Paige leans against her usual tree, looking up at the clear night sky. The full moon illuminating the forest around her. She only looks away when she can hear footsteps approaching her. She takes a deep breath as Severus walks up to her.
"I heard the Colonel is coming back tomorrow." Severus says, stopping in front of her.
"Yeah." Paige replies quietly.
"I'm guessing it has something to do with one of your team members getting attacked at the second task." He says, looking into her eyes.
"Yeah." Was all Paige could say.
"I guess this will be our last night then." He responds, looking down at the ground.
"Sev…" She whispers to him, trying to find the courage to tell him what she's been feeling.
"I hope you have safe travels back home Captain Asher." Severus says, turning away from her.
"Severus." She manages to say louder, getting him to stop.
She takes a step closer to him.
"I want to stay here with you." She says quietly to him, pushing through her nerves.
He turns back around to face her.
"Then you're more foolish than I thought." He says coldly to her. "Why would you want to stay when you have so much waiting for you back home?"
"I… um… I." Paige tries to stutter out, but the words not coming to her.
Severus turns away from her again and starts walking away. Paige suddenly feels her body flush red hot, so much so that she thought she was going to start sweating in the chilly winter air. She feels her stomach tie in a knot, repeatedly as butterflies fly freely around the inside of her entire body.
"I love you." She says, loud enough of him to hear her.
He stops.
"I can't stop these feeling I have for you Severus. Going back to my old life seems pointless in comparison to the last six months here." She says, stepping forwards closer to him. "I will trade everything right here, right now… for you."
Severus hangs his head, keeping his back to her.
"I'm sorry if I mislead my intentions. This was physical and nothing more." He says quietly to her, a small choke in his voice.
"Are you saying you don't want me to stay?" Paige asks him, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Yes, that's what I'm saying." He whispers as he walks away from her.
Paige holds her chest with both of her hands tightly, trying to hold her heart together from breaking apart inside. She falls to her knees, unable to hold herself up any longer. A green fire suddenly surrounding her as she sobs uncontrollably. The moonlight acting as a spotlight in her weakest moment.
Paige didn't sleep when she got back from her shift. She packed her belongings and waited at the foot of her bed, staring at the wall, waiting for the meeting with Colonel Andrews.
"If you don't leave now, you're going to be late." Otakemaru whispers to her in a comforting voice when it was time for the meeting.
"Okay." Paige says in a monotone voice.
Paige walks out of her room, still in a daze and slowly makes her way to Hogwarts.
She slowly ascends the stairs to Dumbledore's office and knocks on the door.
"Come in." Paige could hear Dumbledore's furious voice say from the other side.
Paige enters the room and sees Dumbledore standing behind his desk with Colonel Andrews leaning over the other side of it. Colonel Andrew's face is beet red and only gets redder when he sees Paige. He swiftly crosses the room, grabs the front of Paige's robes and holds her up against the wall, her feet dangling off the ground.
"Are you trying to make me look like an idiot Captain Asher?" He yells in her face.
"No sir." Paige says to him, a blank look on her face.
"Colonel Andrews release her immediately." Dumbledore threatens as he moves from behind his desk.
"Stay out of this Albus, I will handle my team as I see fit." Colonel Andrews barks at him from over his shoulder.
"I'm sorry sir." Paige says emotionless, not having the energy to fight back.
Colonel Andrews focuses back on Paige.
"Can you see how bad it makes me look having to make TWO trips over seas to reign you in because you can't handle your mission or your team!" He spat, inches away from Paige's face.
"I take full responsibility sir." Paige says, still unfazed with everything happening around her.
"Colonel Andrews, I will not ask you again. Un-hand Captain Asher." Dumbledore demands moving closer to them, fury burning in his normally gentle blue eyes.
Colonel Andrews slowly releases Paige from his grip, her feet now touching the ground.
"You're losing your touch Captain Asher that's for sure. Don't want you getting into the habit of losing members of your team." He says harshly to her, still inches away from her face.
Paige doesn't react. She couldn't feel his harsh words. She couldn't feel anything.
"You better believe I'm going to watching you like a hawk until I feel like you've snapped out of whatever funk you've been in." He says, looking at her with distain.
