CHAPTER 1: The Beginning
Camryn awoke with a start. She could feel the cold sweat dripping down her face in tiny beads and her light blue bedsheets were tangled tightly around her legs. This wasn't the first time she had the dream. She had been having it all summer. The scary thing though was that the dream felt so real, but everytime she woke up her dad would be sitting in the kitchen going over some work for the Order or cleaning up one of the rooms. But what if this time it really did happen?? Camryn franticly freed herself from her bedsheets and and made a dash for her bedroom door. She thrust open the door, ran down the stairs, and burst into the kitchen.
Lupin looked up from a long piece a parchment and stared questionaly at his daughter who had just ran into the room.
"What's going on and what are you doing still in your pj's? We have to leave for the station in half an hour." he said as he rolled up the parchment and put it in his robe.
Camryn gave out a sigh of relief at the fact her father was alive and talking to her and not lying on the floor with blood trickling down his face. Then, the reality of her father's words finaly sunk in.
"Oh my gosh!" She ran from the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time. When Camryn reached her room she threw open the door and began to dig through her dresser.
Lupin walked up the stairs, but stopped when he got to the landing. He looked around at the house that now he and his daughter lived in. It seemed different from when Sirius had been there. For one, the rooms were kept a little neater and there was less dust, but only one room remained untouched. Sirius' bedroom. Lupin had gone in there once when they had first moved in, but he found he couldn't bear the thought of him messing with Sirius' personal belongings. Lupin sighed and continued to Camryn's room.
Just before he knocked, the door flew open and there stood Camryn dressed in her robe and dragging her trunk behind her.
She smiled at him, "Im ready to go."
Lupin smiled back and eyed Camryn's trunk. "Let me help you with that." He took out his wand and gave it a flick. Imediately the trunk rose off the ground and floated down the stairs, landing with a thump on the floor in front of the main door.
"Come on we gotta go!" Camryn stepped around Lupin and slid down the banister. Lupin coudn't help, but smile. It seemed that ever since he adopted her, 4 years ago, she reminded him more and more of Sirius and James. Just last week she had turned Snape's hair neon green and his face purple with yellow spots. He chuckled at the memory.
Camryn looked up at him from the main entrance hall, "We're going to be late!"
It was Camryn's first time attending Hogwarts and Lupin could tell she was very nervous. Any kid would, but the fact that this was Camryn's seventh year didn't make things any better.
Lupin came down the steps.
"Hurry. I don't want to miss the train." Camryn said as she twirled a strand of her long aburn hair around her finger.
"We're leaving now. And we won't be late." Lupin replied as he levitated Camryn's trunk and walked out the door.
Camryn took a deep breath and followed him, closing the door tightly behind her.
Camryn stood on Platform 9 3/4 looking around at all of the Hogwarts students and their family. Everyone was either boarding the train or saying their good-byes. One woman inparticular was making a huge fuss. The woman had firery red hair and seemed to be crushing a tall boy with the same colored hair and a face full of freckles.
"Oh, my little Ronikins' last year!" she wailed as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Mum. Please..." the boy tried pulling away from the woman's grasp, but to no prevail. The woman just pulled him closer to him while a pair of twins with the same red hair stood off to the side snickering amongst themselves. Camryn watched the scene until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and whirled around to find Lupin smiling at her.
"Relax. Everything's going to be fine." he said as he pulled her into a hug. Camryn just nodded and hugged him back.
"All Aboard!!" The conductor's voice rung throughout the platform.
Lupin and Camryn broke their embrace. He held on to her shoulders and looked at her with a concerned expression.
"You know you can come talk to me anytime if you have any problems, right?"
Camryn rolled her eyes. He had asked her this about hundred times already.
"Yes, I know."
Lupin smiled and gave her a little nudge towards the train.
Camryn had just gotten onto the train before it pulled out of the station. She looked around at all of the compartments of students laughing and talking amongst themselves.
It seemed to her that all of the compartments were already full, until she came to an empty one at the back of the train. She took her seat and looked out the window at the passing trees and pastures until everything became a blur of color. The comparment door slid open and the boy she had seen being hugged to death at the station and a boy with messing jet black hair appeared in the doorway
"Oh, hi. Do you mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full." the boy with black hair asked. Camryn nodded and the two boys sat down.
"By the way, Im Harry and this here is Ron." the boy continued.
"Harry Potter?" Camryn asked, her eyes finding the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Harry just smiled and nodded as Ron proceded to stare out the window with a bored expression. "Oh, and Im Camryn." she added. Harry nodded again and began talking with Ron about the new quidditch team. Camryn gave a weak yawn and gazed out the window at the lake they were now passing. The sun, now high in the sky, reflected off the water making the liquid seem almost completely clear. The trees surrounding it were already beginning to lose some of their colorful leaves as the new season took over.
