Chapter Ten

Déjà Vu

The chatter never stopped. It got to the point where Remus wished that people would talk about something else since it'd been two months since the incident would have occurred anyway, and yet talk never died down. His friends seemed to be equally annoyed with it, but decided that for Remus birthday they would charm his alphabet cereal to spell out the story for him whenever he took a bite… at least they meant to, according to Sirius. Every time he grabbed a spoonful, the letters would read out the words 'spooky' and 'creepy', and on a rare occasion, 'Happy Halloween.'

"We got it from one of those old seasonal charm books." Said Peter, as they all gathered around to watch him eat, making him wary to enjoy his birthday breakfast as well as effectively ruining any surprise. Of course, them huddling over his bowl after he poured it and before he even got a chance to eat it was enough of a giveaway, but he knew he'd go mad if he didn't at least play along with the antics. "I think we did alright."

"I think it's brilliant." Said Remus, who kept dipping his spoon in and out to see how many combinations he could get. "Thanks guys."

"Ah, don't thank us until after you've seen lunch and dinner." Said Sirius. "Happy birthday, anyway." They all laughed and James clapped him on the shoulder.

His parents sent Ezra with a package as well for him that morning. The muggle chocolates were always welcome from his mother, and his father sent him a much more impressive book for his moon whistle, along with a note from both of them that read:

You only become a teenager once. Happy Birthday xoxo

Love Mum and Dad.

He had to fight the urge of bouncing in his seat, as he couldn't wait to play along the first chance he got. His friends all rolled their eyes at the fact that he got excited about receiving a book for his birthday.

.

Even though the warm weather brought along exam preparation and grueling assignments for them all, it also brought along the melted snow, blooming flowers, and plenty of opportunities for the boys to spend time preparing and spending time together by the Black Lake bank they helped James practice for being seeker. They always had to claim the spot early so no one else took their prime rocks for skipping, or their tall shady tree for relaxing, but it was always well worth it. While Sirius and James tried to see who could get their stones to skid the most, Peter napped next to Remus, who was busy practicing with is moon whistle while he was giving his brain a break from the dozen of incantations and theories. Of course, he never got father than a sputtering tweeting noise much like what he imagined an injured bird would make.

Their time together literally and figuratively separated them from everyone else. It was like no one else existed and they could enjoy each other's company. In some of those moments Remus even considered Thalia's advice in telling them about himself, but every time he thought he was close, he'd get scared. It wasn't worth ruining the bubble of happiness he had with his friends. It was also nice to spend more than an hour with no one talking about or mentioning the forest or the Hollow.

"I don't see how turning things into badgers is ever supposed to help us in life." James said as he plopped down, helping himself to one of the many sandwiches they packed. "I mean, when will we ever use that?" They all laughed, including Remus who was scratching his head with the end of a pencil to circle his notes before he responded.

"I think the idea that makes it useful. Being able to trans—"

"God, you sound like Evans." James said, waving his hand.

"Give us a break. We didn't grow up around this stuff." Remus retorted, not looking up at him yet still giving a defensive tone.

"Oh, he's got a point." Shouted Sirius, who was still concentrating on skipping stones.

"What I don't understand is how you can be so alike with your, you know, studying, but I find her utterly intolerable."

"Hey now, don't go using big words just to impress Remus." Sirius cut in again, making the rest of them laugh, especially Peter, who seemed particularly amused.

"But I like it when he uses big words…"

"I bet Lily would like those big words too." Said Peter quietly, but not quietly enough to catch everyone's attention and different reactions. James and Remus looks completely horrified, though Remus was sure for different reasons as he felt a pang of jealousy where he was sure James felt disgust. Sirius on the other hand looked completely amused and soon after gave a very distinct and proud laugh after a few moments to break the tension.

Remus wasn't sure he would be talking to Lily the same with that notion running through the back of his mind. Thankfully he'd have the head start… not that it was a contest.

