Dear ???,
I dunno what to call you. "Diary" seems a bit...I dunno, feminine. I'll think of something.
Anyway, today's the day after Christmas, what James used to call the gloomiest day of the year, since no fun holidays came until Easter. I found it rather exciting, though. Today Severus would come to me and tell me how he liked his present!!
I sneaked around the hallways, trying to keep out of sight in case Severus came by--or, even more on my mind, Sirius still spying on me. I half crawled, half sprinted to Severus's office and turned the handle slowly, creeping into the seemingly abandoned room, searching about for anyone when something small rubbed against my leg. I looked down to find Leviathan. I smiled and picked him up as he purred in my arms.
"He likes you, Secret Admirer," said a voice in my ear. I smiled and closed my eyes as Severus guided me over to the Christmas Tree he kept in the corner of his room. I sat down beside him, next to the fire and garland filled pine tree. I kept my eyes closed as he pushed a medium package into my hands.
"What is i---"
"Open it up and see, Remus."
I grinned and opened my eyes to see a bright red box with little Santas all over it. My grin became even broader as I unwrapped the package, saving the paper as a little memory. ( It was too cute to waste ) I pulled off the top of the lid to find---
New robes and a briefcase. I looked at them and down at my frayed and patched clothes, realising how completely strange I looked. I looked at Severus and he smiled.
"Well? Aren't you going to put them on, Remus? That's what they're meant for, you know.." he said, making me quickly lose that stupid look on my face and forced me to stand up. I wrapped the robe around me, tying the first two knots and leaving the rest untied. I walked to the mirror in his bedroom and turned around, looking at myself. I finally looked like a real Professor, not some raggedy old werewolf. I turned back to face the mirror and saw Severus standing at the doorway. "Lovely, Remus."
I smiled softly and walked to him for a hug.
"So, how did you like your present, Severus?
"Leviathan? He's sweet...and very small. He'll grow right? I keep getting the feeling I'm going to step on him."
I laughed. "Yes, he'll grow. Do you want some cookies? I made some...." and with that we spent the rest of the day together...:)
Remus
Author's Note: Well, thanks to my friend I realized how terribly sappy this story is. Please forgive me. I just...I hate really sappy stories, and I made one...Eerrgh. Anyhow, I'm gonna try to make the next chapter more REALISTIC...And, about the Lucius thing later---I THINK he was at Hogwarts with the Marauders. If I was mistaken, then--woops! Just fill in the blank, k?
DISCLAIMER: Okay, all of these characters and some of the plot is J.K.Rowlings, who IS your god. None of these characters are mine, although I sorely wish Remmie and Sirius were all my own. *smiles evilly* That'd be fun.
Dear...Frank?
I still cannot think of a name. Ah well, I promise next time I will name you.
ANYWAY, the anti-dementor lessons had begun earlier this evening. As I believe I told you, I promised Harry I would teach him how to use the Patronus incantation so he could ward them off. I asked Professor Dumbledore if it'd be alright for me to teach extracirricular lessons to Harry.
"Well, Remus, I am not so positive I want any dementors within these walls," he told me, his face hardening into a hatred I had not seen before.
"Nor I, sir. I was trying to think of some kind of...er-replacement? Another boggart, prehaps?"
"If you can find one, you are welcome to use it. Maybe you can bring it into whatever classoom you are using? Search hard, though. Those creatures are hard to find."
I nodded, smiling at his acceptance of my idea. I exited his cheerful office and marched past the statue guarding it. When I had reached my first stop, the Staffroom, I immediately set out in search of the Boggart. No luck, even in the dusty old cupboards they never used. I searched everywhere, even daring to sneak into Professor Trelawny's room and ask her, never quite getting an answer from her. I finally came to the office all of us Maruaders feared....
Filch's office.
I snuck in and looked around, noticing that nobody was there. Creeping over to the wardrobe I opened it and looked up and down, searching for any replica of the Full Moon. I saw none, so I moved to the next possible hiding spot. I searched practically everywhere until I came to the filing cabinet. I was close to opening it when a hand lay upon my shoulder. I turned around to see the man himself, Argus Filch. Oh, he and I go way back.
We knew eachother pretty well, not as well as Sirius and he, but still pretty well considering the amount of times I was caught with James and Padfoot. Somehow they always managed to get away with Peter before I got the chance... So he and I er-- came across each other quite often.
