Warning: This chapter has mentions of violence and blood. If this makes you queasy, here's your warning.
Chapter 6 ~ Memories Best Forgotten
I squeezed through the crowd, taking advantage of my small size to slip through the multitude of students. My dad was still sitting at the staff table, along with most of the other teachers, and I suddenly felt very nervous. I slowed down and walked over to my dad, who sat at the far end of the table, feeling the eyes of the other teachers on me.
"Hey Em." He said, smiling down at me. "We're just going to go see Madam Pomfery to talk about our special "arrangements" and then I'll show you where my office is before escorting you to Ravenclaw tower. Sound okay?" I nodded a little hesitantly. I hoped the visit with Madam Pomfery wouldn't take too long. I was starting to get tired and wanted to meet my other roommates before classes the next day.
My dad took my hand and we exited the hall through a back doorway. I breathed a small sigh of relief. I was glad to be away from the inquisitive eyes of the teachers. Especially as they all knew I was a werewolf.
We made our way up three or four staircases and I took in everything that I could. I saw numerous suits of armor and tons of paintings of various famous witches and wizards. I hardly noticed when we came to the huge oaken doors that marked the entrance to the hospital wing. Everything was so much larger than it was at our house and it was really strange and exciting.
Dad pushed open the doors of the Hospital Wing and we stepped inside. Tidy white beds lined the walls on both sides of the long room and the walls were mostly made up of high, mullioned windows through which we could see the dark sky twinkling with stars. A door at the far end of the ward opened and the familiar figure of Madam Pomfery swept into the main area of the Hospital Wing.
"Remus! Emily!" she cried, a large smile on her kind face. "Do come in! I haven't see you in ages!"
"Hello Poppy." Dad said, a wan smile on his face.
"Hi Madam Pomfery." I said, stifling a yawn.
"Don't worry." she said with a knowing smile on her face. "It shouldn't take too long, and then you can both get off to bed."
"It has only been about twelve hours since we last saw you." I reminded her. She sent me a wink.
She ushered us into her office and motioned for us to take a seat in two wooden chairs sitting in front of her desk. We waited for a moment while she shuffled some papers before we began.
"So," she started. "Yet another werewolf to pass through Hogwarts. I believe your father here has told you quite a bit about his time here?" She directed the question at me. I nodded, inwardly grinning. There was a lot more about his transformations at school that I knew, but she didn't.
"Then as you know, the procedure will be much like it is at your own house, except your father won't be transforming with you." I nodded once again.
"After dinner on the night of the full moon you will come directly to the Hospital Wing, where I will prepare you for the night and lead you down to the Whomping Willow. From there you will be locked in the Shrieking Shack until morning, when I will come and collect you and bring you back to the Hospital Wing. The Headmaster has already checked the shack and renewed the enchantments on it to provide safety, so that should not be a problem." She directed the last statement more to my dad than to me. He nodded understandingly.
"Excellent." she said. "This Friday after dinner I would like both of you to come in for a rudimentary check-up. I need to make sure that you are healing well and are completely healthy. Is that alright Remus?"
Dad seemed to be thinking for a moment before saying "I believe so. I have no prior commitments. We will be here."
"Then that's all." she said brightly, looking at us warmly. "I will see the pair of you on Friday. Now go and get some sleep!" She waved us away and returned to some paperwork that was laying on her desk.
We made our way back through the Hospital Wing and headed down the halls to find my dad's office.
"And here it is!" he announced jovially as we stopped in front of a wooden door. "You can remember where it is by that picture." He pointed behind us, to the opposite side of the hall as his office on which hung a painting of a night sky with a full moon. I smiled at the image and turned back to the door.
"The door is coded to my magical signature." he explained as he turned the knob. "But if you ever need to get in alone while I'm not in her you just have to whisper the password." He leaned close to my ear and whispered "The password is lumine luna. Don't forget it."
