Chapter 14: Wolves of a Pack
"I'm so sorry, Roxanne," Melody's eyes pooled with tears, her pale face taut and miserable. I looked behind me to Stefan, who was pretending to be asleep on his bed to give us privacy.
"Melody, it's not your fault," I said gently, turning back and squeezing her hand from my perch on a chair next to her bed. She had the white sheet pulled all the way up to her chin, and only her face and the hand I was holding were visible from under it. "You only attacked some chickens and I got in the way, it was completely my fault." I hadn't told her the whole story; she already felt bad enough, knowing she'd hurt Stefan and me.
"I never wanted to hurt anybody," she said hoarsely, a tear spilling down her cheek. "Do you know how it happened? Me turning into a werewolf?" I shook my head. "I owe you the whole explanation now...I should have told you long ago, I suppose.
"I wasn't bitten, you know. The werewolf gene is spread through blood-saliva contact. I didn't realize right away what had happened. I felt a little odd, but that was all. Then when I came to eat dinner at your house, your Uncle Harry pulled me aside. He said he had pieced together what had happened and he said as soon as he'd caught me eyeing the raw meat from the kitchen, he knew." Melody broke down now, openly crying. I put my arm around her, resting my head on her shoulder.
"And then," she sniffed, her voice wavering. "He asked if he could talk to Kingsley. So he arranged things with him. And Hermione, she...she tried to make Wolfsbane for me. It was in that package I got before Quidditch tryouts. I had an allergic reaction to an ingredient in it, so it didn't even work. That was the first month. So really, it was true, I did have an allergic reaction," she gave a bitter laugh. "And you knew something was up. But anyway, that was the first time I transformed, and it was horrible."
"Does-does it hurt?" I whispered.
"Every time." Her voice was haunted.
"Kingsley let me use the Shrieking Shack, and showed me the passageway from the Whomping Willow. He said that was why it was planted in the first place, to hide the passageway to the Shack. D'you know why? I'm not the first werewolf Hogwarts has housed," she grinned a bit. "Remus Lupin, he was a werewolf. And younger than me when he was bitten. He must have been so brave..." she trailed off, a faraway look in her eyes.
"And do you know the last bit?" She asked finally, locking eyes with me. "My parents didn't disown me because I was a witch. That was tolerable, although they were already scared of what I could do. They loved my little sister more, always. She was perfect, and normal."
"You have a little sister?" I asked softly.
She nodded. "Reyna. She's eleven now." I had never been to Melody's house, because she'd always assured me how much her parents hated anything that was even slightly out of the ordinary. I now realized how very little I knew about Melody's home life. "But anyway, when they found out what...what I am, that was it for sure," she intoned without emotion.
"Oh, Mel," I said softly, looking at her sadly. "We're your family now."
"Birds of a feather, my arse," she grinned a tiny bit. "Try wolves of a pack."
We were allowed to leave the hospital next morning, on Christmas Eve. The three of us participated in the Great Snowball Fight of Hogwarts, led by Kinsgley. and then drank hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows over the fire of the Ravenclaw common room. That night, Melody and I packed to leave for home, and Stefan watched us glumly from his perch on the floor.
"You're really going to leave me, aren't you?" He sighed, his chin resting on his hand.
"Sorry, Stefan," Melody laughed, ruffling his hair as he passed by. "Are you coming to see us off?" His gaze flickered to me and I blushed, quickly turning back to my suitcase.
"Yup," I heard him say over the pounding of blood in my ears. "Wouldn't miss it for the world, Melly dear."
Happy Christmas, Melody, Fred spoke into my mind, and a huge grin burst across my face. Stefan and I locked eyes, and shared a secret smile.
"Goodbye, Professor!" Melody chirped as she stepped into Kingsley's fireplace, holding the floo powder ready. She disappeared in a rush of green flames, and I stepped forward to the urn that contained the powder, which was resting on the Kingsley's mantle.
"Thank you again for this, Professor," I said sincerely, smiling at the old man. "I know you kind of let us break the rules, staying at Hogwarts for the first bit and then going home."
Kingsley inclined his head, and winked. "There's no reason for me to keep you at Hogwarts, is there? Besides, none of the other students have asked to split their Christmas time, so technically I'm not showing favoritism," he grinned at me. "Christmas should be spent with loved ones. Goodbye, Roxanne." With that, he stepped away from the fireplace.
