Fire and Water

Not too proud to beg - Please review. This story is complete and i will update every day or two but i need to know if it\'s worth it. PLLLLEEEEZZZEEEE?



I know this is starting off slow but this is groundwork. Be patient - lots of UST coming up soon.







“Why didn’t you tell us?” James’ question was asked indignantly.

Remus sighed. So much for no one knowing about his lycanthropy. It had been months since he told Krystal about his…..problem, and now Sirius, James and Peter were sitting on his bed, having confronted him about their suspicions.



“No one is supposed to know,’ he said now, shaking his head. “Please, you can’t tell anyone.”

Sirius frowned at him. “Of course we won’t tell,’ he said. “What do you think we are? Slytherins?” Peter sniggered, and Remus grinned.



‘How cool is that?’ Sirius exclaimed excitedly. ‘A werewolf! Have you ever eaten anyone?’

‘No!’ said Remus, aghast. ‘No. I’m locked up when I change. I hate the thought that I could hurt someone.’

He frowned and felt his constant fear surface. He was always afraid that he would hurt someone one day during his transformations. During the full moon, he didn’t keep his own mind - and werewolves were strong. He could easily bite or kill a human, and not even know it.



‘So, is that how you got all the scars?’ Peter asked, looking at his covered chest. ‘You tried to hide them, but we’ve all seen them.’

Remus smiled a little. He had attempted to keep himself covered as much as possible. He nodded, and Sirius asked to see where he was bitten. Remus quickly turned around and yanked down his pyjama pants, showing them the large scar on the back of his thigh. The three boys all sucked in a breath and winced, unconsciously acknowledging how painful it must have been. It was a nasty looking scar.



“Does it hurt - turning into a werewolf?” asked James, bouncing a little on the bed as he moved closer to Remus, who pulled up his pants.

“Yeah,’ said Remus darkly, thinking of the agony he suffered each month. “It hurts.”



“What hurts?’ said Krystal, standing in the doorway with her hand raised to knock.

“Nothing,’ said James, Sirius and Peter immediately, causing Remus to smile at his friends’ loyalty as well as their lack of subtlety.

“It’s alright, she knows,’ he said, looking over at Krystal, who smiled, guessing now what they were talking about.

“Ah, you told her first?’ James complained.

“No, she guessed first,’ retorted Krystal as she walked over to the bed and threw herself down next to Sirius, who was looked at her with a small smile on his face.

“Girls are just more observant than boys.”

“I thought you said he had a cold,’ Sirius said quietly to her, guessing that she had learnt about Remus’ condition on their visit to the infirmary all those months ago.

Krystal shrugged and grinned. ‘I can keep a secret,’ she said.



For ten minutes, the boys kept Remus busy answering questions about lycanthropy. He noticed Krystal frowning occasionally when he talked about how his body and mind changed each month. When the others were distracted by Sirius’ quite realistic impression of a transformation, he reached over and took her hand, squeezing it.

‘It just sounds so damn painful,’ she said quietly, knowing he was trying to stop her worrying. He’d never heard her curse before, and was a little taken aback. But before he could say anything, she slipped her hand out of his, having seen the others turning back to them.



“Why are you here, anyway, Krys? You don’t normally come up to see us - Lily busy?” said James casually, trying to disguise his growing interest in Krystal’s friend.

“She’s studying in the common room, though I‘m sure you wouldn‘t be interested,’ she said, a smile returning to her face. She was fully aware of his crush on Lily - James wasn‘t particularly subtle.

She turned to Remus. “I came to get Remus. You’re supposed to be helping me practice today - and you’re still in your pyjamas.”



All four boys looked down, realising they were all still in their pyjamas. There was a flurry of activity as they all jumped up and yelled at Krystal to get out while they dressed. Krystal was laughing as James pushed her out of the room; and was still giggling when she and Remus made their way down to the dining hall. They grabbed handfuls of toast, slapping some bacon in between the bread, and walked out to the grounds of the castle, munching on their sandwiches as they went.



They had decided earlier in the year that they would spend some time each weekend practicing casting the spells they were learning in DADA class. Krystal was really enthusiastic about learning defence, and her love of it was rubbing off on Remus. He was finding he was learning more from her then he did from the teacher.