The four of them didn't stay around the lake much longer after that. The early spring air was turning brisk as the sun went down, and with the stricter rules on curfew and outdoors activities, none of them wanted to risk detention out of the sheer inconvenience on missing out on the much nicer weather. As they turned over the hill towards the castle, the breeze picked up and swept a scent to Remus while the other three were mid-conversation with each other. When it first hit him, he didn't think too much of it until the familiarity of it set in, though he could not place where. Initially it made him think of bread hinted with citrus… but it was the part of it that smelled like home that made him turn his head in the direction of the forest.

"You alright mate?" Peter asked first.

"Nothing, why?" He replied quickly, not realising that what he said didn't even really make sense.

"…You're staring really hard at nothing."

"Ahh, maybe it's the Hollow projecting a very evil and alluring magic to you." Laughed James, wiggling his fingers.

"God, don't even start." Said Remus. He gave one more look towards the forest before ultimately shrugging it off to the fact that the full moon was making his senses flare again. It wouldn't have been the first time they made him detect things that weren't there.

.

Remus stayed back in the Great Hall for dinner while the other three went upstairs. It'd become a bit of a pattern around the full moon that he took to so they didn't get too used to his presence before he'd be gone ill. Judging by how quickly they'd comply, he was satisfied to see it was working. He kicked his feet over the bench and filled his plate. He always leaned towards the redder meats even though they were always cooked through far too much for his taste.

"Do you think they've figured it out yet?" Said the voice of Severus Snape coming from behind Remus. He wanted to turn his head to look, but quickly suppressed the urge when he heard the voice of Sterling Avery speak in response.

"Nah. If they'd figured that out, we'd be talking about the who rather than the why."

"I think it'd just a load of rubbish." The voice of Blake Sparrow joined in afterwards. "The fact it's still going around is embarrassing. It's not like there's been rumours of anyone going back."

"I don't think you understand, Sparrow." Said Severus, surprisingly sounding less monotonous than usual. "People don't just walk into Hogwarts like it's Diagon Alley. The grounds are a part of that, even the forest." Remus began chewing a little slower and quieter.

"That all sounds very intense, but it doesn't explain why anyone would want to get in." Avery replied, sounding annoyed. Remus felt his stomach lurch and tighten when he found himself in agreement with Sterling.

"The reason why could be anything." Said Blake. "That's why it doesn't matter, it was months ago."

"Oh no, it's like I keep saying, the reason why is very clear—"

"Here he goes…" Snape sighed.

"Don't give me that. What else would it be? The forest is a death trap. If someone was going in to let whatever's in there put them out of their misery, we wouldn't know anything about it." He brought his voice down again. "It's the Hollow in those woods they were after. It has to be." Mingled with the exasperated sighs from the other two boys sitting with Sterling, Remus couldn't help stifling a snicker. Even after his conversation with Dumbledore, he felt he had harder evidence of anything resembling a fairy tale residing in the forest than Avery did, so it was hard to take him seriously knowing he was just basing what he heard from everyone else. "Something funny to you, Lupin?"

"Mm-mm, no." He replied instinctively, coughing immediately after being called out.

"No no, please share your thoughts if you've been nosy."

"Just leave it, Avery—" Said Blake a little too late as Sterling was already waving his hand off at him.

"Come on Lupin, I'm sure that you'd have a much better idea, wouldn't you?"

"Sterling—" another hand wave silenced Blake.

"Being a half-blood must mean you've got a whole new perspective. Tell us, have you written home and told about all of this to dear old dad? Better yet, what does your little muggle mother have to say about it all?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm and his tone was patronising, and Remus felt his fist clench tightly around his spoon. "Probably nothing useful I'm sure—" Before he knew it Remus was on his feet with the worst tunnel vision focusing directly on Avery's face, which was now level with his since he'd stood up as well to match.

"Don't." Remus said behind gritted teeth.

"Didn't know you were such a tough guy without your friends around." He prodded a finger against Remus' shoulder. "What are you going to do? Hit me? Go crying to the hospital wing again. We can see who's gotten better at jinxes since we had defense class together if you'd like."