"Goodbye, Stefan," I said softly. His face had gone rather twisted, and he was sitting tensely at the edge of his armchair facing the fire. "The Burrow-"
"Wait!" I heard a yell and a thump as stefan rushed forward, arms outstretched, but it was too late. I was already spiraling away, catching glimpses of other peoples' Christmas trees in their living rooms. I gave a small sigh, wishing Stefan had maybe jumped just a bit sooner...what would he have done, though? Given me a hug? I shook my head, refusing to think about it.
I stumbled out of the fireplace and into my cousin James Potter's arms.
"Roxanne!" He bellowed, locking his arms around me and swinging me around. "I haven't seen you in ages, baby cousin!"
"Ouch!" I yelled as he set me down, laughing. I playfully punched his arm, and he mussed my hair with a crooked grin. "Missed you too, Jamesy," I grinned. Then his gaze flickered behind me, to the fireplace, and his mouth opened in an O of surprise.
"Are we expecting anyone else-"
Suddenly Stefan was there, tumbling headfirst into the living room and barely catching himself before he tripped on Grandma Molly's rug.
"Roxanne!" He gasped, a bit of ash smeared across his cheek. At the same moment we were rushing toward each other and crashing together, my hands on his cheeks and his on my lower back, holding me in a kiss, his lips pressed against mine.
We broke apart, gasping and touching foreheads.
"Happy Christmas, Roxanne," he whispered, before stepping into the fireplace once more. "And I'll see you soon, love. Headmaster Kingsley's office, Hogwarts!" He shouted, and disappeared before I could move from my open-mouthed, frozen stance in the living room.
For a moment, neither James, Melody or I said anything. Then I let out a small squeak, whirling around.
"Rox, who was that?" James was practically shouting as he fumed. "Cheeky little bastard, how dare he kiss my cousin right in front of me-!"
"James, quiet down! The children are trying to sleep! And watch your language! Oh, Roxanne!" Aunt Ginny-my godmother-exclaimed, rushing forward to catch me in a hug. "Hello, love! What's going on with all the shouting in here? And hello, Melody," my godmother beamed at my best friend who stepped forward, smiling.
"A bloke's come to kiss Roxanne!" James blurted, and suddenly Teddy and Victoire had their heads in.
"Roxanne's got a bloke?" Teddy gasped, and Victoire ran at me and gave me a hug.
"How are you and Ted?" I whispered, and examined her left hand for the engagement ring I knew would be sparkling there. She caught me looking, and winked.
"Teddy!" I exclaimed, hugging my soon to be cousin-in-law.
"Wotcher, Roxanne!" He laughed, changing his nose into the long, pointy version that he knew made me giggle. "Now what's this about a bloke? Someone need to be beaten up?" He raised a fiery red eyebrow.
"No!" I exclaimed, face turning a bright shade of red. "No, not at all-"
"Roxanne!" Yet another person swept into the room and Victoire and Ted moved on to greeting Roxanne and trying to calm a grumbling James.
"Mum!" I cried, rushing into my mother's open arms. I was aching to tell her so many things; Fred, Melody...but I knew I couldn't just curl up in her lap and pour out my heart to her anymore, and that saddened me. But now I knew I was carrying secrets that weren't mine to give away.
"What's wrong, dear?" She caught on immediately, cupping my chin in her hand. "You look...well, underneath all that I've just been kissed nonsense, you look older," she scrutinized me carefully, black eyes seeming to inspect my soul.
"That's what happens when you dump me at Hogwarts for a few months, Mum," I joked, giving her another hug. "I'm fine, I promise."
"Good," she exclaimed, squeezing me back. "Come in the kitchen, your father's dying to see you!"
I grinned and followed her through the living room, and was greeted by another table-full of my family, who were all slightly tipsy as they toasted everything under the sky.
"To-to-Roxanne coming back!" My father was exclaiming, clinking glasses with Uncle Charlie and taking another sip.
"To James finally getting a job!" Harry bellowed, and I was surprised to see him slightly inebriated as well. He really got a lot louder when he hit the happy juice.
I woke up bright and early Christmas morning to the sound of the youngest cousins-Fred, Louis, Hugo, Lily and Molly-trampling down the stairs, shouting excitedly for everyone to wake up.
"Happy Christmas!" I exclaimed, already completely awake as I sprung out of bed and pulled open the curtains to a newly snow-blanketed scene of white pine trees and a pink sunrise.
"It's the crack of dawn, isn't it," Melody groaned, putting the pillow back over her head.
"Get up, Melody!" Lucy exclaimed, throwing her blankets onto the floor. Real charmer, that Lucy. "It's CHRISTMAS!"