Krystal didn’t stick to the spells they were learning in class. She read books from the library, and made him try them with her, explaining each movement and nuance. They’d been working on some spells from the Fourth Year textbooks occasionally, but Remus was wanting to work on Disarming Spells, still finding himself having some trouble with them.



Unbeknownst to Remus though, today was to be a little different. Krystal had decided to show Remus her secret. She thought it was only fair - she knew his secret, it was time he knew hers. They moved to a fairly private spot, and Krystal was starting to feel a little nervous about what she was about to do, clicking her fingers softly and fidgeting. Albus and her parents were very insistent that she not tell anyone about her gifts, but Krystal couldn’t see them harm in showing Remus - he was her friend and she trusted him. What she was really concerned about was that it was an unusual gift - what if he thought she was some kind of freak?



Remus held up his wand. “Ok, what do you want to do first? Expelliarmus?’ he asked.

“Yeah, ok,’ she said, frowning anxiously. ‘You go first.’

She raised her hands as he called, “Expelliarmus!”

A shimmering white light appeared in front of her and his spell bounced off, shooting back at Remus, his wand flying out of his hand and into the air.



“Hey!’ he shouted, surprised. “We’re supposed to be practicing disarming, not shields.” He picked up his wand and looked over at Krystal, who was still standing with her hands up in front of her, and frowned.

“Where’s your wand? Did the spell get through?” He looked on the ground for it, then looked back at her as she reached inside her robes and pulled out her wand.

Remus frowned even harder, confused now. “How did it get in there?” he asked.



Krystal threw the wand on the ground in front of her and raised her hand to shoulder height.

“Expelliarmus!” she called, and Remus felt his wand fly out of his hand again, soaring through the air straight to Krystal, who caught it.

“Whoa!” said Remus, his eyes wide. “You…..you didn’t use your wand!’ he gasped, looking quickly down at the ground to check her wand was still there. “How did you do that?”



Krystal moved towards him, and handed him back his wand. “You have to promise not to tell anyone,’ she warned. “Not even James or Sirius or Peter. It’s a secret - I’ll get into trouble if anyone here finds out.”

He nodded eagerly. “Of course I won’t tell anyone,’ he agreed.

She took a deep breath. “I don’t need a wand,’ she said, sitting on the grass in front of him. “I can do wandless magic.”



“Wandless magic?” he said, sounding a little awestruck. He sat down opposite her, looking into her eyes. “Really?”

She smiled at him. “Yeah, really,’ she confirmed.

‘But, how? I mean, you’re just a kid. Only really good wizards can do wandless magic. My mum and dad can’t do wandless magic.”

Krystal shrugged. “My mum and dad can’t either. I don’t know: it’s in my genes or something. My grandma could do it, so could her mum. But my parents say that my magic is very strong. I can do a lot of things that even my grandma needed a wand for.”



Remus bit his lip, thinking. ‘So how does it work?’ he asked. ‘Do you think of the spell in your head or what?’

Krystal shook her head. ‘Sometimes. I think about what I want to do, like if I want to move something or get something, or I’ll think about the incantation and it works. But sometimes it just happens without me doing anything,’ she explained. ‘When I was three, my dad nearly ran over me in his car. I didn’t know any incantations, but my shields came up and stopped it from hitting me.’

She shuddered at the memory. Her dad had been super protective of her ever since that day.

‘That was when mum and dad figured out I could do wandless magic.’



“Wow!’ said Remus, really impressed. “You stopped a car with a shield charm?‘

She shrugged and smiled at him. ‘So, can you show me how you do it?’

Krystal smiled broadly. “You don’t think I’m a freak?” she asked, relieved.

He stared at her, confused. “Course not!’ he said, enthusiastically. “I’m more of a freak than you. This is so cool, Krys! I wish I could do wandless magic.”

She laughed at his excitement, even as she reprimanded him for his comment about himself. “You are not a freak, Remus. Don’t talk like that.”

He stood up, bouncing a little in impatience. “Ok, ok. Sorry,” he said. “Can you show me something now?”

He extended his hand and Krystal grabbed it, letting him pull her to her feet.



She backed away until they were about six feet apart. “You ready?’ she asked, holding both hands out.

“For what?” he replied, looking a little wary. She smiled as she thought of the incantation for levitation. Remus let out a yell as his feet left the ground, and he rose into the air. He grinned at her, saying again, “This is so cool!”

Krystal laughed at him, and, with a mischievous smile, flicked her hand, flipping him upside down, making him laugh.



