Chapter Eleven – Cara

Trouble and Resolutions

We sat in Dumbledore's office, looking contrite as Lucius Malfoy ranted and raved about the evil that he had let into his school, etc. etc., and I'd just about had enough.

"-And the complete and utter irresponsibility of your staff. The heinous crime they have committed against my family-"

"Mr Malfoy," I interjected with a sober expression (even though I was a little annoyed – okay, not a little). "I understand your complaints, sir, but the fact remains that the Hippogriff would not have harmed your son had he listened to us earlier, when we explicitly told the students not to insult them."

He blinked at me affronted. "Are you saying my son is to blame for this incident?"

"Yes," I snapped, standing. "Of course, Hippogriffs are dangerous. But we warned the students, and Mr Malfoy chose not to listen to us. I warned him-"

"You blame my son!"

"I blame him for not listening, yes!" I returned. "And Mr Malfoy, perhaps if you listened to what we have been telling you for the last half hour then you son would learn to listen too!"

"How dare you! You bitch!"

I stood automatically and crossed the room to stand in front of him and his wife. "How dare you?"

"You are nothing but a conniving bitch out to get my son killed – how dare you – murderous-"

"Enough, Mr Malfoy!"

"I never thought I would say this, but even your sister is a better person than you!" He glared at me and I was stunned for a moment. What on earth did that mean? "She may resort to physical violence, but at least she does not attempt to have my son murdered!"

"I do not want any injury on your son," I explained in a low voice. "And what on earth do you mean about my sister?"

He brushed it aside with an impatient sigh. "That doesn't matter; what matters is my son's injury, and your removal from this school-"

"Mr Malfoy," Dumbledore finally interjected. "I am afraid I do have to agree with Professors Lupin and Hagrid. They were on the right side. They cannot be removed for this transgression, but of course they are both warned to use age-appropriate creatures in future." He hesitated, but added, "As for Buckbeak-"

"The creature will be taken in front of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. And I am not happy, Dumbledore."

"I gathered that, Mr Malfoy." Albus linked his hands together and surveyed the angry Lucius Malfoy with a sad look in his eyes. "The creature-"

"Will die." With that, he turned on his heel and stormed out, closely followed by Narcissa.
"He can't do that!" I protested as Hagrid started to sob behind me. "He can't! Buckbeak doesn't deserve that!"

"I know, Cara," he said slowly, "And I am certain that you two can save him if you try hard enough. But there is nothing I can do to stop him."

I sat down and sighed, burying my head in my hands. I stopped for a moment, then said, "Well, we'd better get started on a defence plan, Hagrid. Come on."

Still sobbing, Hagrid got to his feet and we made our way down to his cabin.

That night, I stood by the window in our rooms, staring out. Remus sat on our bed, watching me. It had been silent for long time, and now I stared at the moon. It wouldn't be full for another week or so, but I still hated it. I despised it. Why? Why was it fair that someone as lovely as Remus – someone as kind, as caring, as good – had to be afflicted with this damn curse? How is that fair?

"Cara," he said softly. I didn't look at him. I didn't need to. We were both attuned into each other's moods – so attuned that he knew how angry I was and I knew that he was about to reassure me and tell me to calm down. Again.

"Cara," he said again, and I turned around, looking at him with my arms folded across my chest. "Cara, don't be upset. Come on. I know-"

"I know you know!" I found myself exclaiming. Then I sobbed and threw myself into his arms. "Merlin, I know you know. But it's still not fair! Why-"

"Ca," he said softly, and pressed his lips into my hair, "I know. It's not fair. But… Sometimes, we have to put up with these things and find the best way out of these situations."

"It's not right," I moaned into his chest. "It hurts you, Remus; I can't stand for you to hurt anymore."

"I don't mind," he said, and kissed me quickly. "As long as you're there the next morning. It doesn't matter to me as long as you are there to make me feel better."

"Remus…" I said, and hesitated. "Oh, you know I'll always be there." We sat in companionable silence for a long time, before Remus chuckled quietly. I glanced at him and asked, "What? What is it?"

He smiled at me. "It's strange to think back and remember how we first met," he said softly, and pulled me back to lie down. He curled his arm around me and said, "I mean, I knew from that moment that I would feel something for you… But I never thought you could possibly feel anything back, especially after you found out. You knew that night and you didn't care. At all."

"Of course I didn't! Of course I didn't care!" I stared up at him incredulously. "Remus, your curse doesn't define who you are; your heart does."

He smiled at me. "What I mean was, I felt kind of strange falling in love with you. I felt guilty. I felt like I shouldn't let you get close because I was forcing you to deal with my problem. I felt awful."

