Among the Stars

    I’m so sick of listening to Professor Binns drone on and on. I want out of this class!

    Wisteria sees scrawled in Fabian’s messy handwriting on her desk. She smiles to herself as an idea comes to her mind.

    Catch me.

    She writes and then refuses to meet his eyes as he sends her a confused look from across the aisle. Over the next minute or so she makes herself look noticeably sick, so that people around her start to ask if she’s okay. She continuously tells them that she’ll be fine and then finally she quickly writes,

    NOW!

    On the desk and pretends to faint into the isle. Fabian moves quickly and barely manages to catch her before she hits the floor. Professor Binns looks at her.

    “Miss Evans, do you need to go to the infirmary?”

    Wisteria only nods weakly as a response.

    “I’ll get her there.” Fabian says, concern written across his face.

    Binns nods and Fabian picks her up, one arm under her legs and one behind her back. He carries he12r out into the hallway and closes the door behind them. As soon as the door closes Wisteria perks back up and wiggles around in his arms.

    “Set me down already.” She says and he obeys.

    “You’re okay now?”

    “What? Oh, no. I mean, yes I’m okay, but I never felt unwell.”

    “But…”

    “You said you wanted out, I got us out. I’ve already read all of the material we’re going over, I can catch you up on what we missed later, but for now what do you want to do?”

       "I dunno. Get some food?"

       "To the kitchens we go then!"

       After the two eat their fill in the kitchens they move to sitting under the tree by the Black Lake.

       "You are life saver Wisteria!" Fabian continues to go on as he had been the past while causing her to laugh. "I'm serious! One more minute in there and I would've been the one fainting! From boredom!"

       Wisteria rolls her eyes. "Sure you would have Fabs."

       "Oh yee of little faith. I'm telling you, I would've been a real damsel in distress!"

       "Would that put me in the roll of knight in shining armor who sweeps you off your feet?"        

       "Absolutely!"

       "Fabs!" Gideon's voice reaches them faintly as he runs towards them from the entrance to the school. "What the hell was that back there? Why aren't you in the infirmary Wisty?"

       "Oh I was fine. We just wanted out."

       Gideon's jaw drops. "And you couldn't have taken me with you? I could've died in there! Of boredom!"

       "I told you!" Fabian says smugly.

       "Anyway, Fabs, we've gotta go get our dinner quick or we'll be late for detention."

       "Detention? What is it this time?"

       "Nothing you need to concern yourself with my darling." Fabian says, standing up.

       Wisteria flushes at the pet name. "Well go and serve your detention then. I expect the full story later though."

       Gideon gives her a mini salute. "Roger that Evans."

    After dinner Wisteria wanders the halls a bit to clear her mind of worries about the full moon. As passes by the entrance to the school James comes barreling down the corridor towards her and upon seeing the look on his face grows concerned.

    “James? What’s going on?”

    “How about you ask Sirius.” James growls out as he continues down the hall, not slowing down at all.

    Wisteria makes her way to the Gryffindor common room and waits outside once she gets there for someone to open up the entrance. Finally a first year comes and, after some convincing on Wisteria’s part, lets her in. Immediately Wisteria rushes up the stairs to the boy’s dormitory and knocks on the door until it opens to reveal Sirius.

    “Wisty!” He says with his trademark smile on his face, but the smile doesn’t quite reach his voice.  “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

    “Sirius what’s happened?”

    “Whatever do you mean love?”

    “I just passed James in the hall and he seemed pissed, but when I asked what was wrong all he said was to come and ask you.”

    The smile drops from his face immediately. “Well come on in then.”

    Wisteria walks inside and sits down on Remus’ bed, waiting for Sirius to start talking. After a few moments of silence she furrows her eyebrows. “Sirius? What happened?”

    “I did something that James got mad at me for.”

    “James is mad at you? I never thought I’d see the day.” Wisteria jokes, but Sirius doesn’t even crack a smile. “What did you do?”

    “I told Snivelus about the entrance to the Shack at the Willow.”

    “You did what!?” Wisteria yells. She stands up so quickly that she hits her head on the top of the bed.

    “Wist-“ Sirius says as he moves to make sure she’s okay, but she bats his hand away.

    “Don’t touch me.”

    He recoils and looks down at the ground. “You reacted the same way as James. I know I messed up, he was antagonizing me and said something that crossed the line.”

    “So you- ugh.” Wiseria’s head is pounding with a headache and her anger didn’t help. “You didn’t think about the consequences at all!”