"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?" Said professor McGonagall in a stern voice, catching both of them by surprise. Remus had been so caught up in the moment that he didn't even see or hear her coming.

"No problem here, professor." Avery said, taking a step away from Remus while the two of them still keeping their eyes fixed on each other. McGonagall raised her eyebrows and looked to Remus, looking for further confirmation from him more to secure that whatever altercation was brewing was going to come to an abrupt end.

"Excellent. I was thinking I'd need to start taking away points or handing out detentions, so thank you for being gracious enough for saving me the trouble. Besides, I'm sure Mr. Sparrow and Mr. Snape were prepared to intervene should things have taken a more dramatic turn." Their eyes all turned to the two Slytherin's sitting down in silence, who were both distracting themselves with their own eating utensils to avoid being involved with the situation as much as they could.

Having now lost his appetite, Remus excused himself and headed towards the exit of the Great Hall to rejoin his friends in the Gryffindor common room. With every footstep he felt himself get more annoyed with how upset Avery made him. He spent most of the year avoiding him because of the way he could get under his skin, and yet he still knew how to push Remus' buttons. He was just beginning to think that perhaps he was doomed with Sterling as a thorn in his side forever when he noticed something strange from the corner of his eye, and the smell of firewood that was unique with another sharp twinge of what he could only think of as charcoal. that made it different than the one from the Great Hall, crashed into him like a tidal wave.

There was someone wearing a large black cloak at the entrance of the castle. He stood atop the stairs as their back was turned towards him, as he experienced the most unnerving sense of déjà vu. The section of the castle wasn't exactly teeming with students, but how could no one have seen them? They weren't wearing student robes, so surely they would have stood out. Perhaps there was some sort of enchantment. It was the only thing that could explain why a castle completely on edge over a break in months ago would overlook such an obvious anomaly. But if that were the case, why wasn't it working on him? Perhaps it wasn't obvious…? Was this a case again of his senses exerting themselves in a way that only seemed to trick his own mind?

No, that couldn't have been it… he knew what he was looking at. His sense made him more acute, not more insane. Nevertheless, countless other questions reeled through his brain as they took the shape of the mysterious werewolf man he encountered his last school year, but before he could rationalise any of it, they began to move out of the door. At first his knees were buckled from his memory as he thought of the man's face, and his dark eyes, as he was sure they were under the hood of his cloak. Like a switch, his good sense to grab a teacher occurred to him, and he turned on his heel into a brisk walk back into the Great Hall to professor McGonagall. Then he stopped again and turned to go back towards the staircase to ascend to the third floor. It made more sense to get the headmaster… he was the final word of it all, and who better to deal with a potentially dangerous force than him?

He climbed the stairs with so much purpose that his mind was too focused to even bother counting the steps he was skipping to rush to the headmaster's corridor. Keeping up the pace, he only stopped himself when he reached the branch of corridors, one leading to the headmaster's office, and the other leading to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. In a wild moment of thinking, he headed towards the latter. Professor Folly was supposed to be a specialist in this sort of thing, more practiced. Why else would Dumbledore appoint her if not for this exact situation? To take care of dark forces at work when he would otherwise be occupied and not as readily available? It was after all easier to knock on a door rather than get guest rights to a spiraling staircase to a tower.

"Professor?" He said loudly, knocking on her door and bouncing on the balls of his feet in anxiety. "Professor, please I need to talk to you." There was no answer. He knew it was well passed dark outside and after hours, but if the teachers would be found anywhere at this time of night it was in their respective classrooms. When he looked down, he noticed the door was slightly ajar, and his urgency drew him to open it. There was no answer because it was empty. It seemed obvious, but there was something deeply wrong about it that wasn't settling with him, but he didn't have time to think on it.

Remus realised he made the wrong decision in going to her classroom, and he wouldn't have time to reach Dumbledore before losing the track of whoever was leaving the castle. He especially wouldn't have the luxury of waltzing through the front door. With the scent still lingering on the tip of his nose, he rushed out of the classroom down to the first floor where he could use the exit through the hospital wing. He only hoped Madam Pomfrey kept herself as busy as professor Folly so he wouldn't run into her. It would have been a lot of time saved on what he'd need too much time at this point to explain, and he resigned himself to dwelling on the guilt of abusing their specialised exit at another time.