I nodded and he stood up, opening the door to an office very similar to the one at our house. It had a large, cherry-wood desk with beautiful designs carved into it and a matching chair with deep red cushions. A small table sat off to the side, as well as three small wooden chairs. The office walls were quite bare, but I was sure my dad would have them filled in no time. Another door stood at the back of the room, identical to the one we had just gone through and my dad led me to it.
"These are my quarters." he said, pushing open the door to reveal a bedroom. "The wards around my private rooms are set to only allow you, me and the other teachers access. Feel free to visit any time you would like. Though I would request you knock first." He shot me a grin and I knew he was thinking of my tendency to barge through doors with no consideration as to what I would find on the other side. I stuck out my tongue playfully and he laughed, pulling me onto his lap as he sat down on a navy blue couch that sat along one wall of his room.
Bookshelves lined two of the walls of the room except for a bare patch occupied by yet another door, which I assumed led to a bathroom, the other two occupied by the couch and bed. They were the same dark stone as the rest of the castle, but seemed a bit, well, nicer. Or at least prettier. The queen-size bed sat beneath a window through which moonlight shined and it was covered in dark blue and light grey blankets; the pillows were a metallic light brown, bronze. It didn't escape my notice that they were Ravenclaw house covers.
"So," my dad began, sitting me on the couch next to him. "Ravenclaw. Your mother would be so proud." He smiled down at me and I smiled too, cuddling into his warmth. "And I'm proud too, even if you aren't in Gryffindor." He joked playfully, pulling me closer to him.
"Thanks dad." I said, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. He hugged me back, then checked his watch.
"Alright, time for the sappy moment to be over." He said, yawning. "It's really late and I daresay you don't want to fall asleep here. Let's get you to your common room."
I sighed as he stood up. I really was tired and it had been so comfortable sitting on the couch. He led me back out of his office and into the stone corridors. I had trouble concenrating on where we were going and kept yawning. Finally we reached the spiral staircase that lead up to the entrance to the common room.
When we reached the top we were faced with a door set with an eagle knocker. My dad knocked it once and the sound echoed through the empty corridors. The eagle's beak opened and a soft, musical voice flowed out of it.
"At night they come without being fetched. By day they are lost without being stolen. What are they?"
"Well, what do you think?" asked my dad, speaking for the first time since leaving his room. He gave a small smile at me as I yawned once again. I forced my tired mind to think and came up with an answer.
"The stars."
"Correct." The musical voice sounded again, the door swinging open.
"Is that it?" I asked, wondering how it could be that easy.
"That's it." my dad said, giving me another hug and kissing me on the top of the head. "Good night Em."
" 'Night dad." I hugged him back and turned back to the portrait hole.
"Don't forget- the girls dormitories are on the right side." he reminded me as the door swung closed. I grinned and made my way through the common room to the right-hand stairs, barely taking in the midnight blue carpet or the ceiling painted to match the night sky. I hardly noticed the effigy of Rowena Ravenclaw or the tall windows that gave a spectacular view of the grounds and surrounding mountains. I was far too tired to even think about it, let alone take it all in.
I made my way up the staircase to girl's dormitory, a circular room with five four-poster beds with deep blue hangings and blankets. I was thankful for the moonlight, even though it made my inner wolf stir. My bed was instantly recognizable as the empty one, and I saw my faded trunk next to it. I quickly changed into a pair of pajamas before collapsing on my bed and falling fast asleep.
***
"Mummy! Mummy! Look what I found!"
The eight-year old's voice sounded across the quiet night as the girl ran over to her mother who was sitting on the back porch, their identical chocolate-brown curls loose and hanging freely.
"What is it sweetheart?" the girl's mother asked, trying to peek inbetween her daughter's interlaced fingers.
"It's a firefly Mummy!" The girl squealed with obvious delight. "A real firefly, blinking and everything like we read about!" She opened her hands to display her catch, but it flew away at once.
"Awww. It flew away." She said dejectedly, her face dropping.
"It's okay Emily." Her mother said, slinging a comforting arm around the girl's small shoulders. "Look, there are a bunch more." She gestured to the blinking specks of light surrounding them and smiled as her daughter's face lit up once more.
