Raylynx's POV
Classes resumed in the January frost. The castle windows were now laced with crystal ice and soft snow. The fireplaces in the Great Hall were wreathed with small poinsettias and the floating candles had springs of baby's breath tied onto them.
Upon my returning to the castle, Remus had asked me to help him find another boggart in the castle. "I was thinking of a way to have Harry practice producing a Patronus Charm in a realistic environment. We can't have a real dementor come inside the grounds, of course. So, I thought, we might be able to find another boggart. It would transform into a dementor in front of him, you see?" Remus explained.
We carefully scoured the castle. Finally, we located one in Filch's filing cabinets. Filch never admitted it, but I got the strong feeling that he hadn't opened that cabinet since the boggart had moved in, which could have been years ago.
"We'll get rid of it for you," Remus said pleasantly.
"I'm the one doin' you a favor," Filch grumbled, but he left his office soon enough.
Remus shut the door after him. I lifted my wand and pointed it at the cabinet. It unlocked. The air above the cabinet shifted as the boggart rose from it, still shapeless. Seeing me standing there before it, it began to transform – a corpse floating in water and then decaying before me until it landed onto the ground – an Inferi of a loved one, drowned and wasted, soulless… but there was a glowing locket on its chest. The Inferi represented many, many people who I had lost, many people who had lost their minds… Regulus. Alice. Audrey. And perhaps, if everything went wrong again- Harry.
But today, it was Sirius. Because speaking with my sister and seeing Jasper again, I realized that I had, in fact, slipped back – or rather, my love for him had never changed. And so, even though what was before me was my worst fear, it was also not a fear at all.
The Inferi groaned and reached out for me. I lifted my hand and slowly reached out to it, too. I'm sorry. I wasn't able to save you the way I meant to.
"Ray-" Remus began to warn me, his voice full of trepidation.
"Riddikulus," I said softly, lifting my wand hand to waist-height, and the Inferi disappeared into a piece of seaweed on the floor. I lifted my wand, directing the boggart into the packing case that Remus had brought along with us. Remus quickly shut it and locked it.
"Well, you did much better with the boggart this time," he remarked, but his eyes were full of concern.
I didn't say anything. I just turned and opened Filch's office door. Filch came in, and despite everything he said, looked quite pleased that he was finally rid of the boggart and had another filing cabinet in which to file away student misbehavior.
Remus and I walked back to his office, levitating the securely locked case behind us.
"Would you like to come to Harry's lessons? It would be helpful to have you there," Remus said to me.
"Yes," I said. "I'll be there. Just let me know when."
"All right."
"Good night, Remus."
"Yes, well…" He paused, as if to say something, but he must have thought better of it, because the next moment, he said, "Good night, Raylynx" and shut the door.
As I walked back to my office, I slowed in front of a window and peered out at the vast black expanse of the Hogwarts grounds. Sirius was out there somewhere… He must be freezing.
I hesitated. Ironically, my brother's Christmas gift to me this year had been another scarf. In his note, he had written:
Raylynx,
I know I always give you a scarf when I can't think of anything else. I won't even attempt to deny it. But I know you like them, and I figure you'll find a good use for this one, too. Amy is chiding me and saying that there can't be different uses for scarves when you've only got one neck, which is a fair point. But I don't know. You've always liked wintertime and being bundled up. The first magic you ever performed was to make it snow inside the car. I don't know if you remember that, but I do. And you always liked wearing my sweaters. And when you were in elementary school, you got teased for wearing three scarves at once. Mum and Dad told me that even when you were sent to the principal, you refused to give any of them up, and you made this fifty-year-old man get in a tug-of-war with you over a kid's scarf. Anyways, the point is – Merry Christmas. I love you very much. Give Mrs. Norris a big hug for me – if she doesn't scratch your face off first! (I don't think she ever got over me putting a ribbon on her and shoving her into a suit of armor.)
