marry the man that I loved.

*

The next day I received word from Sirius that, if I did say yes, the wedding would be far after the waning moon. I sent a note to him:

Sirius,

Yes. A thousand times, yes.

Rowena

I now had to wait, but it would be worth it. I could marry Sirius then, with no traditions binding me, no chain keeping me back. I would be free. The word felt strange as I exclaimed it happily: Free. But it seemed all too familiar, since I had something to live for. In sixth year, I remembered, I had severed my bonds forever because my family clung tightly to traditions and they knew I had fallen in love with a human.

No matter what happened, no matter how many catapults I got, I was free forever. Nothing else really mattered. 

“Nice, nice, get on with it, idiot!” yelled Shannon.

“Call me Gen or Ivy, ok?”

“Fine, fine, Ivy. Get on with it!”

Ivy stared into the flames. Her chapped lips opened and she spoke again. Her voice was growing hoarse from all the talking.

It was a clear two years since the weddings. Lily had told me of the birth of her son, Harry, on July 30, 1980. I’d gone to visit the three. Harry resembled James, except for the eyes – they were the same shape and color as Lily’s. I glanced at the happy few. "That kid's going to be the cause of a whole lotta trouble," I murmured.

James's eyes widened in mock horror. "You mean Harry might outdo me?!"

Lily laughed, "No, dear, he'll just be your equal."

I laughed, a bitersweet sound, since I myself was expecting a child. Lily took me aside.

"Rowena, what is going on? Sirius mentioned something about 'the next one in line.' What is he talking about?"

I smiled. "Well, Lily, I am soon to have a child of my own."

"We've got to send word to the Traveling Chain. They're still standing by."

I should explain. The Traveling Chain is the group consisting of Mairi, Janet, Kiki, Lily, and myself. Lily and I are sort of in charge of the whole thing. I took the advice.

Within weeks, the Traveling Chain showed up. Janet was positively beaming. "So!" she smiled.

Mairi was leading a toddler - only one year old, I suppose - into the flat. "Well, kudos. This is my daughter, Cho Marianne Chang. I think our two are going to have a lovely time together. When's it due?"

I shrugged. "Sometime next month," I said softly.

"What you going to name it?" Janet wondered.

"Did I know what to name Harry before he was born? Shut your trap!" Lily exclaimed.

*

On August 29, 1980, my daughter was born. I lay there, in the hospital, with my little bundle of joy in my arms. She had dark hair and crystalline eyes - something, I'm afraid, runs in the family and can't be distilled - only they were coppery. Lily said happily, "Oh, isn't she adorable? I'll go tell the others." With that, she ducked into the waiting room. I don't know what she told everyone else, but soon enough, a cheer went up from the room. The others crowded in. Janet was beaming. The rest of the Traveling Chain came in, smiling happily, then James and Sirius.

"Now, what're we going to name her?" Sirius wondered.

"How about Nadine?" Kiki suggested. That was discarded immediately.

"Maybe Mary?" Mairi asked.

"Not on your life, pal," I said.

"Anna?"

"Hope?"

"QUIET!" Janet yelled. She glanced at my daughter and said quietly, forcefully, "That child's name will be Sierra Helena Black." Since we had no better ideas (and it really was the best name), she was named Sierra Helena Black.

*

Sierra showed remarkable signs of intelligence early on. She learned to recognize music and color, and a couple of times I think she was humming tunes. Then came the day that she found out what wands were for.

Sirius and I were discussing whether she'd get into Hogwarts when there was a loud "bang" from upstairs, which was where Sierra slept. We ran upstairs. There was Sierra, who had somehow gotten ahold of my wand and was using it to change the wallpaper color. Apparently, she preferred red and gold to pastel pink, and she preferred a wildcat motif (mostly lions and panthers) to bunnies. She looked straight at us and made a face, as though to say, "You expected Miss Goody-Two-Shoes?" She'd shown a remarkable sign of magic, and it looked as though she would get into Hogwarts, if she was able to do that.

One day, Sirius decided to introduce her to the wonderful world of poker. Needless to say, she soon got the hang of it and did a fairly good job. One time, I remember, she managed to get a full house and win a game.

Then, one day, I learned some very grim news from Lily: Voldemort was hunting her, James, and little Harry down. They needed a Secret-Keeper.

