Chapter 2
"Happy birthday!" Rebecca had been loitering about the front room, waiting for Harry to come.
She didn't know that it had taken him a little longer because he was afraid of ending up outside of where he meant to and no one knowing where he was, be he would also never have told her that. "We just saw each other a few days ago." Harry wheezed, a little shocked at such affection but returning it eagerly.
"I know, but it's still been a few days." She stepped back sheepishly, straightening his shirt. "Want a tea? I made you a cup already."
She had been toiling for days over what she could give him, wanting to badly. Eventually she decided on a mug that Arthur helped her with immensely as he had been experimenting with Muggle art as of late.
Harry saw it and grinned. It was lopsided, the 'H' on the front was crooked, the handle was as well. And, most of all, it was perfect. "I hope Hagrid's not about, another 'H' to claim this masterpiece." Harry drank from it as Fred nudged Rebecca and raised an eyebrow.
Rebecca had never felt insecure about someone's opinion, not in the way that she had when it came to that stupid cup. Fred hadn't honestly thought she was serious when she confessed she wasn't sure it was good enough to give Harry and he'd made sure to tell her that it was the intent of a gift that mattered more than anything.
Rebecca rolled her eyes and laughed as Ron slid into the kitchen, shouting that Harry was here. "Happy birthday!" Ron shouted still, hugging Harry tightly before running to the broom closet to go outside.
"Not just yet." Arthur said loudly, crossing his arms as if he were cross with them.
Molly slapped his arm as she walked by, pulling Harry into a hug. "Can't be running outside before we've even seen you!"
Arthur grinned, hugging Harry next. "Only pulling your leg." Harry felt so at peace, so at-home, it was hard to remember that he hadn't actually gotten back to Hogwarts yet.
But that was the Burrow, he thought.
Home to all who would let it be.
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Quidditch quickly gave way to meandering about in the house when it grew too hot to be outside any longer--When even the racing winds of broom flying couldn't fight away the heat.
Molly had whatever heaven was to be dinner cooking already and the house was filled with the smell of it, heavenly-so. Arthur had Harry look at the VHS player he had gotten from work and been unable to get to work.
Rebecca had looked at it, of course, but she had no idea what could be wrong with it. She hadn't ever seen one before and while she understood how the outlets worked, there were far too many cords in the back to make sense of. Arthur hadn't let her feel badly a moment though, insisting that the Muggles must take a class on the intricacies of television.
Harry had it up and running in minutes, a film put it and the children spread about the room wherever they fit.
The day was passing far too quickly for Rebecca's liking, a day spent with near-everyone she loved shouldn't have been able to end so soon.
But dinner had to come at some point and although it was fantastic, it had its own twinge of sadness as all that was left for the summer was to shop the next day and go to bed.
"Come on, no sad faces!" Arthur chided, waving his wand so the dishes were cleared and a bag appeared in front of each child. "It's a special day!"
"We're going to do something a little new this year." Molly explained, seeing how they perked up at the unusual event. "We're a little proud of the idea, ourselves."
Arthur smiled. "Since we normally spend everyone's birthdays apart...We're all getting our presents today."
"With the Hogsmeade slips and all." Molly seamlessly interjected as an explanation.
"Go on then! Open them up!" Arthur laughed as the children talked over one another in surprise.
After their trip to Egypt and Ron's replacement wand, it was easy to set aside thirty galleons for each child before the rest was put away. Molly kissed the top of Ginny's head. "I know you can't go until next year, love. But this way you can ask for something to be brought back for you."
"I'll bring back anything you want." Harry reassured, seeing how Ginny's face had fallen. "With Ron we're apt to go to Honeyduke's every time and with the the others...you know we'll be going to Zonko's."
Molly ruffled Harry's hair, snapping her fingers so that the cake came out. Long after the sun had set and after the first shift of showering had started, Arthur frowned. "Floo closes at the Leaky Cauldron in half an hour, Harry. Don't want to get locked in the grate."
"Definitely not." Harry paled a little at the idea. He really hated flooing. "Thank you for having me." Harry found himself wrapped in a hug from Molly and Arthur again.
"Any time, Harry." Molly tucked her arm around Harry's shoulder and walked him the rest of the way, Rebecca and he already having exchanged their final happy-birthdays and I-love-yous. "The Burrow becomes a home to far more than those who sleep under its roof. Remember that."
