AN: Hope everyone has had a good couple of weeks. It's been a bit tough for me but hey ho. I wanted to let everyone know that I'll not be posting for three to four weeks as I've got a paid writing project that's due on the 26th and I don't know how burnt out I'll be from that. It's very exciting because I'm literally earning money to write something, even though it's definitely not as much as I would like it to be. But it's an awesome experience.

So I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you all in three to four weeks time :)

Chapter 15: I told you to be patient, and I told you to be kind.

Christmas day came, and on any other day Halley would have been beyond content to just stay in bed, but the call of presents overwhelmed her. Other than the cloak, she hadn't gotten anything last year, and she hadn't found much chance to make use of it a lot.

The Dursleys had never let her celebrate with them. Halley was used to wash up and prepare things, and as soon as she was old enough to, they'd make her cook the dinner.

The first time she'd ever made it, she'd taken the chicken out too soon. When Vernon had cut into it, pink oozed out of the skin. He chucked the plate on the floor and told her to eat it.

Halley had been violently sick. It was one of the few times they'd taken her to the hospital because she'd just kept throwing up.

She never made that mistake again.

But it might have been the first time that Halley had ever seen the Dursleys act as if they cared about her. Petunia had cried and held Halley's hand, stroking her hair while she puked into a bedpan. Vernon had told her she was doing a good job, not crying.

Halley had seen the fond smiles the nurses gave them, and the watery one Petunia gave back. She knew then, no-one would ever believe her. And that it didn't matter what you did if you could put on a smile and cry when it mattered.

People could hide whatever they wanted, and no-one would question it.

And now, she had presents from people whose whole life was about pretending. What was she supposed to do with that?

She was stuck; she couldn't not open the presents, she couldn't not pretend to appreciate what Parkinson and Greengrass were doing. She did appreciate it. But she didn't trust it. She didn't trust them.

But she opened the presents all the same.

Following traditional Yuletide gifts, Greengrass had given her a pendant with lavender, lemon balm and passionflower enclosed in resin. It was small and easy to put under her shirt, or equally under her pillow. Greengrass had said it was enchanted to help the user fall asleep quicker, and though it wasn't as potent as Dreamless Sleep, it would curb nightmares.

Parkinson had sent her a set of three intrinsically carved candles to burn for the thirteenth night during meditation. She recognised the Elder Futhark rune carved into the wax from class.

Kennaz represented the torch and symbolised vision, creativity, inspiration and vitality. Wunjo represented joy and the embodiment of it; it symbolised pleasure, comfort, harmony, reward and success. Algiz represented Elk, though Halley often wondered if that was a translation issue because ilk fit better with what the rune symbolised: protection, defence, instinct, group effort and guardianship.

The runes were carved into interlinking circles and a pentagram. Halley didn't recognise that, but it was a pretty design.

Parkinson was clearly and unsubtly telling her that she would be ok, things would turn out alright and she had people in her corner. It was a nice gesture and Halley wanted to believe it, but she wasn't sure.

Maybe lighting the candles would help.

But there was a third present wrapped somewhat disparagingly. Halley picked it up and turned it around in her hand; there was a note in handwriting that was familiar, but it took her a moment to realise who it was from.

Professor Lupin.

More curious than before, Halley found the seam held together by spellotape and hooked one finger under it. The wrapping paper gave way and little by little it showed a large smooth leather-bound album.

Halley let the wrapping paper drop and carefully ran a finger over the italic writing. The Potters.

She placed it on the floor and gently, slowly, opened the album. The very first picture was of them at, what Halley assumed, was their Hogwarts Graduation. They were smiling, and Lily was kissing James' cheeks, waving a roll of parchment around above their heads.

Halley had seen her parents before, obviously, but something about seeing them in pictures rather than...the mirror...or in her own facial expressions was different. People had said to her so often that she looked like her father but had her mother's eyes. But as Halley looked at the pictures more carefully, she had to disagree.

The most noticeable difference was her hair. Halley touched it instinctively.

She had James' unruly hair, but only because hers spiralled into seemingly untameable, loose corkscrew curls that would clump together after they were wet if she didn't brush them through in the shower. James' hair didn't seem to have any curl to it, but Lily's had a loose wave in the pictures.

