The Girl who Survived (Fred Weasley)

Remus Bonus Short

"You mean..." I whispered, not able to believe what she was describing.

"Unbeknownst to her, she was using the Cruciatus Curse," She said, answering what I could have never even imagined. "When she was sent home, I brought her here, to Albus's office, so we could sort things out with the ministry, and waited for a healer to arrive. She knocked over a bowl," She said taking a break, watching the scene replay in her head. "When she began crying, objects began flying around the room, smashing into one another, until we put her in a full body bind. When we pulled her eyes open, they were white as snow."

I leaned back in my chair, trying to make sense of what she was saying. In all my years, I'd never heard of such a thing happening. And by the looks of it, prior to the incident, neither had she.

"Healer Alcott is a dear friend of mine, and after a few diagnostic spells, she determined that the only way to avoid another incident was to binde her magic, and make her forget what she was capable of doing. After that she was placed in private lessons with Mrs. Bell." Dumbledore continued as McGonagall shut her eyes.

"But how can a child cast an unforgivable curse?" I asked, not being able to focus on anything else.

"It would appear that...more happened on that night in Godric's Hollow than any of us had anticipated. More than any of us... could have prepared for," McGonagall said in an eerie tone.

***

I took my time walking back to my quarters. The last shift had taken a greater toll on me than I had accounted for. Thankfully now I'd have Severus to brew my wolfsbane potion, he'd always been good at that.

While I'd hoped part of coming back would include a chance to make amends, it seemed as though I wouldn't be allowed even that. She'd forgotten me. Any chance I had of being uncle Moony again, whipped away from her memory. All because of a schoolyard taunt that had gone too far.

I let my mind wander off to the 'what if's'. What if I'd stayed around, would she have learned better control? What if I'd been able to help her understand the extent of her magic? Or the near lack thereof. She'd remember them. She would still remember James and Lily.

"And why is that Cedric," I heard a student say in an empty corridor as I approached my classroom.

"I'm in love with you. I need you to know that, and my worry is that you're going to realize it's not enough-" I heard a male voice answer.

It appeared that while many things may have changed in the time since I had completed school, students utilizing empty corridors was not one of them. And the sound of books hitting the ground was enough to prove the point that indeed, this corridor was being utilized.

For a moment I thought about turning around and leaving them to continue on as I had done many times before in my youth. Then it dawned on me. I was no longer a student, nor was I a school Prefect. I was a Professor, and as such I was more than likely expected to interfere when such events occurred.

I rounded the corridor that my classroom rested in the middle of, and sure enough, there was a pair of students snogging against the wall. Easing into my roll, I cleared my throat in an attempt to get their attention.

"Ahem," I said a bit louder, having gone ignored the first time. The male student who'd had his back against the wall was the first to look at me and quickly jump away, while the young lady looked down at her feet to straighten her uniform robes.

"My apologies Professor Lupin," The young man said. He was a handsome enough boy, one that I could see making a habit out of finding empty corridors whenever the chance presented itself.

I looked over at the female student, and felt as though I'd been hit by the Hogwarts express. Her fair complexion. Her auburn hair. But worst of all, those too green eyes that held the moon without even trying.

"Lily?" I said, in a breath. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn I saw a ghost. I'd expected her to look similar enough, but this was more than imaginable. Almost as if she'd taken polyjuice potion to replicate what her mother looked like.

"Elodie. Elodie Potter, sir. Lily was my-" She said.

A delicately friendly smile grew on her face, as I felt the years of separation hit me all over again. I knew I'd see her in class this week, how could I not, but seeing her like this... seeing her doing what she was doing... It gave me a feeling I'd never experienced before, that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Ah, Salazar, what was this urge called? The feeling of wanting to push him into the wall and take her straight to McGonagall's office.

"Mother," I said, cutting her off, knowing exactly who it was she looked like. "I'm sorry, you look-"

"Just like her?" She said, her face lighting up a bit more, as if it was even possible. "I've been told, almost my entire life actually. Never my father." Of course she'd never been compared to James. Of course she'd never know why that wasn't possible. "Forgive us professor, we were just on our way," she said and stepped around me to stand with the young man before walking away.

I looked down at the ground she'd just walked on, seeing that in their haste to avoid detention, or an awkward situation, they'd missed a book. "Wait," I called towards them as I felt my joints ache when I leaned down to pick up the book. "You seemed to have forgotten one."

She walked back towards me and reached for the book, accidentally brushing her fingers against my own. In my head, It was as if I was looking through a frosted glass window, and when I blinked it away, I knew she saw it too. Looking up to meet her eyes I'd witnessed what McGonagall had talked about, the way her eyes would go blind as her magic was trying to pass through the bind. Surely a vision, triggered by touch.

As her eyes began to clear, I looked down at the book I was handing to her, not wanting it to happen again.

"Divination?" I asked before looking back up to her. That couldn't be. McGonagall said they'd bound her magic to keep her from knowing. Didn't she know that opening that part of her mind would only undo whatever spell they had cast? Surely Dumbledore knew.

"Thank you, sir," she said, quickly grabbing it and turning to walk away. "Let's go," she whispered and rounded the corner. She didn't know it, but this was her turn, to walk away from me.

I knew I could no longer expect much to come of the arrangement. Either I told her and proved that the one person she'd had in her life had taken away one of the most important parts of her. Or I let the distance continue, and only hurt myself as a side effect. I'd made my choice long ago. But it wasn't until this moment, that I felt the same pain as when I'd first turned my back on the little girl in Godric's Hollow.