ENIGMA

Chapter 25-An Escapee

After class, they all headed to History of Magic, and finally to Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.

At dinner that night, Hillary helped herself to some chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes and peas.

Malfoy walked up the aisle and did a perfectly good imitation of Hillary covering her face as the Boggart wolf charged her.

That set off his cronies laughing hysterically.

"Shove off," Ron snapped to Malfoy. "I wonder what your Boggart would be…perhaps a makeover as a woman?"

Harry snorted into his mashed potatoes.

Malfoy's blue eyes glinted maliciously.

"Quiet, Potty," he said sneering. "At least mine's not a Dementor."

He pretended to faint.

"And I heard you fainted too," Malfoy said turning his eyes onto Hillary. "What, is this a family of losers that are too weak to function?"

"Shut it," Harry snapped at Malfoy now.

"Apparently, her Mummy was killed too, Potty. You two really have something in common…you're both losers," Malfoy laughed gesturing to Hillary.

Something inside Hillary snapped.

She jumped up, clenched her fist at her side and raised her arm, drawing it back. She ended up punching Malfoy right in the face.

"SHUT IT," Hillary shouted enraged.

The entire Hall was silent now and watching curiously. At the Head table, Remus was watching anxiously.

"AT LEAST YOU HAVE YOUR MOTHER!" Hillary shouted at him.

He was looking at her startled. He never expected Hillary to hit him like that.

"STOP TORMENTING HARRY AND I ALRIGHT? CAUSE IF YOU KEEP IT UP, I'M SHOVING MY WAND UP YOUR ASS!"

With that, she stormed out of the Great Hall, the doors slamming together shut with a loud 'bang'.

Slowly, the Hall picked up chatter again.

Malfoy was still completely dumfounded. Harry looked at Hermione. Hermione was biting her bottom lip and had a solemn expression on her face.

Remus quickly got up and hurried out of the Hall after Hillary.

"Is she alright?" Ron asked nervously and worriedly.

Hermione sighed.

"Harry, did you know that along with your parents, You-Know-Who also killed her mother?"

Harry looked at Hermione shocked.

"No," he said shaking his head and looking grave. "How do you know?"

Hermione exhaled. "I read books, remember? Apparently a woman by the name of Michelle Lupin had gone to your parents house to check on them the night You-Know-Who raided the house and killed your parents. Michelle was also killed. She was married to Remus. It was Hillary's mother."

Her voice had dropped to an almost whisper now as she explained it to Harry and Ron.

Harry and Ron looked totally abashed at this news. They had no idea. Harry fell silent and began helping himself to the porridge.

Somehow, he'd felt connected to Hillary now more than ever. Both of them knew what it was like to lose a parent to Voldemort, although Hillary still had Professor Lupin in her life, but still, Harry somehow felt drawn to her.

Outside in the corridor, Hillary pressed her back against the wall and just slumped down against it, drawing her legs up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her knees and pressed her face into her thighs.

She hated Malfoy. He didn't know what it was like not to have a mother in his life. Besides, hers was killed by Lord Voldemort along with Harry's parents.

Her hair fell forward, covering her face. She heard someone running up the corridor.

Remus reached her and sat down next to her.

He slowly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, but to his surprise, Hillary shrugged it off and she raised her eyes, glaring at him.

Tears were filling in her chocolate brown eyes. Remus looked at her startled.

"Hillary?" he asked tentatively.

"You let Mum go!" she sobbed at him. "You let her go to Godric's Hollow! Why couldn't you have stopped her?"

Remus' heart wrenched. "I tried she didn't listen to me,"

"Obviously you didn't try hard enough!" Hillary shouted as she jumped to her feet now. Remus got up also and faced her.

Remus went to take her shoulders, but she just backed away from him.

"YOU LET MUM DIE!" she screamed at him.

Inside the Great Hall, he could hear the bell ringing, ending breakfast. The doors opened and the students began emerging from the hall, talking happily.

"YOU LET HER GO!" Hillary screamed again.