The curls weren't really from either of them, but her hair was the same black as James'. Though sometimes there would be a hint of dark red when she'd been out in the sun long enough.

And Halley's eyes were green, but they weren't the same shade of green as Lily's. Not really. They were more...vivid. There was an almost unnatural tint to them that would make them blaze emerald when she was angry enough. She would know, it was one of the things Vernon or Petunia would beat her for. That look!

She swallowed and moved on, pushing those thoughts aside.

The next picture was them in a pub with a younger Lupin and a chubby, small-eyed, scrunched nose man. They were all toasting something and grinning at whoever was behind the camera, beckoning them over.

Then a picture of Lily and Petunia, surprisingly, looking like they were happy to see each other. This was more of a family picture; people who looked more like Lily stood on her side and Vernon's parents on his side. This one wasn't a Wizarding photo, but Halley could imagine the fidgeting and movement that would have gone on in the background.

Another page, and this time it was James and what Halley believed were his parents. They were all dark hair and brown eyes, though the older woman seemed to have very startling grey ones. The inscription under this photo said Auror Graduation, 1980.

She knew, just from her research, that they would be Charles and Dorea Potter. But she knew very little else other than facts and statistics. They would have died within a year of that picture being taken.

When she turned the page again, she blinked. Halley hadn't realised she'd been holding her breath until she was forced to intake air at the picture.

It was their wedding day.

James' hair was somehow tamed, a feat that had yet to be accomplished in the previous photos' and he was nervously fiddling with a bow-tie as a man with long black hair slapped his back happily. Lily was almost done walking down a floral archway and her green eyes - the eyes that everyone said Halley had - were alight with a level of happiness Halley had never seen before.

Something in her burned. Anger bubbled in her blood. Why did they get to be so happy?

Then they looked at Halley, simultaneously. It reminded her too much of the Mirror. Too much of the Boggart.

She couldn't do it.

Halley slammed the book shut.

She ran a tongue over her lips that were suddenly feeling dry and rough and called for one of the Hogwarts Elves. A little thing, one smaller than normal, answered and gave her the glass of water when she asked for it. Before Halley could even thank her, the House Elf was gone.

As she sipped on the water trying to bring herself back to balance, her eyes gazed to the side to see a letter on the floor where it hadn't been before. It must have slipped out of the album or been hidden underneath it in the wrapping paper and she just hadn't noticed it.

With a wary hand, Halley picked it up and turned it over to see her name in the now familiar handwriting. This was also from Professor Lupin.

She opened the letter and skimmed it. The letter had indents and impressions that looked like the professor had crossed out lines on another piece of paper that had been resting on top of the one she was holding in her hand.

There were lines running through some of the sentences on this version of parchment as well, and it was only a short letter.

Dear Halley,

I put this together from a collection of pictures I had of your parents and others. I didn't know whether you had any of your own, and I didn't want to thought it might be a good gift to give you this Christmas - or do you celebrate Yule?

I was hoping you would be amenable to spending some time together before dinner? I would like to get to know you and maybe I can answer some any questions you may have about your parents.

We were all good friends during our Hogwarts years. Particularly your dad and I.

Warm regards,
Professor
Remus

Halley had the strongest inclination that this a carry on from whatever latent guilt he was feeling, and she wasn't sure she wanted any part in it.

She didn't want to be a means to an end, or a way to clear his conscience for whatever part he felt he'd played in their deaths.

Really, she couldn't care less.

But a small part of her wondered why it mattered. She was going to be spending more than enough time with Professor Lupin after the holidays if she was going to master the protection spell for the Dementors. Would it make that much difference for her to spend a few hours with him before dinner?

Halley tried to figure out what the warring emotions were, and where they were coming from.

Some part of it seemed to be coming from a desire to just...distance herself completely from her parents, and what they seemed to represent to everyone around her.

When she saw the differences between her, James and Lily, the relief was palpable. Halley was crafting her own personality, her own identity. It helped that she was in Slytherin. It helped that she didn't actually look the spitting image of her father with her mother's eyes.

She didn't want to. It would have made her angry if she did.