.

Every step he felt his sneakers slipping into the grass beyond the castle walls was telling him how horrible of an idea this was. He was following the direction of a faint smell into a forest that was explicitly forbidden in its name and its nature, which was at minimum going to get him expelled. Oh yes, expelled for sure… but it'd be worth it if he could stop the man that tore his teacher to shreds. He wasn't going to let anyone else be a victim unless it was himself. It was after all his fault that Professor Zilar was dead. If he hadn't gotten involved with the mess with the book, he wouldn't have had to reveal himself as a retired werewolf hunter… and if he didn't reveal himself, he wouldn't have felt the need to task Remus with holding onto the book, meaning he wouldn't have needed to go into the forest and be slaughtered.

He stopped his feet at the entrance, and he looked up at the border of trees before committing to stepping in. There was no turning back. He thought about how it was an interesting metaphor of walking into complete insanity as he entered the wood.

.

"Lumos" He whispered, the tip of his wand shimmering into a bright light so that he could see where he was going. He kept his focus on the smell, even though the forest had it's own unique and diverse palette of scents, many of which wanted to make him vomit from the sensory overload, but he needed to focus.

Firewood… charcoal… breathe.

Sometime the smell was stronger in different directions, but he knew it would all ultimately lead to the one place they were. The roots lining the ground were getting thicker and wilder than towards the entrance, which now that he turned his head around was completely gone. He stepped on and snapped a twig and thought something was following him. He turned around quickly and was glad to discover that his wand was drawn at nothing, thought when he looked down at the ground again, he noticed the tendrils weren't staying in the same place for long if at all… the forest floor was moving.

Firewood… charcoal… breathe.

He reached a small clearing the size of a bedroom, only to discover that there were more noises than the sound of his footsteps in the foliage. The sounds of things that were alive and lurking... or perhaps even waiting. He looked down to the lit tip of his wand and hopelessly sighed. He tried keeping his mind focused on one overloaded sense at a time, but any hope that he had of not being alone would soon be dampened if he such a bright beacon on himself. He stopped in his tracks and lowered his wand.

"Nox…" He whispered and closed his eyes. His wand flickered out, and the fear in his heart capped out so far that he was sure it'd gone full-circle into reckless bravery. It oddly made him think of Professor Folly. "Firewood… charcoal… breathe." He said aloud now, keeping his toned hushed to give him the reassurance now that he was still alive. Traversing the forest alone after all was a terrible, terrible idea, so any comfort he could give himself at this point was welcome.

When he opened his eyes again, his vision became sharper and clearer in the dark and he was immediately met with a large black bird perched on a reaching branch towards him, making him jump. His first instinct was thinking how late it'd been for any sort of bird to be awake, let alone staring at him with what he realised now were bright glowing blue eyes. He then realised where he was and what he was doing, and slowly came to the conclusion that this wasn't any regular sort of bird, and the fact that it had an extra set of glowing eyes wasn't as shocking to him. It was a pretty bird to look at, and Remus found himself tilting his head to get a closer look at it while it ruffled it's own feathers. He could hear a trace of an errant thought drift to the moon whistle.

"Hello…" He whispered, wanting now to reach out and touch it. After a few moments, the bird mimicked him and greeted back in a crow-like version of Remus' voice with a squawk at the end. Its glowing blue eyes flitted around quickly before focusing back to him, now completely fixed. "You haven't seen anyone strange lurking around the forest, have you?"

"Have you." it repeated back, tilting its head opposite of Remus'. It squawked loudly this time, making Remus jump again as the notion seemed more aggressive than the first. Another crow voice repeated the words, making Remus whip his head around quickly to see another set of blue eyes gaze at him from another branch nearby. Another bird? Just as he was going to ask himself how many there had been, more and more dots and specks of blue appeared repeated each other on the branches of the surrounding trees. Remus was thankful that he still had out his wand, but still swallowed hard as he concentrated heavily on not making any sudden movements as he could feel what seemed like hundreds of tiny eyes boring holes into his sweater.

