Chapter Twenty-One

The Skeleton in the Closet

Matt was always friendly with Ran, but they had their separate lives, for the most part. The lessons they took together with Basil, Bear, and Milt were only once a week, and Ran really only talked to Bear during those, usually about Quidditch. So he was quite surprised when Ran pulled him aside in the common room and said he wanted to ask him something. They weren't allowed out of the Gryffindor tower at night anymore, so Matt simply allowed Ran to drag him up the stairs toward the bedrooms. They paused on a landing.

"What do you think of Professor Stevens?" Ran asked him, his tone and bearing suggesting that this was the most important question he'd ever asked.

"Well, I think he's a good teacher," Matt stammered. "And I think it's brilliant that he's going to let us join the training sessions you do with him. He doesn't treat us like we're just kids—"

"Do you think the rumours about him are true?"

Matt frowned. "What rumours?"

"That he was . . . well, a criminal."

"Who says that?"

"Well, nobody calls him a criminal, exactly, but they all think he comes from a really dark past. I mean, he was attacked by a werewolf and he survived without even being bitten. People say he's dangerous."

What Matt had heard about Stevens during the argument at Christmas came to mind, but it wasn't anything he necessarily wanted to share with Ran. He didn't want to get Professor Stevens in any trouble.

"What's the big deal, anyway?" he asked Ran. There had to be a reason Ran had to drag him off alone to ask him this, after all.

Ran looked miserable, and he turned his eyes toward a window set into the curving wall. "He likes my mum."

"He . . . what?"

"He came to our house for New Year's. He and my mum were . . . well, my grandfather took him aside to act all threatening. I think Mum likes him, too."

"Oh," Matt replied, feeling very much at a loss. Adult romance was not something he cared to get involved in, as a rule. He'd seen Uncle Charlie in too many fights with Grandma Weasley about that kind of thing. But now he understood why Ran was so concerned, so he felt he should tell him what he knew.

"My dad asked my Aunt Tonks to check him out," he said, and watched Ran's head snap back to him, eyes wide. "I guess nobody really trusted him, at first. They were arguing about whether or not to let him teach me anything, during the holidays, all of them. I guess Aunt Tonks and Aunt Hermione still don't trust him. They said he'd . . ." Matt racked his brains for the exact phrase. "He'd been involved in killings."

Ran's hands tightened into fists, and Matt got nervous. The full moon was tomorrow, and while he didn't think Ran could or would do anything tonight, it was still too close for comfort.

"But my dad didn't like them talking about it," he said quickly, anxious to head this conversation in the direction he preferred—over with. "Aunt Tonks and Uncle Remus have been here for a few months, and they trust him. Dad said he was a good wizard, and if he wants to leave his past behind him, we should let him. Dad trusts him enough to let him teach me. All three of them, plus all the teachers here, can't be wrong. I mean, he cares about all of us, doesn't he?"

That seemed to get to Ran, and he unclenched his fists. "Yeah, he does."

"He's been training us, and he lets that weird Slytherin Niles Wraven do extra homework with him, and he's taking care of Letty so she doesn't faint again." Matt wasn't sure who he was trying to make his case to. He didn't think Ran needed any more convincing. Maybe he just genuinely liked the Head of his house. After all, with a list of things like that, Professor Stevens certainly seemed to be a good man. "I don't think you ought to worry about your mother. I don't think Professor Stevens would do anything to her."

Ran shrugged. "No, I never thought he would hurt her or anything. Just . . ."

"Leave her like your dad did?" Matt guessed before he could stop himself.

Ran's eyes blazed. "My father was such a coward. I barely remember him. He left when I was five."

"Is your mother that serious about the professor?"

"I don't know. I just don't want that to happen to her again."

Matt was desperate to get himself out of this now. He understood perfectly well why Ran had sought him out—there was no one else he could speak to in Gryffindor who was likely to be as tight-lipped as Matt would, or as willing to sit alone in conversation with an agitated werewolf. But this just felt so weird, discussing his professor's love life, discussing his housemate's mother's love life. Merlin, at least it wasn't Grandma and Uncle Charlie.

"It won't," he said with as much assurance as possible. "You can look after your mum, can't you? Professor Stevens isn't a coward, anyway."

That seemed to help. Ran apparently noticed for the first time how uncomfortable Matt was with the whole thing, because he looked over the smaller boy with an amused expression. Mercifully, he let Matt go.

"Thanks, Matt. You're probably right. See you later."

Matt escaped to his room, where Kerry and Trevor were engaged in loud argument over a pair of socks. Matt put on his pajamas and covered his head with a pillow to block it out.

He wondered why he bothered; Matt wasn't sleeping at night anyway. Not lately. He sat up in the dark worrying about his parents and family, and his dreams were plagued with memories of an evil wizard and his birth mother's body being slowly engulfed in flames.

