Chapter 1: The Strange Man
Remus Lupin was not exactly looking forward to this visit.
The gates of the orphanage rose before him, spiked and foreboding, as if daring occupants to attempt to escape. He even thought the spikes were stained red with blood, and that surely wasn't pumpkin residue atop the wrought iron...
For a moment, his fingers lingered before the aged and dirty button, questioning his decision to collect his quarry for the hundredth time since he had tracked her here. Taking a deep breath, he wasted no more time and pressed the bell, entreating admittance. Within a few moments, the pinched-faced Miss Minchim was at the gate, glaring at him and his shabby clothing suspiciously.
"What do you want?" snapped the woman.
"Miss Minchim? Miss Tabitha Minchim?"
"Who are you?"
"Forgive me if I've startled you, ma'am. My name is Remus Lupin. I've come to see one of your young ladies; Miss Rhiannon Delaney."
Miss Minchim continued to eye the person who called himself Remus Lupin. His threadbare brown jacket, the scars on his face and his general state of dishevelment did nothing to ensure her confidence in him. However, there was something in the gentleness of his smile and manner seemed to convince her to trust him.
"Very well," she said, opening the gate, "please come inside."
The courtyard of the orphanage was not any more welcoming than the gates. They crossed the little yard, going up the grey steps to the heavy oaken doors. Taking out a wrought-iron key, she unlocked the door and allowed him to pass inside.
Remus looked about. The foyer was dimly lit and as imposing as the gates now behind them. A pair of stairs led up to the first floor. These then branched off into two halls labeled BOYS and GIRLS. Banners emblazoned with a rampart lion with a cross on a grey banner adorned the gallery above.
"Could you tell me anything about Miss Delaney, Miss Minchim?" asked Remus as they walked toward what he guessed was the ground floor common room.
"That girl's been nothing but a nuisance, that's to be sure," murmured Miss Minchim lowly, "if you ask me, the little brat deserves—"
The sounds of children crying out in many states made the lady pick up her floor-length skirts just to her ankles and dash down into the main room. She cried out at the scene before her. Her beloved floors were strewn with the remains of several meals, a few overturned wooden stools, and crimson splattering which looked like blood.
At the center of the chaos was a girl of about ten. Her long black hair was a tangled mess which had mostly come out of its braid, and her black eyes were cold as she focused her attention on three children of about twelve. A girl was hanging in midair, suspended upside down as she attempted to pull down her skirt. Some of the boys giggled as her underthings passed before their eyes. Two other boys were also suffering; one of them vomited up slugs every few moments, while the other clutched at his more-than-abnormally large front teeth. While Lupin resisted the urge to be amused, the little girl went over to the former and drove her small fist straight into his stomach, which made another slug spew violently out of his mouth. As he clutched at his stomach, the little girl drove her knee into his face.
"See how you like it, you filthy, stinking little tosspots!" she screamed, stamping her foot wildly.
Miss Minchim quickly went over, grabbing the little girl by the arm and shaking her. The levitated girl began to plummet toward the ground with a cry, but with a subtle move, Lupin had arrested her fall, bringing her safely to rest on a stool.
"Now you've done it, you crazy little nutjob! Oddball! Look—look at what you've done!" Miss Minchim was shouting, her hand moving like lightning and striking her across the face. The girl reacted not a jot, but merely glared at her with the same cold indifference that Remus probably guessed was a prelude to another round of magic.
"My dear lady," he said with an easy smile, "perhaps it would be better if you were to attend to the other children. I should like to speak with Miss Delaney, if that would be acceptable."
"Fine—fine—please, just make her behave!" she snapped, turning her attention to the crying girl and the stricken boys. She sat them down, three in a row, examining the damage.
Lupin gestured, and Rhiannon found herself following him toward the window. He strolled casually, hands in his pockets in a relaxed manner. Taking a breath, he looked at Rhiannon from the light in the window. Then he allowed himself to examine the young girl he had come far to collect and bring into her rightful place in the world.
She had the look of a damaged flower, a wild lily which had been kept in the dark. She was clad in a threadbare dress two sizes too large, her left stocking had two large holes in it, and the shoes on her feet were a struggle to keep on. She hung her head, but not as one who was in trouble about to be admonished, for when she looked up at him again, it was with defiance in her eyes.
"Miss Delaney," said Lupin at last, "I believe that I ought to ask the question of what began this—rather interesting fracas, but I cannot say I am impressed by your use of unfair if superior tactics. I hope you understand that you've made what is already a delicate situation worse for me, dear girl."
Rhiannon's reaction was not the one Lupin had expected. Instead of snarking off some dry remark about how her playing dirty was in fact not so, her shoulders slumped and she looked well and thoroughly reprimanded. Lupin waited patiently for the explanation which he assumed that was about to come.
"Didn't start it," she mumbled softly, "Dicey, she hit me 'cuse I made her stupid boyfriend's teeth bigger after he took my book. And then stupid Grayson had to stick his big fat finger in my face and act like Miss Minchim. They're just a bunch of stupids."
"Yet—in the end, Miss Delaney, you forget what it was you were fighting about in the first place," said Remus, and went over to retrieve the volume. It was lying on the ground near the window, a battered but well-kept copy of The Sword in the Stone. He perused the book for a few moments, smiling almost nostalgically. He looked reminiscent as he came back over to the girl.