"Yes sir." She replies, looking him directly in his eyes.
"You're lucky the Department of Aurors is so fond of you Captain or else I would take that promotion from right under you." He utters, finally moving away from her.
"I understand sir." Paige says to him.
"You better understand Captain. Now get the fuck out of my face and get your team ready. We leave in twenty." He says waving his hand in frustration, tired of looking at her.
Paige quickly glances at Dumbledore, who was now sitting at the edge of his desk. He takes one look into her eyes before looking down at the ground.
She leaves the office without another word, just wanting to leave this place. She walks quickly through the school, not looking back, not wanting to see him again. She must hold it together a little longer. Soon she can go back to the way she was before meeting him. Soon, she can go back to focusing on her career and not on idiotic things like love.
She gets to the Tavern and sprints up the stairs and back up to her room. She opens the door and takes her already packed bag and throws it out into the hallway. Quickly checking the room to make sure she didn't leave anything behind. She hears a door open from across the hall.
"Hey what's happening?" Ripley asks her as he steps out into the hallway.
"Pack up, we leave for home in twenty minutes." Paige says, trying to hold her emotions back.
"Where are you going?" Ripley asks as she picks up her bag and slings it over her shoulder.
"The Harbor. I need to get out of here." She replies to him, her voice cracking as she tries even harder to push everything deep down inside her. Wanting to close that door that got her into this mess in the first place.
Yankis and Hernandez both open their doors and peak out into the hallway.
"What's happening Captain?" Yankis asks her.
"I'll make sure everyone is ready to go. Thank you for patrolling the Harbor while we get ready." Ripley says, catching onto Paige's emotions and helping her get out of here.
"Thank-you" Paige whispers to him as both Yankis and Hernandez go back into their rooms and start packing their things.
"See you soon." Ripley says as she walks past him and down the hallway.
He turns and bangs on Bobcat's door.
"Pack your things, we're heading home in twenty." He yells at him through the door.
Paige quickly descends the stairs to the tavern and drops her room key on the bar counter without saying a word.
She takes a deep breath of air as she feels her tears trying to escape. She puts her hands in her pockets to double check she has her boarder papers. She pulls out what she thought was her boarder papers, but it was the piece of paper Dumbledore gave her the first night they arrived. It was the address of the letters she was to send out for him. Curious, she opens the piece of paper. It just says, "He loves you" written in ink on it. She closes her eyes and clenches the paper in her hand tightly, crumpling it. She inhales slowly then exhales as she apparates out of Hogsmeade and to the Harbor.
"Paige?" She hears Theodard voice say from behind her.
Paige is sitting on the steps to his porch, her bag next to her on the ground. She was staring ahead into the trees.
"I didn't expect you home so early, how did everything…" He suddenly stops when Paige looks back at him, tears flowing from her eyes.
Theodard sits down next to her on the steps.
"Tell me about it." He says wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
"I can't." Paige says as she covers her face with her hands.
"Can't or won't?" he asks her, giving her a bit of tough love.
"You're going to be so disappointed in me." Paige says sinking down further into herself, placing her head on her knees.
"It's going to take a lot of me to be disappointed in you kid." Theodard says with a chuckle as he rubs her back gently.
"Well brace for impact on this one." Paige replies to him sarcastically.
Paige sits back up and takes a deep breath to calm down before speaking again.
"I risked my job and career. I fell in love with someone I shouldn't have, and in the end it didn't matter because he didn't love me back." Paige says, trying to hold back more tears. "Turns out I was nothing more than a plaything to him."
She touches the necklace around her neck, resisting the temptation to just rip it off.
"I feel so ashamed and embarrassed, and I hope you can forgive me for almost throwing everything we works so hard to achieve away." She continues, wiping more tears from her face.
Theodard stands up from the steps and walks back into the cabin. Paige closes her eyes, the feeling of shame washing over her. She was waiting for him to yell at her, tell her how disappointed he was in her. She wasn't ready to hear it. She was already a fragile mess, and this was going to send her over a 50-foot cliff.
It never came, instead he comes back to the steps and wraps a blanket over Paige's shoulders and sits back down next to her. Paige looks at him in surprise and confusion.
