In case no-one's realised, the name at the beginning of each chapter shows which point of view the chapter is written from- sorry, should have made that clearer.

So far we've had mostly a lot of angst- the clever ones among you will have started to guess what the deal is with Aaron and hopefully you'll have an even better idea after this chapter.

Soundtrack for this chapter: The Hill (Marketa Irglova) Everlong (Foo Fighters) and Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2)

Enjoy!

~TreesAreGreen~

Chapter Two.

Ellie

I can hear a rushing sound in my ears as his name sparks recognition. Suddenly I can look past this stranger's face and see familiar eyes.

'You're-' I begin.

'Yes,' he snarls.

I don't know what to say to him. I know what he assumes- he thinks I will despise him, that I'll be afraid or run or fight. But he can't possibly know whats in my head. My hands tremble as I open my mouth to say something- anything- to let him know I don't hate him, I'm not scared. But the look in his eyes is suddenly sick and anguished and I can only stand there, struck dumb, as he turns and sprints down the alleyway.

Without thinking I pull out my wand, and as the words come whispering out from my lips I feel the rush of the magic as it pulses, pale and shimmering, a link between me and him.

I think of home. The crack as I Apparate sounds like lightning as I disappear and reappear on my own street. I live in a small semi-detached house on a Muggle estate, rooming with two friends. None of us can afford a place of our own, and fresh out of school like this it's hard to pay the bills as it is. I've only got a part-time job at the Ministry as an intern, and while Erin has a job as well, Abby is on a training course at St Mungo's every day where they pay her a pittance to cover the rent.

I hurry towards our front door. I could have Apparated inside but for some reason I hate that. I prefer to use the door. It's freezing out here though. The rain has stopped but it's February and an icy chill hangs on the air.

'What happened to you?' Erin asks shrewdly the second I walk through the door. She's standing in the middle of the kitchen, looking harassed, two pots bubbling on the stove, and a ladle (dripping tomato sauce onto the floor) hovering in the air in front of her.

'What?' I ask irritably. I'm tired: It's almost one in the morning. Which brings me to my next question. 'It's one in the morning! Why are you… cooking?'

Erin doesn't answer for a moment, focusing on guiding the ladle back into the pot. She frowns at the dark red stain on the floor. 'Scourgify,' she mutters, flicking her wand at the offending splatter of sauce. Then she looks up at me. 'Abby's working the night shift and I couldn't sleep. This is tomorrow's dinner.'

'Really? We have to eat that?'

'Shut up.' She turns her attention to the pots for a moment. A large yellow pepper breaks cleanly in half in midair and the seeds fly out of the hollow cavity and deposit themselves on the floor two inches from the bin. Erin sighs and jabs her wand at them. 'Now, what happened to you?' she repeats again.

'I'm not that late. I went for a drink.'

'Yes you are, it's one in the morning. Where?'

'O'Connelly's, that Muggle bar near the coast?'

'The coast?' Erin turns around with exasperation all over her face. 'Why?'

I perch myself on the kitchen counter. 'I wanted to hear the sea.'

Erin sighs loudly and rolls her eyes at me. 'It's freezing. I'm surprised it hasn't iced over. And what happened there?' she asks pointedly.

'Why did something have to happen?' I ask, reaching over to grab a piece of chopped pepper.

'I can tell,' she says, giving me a look.

'I saw Aaron Cloud,' I say thoughtfully. The second the name leaves my lips, the knife, pepper and ladle all crash out of the air and a fine spray of tomato sauce leaps from its pot and stains Erin's blonde head a rich red as she jumps in surprise.

'What?' she says, her green eyes widening. She stumbles towards me, grabbing my shoulders. 'Are you okay? Did you tell someone? What happened?'

'I'm fine,' I say.

'You have to be more careful!' she says, waving the ladly wildly.

'He didn't do anything to me,' I say loudly. 'He's not like that.'

'He's a killer,' Erin says, shocked. 'He's a monster, Ellie!'

'No,' I shake my head. 'He's not.' I think of the anguished face, the defeated soul in his eyes. The Ministry told us he was a terrible man, a murderous animal, in the pocket of He Who Must Not Be Named. But he was scared. I saw it in his eyes, the terror and the pain. This wasn't a murderer.

'You know what he did!' Erin says. 'Those people he killed...' Her face is a mask of horror. I know what she's remembering. Tragedies that spanned the front page of the Daily Prophet, day after day. Photographs and names, so many names…

'It wasn't him. They never had any proof!' I think back to the Daily Prophet headlines. All evidence points to Cloud. But what evidence? They never had any. 'I've always known he wasn't a killer.' I always believed in him.

I knew Cloud from Hogwarts. I was a third-year and he was a fifth-year when he vanished. It was 1973. After he disappeared, rumours flew around the school, whispers, dark things. I didn't want to believe that anyone from Hogwarts could go bad, but whenever I brought that up, everyone had the same answer: what school did the Dark Lord go to? Yes. But I never thought Cloud was anything like You Know Who. There wasn't any evil in him.

One time, I remember, one girl asking a teacher what had happened to Aaron Cloud. The teacher replied that Cloud was a monster, better away from Hogwarts. A boy in my class, Remus, leapt up and smashed the window in a rage. I guess they must have been friends, despite the age gap. I'd always thought Remus a little strange, but I liked the crowd he hung out with, me and my friends joined up with them sometimes. I was on the Quidditch team with his friend Potter: hot, but arrogant- he was a Chaser, but because we had access to the ball crate- being on the team- he would crack out the Snitch between lessons and mess around with it. He thought it impressed girls more than the Quaffle would have.

It wasn't until a year later, when we were in 4th year, and I'd become better friends with Remus, James and the rest, that I found out why Remus had overreacted and broken that window. That was the year Pipe Harris joined the team, replacing the other Beater. Together, Pipe and I were unstoppable. I did the speedy work, darting all over the place to intercept Bludgers, but Pipe could then hit them to the other end of the Quidditch field. And soon we were more than just team-mates…

Cloud came to practice once or twice, with the rest of Potter's gang, just to watch. He wasn't much of a flier himself, but he seemed interested enough just to watch us training.

Remus wouldn't tell me much about Cloud- his own story he shared with me freely but he refused to pass on what Cloud had told him. Aaron Cloud seemed like a nice enough guy whenever I saw him- in the common room with his friends (he was a popular guy) or in Hogsmeade or in the grounds. And he seemed happy.

Nothing like the desperate, angry character I saw today.

I know he never killed those people.

I'm not denying what he is. But all I'm saying is that he wouldn't kill anyone. Not voluntarily.

Erin has gone back to stirring the sauce by hand, muttering under her breath. Her cheeks are still flushed and I can tell she's frustrated.

'I might go and see Pipe.' I say quietly, slipping my shoes back on. Erin's head snaps back up.

'Are you serious? At one in the morning? Yeah, cause he'll really thank you for that. Just go to bed, Ellie!' My shoes come off again. I know she's right. I so much want to be held right now, though.

I want Pipe.

But Erin has a point. It's one in the morning. I have to be at work at nine. As I head off up to my room, I hear her voice come drifting up the stairs. 'Tomorrow, you need to go to the Ministry and tell them when and where you saw Cloud and what happened. Okay?'

I don't answer, just throw myself down on the bed, fully clothed, pointing my wand half-heartedly at the door so that it swings shut with a click.

The full moon stares balefully at me through the open window.

Please review! It would seriously make my day :)

Next chapter up soon..

~TreesAreGreen~