With that Melody shot out of her bed and we all practically flew down the stairs along with the rest of the cousins.
When all the presents were opened and torn gift paper piled almost to the ceiling, breakfast was served. Heaping full of fluffy eggs, steaming sausages, airy pancakes, toast and hash browns weighed down the table, along with all sorts of cookies which was a Weasley Christmas tradition.
Everyone had a Grandma Molly sweatshirt, even Melody. Fred and Hugo were off racing their new brooms with James, Al, and Louis, and it wasn't long before the rest of the cousins piled on their winter gear and tramped outside to join the game.
"PAUSE!" Teddy bellowed as our quaffle flew off into the woods, courtesy of Lily's less-than-impeccable aim.
"I'll get it!" Molly chirped, and jumped off her broom. When she came back, my owl was perched on her arm.
"Roxanne, there's a letter for you!" She called, and my owl flew to me. I nodded my thanks and descended to the ground (well, I didn't have to do much descending since I was only about two feet off the snow: ground back-up, I called it.)
I took the letter inside, happily accepting the hot chocolate Grandma Molly handed to me as I stepped in, shaking off my boots and removing my hat and scarf. I curled up on the couch next to Victoire, who was busy scribbling away something in her wedding planner.
"Is that a letter from your secret boyfriend, Roxanne?" Lucy called from the floor, and I angrily stopped the process of opening the blank envelope.
"Oi, does everyone know my business now?" I exclaimed, and Lucy quickly went back to her new nail polish kit that magically changed colors, muttering something that sounded distinctly like arsehole.
"Don't pay attention to them," Victoire murmured, patting me on the back. "But Roxanne, is it true he's a Durmstrang?" I gave her a look.
"Okay, okay!" She put her hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I know my political correctness and all, but..." she trailed off. I knew exactly what she was thinking. She was remembering the Tri-Wizard tournament that her mother had participated in so long ago; the Durmstrangs had come to Hogwarts then, too.
And then, something dawned on me.
How could I even be sitting here, talking to Victoire? Victoire, who'd had her own sister steal her fiancée away from her? And me, who'd just kissed another girl's boyfriend?
A flood of guilt washed over me, and I would have probably done something drastic if the letter I'd just opened hadn't distracted me from absolutely anything else.
Miss Roxanne Weasley,
I have been alerted to the fact that you are endeavoring to achieve a feat well beyond the realms of your capabilities of magic. I will not name the task, because you and I both know what is is which I speak of. I will give you only one chance to put your faith in me and form an alliance; we can help each other. We seek similar outcomes. However, you need me more than I need you, and this alliance is far from a cry for help. It is purely an act of mercy on my part, and will only be advantageous to you. Destroy this note. Astronomy tower on the night classes resume, eleven at night.
There was no signature. He knew that I'd figure out right away who it was.
Who else could it be? Grigor Nikola.
The rest of the holiday break passed in a blur. The initial exuberance after Stefan had kissed me faded once I realized the implications. In that spontaneous moment, we'd both become cheaters. Maybe I was just like Dom. That old saying about apples and trees...does that apply to cousins?
And then there was Nikola. I lost so many hours of sleep over that, and I decided nothing. Should I ignore it? Go there and tell him no? When he said we were working to achieve similar things, what did he mean? Was he trying to bring back someone from the spirit realms as well? I knew he knew about them, though how, I wasn't sure.
"Why'd you do it?" I strode forward to meet Stefan and he caught my shoulders, grin fading at the expression on my face. "Why'd you kiss me?"
He lowered his arms and looked away, at the ground. At that moment, I felt no love for Stefan Leonov.
"You've made us both no better than dirty cheaters," I hissed, and pushed up my sleeves. "We're going to train today, and nothing else. Don't even ask me how the weather is," I spat, and turned my back on him. It was the first day back from vacation, and I'd been in a haze all day. I woke in an awful mood, and I hadn't shaken it off. I'd barked at three first years who were sharing Christmas plans, and snapped at exactly three of my three best friends, all of whom were now throwing me hurt and angry looks whenever we passed each other in classes. Now I was about to go off at Stefan too, if he so much as blinked the wrong way-
"Fine," he hissed, taking his wand out and sitting across from me on the floor of the empty classroom. "But let's just remember who kissed back, alright?"
"Shut up!" I hissed, shaking with anger. "You practically threw yourself at me, what was I supposed to do?"
"I dunno, maybe push me away if you didn't want to!" Stefan was shouting in my face now. My hand twitched, and I seriously thought about slapping him.
