Hunted AIAOY 3

While the Hogwarts Express hurried across the frozen landscape, Rebecca waited impatiently.  She was ready to see Harry, to tell Hermione about what Charlie was going to send as soon as he got his dragon sanctuary to sign off on it, Rebecca was ready to be back at Hogwarts.

That's what she told herself, anyway.

Thinking about having hardly been back at the Burrow long enough to settle in before the holiday ended--thinking about the last hugs and kisses all of the children had gotten on the platform for the months until school ended--left this prickling, painful feeling at the back of her throat as if a quaffle was stuck.

In the end, Rebecca decided it was better to not think about it at all and instead to pour herself back into the work she had let fall to the back burner in the name of Christmas.  "I'll be back."  

"It's early to change, isn't it?"  George asked, sitting up and wondering if he had to hurry.

"Not changing."  Rebecca closed the door behind her without offering more explanation.  This wasn't done out of rudeness, mind you.  George hadn't asked where she was going, only if it was time to change.

"Where's she off to then?"  Fred grumbled, stretching and rubbing at the back of his head sleepily.  He had been happily wandering in that in-between realm where you weren't quite asleep but not quite awake when Rebecca had got up.  

"Wouldn't you like to know."  Ginny said under her breath, paying no attention to the pathetic behaviour of her brother.

"What was that, Ginevra?"  Ginny closed her dog-eared copy of Quidditch Weekly she was looking through for the thousandth time and raised an eyebrow, not offering any words until the error was fixed.  "Ginny."  Fred repeated, acting as if he never said anything else.

"Nothing, Fred."  Ginny returned to her reading.  He sighed and sat back, looking out the window, as Rebecca worked her way down the length of the train.

She had a destination in mind.  Peeking into the compartments she passed, as many empty were also occupied.  At the last compartment towards the back of the train, however, she found who she was looking for.

"Hello, Draco."  Rebecca sat without invitation across from him.  "Did you have a nice holiday?"

"It was fine."  He intoned without feeling.  He had picked a secluded spot on purpose and he wasn't entirely sure why she was disturbing it.  "What are you doing in here?"

"I wasn't sure if you had found a chance to speak to your father."  Rebecca asked, sensing that there was no positive answer to the topic.  Draco wouldn't look so defeated it there had been.

"What's done is done."  Draco cleared his throat.  "The beast dies."

Rebecca was quiet, clearly going over how she would respond to him carefully.  Draco could act as awful as he wanted, but at that moment it was clear he didn't want that any more than Rebecca did.  "Did you like your gift?"

Draco met her eyes, confused as to why she wasn't telling him that he'd failed.  "Yes, thank you."

Rebecca felt like Draco wanted to be alone again, and there was nothing else to say.  "I'm going to get back then.  Thank you for trying."

Draco waited until the door to his compartment had closed again, with a little extra time to really make sure no one heard him.  "I'm sorry I couldn't help."

*******************************************

"Want anything before I get too busy?"  The trolley lady asked, leaving a compartment just as Rebecca passed by in the middle of the train.  "I'd hate to run out of something if you were waiting for it."

Rebecca nodded.  Even though they had Charlie's letter coming, the fact that Lucius was so adamant that Buckbeak would pay left her in need of a sweet.  "A chocolate wand, please."  Rifling through her pockets for the coins, Rebecca thought of something.  "Could I buy something for someone else, you think?"

"Of course."  The lady smiled.  "Kindness is always allowed, after all."

Rebecca counted out double the amount.  "Could you give another wand to the boy at the end?"

"I will."  The coins clinked in the apron of the trolley pusher as she made her way down the opposite direction of Rebecca.  "Might want to find your seat now, we'll be arriving soon enough."

Rebecca nodded and continued back on her way towards the others, feeling a heaviness grow inside of her at the idea of returning to Hogwarts that puzzled her.  Even though Harry and Hermione were waiting for them, there was something underneath, something pulling at her thoughts and leaving her feeling dark.

"Ran off for a chocolate wand?"  Fred teased, almost glad that Ginny had just been beckoned away with other second years who wanted to chat.  "I should've known."

"I wanted to see if Draco had any luck."  Rebecca said plainly.  Keeping her thoughts on other topics pushed away thoughts of what could be pressing on her, and Fred and George certainly offered enough other things to think about.

George spoke for the both of them as they were unable to read what the result had been from Rebecca.  "And?"