Harry blinked and nodded. The floo didn't scare him as much as it had just that morning. Maybe he was grown up now that he was thirteen.
But then again, maybe he just wanted to go to sleep so that the next day would come and he wouldn't be alone again.
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"Hey." Fred let himself into Rebecca's and Ginny's room, Ginny downstairs for something or other. "What'd he give you?"
Rebecca sniffed, embarrassed to have been caught. "He-erm, it's a tag he made for my trunk. You can see it if you want." Fred hopped onto her bed next to her and turned it to the light. It was red, which was not all that unexpected, but Harry had penned out who it would go to on the front and the back.
The front said her name obviously, but the back was like a letter.
This bag belongs to the smartest, greatest, and worst-at-puns person in the world. As important as it is that this bag makes its way back to her, I need her brought back to me.
I can't not have her.
"That's really sweet." Fred said, a little shocked. It didn't exactly align with the character he'd always associated Harry with but maybe that was because Rebecca was involved. Everyone was a different person with someone they loved.
"It is." Rebecca took a deep breath.
Fred didn't have to ask what was wrong, he knew she would tell when she wanted to.
"I feel so torn. I miss him so badly but..."
"You don't want to leave yet." Fred nodded, understanding. "I know what you mean, I hate the end of summer."
"It's not even like I don't want to go back to class." Rebecca wiped her cheek again, finding that even though Fred understood what she was saying, her heart still ached. "I'm fine with school, I just don't want to leave yet."
"That's why I write mum and dad every week." Fred admitted as he hadn't to another person--besides George, of course--in the three years he'd been at Hogwarts. "I miss them and I miss being home."
They were quiet a long while. Neither of them had anything to say.
Eventually, the sadness Rebecca felt at leaving the Burrow fell back into its manageable ache and Fred was called for.
"The good news, I guess, is that-" Fred paused, looking away from her. He didn't think he'd manage to say what he wanted if he looked her in the eyes. "Well, you'll always have plenty of people with red hair to miss home with."
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Diagon Alley was dampened, Rebecca realised. The streets weren't filled with the usual chatter of shopping families, not even the laughter of running about school-aged kids echoed.
Diagon Alley was a muted grey compared to its usual incandescence of excitement.
Hermione was overjoyed to see them all, hugging Rebecca and Harry and Ron tightly before moving onto the next armful of George, Fred, and Ginny. A cat accompanied Hermione, an orange tabby cat with a squashed face and narrowed eyes.
"This is Crookshanks," Hermione introduced him as the children fell in line behind Arthur and Molly. "He's actually part kneazle."
"He needs to keep his distance." Ron demanded, the pun entirely unintended. "Scabbers doesn't like cats."
"Chin up, Ron." Harry reassured. "Crookshanks will leave him alone."
Rebecca patted Crookshanks head, waiting for him to show some sign of life. All he'd done was stare at whoever was in front of him. As Rebecca moved back to his ears, he looked her up and down before leaning into it and letting out a soft purr.
"You know," Hermione said quietly, smiling. "Kneazles are great judges of character."
Rebecca had missed Hermione, she knew that entirely.
Book shopping didn't take that long. Ron and Rebecca were always given whatever was the same from Fred and George's books from the year before, the extras were always bought quickly and wisely. Before long, it was time to go home.
Bypassing Florean's for the year, they decided to escort Harry back to the Leaky Cauldron and nab a quick lunch before going back to the Burrow to pack trunks and get ready for the train ride in the morning.
Therein, seeing how Harry was growing detached with all of their exit so imminent, Fred and George simply couldn't sit idle.
They decided to entertain them with their Oliver-impression. "Alright team!" George started, perfectly encapsulating Oliver's enthusiasm. "We're going to be practising eight nights a week this year!"
Fred hit the table, grinning. "We're going to get that cup team! I can feel it in my bones!"
Rebecca leaned over like she was looking behind them, waving at nothing. "Hi, Oliver. Good summer?"
Fred and George jumped, whirling around and realising they'd been tricked perfectly. "She got us, Fred."
"Yes, she did, George." Fred raised an eyebrow, already scheming. "We'll have to get you back now."
"You do realise this, right?" George added on.
"You can try." Rebecca smirked.
Fred scoffed, finding cocky Rebecca to be highly intriguing. "A challenge? We never back down from a challenge, RJ."
George nodded. "Never."