Your brother,
Jamie
Ten minutes later, I had snuck outside and raced into the forest, leaping from snow bank to snow bank with a wrapped-up scarf in my mouth. Soon, I was in front of Sirius' hiding spot. When I stopped in front of the ivy covering his spot, I mewed softly. There was no response. I paused. My ears twitched. I thought I could hear soft breathing sounds beyond the ivy. I reached out and batted at the ivy.
It was the wrong move. Padfoot, who was exhausted and in a violent mood, had been sleeping after his long run from London to Hogwarts, and my disturbing the ivy startled him. Growling, he leapt out all at once from behind the ivy and attacked me. I howled as he pinned me down in one second flat. His weight was massive compared to mine, and it hurt to have him pin me down. This was not like the first time he pinned me down, where he was being cautious – there was a definite aggression this time. The growl slowly died away in his throat as he backed off of me.
As soon as I could escape from out under him, I streaked into a snow bank, trembling. Had this truly been hunter and prey, I would have died, and my cat senses knew it. Meanwhile, Padfoot was gazing down at the scarf. Anger distorted his features as he thought about how my "owner" was probably Raylynx and so this scarf was likely from her, but thinking about her made him think about how he had seen her with Jasper. Feeling betrayed and discouraged, Padfoot turned away haughtily from the scarf, leaving it in the snow. He returned to his hiding spot, though I could see his eyes still blinking at me behind the curtain of ivy.
I hesitated. Mustering my courage, I slowly slipped out. I didn't know if my strategy would work, but I had to try. I buried myself under the snow and then went sideways, burrowing a small tunnel under the snow. Then, I lay still and engaged in my cat senses to the maximum. I was looking for any sign of movement and that could come to me by sound, scent, or warmth detection. It took a prolonged period of time since most rodents had already burrowed somewhere warmer and drier, but I finally sensed a tiny motion about ten feet away. In one strong leap, I exploded out of the snow and leaping ten feet in the air, dove in and managed to trap the rat under the snow between my claws. I carefully picked it up in my jaws and then made my way back to where Padfoot was.
Padfoot was peering at me from behind the ivy. I slowly approached him, though I didn't come too close, in case it triggered an attack response in him. I put the rat down gently before and then put my paw on his tail. Then, I looked up very intentionally at Padfoot and then down at the rat and back to Padfoot. A beat passed.
Then, I heard a rustling sound and Padfoot slowly appeared, coming out of his hiding place. He looked down at me, then down at the rat. He gave me a nod, indicating that I had got it right. He began to turn away. But I mewed softly. I let the rat go and then picked up the scarf in the snow in my mouth. I dropped it in front of his feet. Then, I took off, feeling that I stayed any longer, I would no longer be able to hide my human identity.
I arrived first to the History of Magic classroom for Harry's first dementor lesson. Dumbledore had given Remus permission to use this classroom for our dementor lessons. "What if we knock something over and forget about it?" I asked Dumbledore. "Professor Binns, incorporeal as he is, won't be able to pick it up to put it back." Dumbledore pretended to ponder this to humor me, all while looking most amused. Remus slowly sidled me out of the Headmaster's office, thanking Dumbledore over his shoulder as we left.
I lifted my wand and flames sparked brightly into existence as all of the candles lit up. For a moment, I stood in the doorway of the classroom. I hadn't been up here since I'd taken class here myself. I recalled the setup. I had sat in the third row, beside Audrey. Lily and Remus sat behind us. My smile slipped as I remembered Audrey. He'd saved me from the sirens, but Azkaban had not spared him. But who could attest to all the crimes he'd committed in between those two events, and all in the name of "blood purity"?
I heard footsteps behind me, and turning, I saw Harry at the doorway. He paused when he saw me. Noticing his hesitance, I said, "Professor Lupin thought I might be of some use, but I'm only here if you want me to be, Harry."
"Oh, yeah," Harry mumbled. "Thanks. I didn't mean to- to suggest otherwise. It's just that I don't know how this is going to go, so… I didn't want to waste your time. I'm already asking a lot of Professor Lupin."
