17. A DARK PORTAL


"I don't like this," Ron muttered under his breath, when he almost slipped and fell off the ancient winding stairs that led up to the room on top of Estella Etherwing's tower. "Didn't you hear Dumbledore? We are not supposed to be here at all!"

"Ah, stuff it , Ron!" Hermione pushed the errand hair-strands out of her face and waved her wand exasperatedly to get some light. "Your brothers would be so disappointed in you if they could hear you now."

"Ssh!" Harry raised a hand cautiously. "Can you feel this? The stones are ... grinding."

Neville nodded slowly. They had followed Draco as obviously as possible to annoy him so much that he'd go back to their quarters. But Malfoy had found his way to the tower like some kind of sleepwalker. The skin on the back of Neville's neck tickled, which was no good sign at all. For a moment he cursed himself for being so foolish and telling his friends what Snape had had to say. "We are climbing a tower that's about to crumble, only to keep Malfoy out of trouble," he sighed. "We must be out of our mind!"

Harry sought Hermione's attention by snipping his fingers. She shone her wand at the end of the stairs from where the strange humming noise emanated. There was a small wooden door, and since the stairway ended right there, this was where Draco must have gone to. And the darkness that seeped out through the gap under the door like black haze made the four students cowering on the landing reconsider.

Harry frowned. "What is he doing in there?" His scar ached like hell. Dumbledore had assured him that Hogwarts was safe, but right now it felt as if Voldemort sat in the other room, with only the wall between Harry and death ...

Another tremor shook the tower and Neville grabbed Ron's arm. "I say we get out of here."

Ron nodded, rather pale. Hermione's words had hit his sore spot. Of course Dumbledore's ban should have made climbing the tower only more exciting, but for the first time Ron felt as if the Headmaster had reasonably forbidden any entrance.

"I must be getting old," he sighed. "But I think Neville is right. We should get out of here, as long as we can still walk."

"Ah, you and Harry can always Apparate, can't you?" Hermione replied prickly. Bill Weasley had given the boys lectures in Apparating during the Christmas Holidays, and Hermione couldn't make up her mind whether she was rightfully concerned about minors Apparating or only miffed because nobody had invited her. On the other hand there was this very secret crush she had on Ginny's oldest brother, and maybe it was better she did not see him too often. That way she had less opportunity to embarrass herself …

"Hermione!" Neville's elbow connected roughly with her ribs and startled her from her daydreaming. "Are you asleep?"

She frowned. "I was only thinking …"

"Well, I say we go in, get Draco out and leave," Harry suggested, bravely concealing his growing unease with the shaking tower.

"He won't be too pleased to see us, I bet." She chewed her lip and tried to imagine what Draco might be doing in there. Probably dark rites and curses. Certainly he was not gazing at the stars and writing poems - in Hermione's mind the only decent reason to climb any tower by night.

"What if he doesn't want to come with us?"

Harry snorted. "There is still the Petrificus spell, isn't it?"

Neville blushed. He had not forgotten the night in their first year, when Hermione had kept him from following them searching for the Philosopher's stone. By now he was as good with spells and curses as any of them, probably better. But he was not so certain if he could petrify anyone. Well … He reconsidered when he remembered the time Draco had turned one of his favourite Persian peonies into a carnivorous twine. Yeah, with Draco Malfoy he could do it.

"Let's go in," he muttered and went past his friends.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at him in surprise, when Neville gave the door a resolute kick. The ancient wood splintered, darkness wallowed out into the landing like a living creature. And Neville froze in shocked disbelief.


* * *


Serene stood on the stairs that connected the first and second floor when another quake shook the tower. Grabbing a protruding stone that would have served as a handrail centuries ago, she pressed her back against the wall until the tremor subsided.

The finder had led her straight to the tower, where she found the seals on the door broken. Somebody had entered against Dumbledore's explicit ban - and she had not doubt, who. The needle on her flat palm glowed and flickered impatiently and urged her to keep climbing. Since it turned in mad spins, the person she was following had to be moving up the winding stairs as well.

