Disclaimers: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling and are used without her
permission. I hold no claim or rights
to any characters herein. Also in the interest of story continuity there will
be small that are taken verbatim (or closely to verbatim) from The Prisoner of
Azkaban, they are in no way my work but JKR's.
Chapter
One: Unwanted Passengers
Lupin
had been lurking near the entrance to platform nine and three-quarters for the
last forty-five minutes. He'd made sure he stayed hidden in the shadows so as
not to attract any more attention to himself than was
absolutely necessary. When he'd first arrived he'd checked the
scarlet train front to back and had seen no sign of Harry. He smiled slightly to himself, seeing
the looks parents gave him, as he passed different families on his way across
the platform to his current station.
He was used to the
horrified looks because of his state of dress and general appearance. Yes, his
robes were shabby and mended more times then he could count, but he just hadn't
seen the need to buy new ones over the years.
Then to top it off there was his physical appearance:
to put it bluntly, he looked like hell. He hadn't slept much in the past
two weeks, not at all in the last 40 hours, and the trip to London had been
trying to say the least. His smile
quickly faded as the dark thought crossed his mind, They
thought I was Sirius, at least until they had really looked at him and then
the looks had turned to relief and pity.
How had he gotten to
this point? It seemed like just yesterday he was on this very platform with
friends and family exchanging goodbyes and then boarding the Hogwarts Express
for another year of teenage adventures. Four friends who thought they'd be
together forever, never knowing the tragedy that would befall them in a few
short years. He still couldn't believe that two of those friends were dead and
that the third one was responsible.
Lupin was brought out
of his reverie when the platform clock chimed the quarter hour. He looked up,
saw that it was quarter to eleven and was now
starting to get worried since there was still no sign of Harry. Just then he
saw Arthur Weasley pass through the barrier followed closely by Harry. He was startled to see how much Harry looked
like James at that age. The same skinny
build, the unruly black hair, the glasses, but the thing that brought a lump to
his throat was Harry's eyes. He
definitely has Lily's eyes. The
sound of running feet brought Lupin's attention back to the barrier.
Four of the Weasley children had entered the platform
soon followed by Molly Weasley, another Weasley and a bushy haired girl. She must be Hermione. Lupin smiled
again at the sight of the Weasleys; the bright red hair was always a prominent
feature in the family, going back centuries.
He tried to sort out who was who. The twins of course were easy to pick
out, as was Ginny, being the only girl.
That must be Percy heading towards the front of the train, which left
Ron, Lupin thought. He then noticed
Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed towards the rear of the train.
He slowly crept along the
platform until Harry and company stopped at an empty compartment at the very
back of the train. Lupin waited until they exited the compartment to say
goodbye to Arthur and Molly before boarding the train and taking a seat by the window. He had intended to stay awake long enough to introduce himself,
but the comfort of the seat, along with the gentle swaying of the train
as it started to leave the platform, was all it took to put Lupin fast asleep.
******
Sirius had intended to head straight for Hogsmeade but
after the incident on Magnolia Crescent he felt he should make sure Harry was
all right. I hadn't meant to scare
Harry. I only wanted to see him. He was looking
around for a place to hide when he noticed a storage shed at the far end of the
platform. The roof of the shed was several feet below an overhang from the main
building and about seven or eight feet off the ground, all in all a perfect
hiding place, Sirius thought.
Fortunately there weren't many people on the platform and none of them
paid the big dog any mind as he trotted by.
Climbing onto the
shed's roof would be too hard for Sirius in his present weakened condition,
even with the crate next to it.
However, for the big black dog it would be an easy leap from the crate
to the roof. When he settled on top of
the small roof he decided it would be better to stay in his Animagus form since
he blended so well into the shadows. From this vantage point Sirius could see
the whole train and the platform.
Slowly the platform
began to fill with the hustle and bustle of families sending their children off
for another year at Hogwarts and Sirius began to scan the crowd for Harry. While he was looking around, someone walking
towards the front of the train caught his eye. Moony, I knew you wouldn't let me down. Sirius was shocked to see how old and worn
down Remus looked. If Sirius hadn't known any better, he would have sworn his
old friend had spent the last twelve years in Azkaban also. Of course, now he wasn't sure if he could
call Remus his old friend, after all that had happened.