"Your book, Miss Delaney," he said, "but first—you must promise me you will never do such a thing again. All right?"
Rhiannon nodded, and she took the book almost greedily, scowling at him in a manner which he remembered well. Truly, she was the child of her parents, and it amused Remus to see which aspects of this girl had come from which parent.
"You don't have many friends, do you Miss Delaney?" he asked softly, taking two stools and sitting them upright. He sat, and Rhiannon copied his example.
"Call me Rhiannon—or Rin, if you want," she said softly, "most people do. And—no, I don't have any friends. Just Tilly...my doll."
"I am sorry to hear that. And now, Rin—that little display—have you done things like that before?"
She nodded. The girl cast a sidelong look at him, making the older man slightly unnerved. Rin looked suspicious, wary, on her guard and ready to perhaps jinx or hex him. Remus registered this distrust, but continued on.
"Have you ever asked yourself how—or why—you are able to do these things?"
"I've always been weird," she half-mumbled, "she doesn't like me, Miss Minchim. She wants me to be sent off like a looney bird. Isn't that why you're here?"
Remus chuckled lightly, but stopping abruptly when Rhiannon glared up at him, clearly unamused by his mirth. Perhaps, like another famous wizard before her, she too had been told it was dangerous, odd and completely mental to have such powers.
"Sorry, Rin—sorry," he said, backpedaling rapidly, "but that was not something I expected to hear from a girl of ten. No. I'm not here to take you away and lock you up in a place for loonies. Unless—you want to think I am one of the loonies myself."
With that, he produced his wand. Rhiannon's eyes widened as she looked at it, feeling her fingers itch to take it, caress it, as if she knew how to use it already.
"I see you know what this is," said Remus softly, "good. Finite."
In a moment, ordered confusion reigned in the hall. Miss Minchim began screeching at the group to clear up the mess. Boys and girls moved quickly to obey the lady dictator. Rhiannon moved to join them, but was stopped by Lupin, who gently stood up to block her path.
"Shall we?" asked Remus, offering his hand to Rhiannon.
Inside of the girl, something clicked, as if she had known this strange man all her life. She looked at the calloused yet elegant hand he offered, already aware in her mind that if she were to take it, a sort of irreversible bond would begin to form. There would be no going back.
Remus' fingers closed around the pale hand and wrist she had given him.
"Is there anything that you need from your room?" he asked. At her nod, Lupin let her lead the way. She went up the small flight of stairs labeled GIRLS and into a room marked with a dingy number three upon it. The little space itself was just enough for a small iron square with a little mattress, pillow and blanket that Lupin assumed was Rin's bed. A small doll, roughly stitched together, resided upon it. His gaze followed her as she took up a single paper grocery bag. She stretched herself out on the scuffed but cleaned wood floor, disappearing under the bed. Battered old volumes, some with their covers falling off, came reverently out from underneath the bed. Remus was able to make out some of them; Jane Austen to the Bronte sisters, T.H. White and Thomas More. For a girl of ten, she was amazingly well-read. In a cloud of dust came the girl herself soon after, sorting each book by its fragility and placing it accordingly into the bag. Without compunction, she then removed her threadbare everyday dress and exchanged it for one of simple grey, which seemed to drape better over her figure. Removing her shoes, she placed them and the dress in the bag, getting herself a pair that better fit her. She then took up her bag again, and Remus perused the girl with a look of pity; the life of this girl, able to be placed into a small, simple paper bag.
"I'm ready," she said, bringing Lupin of his reverie. He nodded, wrapping an arm around the girl as he smoothly took her down the stairs and into the main corridor.
"Wait!"
Miss Minchim's voice carried through the corridor and out into the main hall, bringing Lupin and his charge to a halt.
"Who are you, and where are you going with that girl?" she asked dangerously, her eyes narrowing to slits as she headed toward them. Instead of stopping, he went to the door, opening it and revealing several men in suits, who then greeted Miss Minchim warmly. In the chaos, Remus Lupin slipped out with Rin, who was hardly noticed by anyone.
Rhiannon was quite surprised none of the men had taken any notice of either herself or her companion as they wandered out into the warm June day. The sun caressing her skin was delicious, and she took it all in, as if she had been let out with the others for a day upon the lawn. Finally, her eyes came to rest once more on the man she did not know.
"Um...sir?"
Her voice was uncertain, and Remus soon looked at her, aghast, as if he had committed a terrible infraction.
"Do please forgive me, Rin. In the excitement, I believe I've forgotten my manners. My name is Remus Lupin...you may call me Remus if you wish."
"They won't...I mean, they'll be all right, won't they?"
Her eyes drifted back toward the orphanage. While her heart was fluttering with excitement at the prospect of new adventures with this person called Remus, she also did not wish that any permanent harm should come to anyone. Much as she hated it there, no one deserved any scars.
"Yes, Rin. I only got rid of a few memories," he said softly, "today will be a nice blur to your Miss Minchim. I suspect those lovely chaps from the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad are just touching things up right now. I guess, in the end, it was rather convenient you got into a fight today."
And his hand closed around hers again, and together they passed through the gates.