She shivered. Her coat seemed like thin paper and did not warm her at all anymore. She wanted this to end. The cold. The loneliness. The pain of losing out. So she'd do what Ben demanded ... no, she corrected her inner voice while she took a deep breath and climbed on, ... not Ben. What the Fates demanded. After all she'd seen that very clearly in her vision. Not exactly like this though, but who knew in what direction the circumstances were to develop?

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be one of Voldemort's people? Sure, she'd have to hide everything that was light and warm ... her love for Remus, for instance. But then again - she'd been hiding the dark and evil side of her soul for so long ... You tried to hide it, the inner censor triumphed. Or why do you think Lupin decided he could not live with you?

When she met the dark haze that flowed down the stairs, she did not even notice it until she stood knee deep in darkness. The finder's needle slid over her palm and halted trembling on her very fingertips.

The door to the circular room on the highest floor stood ajar.

Serene winced when she stepped into the room. A gap had opened in the stone floor, and this was the source of the dark haze. It welled out of the void beyond the stones. Draco Malfoy stood straddle-legged over the opening, muttering something unintelligible. On the other end of the crack Hermione and Harry had linked hands and tried to reverse the spells Malfoy used to open the floor further.

"What is going on here?"

Harry barely raised his head, but Serene could see his scar was an angry red. Neville, who had kneeled by Ron's side, mobbing up blood that trickled from his friend's bottom lip, stood up and sighed in relief when he recognised Serene. He had all but expected Voldemort himself, he admitted silently.

"Malfoy is trying to prove he is Death Eater material," spat Ron with narrowed eyes. "He opened this … gap."

"It is a portal!" Hermione's face was pale with concentration. Harry and she had tried every reversing spell they'd learned from Professor Lupin, but Draco had countered their attempts without any apparent effort. "He is opening a portal!"

Draco's face was covered with dark lines and smeared symbols, and Serene suspected strongly that he had not used lipstick but blood. It gave him a primitive look, something that reminded her of shamans and ancient magic. "Ancient," she whispered. "Beltane." Magic strong enough to tear apart any shield that keeps Hogwarts safe from intruders and attack from outside.

Suddenly Draco seemed to become aware of her presence and bared his teeth. With a flourish of his right hand he sealed another curse. Ben had given him a scroll filled with tiny scribbling, and Draco had spent the last week to memorise the sentences. The language was foreign and the gestures old-fashioned, but the effect of the first two curses showed that the magic was still working.

His gaze singed the four former Gryffindors Dumbledore and his foolish hat had chosen to be his friends. Friends! A bitter laugh threatened to suffocate him. Them and him! Ah, and there was Serene Kennedy, the witch Ben Olsen had a crush on like some schoolboy. The one who had turned Professor Lupin from a cool werewolf into a docile fluffy cub. What they saw in her was beyond Draco's perception. Anyway he was through with women. Laeticia had sent him a letter via Ben, informing him that their affair was over. No explanation. Not that he'd expected one. He had never understood what she saw in him, and had always known she'd drop him sooner or later. Still it hurt to be spurned like this. But soon it would be him, Draco, who caused the pain.

Serene's mind raced. Was this the moment?

Was this where it all would end?

She took a deep breath and clenched her fists. But before she could move a foot to step onto the crack on Draco's side, Dumbledore's voice rose from the depths of her memory. "You are what you chose to be. Evil or good - it's your decision. But remember, my girl, that the right way may not be the easy one."

She sighed. She had never been a coward. Stupid, maybe. Easy to persuade. But not a coward.

"Granger, get away from the gap," she ordered with as calm a voice she could muster.

"But, Professor Kennedy, this is a portal!. We discussed portals in Defence Against The Dark Arts, and Professor Lupin said never to …"

"Will you shut up for once, Hermione!" Serene hissed, grabbing the girl by her sleeve and drawing her away from the fiery line that marked the gap between the dimensions Draco had opened.

"Harry can't keep the portal closed all by himself!" the girl wailed and dug her fingernails painfully into Serene's arm. "The curses Draco applied ..."

Serene swallowed hard. The portal would open - it was only a matter of seconds. And she was pretty sure Draco had no easy passage to Ibiza in mind. This was a portal straight into hell, or more exactly straight into Voldemort's den. Should Harry try to hold the gap shut, he'd fall when Draco fell. And both boys were much too young and weak to stand up against the ancient power that clawed at them.