Anyhow, I looked up at Filch, who looked down at me. I felt so small under his glare.
"Back for more pranks, Professor?" he spat.
"N-No, sir. I just was looking for--"
"A likely story, you haven't changed since those days you ran around with your little devilish friends, blowing up the kitchens with your fireworks, placing stink pellets in the Great Hall, trying to--"
"Mr.Filch, sir, I was just looking for--"
" Setting fire to the Slytherin's common room--"
"That was a mistake!!" I interrupted, since it really was.
"WHICH YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN AT IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"..." True, we belonged in Griffindor. But one time James got really angry at Severus and Lucius for making fun of Peter and cursing his books to bite him, not to mention the Slytherins cheating on the last Quidditch game. So, naturally Sirius came up with the idea to do something to them. It took about a week for me to find the password into Slytherin Tower (Beelzebub feet) and on a Friday night we slipped in during Dinner. James had brought some Filibuster Fireworks and a couple of Wizzing Worms into the common room and set some of them under each chair, attached a close-to-bursting packet of water to each Filibuster and set a spell on the Wizzing Worms to be ignited if pressure was applied. Peter arrived late and burst through the portrait-hole, panting from running. He sat down on a chair and...well, you can imagine. Sparks exploding everywhere, a chain reaction of all the fireworks, fire caught the chairs and the room and the wallpaper. We screamed, trying in vain to put it out as the Slytherins entered.... We were immediately sent to Dumbledore who had Filch by his side. We were punished severly for our act, but it was well worth it at the time.
"Sir, I was given permission to look for a boggart to teach one of my 3rd years how to--"
"How to what?"
"If you'll let me finish--" a sudden bang came from the hallway outside and Filch gave me an evil glance before marching out. I sighed and opened the file cabinet. A sudden flash and I saw the full moon hanging in front of me. I performed the normal spell and it turned into a cockroach, one of the things I fear least. Picking up the insect, I sat it in a packaging case I found in his office as well. I walked nonchalantly out of the room and walked to my room, 5 minutes late for my lesson with Harry. I set it unto Professor Binn's desk and begane to take off my cloak.
"What's that?"
"Another boggart," I replied, smiling slightly that I had finally found one. " I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr.Filch's filing cabinet. it's the nearest we'll get to a real dementor. The boggart will turn into a dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."
"Okay," he said, seeming a bit apprehensive.
"So..." I began to explain to Harry the procedure and how hard it might be, but how I had confidence in him.
"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?"
"Oh--yeah---....Expecto patrono--no, patronum--sorry--expecto patronum, expecto patronum..." he said, a small wisp of a Patronus coming out of his wand. "Did you see that!? Something happened!" he said, grinning, making it impossible for me to refuse a smile as well.
"Very good. Right, then--ready to try it on a dementor?"
"Yes..." he said, looking determined as he moved closer to the box. I opened it and a dementor slowly rose from it's abode, making the room dark, the lamps flickering out and causing the classroom to become undeniably cold. Harry's recollection of the dementor was more precise than I thought, causing me to as well have bad memories flood into my mind. "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum! Expecto---" He stopped suddenly and I saw his eyes cloud and close, Harry began to fall. I rushed and caught him, trying to bring him back to conciousness.
"Harry!"
"...Sorry" he said, opening his eyes as the lamps lit themselves again.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes..." he pulled himself up as he said this and leaned against a desk wearily. He must have heard Lily again...
"Here--" I said, giving him a Chocolate Frog, having them ready knowing he might react like this. "Eat this before we try again. I didn't expect you to do it your first time; in fact, I would have been astounded if you had."
"It's getting worse...I could hear her louder this time....and him-- Voldemort--"
"Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand--"
"I do!" he said, jumping to his feet and swallowing the rest of the Chocolate Frog, barely chewing it. "I've got to! What if the dementors turn up at our match Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"
I looked at him, and hesitated. He really wanted this..."All right then... You might want to select another memory, a happy memory, I mean, to concentrate on...That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough..." I waited, sitting on a desk, and gazed at the box. Harry opened his eyes and walked towards the middle of the room again. I jumped up and gripped the lid. "Ready?"
"Ready."
