I do not own anything. I'm just translating. The characters belong to the great J.K. Rowling. The story belongs to the amazing Brigi. Her e-mail: tbwtpbe

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Beta-read by Seerstella

THE BOY WITH THE PIERCING BLUE EYES

Chapter 31 – Running away (part 1)

In a room with four beds, a girl was sobbing with her knees tucked under. The light breeze played with her gown and the curtains. Her eyes were red, already dried of tears, and only a quiet hiccupping like sobbing could be heard. Between her clutched fingers, she held the torn pieces of a long letter.

If only she had looked out the window, she could have seen the beautiful sunrise. The light-blue sky first turned pink, and then a red color appeared and claimed more of the morning sky.

The light breeze made the sleeping girls shiver and burry themselves deeper into the covers before looking up.

"Marie?" One of them asked.

But everyone except the girl by the window suddenly jumped out of bed screaming and ran to the corner of the room. The girl watched with tearful eyes as her roommates ran away from the beautiful white owl.

"An owl! Help! An owl!" They screamed. "Teacher!"

"Shhh!" Marie stopped them.

In the meantime, Hedwig landed on the bed beside her and looked at her master's beloved with intelligent eyes. She saw the girl's furious outburst when she tore up the letter.

"Go home, Hedwig." She turned away bitterly.

The bird hopped closer, waiting for some kind of answer to take home. With her beak she nudged the girl's leg, but she winced and pushed the owl away. Hedwig hooted indignantly and flew back to the bed.

"There's nothing here to wait for! Go home!" Marie shouted angrily.

Hedwig hooted in protest.

"Can't you hear me?" The girl jumped up from the bed. Without thinking, she grabbed the bird by its wings and threw it out the window. "Get out!"

The owl, after flying in a semi-circle tried making its way back into the room, but Marie shut the window quickly. With a dull thud Hedwig hit the window. The girls screamed again, fearing that the window would break. But the bird, after shaking itself flew up and disappeared from sight.

For a while, Marie didn't dare looking back. She was afraid she had hurt the poor thing. But when she finally did glance out the window, she saw nothing. Her friends did the same and their anxious eyes met with the culprit's. Marie nodded and went down to take a look.

She reached for her robes, took the pieces of the letter and walked out of the room. Each time the floor cracked under her feet she froze, thinking one of her strict teachers woke up. The she would have to explain…

On the stone walls of the school the morning mist glittered. Marie ran from column to column, but every time her fingers touched the wet wall, an unpleasant shiver ran down her spine.

"Hedwig!" She whispered guiltily, though as soon as he remembered Harry, a bitter sadness filled her heart. "You bastard, you don't deserve me looking after your bloody bird!" She fumed helplessly. "Hedwig!"

Her latter words seemed to be a bit too loud as the caretaker's dog started barking. The sound of the animal soon woke up the aging man as well. He, taking his robe and the dog, started looking around to check out for an intruder.

Marie hid behind a statue shivering and waiting for the caretaker to walk away. She was so scared of being caught that she could barely breathe. She sighed in relief when the man's footsteps could no longer be heard.

She looked at the letter her former lover sent that was still clutched between her fingers.

"I'm… not… a witch…" She whispered menacingly.

It can't be true what Harry wrote. It must be a mistake. She's not a witch. She never was. How dare he even assume that?! He was staining the memories of her parents and relatives with this! Shameless! He lied and used her and now he's trying to drag her into some cult thing!

"Get out of my mind!" She put her hands on her ears. "Get out of my life!"

She ran out from under the archway the way the caretaker came from. Since the main entrance wasn't guarded now, she could run away easily.

"I'll prove you wrong! You'll see how wrong you are, oh, yes!"

She moved two bars of the fence. The caretaker had never noticed this, so it wasn't fixed. And the girls, the ones who knew about it, took the opportunity and ran out to the city from time to time to buy a little something for themselves and their friends.

However, Marie didn't go to the awakening city now. She took the way to the edge of the forest behind the school, where a small river flowed.

"I'm not a witch… I can't be." She chanted, almost maniacally as she strode on the wet grass. Her slippers were lost somewhere and her tied up hair came loose. The bottom edge of her nightgown and robe were wet and muddy but she didn't care. She was running towards the river, her chest hurting and heard beating fast, only stopping when she stepped into the ice-cold water.

"I'm not a witch." She moaned, her whole body shivering from the cold.

"I'm not…" She sighed bitterly and took another step. It was only then, she realized how cold it was. She could see her breath so she wrapped her arms around her.

"I'm… not… If I'm not a witch, I-I'll just sink, yes." She nodded, drawing strength from this thought. "T-that was… how they did it… in the Middle Ages…" She continued with chattering teeth. "If I were a witch… I wouldn't sink… I'm not a witch… I can't be…"

But instead of words, a surprised scream was the last sound she made, as the river deepened suddenly and she fell back, the water swallowing her completely. She started struggling as the fear of death struck her, the bubbles leaving her mouth fast. Her long hair swayed in the water, covering her eyes.

