DISCLAIMER: I own nothing you recognize that is all the work of the brilliant JK Rowling

this is the beginning of Harry's third year at Hogwarts but i kind of skipped over most of it

CHAPTER FOUR

I was terrified that Black had found them and killed them. The rational part of my brain knew that their family owl Errol just wasn't up to long journeys and the twins were too busy having fun to write to me.

Knowing they loved me back didn't change anything. I worried as I would if they didn't know my feelings. I had the same thing to lose, just in a different way.

That summer was one of the worst I have ever spent. I usually spent some time with my two favorite people. But between their vacation and my grandfather's anxiety over Black's escape it was September first and I still hadn't had any contact with them.

I was on the train by ten and had saved our usual compartment at the very back of the train. I couldn't wait to see them. Their family was escorting Harry Potter to Kings Cross Station to watch out for any attack made by Sirius Black.

It had been a very long summer without my two loves. We finally told each other how we feel and then we were separated.

Now it was time to be reunited.

I peered out the window to watch for them so I knew the exact moment when the two of them came through the barrier. The two of them were looking around like lost little puppies. I leaned out of the window and whistled.

"Hey cuties, how about you come on up here and show a girl a good time?" I gave them a sexy 'come and play' smile as their heads shot up in my direction with identical smiles plastered across their faces.

"There's our woman." "We'll be there in half a second baby."

They ran towards the train with their trunks in tow and everyone who had heard our screamed conversation staring between the three of us. I just laughed and slid back into the compartment. Cerberus lounged in the seats across from me and I quickly arranged it to look like I had fallen from the window.

I was sprawled across the seats, one foot still in the window and my head on the ground with one arm thrown awkwardly over my head. They came into the compartment excitedly, already talking.

"Hey, how was your summer?" "Did you miss us?" "Bet you missed us." Bear played along with me and sniffed my face gently licking my cheek and hand before whining up at them. They froze for a heartbeat.

"Oh my god! Ice? Icera, are you all right?" "Baby talk to us." "Get back Bear, let us see her." "What happened?" "It looks like she fell out of the window." "What do we do?" "Don't move her." They were both kneeling next to me. Fred pushed my hair out of my face and George felt my wrist for a pulse.

Bear knocked them out of the way and stood over me growling. They backed up just enough to make the wolf comfortable but neither of them let go of me. Bear licked my face again and put his nose against my cheek.

"Bear, we can't help her if you are guarding her from us." "We are the good guys here."

"George, maybe you should go get the driver." "You go get the driver." "Us arguing is not going to get someone here who can make sure she's okay."

That's about when I took pity on them. That and Bear decided to put his cold wet nose at my collar bone which made me jump and squeal.

"You're awake!" "Oh my god, are you okay? We were so freaked." "What happened?" the looks on their faces were priceless and I couldn't help but laugh. I laughed until my legs joined my body on the floor of the compartment and I was practically folded in half. It was a good thing I hadn't changed into my uniform yet or my skirt would be over my head. As it was my blue jeans clung to my body and my tank top rode up my stomach.

They were stunned. Completely silent—for half a second.

They shot up from their positions at my side and backed into the open doorway. Their shocked expressions quickly turned to anger. I sat up slowly.

"This was a prank?" "You pretended to hurt yourself." "You scared the shit out of us." "We thought you really hurt yourself." "Guys, it was just a joke. You know, the traditional first prank of the new term." "We thought you were dead! We walk in here happy to see our best friend" "Our girlfriend" "but you are lying in the floor and we don't know what happened or if you are okay or dead or if we can do anything" "or if us doing anything will help you or hurt you." "That wasn't funny."

They turned to walk out on me. "Fred, George, wait, please! Don't go." They stopped but neither of them turned to face me. "I'm sorry. I didn't think about it like that. I was just—I was just trying to be funny. Please don't be mad at me. I guess my sense of humor is off. I've spent the whole summer worrying that Sirius Black had gotten you two. I'm sorry. Please don't leave me."

I was in tears by the time they finally turned around. And then they were comforting me. Fred brushed away my tears and George scooped my legs out from under me and settled me in his lap. Fred pulled my body against his chest and ran his fingers through my hair while George held my hand and rubbed circles on my thigh.