"The trial will continue as planned."  Rebecca found herself unable to stop talking for a moment.  "But it won't matter because Hermione will have kept working as hard as ever and I put in a fair amount of organisation over the break.  We'll have the letter from Charlie's sanctuary and we have a few weeks to polish everything up and-"

"Woah!"  Fred laughed, bringing the mood of the compartment a few, happier notches.  "Don't forget to breathe, yeah?"

Rebecca laughed, too.  Snapping her chocolate into thirds, the three of them snacked and joked until Hogwarts came into view.

The sight of the dementors swirling over the dark and snowy castle tempered down the high spirits a little, but nothing could entirely.

*******************************************

"We look like idiots."  Harry grumbled.

"No, we look like your sister."  Hermione countered.  It was true, to an extent.  They were the only students absurd enough to consider greeting the returning students outside with an incoming storm and the weather seemed to be dropping quickly as evening approached.

"We'd have to be turning blue!"  Harry laughed, jumping in place a few times.  He was not one to admit when it was cold out but even he was forced to say it was brisk.  "How much long-There!"  He was gone in a heartbeat.

Rebecca couldn't have picked a better welcoming sight--Not when hers was the shoulder of Harry's coat as he hugged her tightly.

"I missed you."

She nodded, wrapping her arms around his middle and returning his love.  "I missed you, too."

"C'mon, suppers served!"  Ron pushed them--not gently--towards the entrance of the Great Hall where the rest of the students were filing around them to get to.  "I'm starved."

George rolled his eyes, flicking the side of Ron's head before jumping to dodge the instant retaliation.

"Happy holidays, I hope?"  Professor Lupin nodded to their group as they passed him in the line up of professors and staff.  

"Very."  Rebecca answered while the others made similar statements.  "But it's good to be back."

"I agree."  Lupin nodded towards the warmth of the indoors, prompting them to find their seats quickly.  "Good to be back."

"Things have returned to normal rather quickly."  Hermione remarked, finding that she and Rebecca were calmly chatting over their supper while the others seemed to be content with shouting over one another.  "Did you have a good holiday, really?"

"It was the best time."  Rebecca took a bite of her supper, thinking.  "Perhaps of my entire life."

Hermione smiled.  "Brilliant."

"And you two?  You had a good time?"

Hermione's smile fell.  "It was a good time, yes.  But I'll admit now that I didn't get around to tidying the room and I went to the library...a few times."  Rebecca bit back a laugh.  "Don't laugh at me!  You left me with horrid company--All he wanted to do was play Wizard's Chess until he got tired of winning, talk about quidditch, or mope about the Firebolt!"

Harry's head shot up and he shook his head adamantly.  "That's not true at all!  I also helped with the case!"

All of them, their group reunited, laughed.

*******************************************

"You weren't kidding."  Ginny snorted before starting to move books off the piles about the room.  "'A few times.'"

"Well, like I said."  Hermione blushed.  "Poor company."

"We missed you, too."  Rebecca said, moving piles of books herself.  The titles were strange though, classes Rebecca knew Hermione wasn't taking.  Holding one up and finding that Hermione refused to look at either the book or Rebecca, Rebecca felt something was off.

"Oh, Hermione!"  Ginny jumped on her now-cleared bed and put her chin resting on her elbows.  "Wait until you hear what happened at Christmas lunch."

"Do I want to know?"  Hermione asked with a little laugh, tucking the book Rebecca had left on top towards the middle of a pile.  "What happened?"

"Well, it started off with..."  Ginny was more than happy to retell Aunt Muriel's tragic luncheon while Rebecca was just happy to be with her friend once more.  Hermione laughed, more so than she normally would have at the telling of the antics Fred, George, and Rebecca got up to.  Rebecca could tell that Hermione had missed them far more than she was letting on.

Ginny stepped out, saying she needed to go do something or other, leaving Rebecca to start unpacking her trunk and Hermione to chat with her friend one on one.

"I am glad you're back, sleep-talking and all."  Hermione sighed.  "It was far too quiet."

"Are you going to remember you said this in a week?"  Rebecca laughed, growing serious as she thought over what Hermione had said.  "I don't sleep talk."

"Yes, yes you do on occasion."  Hermione shrugged.  "Don't worry, it's usually nonsense."

"Usually?"  Rebecca asked with a raised eyebrow, replacing her books onto her shelf.  "Charlie said he'd send the letter once he had a leader sign it.  I think it'll help."

