A/N: None of these characters are mine except the obvious. The Harry potter characters belong to the amazing J.K Rowling. Please R&R.

Chapter 14: Secrets Untold

Another week passed and things seemed to calm down at Hogwarts. The students were finally settled in and genuinely thought of Hogwarts as their home away from home. They were no longer showing up to the wrong classrooms, getting lost on the staircases, and, most importantly, were no longer believing that Peeves was helping them.

Sam had stopped glaring at Laura and was now just ignoring her completely. Laura felt that she should let Sam have her space and calm down a bit more before she told her about their parents.

Remus left early in the week on "business", and Laura was worried about him. Each day he seemed to just wither away in Laura's eyes. In her opinion, he was too sick to travel. She just hoped that wherever this "business" was, he had someone there to watch over him.

It was Friday at last, and Laura sat with the other teachers at the head table while the students chatted and dined noisily. She was immersed in a conversation with McGonagall when she heard a swift intake of breath. Laura swung her head around to see Snape clutching at his left arm and wincing.

"Excuse me, I have other business to attend to," he said, his chair scraping over the stone floor. "Tell Dumbledore I will see him afterwards," he told McGonagall. She grimly nodded in understanding.

Once Snape ducked through the nearby door, Laura looked around her and pushed back her chair as she stood. "Excuse me, Minerva," she said quickly, but politely, as she set off.

She almost had to run to catch up to Snape. As she rounded the corner, she saw the tail end of Snape's cloak as he quickly made his way down to the dungeon.

"Professor Snape?" she called before he could reach his door.

Snape turned around only halfway and raised an eyebrow as he looked over his right shoulder. "Yes, Professor Jones? What is it?" he asked impatiently.

Laura could feel his cold stare searching her eyes, so she looked at her hands to clear her thoughts. "I..well..I just wanted to say that-"

"Out with it, woman! I don't have the bloody time right now!" Snape snapped, muttering the password to open his door.

"I just wanted to say..be careful. We all appreciate what you do..even though we may not show it," she told him sincerely as her eyes met his again.

"Yes, well-" Snape hesitated as his face winced again. Before Laura could say anything, he stalked into his quarters and swiftly shut the door behind him.

Laura strolled about the school grounds with a covered basket – in search of fresh ingredients she could use for her next potions class, when she found herself at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The waning moon appeared from behind the clouds and a dark figure caught her eye, just inside of the forest. It staggered forward and the figure's hood fell back and revealed Snape's pain ridden face.

Laura dropped her basket and ran to him. As she approached, Snape schooled his emotions and tried to stand up straight.

"Professor Snape! Are you alright?" she asked, extremely worried.

"No, you impertinent fool! I need to see Madame Pomfrey," he hissed through his teeth.

Laura said nothing to insult, but she did move her arm around his back and moved his arm around the back of her shoulder for support. As she did this, he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Would you prefer me to let you crawl up there by yourself?" she asked, mockingly.

They reached the hospital wing, and Madame Pomfrey rushed over to them. Laura left once she knew Snape would be healed. Madame Pomfrey assured her it wasn't worse than usual and that he would be back in class tomorrow.

Laura went to her office and finished grading the 2nd years' first research papers of the term. She rubbed her temples as a headache came crashing on.

"Thank Merlin it's Friday," she thought as she walked over to her potions' cabinet, found the headache potion, and quickly tossed down the drink. Her head still hurt, but it was reduced to a faint prick.

Laura rubbed her eyes and set her quill down.

"That's enough for tonight," Laura said as she got up from her chair and walked to her rooms where she collapsed onto the bed.

Marius sat slumped in the winged-back chair facing his wife Cosette – who sat on the loveseat with a book in hands, her legs folded under her. At the age of 36, she was still as beautiful as the day they were married 17 years ago. A red curl of hair fell in front of her gray eyes and she brushed it away irritably.

"Marius?" she asked suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"When can we leave this place?"

"When the order contacts us and says its safe to," he answered.

Cosette sighed heavily. "But it's so boring here," she whined, placing the book on the coffee table.

