Wow. It's been, what, 4 months? I am really, really sorry, good grief. On the brighter note, I've edited Chapter One and it's been replaced with the newer version. After I finish this fic, I'm planning on doing a ginormous rewrite and fixing everything, and that means that I'll probably be deleting all the chapters and replacing them with edited versions.

Added Note: It seems that FF has deleted some of my review replies (dammit) and I will put up the rest soon.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Failed Killings and Apologies

Review Replies: Guest: Yes, John Green is the absolute best. His books are utterly painful to read, though. Gussss... Queer king stephen: hahahaaaaa just wait for the next few chapters. Loveile: Thank you! I find Dumbledore extremely hard to write, and I really want to make him a better character when I re-write this story. Andd...sorry, I'm not tellin' if anyone else dies. Herbology Apprentice: Yes, being the main character of a story really does suck. Everything conceivably bad happens to you. Thanks! EmilyLupin77: BLAIRE i haven't talked to you in AGES. I miss you! Guest: so..many..guests...Haaaaaaa, I'm that kind of writer that only makes people get together in the very, very end. Sorry. The Coffee Club: How sweet of you! No, I didn't have writers block, but interpersonal events made it rather hard for me to find time to write. Throw in Nano and et cetera and errrggghh. Guest: As you can clearly see, I have not, in fact, given up. Kyoki no Megami: Thank you! Have fun learning Latin.

Recap: Marna (Remus's girlfriend) is blue, but starting to heal, Annabel's been having crazy memories of someone that she doesn't even know (Crystal) and took a draught to keep away the memories. Spoiler Alert: it doesn't work. Farrah's a crazy killer, Professor Feibe a.k.a. Crystal is behind all of this and she has this man called Charles who's in love with her. When they were playing Truth or Dare at James's house during Christmas, Remus reveals that he had a crush on someone in the group. Lily's kinda dating Blake.

Quote: Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall in love with a gorgeous redhead. ~ Lucille Ball

It was noontime on January 24th when Marna stumbled out of the hospital, pale and terribly thin but nevertheless, not blue. A girl with light brown hair, walking to the hospital wing, stopped at the sight of her.

"Marna?" she exclaimed.

Marna looked up with a weak smile. "Annabel!" she said cheerfully. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Madam Pomfrey told me that it's January already. My parents must be so worried—I get to go home to talk to them for a few days. Do you mind helping me to the Ravenclaw Tower? My stamina is not what it used to be."

"O-of course," stammered Annabel, rushing to Marna's side and putting Marna's arm over her shoulders. "How are you? Are you tired?"

"I'm fine," laughed Marna. "I just need to go pack. How's Remus?"

Annabel's shoulders stiffened slightly. "He's … well. He, uh, he checked on you every day while you were ill." She offered a smile. "He really, really does care about you."

Marna looked thoughtful.

They walked for a little while in silence when Marna said, in a quiet voice, "I saw Noelle was in the infirmary."

Annabel stumbled slightly. "Ah. Yes."

"I'm sorry."

Annabel mustered up a smile. "Nah. Hey, maybe she'll recover too. Who knows?"

Marna laughed quietly. "Who knows."

As they walked on in silence, Annabel had ample time to think about recent events. The extract of wolfsbane and ebonia that she'd drunk hadn't helped at all—the visions were worse and she currently had a pounding headache. It was like there was a party in her head. A party. Annabel's lips twitched up at the thought of little people cha-cha-ing and doing in the limbo in her head.

"Listen, do you know where Remus is?" asked Marna. "I would love to talk to him before I leave for my parents."

"Um, no," said Annabel. "But it's lunchtime. Do you want to head to the Great Hall?" She grinned. "You'd make quite an entrance. And I think it's time that Remus lays to rest his theory that I hate you."

"So you don't hate me?"

