ENIGMA

Chapter 29-A Mistake?

They left Hagrid. Hillary felt really awful for Hagrid and knew that Buckbeak was totally innocent in all this.

They headed back to the castle.

Hillary took refuge in the library. She was deeply depressed not being able to spend time with her father, and knowing how hard it must be for him to live with this curse. Luckily, her mother loved him regardless of the curse, but she wasn't sure if anyone would accept him like that ever again.

She was sure they would, but Remus himself, that was another story. He was extremely protective over Hillary and he probably wouldn't want to give it a shot with another girl.

Hillary involuntarily shivered about the thought of her fathers love life.

"Okay," she muttered aloud to herself. "Stop thinking of that or you'll end up back in the hospital wing in need of a Dreamless Sleep potion."

She cleared her throat.

She also felt bad about not telling Harry that Sirius was really his Godfather, and that he didn't turn in his parents' whereabouts. It was someone else whom they still had no clue and that was the scary thing.

It could be ANYONE and that is what has Hillary really alarmed.

She began getting sleepy, mostly from boredom and ended up dozing off there at the table with one arm stretched out across the table and her cheek pressed against the opened textbook.

She hadn't realized how long she'd dozed off until she felt someone gently shaking her. She snapped awake and realized it was Hermione.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked worriedly. She had a concerned expression on her face.

"Yeah," Hillary said clearing her throat and she quickly gathered her books up.

"How long have I been asleep here?" she asked standing up and quickly smoothing back her hair.

"About 4 hours," Hermione said still looking skeptical. "It's nearly dinner time. Professor Lupin actually sent me to find you. He was worried."

Bless Dad, Hillary thought to herself smiling.

"Sorry to have scared you guys," Hillary said. "I was just up doing some reading out of boredom."

Hermione nodded.

They left the library and headed down to the Great Hall.

Hillary took her seat at the Gryffindor table and raised her eyes to the Head table. She caught her father there, watching her. He had a relieved expression on his face before he turned to talk to Professor Snape.

Hillary's eyes moved onto Snape.

He had a smug expression on his face so Hillary quickly tore her eyes off of him and focused on the conversation that Ron, Hermione and Harry were having.

That night however, Hillary could not sleep a wink. It was around 10:00 at night. She decided to go for a walk in the castle. As she approached a corner, she saw a light from the tip of someone's wand. She froze, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Suddenly, the person came into view. Harry. He was studying a piece of parchment and had his wand lit.

"Harry," Hillary gasped jumping a mile from being startled.

Harry also jumped a mile from the surprise and felt his heart beating in his chest too.

"Hillary," he gasped. "What are you doing up?"

He quickly lowered the parchment.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk," Hillary replied. "What about you?"

"Same," Harry replied quickly.

Hillary raised an eyebrow at him skeptically.

She nodded toward the parchment.

"What's that?" she inquired.

Harry decided not to lie to her. He stared into her pretty face and felt his heart skip a few beats.

Whoa. Why am I feeling like that? She's my best friend! he thought clearing his throat.

"It's a map that Fred and George gave me," he explained standing next to her and showing her the map. "It shows everyone at Hogwarts."

"Cool," Hillary mused.

They continued to take a walk down the corridor. Suddenly, Harry spotted a name in the corridor a head of them.

David Owens

They slowly continued to make their way forward, using the light from Harry's wand. The name was getting closer to their own spots on the map.

Harry Potter and Hillary Lupin

Hillary stuck close to Harry as the bright tip of the light from his wand illuminated the corridor a head of them.

Harry glanced down at the map again. It said "David Owens" and they were practically right on top of him now, but ahead of them there was nothing…no one. Harry suddenly whirled around, but again there was no one there.

Just as Harry turned around Hillary spotted "Severus Snape" approaching. Harry quickly tapped his wand to the parchment and muttered "Mischief managed." Then, "Nox".

Suddenly another wand tip was lit up in front of them. It was Severus Snape.

"What are you two doing up at this hour?" he asked shrewdly, eyeing each of them. "And what is that?"

He gestured to the blank parchment Harry was holding.

"Spare bit of parchment," Harry replied innocently.

Severus looked skeptical and snatched it from Harry's hand.

"You didn't answer my question," he repeated. "What are you two doing up at this hour?"

"We couldn't sleep," Hillary replied honestly.

Severus sneered at her before turning his attention back to the parchment.

"Reveal your secret," he ordered.

Immediately, the ink lines began forming, outlining the entire Hogwarts perimeter. Hillary could see a message forming at the top of the parchment.

"Read that," Severus ordered, thrusting it back into Harry's hands.

Harry glanced at it and swallowed.

Hillary was laughing on the inside, but she kept a deadpan expression on her face when she read the message herself over Harry's shoulder.

"It says Messrs Mooney, Wormtail Padfoot and Prongs wish to congratulate Severus Snape and he should keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business," Harry relayed.

Severus went to take a step toward Hillary, but just then Hillary caught site of her father behind him.

"Everything alright? Severus?"

"Lu-pin," he said emphasizing the word. "I found your daughter and Potter walking along the corridor at this hour."

Remus' eyes moved onto Hillary and Harry.

"Everything alright you two?" he asked calmly.

Hillary nodded and so did Harry.

"Seems Harry has stumbled across a bit of dark magic," Severus said smugly and handed Remus the map. "And it's your area."

"I seriously doubt that," Remus said smiling as he looked it over. "It seems to just insult whomever reads it."

"It insulted me too," Hillary offered keeping her eyes on her father.

Severus went to reply, but Remus cut him off.