But she didn't necessarily want everyone to know that either; hiding under the name Potter gave her more leeway than outright rejecting it, that much was clear.

Parkinson and Greengrass had forced her to consider just how she would need to navigate being the Potter Heir. She wanted to stay neutral, but until she could establish herself enough to be that way, it would be ridiculously dumb to distance herself from an old family friend.

Halley looked down at the photo album and the letter and she suddenly felt tired.

For the first time, she wondered why she had made the hat put her in Slytherin. She'd never been so tired. She hoped it would be worth it, but she would never know. Not till it was too late.

Halley let the parchment drop and collected all the presents she received, placing them at the foot of her bed. Then she called for the House Elf again.

"What can Dinky do for miss?" the small Elf asked.

Was it ironic, or just cruel that it was the Elf's name? "Could you tell Professor Lupin that I'll accept his offer, and will meet him in a place of his choosing two hours before dinner?"

Dinky nodded and popped out of the room with a snap of her fingers. No more than five minutes later she was back. "The Professor is very happy and is wanting Miss to be meeting him in his office."

"Thank you, Dinky.'

Then the Elf was gone again, and Halley was left alone. With nothing else to do - homework had been completed the first and second day of the holidays - she wrote thank-you notes for her gifts and tried not to think about her upcoming meeting.

Professor Lupin's office was somehow exactly what she had expected, and nothing like it as well; there were knick-knacks and books lining shelves. Some were scattered on his desk alongside pieces of parchment and broken quills.

There was a surprising amount of light coming from a large circular window. Just under the windowpane was a glass enclosure, a fish tank, but it wasn't fish inside. Instead there was a slimy looking creature with wide black beady eyes, two arms with only three claw-like fingers apiece and tentacles like an octopus. The creatures stared at Halley with its unblinking eyes, and she stared back with a frown.

It's a grindylow," Professor Lupin said.

Halley cut her eyes to the man. As she did so the creature began swimming around the tank in circles aggressively pumping its tentacles.

"Why do you have it?" Halley asked.

"It's - um -" he cleared his throat, "they are very useful for certain potions."

Halley turned away from the tank. Whatever potion it was, it was obvious that Lupin didn't want her asking any more questions about it, so she let it go.

"Would you like some tea?" Lupin didn't wait for her to answer before he started organising the pot and cups. Halley cleared her throat and shook her head.

"I don't like tea," she said.

"Oh," he said surprised, "well I think I have a butterbeer here."

"I don't like butterbeer either," she told him. That one shocked him even more.

"Really? Do you mind me asking why?"

She did mind. She had indulged too much the first year she'd come to Hogwarts, drinking anything, everything, she could because she'd never seen anything like it. And while the honest to god gut-wrenching stomach ache had been a terrible thing to experience, it had been worth it.

All the way up until she had left for summer, and it was all wrenched from her. The Dursleys fed her scraps and water once again, and the sweet treats and food she'd had over term time became just another thing they used against her.

Her body had become accustomed to regular food and sugar. Adjusting to the Dursleys' portions had been hard. The weight she gained went within a month and a half, and Halley had starved.

The following years she became more careful, and she swore she wouldn't have sweets until she never had to go through that again.

"I'm not a big fan of sweet things," she told Professor Lupin.

"That's a bit of a surprise. Both your mum and dad had a big sweet tooth." He stopped abruptly, looking nervous, but he gathered himself up fairly quickly. "At least you won't need to take trips to the dentist."

"You know what a dentist is?" It was Halley' turn to be surprised. Nothing about him screamed pure blood, of course, for dentists are a particular brand of muggle society. Knowing about dentists meant you knew a lot more than the average wizard.

"Half-blood. Muggle father. He - well - he wanted me to remember where I came from. He was…naive in the end."

If ever there was a vague statement.

Halley nodded and sat down on one of the stools scattered along the edge of the walls.

"What can I offer you then?" he asked with some more pep.

"Orange juice, if you have it."

Lupin smiled. "I do, as it happens, it's my favourite."

Halley smiled back and took the juice as it was offered to her. Lupin also chose it over the tea and sat opposite her. The space between them bred awkwardness, but it didn't bother Halley. She had learnt to deal with silence a long time ago. Sometimes, it was even useful.

