Protem – 8
"I want to go exploring," Sirius said from where he was lying on the bed Saturday night.
"Of course this couldn't have been mentioned earlier," Remus muttered looking at the pitch sky.
"We'll go under the cloak," James shrugged grabbing it and the map, "But we'll have to move slower."
"Fine."
They left the tower then, just barely squeezing under the cloak together. When they were about a floor down James threw off the cloak, "It's too slow and too hot," he said.
"Not that we need a cloak, Emma and Remus can hear anyone a mile away," Sirius shrugged.
Remus sighed.
They were on the third floor when Remus stopped them; they were being followed. They moved quickly down the hallway and into an abandoned class room, standing in a back corner they threw on the cloak.
They watched with batted breath as the door opened,
It was Masen.
"Here wandless," he whispered, the only light in the room coming from his wand tip, "come out, come out, wherever you are."
Peter gasped and with that Masen's wand was on them and the cloak was blown off in a rush of wind.
Masen smirked, "There you are; I've been looking for you."
"Why?" Emma asked confused, her heart hammering.
"There is someone who I think would be more then thrilled to meet you," Masen said his grin wicked.
Emma felt unsafe; the man had followed them here and was acting strange, "We should go…" she said lamely.
Masen locked the door with one fell swipe, "I don't think so."
"What's going on?" Sirius asked as confused as the rest of them, "Why follow us? I don't understand?"
"I wasn't following you Black," Masen spat, "Blood traitor that you are." Masen smirked, "The Dark Lord has uses for wandless…"
"The Dark Lord?" James asked confused.
"He is the one who will save us from the oppression of muggles," Masen smiled.
"And why do you hate muggles, I thought you where an auror?" Emma questioned looking for a way out; she didn't like the sounds of this.
"Oh I was, but just because I save wizards doesn't mean I care about filthy muggles, my parents were muggles you know? They were terrified once they found out what I was, shunned me, abandoned me… muggles are all the same, weak and uncaring." He smiled, "They oppress us, keep us from doing magic in the streets, but we're going to change that, The Dark Lord is going to give us freedom."
"Alohamora!" Emma called palm facing the door, with her wand she sent an impedimentia jinx at Masen but the door didn't open and Masen easily blocked the curse.
He laughed, "Do you really think that I would allow that door to open with something as simple as Alohamora?" he smirked, "You may be a wandless but you're still young." With that he sent a spell flying at them, they scattered, jumping out of the way. The spell left a crater in the wall.
Suddenly there were spells flying everywhere, bouncing off of shields and leaving divots in the walls.
With a flick Masen sent them all flying, and Emma found herself slammed against a wall, her wand flying from her hand, she could see the others had flown into the other corner, James looked unconscious and Peter's nose was bleeding.
"You Bastard!" Sirius snarled standing and pointing his wand at Masen again.
Masen laughed, "You can't beat me child, look after your friends, I have places to be," he sent a spell at Sirius that he just barely dodged.
Emma's heart beat wildly in her chest, she was terrified, she looked bluntly at Masen and attempted to shock him, to let her emotions take control, but as she did Masen raised his wand and Emma felt her strength leaving her.
Masen smiled as she wilted on the floor, "Try and attack me now," he whispered as a jet of red light barely missed his head. Sirius was back on his feet, Remus at his side.
Masen swung around and yelled, "Avada Kadavra!"
Both Remus and Sirius jumped out of the way just in time.
Masen laughed, "Idiots!" he jeered them and pointed his wand at the still unconscious James.
Emma watched in what seemed like slow motion as Sirius jumped in front of James and Masen yelled, "AVADA KADAVRA!"
She was weaker then she had ever been; worse then when she had had the wandless flu, worse then when her cousin had accidentally knocked her out with a baseball bat.
She threw out her hand to stop Masen; they could not die, not when Masen had only been after her. Drawing whatever strength was left inside her she willed her magic, her very self to protect them, she attempted to yell it out, "protect them!" to give her magic guidance but it came out instead as one word,
"PROTEM!"
She saw the silver shield, saw the green light, and felt the spell hit her,
She was falling…
Falling…
She smiled even as she knew she would die, Sirius and James would be safe, somehow she had managed to protect them, to make the spell aim for her.
She woke up sometime later in a white room, with Dumbledore standing over her.
"Am I dead?" She asked groggily.
Dumbledore smiled, "No, not yet."
Emma looked around, she was in the hospital wing, "What happened?" she asked, "Where's Masen, how are the boys?"
Dumbledore frowned, "Masen is quite dead, I'm afraid; however your friends are perfectly fine, and they owe you their lives. I wonder, do you know why that is?"
Emma shook her head, "I don't know how I'm alive, the spell hit me; I felt it."
Dumbledore shook his head, "Protem is your wandless spell, a shield charm, and the only thing on this earth that can block Avada Kadavra, you reflected the curse, and it hit Masen, what you felt was the after shock of the curse hitting Protem."
"The dark lord?" Emma questioned.