An hour later, they were lying side by side on the grass, looking up at the sky, which was rapidly getting darker and cloudier as the heaven‘s threatened to open. Krystal was tired: wandless magic could be exhausting if you didn’t use it regularly, and she‘d been primarily using her wand.

“Any other cool stuff you want to tell me about?” joked Remus, still marvelling at Krystal’s magical ability.



Krystal bit her lip: she did have one more secret.

Remus turned his head, and saw her uncertainty. “You do, don’t you!” he exclaimed, sitting up hastily.

She sat up too, her face unsure. “There is something…” she began.

“Tell me!’ interrupted Remus, a big grin on his face.



Krystal let down her mind block, reading his thoughts. “No. I can’t fly, Remus,’ she said, a little amused by his idea.

“What?’ he said, confused. “I never said you could fly,”

Krystal shook her head. “No, but you thought it,’ she said.

“Well, it would be pretty awesome if you….” He stopped, realising what she had said. “You can read my mind?’ he said, in awe. His mouth hung open a little as he struggled to accept this new information.



Krystal nodded. “Prove it!’ said Remus. “What am I thinking now?”

Krystal laughed. “You’re thinking that I’ll never guess what you’re thinking,’ she replied. Remus’ mouth dropped open even more.

“You really can read my mind?” he asked, suddenly frowning as he wondered if this was a good or bad thing.

“Don’t worry,’ she said, sensing his concern. “I use a mind block that stops people’s thoughts coming into my head. I don’t hear you unless my block fails. I‘ll put it back up now, ok?”



Remus breathed a silent sigh of relief. ‘Good,’ he said with more than a little relief.

Ever since the day he’d told her about his condition, he had started to notice things that he hadn’t before. Like how very pretty she was; how funny she was; how she had a really nice smile; and how soft her hand was when she held his. Those kind of thoughts were not ones he wanted overheard.



He realised she was staring at him, watching as his face turned pink. He stood quickly, trying to hide his flustered state. The last person he wanted to know about his other secret was Krystal.

“Come on,’ he said, holding out his hand to help her up again. “We should get in for lunch.”



For the next couple of months, the students were busy revising for exams. The second years also had to choose new subjects for next year. Krystal and Lily poured over the choices, Remus joining them in worrying about making the right decision. James and Sirius laughed at them, making their choices fairly flippantly, earning them even more scorn from Lily. Peter chose the same classes as James and Sirius.



Krystal came top of the class in defence again, much to James and Sirius’ growing disgust, and Lily’s amusement. Remus did well too, thanks to some help from Krystal, with whom he had spent a lot of time practicing. Neither of them did as well in potions, though, prompting Krystal to seek out Severus to tutor her next year, knowing he was the best in their year.



“No,’ he said, spooning mashed potato into his mouth.

‘Come on Sev, why not?’ she asked, a little taken aback by his blunt refusal.

“I don’t tutor,’ he said. Turning to look at her, she was surprised by the anger in his eyes.

“Why don’t you ask one of your new friends? I’m sure they would love to help you,’ he spat at her.

‘Sev!’ she said, shocked at his tone. “You’re my friend too - or at least, I thought you were.”



She pushed herself off her seat at the Slytherin table and stalked out of the room, coming to a halt only when she heard footsteps behind her, and his voice calling her name.

“What?’ she snarled at him, now quite angry herself.

“You’ve been ignoring me all year, and now, when you want something, you come and find me,’ he said loudly, his dark eyes flashing.



Krystal felt a burst of anger in her chest and she pointed her finger at Severus, yelling, “That’s a lie, Sev, and you know it!”

As she finished her sentence, Severus went flying backwards, hitting the wall behind him hard.

“Ow!” he yelped, as his back slammed into the stone.



Krystal lowered her hand, stunned. “How did you do that?” Severus said, looking both angry and curious as he shoved himself off the wall. Krystal backed away from him, still shocked that she had inadvertently done magic.

“I didn’t do anything,’ she said, turning away from him. ‘Look, it’s fine. I’ll get Lily to help me if you won’t.”



She ran up the stairs, ignoring him when he called after her. She ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower and threw herself onto the couch. She was mad with herself for losing control, and furious at Severus for being a jerk. Angry tears welled up in her eyes, and she blinked them away impatiently. She hated crying - hated looking weak.