The girl's blue-green eyes shone in amazement as she raced after the small bugs. Her mother chuckled.
Darkness was setting in earnest as Emily raced after the fireflies. The full moon came out from behind a cloud and a loud noise came from inside the house. The mother sighed.
"Emily, I'm going to go check on daddy, okay? Stay in the yard."
The little girl nodded, her hair bouncing along her back as she glanced toward where her mother stood. "Okay Mummy."
Sophia looked fondly down at the girl in whom she saw so much of herself, then hurried inside to check on her husband, who was locked in the reinforced basement room. He had been having problems with other werewolves and she was worried about how it would affect his transformation.
Meanwhile, Emily was stalking a particularly large firefly whose tail end glowed brightly. She crept closer, closer... and pounced, clapping her hands around where the bug had been sitting; but she had missed. She whirled on the spot in an attempt to find the elusive bug, and she spotted it on the edge of the yard, beneath a younger pine tree.
She tiptoed forward, making no sound, but the bug seemed to sense her. It flew off, into the depths of the trees surrounding the yard. The little girl followed, running after it and leacing behind the yard lit by the porch light for the shadows of the woods.
The girl ran deeper and deeper into the forest after the stout firefly, carrying her away from her home. She suddenly remembered her mother's warning and turned to see if she could see her house. She realized she couldn't.
Fear prickling in the girl's throat she made her way back in the general direction of her house, much slower than before, and let out a sigh of relief when she caught a faint glimpse of the porch light shining through the darkness. She headed off toward the glowing light, but stopped abruptly as a chill went suddenly down her spine.
She was being watched.
Emily had no idea how she knew this or why it caused her so much fear, but she looked around cautiously for the source of the disturbance. Seeing nothing but dark trees she let out a shaky breath and made to go back to the safety of her house, but not before seeing a pair of amber eyes shining through the gloom.
Emily froze at the sight of the eyes. Her first thought was a wolf- but wolves hunted in packs. Maybe a coyote? She backed up slowly to her house, being careful not to startle the creature.
It began to creep forward, slowly at first, then faster. She turned tail and ran, her feet pounding against the earthy floor, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She thought hard about the circumstances, then puched herself to run faster.
She was being chased by a werewolf.
The girl redoubled her efforts, her small legs flying fast over tree roots and sticks, but still the werewolf drew closer with every step.
Emily suddenly found herself on the ground, staring into the wolf's gleaming eyes. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart beat furiously against her chest, she was frozen in terror.
The wolf growled, low and menacing, then pounced, catching her left arm with its powerful teeth. Emily let out a high-pitched scream as the fangs dug into her flesh.
The wolf snarled as it released her arm, irritated by the screaming, and a stream of hot, sticky blood flowed onto the forest floor.
"Mum!" Emily cried frantically. "Mum! Help m-"
But her voice was cut off with another scream. The werewolf had taken his claws and raked them diagonally across the young girl's chest, leaving four deep cuts that bled profusely.
"Mum!" Emily yelled again, though her voice was feebler than before. "Mum! Help me!"
Emily was vaguely aware of a voice calling her name, but her vision was turning blurry, her hearing somewhat muted. She could see green, red and silver flashes of light through her stupor and felt a hand on her arm. She tried to make a noise, move a muscle, but her voice seemed to be gone.
All she heard before falling into blackness was a piercing, drawn out scream that reverberated through the wood and a chorus of voices calling out to her. "Emily! Emily! EMILY!"
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And that's where we end folks! With a lovely cliffhanger!
Thanks much for reading and all that jazz!!! :D
I might be taking a break from this for a few days (as I've updated this twice and nothing else in three weeks), but I might not, seeing as I have tons of new ideas for this story and none (or at least not as many) for other stories. Though I do plan on updating Leah Potter any day now and I'm trying to get another chapter or two of To Save Some Lives finished.... AH! so much to do and no time to do it!
So yeah, VOTE, COMMENT and REVIEW!!! Thanks again for reading!
~Megan <3