He slowly took a step back from the original and still closest of the crows, taking a deep breath to find an avenue of escape since the unsettling feeling he got in the middle of them all began to surface. Though he was shaking, he had to fight the urge not to run as he thought of tiny beaks and talons clawing at him should he cause a disturbance. As he stepped, he felt his foot contact and crunch something harder and brittle, only to notice upon looking down that he'd crunched bone.

The noise had been enough to make them swarm. When he looked up, the blur of blue spots disoriented him as he found himself swatting away the crows with his hands and wand. Whenever he felt the claws or beaks breaking skin, a reverb came from the flock around him to repeat his cries of pain.

Run. He thought, coming to his wits and gripping his wand tight in hand to bolt forth. He moved much quicker than he thought possible into the unknown forest, still hearing the beating wings and squawks and dissonant echoes of his own cries of pain all around him. He'd been moving fast, but not fast enough as he could still feel pecking at his legs and exposed skin of his face and arms.

"Incendio!"He shouted after blinding aiming his wand behind him and still sprinting, the weak fireball only hitting a trunk of a nearby tree and making the bark recoil in a way that seemed like it were alive. "Incendio!" The second spell made contact with a small cluster of them, and their wings reduced to smolders and embers, sending them tumbling to the ground. There wasn't room to feel accomplished since when a few of them fell, more were ready to take their place.

He forced himself to think as quickly as he'd been moving when he focused his attention back forward, jumping and dodging rogue branches while trying to put as much distance between him and the sound of violent fluttering wings and screeches. Remus knew he wouldn't be able to keep moving for much longer, as he could feel his chest begin to tighten and his legs start to grow weary.

"Oh!" He said out loud, and idea striking him and stopping his running to turn around to face the flock. The distance he gave himself was enough to prepare as he waited for the blue specks to approach, his wand drawn. They swarmed around again, circling him completely making him feel the stinging in his face when he pointed his wand in the air and shouted, "Immobulus!"

There was a bright flash. When he opened his eyes, the birds were all suspended as if they were underwater, still able to make noise, but completely still. He gave out a small and exasperated chuckle at his success. Now that they were completely harmless, he quite enjoyed looking at them before he keeled over feeling more than a little winded. How far had he run? The way the trees were passing him in such a blur made him think he'd covered more ground than normal. He stood up straight again and looked around to try to gain a sense of vague direction before taking out his wand again and holding it in the open palm of his hand, hearing his father's voice echo in his ears about a spell that every lost wizard should know.

"Point Me." He said in a scratchy voice since his throat had still been so dry. Remus wand spun and pointed to his left… He'd been going east, and still away from the castle. As if delayed, the crows all began to repeat his spell in their sing-song voice, reminding him that they'd still been there. He kept his eyes fixed on his wand. Would he be able to even escape this place now that he'd been so far in? Then again, he wasn't quite sure just how deep in the forest he was.

.

There was a loud thud as something smacked Remus across the his back, sending him falling forward onto the ground with a loud 'oof.' What now? He thought, turning around on his back only to see a large swinging branch coming towards him, only just giving him enough time to roll over to avoid it crushing him. The trees had been alive like the Whomping Willow, and the memory of the living wood flashed in front of him from his time spent there as a werewolf. He scrambled to his feet and began running again, seeing the branches flail around and batting the birds around, sending them flying in various directions as if the flock were making a disturbance. Between the sound of wood creaking and the crow's screeches, Remus didn't want to stick around to see what happened next.

Despite all of the excitement, Remus took a deep breath in again to calm his nerves and remember his mission. He was thankful the scent had grown much stronger now since the metallic and acidic smell of his own blood was mingled in the air. In fact, the original scent was so strong now; it made him crinkle his nose at its potency. When he looked in the direction it was coming from, he thought to himself how close he must have been. Trying hard not to pay attention to the stinging sensation in his cut face and hands, he walked through the thick brush, keeping his wand drawn and still unlit as to not draw anymore unwanted attention to himself.