After a short time
Lupin exited the train and Sirius watched him cross the platform. He noticed
several things about his old friend: the ragged but neatly patched robes, the
tired look that made him appear older than he was, and the slight cringe after
passing two families before he took a position in the shadows near the barrier
entrance. A pang of guilt and sadness
hit Sirius as he watched his friend. It
never should have been like this, Remus, never.
Sirius had been
drifting in and out of sleep when the train whistle
startled him awake. He saw Harry standing with a group of people, most of whom
had to be Weasleys; he recognized Arthur and Molly and the red hair was
a tell-tell sign. He watched Molly kiss
all her children goodbye, then a bushy haired girl, and finally Harry. The
others boarded the train but he saw Arthur pull Harry off to the side. I'm
sure I could guess what they are talking about.
Sirius had thought
about jumping onto the roof of the train when it passed the shed. However, with
so many children leaning out of windows and parents waving back, he thought
better of it. It would be hard not to
notice a big black dog jumping onto the roof of the train. Suddenly he
remembered the water tower around the bend and out of sight of the train
platform.
Quickly he jumped from
the shed and ran towards the tower. Climbing the tower ladder Sirius crawled
out onto a small service platform that extended part way above the track. As
the train passed beneath the platform he timed the jump so that he would land
on a baggage car. However Sirius
misjudged the speed of the train and almost tumbled over the other side of the
car before regaining his footing. That wasn't one of your smarter ideas, Black.
He picked a spot in the middle of the car to lie down. Even though it
was a bit cold and very windy it beat walking all the way to Hogsmeade, and in
his dog form it really wasn't all that bad.
******
Lupin could hear voices but they
sounded very far away. One of the
voices he thought sounded like James, but the others he couldn't quite make out
and they sounded like they were underwater.
Maybe he was dreaming, after all it wasn't the first time he'd fallen
asleep on the way to Hogwarts, especially if the trip was the day after a full
moon. He fell deeper and deeper into
sleep and the past and present seemed to become one.
"Hey, sleeping beauty, wake up
already!"
Slowly Remus brushed the sleep
from his eyes, only to be greeted by a grinning Sirius, who was still shaking
him awake. He looked around the
compartment but didn't see James or Peter.
"Enough Padfoot, I'm awake," Remus
sighed as he brushed Sirius off. "You
know you wouldn't be so awake if you hadn't gotten any sleep last night
either."
"My, my but aren't you cranky
today. I guess that means you didn't
receive the dancing shewolves I ordered to be sent to you?" Sirius
grinned. "And here I was hoping you
would be having some wild orgy last night or at the very least a wild party,
I'm sorely disappointed."
Remus gave Sirius a
lopsided grin. "The wild orgy would be your department-- not mine. I seem to
recall last year that you had quite the harem revolving through the astronomy
tower, various unused storerooms, any empty room."
"Sir, you besmirch my sterling
reputation. I shall be forced to call you out. " Sirius said while trying to
look properly offended, which was hard to do since he had a devilish glint in
his eyes and was trying to keep from laughing.
Remus loved his
friends and considered them family. However, Sirius and James were like
brothers to him whereas Peter seemed more like a cousin. He couldn't really explain why; after all,
the three of them had accepted him for what he was, a werewolf. They didn't run away six years ago, didn't
call him a horrible beast, a monster that didn't deserve to live. They stood by him and eventually learned how
to be Animagi so that they could be with him during the transformation. Still, Remus had never really felt as close
to Peter as he did to James and Sirius, especially Sirius. Off in the distance
he could hear a faint tinny whistling, but before he could comment on it, James
came bounding in.
" 'Lo Remus, I see Padfoot
couldn't resist waking you up after all?" James asked as he plopped down into
one of the seats. "I told you not to bother him Sirius, he needs the rest."
"What, and let him miss out the
torment I have planned for ickkle Sevvie," Sirius said. As if he had just
spoken a Summoning spell, the compartment door slid open and there stood
Severus Snape. No one said anything at first; they just glared at each other. The hatred between Snape and Sirius crackled
in the air. Remus suspected Snape hated James more, but the feud between Sirius
and Snape had been going on much longer.
Snape was the one to break the
silence. "So where's your chubby little
friend. Finally expelled? Potty and the Professor here couldn't save his grades
after all?"