"Hush baby girl." "Don't cry. We couldn't leave you if we tried." "We were worried about you, too." "The thought of you dead" "Is just too painful." "We can't live without you." I stopped crying at their words. I laid my head on George's shoulder and Fred rubbed my neck and back.

"I thought of you every day. When Black escaped I was frantic. Grandpa had to lock me in my room so I didn't go and find you. He is way over protective lately. He seems to think that Black will come after me and Harry—that or that I am excessively prone to doing things that get me into trouble." "You aren't" "But we are and you are usually with us."

"I couldn't stand the thought of not being able to protect you two." "Isn't that our job, babe?" "Yeah; we are macho men and we protect our woman." "Don't worry about us." "I always worry about you two. The things you get yourselves into—it is a miracle I haven't had a total panic attack and needed to be tied down in St. Mungos." "They couldn't hold you Ice." "We wouldn't let them even if you would."

We all started laughing. I was being held by my two favorite people in the entire world. We loved each other. It hadn't just been a dream.

The ride after that was pleasant. We laughed and planned new pranks for the year to come. Then the train stopped. The lights went out. The air was like ice.

The compartment door slid open and in the doorway was a tall robed figure. Immediately my world went dark. I heard screaming.

Then my head was throbbing and I was back in the land of the living. The lights had turned back on. The train was moving again. And my twins were standing over me with petrified looks on their faces. Someone else was standing by the door.

"If this is a joke" "We are so going to kill you." "What happened?" "You suffered a very severe reaction to a dementor. Here, eat this. If you can sit up I'll take a look at that head wound of yours." "Oh, is that why there is pain?" "You hit your head rather hard when you fell." "I fell?" "That does explain why you are in the floor." "Where's Bear?" "Bear?"

"The wolf, Cerberus; he is letting you use him as a pillow." "How did the three of you drive away the dementor?" "There were two of them." "Two?" "That's right; everything went cold and the first one saw Icera and then there were two. She blacked out and looked like she had a seizure. She got really tense and then fell into the floor." "But how did you drive them out?" "We didn't." "It was Bear."

"What do you mean Ice?" "Dementors don't affect animals like they do humans. Bear is my protector. If I can't perform a Patronus Charm then he will step in." "You've encountered them before?" "Yeah, a long time ago, when I was really little. Bear has been with me a very long time. They came and I was catatonic for a week. He was so little then, he barely had a fraction of the power he has now. He couldn't get out of his kennel in time to protect me. I learned the Patronus Charm after that, Grandpa taught me. But if I'm caught off guard then I can't do anything. So Bear is my shield."

"He is quite the pet." "He is more than a pet, Professor. Cerberus is her greatest companion." "He has to share that title with the two of you, I'll thank you to remember." "How silly of me." "Sorry, Fred called you Professor, but who are you?" "I'm the new DADA professor. My name is Remus Lupin. And you are Icera, are you not?" "I am. How did you—the twins told you?" "They certainly screamed loud enough; but I would know you anywhere, my dear. Your mum and dad were two of my best friends."

A lot of things happened that year. Harry had almost as much trouble with Dementors as I did. Sirius Black broke into Gryffindor Tower. Harry Potter fought off the Dementors of Azkaban. Hermione's cat and Cerberus went after Ron's rat Scabbers until he disappeared off the face of the planet.

I caught the Golden Trio out on the grounds after hours. I tagged along to protect Harry. Though I was older, there was something about the similarity of our situations that pulled us together. We were friends and I had always looked out for him. It wasn't unusual for me to tag along on forbidden excursions.

So I followed them to Hagrid's. I was there when they found Scabbers. I followed them into the Whomping Willow. I met Sirius Black.

"Harry, wait it's a trap. He's the dog! Sirius Black's an animagus." The door slammed closed behind us. And there he was; rags, filthy, unshaven, a murderous gleam in his eye: Sirius Black.

I stepped in the way at the last moment when Harry went after the man who betrayed his parents. In the frenzy Harry couldn't stop his fist and the impact whipped me into the murderer's arms. He held me by the throat before I could recover and ordered the Trio to give up their wands. They did so.

"I'm so sorry Ice. Why did you get in the way?" "Because you can't die. I won't let you die." "Only one person dies tonight." "Then it can be me because by the time you are done with me Cerberus will be here to kill you. Trust me when I say you won't make it long enough to kill anyone else."