"Zonko's makes these," Remus offered.
Severus went to take it from Remus, but Remus held it out of his reach.

"In the meantime, I will look over it," he said his tone hardening. "Since it IS my area. Hillary? Harry? Please come with me. Good night, Severus."

Hillary and Harry stepped around Snape and followed Remus into his empty classroom. Hillary didn't want to see the look on Snape's face.

Once inside the classroom, Remus turned to Harry angry.

"Your parents gave their life and this is how you repay them?" Remus demanded. "I'm really disappointed in you."

Harry just hung his head.

Hillary sat on one of the desks.

"Things like this can be dangerous," Remus continued.

Harry nodded, looking guilty.

"You'd best head back to Gryffindor tower," Remus said as he placed the map on his desk.

Harry turned and went to leave, but he hesitated and turned to Remus.

"Sir? I think that map is defective," he said.

"Why's that?"

"Because it showed someone named David Owens but I didn't see anyone in the hall," Harry said before he turned and left the classroom.

Hillary moved her eyes onto her father.

He had a puzzled expression on his face, then realization.

"Dad? What is it?" Hillary inquired.

"I don't believe it," Remus said sounding shocked. "It can't be."

"Dad, what's wrong?" Hillary pressed sliding off the desk.

"The rat," Remus hissed kicking at his desk again, causing Hillary to jump from being startled.

Remus ignored Hillary as he began pacing the classroom now. All Hillary could do was watch.

"That night Michelle started the fire in the Great Hall…" Remus was muttering to himself. "Think Remus…where was Michael?"

FLASHBACK

Michelle was standing, facing Peter, who was slumped forward with his cheek pressing against the top of the desk surface. A pool of blood and collected near his mouth and was now on the table like a ruby orb.

Most of the Slytherin table had become overwhelmed with smoke inhalation and weren't moving.

David had pulled his Invisibility cloak on and Apparated out of the Hall. He was now standing outside the Hall. Under the cloak, he could see the teachers frantically trying to get in, then the doors suddenly snapping open and Potter, Black, Lupin and Evans leaving. The doors had snapped shut behind them. Lupin turned around and tried to bang on the door to get back in.

Smirking, David headed out of the castle and onto the grounds. He was going to see his master now. They had to get to work on the plan and get it into action as soon as possible…

END FLASHBACK

Remus froze. Come to think of it, he didn't see Michael in the Hall either. Nor was he in the group of students that were either suffering from smoke inhalation, those that succumbed to the smoke inhalation and 3rd degree burns, or the students that had unfortunately perished.

Alarm bells began going off in his head now.

Hillary shifted her weight on the desk and just stared at her hands. She knew enough not to bother her father when he was like this. Something was bothering him greatly. She could see it.

"That would explain it," Remus muttered again as he paced. "But why turn? Michelle really never did anything to him. There was no reason. The Dark Lord must've promised him something real good…good enough to want to turn against more than likely his family, friends and everyone else."

Hillary just twirled her hair around her fingers.

Remus suddenly realized what he was doing and sighed when he faced her.

"I'm sorry," he apologized sounding guilty. "I didn't mean to ignore you."

Hillary just shrugged.

"It's fine," she said. "What's going on though?"

Remus inhaled.

"You see, when your mother first accidentally set fire to the Hall, there was a boy named David Owens who, originally dumped something in her cauldron causing her hand to get burned. He didn't even apologize for it or anything. He was a Slytherin and he loved to torment your mother."

"Sort of like Malfoy," Hillary muttered.

Remus' lip twitched.

"Yes," he said nodding. "But I seriously doubt Malfoy would intentionally harm someone. David had been known to deliberately push people down the stairs and stuff. He makes Draco look like an angel."

"If that's possible," Hillary snorted. "Sorry Dad…go on."

Remus chuckled and continued.

"The night of the fire," Remus went on. "Your mother pushed Sirius, James, Lily and I out the doors. We went to get back in but she wouldn't let us. Anyway, we didn't see David come out nor did we see him inside the Hall and we KNEW he was there earlier. So, we presumed he managed to escape. But Harry saw him tonight on the map. Did you see him too?"

Hillary nodded.

"Yes, but when we looked, there was no one there," she explained. "No one ahead of us."

Remus frowned.

"Most strange," he mused.

Hillary nodded.

"Alright," Remus said. "You should really get back to the Gryffindor tower. Severus will probably be prowling around seeing if anyone's out of bounds."

"I think he's constipated," Hillary commented sliding off the desk.

Remus laughed.

"Don't let him hear you say that or else you'll end up in detention,"

Hillary shivered. She got up and went over to her father. She gave him a big, tight hug.

"I love you," she whispered.

"Love you too," Remus said squeezing her tightly back.

Hillary released him and left the classroom, leaving Remus to try and think of what happened to David.

Hillary climbed into bed that night, and slipped under the covers. She too, began wondering if the map wasn't mistaken. There had been no one a head of them in the corridor. They certainly would've seen anyone.

Shivering, Hillary slipped under the blankets more and pulled them up to her chin.

Shortly, she dozed off.

The next morning, she awoke and felt nice and fresh.

Hermione was going to spend most of the day in the library, looking up cases for Hagrid. Hillary really didn't want to spend the day back in the library, so she, Harry and Ron decided to take a walk along the grounds, enjoying the beautiful weather.

Hillary began wondering if there was a case where the Hippogriff got off. Secretly, she didn't think so. Especially if Malfoy's father had anything to do with it. That family wanted to get Hagrid canned for days now. It was the perfect opportunity.