"A man by the name of Tom Riddle… if I am correct he does not know about you; Masen intended for you to be a surprise." Dumbledore frowned, "If Riddle knew of your existence you would have far worse then Jacob to face."
Emma nodded, "How did you find me?"
Dumbledore's frown deepened, "There was a fair bit of noise."
"Oh," Emma figured she should have guessed that, "so what now?"
Dumbledore smiled slightly, "Now you rest, and may I say how proud of you I am, not just any wandless could have called on a spell like Protem, the purest of spells I have ever seen, and the strongest. Love truly saved you all that night, love for each other," and with that Dumbledore left, his cloak swishing behind him and Emma once again fell asleep.
When she next awoke it was to a scene that would be repeated every time she found herself in the hospital wing, Remus reading by her head and James and Sirius playing chess, using her bed foot as their table, with Peter looking on.
"Good morning," Remus said once again dog earring his page and putting it aside, "How are you feeling?"
"Better," Emma said sitting up and watching the boys play.
"We were going to play exploding snap but Pomfrey said it'd make too much noise," James told her as he put the game away.
"How long have you guys been here?"
"Since this morning, Pomfrey wouldn't let us in earlier," Remus said.
"What day is it?" Emma asked.
"Tuesday," Sirius supplied, "You were out cold all of Sunday and most of yesterday, then I think Dumbledore spoke to you yesterday, and here we are, beautiful, glorious, Tuesday."
"You scared us shitless," James added, "You looked dead."
"We thought for a moment that the spell had hit both you and Masen, and then we see Dumbledore, barging in not a second later, and he says, 'Masen took her didn't he?', doesn't even look around, just goes to leave and find you. We had to practically drag him back, and then he's completely flabbergasted by what happened. He looked both thrilled and terrified when we got to the part about Protem, said he'd never heard anything like it," Remus explained.
"Yeah, looks like you're one shit kicking wandless, most gifted he's seen," Sirius smiled proudly, "And a true Gryffindor, thanks by the way, we owe you for blocking Avada, me and James would have been goners."
"Don't mention it, thanks for staying and fighting, although at the time I just wanted you four to try and find a way out then run as fast as your legs would carry you."
"No problem," James grinned.
Madam Pomfrey walked out then, she smiled slightly at the band of children sitting before her, they were closer then many, and judging by what had happened two days ago, they would need to be.
"When you are feeling well enough Miss Dill, Professor Dumbledore would like to see the five of you in his office."
She watched the young girl nod, and swing her legs off the bed, standing carefully, she saw how the others prepared to catch her if she fell. Pomfrey couldn't help but smile as she watched them walk out together, then she frowned, "I expect you back once you've finished!" she called out, smirking as she heard five auditable groans.
The friends walked through the halls together, hand in hand, thankful just to be alive and well.
When they reached the stone gargoyle James said, "Chocolate Frogs!" and they ascended the stairs together.
"Come in!" Dumbledore smiled as they entered, his eyes twinkling, "I'm happy to see that you could make it, I figured that we should all be together for your questions, and in more private quarters."
They each took a seat before his desk in big red comfy arm chairs that practically swallowed you whole.
"I don't understand," Sirius was the first to speak, "Why Masen? I mean we knew someone was following us, but we thought it was my cousin…"
"Not that she wouldn't have reason," Remus added in.
"… not Masen, the auror, the one who hates wandless and werewolves, a teacher a Ravenclaw, I mean what happened?" Sirius continued undeterred.
Dumbledore frowned, "I have been able to piece together Jacob Masen quite well since he died. Masen came to this school before I was headmaster, however I was still here. He was shy and had little confidence, this was mainly because his parents had abandoned him due to his magical abilities, it still happens, the same way that a wizard or witch will abandon a child who is a squib. He became a ward of the school and spent his summers with whatever magical family would take him; it was not an easy life, however I am sure that the families were always good to him."
"After school he became an Auror, and like he said, he protected Wizards and Witch's lives, not muggles. Masen did not care about the loss of a muggles life, keep in mind that his parents did desert him. While an Auror he witnessed the death of people due to werewolves and other magical creatures, not wandless however, there aren't any around outside of this room, but he did read about them, which is why he hated having to teach what he considered a monster, that is to say Emma and Remus."
"Now here is where I must piece things together, Emma told me that he was nice to her after winter break and I can only assume that his plans began then. Sometime over the holiday he must have run into an old Student of mine by the name of Tom Riddle, a cunning and bright young fellow, with, I am afraid, all the wrong intentions. Riddle must have convinced Masen to join him, he could have played on Masen's hatred of muggles, what exactly happened I'm not sure but in the end it does not matter, Masen joined Riddle."
"Now I am positive that Masen never told Riddle about you Emma, as I have said before, had he, Riddle would stop at nothing to obtain you, you would be an object and an offensive weapon, as all people are in his eyes."