"It's too bad the Draco-plan didn't work."  Hermione left out that she didn't think it would have anyway.  "But we're going to have to start working harder if we're to have Hagrid ready for the trial."

"And with exams coming."  Rebecca jumped onto her bed, laying on her back.  "And quidditch."

"Ready for a set of exhausting weeks?"  Hermione asked, laying next to Rebecca.

"Yeah, if you are."  Rebecca was glad to be back.  

*******************************************

"I forgot to tell you that I need to talk to you last night."

Rebecca blinked, finding it far too early for Harry's frantic tone.  "Okay?  Aren't we talking right now?"

"No."  Harry looked over his shoulder, seeing how Ron and the twins still weren't down, like Hermione and Ginny weren't either.  "Come on, they'll find us later."

"Harry?"  Rebecca called confused as he began to pull her towards the portrait hole to breakfast without the others.  "What can't wait?"

Harry shook his head, not offering any explanation.  He steered them towards the Owlery, only stopping when they were on the bridge outside.  "I didn't want anyone else to hear this, not when I don't know what it means."

"You're worrying me."  Rebecca admitted quietly.  "What's going on?"

"I was playing with the map over the holiday, mostly at night before bed."  Harry didn't look at Rebecca.  Instead, he kept his eyes focused out towards the white-covered hills and forest in the distance.  "And I saw something twice, something that shouldn't be true."

"What?"  A thousand possibilities were flying through Rebecca's head--Each more nonsensical than the last.

"Peter Pettigrew."

Rebecca felt as if the air had been knocked out of her.  "What?"

"Peter Pettigrew, the one Black murdered."  Harry shook his head.  "If it had been once, I would have blamed it on a trick my mind was playing on me.  But twice?  He was here, here in the-"

"Peter Pettigrew is dead."  Rebecca said abruptly.  "Nothing but a finger was left, that's what you said you heard above The Three Broomsticks when...the day in Hogsmeade."

"I know."  Harry sighed.  "I wanted to tell you because it feels like something's off.  Something's wrong."

Rebecca nodded, wondering how Harry could tell.  Rebecca felt it like a weight in her chest, on her thoughts.  Like something was building and she didn't know how it was going to manifest itself.

"I had another thing, too."  Harry scratched the back of his neck nervously.  "I bumped into Professor Lupin on the way to tea one day, and we got to talking.  He'll teach us the dementor spell, if you want."

"Really?"  Rebecca couldn't help but look up.  It didn't matter that the dementors were out of view, knowing that they were above the castle was enough to send a shiver down her spine.  "That's brilliant!"

"You think so?"  Harry asked relieved.  "That's great, I wasn't sure what you would think.  He said we can start tomorrow night."

"Even if I didn't think it was a good idea, I would have come if you asked.  Tomorrow?  Lots of warning."  Rebecca rolled her eyes.  "Bloody hell, it's freezing!  Can we please go inside now or do you have any other strange revelations to share?"

"No, that should be it for now."  Harry smiled.  "It feels good to talk to you."

"We wrote over the break."  Rebecca grinned.  "But I know what you mean.  My wisdom works best in person, yeah?"

"Never mind."  Harry shook his head.  "How could I have forgotten?"

"I haven't the vaguest idea."

*******************************************

"Professor?"  Harry asked, leading the way into the Defense classroom.  "It's-"

"Boo!"  Lupin jumped out from behind the statue he'd situated himself and laughed at how they both jumped.  He couldn't help it, not when they both so deeply resembled James and Lily.  

Rebecca, who had originally considered being cross about the prank, decided to let any consideration go.  It was good to hear Professor Lupin laugh as he was--he seemed so serious sometimes.

Harry, who had dropped to the floor, was more than willing to let the man laugh if it meant neither of them would comment on his reaction.

Rebecca and Harry followed Lupin as he led them from the entrance of his classroom to the middle, where a familiar cabinet stood.  "You put a dementor in with the boggart?"  Concern was evident.

Harry shook his head, walking a circle around it.  "No, I don't think he did."  Turning to Professor Lupin who was leaning against the wall with his wand spinning idly between his fingers, Harry elaborated.  "It's still just a boggart but it's going to take my fear so it acts like a dementor."

Remus nodded once, proud that the two of them had the capacity to think constructively.  "Quite right, Harry.  To practise with a real dementor--especially on our first meeting--would be unwise.  We will be trying this with Harry situated here."  Lupin directed Harry to a spot about two metres from the cabinets doors.  "And Rebecca here."  Rebecca was another metre behind him.  

