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Lacy here kids with the next Heidi chapter. We've got a serious chapter ahead of us. One it's the beginning of Harry and Heidi's lessons with Remus to defend themselves against the dementors and two, Hermione confronts Heidi about one of her most closely guarded secrets. Have...eh, have fun!

Disclaimer: I own Heidi.

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Heidi looked through her bag as she made her way to Charms. She let out a low growl. If she couldn't find her homework, she'd have to go back to her dorm, look for it there and then she'd be late for class. And being in Flitwick's house was not going to save her from a detention as he didn't take kindly to people showing up late.

Finally finding the homework stuck between her potions book and library book on old folk remedies for cuts and other wounds, Heidi looked up to see where she was going only to be yanked into a side hall.

Spinning to yell at whoever did it, Heidi's words died in her throat as she came face to face with a very serious looking Hermione. Crap.

"We need to talk." Hermione said.

Heidi adjusted her bag strap. "About what?"

"Remus,"

Heidi swallowed nervously. Well shit. "What about him?"

Hermione crossed her arms. "He was sick again over the holidays."

Heidi nodded slowly. "Not exactly a secret, Hermione. Dumbledore told everyone at the Christmas feast."

Hermione huffed slightly. "I know why he was sick."

Heidi was pretty sure she'd just broken out in a cold sweat. This was not good. "Yeah? Why then?"

"He's a werewolf," Hermione said simply. She held up her hand as Heidi went to speak. "I know it sounds crazy but I've done my research. The paper Professor Snape assigned us is what really got me thinking."

Heidi made a mental note to kill the Potions master. "Hermione," she sighed. "you're right."

Hermione blinked. "What?"

Heidi ran a hand through her hair, a gesture Remus says she got from her mother. "Uncle Moony is a werewolf. He was bitten by Fenrir Greyback when he was six years old as payback for a comment his father made."

Hermione frowned. "I thought you didn't know."

Heidi sighed again. "It's not like I could tell you guys the truth! Can you imagine what will happen if the entire school finds out? That's why Snape gave you that essay. He wants to out Uncle Moony." she exhaled slowly. "Look, I know it may be scary to think about but you have to swear you won't tell anyone. This job is everything to Uncle Moony. It would crush him to lose it because kids were afraid of him."

Hermione's face softened. "Heidi, I'm not going to tell. I respect him too much. Just because he changes once a month does not change the man he is the rest of the time."

Heidi smiled and hugged Hermione. "Thank you for saying that." she pulled back and laughed. "Merlin, you have no idea how good it feels to have someone to talk to about this other then Harry."

Hermione laughed before glancing at her watch. "Oh no, I made us both late for class."

Heidi sighed. "Well I think this is worth a detention." she winced. "But I don't think Uncle Moony will feel the same way."

Hermione frowned again. "Are you going to tell him I know?"

Heidi shook her head. "No, he'll just worry that more kids might figure it out." she adjusted her bag again. "Alright, let's get to class before we both get detention."

The two girls split and Heidi found Remus may not be worried about other kids finding out but suddenly, she was.

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After each of their first Defense classes of the term, Remus informed the two he'd be giving them lessons to learn to fight the dementors. The lessons would be separate as Remus knew each was at their own skill level and would need different amounts of work.

Harry's lesson was Thursday night while Heidi's was Saturday.

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When Saturday rolled around, Heidi found herself feeling nervous as she followed Remus to Sirius's classroom. He'd offered it to Remus for the lessons since it was open and big enough.

"Alright," Remus said once they were inside. "I have a boggart for us to use but there's one problem."

"My boggart is Greyback, not a dementor like Harry." Heidi said. "So what good will it do us?"

Remus leaned against Sirius's desk. "How much do you fear the dementors?"

Heidi frowned as she thought about it. "It's not so much that I fear them as I fear hearing Mum die again. But if I had to say how much," she sighed. "it scares me as much as Greyback does."

Remus crossed his arms. "We may not have an issue then but this is going to be hard on you."

Heidi exhaled. "Uncle Moony, Harry and I are hearing our mother get murdered, believe me, no matter how hard it is, we'll do whatever it takes to never hear that again."

Remus gave an understanding smile. "In your mind, you must push your fear of the dementors above that of Greyback. That's the only way for the boggart to take the correct form."

"How do I do that?" Heidi asked.

"Think of all the times you were near the dementors," Remus said. "remember the fear and push that to the surface. Forget ever meeting Greyback, push it as far away as you can." Remus hated telling Heidi to remember something that scared her so much but he knew it was needed.

Heidi remembered back to the dementors and felt herself shudder as she recalled the feelings they stirred up in her.

"Are you ready?" Remus asked after a few moments of watching the deep frown on Heidi's face.

Heidi exhaled and nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Remus nodded and stood straight. "Alright, the spell I'm going to try and teach you is called a Patronus Charm. You've heard Dora, Padfoot and I mention them. As well as Moody," he waited for Heidi's nod. "Very good, then you know they're a kind of positive force that the dementor feeds on instead of you. And in order to conjure one, you need to think of a happy memory. Not just any happy memory, the strongest one you can think of. Can you do that?"

Heidi nodded. "Yeah, I think so." she shut her eyes and thought over her life, as far back as she could remember. She knew Harry had been able to remember something of their parents to use but, with a sad sigh, she hadn't been old enough to hold on to anything but her mother's death. She opened her eyes and looked at Remus. "I can't remember Mum and Dad."

Remus moved to kneel in front of Heidi. "Hey, that's nothing to be sad over. You may not remember them but you know them just as well as your brother does. And parents don't always have to be the good memory. It can be anything and it won't mean you love them any less." he smiled as Heidi nodded. "Now, try again."

Heidi closed her eyes once more and tried to find a happy memory. Heidi was slightly depressed to find she didn't have an overly happy memory yet from school so she went further back. Smiling, she remembered a night from when she was about nine and she and Harry stayed up late, sitting on the stairs listening to their guardians talk about their parents. Neither child could ever remember hearing their parents mentioned with such happiness and had hugged their guardians tightly the next morning without giving them a reason why.

"I've got it," Heidi smiled.

Remus returned the smile. "Good. The incantation is this," he cleared his throat. "Expecto patronum!"

Heidi muttered it to herself a few times before holding her wand out.

"Expecto patronum!"

She and Remus both laughed and smiled as a small stream of silver mist shot from the end of her wand. Heidi felt a bit weird, like she used to when she was younger after using accidental magic but it quickly passed as the lesson went on.

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Heidi wasn't happy as she returned to Ravenclaw. She hadn't been able to fight off the dementor but she had been able to stay conscious, which was nice. Course, that was after passing out five times. But Remus told her, even if she could produce the patronus, a second year witch was going to have to be very powerful to fight a dementor off completely.

"Ladybug,"

Heidi turned and smiled at Harry. "Hey, you should be in bed."

Harry laughed. "I wanted to see how it went."

Heidi shrugged. "I can produce the patronus but can't fight off the dementor completely. Uncle Moony said it's normal though, since I'm so young."

Harry wrapped an arm around Heidi. "Don't worry bug, I think between the two of us, we'll be just fine."

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Took me forever to come up with Heidi's memory. I coulda sworn I already had it written down but I couldn't find it so I had to get a new one. My manager approves so I hope you all like it. Let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading.

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