Dog Leaves Dittany
“Hang in there, Candice,” whispered Liana. “Kylie, do you have any idea how we can heal acromantula bites?”
“No,” declared Kylie, looking worried. “Dittany, or something?”
“Yes, but we don’t have any dittany!” growled Liana. “We need to get help. Candice needs help.”
“Why are there so many spiders in this forest?” asked Kylie. “We’re lucky that Candice just got away with a scratch. It could’ve been so much worse. If she actually got bitten, she could be dead.”
“She’s going to die if we don’t help her!” cried Liana. “Kylie, we need to…”
There was a rustling in the leaves beside them, and both of the girls squealed. Candice was still unconscious, the nasty gash by the Acromantula glowing purple on her face.
It was the dog, that black dog that they had seen many times in the forest before. But what was it doing here, in a different forest? They had moved to a different forest after following that silvery ball of light, so why was the dog still here? Had it followed them?
The dog was carrying a sprig of leaves in his mouth. Gingerly, he placed them down on the ground, and barked, and then bounded away into the woods behind them.
“What’re those leaves it left?” asked Kylie, pointing to the leaves sitting on the ground where the dog had set them down moments before.
“I don’t know,” whispered Liana, crawling over, picking them up, and inspecting them. “We haven’t learned them in Herbology yet.”
“Is it Dittany?” Kylie suggested. “The healing thing?”
“I… guess,” Liana mumbled, frowning. Had the dog left the leaves for them? They had noticed that this dog was smart, that it was following them from a distance, steering clear of the beasts in the forest. “It’s our best shot. What do we do with it?”
“Just place it on her wound, I guess,” said Kylie. “Here, I can do it.”
She took the leaves from Liana and dabbed at Candice’s gaping wound with the leaves. Candice gave a sharp intake of breath, and Liana breathed a sigh of relief.
“She’s alive,” she whispered. “Candice, can you hear me?”
Candice muttered something incoherent, although Liana could make out her shallow breathing. “Continue, Kylie. This is gonna sting, Candice, but it’s going to help.”
Kylie dabbed the leaves at her wounds, and in a few minutes, the gash was no longer bleeding purple, now only red. Candice’s face was blue, and Liana could see every one of her veins throbbing at her skin. “Hang in there, Candice.”
“That’s all I can do,” Kylie announced in a few more minutes. “If you have any cloth, we can dampen the bleeding.”
Liana yanked off a sock and bandaged it around Candice’s wound. “I… I don’t know if we can continue, Kylie. Maybe we should head back. We can’t risk each other. This is… This is getting to the point where our lives are being thrown in danger. Candice could’ve died, Kylie. I… I don’t want us to die for something we’re not even getting close to doing. We haven’t caught Black. We should head back, alert the Ministry of Magic. We’ll still get credit, Kylie, but I can’t let us die.”
“I agree,” Kylie said. “But how are we going to get back?”
“We…” Liana closed her eyes, thinking hard. “We need to find out how.”
Sia had done a lot of crying in the past few days.
She had never told anyone. Nobody had ever known except her and her parents, and now she had told Tonks.
Something about it told her that Tonks was being genuine, but Sia didn’t even know why Tonks still wanted to be her friend.
But Sia had had more fun with Tonks than she had had in a long time. Tonks was, arguably, her best friend. She trusted Tonks enough not to tell anyone her secret. She hadn’t talked to Tonks in the past few days, but now she missed her, and she was going to try.
Sia headed to the library again, because she had found that Tonks spent a lot of time there when she wasn’t on missions. Upon entering the library, she did see Tonks there, sitting at a table and looking over two books and a small stack of parchment, muttering something to herself. Sia headed over cautiously.
“Hey, Sia,” Tonks greeted with a small smile.
“Hi,” said Sia nervously. “Am I disturbing you?”
“Not at all,” Tonks replied. “This is just an assignment for Auror training. What’s up?”
“Well, you know the… the thing I told you last time?” whispered Sia, glancing around to see if they were being overheard.
“Yeah?” whispered Tonks with an encouraging smile.
“Well, you’re the first person I’ve ever told. Nobody knows, other than my p-parents. I don’t know why you still want to be friends with me. I’m repulsive. I’m a monster. I’m… I’m a bloodthirsty monster.”