"I was kind of shocked because oh, that's right, you were snogging me!" I yelled, eyes flashing as I leaned forward to glare at him.
"You know what? Fine. We won't discuss it like mature people, you can act childish like that all day for all I care. Let's just concentrate on training, shall we? I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't want a Death Eater hitching a ride when we go in on March 21st." He closed his eyes, and I did the same because really, what sort of answer does one give to that?
This time, we used a different spell. We didn't travel to the realm of the souls, but instead to a gray, dimensionless place that seemed to stretch on for miles. Stefan called it the "training gym."
Basically, we tried to conjure up chunks of matter and throw them at each other, deflecting and flinging them back. It was supposed to exercise our mental capabilities.
We did this for a while in complete silence, and perhaps we flung the small gray cubes of matter at each other harder than normal. Stefan's face was set in angry lines, and I was miserable. As sick as it sounded, I was actually looking forward to getting out of there and turning Nikola down in his sadistic little offer of "alliance." If he was offering me anything, surely it meant he needed something, but was going to make it sound like he was doing me a huge favor. Which was exactly why I was going to decline and try not to get in a duel with him.
I conjured up the biggest cube yet, the size of a small dog, and flung it twirling over Stefan's head, crashing down and then disappearing into the grayness of the background. I checked my watch for the umpteenth time. It was half ten.
"I've got to go," I called, and closed my eyes, concentrating. The world before me disappeared, and I felt the hard floor of the classroom under my butt once more.
"Where are you going?" Stefan opened his eyes across from me as I stood up.
"Nowhere," I said shortly, swiftly exiting the room.
Nikola was already there when I stepped into the Astronomy tower, a cautious hand in my wand pocket.
He stepped out of the shadows, a cold wind blowing in through the open spaces in the walls. Bronze telescopes were perched every few feet along the paneless windows, and the night sky was dotted with stars.
"So you did come," he observed, inclining his head but never taking his eyes off mine. I struggled to keep my face impassive.
"I did," I said simply, tightening my fingers around my wand. "I came to refuse." Nikola didn't say anything for a minute, merely turned with his hands clasped behind his back, looking out over the grounds of Hogwarts.
"You may remove your hand from your wand, I do not wish to engage a duel. The amount of paperwork would be extensive if you died," he chuckled as if he had just made the funniest joke, but I only loosened my fingers slightly. He turned back toward me, black eyes glittering in his heavily lined face. There was something familiar about his expression, something that I couldn't quite place my finger on. But the whole bottom half of his face was obscured by a short but thick beard, and his features were set into a permanent frown.
"I could tell the professors on you, you know," I threatened, and a ghost of a smile passed over
his lips. Even I heard how childish I sounded.
"Who would believe you? It's the word of a student against that of a headmaster, and besides, what do you think you're going to tell, exactly? That I spoke with you?"
"What are you trying to do?" I hissed through clenched teeth.
"I advise you to give up on your quest now," Nikola continued as though I'd never spoken. "You'll never get into the spirit realms."
"How do you know so much?" I whispered, horrified. However, there was one thing he didn't know: Stefan. He didn't know one of his own was on my side.
"I know more than you think," Nikola's smile widened. "And I know you will tell no one of this conversation...because you don't want a repeat with poor little Fred, do you?" His smile suddenly reminded me of a hungry predator.
The blood rushed out of my face and I whipped my wand out of my pocket, hand trembling.
"It was you," I spit, but before I could say another word, my wand was flying out of my hand and striking against the opposite wall, clattering onto the floor. "I thought you wanted my help!" My voice sounded high-pitched and tinny in my own ears.
"Not anymore."
"Why not? What are you trying to do?"
"Same as you," Nikola said, nonchalantly examining his fingernails and slipping his wand smoothly back into his pocket.
"Bring someone back?" I whispered hoarsely. "Who? Not V-"
"Not Voldemort," Nikola interjected. "If you think that, you're even more foolish than I thought. The Dark Lord can't be brought back; his soul was too maimed for the shields to catch." Nikola sounded severely disappointed with this bit of information.
"Who, then?" I questioned, eyes flickering to where my wand lay in the shadows. Nikola didn't answer; he casually stepped forward, discreetly blocking my wand from view.
"No matter," he said silkily, and a burst of anger flared up in me.
"Don't think I don't know," I spit, my hands clenched into fists. "It's why you came here, isn't it? You dragged all those students here under the act of "international cooperation" or whatever other hippogriff dung you've pulled out of your arse!" I was shouting now, and feeling too brave. I had never spoken to a teacher like that, evil or not.
