Foreshadowing the Past

Chapter 25

"Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get it back in!" -H.R. Haldeman

The next month went by quickly as the school got back into it's regular routine after the holidays. Connor's injuries faded into memory, and he happily began Quidditch practice again, despite the freezing temperatures in which they played. Quentin, who hated the cold, only scowled at Connor when he walked out of the castle each practice day, regardless of the weather, proclaiming, "It's a perfect day for Quidditch!" It wasn't until he caught a cold and Madam Pomfrey forced him to drink a generous portion of Pepper-Up Potion that Connor's cheerful proclamations came to halt.

The weather outside kept most of the students inside during a particularly stormy February, and time in the common room was spent being shushed and glared at by the fifth and seventh year students who were studying for their O.W.L. or N.E.W.T. exams at the end of the term. With boredom overtaking them often, the Marauder's Map was put to good use nicking food from the kitchens after hours, and discovering that Sarah Weasley was indeed meeting a Gryffindor seventh year boy in the Astronomy Tower after hours every few days. They had even dared to position themselves on the first floor corridor again when they knew that Snape was coming and staged their conversation again, just to annoy him, but decided it would be pushing their luck to try it again anytime soon. They set their sights on tormenting Filch in a similar manner, but somehow it just wasn't as fun.

Connor, for his part, had not had any more dreams since returning to school, and he and his friends wondered if the injury to his head had cured him of that. It became obvious that it hadn't affected his precognitive abilities; only days after returning to classes, he had warned Sarah in the hall one day that someone had slipped a snake into her school bag, and saved Rachel from tumbling down a flight of stairs where someone had spilled some sort of oil on the landing.

Vanessa Malfoy served her daily detentions with an air of superiority, and held her head high, as if she were being unjustly punished, but gave no other complaint. Connor noticed that she seemed to have gained some strange sort of popularity due to her part in the incident that had earned her those detentions, and had begun to hang around with a group of Slytherins whose reputations were less than stellar. The members of the Slytherin Quidditch team seemed to have abandoned her when she was banned from the team, and Connor wondered if she truly liked her new little 'gang' or if she was just settling for them since no one else apparently wanted to befriend her. Even among the Slytherins, it seemed that attacking another student for no apparent reason and seriously injuring them was a low blow. Whatever the reason, Vanessa and her group kept well away from Connor and his friends, doing little more than whispering or making rude gestures whenever they passed in the corridors, though they bullied many other students.

It wasn't until a couple of days after Valentine's Day that things took at turn. It was late on a Wednesday night, and Connor and Zack were playing chess in the Common Room, while Ivy looked on. Rachel and Quentin were sprawled on the floor nearby sorting through an exploding snap deck, having just finished playing, and most of the rest of the Gryffindors had gone up to bed, with just one or two people left studying in the chairs by the fire, everyone already in pyjamas and dressing gowns.

"I'm hungry," Ivy complained suddenly as the chess match came to an end with Connor the victor. "Anyone up for a stroll down to the kitchens?"

"I'm in," Connor answered. He had gotten in from Quidditch practice later than he had expected, and hadn't eaten a very big dinner.

"Not me," Quentin yawned, stretching. "I'm too tired."

"Me too," Zack said. "And I still need to write to my folks."

"I shouldn't," Rachel said regretfully. "Nancy Destin in my room has been making comments about the hours I've been keeping and how I've not been in my bed twice this past week in the middle of the night."

"She the one with the short hair and the glasses?" Connor asked, trying to picture the girl in his head.

"That's the one," Rachel agreed. "Nosiest girl I ever met, actually. I wouldn't put it past her to report me to a prefect or something."

"Sounds like she could do something from Uncles Fred and George," Connor grinned. "Any of you still have any Warthog wafers left?"

"I do," Ivy said. "I put a charm on them to keep them fresh, I've been saving them for the right moment to slip them onto the Slytherin table."

"Okay," Rachel smiled. "That should be good, but I still need to get to bed before she ruins it tonight."

