They landed in a mountain range. They saw the tip of one of the Hogwarts towers in the distance.
"We're almost there."
They turned to see a man helping a woman up the hill. A younger boy was a few feet ahead, smiling at them.
"But I have a dental appointment…" The woman murmured.
"No, it's just the spells around the castle." The man said.
"Mummy! Hogwarts is over there!" The small boy said.
"Jason, I have a headache." The woman muttered. She was trying to fight off the spells.
"There's a cave up ahead, we can rest there." Jason said.
The family headed into a cave. They sat and ate a small portion of bread.
"Are you alright, Helen?" Jason asked.
"I'll be okay." His wife answered. "You were right; Hogwarts sure has a bunch of protective spells…are we going to make it?"
Jason sighed. "I don't know…after what happened to my sister, I just want to be safe."
"We've been running for years." Helen said. "The war is over by now."
Jason shook his head. "We can't be sure about that. The battle might be over, but the war isn't."
"What about our son?"
Jason looked at Alexander with a small smile. Alex smiled back.
"He'll be fine, he's a wizard." Jason said.
They sat in silence for a while until Ron noticed that the cave was flickering. Ginny nudged him and pointed to the younger Alex who was falling asleep on his mother.
The older Alex had been rooted to the spot, staring with an open mouth at his parents. He didn't register Laura holding his hand or Hermione holding the other. Malcolm and Stewart patted his back.
…
The scene changed and they were walking down into the forest. The group followed them. It was odd being silent. None of them spoke as they followed the family.
Jason was telling stories to Alex about Hogwarts.
"And that's how your Aunt Marlene narrowly dodged a Bludger. It's a good thing Sirius was there."
"Even though he caused it?" Helen said with a smile. "I remember your sister telling me that story when we got married."
Jason laughed. "My sister was a trouble magnet." She said. "She had a huge crush on Sirius for a while…shame I never found out what happened to him."
"Really?"
Jason shrugged. "Last I heard was that the Potters had to go into hiding, but that's when we were leaving the country."
"Why did we come here?" The spell was constantly making Helen forget.
"We're here to get help from Professor Dumbledore. He can help us."
"What can a teacher do?"
"He's a very powerful wizard."
Helen shook her head, she looked dizzy.
"Are you alright?" Jason asked.
"Fine, I feel very odd though."
"Mummy!" Little Alex said. "I see a unicorn!"
"A unicorn?"
Little Alex ran towards the creatures, but only managed to scare them off.
"Aww."
"My sister said something about unicorns being very shy animals." Jason said.
Alex ignored him and kept running into the forest.
"Alex, wait!"
…
The scene changed. Alex was crying on the forest floor. He appeared to have tumbled down a ledge and had a scraped knee. His mother held him, trying to comfort him. His father walked further in.
"Hello? Can you help us?" he called, seeing a bunch of shadows.
"Stay here." Helen said. "And don't make a sound, sweetie." She walked over to a large bush and peered over it. Her husband was surrounded by centaurs.
"We are not servants of humankind!" One of them roared.
"That's not what I meant; I just need to get out of here and were hoping you knew the way out."
"So you thought we'd just allow humans to roam our forest?!"
"I thought I could ask directions from those who know the forest best."
Alex, despite being told to stay, wandered over to his mother.
"We do not help humans!"
"You shall be punished for entering our forest and daring to use us as a means for your own selfish purposes."
"Selfish?! I'm trying to protect my family! I have a wife and son. You may be proud, but I know centaurs aren't heartless."
"You are not a wizard, you must be punished."
"No! Please, I have a family!"
They saw the centaurs raise their bows, but the scene changed. Helen had picked up Alex and fled.
…
She stopped, panting. She was in a forest clearing; Alex was beginning to wake up.
"I told you to stay…" Helen said.
"I'm sorry…where's Daddy?"
"I don't know, baby." She sounded close to tears.
"Do you have any food?"
"Daddy had most of the food. I'm going to find him, okay?" She pulled out a container of berries and a couple of snack bags and a canteen of water, giving them to her son. "Stay here and stay hidden. I'll be back soon."
"Mum?"
"It's going to be alright, sweetie. Hide from the centaurs; don't let any of them find you. You know what is dangerous, right?"
"Yes."
"Be safe, I love you." She kissed him and left.
Alex curled up in a ball with a blanket. He waited.
…
He hid in a tree when he saw the Ford Anglia tearing through the forest. He saw it again later, being chased by tons of spiders. He wanted to follow the car, but his mother's voice echoed in his mind, telling him to not let anybody find him. He had long forgotten that she meant centaurs and applied it to humans as well as creatures.