Harry laughed into his elbow, trying to keep the attention of the boys' revenge off of him. That was not anything he needed to deal with, not with term starting.
Lunch was positively filled with laughter, a perfect end to their time together before responsibility called them away. Arthur laid his hand on Harry and Rebecca's shoulder, leading them to the side as Molly fussed of Hermione and made sure she had everything that she needed for school.
"I wonder if I might have a word, you two?" Arthur told, but feigned asking.
"Sure!" Harry would have agreed in an instant anyway.
Arthur put his back to the others, looking between Harry and Rebecca and giving them a curt smile. He did not like sullying the high-spirits of the afternoon with such dark talk, but he needed to make sure they were safe.
"There are some within the Ministry who would have me not say anything to you two--But strange things are afoot this year."
"Because of Sirius Black?" Harry clarified, looking to the side and seeing one of the many, many posters adorning Diagon Alley with the gaunt, screaming man.
"Among other things, but yes." Arthur moved them farther into the corner, not wanting anyone to hear their words. "You two could be in danger, grave danger. What do you know about Sirius Black?"
Harry looked to Rebecca, putting her on the spot. Rebecca furrowed her brow, piecing together what Molly had told her. "He-erm, he killed a bunch of people?"
"And he escaped Azkaban." Arthur added. "Do you know why?"
"Because he wanted to get out?" Rebecca offered, confused and feeling that Arthur was speaking in riddles.
"Thirteen years ago, when you two stopped...You-Know-Who...Black lost everything. That is why he escaped Azkaban. To find you two."
Harry looked at Rebecca and raised an eyebrow, lost but a little relieved to find that she was too. "To kill us." Harry finished, Arthur's following silence proving him right.
"Promise me that you two will not go after him. Swear to me that, no matter what you might hear, you won't go looking for Black." Arthur said.
"Don't go after the murderer who may want to murder us." Rebecca clarified, nodding. "Sounds alright to me."
Arthur fought a small smile, not expecting these two to face a death threat with anything but a joke at this point. Peeking over his shoulder, only Hermione remained as the others had flooed back to the Burrow. "Harry, we will see you bright and early for the train. Rebecca, we must be going back before Molly quadruplicates herself to help everyone pack at once."
Harry gave Rebecca a tight hug, smiling despite the fact that they would spend one more night apart from each other before school. "I'll see you in the morning."
Rebecca nodded. "In the morning, Harry."
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"Tonight." Fred whispered, passing Rebecca in the hall. "Be ready at eleven."
"Be ready-Fred?" He didn't turn around, continuing down the hall as if neither of them had said a word.
Rebecca was still thinking about what he could have meant when her door was cracked open at exactly eleven, Ginny in her bed sleeping through the light from the hall breaking the darkness of their room. "Fred, I don't-" Rebecca wasn't able to finish her question as he caught her wrist and lead her down the hall.
Fred shook his head, looking over his shoulder. He backed down the hall, both of them in their pajamas. He didn't go down the stairs, instead stopping in front of he and George's room where George slept--on oblivious to the fact that Fred pulled two brooms out from behind the door.
The window had been opened earlier, so that the squeak didn't echo through the empty house, and Fred offered no explanation. Only a little smile before he put the broom between his legs and flew out of the window silently.
Rebecca followed, as he knew she would. There was nothing like an unanswered question to pique her curiosity. "Will you tell me now?"
"We're having one more bit of home." Fred wouldn't look at her as they went lower, following the slight dips and rises of the hills around the Burrow.
Rebecca wished he didn't sound as sad as he did, though the sadness was exactly what she felt. It was different with Fred though, she didn't want him to be sad. "Are you ready?"
"For the year?" Fred let out a laugh. "Probably not. It hasn't exactly been usual since you went."
Rebecca blushed. No, no school year had been usual since she'd gone.
"But usual could be boring, I guess." Fred glanced at her, leading them to the right so that they had to weave through the trees on their slow ride. "I wouldn't mind not thinking you died this year, though."
"I'll see what I can do." Rebecca sighed, looking up at the treehouse as they passed under it.
"Where did you come from?" Fred asked, regretting it instantly. He'd always scolded George heavily for asking any questions of Rebecca about the before-times. Now he'd gone and done the same.
"Far away." Rebecca answered, shaking her head of the darkness the past brought. "Let's not. Not tonight. Tonight is about home."
