Hell Hath No Fury

Chapter 2: Surprise, Surprise

I was still groggy. That's my excuse for slow reflexes. When I finally realized what was happening, I got out of bed and moved over to the window. I was carrying my Supernova broomstick, fully prepared to bash whatever it was over the head. I checked to make sure my dorm mates were still asleep; they were. Then I eased open the window.

A shadowed figure slipped in as if he were made of smoke. I jumped back and the figure came forward. It was a man, approximately my father's age. I was fully prepared to scream when he cast a silencing spell over me. I couldn't speak.

"I'll remove the spell," the man said hoarsely, "as soon as you promise not to say a word. And you must listen to me. It is vital that you hear my story. I don't want to hurt you, I promise."

I nodded mutely, and the spell was lifted. He hesitated a minute and cast another spell on the girls in my dorm. I started to protest, but he hushed me.

"It's only a sleeping spell. I don't want to be overheard, this is for your ears only." He stepped in front of the window and his features were illuminated; this was definitely a man I had never seen before.

He noticed my fear and cackled. His robes were worn and torn, splashed with mud, and frayed at the bottoms. He looked as if he had worn the same robes for months on end. He had short brown hair, roughly cut, so I assumed he had done it himself.

"Who are you?" I asked fearfully. "Are you an escaped convict? Are you going to murder me?"

The man laughed scornfully. "Obviously you don't recognize me. Although, why should you? The last time I saw you, you were only four years old. Don't I remind you of someone, though?"

I peered at him. It wasn't so much a physical appearance, although the coloring was the same, it was more about mannerisms. The tilt of the head, the gestures, the way his nose twitched.

"You do sort of remind me of my mother," I confessed. "I don't know why though."

He grinned in a barbaric way. It was frightening. "I'm your uncle."

I froze. "You lie," I accused. "My mother has no brother!"

"No? Did Lisa rid her house of all of my pictures? It wouldn't surprise me, not after what she thinks happened, but tell me the truth, has she never mentioned me? Do you truly not remember me?"

I inspected him again. I remembered Mum saying something once about a brother, but I thought he was dead. I had come upon my mother once when she was crying in the kitchen. I asked Dad what had happened and he said mum had received some distressing news. Add the mysterious uncle to the list of things not talked about in the Potter household. Only now I was faced with the man who claimed to be that mysterious uncle.

"She thinks you're dead," I said flatly. He smiled wider.

"Is that so? Well, I'm not. Now, Lily, you can't tell anyone about this visit."

"You still haven't explained your presence, if you are who you say you are. Why should I believe anything you say? You could be a crazy axe-murderer. I'm probably dreaming!"

He smiled again. Then he reached out and gave me a large pinch. I jumped and swore.

"What was that for?" I said viciously.

"You're not dreaming. If you take a seat, I'll explain a few things to you." He indicated a chair and I sat warily. He took a breath and launched into his story. "My name is Ted Turpin. Lisa is indeed my sister. However, the reason you've never heard of me and that Lisa thinks I'm dead, is that thirteen years ago, I was framed for a murder I did not commit."

"There's a lot of that going around," I said offhandedly. I was thinking of Uncle Sirius who was sent to Azkaban for supposedly betraying my grandparents to their deaths. He didn't do it, though. Someone else did it. Add that to the list of things never spoken of in the Potter house.

"What?" Ted, I suppose I should call him Uncle Ted, said. Then he shook his head and said, "Never mind. The point is, I was sent to Azkaban. My family disowned me. Except for Lisa. She never visited or anything, Azkaban isn't the type of place you visit, but she wrote me. She told me she believed me, but she couldn't trust me. She knew I was innocent of murder, but believed I had other connections in the matter."

"Who did you supposedly kill?" I asked curiously, my fear abating.

He glared at me. "Does it really matter?" I said nothing. He sighed. "The ambassador to England from the German ministry."

"Wow, the big time. I thought it was a neighbor or something," I commented.

He glared at me again before continuing. "Anyway, I had been in Azkaban for ten years, so you were fourteen, I guess, and was scheduled for execution in a week. I was allowed to write to Lis, and I told her the news. That's why she thinks I'm dead. I suppose Harry rid the house of my face so as not to cause her pain, I don't know."

"But you're not dead," I pointed out.

"No, I'm coming to that. It was the night before my scheduled execution. I had resigned myself to my death. I was already imprisoned in Hell, I figured it couldn't get much worse."

"Look, cut down on the poetry, and get to the point," I said, exasperated.

He seemed stunned by my words. "Has anyone ever told you that you are an incredibly bratty and insolent child?"

"Many people. If you were hoping to be the first, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Continue please."

He continued. "I was all set to die, I figured it was better than going insane, when I woke in the night to discover my door was open and the Dementor who guarded it was gone. Not stopping to question my good fortune, I ran for it. To my immense surprise, for I assumed I would be caught before I got very far, my way was unimpeded. Then there was the problem of the water. As you probably know, Lily, Azkaban is an island. Water surrounds it. I discovered a boat waiting for me, and I escaped."

He looked at me expectantly, waiting for a snide remark; I didn't let him down.

"First of all, if you were in Azkaban for ten years, why didn't you go crazy?"

"It's hard to make a man go crazy when he's already insane," my uncle said with a smile.

I had left the window open and a breeze blew in, sending a chill down my spine. "What do you mean 'already insane'?"