Tonks cracked a smile. “You sound a lot like my werewolf friend, actually. Sia, I don’t care. You’re my friend. I’m not going to ditch you just because… just because of your condition. What kind of friend does that make me? I like you for how you are. I like you for who you are. I don’t care about your condition, Sia. Believe me.”
“I… I believe you, Tonks, I just… I don’t know why you want to be friends with me.”
“Because you’re my friend. Because I love hanging out with you. Just because you happen to be a vampire doesn’t mean I’m scared of you, or something. You’re fun.”
“Thank you,” whispered Sia. “I… Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“My lips are sealed,” promised Tonks. “I won’t tell a soul.”
Sia gave a small smile and tentatively wrapped her arms around Tonks. The Auror returned the hug warmly. “It’s okay, Sia. Really.”
“Thank you,” repeated Sia. “You’re so nice.”
Tonks snorted. “I don’t hear that often. You should hear the blokes from the Auror Office.”
Sia laughed. “I’m sure they’re not the friendliest.”
“Most of them aren’t. Some are nice, like James. He’s Harry Potter’s dad.”
Sia scowled. “I don’t like his daughter.”
Tonks tilted her head to the side. “You know her? Liana?”
“Liana, yeah,” Sia grumbled. “She’s so mean.”
“Oh, really?” Tonks asked, interested. “What’s she like?”
“Moody, honestly. Just really sassy and moody. She thinks just because she’s a Potter, she can use that to her advantage.”
Tonks frowned. “I know the sort. That’s actually why I’m here, to find her.”
“I know,” sighed Sia, pushing her hair back.
“Well, it’s… Sia, what’s that on your forehead?”
Sia immediately brought her hand to the faint red scar on her forehead. “I fell off a tree,” she lied blatantly. After years of lying about it, she had gotten good at hiding it. It was her other secret. Her bigger secret.
And this one, not even Tonks could know.
Tonks grimaced. “That must have hurt. How old were you?”
“Nine,” responded Sia automatically.
“I’m sorry,” Tonks replied with a small smile. “Well, at least it’s over.”
“Yeah,” muttered Sia, though in all honesty, it was far from over.
“In that case, I’m going to finish this report,” stated Tonks. “It’s a downright pain in the rear, but it has to get done.”
“Right,” said Sia, smirking. “Thank you, Tonks. See you later.”
They were zooming through the air, with the crowd going wild. Cedric glanced around to see that one of the Hufflepuff Chasers had scored. He continued his pursuance of the Snitch. They were playing Ravenclaw, and to Cedric, everyone was just a streak of yellow or blue across the sky.
Actually, everyone except for one person.
One Ravenclaw seeker, in particular.
Cho Chang.
She looked positively stunning in her Quidditch robes, her sleek black hair illuminated by the radiance of the sunlight. Even though everyone else was just a blur to Cedric, he could see the resolve in her eyes, the focus, the determination, the concentration.
The concentration.
That was right, he was in the middle of a Quidditch game. He noticed an incoming Bludger from his left and swerved it just in time.
The Snitch could’ve been hovering in front of him, and he would not have noticed.
She really was too beautiful for him to take his eyes off of her.
And then she caught his eye, and gave him the tiniest of smiles, and Cedric realized that it was all he was going to get, given that they were in the middle of a Quidditch match and they were likely expected to be shoving each other off their brooms in a race to get to the Snitch.
This left him in a spot of bother. What would he do if it came to a point where he had to shove her off her broom to get to the Snitch? Would he sacrifice the game and be nice, or would he play ruthlessly and catch the Snitch?
But he never needed to answer that question, for at that moment, there came a burst of celebration and applause from the stands, and Cedric glanced around to see that Cho was holding the Snitch in her fist triumphantly, the tiny ball of gold fluttering weakly through her fingers.
The Hufflepuff team was going to have questions about his performance.
He was in trouble.
“That was phenomenal,” James said in awe. “Harry, did you see how she caught that? You’re going to have to watch out for her!”
“He does enough watching as it is,” Lily commented with a slight smirk. She was sitting on the sofa, her feet in James’s lap, grading translation essays.
“Mum!” cried Harry, his cheeks turning red. How did she know?
James turned to his wife, tilting his head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” remarked Lily drily. “Continue with your conversation.”
“As I was saying,” James continued, like he had never been interrupted, “she caught that Snitch at the speed of lightning. It was there, at least six feet in front of her, and the next second, it was in her fist. The speed at which she dove to get that… Harry, you need to practice your Wronski!”