The students looked up and stopped walking, watching intently. Ron, Hermione and Harry watched anxiously.

"Hillary," Remus began tentatively as his heart wrenched more. He went to take a step toward her, but she backed away more.

"No," she said her voice shaking violently. "You let Mum die."

With that, she turned and fled down the hall.

Remus moved his eyes onto the group of students. They were silent but kept moving along. Ron, Hermione and Harry headed over to Remus.

"Professor Lupin," Hermione said softly and quietly. "She's just upset. She doesn't mean anything."

Remus smiled at Hermione. "I know. I've got to talk to her though. I hate the idea that she blames me for her mothers death,"

He looked after Hillary with a solemn and pained expression on his face. He swallowed, causing his Adams apple to move up and down.

"She'll come around," Ron said.

Remus smiled and nodded as he headed to teach his next class.

Hillary had gone to the girls' dorm and threw herself face down on her bed. She pressed her face into her pillow and sobbed until her head ached and she felt like she couldn't cry anymore.

She knew it wasn't her fathers' fault that her mother was killed. But what Malfoy had said about her and Harry kind of stung badly. She heard someone coming into the girls' dorm. She quickly sat up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

She looked up. It was Hermione.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked with concern. She began approaching Hillary.

Hillary looked up at her.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "Its just what Malfoy said kind of stung. He has no idea what its like not to have a mother in his life."

Hermione sat down on the end of the bed and put a hand on Hillary's shoulder.

"I know," Hermione said softly. "But your Dad loves you very much. I don't think he would've let your Mum go. Your Mum had no idea what was going to happen. She made her choice. Unfortunately, it had to result in Lord Voldemort killing both Harry's parents as well as your Mum."

Somehow, hearing Hermione, helped calm down Hillary. She nodded and stood up, drying her eyes.

She also began feeling bad for screaming at her father like that in the corridor.

"You're right," she said. "I feel so bad for yelling at my father like that."

Hermione smiled. She gave a Hillary a hug tightly.

"Come on," Hermione said softly. "Let's go to class okay? I'm sure your Dad will forgive you. Don't worry."

They left the dorm.

They headed to the rest of their classes. At dinner, Hillary glanced up at the Head table. Remus was sitting there, talking with Professor McGonagall.

He felt Hillary's eyes on him and glanced at her. Hillary gave him a watery smile. Remus just nodded and turned his attention back to Professor McGonagall.

Hillary moaned and let her forehead hit the table with a 'thud'.

"He hates me now," Hillary moaned.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Professor Lupin," Harry replied. "I don't think so, Hil. Why don't you try talking to him?"

Hillary's head snapped up.

"Yeah. Good idea," she said nodding.

After dinner, they headed back to their common room. Hillary headed toward the Head table and pulled her father aside.

"Dad, I'm so sorry I yelled at you," Hillary said looking upset. "I didn't mean it."

Remus smiled and hugged her. "I know," he whispered. "I didn't want your mother to go, but she insisted that nothing would happen. I miss her so much."

Remus hugged Hillary tightly.

Once things were finally back to normal, they all headed off to bed.

The next morning, The Daily Prophet landed in Remus' lap.

Remus felt heart hammering in his chest at the picture on the cover. It was of Sirius. He was holding a Azkaban ID plate.

His eyes landed on the title of the article:

SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES AZKABAN

Remus' hands shook as he read the article.

How'd he escape? He was falsely accused of giving Lord Voldemort Harry's parents' whereabouts.

Remus knew he was innocent of course. But there was still the question of WHO told Voldemort about where James and Lily were living. Normally, they would've made Peter their secret keeper, but Peter was killed in the first fire. So who was it?

He raised his eyes to the Gryffindor table. Apparently, Ron, Hermione, Hillary and Harry were already whispering over their copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry didn't know that Sirius was his Godfather. Remus had just found out about that after he'd had to bury Michelle. If Harry thinks that Sirius was the secret keeper and somehow escaped, he'd believe that Sirius was coming after him. Plus, he'd also believe that it was Sirius who in fact was the cause of his parents' death. Remus knew he was going to have to explain it to Harry.