Icy calmness seeped into her heart. So this was the moment.

"The right way is not the easy one," she whispered, and pushing Harry off the gap, took a flying leap at the spot he had stood on a second ago. She was considerably stronger than the boy, at least where spells was concerned, and the gap pulled together painfully slowly.

Draco sneered. "You!"

"Me." Serene felt the darkness lure her to let go. "Step off the portal, Malfoy!"

"No way!" His voice was hoarse with contempt. "I'd rather die here tonight. At least I'd die in glory!"

"You stupid little brat!" She could barely talk, so hard was it to concentrate on holding the seams of this dimension together. "What would you know about dying in glory? Only what Ben Olsen told you!"

Draco's face lost all it's colour. Only his eyes remained blue burning fires in the increasing darkness that did not fall but rise from the abyss to their feet. "Shut up!" he yelled. "You are a coward! You hung around us all these years and never dared to do what you came for. But I am not like you. I do what needs to be done!"

"Not like me." She stared right into his eyes. "Certainly you are not, and you should thank your fates for it."

"You couldn't get it right and now you want me to fail as well."

"Oh dear Morgaine, don't you see Ben is only using you to gain entrance into Hogwarts?" She sharply turned her head to the four students who still cowered on the floor. "You there, help your friend and get out of the tower! Harry, go tell the Headmaster that a portal has been opened, and I don't know how to lock it!"

Ron and Harry helped Hermione to stand up and jump over the gap, and Neville caught her on the other side. She limped to the door, throwing Serene a look that oscillated between suspicion and admiration.

"I'll stay with you," offered Harry, the scar a violent red in his otherwise pale face. "Maybe I can help you."

"If you want to help me, you get the hell out of here!" Serene hissed impatiently. "Stop being a hero once and for all! What good can it do if you go down with Draco and me?"

"But …"

The despair in his voice made her drop her head in shame. "Sorry, Harry. I know you can't help it. But I need to concentrate now." Muttering all balancing spells and connecting curses she could think of, she moved her hands over the now two feet wide crack in the floor in a weaving motion.

"Get going, Potter!" Ron pushed his friend out of the tower room and looked back a last time at the bottomless darkness that gaped between Draco and Serene. "Miss Kennedy?"

Serene frowned at him. "Out!"

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you."


* * *


When Remus' broom approached the outer gate of Hogwarts, he could see the faint glow that emanated from the new tower. But what really worried Remus was that the top of the tower seemed to flicker and disappear once in a while. He stood by the broom-shed and rubbed his eyes, but the sudden void where the brightly lit window had been, did not go away for another ten seconds. Then the tower appeared once more.

A knot in Remus' stomach told him something was fundamentally wrong.

The feeling became certainty, when he found the Great Hall deserted and most of the students and staff assembled in the Inner Courtyard. Minerva McGonagall and Mr. Filch tried to drove the students back into their quarters, but to no avail. Everybody craned their neck and stared up the tower. Only now Remus noticed the inch wide cracks that went through the ancient stones.

With relief he saw Sirius stand next to Severus Snape. This was not the time to wonder, why Sirius had come back and since everybody in Hogwarts seemed to be busy otherwise, Remus decided that he needn't worry for his friend's safety either.

Sirius pointed out a particularly dangerous spot between the fifth and sixth floor. "We better get the kids out of the yard," he said quietly to Snape. His left arm hung down limply like a piece of wood. The Dark Lord called his servants tonight, and while Snape's ointment made the sign less painfully compelling, it rendered the arm useless for hours. Still, it was better than involuntarily answering a call by death itself. "If this heap of stone stands longer than the next thirty minutes I'll eat one of you pickled newts."

Snape nodded, then turned when he saw Remus Lupin make his way through the gaping crowd.

"About time," he snarled and gave his colleague a short nod. "The next time you can't stand Miss Kennedy any more, do have the kindness and tell somebody where you are going. You upset Dumbledore."

"Moony! You OK? You did change last night, didn't you?" Sirius hit his shoulder with an enthusiasm that made Remus wince. The moon was out, and although it was not full anymore, it enticed and called. This was not the time when a werewolf wanted to be hit - not even by an old friend.

