Chapter 6
The days went by in a blink of an eye. Malfoy, much to Jericho relief, hadn't said a single word to him, but he had sent many glares and sneers. Those were easy enough to ignore. The days passed quickly, now that everyone was getting into the swing of classes and homework. Jericho was back to his healthy self, eating regularly and sleeping better. His Defense class on Tuesday proved to be the hardest part about the next few days, now that Malfoy was off his back. Luckily, Professor Lupin didn't call on him, barely gave him a glance at all. It wasn't until Thursday's Defense class that his peace broke.
Instead of having class in the classroom, Professor Lupin led them to an empty teacher's lounge. He had, obviously, cleared out the room for their lesson, chairs were stacked along the walls and the tables were pushed to the very front of the room. In the front of the room was a large cupboard and it was shaking, causing half the class the shrink back in fright and gasp.
"Don't mind the cupboard for now, class. Gather around here." Professor Lupin waved them forward. "Come. Don't be afraid."
Jericho found himself near the front, much to his dissatisfaction. He much prefer to stay in the back in this particular class. Theo stood next to him.
"Who can guess what is in this cupboard?" Professor Lupin asked.
A few hands went into the air and he called on someone. Jericho tuned out as he eyed the cupboard. He had pre-read the textbook before he came to school and was mentally going through each creature mentioned in the book, trying to figure out which one it would be. Dark, enclosed space. What creature liked that environment? His head lift slightly as the answer came to him. A boggart. It could be a boggart. It had to be a creature Professor Lupin could show in class, which narrowed down the list of possible creatures. Out of the list, a boggart was the best possible answer.
"Mr. Slyder." Jericho blinked, the only sign that showed his surprise at being called upon. "It looks like you may have the answer," the professor continued to say.
"A boggart, sir."
"Correct, Mr. Slyder. Five points to Slytherin. Good job." The pride in the professor's eyes was easy to spot and Jericho's jaw tightened. He turned away from the man to stare at the cupboard. The man's pride was unwelcomed and unwanted.
"Today we will learn how to defend ourselves against it. Now say with me, Riddikulus." The class repeated it.
Behind him, he could hear Malfoy murmur to his two lapdogs, "This class is ridiculous. A bloody waste of my time. Dumbledore's barmy picking this wanker."
A sudden flare of…he was hesitant to call it protectiveness, but it was the need to defend the class and, in essence, Professor Lupin. His spin straighten, his jaw tightened, and his hands closed to his fists. His eyes flashed angrily as he tried to control his impulse to growl at the overly-blonde haired boy. He looked towards the professor, knowing he must have heard Malfoy's comment, but the older werewolf seemed unfazed. He continued, with no sign of his superior hearing, to instruct the students the wand movements of the spell. He smiled easily at his charges, moved around with grace to help those struggling with the wand movement, and spoke with a lightness and gentleness. Surely he heard Malfoy, why didn't it affect him? Why wasn't he affected when Jericho was?
"Mr. Smith, why don't you go first?" Professor Lupin encouraged once he was satisfied everyone got the spell down.
A boy Jericho didn't know from Hufflepuff stepped forward. The cupboard opened and a clown with a huge, bloody grin on his white painted face came out holding an axe. Jericho saw the boy's spin straightened.
"Hold out your wand, Mr. Smith," Professor Lupin instructed from the side. "Do the same movements you mastered just moments before, think of something you find amusing. Good, good, Mr. Smith," he said when Smith did as he was instructed. "Now say Riddikulus."
"Ri—Riddikulus!"
The clown's axe suddenly turned into a flower that squirted water at him, causing the clown to jump back in surprise and fall down. The class erupted into laughter.
Chuckling, the professor nodded. "Good job, Mr. Smith. Now, everyone form a line. Go on. You all will get a turn."
As the class formed a line, he turned to his gramophone that sat off to the side and a bouncy, swing-like tune came forth, matching the eager mood of the students. Jericho found himself near the middle of the line with Theo behind him.
Blaise Zabini stepped forward to defeat the snake that formed from the fallen clown. One-by-one the students stepped forward and faced their fears, laughter became common as each fear conquered produced something hilarious. Even Jericho couldn't help but creak a smile.
Soon it was his turn to face the boggart. He had stood there in line, wondering what his worst fear could possibly be. He wasn't scared of snakes or spiders like the rest of the class. He wasn't even all that afraid of the full moon, having had it his whole entire life. He didn't like the pain, but that couldn't possibly be his greatest fear.