She was terribly afraid in the cold darkness. With her legs, she instinctively began to paddle, hoping to get out of the water and breathe in precious air. If she had strength, she would have cursed herself for walking into the water just to prove her right. Now, that the endless darkness was threatening to swallow her, she wished to be a witch, to be able to float on the surface. The lack of oxygen burned her lungs so much, she almost lost consciousness.

Her toes touched something solid. With both her legs she tried pushing herself away from that. For a brief moment, she was hopeful, but then something pulled her back by the ankle. Trying to find out what it was, she touched her leg and touched something. Who knew what it was.

Nervously, she started tugging, but didn't have much strength left. A painful stupor took over her mind, her clenched fingers loosened and the pieces of the letter were washed away. One last time, she looked up towards the surface and saw two dark figures jumping into the water.

She wanted to scream, to tell them where she was, but she had no strength left. The two people swam towards her looking like two small whales. At least, that was what Marie thought. Or were they really whales? Or were they sharks swimming up in the Seine…?

Similar silly thoughts appeared in her dulled mind when one of her rescuers took her by the waist and the other freed her ankle. She could no longer feel what was happening around her, just that she was pulled up, and soon three heads tore through the surface.

The first big breath was painful, burning her lungs and making her cough. Water came out of her lungs, but the second and third one was better. Trembling, she grabbed the man's hand, while the other got out of the water and helped them. She could barely saw their outlines, but their clothes were like a veil covering them.

Who dresses like this nowadays?

Ice-cold lips covered hers, blowing air into them, to force the last drops of water out of her lungs.

"Can you hear us, Missy?" One of them asked with a trembling voice.

"She has a fever." The other said, his palm resting on her forehead. The only thing Marie understood was that their French was strange. "Madmoiselle Salboux! Pull yourself together!"

Dogs barking and people yelling could be heard. The approaching light told them that the caretaker, the teachers and the students had discovered Marie's disappearance and went searching for her with flashlights.

"Jules, let's go!" The first one tugged the other's arm. "They can't see us!"

"We can't leave her here! You know what the order was!"

"Let's go! Please! It we stay, the ministry will be in big trouble!"

"I don't care!"

"Jules, come on, please!"

"Here!" The man called Jules screamed to get the attention of the caretaker.

"You're out of your mind!" The other exclaimed.

"They might not find her, if we just leave." He hissed. "Here! If we leave, she'll freeze to death! She already has a fever, can't you see?!"

"I won't take the fall for your hotheadedness again!" The other retorted. "You'll be responsible for this one! Here!"

When the others arrived, they looked at each other for a moment. A teacher with glasses glared at the two wet men, kneeling above the girl in a very suggestive way.

"We…" Jules gasped. "…pulled her out of the water… We saw her going under…"

More people arrived, bringing blankets with them. An elderly woman pushed away the onlookers.

"Put the blankets on her!" She instructed the teacher and the caretaker. "Who are they?" She then pointed at the two strangers, watching them constantly from the corner of her eyes.

The two men felt weird as they regarded the doctor and a suspicious feeling began to stir inside them.

"Give them blankets too!" She said finally. "There's enough for them too. Come on!"

She led everyone towards the school…

"Go, do your business!" The doctor told the teacher, who was standing at the end of Marie's bed with a lantern. "She'd better stay here for today."

"Unbelievable," the woman's voice shook. "What came over her…?"

"Have you seen how she fell into the water?" The doctor turned to the two shivering strangers sitting on the neighboring bed, wrapped in blankets.

"She didn't fall. She just walked into the water." One of them coughed in annoyance. He was still angry for not leaving immediately.

"Walked in? Did she… want to commit suicide?" The teacher whispered.

"I doubt she wanted to swim." Jules said flatly.

The woman, still wearing her nightgown and a robe, snorted indignantly and stormed out of the infirmary.

Jules sneezed and shook his head. Water droplets flew everywhere from his brown hair.

"What a trouble you got yourselves into, Sirs. You should have left immediately. Luckily, these Muggles are too stupid to notice when someone dresses weird like you."

At the word 'Muggle' the two men looked at each other, and Marie's eyes widened. Since she was lying on her side, the three people didn't realize she was awake.

"Are you…"

"… a witch too?"

"Squib." The woman corrected. "Makes it easier to assimilate here."

The two men shrugged.

"Aurore Baudin. Tea?"

"Thank you…"

"Don't you know a spell to dry clothes?"

"Unlike other squibs, I've never felt the need to learn magic."

She walked to her room and came out with a tray, with three cups on it and a teapot next to them. "Could one of you boil the water in it?"

Marie could only hear some muttering, and a faint whistling sound. She paled.

"Oh, thank you."

She put the tea leaves in the water. "Gilles and Jules La Berre, if I'm not mistaken," she blurted out.

The two men blinked in surprise.

"I wonder why the ministry would make you in charge of this poor little girl…"

"Excuse me?" Jules raised his voice indignantly.

"Jules, shut up."

"What?"