"What is going on?" he asked instead.

"Remus!" Laurel pushed through a group of students, Jonah riding on her hip. "You are back! Finally!"

"Finally?" He raised an eyebrow. "Laurel, tell me what is going on up there!"

"Something is wrong with the tower. And we need to count the students to make sure nobody went in there." She produced a silver ball the size of a grapefruit and threw it in the air. It began to circle like some kind of drowsy golden snitch, and returned within minutes. Before Laurel could catch it, Minerva snatched it out of the air. Her face was white but for two red spots on her cheeks. She'd have never admitted it, but the deep sorrow in the Headmaster's eyes worried her more than the sounds and lights from the tower.

A quick glance on the silver ball ascertained what she'd suspected all along.

"The frightful five are missing," she said softly to Laurel. "Granger, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom. And Malfoy."

"You think they went up the tower?" Remus asked

Dumbledore stepped closer to them and drew a circle with his wand, so the other students would not listen. "I am afraid so." He stroked his beard. "We must get the children away from the yard, in case the tower falls."

"Falls?" Sirius frowned. "How can it fall? It is part of Hogwarts, isn't it? It's magical. Magical towers don't just crumble."

"Do you see the glow from the top floor?" Dumbledore pointed out. "A portal has been opened. It will quickly exhaust any magic in the tower, it sucks it up like a dry sponge."

"Five students are missing," Laurel reminded him. "Do you think they went up there?"

"Well, portals usually don't open by themselves." Remus put his head back to look up. The tower shook again. "Somebody must be up there and open it."

"Malfoy." Snape's word was a verdict.

"Or Serene Kennedy." Sirius put a hand on his friend's arm. "I don't see her anywhere. And she'd be able to do it, with a little help from her good friend, Mr. Olsen."

"No." Remus' voice lowered threateningly until it was only a low growl. Sirius stepped back cautiously. He knew better than aggravating a werewolf while the moon was high and almost full.

Laurel gave him a hard nudge in the ribcage. "Serene would never endanger all of us by delivering Hogwarts to the enemy."

"But I am afraid she went up the tower as well," Minerva said softly.

"I'll go and get her." Remus' face dared them to object but Dumbledore did it nonetheless.

"It's too dangerous, my dear boy. Magic is not working and if the stones come tumbling down, all of you will be lost."

"I am werewolf." Later he'd be surprised about the fierce pride that had tinged his voice. "I need no magic. And I'll be damned if I leave my life-mate die while I stand down here gaping."


* * *


On his way up the narrow winding staircase Remus met Harry and his friends. Hermione limped and Ron's lip was swollen and bloody, but other than that they seemed unharmed. He sent them down with a few sharp words, and continued upwards.

The tower pulsed and shook. Stones fell and hit the stairs, and Remus had to duck and dive, and jump up missing steps. The dark haze that crawled down had made it till the fourth floor, and from there Remus had to wade through cold darkness. The instinct of the wolf told him to get away as far a s he could, but his heart urged him to find Serene.

Eventually, on the top floor , he found her - elated into the air a few feet over the ground, opposite to Draco Malfoy, who also hovered. The gap through the stones had widened to a full yard.

"Remus." Her voice betrayed the relief she felt only too well.

He gave her a warm smile. No matter the ground had split. No matter darkness was licking at his ankles greedily. They were together in this. They'd get through it together.

"What are you trying to prove, Mr. Malfoy?" he asked calmly.

"Go away!" Draco spat, wiping sweat off his forehead. "This is not your business!"

"Ah, but it is." Remus leaned against the stone wall with an ease he did not feel at all. The boy looked like a ghost, an ancient ghost, face smeared with blood, eyes burning with something very close to madness. "You know, your father and I were never friends. We fought for different causes. We had different convictions, and would have killed each other if the situation had demanded it, I guess. But ..." he cautiously pushed off the wall and stepped closer to the gap. "But Lucius was no traitor."

"I don't give a damn about Lucius," sneered the boy, "like he did not give a damn about me!"

He clenched his fists when a fresh surge of darkness hit him from below. "He'd have hazarded my death when he ordered the attack at King's Cross!"