"Do you hear someone talking? I, for one, wasn't aware that a weasel-faced
greasy git was capable of advanced speech? I thought you only communicated in
grunts, Sevvie." Sirius glared at
Snape, and Remus grabbed his wrist to keep him from advancing. Remus noticed Peter sneak up behind Snape
and a malicious smile spread across Sirius' face.
"Aren't you afraid to be in here
without your bodyguards, Snape? You
might meet with an unfortunate accident," Peter whispered in his ear.
Snape spun around so quickly, he
lost his balance and fell towards Sirius, who then feigned to catch the falling
boy but at the last minute moved so that Snape fell in a heap on the
floor. Snape quickly sprang to his feet
and tried to recover what was left of his dignity. The four boys were laughing at him and Sirius patted Peter on the
back. Snape just glared and headed
towards the door.
"Good one Wormtail. That was worth
having to put up with this slimy git for even two seconds." Sirius was still laughing.
Snape spun around and snarled.
"You may think you're all so clever, but mark my words-- you'll be getting what's coming to you very
soon. And then will see how much you
all laugh."
"Ooh I am so scared. Aren't you scared Remus? Sirius? Peter?"
James said, looking to each of his friends.
"I'm positively beside myself with
fright, I think I may even faint." Sirius chortled and promptly fell against
the wall, sliding to the floor. The
back of his hand was pressed to his forehead for added melodramatic
affect. Remus just rolled his eyes and
snorted, but James and Peter burst into another fit of laughter. Snape whirled
around, robes billowing behind him, and left the compartment. The sound of delighted laughter followed him
down the train corridor.
"That was better than anything I
had planned. The look on his face when
you whispered in his ear was completely priceless, Wormtail," Sirius said, as
he lay sprawled on the compartment floor.
Remus yawned, noticing James
scowling at Sirius. The transformation
always took a lot out of Remus, however he felt worse than normal, and he was
now trying to keep from nodding off.
"Oi Peter, let's go see what the
girls are up to." James said.
"Sure, I need to ask Lily a question about Arithmancy before we
get to school." Peter said.
"You know I could help you Peter,"
Remus said through another yawn.
"Oh Moony, haven't you figured it
out yet? He has a crush on one of Lily's friends," Sirius said from the floor.
"Arithmancy is just a excuse to see her. Why anyone would think you're the
cleverest wizard in our year is really beyond me."
James smiled and rolled his eyes
as he and Peter turned to leave. Remus accidentally knocked a rather
large book off the seat next to him, which landed squarely on Sirius' stomach.
Sirius released an oomph and tried to look properly wounded, which sent
everyone into another fit of giggles.
"You coming, Padfoot?" James asked.
"I've been mortally wounded and I think
I shall stay here on the floor if you don't mind."
"Do try to stay out of trouble at
least for five minutes," James said as he glanced again at Remus.
"I said I was mortally wounded, by
one of my best friends, no less -- how much trouble could I get into?" Sirius
said looking wounded. " Besides it's quite comfortable here on the floor. I
think I'll take a nap."
"How about you Remus? Want to come
along?" James asked.
"No, I'll stay here and take care
of the drama queen." Remus
grinned. Peter started out into the
corridor. James turned to leave. Remus called out and James turned back. "Hey Prongs, thanks." James gave a slight
smile and closed the door behind him.
Remus laughed to himself as he
heard Sirius snoring. I guess I'm not the only who needed to get some rest. Slowly he started to notice the steady beat
of rain against the roof of the train car. That coupled with the gentle sway
and Remus drifted back off to a fitful sleep.
******
It had been raining lightly for an
hour or so, but now it had turned into a complete deluge. Sirius was starting to get soaked to the
skin, which wasn't good considering the amount of fur the water had to
penetrate. To top off the rain, the
wind had also picked up considerably and the leisurely trip atop the train car
had become quite miserable now.
Just as he was considering trying
to enter one of the baggage cars, to stay warm and less wet, the train started
to slow down. Looking around at the
surrounding countryside, Sirius could see that they were still at least 40
miles or so from Hogsmeade. Sirius was
wondering why they were stopping when a cold, not related to the weather,
started to wash over him.
He looked towards the passenger
cars and saw the all-too-familiar dark shapes gliding towards the train, the
cold starting to wash over his very soul.
NO! He thought, they can't find me now! Not when I'm so close.