I shook my head.
Remus showed up then, carrying the case with the boggart, which he heaved onto Professor Binn's desk.
"What's that?" asked Harry.
"Another Boggart," said Lupin, stripping off his cloak. "Professor Kingsley and I have been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, we found this one lurking inside Mr. Filch's filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor. The Boggart will turn into a dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."
"Okay," said Harry, a bit apprehensively.
"So…" Professor Lupin had taken out his own wand, and indicated that Harry should do the same. "The spell we are going to try and teach you is highly advanced magic, Harry — well beyond the Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."
"How does it work?" asked Harry.
"It conjures up a Patronus," I answered. "A Patronus is a guardian force that shields you from dementors. Think of it almost like an anti-dementor."
"An anti-dementor?" Harry questioned.
"Yes," I said, and explained further. "The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the dementors can't hurt it."
Remus, who had been watching Harry as I explained the basics of what a Patronus was, interjected and said, "But I must warn you, Harry, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."
Harry nodded. Then, he asked, "What does a Patronus look like?"
"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it," I replied.
"And… how do you conjure it?"
"With an incantation," Remus explained, "which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory."
Harry hesitated, and I could almost see him scrolling through the different memories in his mind. "Right," he said finally.
Remus cleared his throat. "The incantation is this: Expecto patronum."
"Expecto patronum," Harry repeated.
"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?" Remus asked, reminding Harry.
"Oh, yeah," Harry said. "Expecto patrono — no, patronum — sorry — expecto patronum, expecto patronum." A wisp of silvery gas whooshed out of the end of his wand.
"Did you see that?" said Harry, excited. "Something happened!"
Remus smiled. "Very good." He walked over to the case. "Right, then – ready to try it on a dementor?"
"Yes," Harry said. He gripped his wand tightly.
Remus unlocked the case and then pulled it open. A dementor, cloaked and floating, rose out of the box. I stood up straight and watched Harry. The dementor turned its hooded face towards Harry. The lamps around the classroom flickered and then went out, plunging us into darkness. The dementor swept towards Harry, and drew a deep, rattling breath.
"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto-"
I jumped forward and grabbed him as he collapsed. I gently laid him down on the floor. Remus flicked his wand, and all of the lights came back on before he knelt beside Harry. I touched Harry's forehead. Cold sweat was trickling down his forehead. I used my sleeve to wipe his face.
He suddenly jerked back to life. "Sorry," he muttered, sitting up shakily.
"Are you all right?" I asked him.
"Yes…" Harry pulled himself up on one of the desks and leaned against it.
Remus said, "Here," and held out a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this before we try again. I didn't expect you to do it your first time; in fact, I would have been astounded if you had."
Harry took it and chewed off the Frog's head. As he chewed, he murmured quietly, "It's getting worse. I could hear her louder that time – and him – Voldemort."
Remus' face blanched. "Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand-"
"I do!" Harry said fiercely. "I've got to! What if the Dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game, we've lost the Quidditch Cup!" I watched Harry, and I felt proud of his courage and determination.
"All right then," Remus said, though he sighed to himself.
"You might want to select another memory," I suggested. "A happy memory, I mean, to concentrate on. That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough…" I remembered my own difficulties with finding a happy enough memory to produce my first Patronus with.
Remus seemed thoughtful at my suggestion. "Just out of interest, what were you thinking of?" he asked Harry. "What memory did you choose?"
"The first time I rode a broom," Harry replied.
Remus turned around, slightly incredulous. "Well, that's not good enough, Harry. Not nearly good enough…"
Remus gave Harry time to search for another memory. Then, when Harry was ready, he lifted his wand again and walked out to the middle of the classroom again.
"Ready?" Remus asked, gripping the box lid.
Harry nodded.
The dementor burst forth again.
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry yelled. But I could tell immediately that it was not going to work. There was something in his voice, some hesitation. It wasn't fear… It was something else.
Harry fell again. This time, Remus caught him.