“Are you alright? What’s happened?’ came a concerned voice from the end of the couch. Krystal started, not having seen Remus follow her into the room.

“I’m fine,’ she said, sitting up quickly. He frowned and walked around the couch to sit next to her.

“I heard you arguing with Snape,’ he said. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. “No. I think I hurt him.”

She told him about what had occurred, shaking her head again as she said, “I didn’t even try to cast a spell; I didn‘t think about pushing him. It just happened. I‘ve never hurt anyone before, Remus. Not even by accident.”



“Sometimes, when you’re angry, you can do things without meaning to,’ he said, putting his arm around her. “It sounds like he’s alright; you didn’t mean to do it.”

Krystal leaned against him, her head on his shoulder.

“Why was he so mean to me? I have spent time with him this year, but I’ve got other friends too,’ she complained.



Remus felt a rush of anger at Snape. Krystal had been a good friend to the Slytherin; she and Lily were always sticking up for him when the other’s picked on him.

“Maybe he’s jealous?’ Remus suggested. “You and Lily and he used to play together all the time. Now he has to share you both.”

Krystal raised her head and looked at him. “You’re very smart, you know,’ she said, smiling at him.

Remus smiled back at her, feeling a funny little lurch in his chest. “Come on, we might still get some cake if we hurry.”

He pulled her up, and they ran down to the Great Hall, only dropping hands when they reached the doors.



The last day of term arrived and the Second year Gryffindor students lined up with the rest of the school to catch the Hogwarts Express back to London. They managed to find a compartment together, Lily choosing to sit with Severus, becoming irritated with Krystal when she refused. Krystal and Remus played Exploding Snap, while James and Sirius pored over a book, which was most unusual. Peter slept most of the way back, snoring slightly.



As they disembarked that evening, Krystal and Remus waved goodbye to their friends, promising regular owls throughout the holidays. While they waited for their parents, Krystal pressed a piece of paper into Remus’ hand.

“My mum will call your mum to ask if you can visit, but if you can’t, this is my phone number,’ she said. ‘You can call me if you want, instead of writing.”

Her hand closed around his, and he squeezed back.

“Thanks,’ he said. “Maybe my parents won’t be so overprotective these holidays.”

She smiled, then looked over his shoulder as she saw her father approaching.



“Dad!’ she called, waving her arm. Remus turned and saw Krystal’s father come up behind him. He’d never met the man before, and stepped back as he approached. Krystal gave him a quick hug then grabbed Remus’ arm, pulling him closer. “Dad, this is my friend, Remus Lupin.”

Krystal’s father smiled down at him, holding out his hand. “So this is the famous Remus, is it?’ he said, glancing fondly down at his daughter. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”



Remus blushed a little as he shook Mr O’Connor’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, sir,’ he said quietly.

“Hmm! Polite, too. An improvement on that other friend of yours, what’s his name, Septacus?” Krystal closed her eyes, and Remus tried unsuccessfully to disguise his snort of laughter as a cough.

“Severus, dad!” she said in exasperation. Her father laughed as well, as Remus’ father approached. Remus greeted his dad, and introduced Krystal and her father.



“Dad, can Remus come over sometimes during the holidays?’ Krystal asked, deciding to seize the moment.

“Well, it’s fine with us, but it’s up to Remus’ dad,’ he said, turning to Mr Lupin, who frowned.

“Please, dad,’ said Remus, wishing he could tell his father how much it meant to him to be normal like his friends. His father looked at him and nodded.

“Sure, maybe a little later in the holidays though. Your mother isn’t feeling too well, and I’m sure she’d like you around for company.”

Krystal glanced at Remus, counting back and realising the full moon would be coming in a week.

Remus nodded as well. “Thanks, dad.”



As their parents turned away to collect their children’s trunks, Krystal slipped her hand into Remus’, whispering to him, “Good luck next week. I hope it’s not too bad for you.”

Remus smiled. “I’m used to it,’ he said quietly.

“Come on, Krystal,’ Mr O’Connor called, as he shook hands again with Remus’ father. Krystal put her arms around Remus and hugged him.

“See you soon,’ she said. Remus hugged her back.

“I hope so,’ he replied, surprised as she turned her head and pecked him quickly on the cheek before running after her father.

Remus was still grinning stupidly when his father puffed over to him with his trunk, saying, “Come on Romeo, lets go.”