"You'll wake her up." Gilles tried to smooth his brother's anger then turned back to the woman. "I know we had some trouble lately." He glared at his brother. "But we showed out strong points, I think."

"I can't believe you're the younger one…"

Jules' face was red, but he didn't say a word, turning his back to his brother.

"Sweet, how that chubby pancake is pouting!"

"Chubby pancake? Me?"

But Gilles put his long, slender finger on his mouth to silence him. He drew his finger across his brother's lips gently.

"She just wants to be nice. Please, don't be mad all the time."

Jules blushed a little, but seemed to calm down and was willing to accept any kind of nickname thrown at him.

"This girl! Mon Dieu! What was she thinking?" Madame Baudin said. "Walking into the ice-cold water! She's lucky if she didn't get pneumonia."

"She was mumbling something like she wasn't a witch." The elder La Berre took a sip of the steaming tea.

"Do you think she wanted to find out if she would sink or not?"

Madame Baudin snorted. "Sink? Don't Muggles already know that's not the way to find out if you're a wizard or not?"

"It seems some people still believe these old superstitions," Gilles said. "If they knew that witches in the Middle Ages used a spell to stay on the surface…"

"Yeah, so not to drown… Not many people could swim back then… I'd like to try out what it feels like to be burnt at the stake," Jules added.

His brother and the woman smiled at each other. Madame Baudin couldn't help but notice how their eyes shined when the brothers looked at each other.

"If the young Mr. Potter hears about this…" She shook her head. "That poor boy must have it bad without worrying about something like this…"

Marie's heart filled with worry. How does the doctor know her lover? And what trouble was Harry in?

"Have you heard about his fencing accident?"

"It was a long time ago. He must be alright by now…"

"And the Dementor attack! Terrible! Good thing they didn't reach the school! It's the Ministry's fault! The Minister's!"

"The situation would've been better if they'd admitted what happened a year ago…" Gilles sighed.

"Yeah. How could they say the Dementors were on our side?!" Jules snapped. "Our Minister was right to lock them all up!"

"I've always thought that those Englishmen didn't know what they were doing! Muggles and wizards alike! And now... It's chaotic over there." Madame Baudin leaned closer to the two men. "They say life is just as dangerous now, as it was before… when You Know Who first gained power…"

"History repeats itself. We can only trust in Harry Potter. Even as a baby, he was the only one to stop You Know Who."

"At what cost…" The woman put her hand on her heart. "He's been an orphan since. They say his parents were good Aurors and that he wants to be one too. Hunting dark wizards. Very good."

"We're Aurors too, lady scones," Jules said slyly.

"I heard, sweetie," Aurore winked at them. "Weren't you the ones having trouble with that banshee in Dijon?"

The brothers swallowed hard.

"Okay, about that, we had a little trouble," Gilles confessed, blushing slightly.

"They were laughing at us for a week in the Ministry." Jules' hand clenched into a fist. "We almost had permanent hearing damage! But now we did great! We pulled the Potter kid's lady friend out of the water. You'll see! That will earn us some respect!"

Marie could barely hold back a giggle, but the woman and the younger La Berre laughed loudly.

"Was this girl always this messy?" Gilles asked.

"I don't know. I came here just this year to keep an eye on her," She said. "She seemed like a calm girl, I don't know why she did that…"

"Is it possible that she came to know about the world of wizards?"

"Maybe Potter wrote about it to her."

"You think so?" Baudin looked at the girl who pretended to be asleep.

"It's better if she knows…"

"I'd like to meet that boy," Gilles sighed. "Harry Potter."

"Darling, there are a lot of people like you. Many would like to shake hands with the one who defeated the darkest wizard of the century! I'd also like to hug him close!"

Jules glanced at the woman and shivered lightly, showing how much he didn't want to receive such a bone crashing embrace.

"This young lady is very lucky to be his lover. Of course, she has a lot to be afraid of, but not everyone can say they have such a famous wizard as a partner."

Marie couldn't listen any longer to the conversation. Was it really true? Did witches and wizards really exist? It sounded unbelievable. She was pondering about that for a long time and didn't even notice when she fell asleep.

When she woke up that evening, her rescuers were no longer there. She didn't admit to the doctor that she had overheard the conversation, but she became distant. The thought that they were watching her and trying to keep her safe was flattering. On the other hand, it filled her with concern. Who were the ones she needed to be protected from?

She was looking at the pictures she got from Harry, on which everybody was moving; smiling, waving and arguing with others. These were the only survivors of the letter the boy sent.

Out of curiosity, she wanted to see the two men, but couldn't find them anywhere. She asked others if they saw them, but nobody knew where they were. Knowing they were not far from her, she walked around on the cobbled stoned streets, hoping they could save her life again sometimes…

Hello everyone!

I'm back with a new chapter. Don't know when the next one will be out, 'cause I have a lot to do now.
There are two more parts of this chapter, and the next one is short, so I think I'll do that in the next couple of days, but the other one… we'll see.

Hope you enjoyed.

R&R please

Bye

Hermina