Marna's voice was vulnerable, and it made Annabel look at her suspiciously. "...No," said Annabel, and then said with more confidence, "No, I don't. I don't know why you'd think that, but I most emphatically don't hate you." She grinned. "Now let's make a grand entrance to the Great Hall, shall we?"

Marna's laugh rang throughout the corridor.

There was a full moon in the next two days and Remus could already feel it taxing his strength. Right now, he was on his eighth leg of chicken while Lily watched on in amusement. "Aren't you full?" she exclaimed. "I swear, you've got a bottomless stomach."

Remus shrugged. "I'm hungry."

Lily looked around and then her green eyes widened and she grinned. "Well, uh, you'll want to clean up. Wipe your mouth with a napkin and swallow. Here, take a mint."

Bewildered, Remus did so. "Why, exactly?"

Lily bit her lip and then smiled.

He became aware of the Hall growing silent and he wheeled around to see what was going on, only to see Annabel walking to him and she was helping along…

…Marna.

His fork clattered from his hand and he thanked Lily fervently in his mind for making him take the mint and everything because Marna was looking absolutely beautiful, even though she was thinner than usual and paler. She was giving a tremulous smile at the sight of him and he couldn't help but smile back.

And then he realized that there must be a reason why Annabel was helping her walk and he jumped from his table. "Are you all right?" he asked worriedly, taking her forearms and helping her as well.

"I'm fine," laughed Marna. "I was just coming to say goodbye, because I'm going home to spend some time with my family and recuperate." She smiled radiantly at him, and he couldn't help but kiss her.

Lily gave a girlish squeal and Annabel felt a pained smile affix itself on her face. "I'm going back to the Hospital Wing," she told Lily, and her friend's dreamy smile turned into something decidedly more worried.

"Why?" she asked. "Are you all right? No—I'm coming with you."

"You don't have to," said Annabel.

"Yes, I do!" Lily nodded. "I don't want you to be struck by the monster that's been attacking everyone recently." She shuddered. "It's terrifying, that's what it is. Give me a moment and I'll—"

"Hello Blake," Annabel said through gritted teeth, thinking privately that she shouldn't have to deal with a bloody headache and Blake at the same time, as Blake was usually enough to induce a headache. He looked terrible, if Annabel was to be honest, but not nearly as awful as he looked before.

"Annabel," Blake said cooly. Annabel thought that he was a lot less flirtatious than…three or four months ago. Was it really that short of a time ago? It felt like many, many lives ago…

"Blake!" exclaimed Lily. Annabel never figured out what they were doing—were they dating? Or not? James had a sour look on his face. "Sorry, I'm escorting Annabel to the Hospital Wing."

"By all means," said Blake. "Let's go."

"No," said Annabel. "No. I am fine. Let me go. I need to…I need to figure something out." She stalked out, not daring to look at Remus and Marna (who were now whispering to each other and occasionally kissing) for fear that she might lose her temper entirely.

The halls were empty, and so Annabel was shocked when someone said her name.

"Annabel."

Annabel gave a squawk of fear and wheeled around. It was that unnaturally pretty girl from Ravenclaw—Farrah. "Oh," she said. "Oh, hello, Farrah. Can I help you?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yes. Maybe you can." Farrah gave a cool smile. "Will you come with me?"

"No," said Annabel.

Farrah paused. "Why not?" She gave a disarming smile that might've worked on someone else, but it didn't work on Annabel.

"Because," said Annabel. "I don't want to."

"Tough luck, sweetheart," said Farrah, and hit her on the head.

She'd moved with such, such blinding speed that Annabel didn't have any time to duck, much less draw her wand. Her head whipped around and she fell to the floor, hitting the ground with a crack. She opened her mouth to scream but Farrah's cool hand covered her mouth. "Relax, honey," said Farrah. "I've been doing this thing for ages."

Annabel bit down on Farrah's hand and Farrah tore her hand away with a cry of outrage. Annabel had bitten down so hard that it drew blood, and Farrah's blood tasted absolutely terrible, like a mixture of tar and vinegar. Her blood, Annabel realized, was dark blue and iridescent. "How dare you," snarled Farrah.