And it was.
They flew around quietly conversing and soaking in the peace of home for well over an hour, sneaking back into the house and into bed with the weight on their hearts lighter and a lasting tint on their cheeks from their exchange of goodnights.
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"I didn't mean to blow her up!" Harry vehemently defended himself as Hermione was made aware as to why he hadn't been at the Dursleys. He couldn't help pulling his backpack higher up on his shoulder. The train seemed to be a flurry of motion and it was making him ill. "I lost control."
Hermione glanced at Rebecca, who seemed especially distant. There was the shadow of a sleepless night under her eyes and Hermione wondered if she still had dreams of their Petrification.
Hermione did, but ever so rarely and it was nothing Crookshanks hadn't been able to comfort away.
"Brilliant." Ron breathed, holding Scabbers closely. Molly had already had to scoop him up and practically throw the ancient rat back into the train after he'd gotten away.
"Honestly, Ron?" Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's not funny. Harry's lucky he didn't get expelled."
Rebecca's head shot up. Harry couldn't be expelled. That hadn't even occurred to her.
"Actually, I think I was lucky not to be arrested."
Rebecca paled, horrible thoughts coming to her that hadn't before. Harry not at Hogwarts, Harry without her, her without Harry.
"I still think it was brilliant." Ron echoed at the back of their procession in search of an empty compartment.
"Nothing happened." Harry said softly, catching Rebecca's hand and giving it a squeeze. "I'm right here."
Rebecca nodded, peering into the compartment Harry was. "It's the best we'll get."
Ron sat across from Rebecca and nodded to the shape in the corner, sleeping under their coat. "Who do you think that is?"
"Professor R. J. Lupin." Hermione answered.
"How the bloody hell do you know absolutely everything?" Ron demanded.
"It's on his suitcase." Hermione pointed to the weathered case that matched the equally weathered coat. "I'm just the only one who bothered to read it." Hermione caught Rebecca's eyes and made a face at Ron's tone, leading the two girls into a soft bout of laughter.
"Do you think he's really asleep?" Harry asked, looking him over closely.
"Seems to be. Why?" Hermione watched as Harry closed the compartment door.
"We've got to talk to you two."
Ron reacted poorly. "Let me get this straight. Mass murderer breaks out of inescapable wizarding prison...for you two?" Ron pointed between Harry and Rebecca and shook his head. "As soon as I think the mentallest year has past, there's something else!"
"Most mental." Hermione corrected, moving on afterwards. "They'll catch Black though, won't they? Everyone's looking for him."
"Sure!" Ron rolled his eyes. "I repeat, he escaped inescapable prison. Not to mention, he's a raving lunatic."
"Thanks, Ron." Harry said flatly, giving Rebecca a little smile at how Ron comforted them.
The ride went quiet quickly, Hermione busy in a book with Crookshanks on her lap and Harry and Ron talking quietly.
As Professor R.J. Lupin had taken the window seat, Rebecca resigned herself to the other edge alongside the hallway so that she could lean her head against it and nap for a while. A night fly with Fred had been so perfectly what she had needed to say goodbye to the Burrow, but it had left her far more tired than she had expected.
And the worst part was the rest she managed to get was hardly restful. Her dream was plagued with something dark, something hovering over her thoughts that she couldn't pinpoint but couldn't evade either.
When the train's brakes squealed hours into their journey, Harry reached his arm out and kept her from being thrown off the bench while the force startled her awake.
"Why're we stopping?" Hermione gasped, looking out the dark, rainy window as they all stilled their pounding hearts.
Ron echoed her confusion, peering out into the darkness. "There's no way we're there yet."
Rebecca stood up and opened the compartment door, peering out into the hall to find near every other compartment doing the same as she was. The train jerked again, especially hard. Harry caught his mirror image as she was forced backwards, heading straight to be a crumpled pile on the floor.
"What's going on?" Harry asked no one in particular, pulling Rebecca up to the bench next to him again.
"Don't know." Rebecca shrugged, pulling her jumper tighter around her. "Maybe we've broken down?"
The lights flickered off before she was even done speaking and Ron jumped, kicking Hermione. Ron pushed his face up against the window, trying to see the front of the train. "There's something moving out there." Ron warned, his voice wavering.