…
The scene changed, he looked older. His hair had gotten longer and his clothes were dirty and torn. He heard a howl and tensed. He saw a scary looking creature, snarling and howling. He blinked, wondering what a werewolf was doing there.
He hid from it until daybreak when it turned into a man. A large black square was covering Lupin's body.
The group looked at Dumbledore.
"I suppose we should allow him to keep his privacy?"
The group turned pink and nodded.
Younger Alex had a ratty blanket and put it around the man. The werewolf, now a human, began to stir and Alex hurried to hide.
The black square disappeared when Lupin had wrapped himself in the blanket. The man paled and squinted up at the sun, looking terrified. He looked down at the blanket and then searched his surroundings.
"Thank you." The man said, hoping whoever left the blanket was alright.
The man left the forest.
…
A little while later, Alex saw the man again. He winced in pain as he bent down to put the clean blanket on the forest floor.
Younger Alex stared at the man, but remained quiet.
"Again, thank you." Lupin said.
…
The scene changed again. They were now following young Alex back to the last place they saw Jason.
Hermione felt Alex tense. The boy was shaking as if he was cold. She realized that he might remember what he saw.
"Obscuro." The Headmaster said.
"Hey!"
"What's going on?"
"I can't see!"
"Huh?"
"Hermanie?!"
Dennis, Malcolm, Stewart, Laura, and Alexander had their vision blocked. Hermione squeezed Alex's hand to assure him. Laura had a grip on the other hand.
The memory was paused by Dumbledore.
"I am certain that what comes next will not be pretty." The Headmaster said. "Those who cannot stomach it, I shall block your vision during this."
"I can stomach it!" Malcolm complained.
"Be that as it may, I do not wish to scar you for life."
"I won't be able to take it." Neville said.
"Neither will I." Colin said.
They had their vision blocked as well.
"I can take it." Harry said.
"Me too." Ron said. "Hermione, please don't look."
"But I can take-"
"Please, for me?" His voice was pleading.
Hermione sighed. "Alright."
Ginny opened her mouth, but Harry shook his head. "You're innocent; you shouldn't have to see this." He said.
"But-"
"I've seen worse." Harry said. He thought he saw Dumbledore give him an odd look.
"Fine."
Ginny and Hermione had their vision blocked. Luna hadn't spoken, but Ron asked Dumbledore to block hers as well. Luna looked surprised, but nodded.
Harry and Ron braced themselves as Dumbledore continued the memory.
Ron suppressed a yelp. Harry turned almost as green as his eyes. Professor Dumbledore looked pale.
Even though they couldn't see, the group still heard young Alex's scream of fear. The young boy retched and cried. The older Alex collapsed into Hermione's arms and dissolved into heavy sobs. He remembered even though he wasn't seeing it. He knew what was going on.
Ginny felt nauseous, a few nasty thoughts were appearing in her head. Luna felt sad for Alex, she held Neville's shaking arm. Colin and Dennis were holding each other tightly. Stewart was crying as well, remembering how hard it was to lose his parents. Laura had an arm over his shoulder, she couldn't see him, but she knew he was crying.
"Alex?" Malcolm said hoarsely, trying to walk towards the sound of the younger Alex. He felt a hand on his shoulder and stopped.
…
The scene changed again to Alex by himself in the middle of a forest clearing. The blocks were lifted and they could all see again.
Malcolm looked up to see Ron behind him, pale and shaky with wide eyes. He turned around, seeing Harry shaking his head, his face a dark greenish color. The group surrounded Alex as he held Hermione.
The younger Alex cried for a long time before falling asleep in the middle of the clearing.
…
Professor Dumbledore stopped the memories. They all found themselves back in his office a minute later.
Hermione let go of Alex so she could get a better look at him. He looked defeated.
They took him back to the Room of Requirement.
…
A few days later, it was time for everyone to decide what they were doing for the holidays. The group had rarely left Alexander alone, only during lessons did he have time by himself. Thanks to the sixth years' free periods, they were able to be there more often.
Alex began to move on in the next few days. Malcolm invited the younger boy to spend the holidays at his house.
…
With that, they set off to their destinations.
Malcolm's mother took it as a personal mission to make sure Alex was fed and bathed. She also decided to give both boys a haircut.
Stewart came to visit with Dennis and Colin. Malcolm's mother was shocked at the amount of guests and gushed over Malcolm's friends. Her son blushed deeply when she kept going on about wanting him to make more friends.
They stayed in contact with the rest of the group, but putting words in code so they wouldn't be obvious if intercepted. They weren't ready to make Alex known yet.
Hermione was able to visit, revealing that she was trying to get her driver's license during the holidays.
She was very careful and concentrated, taking them on a couple of trips. By the end of the vacation, they were ready to go back to helping Alex.