"I don't know why you think I care so much about your job so much." Theodard says to her with a chuckle.
"Because it's what you've been training me for." Paige replies, still in shock.
"I've been training you for whatever you wanted to be trained for. I would have trained you the same way if you wanted to be a Quidditch star, but you heard your parents were Aurors and went straight to the stars with it." Theodard explains to her. "I just want you to be happy."
Paige leans over and rests her head on his shoulder, feeling immense gratitude for Theodard in this moment.
"Just out of pure curiosity, why were you at risk for being fired?" He asks her.
"Because he was one of the Professors at Hogwarts." Paige replies, glancing up at him.
"He's an idiot Paige, I don't know what else to say. You don't have to prove yourself to me or anyone else." He says, wrapping his arm around her. "One day someone will see you for all of you and love every bit of it."
"It just felt so real. I don't understand how I was fooled so easily." Paige says, choking back more tears. "I guess I really am too naïve and too much of an idiot to think I was worthy of his love.
He hugs her tighter.
"It is him who is not worthy of a love such as yours." He whispers, her now sobbing in his arms.
Severus' last words echoing in her head like some sort of sick nightmare merry-go-round spinning around and around inside.
"Like all pain, this too will pass Paige. You just have to give it time." Theodard continues.
The emotions were too much to try and suppress. They open like a flood gate being released. She turns her face into his chest and cries harder.
"I loved him so much. I've handled so much pain before, but nothing like this." Paige cries. "Why does this hurt so much?"
He just sits holding her in his arms, trying everything in his power to hold her together and to comfort her broken heart.
Its been about four months since Paige left Hogwarts behind. She stepped up into her new position as Major Asher and was welcomed with open arms into the Department of Aurors.
It was nothing like she expected it was going to be. She thought she would be in the field and leading a team, not filling our mass amounts of paperwork, attending meeting after meeting, briefing after briefing and only getting to go on the occasional mission if it wasn't too far away from the office.
She found out that the top level Aurors are the ones who do the interviews with the press, so it's perceived that they were the ones out there doing all those amazing missions and saving all those lives. It was a hard pill to swallow, but Paige tried to make the best of it.
It was a lazy summer day near the end of June. Paige was sitting at her desk wearing her new scarlet Major robes. She admits she misses her black robes, but it's not something she could change. She's opening a stack of letters like she does every morning, the start of her dull routine in her dull life. She picks up the last letter in the stack and her body goes numb when she sees who the letter is from.
"A. Dumbledore."
She quickly tears the letter open and reads it. She immediately gets up from her desk after reading the last sentence, leaving her office and walking at a fast pace through the halls of the Department of Aurors. Small embers erupting inside her for the first time in months. She reaches the double doors to the Senate office, pulling on the first set of the doors to enter, but is stopped when someone grabs her shoulder.
"What do you think you're doing Major Asher?" Colonel Andrews asks, spinning her around.
"I need to have a meeting with the Senate. I have urgent news." Paige replies sternly.
"Have you lost your mind?" He asks her as he grabs her arm and starts dragging her away from the door. "You don't just walk into the Senate office expecting a meeting with them. Take it up the chain of command."
"Please let me go. I need to speak with them. It's an important matter." She says, ripping out of his grip and turning back to the door.
He grabs the back of her cloak and pulls her away from the door again. She stumbles backwards a few steps, trying to regain her balance. She looks back at Colonel Andrews who is standing in front of the doors with his arms crossed.
"Are you disobeying a direct order Major Asher?" He asks her, his face turning red.
Paige says nothing, she just tries to push past him. He grabs her again and throws her to the ground in front of him.
"I said fuck off Major. You're not having a meeting with the Senate." He says in a low growl. "Now go be a good little solider and go back to your office before I decide to report you for your defiance."
Paige slowly got back to her feet. She walks back up to Colonel Andrews, who is still standing with his arms crossed in front of the door. She smirks as she cocks her fist back and punches Colonel Andrews in the nose.
"What the fuck." He yells as he falls to his knees holding his nose.
Paige then kicks him between his legs, hitting his nuts. He holds his hands between his legs and falls over into the fetal position. She opens the door to the Senate office, stepping over him to enter. She slowly walks though another set of double doors, entering a large room with a large circular, horseshoe arrangement of desks. A large area in the middle empty except a small podium and a light directly above it.