"Let her go Sirius." "Remus?" "Let her go, right now." "He's here Remus. Right here at Hogwarts the whole time." "I know Sirius. I saw on the map. Now let her go." "They won't stop to listen to me. Harry wants to kill me. This girl wants to protect him. I don't want to hurt her but I've waited long enough! Long enough I tell you! I want to commit the crime I was imprisoned for and no little girl is going to stop me."

"You won't hurt your own daughter, Sirius." "My what? What are you going on about? Voldemort killed my family. They told me in Azkaban. The Dementors made me think about it every second of the day! I have no family left." "Look into her eyes. See her, Sirius and then tell me your child is dead." "What are you on about? My parents are dead. Voldemort killed them a long time ago," I choked through his hold on my windpipe.

Black spun me around and looked at me: my silver blonde hair cropped at my jaw line, my heart-shaped face, my mismatched eyes—one ice blue and identical to the eyes staring back at me and one jade green like my mother's before me. He looked closer. He gasped. He pulled me into his arms and cried into my shoulder. I froze for half a second.

"How is this possible?" "If you aren't going to kill me then let me go. You are nothing to me but a murderer. I don't know how crazy you are but I have no pity for you." He dropped me like I'd slapped him.

"Remus, how is this possible? Fudge said they had been killed. My cousin told me she watched them die. How is this possible?"

"Jade was killed protecting Icera from Voldemort and his followers. They met as he was heading to kill James and Lily. Jade screamed for them to run as she opened the door to head out and came face-to-face with him. Icera had Cerberus with her and he took her away at Jade's command. Albus has been taking care of her. She doesn't know who you are." "Yes I do. You are a murderous lunatic who got Harry's parents killed. You escaped to come after him, to kill him and restore Voldemort to power."

I couldn't help but wonder who the hell this insane professor really was. Was he really trying to talk sense to this escaped madman who thought I was his daughter?

"No Icera; I thought that too. I thought he betrayed them but it wasn't him. I should have known you would never do such a thing, Sirius. We were friends and I turned my back on you." "I forgive you. I thought the spy was you. That's why Peter was chosen as the Secret Keeper." "Peter Pettigrew?" "That's right." "Peter Pettigrew is dead; you killed him." "Not yet."

Could I distract the two of them long enough for Harry and Hermione to run for help?

"He's not my father." "That's all right. If I thought as you did I wouldn't want me for a father either. But I never stopped loving you. I thought of you every day. How we used to play together with that wolf pup you were so attached to. As soon as you saw him I didn't stand a chance of saying 'no'."

"What do you know about him?"

"You thought they were all adorable, every animal you came in contact with so you sat down in the middle of the shop and waited for them to come to you. The shop keeper thought you were crazy. I thought you were the cutest thing on the planet; just sitting there waiting for some creature to come to you. Most of the animals were in cages and the ones that weren't showed no interest in you. But then a tiny little white wolf pup barked and the bars of his cage peeled out of his way so he could come to you. He climbed right in your lap. That was his preferred seat from that day on. You looked up at me and smiled and said 'Cerberus is mine; let's take him home.' And I let you even though your mother and I had agreed that one dog in the house was more than enough."

He was smiling as he remembered. I couldn't believe him. It wasn't possible.

"How did you know about Bear?" "I'm your father. You were such a daddy's girl. You look just like your mother. Those eyes of yours are unique Icera and they mark you as the beautiful, powerful witch your mother and I brought into this world. Why did no one tell me she survived?"

"You were thought to cause the murder of your wife and best friends. Why on earth would anyone tell you that one of your victims got away?" "Right; speaking of victims I think it is time that we got our revenge."

That was the weirdest part of the night. I found my father and I found out he was innocent. Later on I helped save him and Harry from Dementors. Then I proved his innocence. When Remus changed under the moon and set off my dad went after him. Pettigrew tried to take advantage and get away. I was faster than he was and I put him in a body-bind before he could transform. I cut off his magic so he wouldn't be able to play dead this time around.

Bear had been trying to get close enough to the tree to come and get me since I had made it into the tree but he was too big even to fit in the tunnel. So he protected us from Remus until my adopted uncle was chased into the woods.

longer than i thought it was

hope it didn't bore you guys

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