The Heart of Black - A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 5 - Remus's Secret

Hallowe'en was fast approaching. The corridors of the castle had been decorated with enchanted spider webs and pumpkins floated in the Great Hall. It was as magnificent as ever but not everyone was happy.

Since Severus Snape had called Skylar a Mudblood, Sirius had been making his life a misery. This involved chanting insults at him across classrooms, tripping him up in crowded corridors and hexing him for the fun of it. Sky was flattered that Sirius was prepared to get into so much trouble for her, but she wasn't at all pleased about it.

Lily had stopped talking to her. She was still holding a grudge against Sirius and had recently decided that she would punish Sky too. In the mornings she would dress quickly and run down to breakfast. Skylar noticed that as soon as she, the boys and Ruby Styles (another first year Gryffindor) arrived, Lily would leave her breakfast and head off to lessons. This routine was upsetting Sky a lot but Sirius had other views.

"It's her loss." he had said when Sky confided in him. He didn't understand, thought Sky, he had at least three fine friends, all of the same blood status. He also had most of the girls in the school eyeing him hopefully wherever he went. Whereas she didn't have any Muggle-born friends and, as far as she was aware, none of the boys had the slightest interest in her. The whole situation was extremely depressing.

Lessons seemed to pass very slowly, Sky's mind hardly ever focused on the work provided. At break the group of Gryffindors would stand in the courtyard talking animatedly, but Sky hardly spoke.

"What's the matter Sky?" asked Remus, one breezy afternoon.

"I miss Lily," she said, fighting back tears, "you guys are amazing but it's not the same without her. And Sirius doesn't seem to care, he said it was her loss." she could feel tears leaking from her eyes, she dropped her head so no one would see.

"Don't worry about Sirius," said Remus, placing a hand on Skylar's shoulder, "go and find Lily and work things out." But when she still didn't seem comforted he sighed and said, "Look, Sirius is right, it is her loss if she is stubborn enough to refuse your friendship. You're a great girl and a great friend. Things will work out.". She looked into his eyes, then the tears began to pour. She knew Remus and Sirius were right but she hated the idea of loosing Lily. She turned her back on Remus, attempting to hide her tears. But he walked around to face her and embraced her in a hug. Sky's head rested on his shoulder, her arms around his neck. She felt warm and safe in his arms. When she pulled away he was smiling down at her, he patted her shoulder and headed off to their next lesson, Sky following closely behind. Apparently Remus hadn't noticed, but Sirius seemed to be shooting him filthy looks from the shadows of the courtyard.

After many more long lessons, the holidays finally arrived. It was Hallowe'en! Sky had made many more attempts at making conversation with Lily, but had failed miserably. When she told Remus he just repeated what he had said in the courtyard. To make matters worse, Sirius had been acting very unusually. He wasn't ignoring Sky but their conversations were very short. He seemed to be treating Remus the same way. All Sky had was the excitement of the Hallowe'en feast.

On 31st October Sky, Remus, Sirius, James, Peter and Ruby (who seemed to have taken a liking for the gang) went down to the Great Hall. In addition to the floating pumpkins there were now live bats soaring down from the ceiling. The group took their seats at the Gryffindor table and began to chat while waiting for the rest of the school to arrive.

Sky was talking animatedly about a recent Hallowe'en that had ended with a bang, literally! She had accidentally blown up a pumpkin with magic, though had not known she was a witch then. Part way through the story Lily arrived and Sky fell silent. The boys and Ruby looked around to see why Sky had stopped speaking. When they spotted Lily they all glared at her, other than James. He grinned at her and waved enthusiastically, which gained him a sharp elbow in the rib from Remus.