As we waited for Harry to wake up, Remus and I both noticed tears streaking down his face.
"Should I call this off?" Remus asked worriedly. "This is likely too much for the boy. It was absurd for me to even agree." He started to speak faster. "If the memories only get worse, then-"
I reached out and softly wiped Harry's face again. "There's something else. It's not just that it's magically difficult, though of course, that is an obvious issue. But there's an internal barrier... an emotional barrier..." I looked down at Harry and sighed quietly. "Well, maybe it's better that he goes through this with us than alone. He'll have to face these memories at some point in his life. As painful as it is, maybe it's a good thing that he's doing it now."
Remus still seemed worried as he gently tapped Harry's face. "Harry! Harry, wake up!"
Harry opened his eyes. He squinted up at the classroom for a minute before he murmured, "I heard my dad. That's the first time I've ever heard him — he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it…"
Remus turned away immediately and put his hand to his face. Harry didn't notice, as he was wiping his own face, which had fresh tears dripping down his cheeks. "You heard James?" asked Remus in a slightly choked voice.
"Yeah…" Harry looked over at Remus. "Why? You didn't know my dad, did you?"
Oh, Remus, I thought.
"I- I did, as a matter of fact," Remus admitted. "We were friends at Hogwarts."
"Listen, Harry," Remus said, kneeling down next to Harry again. "Perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. This charm is ridiculously advanced… I shouldn't have suggested putting you through this…"
"No!" Harry protesting, pushing himself up to his feet. "I'll have one more go! Professor Kingsley's right – I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is! Hang on…"
Remus started to protest, but I silently put my hand on his arm and shook my head. I murmured, "Let him try. We'll be there to catch him."
I could see Harry thinking hard, casting about for another memory. I still remembered the first memory that had helped me to succeed: meeting Alice on my very first evening at Hogwarts, after the Sorting Ceremony. "Sometimes it helps to think of people, Harry," I said quietly. "People you value – meeting with them, being with them. That sort of thing."
Harry nodded and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he said, "There's another. It's not happy, exactly. Well, I mean, it is. It's the happiest I've ever felt. But it's… complicated."
Remus gave Harry a hard, focused look and asked, "Is it strong?" Harry returned Remus' hard gaze and nodded.
"Are you ready to try it?" I asked Harry.
Harry took a deep breath and then muttered apprehensively, "Just do it."
Remus shot me an uncomfortable look, but he walked back over to the case once more. "All right – go!"
For a third time that night, the dementor rose out of the case. "Expecto Patronum!" Harry bellowed, putting all his focus and might into it. "Expecto Patronum!" Then, a huge silver shadow burst out of the end of Harry's wand, and hovered between him and the dementor.
"Riddikulus!" Remus cried out, and he forced the dementor back into the case.
"Harry, that was amazing!" I said. I tucked my wand under my arm and gave Harry a well-deserved round of applause. "You did it! You conjured a Patronus shield."
"Excellent!" Remus said, thrilled. "Excellent, Harry! That was definitely a start!"
"Can we have another go?" Harry asked excitedly. "Just one more go?"
Remus shook his head. "Not now," he said firmly.
Harry shot me a pleading look. I smiled, but I said, "Professor Lupin is right, Harry. You've had enough for one night. Just remember that feeling when you produced the shield. Hold it in your mind tonight."
"Here," Remus said, handing Harry a large bar of Hondeydukes' best chocolate. "Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood."
Harry accepted the chocolate. As he started to eat it, he paused as he thought of something. "Professor Kingsley?"
"Yes?"
"You said you knew my mum and dad while they were at Hogwarts. That you played Quidditch with my dad."
I nodded.
"And Professor Lupin, you just said you knew my dad, too…" Harry swallowed the chocolate he was eating and then said, "If you knew my dad, you must've both known Sirius Black as well."
Remus turned very quickly. My eyes flashed, but I quickly controlled myself, my jaw tightening. I already knew that Harry thought Sirius had double-crossed his parents. I didn't tell Harry about Sirius for the same reason I hadn't yet gone to Dumbledore or told Remus – I didn't have proof. But Remus didn't know. He became immediately anxious.