Sirius and I agreed that, if there was a traitor, it was probably Remus. However, when I tried to tell Janet about it, the result was a disaster. She didn't take it lightly.

*

Sirius was made the Secret-Keeper a few months later. We began visiting the Potters more frequently. Harry and Sierra began holding this strange mime contest. Ughhhh…mimes. I hate mimes. Soon enough, the children began talking and, whether at the Potters' house or not, the house was full of chatter. One particularly interesting talk between Sirius and Sierra went something like this:

"Hello, Sierra."

"Hiya, Dad!"

"Now you're not going to go causing any trouble, are you?"

"Woodn' be so sur'."

"You won't go becoming an Animagus?"

"He he he. Woodn' be so sur' ther' eith'r." With that, Sierra "whumphed" off, grinning. In seconds, she'd flushed a photo down the toilet - literally! Then, she put on this ridiculous "I'm so innocent" act.

*

Of course, there was always a suspicion that one of us was the traitor, and Sirius thought Voldemort would go for him first. I always worried that he might, oh, I don't know, go and switch the job to the traitor, and that would be a catastrophe. I was constantly worried about it.

Even Sierra's antics didn't calm things down. Sirius and I often got into discussions about the smallest details, which usually ended in a game of "Go Fish" (think the movie "Sgt. Bilko"). I was often sad, and I ended up so bored that I'd go over to a karaoke place and sing my little heart out - often to the tunes of "American Pie" and "Bohemian Rhapsody." I tell you, it was truly the Dark Ages.

Lily and I often complained about how annoying it was to deal with life as fugitives. "I mean, come on, I often think we should call the whole thing off and challenge You-Know-Who to a card game. He wins, we snap our wands. We win, he snaps his wand and turns himself in at a mental institution!" Lily screamed one day.

"Same thoughts here. Haven't you noticed how short everyone's temper - applying, of course, to James and Sirius - is nowadays?" I asked. Lily and I had gotten to a rock garden and were trying to calm down. Indeed, Sirius's temper was getting worse - and according to Lily, it was the same with James, too. I believe it's the tension - as already mentioned, being fugitives from Voldemort is not a happy thing, and people always get the heebie-jeebies even thinking about it, let alone being it!

*

One day, I went crazy. I couldn't live under these conditions! I just couldn't!! It had to do with the latest argument about the wisdom of not hiding, and I knew that if we didn't hide, we'd be killed or worse. But oh, no, Sirius knew we could stay where we were, knew it was safe.

I slipped out in the middle of the night and let out a beacon of light to summon Kiki. It worked.

She ran a hand through her short, wild, white-blond hair and shot me a look. "You could have summoned me at anytime except this godforsaken hour, you idiot. But what is it?"

"Uh, yeah, remember your occupation as a landlady? Need a flat for the night." Kiki had become a landlady, by the way, and this came in handy. Besides, I did go along with one of her wild plans one time, so she owed me.

"Okay, fine. I don't have any work to do besides, and I do know what's going on, Rowena. You poor thing, you must be going ballistic under that tension. I'll let you have your flat."

It was a nice place, that flat. It was near the edge of town, and there was a good view of the stars. I could gaze at them all night.

As the sun rose, I heard the faint strains of a song…

"I want to glide down over Mullholland,

I want to write her name in the sky,

Gonna free fall out into nothing,

Gonna leave this world for a while…"

I ran to the window. That was my all-time favorite song, "Free Falling"! A chorus of voices started up.

"Who in the world-!" My question was soon answered; Sirius had hired a choir! That was enough to make me forget that Voldemort was chasing the Potters and us. It was so sweet.

I ran outside, then straight to Sirius. "Sirius, I'm sorry!" I whispered. I couldn't believe that I'd let my foolish worries in the way.

He grinned. "No problem. Now, let's go home, shall we?" Before I could say anything, I was swept onto that motorbike again. Trouble or no trouble, I couldn't have stayed mad for long anyway - not at Sirius.

*

Within weeks, there was a sudden change in the mood of the place. Things went back to normal.

I think Sirius put a Cheering Charm on the place.

There was also a thing that I absolutely must say: Janet and Remus were no longer answering our owls. In fact, one time I had to go look for them. Sirius agreed to look for Remus, and I would look for Janet.