Making sure that was where he wanted them, Lupin launched into an explanation on how they would deter a dementor.  "A dementor's effects are, essentially, caused by them taking away joy.  They take away happiness.  To protect yourself against a dementor then, you're going to need...Harry?"

"Magic!"  Harry's answer was immediate and sure.  

And wrong.

Remus looked at him for a long moment and turned to Rebecca who was thinking over what had been laid in front of them.  "Rebecca?"

She had an answer, but it couldn't be right.  Then again, in just nearly three years at Hogwarts, a lot had happened that seemed as if it couldn't have.  "Happiness?"

"Don't sound unsure of yourself!"  Lupin nodded.  "Precisely.  Happiness is a dementors greatest enemy.  The reasons that we, the living, like living.  The Patronus charm is cast by bringing to mind your absolute happiest memory.  You're going to think about every facet of joy that you experienced in that memory and use the power of that emotion to fuel the spell."

Harry wondered if he was allowed to use the memories he had of seeing he, Rebecca, and his parents in the Mirror of Erised.  They weren't real, not really.  But the idea of him having a complete family were some of the happiest he had.

"Remember children," Lupin's continued speaking startled Harry away from such thoughts and kept Rebecca from dwelling on similar darkness.  "This is not third year magic.  This is complicated and difficult for even the most accomplished of older witches and wizards."

"Can we start?"  Harry was ready, waiting only made him doubt himself.

Professor Lupin went over the proper wand movement and stepped back to charm the cabinet open when Harry was ready.

Rebecca's stomach dropped as the dementor floated out.  She tightened her grip on her wand, watching as it went to Harry.  "E-expecto patronum!"  A weak wisp of white went out of Harry's wand, but nothing more.

Harry hit the floor like a stone and the dementor-boggart paused above him, turning its cloaked head towards Rebecca.  Professor Lupin forced it back into the cabinet before it could go any closer while Rebecca kneeled next to Harry.

"I don't get it."  Harry said with a grunt.  The effort had left his head feeling light.  "That was one of my happiest memories."

Remus held out a chunk of chocolate, nodding for Harry to take it.

"What was it?"  Rebecca felt that somehow, Professor Lupin had sensed that she had a reluctance towards questioning those unfamiliar to her.  He had gone out of his way at the beginning of the term to make sure that she was to know that he not only appreciated questions, but encouraged them.  She felt no resistance in asking Harry in front of him.  "I don't know if we used the same one."

"Probably not."  Harry said, wiping the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.  "I used the first time I rode a broom."

Remus made a noise.  "That's the problem.  It's not a happy memory that you have to hold on to, it's the happy memory.  The happiest moment you can remember."

Rebecca contemplated that for a moment and turned to him.  "What memory do you use, professor?"

Harry scrambled to patch any offense.  "If it's not too personal, sir."  

Lupin smiled, waving away even the idea of offense.  "It's quite alright, Harry."  Quiet filled the room for a moment before he continued.  "It's from when I was just a boy.  I was ill, lying in bed sick as a dog.  My mother is next to me and she's brushing the hair off my forehead, talking."

Rebecca stood up and held her wand at her side.  "I think I'd like a go."

Harry, realising that he was still in the spot he needed to be, didn't get up.  "I'll be down here, yeah?  Incentive to do well."

Rebecca took inspiration from Professor Lupin's memory and brought to the front of her mind what little she could remember from the night she'd been caught in the Weasley's house.  There had been a pain emanating from the side of her head where the counter had caught her as she slipped, and the general anguish of prolonged illness that had gone uncared for in the tree house.

But Molly hadn't let any of that bother her.  Moving issue by issue, Rebecca felt the relief of a washcloth wiping the dirt and grime from her face.  Warmth filled her entirely for the first time in ages.  

"What have you been up to?"  Molly had murmured, knowing exactly what that scar made Rebecca.  "No matter.  A night of rest won't delay anything of importance.  Not at all."

Rebecca didn't remember much after that, though every time she had woken that night Molly had been beside her to quell whatever fever or chill had fought back.

The dementor left the cabinet again, heading towards the student standing with their wand up instead of the one on the ground.  Rebecca's first cast brought no more than the same weak wisp Harry's had.

Rebecca pushed away at the icy tendrils trying to reach into her mind, into her chest.  Taking the happiness from her memory, the relief.  Molly, couch, warmth, care.  Rebecca tried again.  "Expecto patronum!"