"Now, Cosette," said an older version of her husband as he stepped out of the kitchen, "it's not all that bad, now is it?"

"But, Alexander, I feel caged up here! I want to be at home at the manor and be able to take walks in the rose garden with Sam and Laura whenever I please."

"And you will be able to-" Marius sighed, "just not now."

"Dinner's ready!" a voice called from the kitchen.

The three adults walked into the dinning room and took their seats. An elderly woman came in with a tray of steaming food, setup and displayed perfectly.

"Oh, Fantine, this looks lovely," Cosette complimented.

"Yes, mother, I do say you've outdone yourself," Marius praised.

As they were about to eat, a loud crash came from the front parlor. They all jumped up with their wands drawn. Cosette screamed as six Death Eaters entered the parlor.

"Expelliarmus!" one yelled and Cosette's wand flew to their hand and was snapped and thrown aside.

"Incarcerous!" Marius yelled, ropes came out the end of his wand and wound around one of the Death Eaters.

"Stupefy!" another one cursed and the spell hit Marius in the chest, causing him to crumble to the floor.

Cosette ran to Marius and kneeled beside him. "Please!" she begged, "Please leave us alone!"

The Death Eaters laughed bitterly. They tortured Fantine and Alexander by using a Severing Charm to cut off their appendages, one by one, forcing the others to watch, then finally ending their misery with the killing curse.

"Now I believe it is your turn," one said maliciously.

"Crucio!" Marius screamed and withered in pain while Cosette thrashed around on the floor, her screams silenced. Cosette watched Marius as his green eyes started to darken and his chest began to slow, he took in one final wavering breath and his eyes closed forever. The Death Eaters removed the silencing charm so they could hear her cries of anguish. Her throat was raw from screaming and Cosette could feel her life slipping away, her vision was wavering and her life began to flash before her eyes from her first kiss to her first child, from life to death. She knew the reaper had come to take her away and that this last breath would be her last. She slumped to the floor and her gray eyes slowly closed.

"Mumma…" she murmured. "Daddy… No please don't, I'll do anything. I'll do anything!!" She screamed and Laura woke with a start, cold sweat covering her body, and tears running down her cheeks. How could her dreams seem so real? She only knew what she had learned at a trail for one of the Death Eaters that had participated in the murder.

She couldn't seem to get away from it all – no matter where she went, they always seemed to find her.

"Will this ever end?" she thought, covering her face with her hands, her shoulders shook as she cried.

Afternoon found Laura sitting on her sofa with her legs folded under her. She was grading more papers and was determined to finish them before supper. A knock sounded at her door and she put down her papers with a sigh and opened it.

"Remus!" she exclaimed while enveloping him in a hug. "You're back! How are you?"

"I'm fine," he said with a smile. "Mind if I come in?"

"Oh, forgive me, please do," she said as she quickly moved the papers out of the way for him to sit.

"I wanted to talk to you about why I was gone." His tone was serious and his smile faded. "This is kind of difficult for me to say because so few know about ," he said while grasping her hand.

"Remus, whatever it is, I won't base my friendship with you on some condition," she told him with sincerity.

Remus smiled weakly then looked down to study the floor. "I'm a Werewolf, Laura," he stated bluntly.

Laura was quite for a second, gathering the information Remus had just told her.

"I should have told you sooner."

"No, Remus, you did the right thing. You told me when you were ready." Laura looked him in the eyes. "Thank you," she said, giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

They had a comfortable conversation for about an hour when Remus spoke up. "Well, I'd better go and let you finish." He waved to the pile of essays strewn about the coffee table. Remus walked to the door then turned around. "Uh, I was wondering, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with some of the Professors and myself tomorrow?" he asked.

"That sounds nice, I would love to."

"Good, well I will see you later on then."

"Alright Remus, goodbye"

A/N : ::Sigh:: well that's another chapter down and I'm sorry it took so long to get it up, but school prevents me from writing as much as I would like. Just 2 more weeks and I will have Christmas break and I will hopefully have time to get another chapter.

Thank you to my readers, reviewers and my Beta, Kim – without her, this story would be like poop…

L. J.