I Apparated at Janet's house, and saw no-one. What did she think she was doing, the crazy nut?!

Sirius and I ended up back home at the same time. "You find anyone at Janet's?"

"Nobody was home. You find Remus?"

"Nope. What are they doing?"

"That's something I'd dearly like to know, too, Sirius." We swore we'd find out what had happened. Why would Janet and Remus leave so suddenly?

We discussed the thing at late night. This time, I was actually worried - this wasn't some frivolous argument we'd had in the past, this was serious. Still, Sirius tried to make a joke out of it. That's a Hogwarts troublemaker for you.

Sirius came home with very happy news one day later. "You'll never believe this," he said happily, grinning, holding my hands, "but I managed to get someone else for the Secret-Keeping job. We're free."

I felt uneasy at once. It was now October 29, 1981, and everyone knows that Halloween is always a bad luck day. It was coming up in two days. "Who is the new Secret-Keeper, Sirius?" I wondered.

"It's Peter Pettigrew. Don't worry, I'm certain he's not a traitor." He kissed me on the cheek and left to go on one of his rounds (don't forget, one must egg houses during boredom spells). I went into Sierra's room and looked at the small, one-year-old child. Would she live through all this? Would anyone? I didn't know anymore.

*

Two days later, on Halloween night, Sierra began having nightmares. I had to wake up and shush her repeatedly until I finally decided that I would sleep in a chair while holding the child in my arms. It seemed the right thing to do.

I knew, then, as the sun sank with blood-colored rays, that something was going to go wrong. But I didn't know what it was, and besides, I had trick-or-treaters to take care of, but only for an hour.

So Sierra and I settled down for a nice long nap, but my mind was still buzzing. Whenever I was this nervous, it meant someone was soon to die.

Who would die tonight? Who was going to kill them? And, was there a traitor somewhere?

“Now I must rest,” Ivy said softly, leaning against the chair-shaped rock. She fell asleep in an instant.

Kaleese raised one eyebrow at the other girls. “Whaddya think? Nice girl, or nice girl?”

Shannon shrugged, causing her brown hair to ripple. Her brown eyes flashed a bit as she said, “A nice storyteller, perhaps. Maybe we ought to create a group of our very own. You’d be in charge, and Ivy over there, she could be the head storyteller.”

Morgan added, “Besides, we could always go and create a club, like in that book The Egyptian Game. Either way, it’d be beautiful.”

After a while, Ivy woke up again. Her copper-blond hair was now frizzy, but that didn’t stop her from telling the last part with vigor. Her voice was now renewed.

"They’re dead…Oh, God, no…"

"Oh, dear Lord, not the Potters…"

I was awake after the firs two moans. I ran to the window, a sleeping Sierra in my arms.

"What is going on out there?!" I shouted.

A neighbor yelled back, "The Potters are dead! Their son, Harry, he lived, but Lily and James didn’t!"

I staggered away, shocked. Lily and James…how…?

*

I thought about it. There was only one way for Lily and James to be dead, and that was through Peter Pettigrew. I flung my head back to stare at the stars. The sun had only just begun to rise.

Yes, the stars said, Pettigrew was the traitor. For sure as I was born, Mars was bright. (God, I’m beginning to sound like Ronan, aren’t I?) Whenever Mars was bright, it foreshadowed trouble – or in this case, death. And the centaur constellations of the Rat and the Traitor stuck out like sore thumbs. It all added up. Peter’s symbol was the rat. The Traitor always made the other bright constellation a traitor. Mars foreshadowed death.

Peter was the traitor.

*

Sirius hadn’t come back when the sun had half risen. I mean, egging expeditions don’t go on this long…Had he been killed as well? Had he?!?!

I had just considered going out to find him when he showed up. "S’pose you heard about the deaths?" he asked gently.

"I did, Sirius. What are we going to do?" I asked.

He gave me a rather grim look. "We are going to go and kick Pettigrew’s ***."

"Sirius!" I snapped. I wouldn’t have Sierra growing up with that sort of talk – but, to my great relief, she was still asleep. I didn’t, however, mind the idea one bit. I was ready to open a can of whoop-ass on Peter for what he’d done. We made plans to leave and hunt Pete down.