"Remus," I breathed, touching his face and forcing him to look at me. When he met my eyes I felt tears spring into mine. "You never told me. You never told me how you felt… I love you, Remus. I don't care about your curse. You know I've only ever cared about having you."

He smiled at me and leant down, kissing me. "Alright, love. As long as I have you, I can deal with this curse."

"As long as I have you, I can deal with this curse, too," I said softly. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I sighed and curled up in bed beside him. "Let's go to sleep, baby. I need to go see Rose tomorrow."

"Okay, love. Goodnight." He kissed me deeply and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, the moment I was up and dressed, I hurried across to see Rose. She was awake and dressed, but looked a little surprised to see me. She straightened up from where she was tidying something and said, "Morning, Cara. Can I help?"

"I need a twin talk," I told her, throwing myself on her bed. She chuckled and sat beside me.

"What's bothering you, sister-mine?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

"Oh," she answered, her expression going dark. "Of course."

"You really hate him, don't you?" I asked her, amused. She nodded, but gestured for me to go on, so I explained. "He's going to try and get Buckbeak executed as a dangerous creature. Merlin, Rose! It's not Buckbeak's fault; it's the Malfoy kid's!"

"I know, Cara," she said softly. She sighed, seeming deep in thought then suggested, "Well, the best thing you can do is create a sturdy defence for him. Make certain that you have character witnesses – or whatever – and also explain what led Buckbeak to do what he did. That's all you can do."

I sighed. "I suppose. I know… it's just that man! He really makes me angry."

"I know that, too," she muttered.

I glanced up at her closed expression and asked, "What did he ask you on the platform?"

"It really doesn't matter," she muttered, trying to brush it off, but I poked her in the ribs, my way of saying 'tell me'. "Fine, I'll tell you. But it's… Oh, he just insinuated that I must be desperate after twelve years of no sex and said I could be his mistress if I wanted."

I gaped at her. "You- you- you're joking!" She shook her head, a spark of amusement in her eyes at my reaction. "You only slapped him? I would have expected you to castrate him or something!"

She laughed brightly then sighed. "Come on, let's go and get some breakfast. I know I'm hungry."

"Fine," I sighed too. "Let's go."

She pulled me up off the bed and grabbed my hand, pulling me down to the Great Hall. When we got there, Remus looked up and smiled at us. I felt myself smile back like a teenager and heard Rose chuckle beside me. I smacked at her but she caught my hand, laughing louder.

"You are just like a little teenager, Cara," she said with a laugh. I glared at her, but she shrugged. "I can't help it if the truth is annoying, can I?" Then she threw her head back and laughed and I couldn't help a smile. It was still so good to see her back.

"Mum," Lizzie said, coming up to us. Rose looked at her daughter and smiled.

"Hey, Liz," she replied. "What's up?"

"Why do you assume something's up?"

"Because you have the face Rose gets when something's up?" I asked. Rose shot me a glare and took her daughter's hand.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"It's just… Can we talk, later?" Lizzie looked away as she spoke, but Rose smiled.

"Of course we can," she said softly. "Can it wait for this evening?"

"Sure," she muttered.

"I'll meet you in my office for dinner, how about that?" she offered. Lizzie nodded and Rose hugged her. "Go have some breakfast. I'll see you later." Lizzie smiled at her and turned on her tale, walking to the Gryffindor table (which still seemed to shock a lot of students).

"Come on," I said to Rose. "Let's eat." I dragged her up to the staff table and sat down next to Remus, with Rose beside me. She nodded at Remus and turned to talk to Severus with no further ado. I rolled my eyes at my twin and turned back to my breakfast.

"How are you doing? Feeling better talking to Rose?" he asked me.

I smiled. "A bit, actually." Then I laughed. "I always feel better after talking to her."

"I know you do, love." He looked at me with true love in his eyes and I smiled.

"I'm so glad I have you here, Remus," I told him softly.

"If you two don't stop that right now I will vomit," Rose sang without looking at us. I could have sworn I saw Severus smile at her (absolutely mental, I know).

"Just because you're jealous," I sang back.

"I don't need to be jealous of you two vomit-inducing, love-sick puppies."

"We're not puppies," I told her. "Puppies haven't grown up enough to actually start-"

"And I'm going to cut you off there," Rose said with a sudden laugh, "because I know the end of that sentence. I walked in on you two the first time."

I blushed bright red and she laughed at me.

"It's good to see that the two of you can still act as normally as ever," Remus said with a sigh. "Your main aim in life seems to be embarrassing each other."

Exactly in time, Rose and I both said, "It is."

We looked at each other and burst out laughing.