A flicker of anger passed through Nikola's eyes and when I blinked, he had moved across the room and had his wand pointed at my throat, a hair's width away. I inhaled sharply, stepping back.
"Who would miss you?" He asked softly, cocking his head. "And who would believe you, if you lived to tell?"
"You're crazy." My breathing was ragged, my eyes wide. I tried to calm myself, but couldn't still my racing heart. "You're insane, you'd never get away with killing a student-"
"I have you exactly where I want you." Nikola leaned down, sticking his nose in my face, his beard tickling my chin. His sour breath curled up my nose, and I tried not to gag. "The closer you think you are to beating me, to understanding the motives, the further you are away from accomplishing anything. The further away you are to seeing the whole picture, and the closer I am to crushing you like a bug."
He made a move as if to spit in my face and I put my hands up in front of me, and-nothing. There was a muffled thump, and I opened my eyes slowly.
Across the room Nikola lay in a heap, his face turned towards the wall.
I stood frozen in shock; had I just preformed wandless magic? Was all of our training beginning to make itself known in more ways than one?
Before I lost my courage I swooped forward and grabbed my wand, sprinting out of the tower as fast as my legs could take me.
"When is it this month?" I whispered out of the corner of my mouth to Mel, who was sitting next to me in Professor Binn's class as he droned on; something about the troll wars.
"January 18th," she hissed back, and I nodded. Tomorrow, then. And by the time Melody was finished with her transformation, it would be just two months until March 21st. Dies Humanes Manes. Day of the Human Ghosts. The day Fred would return.
I cast a furtive look at Stefan, who was sitting with his eyes glazed over, tipped back in his seat with his head inclined toward Lucy, who was sitting next to him and very openly sleeping, with her head on her arms.
Stefan's gaze flickered towards me and I turned quickly back to the front of the room. We were supposed to be mad at each other, not staring in the middle of class. I began furiously attacking my notes ,and it was several moments before I realized the Professor hadn't told us to write anything, nor had I been actually writing anything except long lines of scribbles. Melody caught my eye, puzzled, but I shrugged innocently.
Thankfully, class was soon dismissed. I shot up out of my seat, and Melody and I elbowed our way to the door; it was our last class of the week, and now we could go to Anna and Laine's free period, both of whom had two more classes.
"You've been distracted," Melody commented, looking at me oddly as we carted our books down the hall.
"Hm? Oh," I nodded, not really listening as I searched the faces for Stefan's. We hadn't trained in three days, and it had gone badly. The most either of us had been able to conjure were a few chunks of gray; we'd ended that practice as quickly as it started.
"Roxanne!" Melody waved her hand in front of my face. "There's your Mum, dancing!"
"Don't be silly, Mum hates dancing," I murmured, pulling out a quill and painstakingly writing a number on my wrist while walking. It was the seventeenth of January, so...fourteen days left, then February, twenty-eight days...then twenty-one. So...
I wrote out 63 on my wrist, and looked up to see Melody was looking at me expectantly.
"What?" I asked, slightly guilty.
"What are you doing?" She gestured to the number on my hand.
"Nothing."
"Why have you been so quiet lately?"
"No reason."
"Oh, why won't you tell me what's going on?!" She exclaimed.
"I can't," I said very seriously. I can't tell you about Fred and the souls.
"I'm your best friend," she pleaded.
I looked at her hard. "That didn't seem to influence your choice when you decided not to tell me about your 'moon thing'," I hissed, and her face went blank. Right away, I felt guilty.
"Wait, Mel, I didn't mean-"
"I'm sure you didn't," she snarled, eyes flashing. "I'm going to talk to Anna and Laine, and frankly we're all tired of the way you've been acting lately!" She stalked off, and I swore softly under my breath.
"Bloody hypocrite, you didn't tell them your secret," I huffed under my breath. I stopped and leaned up against the wall for a while, just staring as the last students trickled back to their common rooms or to their last classes of the day.
Melody was right, I realized as I stared out the window, the sun reflecting blindingly off the snow. I had been in a funk lately, and the main reason started with an S and was too attractive for his own good. One stupid kiss, and this is where it gets me? I'll never have a boyfriend. And I couldn't even be a cat person, I hated cats! I could just keep llamas in my backyard, maybe, let kids ride them for free...unless they were too scared of me...
The sound of sudden voices brought me out of my daydream. I planned on just walking past, and not thinking twice, but then I realized who was speaking.
Then, I realized they were talking about me.