A stronger burst of white came from her wand, forcing the dementor back a distance from Rebecca until she stumbled at the sheer effort it had taken her to manage just that and Lupin put the boggart away again.

Rebecca could hear the beginnings of the screams, the one she and Harry had decided had to be James for her and Lily for him, teasing her as her vision went fuzzy.  Remus went to her, reaching for her shoulders if only to catch her before she hit the ground, but Rebecca flinched out of his reach.

She put her hand up as if to hold him back and shook her head, apologizing quietly.  "Next time, professor.  I'm sorry, I'll get it next time."

Remus opted to not pursue the matter further, though it sent a pain through him he recognised as the hurt at thinking about someone you cared for suffering unknown horrors.  "No, you won't."  He forced a large piece of chocolate into her hand and settled himself onto the floor between the two of them.  "Neither of you will get it next time, nor the time after that.  This will require practise, discipline, and effort.  We will get there, but certainly not in one go."  Remus sighed.  "Just this evening you have made extreme gains; your parents would be proud of you."

"Did you know them?"  Harry asked immediately, desperately.  Any memory he could get to he and Rebecca was one more than they had.  

"I knew Lily before James, but I was very close with both of them."  Remus could feel the past pulling at him.  "It will be a while before your patronuses are evident, but I am certain that you will get there."

Both twins filing away the knowledge that Professor Lupin had known their parents, they both found themselves confused by one point of his words.

"What do you mean 'our patronuses?'"  Rebecca asked, finding herself more like herself with the dementor away.  It truly did bring out the worst memories in a person.

"Every witch or wizard, who casts a corporeal patronus mind you, discovers their patronus: The animal that represents their soul."

"How do we figure it out?"  Harry asked before Lupin's words had even the opportunity to fully reach his ears.

Remus chuckled.  Yes indeed, they both had parts of their parents in them.  "You cast a corporeal patronus!  We have accomplished plenty enough for tonight though.  Come now, to the Tower you must return and to my marking I must get."

Rebecca and Harry insisted that they were more than capable of walking the short distance themselves, but Professor Lupin would hear nothing of it and he whistled as they walked and chatted.

Making sure to thank him once more at the Fat Lady, Rebecca and Harry were not surprised to find the common room empty.  It was, after all, rather late on a night before classes.

"I think we'll get there."  Harry said, wanting to bring up what had happened with Professor Lupin.

"Yes, I'm sure we will."  Rebecca gave him a quick hug and checked the clock.  "I've got a few things to finish up, okay?  I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Harry watched as she hurried up the stairs, wondering if there was a spell to make someone easier to understand.

What he didn't see, however, was the letter charmed-stuck to the girls' dormitory door with Rebecca's name on it in a familiar, messy scrawl.

"Rebecca,

This absence is posi-lutely not allowed.  I--We expect your evening tomorrow to be cleared (after practise, of course).  George and I need to talk to you and we have dungbombs that are going to expire.  

We can't let that happen, now can we?"

There was no signature as no signature was needed.  Only Fred would have penned this.  Hermione and Ginny, much to her surprise, were still awake in the room waiting to hear how the lesson had gone.

Both of them noticed how Rebecca had moved the paper in her hand to behind her leg, though they saw how she put it in the same box she put the letters from Mrs Weasley and assumed it was something from the post.

Hermione waited until Rebecca was ready for bed, ready to give her all of her attention, really, and launched into a description of a few technical details of the theoretical side of the Patronus charm.

Ginny's giggle caused Hermione to look up from the notes she'd jotted down from her quick look in the library on the subject and Hermione scowled across the room.  "How long were you going to let me keep going?"

Rebecca, exhausted after such an attempt at higher-level magic, had fallen asleep facing Hermione with her glasses still on.

"I wanted to see how long it took you to notice!"  Ginny defended, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice.

Hermione laughed too, albeit begrudgingly, and slipped out of bed.  Folding Rebecca's glasses and setting them on the bedside table next to her, Hermione was the one to turn out the lamp for the night.

Darkness and sleep filled the room quickly.

*******************************************

Rebecca didn't recognise anything specific of her surroundings, not for a while.

She was in the Forbidden Forest, that much she was sure of.  Too much around her told her that: The massive knots of tree roots forming a tunnel down certain paths, the scurrying sound of animals around her, the occasional distant sounds of hooves.

But she didn't know where she was going.

On she walked.

*******************************************

<3