"That's nonsense and plain stupid!" Tears of pity stung Serene's eyes and she had to remind herself that it was Draco who they had to thank for the situation they were in. The memory helped a lot to ease her sympathy for the boy. Still, he had to know the truth. Ben Olsen's web of half-truths and deceit was a dense one and was tight enough to suffocate everything that was honourable in Draco's soul.

"Your father tried to stop the train!" she continued, never allowing him to drop his gaze. "When I told him you were on the Express, he moved heaven and earth to stop the assault. I doubt he cared a second for all those other students who rode the train as well. But you, Draco, you were his son."

"And he loved you." Remus stretched out a hand. "Even Lucius Malfoy had to love somebody. He died because he tried to stop the train."

"No. He was part of the attack!" Draco's voice trembled doubtfully. "He was there. The Aurors got him."

Remus' head shot up. He had found Lucius before the Aurors even reached the station master's office where Malfoy had stopped the Hogwarts Express a few miles out of London. The dead face had looked young, Remus remembered, untouched by evil and hatred and greed. Lucius had looked peacefully, as if he slept.

"Not the Aurors. Ben Olsen got him," he said softly. "The attack was Olsen's plan, and when he learned that your father had sabotaged it, he executed him right there and then."

"No." The sound died in Draco's throat.

"Your father gave up his life so you would live, idiot boy!" Serene knew she could not let him mourn now. There'd be a time for that, too. Hopefully they'd survive, and then Draco would have to face the fact that his guardian had killed his father. But now he had to leave the tower, and let Remus take his place. Not that a wizard and a witch alone could force the portal closed, but they could keep it like it was now, half open, until help arrived. "Move your butt off the gap!"

"But ... I can't." Draco's voice was rough with unshed tears. "If I leave my position the portal will be opened. And Miss Kennedy will fall."

"Then don't dare to move, Malfoy," hissed Serene. A cold wind from the abyss made her shiver. It smelled of humid soil, of wood and rain.

Remus could smell it, too, and the scent triggered something, a memory he just could not grasp right now. He had no time to ponder the image evoked by the scent right now, he had to think. The boy was going to faint sooner or later. The spell, he was an integral part of, sucked all his power out of him.

"I'll take your place," he decided and yanked Draco away from the portal, only to take his position in a swift move.

Serene screamed. The momentum of the change had turned the ring of power that held her and Remus and - so she assumed - the whole tower in a fragile balance. Once, twice, three times it made them whirl around the axis of darkness, and only when Serene was sick enough to throw up, it ceased. But now she'd lost even the small projection on the wall that had given her the illusion of safety earlier. Now she hung suspended in the air, opposite to Remus, with nothing between them but a few yards of air and darkness, and still unable to touch. The cold wind from the portal made her hair rise and fall like flames in a storm.

Remus chuckled softly, a sound that made Serene hiss with irritation.

"What's so funny, Lupin? There are miles of nothing under our feet and my stomach turns at the mere thought of falling down and never landing …"

"I just thought we'll be hanging around for a while," Remus said, and through the dim light in the circular room she could rather hear than see his smile. "I like it when you wear your hair like this."

"What's got in you, Remus?" she wondered exasperatedly and forced herself not to look down.

He sighed and shifted slightly to the right, a tiny motion which made the tower shake immediately. "Uh uh." Remus shifted back. "That was not a good idea."

"Don't move, do you hear me!"

"Draco, try to get out of the tower," Remus ordered with the calm voice he used in the classroom to restore order when a counter-spell went wrong. "But be careful! The portal is draining all magic out of the tower. Do not try to Apparate or anything like that. Climb down the Muggle way, and watch for disappearing steps!"

The boy tumbled out of the door.

Remus looked at Serene and smiled. "You never told me you are afraid of heights," he remarked casually as if they sat safe and sound in the "Three Broomsticks". "Only on top of cursed towers or when you stand on a ladder as well?"

"Remus!"

"What?"

"I am not in the mood to discuss heights. Or depths for that matter!"

"Well," he thought loudly, "maybe we should start to discuss those small things we don't know about each other as you suggested a few weeks ago? Or maybe," his voice lost it's warmth, "maybe we should discuss the really important matters first."