After a little while the different colors began to swirl together and Camryn eyelids felt heavy. Soon, she drifted off into a deep sleep.
The darkness took hold of her. Camryn began to walk unwilling through the corridor. She tried to stop, but it was as her legs had a mind of their own. The corridor became narrower and narrower, the black walls closing in on her. She decended down a flight of stairs. At the bottom was a tall wooden door. She stopped. The door knob slowly began to turn. Camryn tried to turn and run, but her body stood firmly in place. Soon the door flew open and she uttered a scream of terror as she saw Lupin, with a rope around his neck, hanging from the cieling dead. His once lively eyes were rolled back into his head as his body hung limply.
"No." she whispered as she took a step backwards toward the door.
"Yes...Yes.." came a cold, venomous voice out of the darkness, "Yes. And guess who's next...."
The door slamed shut. The room bcame nothing but a sea of darkness. There was no movement or sound. Just then Camryn felt something take hold of her arm and digs it's nails into her skin. The smell of rancid garbage filled her nose as the same sinister voice whispered to her, "Death be to him and death be to...."
"Camryn, wake up. Wake up."
Camryn eyelids shot open as she felt someone shake her. She sat up right and received concerned looks from Harry and Ron. Harry let go of her shoulders and sat back down, still staring at her.
"Are you alright?" asked Ron.
They didn't have to tell her what happened. She had had the dream again, but this time it was different. This time the voice mentioned someone else dying as well, but who?
"I-I'm fine. It was just a dream." Camryn replied as calmly as she could. Harry and Ron shrugged and left the comparment to change into their robes.
Camryn pulled her knees to her chest and tried to make sense of her dreams. What troubled her though was that she never found out who the voice in the darkness belonged to. She shivered. Up until a few weeks ago, she had dismissed her dreams as just nightmares, but they started to become more and more intense. She shivered again and pulled her knees closer to her body.
A few minutes later the conductors voice was heard throughout the train.
"Approaching Hogwarts!!" the conductor's voice carried throughout the train.
Camryn stood and left the comparment to get into her robes.
When she returned, Harry and Ron were there. Both were busy gathering together their things. Camryn took her seat just as the train began to slow down and then eventualy come to a halt.
There was a sudden burst of noise as students came out of their compartments. Harry and Ron left with Camryn right behind them.
Camryn followed Ron and Harry to one of the carriages and got inside, closing the door behind her. She had just taken her seat when the carriage began to move. Outside the moon hung above, illuminating the towering Hogwarts castle they were approaching. On the grounds, the lake shimmered in the moonlight, the water ocasionaly distrubed by a tentacle rising out of the depths of the lake and falling back in again. One thing caught Camryn's attention though. There was a patch of forest on the far side of the lake that seemed peaceful and welcoming. She made a mental note to stroll through there when she was in her animagus form. Camryn still couldn't believe she was an animagi, she had heard of only 3 other people in the world who were also animagis, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter. But Camryn never told her father of her gift. Actualy, she told no one. She had thought about it once or twice, but perfered to keep that side of herself seperate from everyone and everything else. "Oh. Hi Cam." Camryn was brought, unwilling, out of her thoughts at the sound of her name. She turned to where the voice had come from and smiled. "Oh. Hi Hermione. How was your trip?" Camryn asked. Hermione set her book aside and smiled back, "It was good. I brought you back something." Hermione dug through her pack until she pulled out a necklace with a small charm on it. "That's the Japanese symbol for luck." Hermione said as she slipped the necklace around Camryn's neck. Harry and Ron exchanged confused glances before Harry spoke, "Hermione, how do you know Camryn? And what trip are you two talking about?" Hermione stared at them blankly, "Didn't I tell you?" Both Harry and Ron shook their heads. "Oh. Well, I know Cam because I spent a month with her at the beginning of the summer." "But how? You two didn't even know each other before then right?" Ron asked. Hermione gave Camryn a sideways glanced and sighed, "Well, yea, you're right. Cam lives at.." Hermione hesitated for a second looking at Harry,"Grimuald Place." Harry's face showed no emotion, but everyone in the carriage knew he was battling against himself inside. Hermione and Ron especialy, An awkward silence fell upon the group. "Anyway," Hermione began, trying to change the subject, but Harry cut her off. "Wait a second. You're Lupin's daughter?!?" he asked eyeing Camryn. Camryn nodded as she twirled the necklace's charm between her fingers. There was another long silence. After a while Ron spoke, "Hermione, what about your trip?" Hermione looked up at him glad someone had finaly spoken, "My parents and I went to Japan for two weeks. It was just a vacation. Oh. And I almost forgot. She rumaged through her pack and pulled out two pocket knives with some Japanese writing on the sides. She handed one each to Harry and Ron. They smiled and slipped their knives into the pockets of their robes.