With her unwounded hand, Farrah lifted Annabel by the front of her robes and slammed her into the wall, so hard that Annabel's vision blurred and she moaned in pain. Farrah's face was very close to hers, and Farrah's eyes were no longer human at all—they were golden. Wolf-like.

"Oh, Merlin," said Annabel, her words slurred.

"Stupefy!"

A female voice cried out the incantation and Farrah reeled back. She didn't fall to the ground unconscious, but her eyes shimmered and turned back blue. She bared her teeth and hissed before crashing through a window and falling to the ground, running to the forest. Annabel collapsed to the ground. Everything seemed extremely fuzzy. The shadowy outline of the person who had saved her ran to the window and then to her.

"Annabel? Annabel! Anna, are you okay?"

It was Alice.

It was like Remus could never stay away from the Hospital. First it was Marna, and then mere moments after Marna left by Floo Powder, it was Lily running into the room screaming something about Annabel and then he and the others were running to the Hospital Wing.

"First Noelle, now Annabel!" cried Sirius, looking distressed. It was commonly known that he and Annabel were good friends, even if they had strayed somewhat apart after he broke up with Noelle.

Remus didn't answer. He was busy running.

The first thing he noticed when he walked into the room was that Annabel wasn't blue at all, and he was extremely relieved. The second thing he noticed was that her face was bruised, one eye blackened. His heart pounded wildly.

She was unconscious and Alice was by her side.

It was weird for a minute and then Remus realized why exactly it was so weird. Because Alice and Annabel had a fight, but it seemed that Alice had decided to make a move of forgiveness. He still didn't know why they had been fighting in the first place.

And the last thing he noticed was something that made his heart seem to slow down just slightly. She was wearing makeup. Annabel was wearing makeup. Of course, she always wore makeup, and he didn't understand why it was such a big deal but he wished, for the second time in a while, that he could see her without makeup.

Yes, he was going psycho.

"Is she okay?" asked Remus anxiously, crossing over to her bedside. She looked extremely pale, apart from the vibrant splashes of color that her bruises created. "She's going to be all right, right?"

"Of course she will be," said Madam Pomfrey briskly. "But she needs time to rest and recuperate. Don't you fret, Miss Alice, she'll be all right in a few hours. Meanwhile, you all have classes to go to, right?"

Taking the obvious hint, they all allowed themselves to be shooed away and back to class. Remus noticed that Sirius lingered for a while by Noelle's bedside, touching her blue-tinged hand.

"Padfoot?" he asked.

Sirius looked up with a grim smile. "I'm coming." He left Noelle's bedside and didn't look back.

It was evening when Annabel regained consciousness, and the first thing she saw was Alice reading a book by her bedside. Her head hurt like crazy (exactly how hard had Farrah slammed her head against the wall?) and her eyes slowly fluttered open. She felt vaguely dizzy and nauseated.

For a minute, she just watched her friend and wondered if this meant that Alice had forgiven her for whatever wrong she'd done. Alice looked so extremely peaceful, sitting with one leg daintily crossed over the other and her hair tied back with a few wisps framing her round face.

She coughed and Alice looked up.

For a minute, they just stared at each other and then Annabel said, "You were the person, weren't you? You made Farrah go away."

"I did," Alice said.

"Why?"

When Alice didn't reply immediately, Annabel kept talking. "Or shall I say, why have you finally decided to insert yourself into my life after over a month of not talking to me? You know, after a month of being angry at me without me even knowing why. Was it because of something I did? Or was it … was it because of Daphne? Did she say something about me?"

Alice opened and then closed her mouth.

Annabel's head was spinning from the effort of talking and she wondered bleakly why her wounds hadn't been healed immediately by Madam Pomfrey. She rested her head back on her pillows and stared up at the white ceiling, feeling her eyes well up with tears. She fought to keep them back and won.