*

Well, we couldn’t really leave Sierra anywhere, could we? Mairi hadn’t contacted us in weeks – she might have forgotten us, that happens – Kiki had gone on some weird mission to Hogsmeade – perhaps to evict someone – Janet had disappeared, and Lily was dead. We didn’t trust anyone else. So, we had to take her with us.

We were silent during most of the trip. I broke the silence by saying, "Sirius, what are we going to do…if we live through this? Where are we going to go?"

He looked at me and smiled. "Don’t worry, dearest. We’ll think of something."

Finally, I realized we weren’t going to get Pettigrew so easily. "Perhaps we should use a Tracking Charm, what do you think?" I suggested.

"Good plan," Sirius smiled. I waved my wand and whispered the spell. In seconds, a blood-red beacon leapt out of my wand and toward a far-off street.

Sirius was ecstatic. "Excellent job, Rowena!" he said happily, before kissing me on the cheek. We ran forward, following the beacon wherever it led.

The sun had risen fully by the time we arrived on the dread Dementor Lane. But it was worth it, since there was the traitor in question.

*

Peter whirled around in shock and gasped, "H-h-hi, S-S-S-Sirius. He-hello, R-R-Rowe-Rowena." As usual, he had his speech impediment, and stuttered.

I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming fight, so I slid into the shadow of a building. Sierra was wide awake by this time, and very frightened.

"You traitor. You betrayed the Potters, and now they’re dead – what have you got to say about that, huh?"

"I – I didn’t betray them – you did, Sirius!"

"What did you just say?" I growled. There was no way in the entire world that Sirius could be a traitor!

"Y-You h-heard me. Sirius is a traitor!" Peter was now shouting to an assembled crowd of shocked onlookers. I realized I made a poor argument, and that the earlier argument hadn’t been heard.

*

In seconds, when Sirius lunged at him, Pettigrew ducked out of the way and blew up half the street, killing so many people. Then, his wand was pointed at me.

"Run! Run, now!" Sirius yelled. I stood still.

"RUUUNNN!!!" I tried to run, but the curse came at me. The only thing I could do now, I realized, was save Sierra. She held our hope for the future.

I threw her onto a grassy mound as the curse reached me, creating a big hole in my side. Blood gushed out and I sank to the ground. In that instant, I knew – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that I would die. I closed my eyes weakly.

*

In seconds, I heard a hysterical sob of, "Please still be alive! Wake up! Wake up!" I opened my eyes obediently and found myself staring, once again, into Sirius’s eyes.

"Sirius – what happened? Are we – dead?"

"I’m going to get you out of here."

I smiled weakly. "Sirius – you must save Sierra. She still has a chance at life, while that wound of mine is fatal. Save her."

Sirius stared at me. Then, briefly, we kissed for the last time. He got up, but before going away altogether, he turned back around and said, "I am going to come back for you, you know. I will come back." Then he left.

I turned over and looked at the sky above me. Oh, yes, he’d come back. But when he did, he’d find me dead. There was going to be nothing he could do about it. I would die. But I’d always watch the sun rise, watch over them. Already, my vision was fading…the sounds around me became dim…I curved my lips into a small smile. When all this was over, I’d be waiting for them. I’d be waiting – and I would always remember them. No matter how many sunrises I’d watch without them, I would always remember them. Always.

Ivy gave them a sad, sad look. “Rowena died later on in the day, having gone unconscious first. Sirius, as we all know, was brought to Azkaban Prison.”

The girls were all sniffling back tears by this time. Morgan, being quite fragile, burst into tears. Shannon, being the strongest, choked out, “What happened to Sierra?”

Before that could be answered, the cabin was flung open. There were some very concerned and angry counselors.

Ivy said hastily, “Tomorrow night I will tell you more. Meet me here, fellow Midnighters.”

Kaleese glanced at the others. “Midnighters, huh? I like that name.” So it was that the group of fans were called the Midnighters.

A/N: I got it done! Yes! And, to any fans of Icy Riddle out there, even to Icy herself (should she bother to read this pathetic fanfiction: Please, no bad reviews or Howlers for the similarity between names. It goes like this with me: Genevieve –> Eve –> Evie –> Ivy. Simple, huh?