"What gives you that idea?" he asked sharply.
Harry, a little taken aback by Remus' reaction, replied quickly, "Nothing. I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too…"
Remus relaxed slightly. "Yes, I knew him," he said. In a slightly more regretful tone, he added, "Or I thought I did." The conversation faded into silence.
I walked over to Harry and sat beside him. "Just so you know, Harry," I said, "you'd have given your father a run for his money. And, believe me, that is saying something."
Harry grinned, but then his expression became pensive and thoughtful. Staring out at the classroom, he said, "Actually, I was thinking of him. And Mum. Seeing their faces. They're talking to me. Just… talking. That was the memory I chose. I don't even know if it's real…" He turned and looked at me and Remus and said, with a brave smile, "But it's the best I have."
I met Harry's eyes and nodded back at him, putting my hand on his shoulder for a brief moment. Behind me, Remus was still, but I could just about hear his heart shattering to a million pieces. After a moment, he came and sat on Harry's other side and for a long moment, the three of us just sat there, in silence, staring at the slowly spinning gold and silver globes hanging from the ceiling above us.
After Harry left, I turned to Remus. He was staring at the flickering candles lining the room, but his expression was blank.
"Remus?" I said.
He finally looked up at me. Then, he said hoarsely, "I need a drink."
The two of us fought the winter winds all the way down to Hogsmeade. It was nearly eleven at night.
When McGonagall asked me sternly why we needed to go out, I fibbed and said that I'd forgotten to send in a form for Muggle taxes due on my house. She looked completely nonplussed. Then, she said, "The Owl Office is sure to be closed."
"Oh yes, but this doesn't go to the Owl Office," I said, trying to sound convincing. "I can't have an owl delivering this to the Muggle IRS office. No, no."
"So, where will you go?" McGonagall asked me, her eyebrow sever.
"The Hog's Head," I said honestly.
Remus carefully stepped on my foot.
"Er – Abertforth, um, he takes Muggle letters for me sometimes. Special… Special charge," I said, my words slipping this way and that as I struggled to make sense of what the hell I was talking about myself.
McGonagall gave me a hard, long look. But she nodded, and Remus and I raced out before she could change her mind.
It wasn't necessarily that we needed her permission, but that what with the dementors floating around, it was always best to have on record when someone was out or not.
As we made our way down to the Hog's Head in the biting cold, I murmured to Remus, "See? I told you it's harder to do stuff like this when you're a Professor."
"We should have just taken the passageway behind the witch's hump," Remus muttered back, teeth chattering and wrapping his cloak around himself.
"Yes, but could you imagine if we ran into students? We'd never be taken seriously ever again," I said. "Although," I added, shivering as a particularly chilly breeze swept over us, "t-taking the passageway would have been much warmer."
Eventually, we made it down to the Hog's Head. We entered the pub with great relief, blowing on our hands to thaw them. I spotted the old crew of elderly men at the bar, but they were the only ones here. Remus took my cloak for me and hung both of our cloaks up before we made our way to the bar.
"Hello, Aberforth," I said, pulling out a stool and sitting in front of him.
His eyes flickered up from the dirty glass he was cleaning up to me. He noted Remus too, and nodded at him.
"What're you doing out at this hour?" Aberforth asked us.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Bars are for late hours. You should know that by now, elsewise you'll get a nasty shock every night hereafter."
Aberforth snorted. "I see you haven't lost that wisecracker attitude."
Remus smiled a little and greeted Aberforth kindly. "Hello, Aberforth. It's been quite a while. I hope you've been well."
Aberforth grunted an affirmation and then he said, "I've heard you're a Hogwarts Professor now, Lupin. Albus told me."
"The Headmaster said that?" Remus said, a little awed that Dumbledore would mention him to Aberforth.
Abeforth nodded. Then, he pointed to Remus with his dirty dish rag and said, "You, I understand why my brother hired."