"Thank you for the photo album," she finally said.

"Did you like it?" he asked immediately.

Halley nodded and sipped her juice. "I didn't have any of my own pictures. It's nice to finally know what they looked like."

Lupin frowned. "Didn't you have any pictures in your house? Professor Dumbledore said that you were taken in by your aunt and uncle."

"Not really." She left it at that because she wasn't going to get into all of it if she could help it. She didn't want his pity. "But it doesn't matter because now I have some, so thank you. Where did you find them?"

Halley was right in thinking that asking him a question would - at the very least - momentarily draw him away from that train of thought.

"I had some of them. Their wedding and graduation pictures, for example. Some came from friends of the family and some…" he swallowed. "Some were from Godric's Hollow."

That was the name of their home - well, it was Halley's at one point as well. All that was left of it was a shrine to people long-dead.

"Did you know them well?" she asked, "back when you went to Hogwarts?"

"Very well." There was a shift in Lupin; his eyes seemed to light up and the smile on his face was both joyful and sad. But what was most telling was how he lent back on his stool against the wall and the tension that, up till that point had been palpable, visibly melted away.

He suddenly looked much younger and far happier.

"We were a bunch of troublemakers. Called ourselves the Marauders." He smiled. "I can tell you about it if you want. Do you have specific questions?"

Funnily enough, or maybe it wasn't so odd, Halley didn't have any questions. So she just listened to the stories Professor Lupin told her. Some were funny and most were about her dad.

What was interesting was that, as he was telling her the stories, there were elements he was obviously changing. He spoke about a friend called Peter, himself and James but there were parts that didn't add up or there were sections that he rushed over.

Halley was pretty sure it had to do with Sirius Black and the fact that they were close enough for her parents to make him both Secret Keeper and her Godfather. Davis had been such a well of information that day on the train. But at least she knew now. It wasn't something that could be held over her head, like Malfoy was prone to doing. While she wasn't 100% clear on what a Secret Keeper was or why it was so important, she knew what a Godfather was.

But she didn't say anything. At some point Halley had realised that she would be able to get information from him that neither Dumbledore, nor any of the other adults that supposedly had her best interests at heart, wouldn't give her.

Maybe Sirius black would be a piece of the information but not if she jumped in on the first meeting.

She had also realised that there was something more to her parents than martyrs who were champions of Justice. Her father sounded like someone she wouldn't have associated with and her mother sounded vaguely... interesting. She would have had to be clever in order to become Prefect and head girl as a Muggleborn at the very least.

At the end of his last story, Professor Lupin cast a spell to tell them the time and he looked pleasantly surprised that the two hours had passed by so quickly. "Look at that! We should get to dinner."

Halley replaced her empty glass on the silver tray on his desk. When she turned to him he was looking at her fondly. "Thank you," she said simply.

"Oh! I - you're welcome Halley," he replied. His eyes became glassy. "I - would you like to meet again?"

"As well as our extra Defence lessons?"

Lupin blinked like he'd forgotten all about them and swallowed again. "Maybe not. But, if you'd like, you can stay a bit longer afterwards."

Halley put a smile on her face. "I'd like that, sir."

"You can call me Remus if you want - outside of lessons of course," he added quickly.

Halley hesitated.

"Only if you want to!" he repeated.

"I'll...think about it," she said.

"Of course." His cheeks turned slightly pink, and he coughed to clear his throat. "Shall we make our way to the Great Hall then?"

Halley nodded slowly, not exactly wanting to advertise the fact that she and the Defence teacher were talking to the rest of Slytherin house. But as they neared the hall he let her go in and then moved around her barely looking in her direction.

No one paid any notice at her table and she tucked in when the food arrived. Only Rowle grinned at her with that annoyingly attractive smirk, but that was apparently nothing new.

"Are you ready for tonight, Potter?" Rowle asked.

A hush fell over the Seventh Year Slytherins that set off a small chain reaction. Soon, the rest of the Houses were quiet, but when nothing happened, the chatter picked up again.

"You've invited her?!" one of Rowle's lackeys asked. She'd still not learnt their names.