"I became suspicious of Masen when Hagrid told me that he had requested to take you five off his hands for one night of detention. The request itself was normal; the way in which he did it was not. He should have asked Professor McGonagall or myself, not Rubeus. When Hagrid told me what had happened I became suspicious, which is why when your next detention was in order, and Jacob requested the job I gave him Mr Potter and Mr Black, sending Emma instead to work with Hagrid. Masen would not have harmed either of you two, you where not what he was after. Had Emma been there as well, then perhaps you would have become collateral damage as you did just the other night."
Dumbledore sighed, "I will admit the thought of you in Riddle's hands scared me more then anything. I must apologise to the five of you, I did not look to see if any of you were hurt, I did not evaluate your situation even though I was sure at least one of you was dead, I instead jumped to conclusions. And I am deeply sorry."
"Don't worry about it, we were safe… mostly, and you where worried about Emma," Sirius shrugged it off.
Dumbledore smiled, "Thank you," his eyes were twinkling as he continued, "And may I say how proud of all of you I am. A great many would have attempted only to flee. But the five of you stuck together, and I believe some points will are in order for that. 30 each; another 50 to Mr Black for attempting to protect Mr Potter, and another 50 to Emma for protecting them both; and if I might add on another ten each for standing together," his smile widened, "Unless I am mistaken, those are all the points that you have lost over this year; quite a feat to be sure."
"So this Riddle guy, is he responsible for the war thingy that the Hat was talking about at the beginning of the year?" Sirius asked confused.
"He is. I am sure you have seen him in the papers, although he prefers the name Voldemort, when in public."
"So this… what's his name… mouldy-wart? Is killing people for being muggles," Emma clarified.
Dumbledore smirked, "Yes, and it was Voldemort, although I do quite enjoy your name for him, much improved."
"And what are we doing about it?" James asked.
"Hum?" Dumbledore questioned.
"Our side, what are we doing about it, the war?" James asked again.
"We have our strategies… at the moment the ministry does not see it as a big deal, although he does have his own wanted sign."
"But you have strategies," Remus clarified leaning forward (not an easy thing to do in those chairs)
"I do, but we'll leave that for another time," Dumbledore smiled.
"And this… person, I'm not even attempting the name, is after Emma," Sirius questioned.
"Not yet, but will be in future most likely."
"Well he'll have us to get through," James said as if that ended the subject, the others nodded.
"We stick together," Remus said.
"Go for one," Sirius started.
"And you have to get through us all," James finished.
Dumbledore smiled, "I was hoping you would say that."
When Emma returned to classes the next day she was amazed to find that the entire school was not buzzing with the news of Masen's death and betrayal, but instead with the news that he had been killed by something in the Forbidden Forest, and that he had been out there looking for unicorns.
"Dumbledore's idea, even the Ministry doesn't know what happened," James said quietly at dinner, "Dumbledore said that he couldn't tell them because it would expose you to the outside world. No one is supposed to know about you or Protem."
Emma nodded understanding; Dumbledore had once told her that the Ministry was unaware of her existence, as a wandless anyways, although he never said how he kept it secret she now knew why, Riddle.
Exams were taken over the next week, and when at last they had finished they took to once again exploring the halls and attempting to become animagi.
Remus had become more helpful since the 'Masen incident' as they now called it, and was a fair bit of help, although they hadn't made any progress; they still couldn't figure out their animal.
So far Emma had tried a tiger, rabbit and dog. Sirius had tried a bear, a lion and (for their amusement only) a cow. James had tried a hippo, a cat and a python. And poor Peter had tried a rabbit, a weasel, and an otter; the boy simply couldn't get away from rodents.
"This is the defining moment," Sirius said rubbing his hands together as they sat in the boy's dormitory on their last night at Hogwarts.
"Hum?" Emma questioned from where she sat with Remus adding some finishing touches to the map.
"I, Sirius Orion Black, have had more detentions then any of you, and that includes Emma and James who I beat by one," Sirius smiled, "Pay up."
James groaned and Emma smirked, "I thought the bet was that you would get more detentions then any of us combined Sirius."
Sirius frowned thinking back.
"I have an idea," Remus said looking up, "We'll extend the bet, the person to have the most detentions after seven years wins. We'll each chip in five Galleons; what do you say."
"Deal!" they smiled in unison and continued what they where doing, Sirius carefully taking the detention tally from the wall and giving it to Remus for safe keeping with the map.
They boarded the train sadly the next day; it had been a good year, they were going to miss each other.
"Cheer up," James said as the train began moving, "We'll have even more fun next year, we'll do more pranks too, we only did two big ones, next year we need at least one a month."
"And we'll know more magic," Remus added thoughtfully.
"And we'll have the map from day one, I think most of the passages are on their already," Sirius smiled.
"And the cloak," Peter chirped.
They grinned, "So who's going to cover Masen I wonder?" Emma mused.
James shrugged, "Don't know… hey, do you think we should have a name?"
"Like what?" Emma asked.
"Like… The Pranksters!" James said.
Remus frowned, "Idea yes, actual name no."
They spent the rest of the ride considering names to no avail, when at last they pulled up to the train station they bid each other good bye and parted ways… Hogwarts was only two months away…