"Go!" I pulled off the lid, the room immediately grew dark and a chill swept over it again. I watched as much as I could in the pitch black all except a small cloud of silver. "Come on Harry, it's working! It's--- Harry!!" Harry had fainted again. I sighed and walked over to him, the light back on and the room warm once more. I woke him up with a couple of taps. "Harry..wake up..."
He sat there for a while and looked up, tears streaming down his face, when he had regained his sense of self he muttered,"I heard my dad...That's the first time I've ever heard him--he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it..." Harry bent down, tying his shoe. It took a while for me to catch that he had heard my deceased friend and his own father....
"You heard James?" I asked, I KNOW that my voice cracked at "James".
"Yeah...Why--you didn't know my dad, did you?"
Eep, deathblow. "I--I did, as a mtter of fact," I said nervously, my voice still cracking. "We were friends at Hogwarts. Listen--Harry--perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. This charm is ridiculously advanced ...I shouldn't have suggested puting you through this..."
"No!" Harry exclaimed, making me jump as he rose to his feet. " I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is....hang on..." I leaned against the desk, hoping he would at last find his very happy memory...I couldn't bear having Harry tortured like this. A minute went by and he came into the spot he had stood in before.
"Ready? Concentrating hard? All right--go!" I pulled off the lid for the 3rd time and watched as Harry stepped forwards.
" EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A large silver Patronus erupted from his wand, illuminating the room and making the dementor slowly back away. I grinned and looked back at Harry, whose eyes started to lid and he looked as if he should fall any second. I leaped forwards, allowed myself to produce the Full Moon Boggart and stuffed it back into the packaging case. When is was gone, I looked over at Harry, who sat in a desk wearily.
"Excellent Harry! That was definitely a start!!"
"Can we have another go? Just one more go!?" he asked. I can't believe he wanted to!
"Not now, you've had enough for one night. Here---" I handed him a bar of chocolate. "Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"
'Okay," Harry replied, smiling slightly. He started to walk out, eating the chocolate while I extinguished the lamps, but turned around as he reached the door. "Professor Lupin? If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well."
My ears perked up and I turned around. "What gives you that idea?"
"Nothing---I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too..."
I relaxed. "Yes...I knew him. Or I thought I did. You'd better be off, Harry, it's getting late." I turned back around and continued extinguishing the lamps, thinking about the "good ol' days", occasionally looking out the window to see if Sirius was spying on me again, that bastard...
And then I came to write in you, "Frank".
Remus Lupin
Dear Milo,
(I always liked that name!) Not much happened since last I wrote in you..yes, 2 weeks of NOTHING..... Severus has been busy, no sign of Padfoot, and classes have been quite normal. Nothing eventful... I found Leviathan near the lake. I wonder why Severus isn't taking care of him? Is he that busy that he won't even---sorry... But, I should be going now. Classes.
Remus
Dear....?
I don't think Milo fits a diary. Should I just call you diary? I dunno.....It'll come to me soon. (I'd hate to see me trying to name my child!!(if I ever have one...doubtful, in my state) :p)
Today was the fourth anti-dementor lesson, YES, it has been 2 weeks since last I wrote in you about the un-diary-worthy events. But, hey, I have some things to do as well! Alas, Harry hasn't quite gotten the hang of conjuring a Patronus yet. But we still have some time until the match against Ravenclaw. This lesson Harry was doing much better, but after a couple of tries, he just got discouraged and sat down.
"You're expecting too much of yourself. For a thirteen-year-old wizard, even an indistinct Patronus is a huge acheivement. You aren't passing out any more, are you?" I said, smiling slightly.
"I thought a Patronus would--charge the dementors down or something....Make them disappear--"
"The true Patronus does do that. But you've acheived a great deal in a very short space of time. If the dementors put in an appearance at your next Quidditch match, you will be able to keep them at bay long enough to get back to the ground."
"You said it's harder if there are loads of them," replied Harry, seeming as if he still thought it impossible.
"I have complete confidence in you," I said, trying to be comforting. I was struck with the few bottles of Butterbeer I held within my briefcase. "Here- -you've earned a drink--something from the Three Broomsticks. You won't have tried it before--"
"Butterbeer!" Harry said, grinning as I pulled two bottles out. "Yeah, I like that stuff!" I raised an eyebrow. So, Harry HAD taken after James; he wasn't allowed into Hogsmeade, he must've worn the Invisibilty cloak...but how did he know the entrance int--"Oh---Ron and Hermione brought me some back from Hogsmeade."