"Major Asher, everything alright out there? We heard a commotion." An older man says standing up from his chair near the middle of the desks.
He was wearing black and white robes while everyone else at the desks were wearing white, and the guards surround the outer walls wearing black.
"Everything's fine Senator Watson, my apologies for interrupting." Paige says, slowly stepping forward.
Senator Watson waves his hand to the podium in the middle of the room. Paige's heart pounding a million beats per minute like she was on Weaselwood potion again. She looks around as she gets to the podium, about fifty Senators with all their eyes on her.
"What do we owe the pleasure, Major Asher?" Senator Watson asks with a friendly smile. "Everything going well with your transfer?"
"Yes, sir. Thank-you." Paige replies, holding the letter in front of her, trying to find her courage.
"Be quick, what do you want?" Another Senator barks at her.
Paige takes a deep breath and holds up her letter from Dumbledore.
"I just got word from Dumbledore. He says the Dark Lord has returned and he's requesting out help." Paige says, looking directly at Senator Watson.
There was silence before they all start chuckling between themselves. Paige looks at them in confusion.
"This isn't a joke. We must send troops to help defend against he-who-must-not-be-named." Paige urges.
"My dear child. So naïve to believe in such a senile old man." Senator Watson says with a smirk.
"What are you talking about? The signs have been there to indicate his power has been growing." Paige insists.
"The Ministry of Magic have been investigating and they've all been hoaxes." A female Senator chimes in, standing up from her desk on the left.
"All of them? Every single one of them? That sounds highly unlikely." Paige replies as she turns to face her.
She turns back to Senator Watson.
"What about the Dark Marks that have been appearing all over Europe? What about the Death Eater's mark getting darker?" Paige asks him. "If you do not trust the word of Dumbledore, trust mine."
"You're telling us that the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, is wrong?" Senator Watson asks her.
"Yes sir." Paige says back to him sternly.
The Senators all chuckle again.
"Look I know what I saw with my own two eyes. I have every reason to believe the Dark Lord as returned." Paige says to them desperately. "We need to make a move. Now."
"We don't take orders from lower-level officials such as yourself Major Asher, I suggest you remember your place." Senator Watson says to her in a stern voice.
"So, you will do nothing?" Paige asks him.
"There is nothing to do when there is nothing there." He snaps at her, slamming his hand on his desk.
Paige looks around the room in disbelief.
"Is this what you all think?" Paige asks the room.
Silence.
"You're all cowards." She mutters.
"Excuse me?" Senator Watson asks, raising his voice.
"I said you're all cowards. I would feel ashamed of yourselves if I were you. Our fellow ally over seas is asking for help and you will sit here and do nothing." Paige says, looking back at Senator Watson.
"We are allies with the Ministry of Magic, not Albus Dumbledore." Senator Watson says, glaring at Paige. "We listen to their word and not his."
Before Paige could reply, Colonel Andrews bursts into the room.
"You little bitch." He says as he starts to charge over to Paige.
"Guards." Senator Watson says as he waves his hand at Colonel Andrews.
The guards step forward, grabbing Colonel Andrews before he reaches Paige. Dried blood under his nose from when she punched him.
"What is the meaning of this anarchy Colonel Andrews?" Senator Watson asks him, as Colonel Andrews tries to break free from the guard's grip.
"Major Asher attacked me in the hallways when told she wasn't authorized to have a meeting with the Senate." He spat out, his fury raging red hot as his face.
"Is this true Major Asher?" Senator Watson asks Paige, looking back at her.
"Yes, sir." Paige admits with a smirk.
Some of the Senators whisper amongst themselves.
"Perhaps we jumped the gun on your promotion Major Asher. Overlooked your inexperience in favor for your skills and talents." Senator Watson says, sitting down in his chair.
"Will you not fight?" Paige asks him, ignoring his comment about demoting her.
"What is there to fight, Major Asher? Shadows? Whispers?" He asks back calmly, folding his hands together on his desk.