“I know, I know,” mumbled Harry. “I’ll get better.”
“I can practice with you at some point,” suggested James.
“James, you wouldn’t!” gasped Lily from her position on the sofa.
“Why not?” asked James. “We’d be careful. I’m sure Minnie wouldn’t mind. She loved me.”
Lily snorted. “Nice try.”
“But we can, Mum!” Harry protested. “We’d go to the Quidditch fields and practice at night! Nobody would be using it anyway.”
“How would you react if you saw an Auror from the Ministry of Magic flying on a broom and yelling Quidditch techniques to his son while he was supposed to be working?” asked Lily testily.
“Well, it doesn’t sound so good when you put it that way,” James replied, rolling his eyes. “Harry, don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”
Lily snorted again. “You can try.”
“Ginny?”
Ginny jumped and turned around to see none other than Harry standing in front of her, holding a book in his hands.
She turned right back around and stared firmly at the wall. Maybe he hadn’t said her name. Maybe it had been someone else. Yes, that must be it. In any case, she certainly wasn’t ready to talk to Harry.
“Er… Ginny?”
It was definitely his voice, but many people sounded like that, right? With a raw, but sweet touch, and a pleasing tone, and…
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake. Ginny! Ginny Weasley!”
“What?” she called, not turning around, hating how shaky her voice sounded.
“Ron wanted me to give you this,” he said slowly.
“Oh.”
“Are you interested in taking it from me?” asked Harry.
“Yes.”
“Er… okay, then. What should I do with it?”
Ginny held out her hand behind her. “Give.”
She felt him place the book in her hand. His fingers brushed against hers, and she promptly dropped it.
“You dropped it,” he said blatantly.
“I know.”
“Are you going to pick it up?” he asked dubiously.
“Yes.”
“Do you plan on picking it up any time soon?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you want me to… Oh, for Merlin’s sake!” He picked up the book and placed it in her hand. “Here.”
Her back was still to him. “Thanks.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay,” he replied slowly. “Whatever you say.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to… go.”
“Yes.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
She waited for a good two minutes until she could be sure he was gone. He was going to be the death of her, no questions asked.
“James, please be careful,” pleaded Lily.
“Of course I will,” assured James. “It’s my job. We need to find Liana. We will. Be patient, Lily.”
“I know,” whispered Lily, “but there’s all sorts of creatures in those forests! Not to mention Sirius! What if you get hurt?”
“Lily,” said James softly, taking her hand in his, “I’ve been doing this for years now. I’ll be okay. I have to come back to you. I know what I’m doing Lily.”
“I’m just worried,” admitted Lily. “Sirius Black, after our family… What if he kills you?”
He kissed the top of her head. “It’ll take more than Sirius Black to kill me.”
“They should’ve been back by now,” Lily said fretfully.
“Calm down, Lily,” said Remus patiently. “They’re Aurors. They know what they’re doing.”
James and Tonks had gone on another search for Liana and her friends that night. Remus and Lily were in Lily’s office, waiting for them to arrive. Despite his assurance otherwise, Remus too was worried about them. Tonks in particular. Of course, he cared about James too, but Tonks was only twenty years old. She was still in training. Remus didn’t want her to have to go on such dangerous missions, missions in which notorious mass murderers on personal vengeance streaks were involved.
“I miss my daughter,” Lily whispered. “I don’t know what she’s up to right now. I don’t know where she is, whether she’s fed, whether she’s alive. Remus, what if she’s dead? What if Sirius killed them? What if… What if Sirius kills James, Remus? What am I going to do? It’ll be just me and Harry, and so many people are after Harry. How am I going to protect him? What am I going to do without James, without Liana?”
“Shh,” soothed Remus. “Lily, calm down. You think I’d let that happen? You think I’d let that happen to James? You think I’d let that happen to you and Harry? James and Tonks will be fine. I trust them. I believe in them. They’ll be able to handle it, Lily. And I’m sure we’ll find Liana soon. Don’t think so negatively.”
“I know,” Lily sniffed. “But I can’t help but worry.”
Remus didn’t know what to say to that, so he patted her comfortingly and turned back to the book he was reading.
The room was silent but for the turning of pages and the scratching sound of quill on parchment; Lily appeared to be writing some sort of letter.