"Is see..." I replied slowly, still thinking, but quickly forgot about it. "Well--let's drink to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw!--Not that I'm supposed to take sides, as a teacher..." I trailed off and we drank quietly until Harry popped up with an interesting question.
"What's under a dementor's hood?"
"Hmm....well, the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us. You see, the dementor lowers its hood only to use its last and worst weapon."
"What's that?"
I smiled a bit, thinking about it. I don't exactly know why, morbid sense of humor, I suppose. "They call it the Dementor's Kiss. It's what dementors do when they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and---and suck out his soul." I bit my lip, I was thinking of Sirius...he would be the next one to have that happen, if they caught him--
Harry spat out his butterbeer. "What--the kill--?"
"Oh no, much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no...anything. There's no chance at all of recovering. You'll just exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever...lost..." I paused, drank a little more out of my bottle, and continued," It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The ministry has given the dementors permission to perform it if they find him."
Harry sat there for a while, apparently contemplating it all. I frowned and looked down until he spoke again. "He deserves it."
"You think so? Do you really think anyone deserves that?"
"Yes," he replied, a bit downcast perhaps. I shouldn't have brought up Sirius. Poor Harry..."For...for some things." He obviously knew all about it, huh? He left the room a bit later, and I left a bit after that, my head overflowing with semi-depressing thoughts once more. My heart dropped at the idea of Sirius's soul...sucked out....But, was Harry right? He did perform some terrible acts...betrayal, murder, dishonesty....Nobody deserved that, though....
Remus...
Dear Diary,
I suppose I shall just call you Diary, no matter how plain it might be. Today was the Quidditch match of Gryffindor Vs. Ravenclaw! It was great! Maybe even better than that one match of Ravenclaw Vs. Slytherin in our 6th year, heh. Anyway, it started off with the Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, giving a funny commentary about Harry's new broom, a Firebolt that all the Quidditch players, and most other students and some teachers were drooling over. I must admit, it was a lovely broom. Once Professor McGonagall became annoyed with him he began to comment on the game....Which I can barely remember. It went so fast, brooms soaring back and forth, colored robes flashing brilliantly in the sun, and Bludgers clumsily knocking people around while the Quaffle was passed from player to player, a small golden Snitch glimmering in the corner of the stadium. Harry rushed towards it, with the 4th year Cho Chang (quite a nice girl, I must admit) flew after him. I almost stood up to see what'd happen, but I kept my seating. Suddenly a trio of, seemingly, dementors charged onto the field. I finally stood up, seeing that Harry as well had spotted them. A large Patronus erupted from Harry's wand, knocking over the three dementors. I rushed out of the Staff Box and down the steps onto the field with Professor McGonagall. The game had ended, Gryffindor had won.
I looked over at the three 'dementors' to see that they were, in fact, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. I smiled slightly and walked up to Harry, who was surrounded by a crowd of people congratulating him.
"That was quite some Patronus."
Harry turned around, grinning. "The dementors didn't affect me at all! I didn't feel a thing!"
"That would be because they--er--weren't dementors," I replied, laughing mildly. "Come and see--" I lead him over to the heap of black cloth and the three pretenders as McGonagall came over, shouting in a furious rage. I shrugged, smiling.
Later on I walked over to Severus's office, having not spoken to him for more than 2 minutes in almost 6 weeks, I thought I should pay a visit.
"Severus?...may I come in?"
"Remus?...Yeah, go ahead. Door's open..."
I walked in and shut the door behind me, looking at him as he was pouring over papers. I had never seen him so studious, so absorbed into something he did for work. Usually he shunned it.
"Close the door."
"I already have." I walked around the stacks of papers and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
"...sit down."
"I just did, Severus."
"...Oh." He didn't look up from his work.
"Something wrong, Severus? You've been a bit...distant and I haven't seen you for a while. I was starting to think tha--"
"I've been busy, Remus, what do you think I was doing?" He stood up and put a book back on the engraved snake-like shelf, came back to his desk and started to organize his room. I stood up and started to walk out...he didn't even notice I was gone.