Looking around wildly, Sirius tried
to find a way to get off the train without being noticed. He saw the dementors enter the train and
transformed back into human form so he could climb down the ladder at the rear
of the car.
Once he reached the
bottom he quickly transformed back into the dog and ran from the train as fast
as he could. When he could no longer
feel the effects of the dementors, he slowed down to a trot, looking for some
place to wait out the storm.
Fortunately, the train had stopped in an area that had several farms, if
memory served him right, and it wouldn't be too hard to find a barn to sleep in
for the night. If he was lucky, a
family might take pity on a poor dog and give him some scraps to eat.
After a few miles Sirius spied a
barn in the distance. It looked
abandoned, and as he got closer he could see that the small house next to it
was in shambles. He decided to stay
away from the house just on the off chance someone actually lived there, and
headed straight for the barn. As he
first suspected, it appeared to be abandoned; there were no animals inside and
several of the stalls had fallen into disrepair. The loft looked sturdy enough and the ladder capable of holding a
man's weight.
He transformed and slowly started
to climb the ladder. It creaked a
couple of times and once he thought it might just break, but he made it to the
loft without incident. There was still
some straw on the floor that he pushed towards the farthest and darkest corner
to make a bed of sorts. Exhaustion had started to take over and Sirius sank
down on the makeshift bed. He knew he should transform back into the dog just
to be safe, but he was just too tired. Soon Sirius
was fast asleep.
******
Lupin could feel the
train slowing down but it didn't quite register through his sleep-induced haze
until it lurched to a stop. When he finally opened his eyes the compartment was
dark and he could clearly hear that the children were becoming frightened.
"Quiet!" He said, a
little more harshly then he had intended but it had the desired effect. Waving his wand over his left palm he
whispered 'Cereus ignis' and a ball of flames appeared in his hand
illuminating several startled faces.
"Stay where you are," he said
hoarsely and got up to walk towards the door, holding the handful of fire out
in front of him.
Before he could reach the door, it slid
open and his worst fear about why the train had stopped stood before him.
Bloody hell.
Dementors. Lupin hadn't thought they would dare try to stop
the train, let alone board it, but it seemed that Cornelius Fudge had
given the vile creatures free reign. He
wondered how many of them were actually on the train.
Suddenly he heard a
thud and saw Harry on the floor of the compartment, stiff as a board but
twitching slightly. Lupin stepped over Harry and started toward the dementor.
"None of us is hiding Sirius Black
under our cloaks. Go." The dementor didn't move at all so Lupin pulled his wand
from his belt and said "Expecto patronum!" A silver light shot from
Lupin's wand and formed into the shape of a wolf. The dementor started to glide away followed by the silver
wolf. Not long after the dementor left
the cabin, the lights came back on and the train began to move again.
Hermione and Ron were on the floor
kneeling next to Harry. Hermione was lightly slapping his face and calling his
name. Lupin stood next to a boy, who was very pale and resembled Peter, and
watched as Harry started to wake. He
saw Ginny Weasley sitting in the corner shaking and looking extremely pale, as
did Harry.
Lupin pulled a large bar of
chocolate out of his pocket and began to break it up. He made sure that Harry
and Ginny received two of the larger pieces as he handed them out to the
children.
"Here," Lupin said to Harry. "Eat
it. It'll help."
"What was that thing?" Harry
asked.
"It was a dementor." Lupin said.
"One of the dementors of Azkaban."
He crumpled the candy wrapper and
put it in his pocket. The children continued to stare at him but none of them
had started to eat the chocolate.
"Eat," he repeated, "It'll help.
I need to go speak to the driver, excuse me." With that, Lupin exited
the compartment and head down the corridor to the front of the train.
He checked on the other students
on his way to the front of the train. The majority of them were frightened but
none the worse for wear. He stopped the
food cart witch and asked if she wouldn't mind passing out bits of chocolate to
the students, and where the owls were kept.
Quickly he wrote a note to Professor Dumbledore relaying the events on
the train.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Dementors boarded the train.
The majority of the students are frightened but otherwise unhurt. Harry was deeply affected by the dementors
and passed out. I think Madam Pomfrey
should check on him as soon as we arrive.
I've given him a large piece of chocolate but I'm deeply concerned over
his reaction. We shouldn't be more than
twenty minutes from Hogwarts by my estimate.