It was like that for a long time until they heard voices echoing from the corridor.
“...very first day there, and he walked right into Scrimgeour’s desk. The office blew up in stationery, I swear. He’s even worse than you.”
There sounded a laugh, pure and genuine, and then James and Tonks appeared in the doorway.
“James!” exclaimed Lily, and James swept her up into a ferocious hug.
Remus turned to Tonks, who was wearing an enticingly short purple dress, and a black coat that was far too big for her, reaching below the dress itself. Her hair was a brilliant hue of royal purple, and she was wearing black boots.
He didn’t know who moved first, or how it happened, but the next instant, they were interlocked in a tight embrace, Remus holding on to her like he would never let her go again, breathing in her scent, which he so desperately desired more and more often these days, and Tonks gripping him equally tightly, her cheek brushing against his.
Finally, Remus pulled away and took in her appearance once more, noticing how nice her legs were.
“Tonks,” he managed, “it’s November.”
She laughed.
Oh, Merlin, he was falling hard. The simplicity of her, the innocence, was irresistible. She was far too attractive.
It was then that he noticed the red bruise on her hairline. “What… What happened?”
She tilted her head to the side, smiling. “This?” she asked, gesturing to her forehead. “A tree, I think.”
“A… A tree?”
“Yeah. You know, trees with low-hanging, brambly branches. I think I must’ve scratched my head on one of those.”
“You think?”
“Yep. I’m accident-prone, you see. I get a lot of injuries, so it’s hard to keep track of where they’re all from.”
He gently ran his finger over the bruise on her forehead. “This looks painful, though. I’m going to go get something to put on this, you stay right…”
“Relax, Remus,” she said soothingly, still smiling. “I’ll be fine. Besides, what are James and Lily going to think if you disappear?”
Remus turned to his friends, who were still involved in their own passionate embrace. “Okay,” he relented, “but I’m going to get you something after.”
She took his finger, which was still resting on her forehead, in her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “No need. Really. I’ll be okay. It doesn’t even hurt.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. A part of him felt like she was just trying to be brave, and that he should at least help her out. Another part of him felt like he was fretting too much over her, especially if she had told him to let it go.
She must have sensed his discomfort, because she squeezed his hand. “Thank you, though, Remus, it really means a lot.”
He managed a nod, just as James and Lily finally let go of each other and turned to face the two of them, breathing heavily.
“Okay, so,” Tonks began, “we have found out from today’s mission that they have permanently left their original forest. We’ve found footprints leading to another forest, which is what James and I searched today. Couldn’t find them, or Sirius, or the dog.” She looked at him, a slight smile on her face. Remus realized that she hadn’t revealed to James and Lily that he had told her that Sirius was the dog. Darn it, she was good.
“We think the Acromantulas are the largest danger to them right now,” continued James. “Since we haven’t sighted Sirius in the new forest. We think that the girls have evacuated the original forest, but Sirius Black hasn’t.”
“Right,” Tonks affirmed. “And since we’re… well, I’m looking strictly for Liana, our priority is to find Liana and her friends, not Sirius Black.”
“That sounds good,” Lily agreed. “So… are we close to finding her yet?”
“We’re getting there,” answered James. “We’re getting closer. Hopefully we can track down their location in a few days.”
Lily nodded. “Thank you, guys.”
“This is a group effort, Miss Potter,” Tonks replied with a small smile. “We’re concerned about your daughter as well. That’s why we’re trying to get her home.”
“Thanks,” Lily repeated. “Good night, you two.”
“See you,” Tonks said casually, smiling.
“Good night, Lily, James,” Remus replied, a bit more politely.
Tonks turned to him. “Let’s go?”
“Let’s go,” he agreed, and he and Tonks set off down the corridors together. “Where’s your room? I’ll drop you.”
“You don’t have t…”
“It’s the least I can do,” he cut across. “Which way?”
“Er, left, straight, and to the left,” she replied, smiling. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
They walked in comfortable silence until they reached her room and she turned to him. “Thanks, Remus. Good night.”
“Are you sure you don’t want anything for that?” he asked once again, indicating her bruise.
“I’ll be fine, thanks,” she responded warmly. “If it bothers me, I’ll definitely let you know.”
He traced her bruise tenderly with his thumb. “Okay. Good night.”
“Good night, Remus.”
Remus knew he was officially smitten with her after his dreams that night.