Remus
I dunno what to call you. "Diary" seems a bit...I dunno, feminine. I'll think of something.
Anyway, today's the day after Christmas, what James used to call the gloomiest day of the year, since no fun holidays came until Easter. I found it rather exciting, though. Today Severus would come to me and tell me how he liked his present!!
I sneaked around the hallways, trying to keep out of sight in case Severus came by--or, even more on my mind, Sirius still spying on me. I half crawled, half sprinted to Severus's office and turned the handle slowly, creeping into the seemingly abandoned room, searching about for anyone when something small rubbed against my leg. I looked down to find Leviathan. I smiled and picked him up as he purred in my arms.
"He likes you, Secret Admirer," said a voice in my ear. I smiled and closed my eyes as Severus guided me over to the Christmas Tree he kept in the corner of his room. I sat down beside him, next to the fire and garland filled pine tree. I kept my eyes closed as he pushed a medium package into my hands.
"What is i---"
"Open it up and see, Remus."
I grinned and opened my eyes to see a bright red box with little Santas all over it. My grin became even broader as I unwrapped the package, saving the paper as a little memory. ( It was too cute to waste ) I pulled off the top of the lid to find---
New robes and a briefcase. I looked at them and down at my frayed and patched clothes, realising how completely strange I looked. I looked at Severus and he smiled.
"Well? Aren't you going to put them on, Remus? That's what they're meant for, you know.." he said, making me quickly lose that stupid look on my face and forced me to stand up. I wrapped the robe around me, tying the first two knots and leaving the rest untied. I walked to the mirror in his bedroom and turned around, looking at myself. I finally looked like a real Professor, not some raggedy old werewolf. I turned back to face the mirror and saw Severus standing at the doorway. "Lovely, Remus."
I smiled softly and walked to him for a hug.
"So, how did you like your present, Severus?
"Leviathan? He's sweet...and very small. He'll grow right? I keep getting the feeling I'm going to step on him."
I laughed. "Yes, he'll grow. Do you want some cookies? I made some...." and with that we spent the rest of the day together...:)
Remus
Author's Note: Well, thanks to my friend I realized how terribly sappy this story is. Please forgive me. I just...I hate really sappy stories, and I made one...Eerrgh. Anyhow, I'm gonna try to make the next chapter more REALISTIC...And, about the Lucius thing later---I THINK he was at Hogwarts with the Marauders. If I was mistaken, then--woops! Just fill in the blank, k?
DISCLAIMER: Okay, all of these characters and some of the plot is J.K.Rowlings, who IS your god. None of these characters are mine, although I sorely wish Remmie and Sirius were all my own. *smiles evilly* That'd be fun.
Dear...Frank?
I still cannot think of a name. Ah well, I promise next time I will name you.
ANYWAY, the anti-dementor lessons had begun earlier this evening. As I believe I told you, I promised Harry I would teach him how to use the Patronus incantation so he could ward them off. I asked Professor Dumbledore if it'd be alright for me to teach extracirricular lessons to Harry.
"Well, Remus, I am not so positive I want any dementors within these walls," he told me, his face hardening into a hatred I had not seen before.
"Nor I, sir. I was trying to think of some kind of...er-replacement? Another boggart, prehaps?"
"If you can find one, you are welcome to use it. Maybe you can bring it into whatever classoom you are using? Search hard, though. Those creatures are hard to find."
I nodded, smiling at his acceptance of my idea. I exited his cheerful office and marched past the statue guarding it. When I had reached my first stop, the Staffroom, I immediately set out in search of the Boggart. No luck, even in the dusty old cupboards they never used. I searched everywhere, even daring to sneak into Professor Trelawny's room and ask her, never quite getting an answer from her. I finally came to the office all of us Maruaders feared....
Filch's office.
I snuck in and looked around, noticing that nobody was there. Creeping over to the wardrobe I opened it and looked up and down, searching for any replica of the Full Moon. I saw none, so I moved to the next possible hiding spot. I searched practically everywhere until I came to the filing cabinet. I was close to opening it when a hand lay upon my shoulder. I turned around to see the man himself, Argus Filch. Oh, he and I go way back.
We knew eachother pretty well, not as well as Sirius and he, but still pretty well considering the amount of times I was caught with James and Padfoot. Somehow they always managed to get away with Peter before I got the chance... So he and I er-- came across each other quite often.