“I push Snivellus around all the time anyway, what’s the harm in scaring him a bit.”

Wisteria looks at him, completely exasperated with his apparent stupidity. “The best case scenario is he gets beat up pretty bad by the Willow, but let’s say he gets past the Willow, not only will he discover Remus’ secret, but he also could be killed or turned by Remus! I cant believe you right now! Because of you Severus could be killed or his life could be ruined forever! I know you don’t care for him, but still what you have done is horrible! On top of the danger you put him in you also have now put Remus in a horrible situation! You basically told someone who has every reason to hate all of you his biggest secret! Remus’ secret could be all over the school by breakfast tomorrow, which would mean that Remus would be gone by lunch. On top of that if Sev does make it past the Willow then Remus will have to live with the knowledge that he either killed or turned someone!”

    Halfway through her rant realization had dawned on Sirius just how bad he had messed up. “I… I didn’t think-“

    “Of course you didn’t think! Because you never think! All you ever think about is yourself! You’re such a self-absorbed bastard you know that? I thought that at the very least you cared about your friends, but I guess not.”

    “Of course I care about them, but I-“

    “No! There is no excuse for this! I… Merlin, I don’t even know what to say to you! I am at a loss for words.”

    “Well obviously not since you just said quite a few.” Sirius tries to joke, but all he gets is a glare from Wisteria.

    “I’m sorry.” He mumbles.

    “You should be.” She storms over to the door and slams it shut behind her. After leaving the Gryffindor common room Wisteria runs as fast as she can to the Willow and finds James and Severus halfway back to the school. Severus has a few injuries, including a broken arm, but otherwise looks okay.

    “Severus.” Wisteria says as she approaches. “James put him down. I’ll heal him.” James does as he’s told and Wisteria heals her friend’s injuries. When she’s done she looks at James and can tell by the look on his face how far Severus had made it through the path.

    “He knows.” She whispers to James.

    “Yeah.” He replies through clenched teeth. “You talked to Sirius?”

    “More like screamed at, but yeah. I have the story. I hope you won’t get offended if I avoid him for a while.”

    “Not at all. I’m not planning on talking to him for a few days.”

    “I’m not planning on talking to him for a few months.” Wisteria tells him.

    “I don’t like Snape, not at all, but I would never do something like that. You know that, right?”

    “Of course I do. If anything you wouldn’t do it because you know how bad Remus is hurting and wouldn’t want that to get worse. Lily knows that too, by the way.”

    “What are we gonna do? We can’t let Snape tell anyone.”

    “I’ll talk to him. And so will Lily. Don’t worry.”

    James sighs. “Thank you.”

    “Of course. Was he bitten or scratched?”

“As far as I can tell, all the injuries are from either the Willow or him trying to get away quickly.”

“Thank God. I’ll take care of Severus as long as you take care of Sirius. Make sure he gets what coming to him, okay? He needs to learn his lesson.”

    “Don’t worry about Sirius. I know how to get through to him.”

    Wisteria sighs. “Thank you. Now go. I’ll take him from here.”

    “Are you okay? You have a nasty bump on your forehead?”

    “I’ll be fine. Just go.”

Severus wakes up halfway to the infirmary and starts moving in Wisteria’s arms. “Wisty?” He asks, clearly still out of it.

“Hang on Sev, we’re almost to Madame Pomfrey. I’ve healed what I could and nothing seems too severe, but you should still see her.”

“Wisty, wait. Remus… Lupin he’s- he’s a monster.”

“I’m not about to tolerate any talk like that, do you hear me Sev? He’s still Remus. But we can address that later, for now I’m gonna drop you off with Pomfrey and then go get Lily, okay?”

“Lily? Yeah, okay.”

Wisteria does as promised and as soon as the situation is explained to Madame Pomfrey she leaves for the Gryffindor Tower again to find her twin. After waiting a bit to be let in she immediately finds Lily in the Common Room talking to James who seems to be explaining the situation to her.

“Lily.” Wisteria says to get her sister’s attention. “I just came from the infirmary. I promised Sev I’d bring you down to see him.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah he’s fine. He has a few bumps and scrapes and bruises from the tree but that’s all.”

“But that’s not all. He knows now.”

“He does. And you’re going to help me convince Sev to not tell anyone.”

“Okay. Let’s go.” Before leaving the room, Lily turns to look at James again. “James? Give Sirius an earful for me will you?”

“Oh believe me, he’s gonna get more than just an earful from me.”