"But you…" he said, turning to me. "I know you've been up at the castle for a while now, but still. Awfully nice of my brother to let you back into Hogwarts after you ran away from his Order, eh?"
Remus shot me a worried look, but I grinned and said, "Aberforth, really, how hard is it to just say hi and leave it at that?"
Suddenly, one of the elder patrons bumped into me on their way to ask Aberforth for a refill.
"Whoa there, Frankie, watch yourself," I murmured without thinking.
The old man next to him, whom I recognized immediately as "Georgie", looked over and said, "And how's it this youngin' knows you, Frankie?"
Frank looked over at me and shrugged and said, "I dunno. I've never seen her before."
Aberforth purposefully kept his eyes low.
Remus leaned away a bit as Frank came uncomfortably close to him in order to peer at me. With a suspecting eye, Frank asked me, "How's it you know my name, lassie?"
I froze for a moment. Then, I blurted out, "Because old Abe here has told me about you. He's got a big lousy crush on you. Didn't you know that?
"Raylynx," Remus murmured, embarrassed, as Abe looked up at me and scowled.
Frank looked over at Abe's scowling face, grinned, and then moved back to George and the others.
"And that," growled Aberforth, "is precisely why you are not welcome here."
"We'll keep to ourselves," Remus promised hastily. "Won't we, Raylynx?"
"Are you saying you didn't miss us at all?" I asked Aberforth.
"I'll tell you what I don't miss," he replied. "Carrying your love letters back and forth."
I barely kept from rolling my eyes. "You make quite a big deal about that," I said, "when it wasn't anything."
"Wasn't it?" Aberforth said, suddenly looking straight into my eyes.
My eyes narrowed slightly. I could tell that Aberforth was insinuating that I was still connected to Sirius. Trying to keep my voice light, but drawing a line, my lips twisted into a wry smile as I said thinly, "You just mind your own business about that one, Abe."
He scoffed, but fell silent, and Remus knew better than to ask.
Aberforth tended to some other customers and Remus and I had a quiet drink, not talking about anything in particular. The old gang besides us were rowdy, too, and getting progressively drunker. And just as I knew they would, the dares between the old friends began.
"I dare ya to go the Shrieking Shack. I'll pay a Galleon to see yer drunk ass down there," Frankie was saying to another man- Clark was his name, if I remembered correctly.
"No, thank you," Clark grumbled. "Frankie, whatssa matter with you? You gotta be reasonable with your requests, else this ain't a game."
"What? Shrieking Shack's reasonable! Ain't it, fellas?" Frankie said, looking at the others to back him up.
But even Georgie shook his head. "Nah, a man's got to be able to pick up his money after the dare for the dare to be worth it. And the Shrieking Shack's known to be haunted."
"There's plenty of ghosts, though. Why be scared of this one?" Frankie challenged.
"It ain't no ordinary ghost, that's why," someone else pitched in. "It's more of a violent spirit –damn near beastly, same say."
"But it's been quiet for years!" Frankie protested.
"All the same, all the same," Georgie said wisely. "Come up with another dare, Frankie. That's a good lad…"
Remus' frame was quite stiff. I murmured to him quietly, "You didn't tell me you were famous. Your legend precedes you."
Remus let out a forced laugh, but he relaxed a little, and we were able to talk about other things - like what was going on with Buckbeak's case and what Trelawney had predicted for Remus. "She said she saw a son in my future, and I knew she was a fraud," Remus said, chuckling.
Around midnight, we put down coins to pay for our drinks.
"Are you taking off then?" Aberforth asked us.
"Yes," Remus responded. "Although, I was wondering if you sold Butterbeer in bottles here?"
"Sure," Aberforth said. "How many?"
"Three, please," Remus replied. He took the bottles and pulled out a few more coins. "Thank you, Aberforth. It was good to see you again."
"You take care of yourself, Lupin," Aberforth said gruffly. "And look after this fool you're carrying around with you, will you?"