R. J. Lupin
Lupin attached
the hastily written note to an owl and sent it off through the window. He then
made his way to the train engineer to find out exactly how far from Hogwarts
they really were. He thanked the food
cart witch again for her help as he made his way back to Harry and the other
children, periodically checking on the other students along the way.
He entered the
compartment and looked around, a small smile starting to spread across his
face. "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know. We should be at Hogwarts in ten minutes." Lupin looked at Harry
and saw that he had finally taken a bite of the chocolate. "Are you all right,
Harry?" he asked.
"Fine," Harry
muttered, looking slightly embarrassed.
The final ride into Hogsmeade
Station was fairly silent. Lupin wasn't sure if they didn't want to talk in
front of a professor or they were just contemplating the previous events. Harry and Ginny still looked very shaken,
although the chocolate had seemed to help a bit. Ginny and the boy who looked like Peter, Neville they called him,
left as the train slowly came to a stop. Soon all the chaos and commotion of
earlier in the day started up again.
Quietly Lupin watched as Harry,
Ron, and Hermione gathered up their belongings and headed out of the
compartment. Harry threw him a sideways glance and a slight smile of thanks
before walking out. Outside he could hear
Hagrid calling for the first years to meet him at the front of the platform.
Lupin smiled as he listened to
Hagrid explain the journey across the lake to the first years. He thought back to his own days as a first
year. Hagrid had terrified him at first,
for he'd never seen anyone so enormous before, but he soon learned that Hagrid
was one of the sweetest and most nonjudgemental
people he'd ever met. He'd learned over
the years that you couldn't judge a person based on looks alone. Some of the most innocent looking people he'd
met had turned out to be the nastiest.
Pulling his
battered case from the luggage rack, he stared at the flaking gold leaf
lettering. He remembered the day Sirius
had given him the case. Sirius was so
happy for him when he'd gotten the teaching job at St. Bonaventure's School of
Wizardry in Ireland, he bought Remus the traveling case. Lupin closed his eyes.
"Well, now that you're a proper
professor you should have at least one thing that looks nice," Sirius said
teasingly as he pulled on Remus' sleeve.
Remus grinned and opened the
package Sirius handed him. Inside was a
rather expensive brown leather case; the embossed gold leaf lettering read
Professor R.J. Lupin. Remus ran his
fingers across the case and then looked at Sirius. He looked so pleased that Remus couldn't bear to tell Sirius he'd
lost the job when they had found out he was a werewolf.
"It's a wonderful gift, thank you
Padfoot, but you really shouldn't have spent so much money," Remus said, trying
not to show his sadness.
"Nothing but the best for my
friends." Sirius said, a scowl began to appear on his face. "Okay, I know that look. What's wrong?"
Remus looked at his
friend and sighed. "As I much as I like it, I can't accept the case."
"Why on earth not?! I know you think
sometimes you don't deserve nice things, but damn it, Moony, you need to stop thinking that you're not good
enough!" Sirius yelled.
"Well, a werewolf is not
good enough to be teaching at St. Bonaventure's. I no longer have a teaching
job, so therefore I have no need for the case." Remus
said sadly.
Sirius went into a tirade about
narrow-minded people, and the general state of Ireland and its wizarding
community. His language became quite
colorful and very descriptive. Remus had to
grin in spite of himself.
"That sounds like it would hurt,
and I'm not sure you can do the second thing," Remus said, laughing slightly.
"Oh sod it, Remus, how can you
take this so lightly? Don't you ever get angry when people who don't know you
treat you like some monster?" Sirius glared at him. "A troll gets better
treatment!"
"Sirius," Remus sighed again, "if
I react angrily to people's comments then I
prove their point. I have to be in control all the time.
I can't be like you. I can't react like a normal person because I'm not."
"I don't know how you do it, day
in day out, I wouldn't last 2 hours let alone the last fourteen years," Sirius
said, the anger draining from his face. "Please
keep the case, it'll mean a lot to me."
"Fine, I'll keep the case. I'd
hate to see you sent to Azkaban for doing some of those more descriptive things
to anyone. And by the way, I don't want to know where you learned about such
things either." Remus gave Sirius a sideways glance.
Azkaban. The word
brought Lupin back to the present. Sirius
where are you? Slowly he descended the stairs and walked across the
platform to a waiting carriage. He had
always liked riding in the carriages and had determined that they were
enchanted, instead of being pulled by invisible horses. He remembered encountering an invisible
horse once, right before his first year at Hogwarts; the experience was not a pleasant memory. He had
learned over the years after that encounter that most animals, magical
or not, tended to be a bit skittish around him.