Anyhow, I looked up at Filch, who looked down at me. I felt so small under his glare.
"Back for more pranks, Professor?" he spat.
"N-No, sir. I just was looking for--"
"A likely story, you haven't changed since those days you ran around with your little devilish friends, blowing up the kitchens with your fireworks, placing stink pellets in the Great Hall, trying to--"
"Mr.Filch, sir, I was just looking for--"
" Setting fire to the Slytherin's common room--"
"That was a mistake!!" I interrupted, since it really was.
"WHICH YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN AT IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"..." True, we belonged in Griffindor. But one time James got really angry at Severus and Lucius for making fun of Peter and cursing his books to bite him, not to mention the Slytherins cheating on the last Quidditch game. So, naturally Sirius came up with the idea to do something to them. It took about a week for me to find the password into Slytherin Tower (Beelzebub feet) and on a Friday night we slipped in during Dinner. James had brought some Filibuster Fireworks and a couple of Wizzing Worms into the common room and set some of them under each chair, attached a close-to-bursting packet of water to each Filibuster and set a spell on the Wizzing Worms to be ignited if pressure was applied. Peter arrived late and burst through the portrait-hole, panting from running. He sat down on a chair and...well, you can imagine. Sparks exploding everywhere, a chain reaction of all the fireworks, fire caught the chairs and the room and the wallpaper. We screamed, trying in vain to put it out as the Slytherins entered.... We were immediately sent to Dumbledore who had Filch by his side. We were punished severly for our act, but it was well worth it at the time.
"Sir, I was given permission to look for a boggart to teach one of my 3rd years how to--"
"How to what?"
"If you'll let me finish--" a sudden bang came from the hallway outside and Filch gave me an evil glance before marching out. I sighed and opened the file cabinet. A sudden flash and I saw the full moon hanging in front of me. I performed the normal spell and it turned into a cockroach, one of the things I fear least. Picking up the insect, I sat it in a packaging case I found in his office as well. I walked nonchalantly out of the room and walked to my room, 5 minutes late for my lesson with Harry. I set it unto Professor Binn's desk and begane to take off my cloak.
"What's that?"
"Another boggart," I replied, smiling slightly that I had finally found one. " I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr.Filch's filing cabinet. it's the nearest we'll get to a real dementor. The boggart will turn into a dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."
"Okay," he said, seeming a bit apprehensive.
"So..." I began to explain to Harry the procedure and how hard it might be, but how I had confidence in him.
"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?"
"Oh--yeah---....Expecto patrono--no, patronum--sorry--expecto patronum, expecto patronum..." he said, a small wisp of a Patronus coming out of his wand. "Did you see that!? Something happened!" he said, grinning, making it impossible for me to refuse a smile as well.
"Very good. Right, then--ready to try it on a dementor?"
"Yes..." he said, looking determined as he moved closer to the box. I opened it and a dementor slowly rose from it's abode, making the room dark, the lamps flickering out and causing the classroom to become undeniably cold. Harry's recollection of the dementor was more precise than I thought, causing me to as well have bad memories flood into my mind. "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum! Expecto---" He stopped suddenly and I saw his eyes cloud and close, Harry began to fall. I rushed and caught him, trying to bring him back to conciousness.
"Harry!"
"...Sorry" he said, opening his eyes as the lamps lit themselves again.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes..." he pulled himself up as he said this and leaned against a desk wearily. He must have heard Lily again...
"Here--" I said, giving him a Chocolate Frog, having them ready knowing he might react like this. "Eat this before we try again. I didn't expect you to do it your first time; in fact, I would have been astounded if you had."
"It's getting worse...I could hear her louder this time....and him-- Voldemort--"
"Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand--"
"I do!" he said, jumping to his feet and swallowing the rest of the Chocolate Frog, barely chewing it. "I've got to! What if the dementors turn up at our match Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"
I looked at him, and hesitated. He really wanted this..."All right then... You might want to select another memory, a happy memory, I mean, to concentrate on...That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough..." I waited, sitting on a desk, and gazed at the box. Harry opened his eyes and walked towards the middle of the room again. I jumped up and gripped the lid. "Ready?"
"Ready."