Remus gave Aberforth a small smile.
"Oh, one last thing, Abe, could you do me a small favor?" I asked abruptly. "If Professor McGonagall asks about your er- letter-delivering services, could you just let her know that you do, in fact, send Muggle letters to the IRS Office from time to time?"
"What are you on about?" Aberforth said disapprovingly. "Letter-delivering services? What kind of hogwash is this?"
"Just… Never mind," I said hastily. "Just remember "IRS," yeah? Thanks, Abe! I owe you one! Oh, and give Frankie a kiss for me!"
At this, Frankie, who was quite knackered, swaggered over and leaned onto the bar. "I'd rather you give my handsome face a kiss now, Abe, before I get any older or any less drunk." The others roared with laughter and patted Frank heartily on the back.
"You'd be so lucky!" Clark called out. "Abe may be an old fart, but he's still too pretty for the likes of us, Frankie!"
"But the lass said-" Frankie began.
Georgie interrupted and him, "The lass was lyin', you ol' tosspot! You get your ass back here and leave Abe alone! He's a decent man. He don't need none of us pilfering into his life. We should jus' be thankful he tolerates us bein' here."
I made to respond, but Remus hurriedly shoved my cloak at me. Aberforth sighed to himself as he watched Remus slowly but firmly drag me out of the Hog's Head.
As we made our way back our way up to the castle, Remus commented, "You fit in very well with the old geezers."
"Hey, don't call them that," I said.
"It's an honorary nickname," Remus said quickly.
I smiled. "They're all good men. Abe keeps good company."
We continued to chat as we walked. Again, tonight, we didn't talk about the things that were really bothering us, but we didn't always need to. Sometimes, we could just be young and free – or, as McGonagall might say – young and dumb.
Jasper's POV
That night, Shacklebolt and I had been assigned to watch over Sirius Black's old apartment. The address had been left in his old Wizarding records.
We were doing a final walk-through of the landing in front of the apartment doors when I spotted something very small and shiny next to the flat that apparently used to be Sirius' flat. I absent-mindedly knelt down and picked it up, wondering if it was a bit of jewelry. If it was, I planned on knocking on nearby doors to see if it belonged to anyone, though I was sure Shacklebolt would object to my doing so.
But on closer inspection, I found it was a hair pin, with a small crystal in it. I started to head towards the nearest door, when I paused. Wait a minute.
I hesitated, and I looked down at the hair pin again. It was oddly familiar. Why? Why would a hair pin be familiar to me?
Then, I suddenly realized why I recognized it.
It's Raylynx's hair pin. She wore it to the dinner, that night when my uncle and I presented the new magical creature we had discovered. And she wears it sometimes on regular days, when she's working on her lecture notes, to keep her hair pinned back from her face…
"Did you find something?" Shacklebolt asked, looking over his shoulder to see why I'd stopped.
I closed my fist and replied, "No. Nothing."
Raylynx's POV
When I opened the Daily Prophet that morning at the staff table, I came across a phrase I didn't quite understand. "Dementor's Kiss." I had heard of it when I was an Auror, but it was only ever mentioned as a "severe and outdated" form of punishment in the old records.
"Remus?" I said.
Remus, who had been sipping pumpkin juice, looked over at me.
"Remus, what exactly is a dementor's kiss?" I asked. "I've heard of it before, but never specifically."
Remus' eyebrows raised. "Why are you asking me that?"
I pushed the paper towards him as I said, "The Ministry… They've given the dementors permission to perform the kiss on Sirius if they find him."
Remus' eyes darkened. He was quiet for a long moment. Just as he began to speak, Snape interrupted us.
"I came to tell you I've managed to procure more Potions ingredients on your behalf, Lupin," Snape said, but the glint in his eyes were malicious as they swept over us. His eyes fell on the newspaper between us and his lips curled upwards as he passed us by. It was a good thing he didn't sit next to me on that day. I might have strangled him on the spot, even if McGonagall cursed me into being a teapot for the rest of my life.