They all said goodnight, and Connor retrieved the Marauder's Map from his room before meeting Ivy at the portrait hole. The remaining Gryffindors didn't even look up from their studies as the pair of them slipped out as quietly as they could, consulting the map once the portrait was closed behind them. Having made this trip more than once, Ivy and Connor felt confident in their ability to maneuver through the castle without being discovered. They wound their way through the deserted corridors, hiding behind a statue of Brendon the Brutal once as a group of heavily cloaked Ravenclaw and Slytherin first years shuffled sleepily by on their way to their midnight Astronomy lesson. Aside from that, the way was clear, and they reached the huge portrait of the bowl of fruit without incident and begged a snack from the elves to take back to their common room.

The pockets of the their dressing gowns were full of biscuits and cream puffs as they made their way quickly back up to the common room, opting to use one of the abandoned secret house-elf corridors to avoid a cluster of ghosts that seemed to me having a gathering of some sort on the first floor. Connor wiped the map clean and stuffed it inside his dressing gown after checking that the last staircase leading to Gryffindor Tower was clear, and they happily padded up the steps in their slippered feet, hoping that the Fat Lady wouldn't lecture them for being out so late. It took Ivy a moment to realize that Connor had stopped climbing, and she turned around to see him frozen in place, standing rigidly with unfocussed eyes.

"Connor?" she asked uncertainly.

"She's going to fall!" he suddenly said anxiously, his eyes wide with fear. "We have to get down there or she'll be killed!"

Ivy was stunned for a moment when Connor made his announcement, and then turned and ran the back the way they had just come, drawing his wand as he went. Drawing her own wand and praying that they wouldn't get caught, she ran after him, unwilling to let him run off on his own to face who knew what. The portraits that lined the walls of the castle were a blur as they ran past them, with Connor in the lead. Ivy tried to ask him what was happening, but could barely get the words out as she ran, breathing hard.

"She's going to fall any second!" Connor shouted over his shoulder, half-running, half-stumbling down another flight of stairs, absently remembering to jump over the third one from the bottom, which would have stolen precious seconds had he stepped on it and gotten stuck. "We have to hurry!"

Ivy cringed as they ran through the cluster of ghosts they had avoided earlier, who were now traveling up the fourth floor staircase, shivering as their icy coldness passed through her, but she did not break stride. Connor was sprinting, heedless of the fact that on the third floor he passed Professor Flitwick who called squeakily after them, and Professor Thompson on the second. Connor made it to the main entrance of the school, tripping once or twice, and practically knocking over two sixth year prefects as he headed for the huge front doors, only yelling out, "She's going to fall!" by way of apology as he ran. Ivy caught up with him at the doors, and didn't bother with questions as she helped him shove the doors open wide and followed him out into the cold night.

Connor was grateful when Ivy added her strength to the front door of the castle; there wasn't a moment left to spare. His lungs burned and his heart was pounding from his race to this point, but he knew that he couldn't stop; he had to get to the bottom of the Astronomy Tower now. Luckily it was pretty much right over the main entrance, and Connor ran outside, not paying any attention to the several voices that were calling after him. He turned to face the castle even as he heard several screams rip through the still night air, and saw a dark form falling down hundreds of feet toward the ground. Connor would remember later how time had seemed to slow down as he watched the girl plummet from the top of the Astronomy Tower, and how it had seemed to take an age for him to point his wand upward and shout out the only spell that came to mind.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

She continued to fall, even as his spell caught her in mid air, but he could see that she had slowed down dramatically, or at least was not picking up any more speed as she went. He saw a flash of brass speed past the girl on her descent, and heard a faint crunching sound somewhere in front him, but paid no attention to it; he dared not to take his eyes from the girl. He was concentrating so hard, mentally willing the figure to come to a halt, that he barely heard other shouts of the same charm that he had used from several different voices. Finally, finally, the girl came to an almost graceful stop fifty feet above them, and hovered there, flailing her arms and legs and shouting out in her fright.

"Slowly now," he heard someone calling out behind him. "Everyone keep their wands steady and bring her down gently."

The girl gave a hiccup and tried to calm herself as she was gradually lowered toward the ground, and Connor watched with a strange sort of detachment as Professor Thompson hurried forward to help the girl to her feet as the spell was lifted. Connor lowered his wand shakily and looked around him to see that Ivy and the two prefects from the entrance hall all had their wands out, and all were breathing heavily, their warm breath making mist in front of their open mouths in the chill. Professor Flitwick was hurrying toward them now, as fast as his short old legs could carry him over the sodden grass, with Professor McGonagall passing him on the lawn to come to a halt in the midst of the small crowd. She took in the scene before her, two Slytherin prefects, obviously on duty, two Gryffindor students in pyjamas and dressing gowns, and a small Ravenclaw student weeping steadily as Professor Thompson tried to calm her.