Alex remembered some vacations with his parents and was able to give a few words to tell them.
…
The group met again on the train, trying to crowd into one compartment. Alex had been taken up to the school with Malcolm so that they could avoid awkward questions.
"Hang on, there are nine of us." Ron said.
They knew that two of their group were at the castle, but one was missing.
"Laura?" Ginny said. "Where'd Laura go?"
"I didn't see her on the train." Luna said.
Ron and Harry stayed while the others searched the train. They came back saying the same thing, no one had seen her.
"She's not that hard to spot when you see her." Stewart said. "Did she contact anyone at all?"
Neville shook his head. "I answered whatever letters Malcolm sent."
"Same here." Colin and Dennis said.
"I don't remember anyone discussing her." Hermione said. "Did Malcolm send letters to her too?"
"He said 'everyone' so I assume it meant all of us." Stewart said.
…
She still hadn't turned up at the feast, though none of the Hufflepuffs seemed overly concerned…or concerned at all.
Ron confronted Ernie about not paying attention. Ernie, as a prefect, should have paid attention to things going on in his house.
They waited for her in the room, but she didn't come.
Weeks passed and there was no sign of her. Alex noticed this and grew worried.
Harry called Dobby to search for her, the elf left immediately. Harry had told him to bring her to the Hospital Wing if she was injured.
Each of the group members went to Dumbledore to ask him. He said he sent letters that were unanswered. He sent an Order member to investigate.
…
Two days was all it took…two days later, Dobby appeared in the Hospital Wing. After Madam Pomfrey had the living daylights scared out of her, she gasped at what Dobby had brought back.
Dobby popped into the Gryffindor dormitory, startling Neville who was the only one in the room.
"Mr. Longbottom, sir!" Dobby squeaked. "Hospital Wing!" He disappeared with a crack.
Neville rushed out of the room. He spotted Hermione, tore her away from her book and ran out of the Common Room.
"Neville, wha-"
"Hospital Wing!" Neville said.
Hermione nodded.
They passed by the Creevey brothers and motioned for them to follow.
Dobby found Luna, Stewart, and Malcolm in the Room of Requirement, said the same thing he did to Neville and vanished to find Harry, Ron, and Ginny.
They were just finishing Quidditch Practice when Dobby appeared.
"Coote, Peakes, pack up. Robins, hold that question!" Harry said. Ron found Ginny about to kiss Dean when she was pulled away. She yelped in surprise and was about to yell at her brother when he said they were going to the Hospital Wing.
Harry and the redheads ran to the castle without further explanation, not bothering to explain why they left their teammates in a flurry.
They arrived, panting heavily, to the fourth floor to find the other members of the group waiting outside.
"No more than six to a bed." Neville said. "That and Professor Dumbledore's in there. He wants to figure out what happened first. Then he'll let us in."
"What's he doing here?" Ginny pointed to Alex.
"He followed us, and now we wait." Luna said.
"Laura?" Alex asked.
"She's in there." Colin said.
The group stared at the Hospital Wing doors, waiting.
…
It was an hour before Dumbledore came out with a somber expression.
"No!" Stewart said. "Don't tell us…sh-she's-"
"She's not dead, Mr. Ackerley, but she is dying." The Headmaster said.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Her parents are Death Eaters." Luna said.
The group stared at her.
"She let me know when we were staying with Alex for a while. She asked me not to tell you. She comes to Hogwarts to escape them. They hurt her during the summer, that's why she hates going back." Luna said.
"But why did she go back this time?" Harry asked.
"She wanted to see if she could visit Malcolm or Stewart or Dennis. She even wanted to visit me, but she never contacted…" Luna trailed off sadly.
"She didn't respond." Malcolm said. "All of you responded in some way to my letters. I sent three and everyone except Laura responded. I know Hermione missed my first one because she was busy, but she told me that in response to my second letter."
Hermione nodded. "But Laura didn't respond to any?"
Malcolm bit his lip and shook his head.
"Er, Dennis Creevey?"
They looked around to see Susan Bones.
"Pardon me, Headmaster." Susan said, "But I found this book with a note on it."
She handed them Laura's comic book.
"One of the girls lost her hairpin and it ended up under Laura's dresser where it was found."
"Thanks Susan." Dennis said, taking the book.
Susan smiled and left.
"Mr. Creevey, would you share this inside the Hospital Wing?"
The group headed inside the Hospital Wing. Two beds had their curtains drawn around it.
"Just to let you know, her parents have been arrested." Dumbledore said. "However, I do not think Azkaban is guarded well."
Alex let out a gasp. He had snuck away from the group and looked into the curtains closest to them.