Paige recalls the conversation with Dumbledore after the second task. She walks past the podium and stands in front of Senator Watson. She leans over his desk to look him in the eyes more directly.
"I hope you remember this day Senator Watson. The day Albus Dumbledore asked for your help, and you turned your back on him. I hope it keeps you awake at night knowing you could have prevented mass executions that are to come in the days ahead. It will be marked in history that you sat, comfy and cozy behind your desk while innocent people lie dead in the streets." Paige says to him in disgust.
"Guards." He says without breaking eye contact with her. "Please remove Miss Asher from these chambers and from the building. Effective immediately you are dishonorably discharged from the Department of Aurors and every other branch of our Government Agency in the United States due to insubordination."
He stares coldly into her eyes and two guards' approach behind her.
"I don't need to be escorted; I will leave peacefully." Paige says to the guards, still not breaking her eye contact with Senator Watson.
Paige swiftly removes her scarlet cloak and drops it to the ground in front of him. Uproars from the other Senators erupt as she turns away from him. She looks at Colonel Andrews on her way out of the room, stopping in front of him.
"By the way." Paige says looking from Colonel Andrews back to Senator Watson.
The room goes quiet to listen to her. She looks down at the letter from Dumbledore that was still in her hand. She looks back at Senator Watson.
"Colonel Andrews has been fucking your wife, Senator Watson." Paige says with a huge grin before exiting the room. Leaving it in chaos.
Paige lays with her eyes closed, swinging in a hammock out in Theodard's yard back in Alaska. They were experiencing a heat wave, but she still couldn't feel the warmth of the sun. Still to numb to feel anything since leaving Hogwarts and leaving Severus.
A gentle breeze blows across her as the leaves in the trees near by rustle lazily in the wind. She wonders if she would feel again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by two sets of footsteps approaching. Paige squints her eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight and notice Ripley walking with Theodard towards her.
"Rip, what are you doing here?" Paige asks, sitting up from the hammock.
"Heard about your meeting with the Senate." Ripley says with a smirk.
"Yeah, well then you heard they also fired my ass." Paige replies with a smirk of her own.
"Sure did, that's why I quit and came straight to you as soon as I found out." Ripley responds casually.
Paige stands up from the hammock.
"What? Why on earth would you do that?" Paige asks him, surprised by his news.
"Because I trust you and believe you." He says with a warm smile. "I'm with you to the end Captain."
"Losing your job doesn't change anything." Paige says, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"I had an idea actually." Ripley says to her with a devilish grin.
"What kind of idea?" Paige asks curiously, her eyes narrowing.
"Well, you know how Dumbledore needs people to fight, but the Senate won't send anyone over. I'm sure there's got to be other people here who have heard the news of the Dark Lord's return and want to go fight." He explains to her. "Not everyone knows how to get over undetected though."
"I mean it's difficult to get across undetected, but it's do-able." Paige responds, thinking about what he just said.
Ripley smiles and nods at her, waiting for her to get on the same page as him.
"You're talking about starting some sort of underground resistance, smuggling people over seas to fight in a war the Senate refuses to acknowledge." Paige says crossing her arms.
"Yes." Ripley replies bluntly.
"Seems highly illegal, big chance of being caught and sent away and locked behind bars for the rest of our lives. Not to mention the Death Eaters we would have to avoid." Paige says, thinking of the consequences of the actions Ripley is suggesting. "I'd bet anything he has followers here as well."
"I wouldn't have brought this up if I didn't think you weren't up for this." Ripley says, staring into her eyes.
Paige looks over at Theodard, who has remained silent for the entire conversation.
"What are you waiting for? Or is your tanning a high priority?" Theodard asks her with a smile.
"I'm in." Paige says with a faint smile and looking back over to Ripley.
"Great. I already have a place in mind for our headquarters. We can start recruiting people right away." Ripley says, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and leading her back towards Theodard's cabin.
"Great." Paige responds, her mind racing trying to figure out logistics on how they could pull this off.
"Hey, is the rumors true that you socked Colonel Andrews in the face?" Ripley asks Paige, glancing over at her.
"Kicked him in the nuts too. Felt amazing." Paige says with a smirk.
Author's Note: Currently working on Part II – Stay tuned! Thanks for reading!