Connor looked up to the top of the Astronomy Tower and felt slightly dizzy as he looked up at the two dozen or so faces of horrified students looking down at him, then he fell to his knees and from there, unceremoniously sat in the cold wet grass and uttered a single succinct and despairing swear word as he closed his eyes and waited for everyone to get over their initial shock and put two and two together.

"Headmistress," one of the prefects said unsteadily as she spotted Professor McGonagall. "That girl, she just fell from the top of the Astronomy Tower! That boy there warned us all that she was going to fall and... but... how?"

Connor felt as if every word that came from the prefect's mouth was one step closer to his doom. How could he have been so recklessly stupid? When he opened his eyes once more, Connor spotted something on the ground, and remembered that something had fallen past the girl after she had been caught up in the levitating spell. He did not want to get up to investigate further, but winced as Ivy stepped around him and picked the item up with a gasp. It was a collapsible brass telescope, absolutely shattered and dented almost beyond recognition. Connor did not want to think about what the girl might have looked like had she not been caught in time.

"Thank you Miss Calvert," Professor McGonagall said a bit sharply to the Slytherin prefect. "Would you please have one of the ghosts go and fetch Madam Cosgrove? We shall surely need a Calming Draught at the very least. Off you go!" She shooed the girl away without waiting to be answered, and turned to spare Connor the briefest of glances, before turning to Professor Thompson, who was leading the terrified first year girl forward.

Connor could see that the girl was trembling from head to toe, and thought that the only way she was standing upright was because of the support of the Professor's strong arms. She was trying in vain to stifle her tears as she let herself be guided toward the castle. Not wanting to look at any of the others that he could feel staring at him, Connor looked to Ivy, who had dropped the telescope and was now standing beside him, at a loss for what to say or do. It was obvious from her expression that she understood the enormity of the situation, and she crouched down beside him and simply put a hand on his back in comfort.

"Oh Connor," she breathed shakily. "I'm so sorry."

"Your knees!" he said suddenly, noticing that the knees of her flannel pyjamas were torn and bloody. "What happened?"

"I fell down a couple of times while we were running," she said calmly, pointing to his pyjamas, which were in a similar state. "So did you."

"I did?" Connor couldn't feel anything yet. He supposed that the adrenaline coursing through him was not allowing anything as trivial as physical discomfort trouble him yet.

Ivy merely nodded and stood, offering a hand to Connor to help lift him off of the grass. Professors Thompson and Flitwick were almost back to the front doors of the castle, the frightened girl between them, and the other prefect was nowhere in sight. Professor McGonagall stood a short distance away; apparently giving Connor a moment to collect himself, but when he made eye contact with her, she said quietly, "Back up into the castle with you."

Connor and Ivy walked as slowly as possible, afraid of the mess that surely awaited them inside. Professor McGonagall's face wore a calm expression, but Connor could tell by the straight line of her mouth and slight twitch near her eye that she was either troubled or very angry.

"I think the best thing," the Headmistress finally said as they approached the front doors. "Would be for you to go directly to my office and wait for me there. I don't know if there's anyway to contain this, but I will do my best. You know the password."

Connor nodded heavily, and Ivy looked scared, but they both followed the professor into the main entrance only to find it full of people. All of the students who had been atop the Astronomy Tower were now standing around the main entrance, whispering to each other excitedly, some of them in tears. The two prefects were standing by, uncertain of what to do, but were talking to some of the first years from their house about Connor's wild rescue attempt. Madam Cosgrove was competently administering a potion to the girl who had fallen, and to her semi-hysterical professor. Professor Thompson was still sitting beside the young girl, his face slightly pale, while professor Flitwick stood trying to regain his breath. Pearly white ghosts were hovering over the crowd, discussing the disturbance amongst themselves, and Professor Lupin was just now hurrying down the steps with a concerned look on his face.

"Remus," Professor McGonagall said with some relief as she spotted him. "Kindly escort Mr. Potter and Ms. Longbottom to my office and stay with them until I can join you. At this point, they can probably explain things better than I could."