"It'll be alright." Rebecca said instantly, wishing she had anything else to contribute. He looked like he was growing more and more scared. Hermione looked down, finding her breath visible now as a chill crept over the train. Rebecca shivered, putting her hands under her armpits. "It's bloody freezing."
Ron let out a squeak and pulled his hand off the window like it had been lit on fire, ice nearly bonding his hand to the pane.
Harry rubbed his hands together, looking to the door nervously. He thought he saw something moving in the hall.
Rebecca felt it first, the weight pushing on her middle until she was certain she would break. Everything inside of her seemed to stop cold, her heart up in her throat where she would have liked to have said anything, anything at all if she had been able to.
She was without hope, happiness, and love.
She felt hardly alive.
And then the thing opened the door. It was grey, so many different greys. Its fingers were long and bony as it opened the door without contact, grabbing the frame as it loomed over the children and still-sleeping professor inside.
Rebecca heard a scream building, the scream of a man breaking.
Then it leaned closer, towards Harry and Rebecca. It was like something was pulling on her, pulling her out of herself.
It was cold as ice but sharp as a blade, painful in both its lack of feeling but its weight. She felt crushed, but also torn.
The scream was no longer building but at full-force, echoing in her ears as if it were coming from directly in front of her.
Neither she nor Harry saw Professor Lupin stand up and ward the ghoul off with a light that staved off the chill. They were both unconscious.
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Hermione and Ron were leaned over their friends, Hermione continuously checking over her shoulder.
"What're you looking for? Madam-bloody-Pomfrey?" Ron demanded after the third time he caught her looking.
"For your brothers, you git." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Fred and George'll be tearing the train apart the second they hear anything happened and Ginny'll be right behind them."
"What happened?" Fred panted, appearing in the doorway with a red-faced George beside him.
"Someone fainted?" George asked, piecing together a guess from the whispers of rumours they had heard already forming along the train.
"We're here." Ginny added, doing a head-count.
Hermione gave Ron a smug smirk, loving even more than usual her tendency to be right.
"Don't fret, children." Professor Lupin, who had yet to formally introduce himself, smiled warmly at the wave of concern entering the compartment. "They'll be coming to momentarily, soon as the shock has worn off."
"Shock of what?" George asked, looking around. "We saw the ghost come aboard, why'd it stop in-RJ?"
Rebecca sat up quickly putting her back to the seat and sliding into the corner while she looked around wildly. Her fear was obvious, uncharacteristic, and concerning to her friends. Hermione held her friend's glasses out, knowing that's what she was grabbing about for. "W-where is it? Who screamed? What was-"
"Eat this." Professor Lupin held out a chunk of chocolate. "It will help. It's alright, it's chocolate." Rebecca didn't take it, noticing how Harry lay on the bench next to her. "He's alright, Miss Potter. Take a breath and take some chocolate."
Fred knew it was bad, whatever it was that had happened, because Rebecca didn't even blink. She only let a handful of people call her 'Miss Potter,' and considering two of them were Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore, a stranger like a new professor was not one of them.
"Go on then, eat it." Fred said softly, taking the chocolate from the professor and sliding down the wall in front of her so that he was beside her.
Harry sat up slowly, righting his glasses with one hand and grabbing Rebecca's knee with the other. He could see and he could see that she was alright, so nothing too horrible could have happened. "What was that? That thing?"
Professor Lupin lowered his head a moment, saddened that such darkness hda to be talked about before term had even begun. "That was a dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. It's gone now."
"What was it doing on here?" Fred asked, his voice tight. He was angry, furious even.
"It was searching the train for Sirius Black." Professor Lupin looked Harry and Rebecca over carefully before standing. "If we're all alright for the moment, I'm afraid I'll have to excuse myself. I'm going to go have a little word with the driver."
Professor Lupin poked his head back in the doorway just after he'd stepped away, nodding the the chocolate they were both ignoring. "Eat, you will feel better."
"You heard him." George echoed, crossing his legs and sitting on the floor with his back between Ron and Hermione's legs across from Harry, Rebecca, and Fred who were on the bench.
Rebecca picked it up and took a bite, finding that the professor was right. The chocolate brought with it a warmth, a warmth that showed her just how cold the dementors had left her. "What happened to us?"
Fred's head turned to Ron and Hermione, waiting for an explanation. Rebecca was whiter than a sheet, her eyes wide as dinner plates. Whatever had happened had been a lot.