The ride up to the castle was
pleasant enough, save for the dementors stationed outside the gates. Lupin gave
an involuntary shudder as the carriage passed, the feel of oppressing cold
washing over him. He couldn't imagine how Sirius had managed to survive in
Azkaban for the last twelve years with that lot walking around. He has to be mad as a hatter by now and
yet he had managed to escape somehow.
A swirl of dark and confusing thoughts ran through Lupin's head as the
carriage pulled to a stop in front of the castle.
Retrieving his
battered case from the seat next to him Lupin exited the carriage and looked
around. Nothing had changed in the last
eighteen years since he'd been a student himself; Hogwarts looked the same as
it had the day he graduated.
Walking slowly toward the door he
spied Harry and company in a bit of a tussle with the Malfoy boy. There was no mistaking whose child he was
when Lupin had first seen him on platform nine and three-quarters. Malfoy had the same arrogant sneer as his father
and the same nasty demeanor. In fact he
reminded him of a light haired Snape.
"Is there a problem?" Lupin said.
With a tiny hint of sarcasm in his
voice, Malfoy said, "Oh, no –er—Professor," he smirked at his two
cronies and led them up the steps into the castle.
I guess some things never change, Slytherins and Gryffindors
always having a tussle, Lupin thought. Walking through the oversized oak doors he ran directly into
Snape, who had been making his way to the Great Hall. They stared at each other for several minutes. Lupin broke the
silence first.
"Hallo Severus," Lupin said trying
to sound cordial or at least civil.
"Lupin," Snape said coldly.
"I'd like to thank you for
agreeing to make the potion for me. It is very gracious of you." Lupin tried
not to smile, let alone laugh, at the look on Snape's face.
"I'm only doing it out of respect
for Dumbledore. I think it's a big mistake allowing you to be here. I'm sure you and Black are working
together. Dumbledore will regret that
he ever placed any trust in a creature like you," Snape hissed. A few students
gave them curious looks as they passed but were soon lost again in the
excitement of being back at school.
"I haven't seen nor heard from
Sirius since he was sent to Azkaban." A twinge of guilt tugged at his lie.
"Speaking of Dumbledore, do you know where I might find him?"
"I don't know where he is. Why
don't you try sniffing him out, that's something you're good at isn't it?" Snape snarled and then turned on his heel,
leaving Lupin standing in the entry hall.
"Well that went better than
expected," Lupin said under his breath. He decided the best place to start
looking would be Dumbledore's office.
You lied to Snape.
He doesn't need to know.
You had a letter from Sirius not two weeks ago. What are you going to
tell Dumbledore? Are you going to lie to him as well?
Oh sod off!
You should have told him when you accepted the job.
I said SOD OFF! The nagging voice kept picking at the back of Lupin's mind and he
was so lost in his personal battle that he ran right into Dumbledore when he
rounded a corner.
"Ah Remus, I see you made it."
"Professor Dumbledore, sorry. I guess I was lost in thought,"
Lupin said slightly startled, but if Dumbledore noticed he didn't indicate it.
"Come, I'll show you to your rooms
and you can tell me about the train ride along the way." Dumbledore smiled.
As they walked Lupin relayed all
the details of the train ride. Lupin told him that he slept through most of the
ride, although he did pick up bits and pieces of the conversation, the
dementors boarding the train and Harry's reaction. He noted that the old wizard
didn't seem overly surprised by Harry's reaction to them. They came to a stop
in front of an oak door on the second floor.
"Well here we
are. I think you'll find these
accommodations much nicer that your previous ones." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled
as he opened the door. " This is your office
and just beyond that door is your living quarters. Now if you'll excuse me
Remus, I need to get ready for the feast."
"Thank you
Professor, for everything," Lupin said. The voice started up again.
Tell him. Tell him about Sirius.
I can't, not yet. "I'll
just put my case down and walk down with you."
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out
but real life and computer issues got in the way. Hopefully the next one won't take quite as long. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed so
far, I appreciate the feedback. I hope this chapter lives up to expectations.
Thanks to my
beta readers, especially Parker, I loved your comments and they help me to
rethink certain aspects of the flashback scenes.