Alice said, in a voice that cracked, "I thought that you killed Daphne."

Annabel sat up so quickly that her head started to spin again. "What?"

"I know." Alice laughed bleakly. "I was so … so stupid. I mean, we've been friends since Second Year and I had the gall to believe that you would've actually killed one of my friends. It didn't seem so outrageous at the time, but now it really does. Annabel, I am so, so sorry. I really am."

"Oh really?" Annabel snapped. "And what finally convinced you of my innocence?"

"You."

"Really."

Alice clasped her hands together. "I'm sorry. When I saw that you were in legitimate danger, it was like everything just flew out of the window and I knew in that moment that I was such a fool to hate you. Her last word was 'Annabel' and I took that to mean that you were the murderer except now I know that that was a completely silly notion and now I think that she meant that you were going to be targeted and—" She covered her face and tried to compose herself. When she spoke again, her voice was thick with tears. "Annabel, please."

Annabel felt like she should've made Alice suffer a little more. She felt like she should throw back Alice's apology right back at Alice's pretty little face, but she couldn't do it. She couldn't physically bring herself to do it, and she was sick and tired of being in constant fights and she just wanted a bit of peace in this hectic life of hers. "Alice, stop," she said. "Alice. I forgive you. I probably should be angry, but I'm really drained and I need to go to sleep and I just want you to know that I forgive you."

Alice nodded, biting her lip. "Good night."

When she woke up, it was not Alice sitting by her bedside, but Remus and Lily, talking quietly to Madam Pomfrey. "Hey," she said weakly.

Lily burst into tears and threw her arms around Annabel.

When Lily had calmed down, Annabel gently patted her on the shoulder and sat up. There was a sharp pain in the back of her head and her fingers clutched the fabric of the bed tightly. Remus was watching and raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled to reassure her and it scared her how they could exchange a conversation without saying a word.

"Madam Pomfrey," Annabel said, "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but why am I still in the hospital? I don't think my wounds were that severe."

"Yes, well, your wounds have been caused by a source of magic that we cannot determine," said Madam Pomfrey, fussing over her. "They appear to be healing at the regular pace, however, with no interferences."

"Wait, so they're magical?" exclaimed Lily, looking alarmed. "Shouldn't she be in Mungo's?"

"As I was going to say, Miss Evans—" Madam Pomfrey directed a very pointed look towards Lily, who looked chastened. "—Miss Foster here will make a complete recovery even if she doesn't have any magic potions to speed her along. She will only have to stay in the hospital for a few more days, and she should be as right as rain."

"Damn," said Annabel. "I am not looking forward to this."

"No swearing in the Hospital Wing!"

"Sorry, Madam Pomfrey."

Madam Pomfrey directed a severe look towards them and went off to tend to the other patients, leaving them alone. Lily looked between Annabel and Remus and then said, with a little self-conscious cough, "I'm so behind on homework, so I'm going to duck out now that Annabel's getting better." She quickly hugged Annabel and left, leaving Annabel and Remus in an utterly awkward silence.

Remus was the one to breach it. "What happened?" he asked.

"Farrah happened," grumbled Annabel.

"Farrah?" A faint crease etched its way into Remus's forehead. "Oh. You mean really-pretty-but-strange girl that we—the Marauders—met once."

It somehow bothered Annabel to hear Remus call Farrah pretty. "Yes," she said a bit more waspishly than she cared to admit. "That's her."

"She attacked you?"

"Yes. She did."

Annabel looked a little more closely at him. He looked terrible; haggard, like he was older than ever. "Come here," she said, and he obliged, moving his chair so it was right by her bedside. She touched his face, concerned. "You look exhausted. When was the last time you've slept?"

"I was up studying," said Remus, looking distracted. Annabel realized that her hand was still touching his cheek and she hastily withdrew. "Are you all right? Don't lie to me — I know that your head is still hurting you."