"You both sort of..." Ron looked to Hermione, trying to figure out the best way to word it. "Went rigid. We thought maybe you were having fits?"
"Did either of you two, you know-pass out?" Harry asked, taking another bite of the chocolate when he was done.
"No." Hermione ran her hands over Crookshanks' fur, letting that cat bring her comfort as her friends anguished.
"I felt weird, like I'd never be cheerful again."
"And cold." Hermione added to Ron's description.
Rebecca nodded, pushing against Fred entirely without meaning to. He put his arm up and she continued to move until she was against him, his warmth seeping between them to her. "And someone screamed." Rebecca repeated, hearing how her voice mimicked the hollow feeling that had filled her.
"A woman." Harry clarified, confused as Rebecca shook her head.
"No, I heard a man. He-" Rebecca's breath shuddered and Fred nudged her hand with the chocolate, silently pleading with her to eat more of it. Ginny glanced between Harry and Rebecca slowly, seeming to study them each for a long period before moving to the other.
"No one was screaming." Hermione shook her head, looking down as George patted both Hermione and Ron's legs. Fred and George and Ginny had brought with them comfort, comfort to all.
George began to talk for them, running through how boring the train ride had been for he and Fred as Lee stayed up too late a Muggle movie and had already shouted at him for making too much noise.
Fred listened, albeit barely. Rebecca had finished the chocolate and brushed her hands off before pulling her legs up onto the bench with her, holding herself together literally as she felt herself coming undone inside.
The whispers that she could ignore, the darkness she could pretend was her imagination, the memories she swore she would let remain untouched...they were all disturbed by the dementor. She felt herself as cold and empty as she had been before the Weasleys, as she had been with William.
The idea the something, some being, could so quickly take away all the work she had gone through, all the growing she had done both as a person and out of the shadow she had been, terrified her.
She and Harry both had a horrible thought, though they wouldn't dare give it life by talking about it.
Once their happiness was gone, what was left of them?
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When Professor Lupin made his way back to the compartment he had planned on holing himself into alone, he found a sight that left the pale scars across his face twisted with a light smile.
Rebecca, still far more subdued than she had ever been on the Hogwarts Express, was listening with poor attention to George's imitations. Fred, still beside her with an arm behind her and a hand absently rubbing her shoulder with half his attention spent on his twin and half on quiet, not-for-anyone-other-than-her side jokes he'd whisper despite the half-smiles she'd offer in return.
Harry, sandwiched between Hermione and Ron with a head on each shoulder as Crookshanks sat on his lap. Hermione held Harry's hand, though Harry didn't seem to notice. His attention was as far off as his twin's.
George, still seated on the floor, was situated between Ginny's legs as she was the idea-bringer. She'd lean forward intermittently and give George a different professor and lines and George would perform for them.
"Potter!" George spat in a monotone drone. "Why haven't you answered the question...I haven't yet asked you?" George paused, moving a hand over his head as if her were running it through Snape's hair. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
"Well done, Mister Weasley." Remus clapped slowly, his smile that had only grown wider revealing his thoughts on the impressions. "Don't tell him I said so, but I do believe that was rather on-character."
"Thank you, professor." George's voice cracked and he couldn't quite reach Remus' eyes. He'd been caught acting like a fool, as he had a thousand times before, but there was something different about this time that left him feeling very flushed.
Maybe it was because Professor Lupin was so young. Maybe it was because he was handsome.
"Are you two feeling any better?" Professor Lupin sat back where he had been and leaned forward so his elbows were on his knees, scanning Harry and Rebecca in turn. "You did eat, didn't you?"
"Yes, sir." They answered quietly, as to be expected.
"Good." Remus cleared his throat, looking around the very-full compartment uneasily. "I went ahead and sent an owl ahead to Professor McGonagall, to inform her of what had happened. We're due to arrive within the hour."
Ginny stood up and rolled her eyes, pulling George to his feet and looking to Fred expectantly. With Professor Lupin back, the compartment was far too full and they were the encroachers.
Fred eased away from Rebecca's side and gave her the most contagious smile he could muster. "We'll see you at dinner, alright?"
Rebecca nodded, looking up when Fred gave her hand a discrete squeeze.
Discrete, he had thought, to those who were now busy talking about what Professor McGonagall would have to say to them.
Professor Lupin's smile at Fred told him that while the others may not have noticed, the adult certainly had.
Suddenly, George's red face had a rival.
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