Looking shaken, Remus Lupin tightened the belt on his dressing gown, and nodded; walking over to his two charges, put an arm around each, guiding them toward the stairs that he had just descended. He halted them briefly on the stairway to examine their abraded knees, and muttered something about cleaning and healing them, then urged them along. They all remained silent as they walked down the first floor corridor, and the professor squeezed Ivy's shoulder gently when he felt her trembling beneath his hand. They approached the gargoyle that protected the Headmistress's office, and Lupin firmly said, "Animagus."

Connor allowed himself to be gently nudged forward, and stepped onto the revolving staircase, Ivy close behind. He knew that his mind should be racing a mile a minute, trying to think up an excuse, trying to think of a way to keep his secret, but at that moment, all he felt was numb. He stepped off of the stairs when he reached the top, stopped in front of the office door until Professor Lupin stepped around him and let them all in. Ivy, who had never had occasion to visit the office of the Headmistress, looked around her in wonder, taking the seat in front of a low table that the professor motioned her to. Connor sank into the chair beside her, and was distracted when the professor spoke to him.

"What's that noise?"

"Noise?" Connor asked warily. He hadn't heard anything.

"What have you got in your dressing gown?" he persisted.

Connor's heart sank as he remembered that the Marauder's Map had been shoved inside his dressing gown as they had bee returning from the kitchens. "Just some parchment," he answered evasively, pulling the folded, and thankfully, blank paper out.

"May I see it please?"

Connor swallowed hard and Ivy looked stricken as Professor Lupin reached out and took it from the boy's fingers.

"Did your father give this to you?" the Professor asked, his voice giving away nothing.

"No sir," Connor said quietly.

"Where did you get it?"

"In the attic at home, sir. Over the holiday, in my father's old school things." Connor's voice was barely audible.

"How did you figure out how to work it?"

"Uncle George saw me with it, and he told me."

"I see." Professor Lupin looked over the entire parchment, but did nothing to activate it. "Well I must say that I expected this to show up much sooner than now."

"Sir?" Connor stared at the professor, wondering what would happen next. He could hardly believe it when Lupin folded it back up and handed the map back to Connor.

"You'll probably want to hold on to that, and be more careful," he said with a straight face. "If I see it again, I may be forced to confiscate it."

"Yes, sir," Connor said, and tucked it back into his dressing gown. He looked over at Ivy, who was staring at both of them in wide-eyed amazement, and grinned, current crisis forgotten for a moment.

"Tea, I think," the professor turned and, seemingly knowing his way around this office, set about making a pot of tea while the students sank back to reality. He levitated the pot over to the low table in front of them, along with a tin of biscuits that reminded Connor that his pockets had been full of snacks from the kitchens less than an hour ago. They must have fallen from his pockets during his race down to the grounds. As Lupin poured the tea, adding liberal amounts of sugar to both of their cups, he took a deep breath and said, "Obviously I want to know what happened tonight. Would you like to tell me now, or would it be easier for you to wait until the Headmistress arrives so that you only have to tell it once?"

"I might as well tell you now," Connor sighed.

And so he did. He explained (leaving out the part about being out of bounds after hours) that they had been at Gryffindor tower when he'd gotten a premonition that a girl was going to fall from the Astronomy Tower, and described the urgency that had accompanied the portent. Ivy chimed in with her account of how Connor had gone 'all funny' and how she had followed him when he had taken off running, worried about him. They explained how they had passed the ghosts, the professors and the prefects on their way, and that it had been their combined efforts with the levitation charm that had saved her from a horrible fate.

"All I could think about," Connor said, staring down at the table rather than making eye contact with anyone. "All I could think about was getting to the girl before it was too late to help her. I was too stupid keep my mouth closed, yelling about it as I was running, and now everyone knows that I knew it was going to happen before it did. If I had just gone with out shouting to the whole school..."

"Then she probably would have died," Ivy said firmly. "If you hadn't gotten everyone's attention, it would have just been you and me, and we never would have been able to stop her falling on our own; the most we could have done was slow her down, and that wouldn't have helped much after falling a hundred meters."

"I think Ivy's probably right, Con," Lupin said quietly. "You did what you had to do."

"And now everyone will know...won't they?"

Neither Ivy nor Lupin had the answer to that, but when Professor McGonagall came in a moment later, her expression was very grave.