"Really important matters?" She drew in a sharp breath.

"Maybe there is something you'd like to know about me." He stared at her through the shadows between them. "For there certainly are things I'd like to know about you."

Serene clenched her fists. Couldn't he just let it go? Couldn't he just accept it was over? After all it had be him this time who'd decided they were not meant for each other.

"Laeticia," she whispered and fought the urge to spit the name into the abyss. "I need to know what she is to you."

He frowned. "Laeticia?" Suddenly a warm glow spread through his whole body. Was Serene … "Are you jealous?"

"Jealous?" she repeated with an incredulous voice. "No, of course not! You just tell me we can't be together and the next thing I hear is that your first way leads you to your dear friend Laeticia's house. So why in the world should I be jealous?"

"Serene, I went to see Laeticia …"

She closed her eyes as if she could shut out the image. She'd seen the photograph, but to hear it from Remus' mouth made it even worse.

"I went to see her," Remus continued, unaware of the knife he'd just stabbed through her heart, "to ask her to leave Draco Malfoy alone."

"I understand," she said wearily. Then her head jerked up. "About Draco? You went there because of Draco?"

"I thought that's what I said?" he asked in confusion. "Why did you think …Oh." His voice died.

"There is something between the two of you," Serene said with a tiny voice. "A certain kind of intimacy that comes from … well, you know."

"I … see." Remus nodded slowly. "That's why we need to talk about these things."

Serene felt cold sweat trickle down her spine. Everything was better than thinking about the situation they were in, everything. Even hearing about Remus' love affair with Laeticia de Malheur.

"So talk."

He cleared his throat. "I told you how I knew about your birth when I was seven years old, didn't I?"

"Yes." Serene's heart skipped a beat. She'd always pretended that this story was one of Remus' ways to tell her they were meant for each other. Funny how it sounded like a promise, when he spoke about destiny, and like a threat when Ben did.

"For a while it helped to calm me," he continued softly. "But then … When I graduated …" His voice echoed the unhappiness of those days. "They all had girlfriends. Peter had this witch who worked in the Ministry, and of course Jamie and Lily had each other. I mean, even Sirius had some relationships that lasted longer than a day!"

"Are you trying to tell me you never had a girlfriend?" she asked doubtfully. "Because I won't buy that."

"No, I … well, I had sex. But not love. Not even a crush. I never felt anything." Remus gave a small laugh. "I remember the day when Lily invited me to their flat while the guys were out trying to get tickets for the Quidditch match against Finland. They lived in that grubby apartment under the roof in one of the Muggle roads close to Diagon Alley." He could see it even now, the two dollhouse-sized rooms that Lily had turned into a home with wand and paint. "As soon as I sat down she locked the door and cornered me. Oh, she'd have made a great Auror, our Lily."

"Cornered you? About what?" Against her will Serene was fascinated by this dead witch who still lived in the memory of her friends.

"Actually she asked me right away if I was gay."

Serene's startled gasp matched his own reaction very well.

"And she told me, that if it was so, I should quit pretending right then and there and come out of the closet immediately. That James and the others would understand. That they'd always love me, and that they were worried about me." He sighed again. "I … was mortified. Not because of their assumption. I'd have happily presented a boyfriend, if I'd have had any. I had no girlfriend because I hated to pretend I was just a normal wizard. And whenever I told a girl the truth there was this expression in their eyes, disgust, fear … pity. I could bear neither.""

Serene felt the tension in his voice and would have given her right arm to be able to touch the wizard who hung on the other side of the chasm.

Remus closed his eyes, when he remembered the dark days that had followed his meeting with Lily. "I felt … that I was losing out. The happiness they all seemed to possess - I wanted the same. So I left. I never explained to my friends. No wonder Padfoot suspected me of having changed to Voldemort's side. I kind of disappeared. I travelled a while, through Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. And then I visited my mother's people in France. That was where I met Laeticia."

"And you fell in love with her."