Just as he stepped in front of the boggart, a face in his mind appeared. It was quick, but it was enough for the boggart to latch on to it. It began to shift and form, until someone stood in front of him. His heart stopped and the heat of his body quickly turned cold and numb. He barely noticed his wand falling to the floor. He froze with his eyes wide. It was even hard for him to breath. He couldn't feel his body, couldn't feel anything but a tightness in his chest.
The young girl in front of him was about five or six and in a rumpled blue nightgown. Her blonde curls were tied with a blue ribbon. Her brown eyes were dull, lifeless with tears. Her ashen face and blue lips. Around her neck was a large bruise, in the shape of a hand, dark with purple, green, and red. The bruise made her neck look larger, unfitting with her small stature. She took an unsteady step forward and raised her hand towards him. "You told him!" she accused with a sob. "Why'd you tell? It's your fault. Your fault!" She took another unsteady step forward. "You told him!"
Jericho couldn't do anything but stare, frozen in place. He couldn't hear the curious whispers behind him or Theo's attempt to grab his attention.
"Who is…?"
"Did he kill her?"
"What happened…?"
"Is he alright?" The whispers of the class went unheard by Jericho. The world seemed to have tilted under his feet and he couldn't do anything to steady it.
Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him and a hand on his shoulder. He leaned into the comforting warm presence. Anything but the cold he was receiving from the girl. A breath by his ear. "Close your eyes," a voice said softly.
He shook his head, his eyes locked on the girl.
"Jericho, close your eyes," the voice repeated.
With great difficulty, he managed to shut his eyes, but the image of the girl was still there, in his mind.
"Think, Jericho. Think of a time she was laughing. When did you last see her have fun?"
"A few weeks before…before…"
"Don't. Don't think of it. Think of that time you saw her laughing. Were you laughing as well?" He nodded. "Good." Something skinny and woody gently hit his palm and a warm, strong hand forced his fingers to take it. "Now, think of that moment. What you were doing? What was she laughing at? Now, raise your arm and repeat with me. Riddikulus."
"Riddikulus!"
"Open your eyes."
The world came back to him and he heard the class behind him laughing…and the familiar laughter of the girl. She was wrapped up in her flimsy winter coat, slipping on the ice as she was trying to stand. Her eyes were now bright and her checks, a healthy red. A sad chuckle left him at the sight.
He turned his head and stared up at Professor Lupin's face, so gentle and kind. The man was staring back down at him with a proud smile. It warmed Jericho's heart before he remembered himself. He quickly schooled his expression and turned away. He wouldn't have been able to do this without his help, but that didn't mean he needed to let the older man in. Once you start trusting someone was when they hurt you the most. He shrugged the hand of his shoulder and walked over to the other students that had finished their turn. He could feel the professor watching him, but didn't dare to turn and glance back. He could feel the stares of the other students. To avoid them, he kept his eyes on the glass pane of the windows, not really seeing anything but the image of her.
"Mr. Nott, your turn," the professor said, drawing the attention back to the front of the room.
With eyes now off him, he struggled to regain his composer. He breathed in deeply and straightened his spin, trying to appear unaffected. He felt something itching its way down his cheek and touched it with his fingertip. He brought his hand down and stared at the sparkling drop on his finger. Water. Tears. He quickly grabbed his sleeves and rubbed his eyes, trying to hide any evidence of tears.
He felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked to the other side of the room and caught his professor's concerned eyes. He straighten his spin again and tightened his face to something expressionless. He turned away to watch his friend. Theo was facing a tall, dark man with uncaring eyes wearing a long black robe. In the man's hands, by his side, he was holding some type of mask. From his angle, Jericho couldn't see the mask. The man was saying something to Theo in a low, dangerous tone. Too low for most in the class to hear, but Jericho was not like most. The man was saying something about Theo joining him, that it was his destiny, it was who he was, and it ran in his blood. Jericho's brow narrowed in anger on behalf of his friend. He felt that protective pull, a pull he hadn't felt since she was in his life.
Theo held up his wand and said, "Riddikulus." The black robe covered the man and floated around like a piece of cloth in the wind, doing some sort of dance.
"Good job, Mr. Nott. Next!" the professor said without losing any of his cheerful mood.
Theo made his way to Jericho side with his face hard. Jericho suddenly realized he wasn't the only one with a secret, the only one with a past he was trying to avoid. As curious as he was about his friend's fear, he would extend the same courtesy given to him. He would be there as a silent support. He won't ask unwanted question. It had nothing to do with him, why get involved? That had been his philosophy in the past. He would stick to it now.