The scent was almost overwhelming now. He knew he had to be close enough to taste, and he felt his heart rate pick up and skin tighten. The only thing obscuring what was in front of him now was a thick brush of tree branches that stood directly in his path. He lifted his hand to move it out of the way, but he hesitated. It was the first time he really had to stop and think about what he was doing and what may happen to him.

Was he even ready for something like this? Or for any kind of showdown at all? He'd only even had short bursts of encounters with the man and one of them literally left his protector in pieces. All he had to defend himself were his basic repitoire of spells since the only real defense mechanism he had, wouldn't be useful but for another few days, which in itself wouldn't have truly been too useful since the man was also a werewolf. His own thoughts answered his question for him… of course he wasn't ready. He'd run belligerently into the dark forest hoping for he knew not what. Now he was left with the difficult choice of staying and facing him, or turning around and running back to the castle, which at this point he wasn't sure he'd make it back to since he knew he must have been miles deep into the wood by now… and he certainly was not the most dangerous thing in the forest anymore.

"It's here." He heard a strained voice whisper from beyond the thick brush. Remus immediately snapped all of his focus into listening now, not daring to make a sound. "It's hidden… but it's here. I'm sure of it. I will perform the enchantments." There was movement, and then muttering of charms and spells that Remus had never heard before. There was also someone else. Another set of footfalls that were much more shallow and moving more quickly. There was another scent that he'd not even noticed since he was so focused on the man's. He felt his heart pounding vigorously in his chest now that he could hardly breathe, and with a shaky hand moved the thick brush out of the way to see.

.

Just as he feared, there were two figures standing at the end of the clearing. One of them was walking around in a large circle still casting the enchantments, and the other was standing still and watching. Remus nose was so accustomed to searching for the original scent, that he found it difficult to even isolate this equally as mysterious addition.

With another surprising lurch, the enchantments began producing results in the form of a small quake and an ominous glow coming from the middle of the clearing on the ground. From where he was standing it looked like a sinkhole was forming, but instead of opening up the ground, it was filling with liquid. Remus had to keep himself from audibly gasping. He wouldn't have believed his eyes if he weren't witnessing it all for himself. He was watching the Hollow form in front of him… and then all he could hear was the gypsy woman's prophecy echoing in his mind.

The Hollow is in danger… The Hollow mustn't be disturbed… The Grimoire pages will blank… He had to do something. He had to think of a plan. He had—

"I see our guest has decided to join us." Said a familiar voice that immediately brought Remus' attention back into the moment. In an instant, he felt himself being lunged forward as if there were a hook tied to his clothing reeling him in quickly into the hands of the tall hooded figure. Even in the dark he could see that he hands gripping him now by the shirt weren't gloved… and they were not the hands of a man. They were however, reeking of the scent he'd followed. When he looked up to see their face, their other hand dropped the hood, revealing the large and striking features of Professor Folly. Though her eyes were hooded, he could see they also had a milky tinge in the dark, but unmistakably hers. Remus felt his insides slump and wretch, feeling that he could vomit at any moment. It'd happened again. "I thought you wouldn't have it in you to even leave the castle… and look at you now. Made it through the forest without a scratch on you." He tried prying himself free when he felt her hands burn his skin where they touched. "Ah ah. You came all this way for a front row seat, didn't you?" The burn soothed itself on his shoulder and Professor Folly began walking him over to the figure stood on the other side of the clearing. "What to do with the nosy mongrel boy…" She mused. Remus looked to the center and saw the Hollow water, glowing bright and invitingly in a perfect circular pool.

"Nothing just yet." Said the other in a soft and serene tone. This voice shattered him because he knew it. Horrified, he looked forward to them, watching as their hands lifted the hood over their head to reveal a rounded face framed with blonde fringe and pigtails, tinged green by the reflection of the glowing pool they were stood next to.

"Thalia?" said Remus in a small and heartbroken voice.