"Of course, Yaxley," he said as he lazily brought a forkful of mash, pork, and gravy to his mouth. "She's a Slytherin after all. Should she not engage in Yule traditions?"

"She's thirteen!"

"And an Heiress," Rowle drawled.

Halley clenched her own knife in her hand. A spike of annoyance rushed through her though she made sure it didn't show on her face. "The offer is kind Lord Rowle -" the reminder that he was not in fact Heir to his house was enough to make that arrogant smirk fall off his face. Halley got a shot of petty happiness from that. "But I will be using this evening to meditate with my magic in solitude. It can be a delicate process, as I'm sure you know."

She was going to do no such thing - not till she properly understood just how the magic of Yule worked - but it stopped Rowle from harassing her, and it gave her a chance to be alone tonight. She'd already socialised more than enough with Lupin.

Halley was anxious for the holidays to come to an end; she was going to ambush Parkinson and Greengrass as soon as they were back and the room was free. Hopefully they would have enough answers to satisfy most of her Unbreakable Vow questions.

Not only that, but the new term meant that Halley wouldn't need to work as hard to ignore the piercing gaze of Dumbledore. Unsurprisingly, it was hard to do when he was at most meals.

Halley looked over to the staff table and noticed that Dumbledore was actually looking her way. Less that he was looking at her, but more at the Slytherins that had dragged themselves in moments before lunch was going to be served. Only a few of them had made it to breakfast, and Halley knew that they had stumbled out of the common room a few hours past midnight.

She didn't know what Dumbledore would make of their sudden presence, but it didn't stop her from getting frustrated that he was even paying such close attention to the Slytherins in the first place.

At least he wasn't looking at her. He'd not asked to speak to her since September, but she knew that he still questioned her story. He had to.

If she was in his position, Halley would definitely question herself.

At least there hadn't been any unprovoked fits of rage recently. That eased her mind somewhat, but she had also decided to just ignore it unless it happened again. There was too much racing around in her mind to add it to the list.

The sound of owl wings echoed through the Great Hall a couple of seconds before a flurry of feathers and claws flooded the room with their hoots and packages. Halley kept her eyes trained on the two or three Muggleborns whose eyes still lit up in excitement as they caught the packages from their family and she hoped they'd be able to hold onto it.

A thud drew her attention to the owl that had landed in front of her.

Halley jumped in surprise. That was not Hedwig. The owl in front of her was larger than her snowy owl and had a fluffy underbelly of brown down feathers. As it spread its wings, the same smoky oak brown peppered through its plumage and a dark coal colour formed deep 'V' patterns from the base of its head to its tail feathers.

Its eyes were a deep amber, almost orange, and they were looking at her with something like interest. It was all the funnier to see because the owl looked like it had giant bushy eyebrows poking above its head.

The owl hooted gently and held its leg out to Halley. There was a letter attached to it.

"Whose owl are you?" she asked while taking the letter and giving the owl a piece of bacon from the large plate of it to her side. The owl happily munched on the bacon, hooted once more and then, with a powerful flap of its wings that had the napkin flying with the gust of air, took off.

Whoever had sent the owl wasn't expecting a response then.

Halley looked at the letter. She'd been given a lot of them this month; apparently, December was the season for letters.

The writing was familiar so she opened the letter. She didn't think much about the words until she got halfway through, and then Halley took on a green tinge to her already pale face.

Her hand trembled as she put the letter into her pocket. With her appetite gone, Halley tried very hard not to throw up all over the table. She wasn't able to leave too quickly without drawing attention to herself so she stayed put.

The words written on the page were crystal clear in her mind's eye.

You've been drawing quite a lot of attention, Miss Potter. Careful now. You wouldn't want to break your promise, would you?

They weren't the only words on the page, but they were the ones that struck her with fear.

Riddle had someone watching her at Hogwarts.

AN: PLEASE READ

The letter is supposed to have sections that are crossed out to convey Remus' awkwardness and nervousness about writing to Halley but FFN won't FORMAT IT THAT WAY. It's very annoying and I don't know how to fix it, so I hope it didn't confuse you too much. *sigh*

See you in three to four weeks.