"Go!" I pulled off the lid, the room immediately grew dark and a chill swept over it again. I watched as much as I could in the pitch black all except a small cloud of silver. "Come on Harry, it's working! It's--- Harry!!" Harry had fainted again. I sighed and walked over to him, the light back on and the room warm once more. I woke him up with a couple of taps. "Harry..wake up..."
He sat there for a while and looked up, tears streaming down his face, when he had regained his sense of self he muttered,"I heard my dad...That's the first time I've ever heard him--he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it..." Harry bent down, tying his shoe. It took a while for me to catch that he had heard my deceased friend and his own father....
"You heard James?" I asked, I KNOW that my voice cracked at "James".
"Yeah...Why--you didn't know my dad, did you?"
Eep, deathblow. "I--I did, as a mtter of fact," I said nervously, my voice still cracking. "We were friends at Hogwarts. Listen--Harry--perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. This charm is ridiculously advanced ...I shouldn't have suggested puting you through this..."
"No!" Harry exclaimed, making me jump as he rose to his feet. " I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is....hang on..." I leaned against the desk, hoping he would at last find his very happy memory...I couldn't bear having Harry tortured like this. A minute went by and he came into the spot he had stood in before.
"Ready? Concentrating hard? All right--go!" I pulled off the lid for the 3rd time and watched as Harry stepped forwards.
" EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A large silver Patronus erupted from his wand, illuminating the room and making the dementor slowly back away. I grinned and looked back at Harry, whose eyes started to lid and he looked as if he should fall any second. I leaped forwards, allowed myself to produce the Full Moon Boggart and stuffed it back into the packaging case. When is was gone, I looked over at Harry, who sat in a desk wearily.
"Excellent Harry! That was definitely a start!!"
"Can we have another go? Just one more go!?" he asked. I can't believe he wanted to!
"Not now, you've had enough for one night. Here---" I handed him a bar of chocolate. "Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"
'Okay," Harry replied, smiling slightly. He started to walk out, eating the chocolate while I extinguished the lamps, but turned around as he reached the door. "Professor Lupin? If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well."
My ears perked up and I turned around. "What gives you that idea?"
"Nothing---I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too..."
I relaxed. "Yes...I knew him. Or I thought I did. You'd better be off, Harry, it's getting late." I turned back around and continued extinguishing the lamps, thinking about the "good ol' days", occasionally looking out the window to see if Sirius was spying on me again, that bastard...
And then I came to write in you, "Frank".
Remus Lupin
Dear Milo,
(I always liked that name!) Not much happened since last I wrote in you..yes, 2 weeks of NOTHING..... Severus has been busy, no sign of Padfoot, and classes have been quite normal. Nothing eventful... I found Leviathan near the lake. I wonder why Severus isn't taking care of him? Is he that busy that he won't even---sorry... But, I should be going now. Classes.
Remus
Dear....?
I don't think Milo fits a diary. Should I just call you diary? I dunno.....It'll come to me soon. (I'd hate to see me trying to name my child!!(if I ever have one...doubtful, in my state) :p)
Today was the fourth anti-dementor lesson, YES, it has been 2 weeks since last I wrote in you about the un-diary-worthy events. But, hey, I have some things to do as well! Alas, Harry hasn't quite gotten the hang of conjuring a Patronus yet. But we still have some time until the match against Ravenclaw. This lesson Harry was doing much better, but after a couple of tries, he just got discouraged and sat down.
"You're expecting too much of yourself. For a thirteen-year-old wizard, even an indistinct Patronus is a huge acheivement. You aren't passing out any more, are you?" I said, smiling slightly.
"I thought a Patronus would--charge the dementors down or something....Make them disappear--"
"The true Patronus does do that. But you've acheived a great deal in a very short space of time. If the dementors put in an appearance at your next Quidditch match, you will be able to keep them at bay long enough to get back to the ground."
"You said it's harder if there are loads of them," replied Harry, seeming as if he still thought it impossible.
"I have complete confidence in you," I said, trying to be comforting. I was struck with the few bottles of Butterbeer I held within my briefcase. "Here- -you've earned a drink--something from the Three Broomsticks. You won't have tried it before--"
"Butterbeer!" Harry said, grinning as I pulled two bottles out. "Yeah, I like that stuff!" I raised an eyebrow. So, Harry HAD taken after James; he wasn't allowed into Hogsmeade, he must've worn the Invisibilty cloak...but how did he know the entrance int--"Oh---Ron and Hermione brought me some back from Hogsmeade."