---Break---

Matt was sitting with his chin in one hand when Bear gave him a hard nudge in the ribs.

"Matt!"

"What?" he asked, hurriedly lifting his other hand, which had a quill in it, to continue copying the notes she'd taken in their History of Magic class.

She rolled her eyes. "You've been staring at that for five minutes. You look exhausted."

Matt shrugged. "I am, a little."

Bear opened her mouth to reply, but the hoot of an owl stopped her. A second year whose name Matt did not know had just let it in the window. The bird dropped a note in front of Matt and soared back outside with barely a stirring of air to mark its passage. The second year shut the window and turned to Matt with a confused look, but Matt hurriedly gathered up his things and headed upstairs, Bear following him. Davis and Trevor tried to, but Bear blocked the passage with a firm expression. They headed back for the common room, muttering about it being their room, and Bear being the one who should be shut out of it.

"Who's it from?" she asked.

Matt was just now opening it. He hadn't missed the exchange and knew he'd have to take attitude from Davis and Trevor later. "I don't know," he muttered, and scanned it. "Professor Stevens," he said in surprise. "He says something's wrong with Ran and he wants me to come to the greenhouse."

"What?" Bear asked, snatching the letter. "Why would he want you?"

Matt shrugged, but he thought he knew. Ran must have confronted Professor Stevens about his mother earlier in the day, and now he was putting up a fuss in his werewolf form. Professor Stevens wanted Matt to come talk him out of it. Matt felt a thrill of fear as he realized that the professor would never ask for help unless he was afraid Ran might hurt him. And then it struck Matt that Professor Stevens was afraid of Ran right now. Ran wasn't the first werewolf to threaten him.

Matt explained his thoughts to Bear as quickly as he could. Bear looked slightly alarmed when Matt told her that he'd had a conversation about budding romance with their teacher, but it didn't last long as he explained that Professor Stevens probably needed his help. Bear frowned, but agreed that Matt might be able to keep Ran from causing any damage he'd regret later. Ran seemed to trust Matt.

"But whoever is on patrol tonight will stop me," Matt fretted.

"That's good, though, they could help," Bear said.

"And then the whole school would know about Professor Stevens and Ran's mum. I don't want to do that to them."

Bear flicked her eyes over Matt's shoulder and smiled a little. "Can you fit out the window?"

Matt turned around and tried to make a guess. "I think so."

"I saw this old Muggle movie where a kid climbed out his window by tying the bedsheets together like a rope."

Two minutes later, Matt was straddling a twisted knot of canopy drapes and trying not to look down as he climbed. Bear watched for adults, secretly hoping one of them would show up and escort Matt to the greenhouse, no matter what he said. Then she decided, to hell with it, she was going to escort him herself. She started climbing down after him.

---Break---

Drew cast a glance at Ran, who was contentedly asleep next to his chair, and pulled out the newspaper he hadn't gotten a chance to read that morning. The front headline make him drop the paper in shock, and he retrieved it with trembling hands, his face white.

Draco Malfoy returns home, the Daily Prophet proclaimed. Blond-haired wizard seen by patrol at Malfoy Manor. Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood reported seeing a man who could only be Draco Malfoy trying to sneak in past their guard, quickly retreating without confrontation when he saw them. A manhunt for resurfaced Death Eater was underway.

It can't be himDrew thought in panic, it just can't be. But who else could it be? The skeleton in the Malfoy closet had just rattled his bones.

Drew cursed, rising to his feet and awakening Ran. "I've got to get someone else to keep an eye on you tonight," he told Ran, his heart in his throat. "I have to go."

He dashed out the door and knocked frantically on the door to Hagrid's hut. He informed the slightly inebriated gamekeeper that he needed to go watch Ran, and dashed back to the school. He saw a body lying on the grass, and gasped. He limped over and found Bear lying unconscious underneath Gryffindor Tower. He had just assured himself that she was still alive when Zacharias Smith rounded the corner.

Smith yanked out his wand, then lowered it uncertainly when he recognized Drew.

"Where have you been?!" Drew screamed at him. "This is what happens on your watch?"

Befuddled, Smith accepted Bear's body as Drew shoved it at him.

"Take her to the hospital wing," he snapped.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know yet. I'm going to see the Aurors. Check to see if the other students are safe. I'm bringing more help in. Alert the rest of the staff, Tyrell might be here."

Smith suddenly seemed to realize that Drew was issuing the Deputy Headmaster of the school orders. "Now, see here—" he began, but Drew was already calling a broom to get himself outside the Anti-Apparition wards as quickly as possible. A second after Drew had hopped on the broom and started speeding away, it came to Zacharias that he might be watching the Talbott girl's attacker fleeing from his reach.

He sent up sparks to alert the others patrolling the grounds and started bellowing orders.