"No!" His eyes opened wide in shock. "I didn't love her. Laeticia is not a person who'd want to be loved anyway. She … has exquisite taste. And a heart as black as coal. I was attracted though. It was more or less the same thing Draco must feel for her, although I was some years older than he is right now. Fascination, physical attraction. It was flattering that a witch of such … elegance and sophistication would want me." A bitter laugh raked through his words. "So the wolf went into the spider's parlour and stood less chance than the proverbial fly."

"She hurt you." Serene did not need to ask. "I could hear that in your voice when you talked to her."

"Physically, yes. Hurt my pride as well."

"Physically?"

"When I decided that I'd been wrong about ... her, us ... she made it clear that she'd not be the one who was left. Oh, I was free to go, but only when she gave me leave. So she chained me ..."

"In a cage," Serene finished his sentence hesitantly. "Your arms bound with silver shackles."

He tried to make out her face in the darkness.

"How do you know?"

"I … dreamt about it." She frowned while she tried to remember the dream. "You know that my parents left me in the hospital when I was fourteen. I had a … very hard time. But there was this recurring dream of this man." Every night for weeks, and she had never told any of the psychologists about it. "He was in pain. As much pain as I was in. Worse even. It helped me to get through my own desperation. And I know when he broke free, I'd get my freedom back one day as well."

"The silver shackles." Remus spat with disgust. "There was padding between the silver and the skin, but I could not break them. And once or twice a month she'd come down to the cellar and let me out of the cage. The Countess of Malheur's pet werewolf."

"But what did she want?" Serene asked and blushed immediately. "Oh. I understand."

"Danger turned her on. The risk I'd change when we had sex made me desirable. Just that. She never gave a damn about me. She only wanted to fuck a werewolf."

Tear suddenly stung his eyes when he remembered his humiliated state then. He blinked. "The thought of seducing a monster."

"You are no monster!"

He shook his head ever so doubtfully, but remained silent.

Serene's eyes pierced the darkness that seemed to thicken with every minute. The power from the portal tugged at them, and it became harder and harder to keep up the balance.

"We are going to die here, aren't we?" she whispered.

Her words echoed where there had been no echo before. It made her heart sink. Dimensions in the towers were shifting, and the abyss had started to pulse like a living being.

Remus took a deep breath. "I don't know," he admitted. "But if I die with you I die a happy wizard."

"And yet …", she said softly, "you left. You did not allow me to be with you when you changed."

"I was so scared, so afraid I'd hurt you one day."

"Hurt me?" Another echo, answered by a faint grumble. "What happened in London was my fault, Remy! I made you angry."

"I could not hold back the change." Embarrassment trembled in his voice. "I did not want you to see me like that. No woman ever has … but Laeticia."

"I'll kill her." The words were out before she could think about it. "That is if we don't die here anyway."

"I needed to talk to Dr Matilykos to make sure there was no danger for you."

"You'd never hurt me, sweetheart." The absolute certainty in her voice made him smile.

"I was not sure. I wanted to hurt Laeticia when she daunted me around the full moon. She used to tell me what a horrible freak I was, a monster, something sick and ugly. That I was not human and no human woman could ever feel anything but primal lust for me."

Serene paled. "So this is why you …"

"You also think I am not human." He stared at her, his gaze daring her to lie. "You said it was 'different' with me."

"Oh Remy, you fool!" Serene's voice rose with sudden understanding. "I … it …," she sighed and closed her eyes when the memory embraced her like a warm coat, "It was different, yes. Not because of what you are, but who you are."

She blushed. This was the moment when the music was supposed to swell and the violins started to play. When they'd sink into each other's arms. But not in the real world. In the real world they hung suspended in mid air over a bottomless abyss. In the real world everything was awkward and embarrassing, and needed much more courage than in the movies she'd seen.

"Who I am?" he repeated, keeping his voice painstakingly void of all hope.

"The man I love," she whispered.

"Come again?" Remus frowned.

"I …"

A flash of pure green light hit them so suddenly, Serene screamed in shock and Remus instinctively reached out to catch her - a motion that would surely have undone the fragile balance of power. But where they should have tumbled and fallen into darkness, they softly sank to the ground. The hole in the stone floor was not fully closed but seemed to be sewn together with faint green threads of green light. Remus grabbed Serene's arm and drew her away from the seam towards the wall.