They stood side-by-side in silent companionship for the rest of the class, watching the proceeding with a detached air. When the class ended, they walked behind the rest of the students.
"Are you alright, Jericho?"
"Yes. You?"
"Yes." And that was the extent of their conversation until Charms.
Jericho Slyder left the classroom before he could speak to him. Remus wanted to make sure the boy was alright, but he had turned his back to turn off the gramophone. When he looked again, Jericho left already. Remus knew it wouldn't be easy to catch him. Jericho was determined to avoid him.
Leaned against the window and folded his arms in thought. He couldn't help but feel concern for Jericho, not after seeing his greatest fear. The girl with the bruise on her neck paralyzed the boy. Remus had felt a need to protect him from his own fear, wanting to step in front of him to defend him from the accusatory words. He didn't know anything with the situation, but he knew Jericho wasn't responsible for her death. He wanted to reassure Jericho to this fact. He also knew he needed to let Jericho face it. That was the whole point of this lesson, to learn to fight your fear.
Who was Jericho Slyder? As mentioned before, Remus been around cubs before. He felt that need to protect them, but what he felt for Jericho was something different, stronger. He felt possessive, like he belonged to him. It made no sense to him. Would it be wrong of him to look into the boy's background to figure it out? There had to be something that made Remus feel so attached to him. Something more than finding another lone wolf cub without a pack. There had to be more. He shook his head. He couldn't be intrusive. The boy disliked him enough already.
No, the only thing that he had to do was talk to him, make sure he was alright.
Glancing at the time, Remus realized he was going to be late for his Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sixth year class. Pushing thoughts of Jericho Slyder to the side for now, he headed out the door.
Theo found Jericho in the library that evening after classes writing something down on a loose sheet of parchment.
Theo set his bag down on the chair between them and eyed Jericho. The other boy wrote fast, almost like he was angry. His grip on the quill was tight. Theo could see his fingers turning white. Jericho was pushing down on the parchment with his strength as if he was trying to make the letters as dark as possible.
Theo waited until Jericho was done before throwing his question with just a look, to his surprise, the other boy answered.
"I thought about what you said the other day, about finding my parents." He stood up and gathered his belongings. "I need to owl this before I lose my nerve."
Theo quickly followed his friend as they walked to the owlery. Jericho continued. "It's a letter to the orphanage I was dropped at when I was abandoned. I'm hoping they would just give me the information."
"It may not be that simple. Don't they usually need your guardian name or some social workers name to release that information?"
Jericho shrugged. "I hope not. I don't want to ask the Aynesworth for permission on something dealing with me and me alone. They shouldn't have the right, while I don't. It's my parents. It's my name, my life. It's information on me."
Theo nodded and, sensing his friend's testy attitude, decided to change the subject. "Did you hear what happened in Professor Lupin's third year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw class?"
"No. What happened?" he asked without much interest.
"They had the same lesson we did and, apparently, they were able to see our Head of House in a grandma dress, a vulture hat, and a large handbag."
They started up the steps to the owlery.
"What? Who is scared of Professor Snape? He's not that scary. His snark has no bite."
"You've never met Neville Longbottom, have you?"
Jericho gave one of the school's owls his letter as he said, "Oh, that answers my question. There're times when I think he's scared of his own toad. Hopefully, he'll grow out of that. He's a Gryffindor after all." He whispered into the owls ear, petting his head before sending him off. Theo stood beside him as they watch the owl disappear over the horizon.
"How long do you think it's going to take?" Theo asked.
Jericho shrugged. "It'll be awhile. It has to go to Greece after all and I do believe I was left at a muggle orphanage."
"A muggle orphanage? Merlin, Jericho. You're going to frighten the matron with that owl. You sure that was smart?"
"No, that's why I told the owl to drop it in the mailbox and pick it up from the mailbox when they send a reply."
"Smart. You think they'll remember you?"
"I don't know," Jericho answered. He didn't remember being in that orphanage, but he knew what he had been told. He was just a little over two years old when his werewolf gene kicked in. Safe to say those at the orphanage wasn't expecting the little two year old to turn monster on them. It was only then that the magical Greece ministry became aware of his presence. They came just in time to save the other two boys he was roomed with. Those at the orphanage would surely remember him, if the ministry didn't wipe their memories, which was a very high possibility. If the ministry took away all hints of his presence from the place he would have to try the magical orphanage that he was placed in. This process just got harder then he thought it would be.
"Come. We have homework to do. There's no point waiting for the owl to return," he joked.
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