"It hurts, yes," admitted Annabel, "but it's not as bad as before."

They lapsed into another silence after that, except this one was more comfortable as they heard Madam Pomfrey pottering about the Hospital Wing before closing herself into her office to presumably do some paperwork (Annabel suspected that the marvelous Madam Pomfrey was a secret lover of trashy romance novels).

"Can I ask you something?" Annabel asked.

"You just did." Remus's voice was deadpan, but he gestured for her to go on.

"Smartass," Annabel accused, before looking down at her hands and saying quietly, "Do you remember the Christmas party at James's?"

"Y-es." He sounded unsure of where this was going. To be brutally honest, Annabel didn't know where this was going either.

"Well. Since I'm on my deathbed and everything, I thought that you could maybe…tell me who you meant when you said that you had romantic feelings once for someone in the circle." Annabel looked up and caught his gaze. She held it steadily, and it was he who looked away.

"Why?"

"I'm curious." Annabel gave a wry little smile. "I can't help it."

He took her hand gently and his hand was extremely warm, like he was some sort of portable oven. Her heart was all fluttery and she hated herself for reacting like this. "It was Lily," he said.

That was unexpected.

"W-what?"

"It was Lily." He dropped her hand and ran both of his own hands through his thick mop of hair as Annabel stared at him, stunned. "I started liking her in Fourth Year, on account of how … how pretty and smart she was."

Annabel could sympathize. She herself had been an acne-ridden stick-figured girl in Fourth Year. Still, she couldn't stop staring, and she felt so cold all over. "But what about James?" she asked in a small voice. "I thought that…"

"He and I were friends? Always. I never chased after Lily because I knew how much he liked her. But yes. I—I don't like her anymore Annabel. I really don't. I'm dating Marna now."

He was hurting her and he didn't even know it.

"That's interesting," Annabel said and praised herself on how masterfully she took the news (she thought). She and Remus held gazes for a minute, and then Remus looked away. She wanted him gone, she realized, so she could sleep and rest. "Look, Remus, I'm really tired. Do you mind if I go to sleep?"

"Of course not," Remus said. "Good night."

"Good night."

He left, and the Hospital Wing was silent. Annabel closed her eyes, but found that she couldn't sleep and just stayed there with a horrid, wretched feeling inside of her, like someone had clawed out her heart and stuffed it back into her chest upside-down. She hated it. She really did.

For a minute, she remembered that fleeting moment when Remus had kissed her on his birthday, a hazy whirl of firewhiskey and chocolate and her face screwed up and she started to cry because, well, fuck. She hated this, she hated Marna, except she didn't actually hate Marna, if that made any sense at all.

Crystal was outraged. Completely incensed. Her plans, all of that damn planning and Farrah went and fucked it all up. With a wordless scream of rage, she punched the wall and didn't even care about how her knuckles split.

Charles just watched.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" she spat at him.

"Of course," he said, and hurried to heal her wounds. She watched him with narrowed eyes. He was pathetic. Utterly and completely. He may have been handsome, but a few months of roughing it out in some hick town a few miles south had made him scruffy and completely inelegant. She hated him.

However, he was essential to her plan, so she dealt with him. Crystal knew how much he adored her. It disgusted her. "Get out," she said when he was done, and Charles looked up at her, injured. "GET OUT!"

"Of course," he said, and backed out.

He hadn't understood. Of course he hadn't. When she asked if he was going to do anything, he'd went and healed her instead of damned trying to capture that damned werewolf. The full moon was tonight, and Hogwarts was on alert because of the fact that Farrah had gone and fucked up by failing to kill that girl Annabel.

Outside, however, Charles was regretting everything he'd done. She was Crystal, his beautiful, tantalizing gem and he would do anything to make her love him the way that he loved her.

And if that included capturing that girl Annabel to lure Remus into a trap, then so be it.

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