Hillary looked up and gave him a grin. Remus couldn't help but grin back.

The bell rang, and everyone was free to go. It was a Saturday, so they all had the day off.

Harry decided to ask Remus something.

"Professor Lupin?" Harry asked tentatively. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Remus said. "Come on. We'll take a walk."

They walked out onto one of the covered bridges with the opened archways. Remus stood in front of one of the arches and placed his palms flat on the sill of it. Harry stood beside him.

"Why'd you end class so early?" Harry inquired curiously. "I didn't get a chance to have a go with the Boggart."

Remus turned to Harry.

"I thought it would be obvious," he said softly. "More than likely, the Boggart would turn into Voldemort. I think the rest of the students would need a change of underwear after that."

Harry grinned, but then he turned serious.

"You knew my mother and father right?" Harry asked next.

Remus nodded.

"Your mother was a kind, and smart witch," he said softly to Harry. "She was very witty. Your father was a bit of a prankster though. But overall, they were my best friends."

Harry smiled.

"What about Hillary's Mum?"

Remus briefly felt his heart jolt. "Hillary's mother was beautiful. She was sweet, kind, caring, and thoughtful. Of course, your father liked to tease her a bit, but we all got along great."

There was no sense in telling Harry that his father had been so cruel to Michelle. He didn't want to give Harry a bad impression of his parents when James was not really a bad person and besides, he'd come around and realized that he was wrong for tormenting Michelle.

Harry nodded.

Remus turned back to Harry.

"So you can see why I stopped class early," Remus said patiently.

Harry realized he had another question.

"Can you teach me how to defend the Dementors?" he inquired. "Why'd Hillary and I pass out but no one else did?"

Remus smiled at him.

"Because both you and Hillary had horrors in the past that no one else did," Remus explained patiently. "Even though Hillary didn't exactly see her mother being killed, she still saw death and despair, the same as you. Getting rid of a Dementor is hard. Not even the most powerful witches or wizards can attempt it. But, if you're absolutely sure, I can teach you. Come by my office tomorrow after class. I'm going to see if Hillary wants to try it too since she had the same effect on the train with the Dementor."

Harry nodded and they headed back to the castle.

Hillary was just curled up in the common room, reading a book on werewolves. She liked reading as much about them as possible. Silver was the only known killer to werewolves. While she was growing up, she made sure that nothing in the house was silver or anything was silver plated.

She remembered one time when Remus was talking about her mother. He had a picture of her on the mantle piece of the fireplace. He'd picked up the frame, but there was a silver base to it mixed with titanium. His hand burned and he had to drop it. Hillary quickly scrambled to pick it up and she mended the photo with her wand.

After that, she vowed never to have anything silver in the house or anywhere near Remus at all.

She began thinking of Ron, Hermione and Harry. They were her all time best friends in the whole world. Hermione was clever and would more than likely pick up that Remus was a werewolf seeing as Remus got ill before each full moon. She was bound to pick up clues.

Ron was the middle of the three. He had a large family. His younger sister, Ginny, was a year behind them. She was in her 2nd year. Their father, Arthur Weasley, loved Muggles and was totally fascinated by them. She'd sent him a Muggle boombox along with several tapes. She knew he'd love it and sure enough, he was completely ecstatic about it.

Ron's older brothers, George and Fred, loved playing pranks on people. A few times they'd played a prank on her, causing her to wake up in school in either a body builders body, complete with muscles or they glued her to her seat in class.

This was in her 2nd year of course. It was so funny. Finally Hermione had come along and undid the damage.

Harry however, she oddly felt more drawn too. It was more than likely because both his parents and her mother were killed by Lord Voldemort. So there was a little deeper connection with him.

But even though, they were somewhat opposite with personalities, they all got along. Hillary smiled to herself. She was the luckiest girl.

Soon, she climbed into bed and dozed off.