"Is see..." I replied slowly, still thinking, but quickly forgot about it. "Well--let's drink to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw!--Not that I'm supposed to take sides, as a teacher..." I trailed off and we drank quietly until Harry popped up with an interesting question.
"What's under a dementor's hood?"
"Hmm....well, the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us. You see, the dementor lowers its hood only to use its last and worst weapon."
"What's that?"
I smiled a bit, thinking about it. I don't exactly know why, morbid sense of humor, I suppose. "They call it the Dementor's Kiss. It's what dementors do when they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and---and suck out his soul." I bit my lip, I was thinking of Sirius...he would be the next one to have that happen, if they caught him--
Harry spat out his butterbeer. "What--the kill--?"
"Oh no, much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no...anything. There's no chance at all of recovering. You'll just exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever...lost..." I paused, drank a little more out of my bottle, and continued," It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The ministry has given the dementors permission to perform it if they find him."
Harry sat there for a while, apparently contemplating it all. I frowned and looked down until he spoke again. "He deserves it."
"You think so? Do you really think anyone deserves that?"
"Yes," he replied, a bit downcast perhaps. I shouldn't have brought up Sirius. Poor Harry..."For...for some things." He obviously knew all about it, huh? He left the room a bit later, and I left a bit after that, my head overflowing with semi-depressing thoughts once more. My heart dropped at the idea of Sirius's soul...sucked out....But, was Harry right? He did perform some terrible acts...betrayal, murder, dishonesty....Nobody deserved that, though....
Remus...
Dear Diary,
I suppose I shall just call you Diary, no matter how plain it might be. Today was the Quidditch match of Gryffindor Vs. Ravenclaw! It was great! Maybe even better than that one match of Ravenclaw Vs. Slytherin in our 6th year, heh. Anyway, it started off with the Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, giving a funny commentary about Harry's new broom, a Firebolt that all the Quidditch players, and most other students and some teachers were drooling over. I must admit, it was a lovely broom. Once Professor McGonagall became annoyed with him he began to comment on the game....Which I can barely remember. It went so fast, brooms soaring back and forth, colored robes flashing brilliantly in the sun, and Bludgers clumsily knocking people around while the Quaffle was passed from player to player, a small golden Snitch glimmering in the corner of the stadium. Harry rushed towards it, with the 4th year Cho Chang (quite a nice girl, I must admit) flew after him. I almost stood up to see what'd happen, but I kept my seating. Suddenly a trio of, seemingly, dementors charged onto the field. I finally stood up, seeing that Harry as well had spotted them. A large Patronus erupted from Harry's wand, knocking over the three dementors. I rushed out of the Staff Box and down the steps onto the field with Professor McGonagall. The game had ended, Gryffindor had won.
I looked over at the three 'dementors' to see that they were, in fact, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. I smiled slightly and walked up to Harry, who was surrounded by a crowd of people congratulating him.
"That was quite some Patronus."
Harry turned around, grinning. "The dementors didn't affect me at all! I didn't feel a thing!"
"That would be because they--er--weren't dementors," I replied, laughing mildly. "Come and see--" I lead him over to the heap of black cloth and the three pretenders as McGonagall came over, shouting in a furious rage. I shrugged, smiling.
Later on I walked over to Severus's office, having not spoken to him for more than 2 minutes in almost 6 weeks, I thought I should pay a visit.
"Severus?...may I come in?"
"Remus?...Yeah, go ahead. Door's open..."
I walked in and shut the door behind me, looking at him as he was pouring over papers. I had never seen him so studious, so absorbed into something he did for work. Usually he shunned it.
"Close the door."
"I already have." I walked around the stacks of papers and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
"...sit down."
"I just did, Severus."
"...Oh." He didn't look up from his work.
"Something wrong, Severus? You've been a bit...distant and I haven't seen you for a while. I was starting to think tha--"
"I've been busy, Remus, what do you think I was doing?" He stood up and put a book back on the engraved snake-like shelf, came back to his desk and started to organize his room. I stood up and started to walk out...he didn't even notice I was gone.
Remus