"I was known for years as the crazy prophet. I'm a diviner, Lily. Look, none of this really matters, I have to tell you a few things before I disappear again. Will you listen?" I nodded. "Alright. Fourteen years ago, I told your father a prophecy of my own. I should have known he wouldn't recognize it's importance." I was offended by this insult to my father, but before I could voice my complaint, Uncle Ted continued. "You need to know it. So here it is: In years yet to come, one girl will stand alone. She will fight the Hag and lose. But with the help of the Scholar and the Chosen One, she will triumph. But beware the one who walks in shadows. She must never forget where she comes from. She must seek aid from one below her, the Prankster, and in doing so will gain knowledge that will destroy the Hag. Remember it."

He turned to leave, but I stopped him. "Wait! I don't understand any of this! You can't leave yet, why must I know this prophecy, how could it possibly concern me?"

Ted Turpin turned and the moonlight illuminated his face once more. He grinned his feral grin which didn't disturb me quite as much as it had before.

"Because you, Lily, are the prophecy. I'll keep in touch, there's more you need to know, but I can't stay now. If you want answers, I suggest you find out what really happened fourteen years ago."

And he disappeared out of the window.

I stood up, felt dizzy, and sat down hard in the chair. Had any of that really happened? It couldn't have. That had to be a dream. I gave myself a hard pinch.

"Ouch," I muttered. So it was no dream. I had a renegade uncle whom everyone thought was dead. Wonderful.

I climbed into bed and started to fall asleep. Then I suddenly remembered what Uncle Ted had done.

"Finite Incantatem," I whispered. My dorm mates' sleep was normal now. I fell asleep myself after a few minutes.

I was woken with a shake by Em only a few hours later. She continued to shake me until I got up. I groaned and turned over.

"What's with you, Lil?" she asked, exasperated. "You act like you didn't sleep all night!"

I groaned again and pulled myself out of bed. Without responding to Em's statement, I dragged myself to the bathroom and took a long shower. The hot water helped to wake me up a bit, but my head was still swimming. What was going on? Maybe it all had been a dream.

I slipped on my robes and went down for breakfast with Em. I was supposed to hand out course schedules that morning. I filled my plate with bacon and eggs, grabbed a glass of pumpkin juice, and passed them out to the first years. Geoff grinned at me from across the table.

"Mornin', Lil," he said through a mouthful of toast. "Got your schedule?"

"Right here," I said, waving the slip of paper. "Looks like I got your mum again. I've got that new Professor Bones for Muggle Studies, too. What about you?"

"I've got Divination again," Geoff said with a groan. "Every year I tell my mum I don't want to take it, that I'd rather take Arithmancy, but does she listen? No, she doesn't. She claims there's some school rule that says my mother can't teach me. Well fine, but why can't I take Study of Ancient Runes then? Mum hated Divination like I do, Dad told me, in fact, she even dropped it herself! But she won't let me..."

I wasn't exactly listening. Geoff's mention of Divination brought to mind my mysterious uncle, the crazy prophet. What had he meant? And what was it about the ordeal fourteen years ago? First Destiny mentioned it, then my uncle did; I had to find out what happened!

"Lil, are you even listening to me?" Geoff said, waving his hand in front of my eyes.

"What? Oh, sorry, I didn't sleep well last night."

Geoff gave me a look that clearly said, 'I don't believe you, Lily Potter, but I'll let it drop.'

"But, Lil, you were out faster than any of us," Em pointed out with a slight frown.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, alright?" I said irritably. "Leave me alone."

"Fine," Geoff said. "Are we going to talk to Meredith and Jeanette? I didn't get a chance to talk to Mum yet."

I examined my course schedule as I talked. "Of course we are. Don't you think it's a bit strange that they're both here?" Suddenly I groaned. "Oh no, we've got Potions first!"

"Double Potions first thing in the morning?" Chris, who had been rather quiet while he was busy stuffing his face, said in disbelief. "Are they trying to kill us?"

"And let me guess," Geoff said wryly. "We've got it with the Slytherins."

I tapped my nose. "You've got it. That's what always happens. Gryffindor always has Potions with Slytherins. My dad said it was the same when he was in school. I think the Professors just want to torture us."

Samantha Wood chose that moment to grace us with her presence. She sat down on one side of Geoff, rudely shoving some first year aside, and promptly began giggling in his ear. She was wearing some thick flowery perfume that made me, Chris, and Em immediately start coughing. Her wrists jangled with all of the metal bracelets she was fond of wearing, and she flipped her hair a few times so that it hit Geoff in the face. My poor friend turned red and I smothered a laugh. I wasn't that mean--usually.

"Hello, Geoffrey," she cooed. "Lovely morning, no?"

He wanted desperately to ignore her, I could see that, and appealed to me to rescue him. I just sat back and enjoyed his discomfort. Samantha was ignoring the rest of us and focusing her, er, charms on Geoff. Em took pity on her friend and came to his rescue.

"Samantha, isn't that the cute captain of the Quidditch team over there? He's staring at you!"

The way Em imitated Samantha's exact tone when she was boy-hunting made me snort into my breakfast. Her ruse worked though, because Samantha immediately perked up and left the table in search of the cute boy. Geoff shot her a grateful look.

"Thanks Em, you're a real chum." He shot me an ungrateful look. "Better than some people."

I shrugged. "You deserved it. Consider it payback for making me be the first to yell at the Marauders yesterday."

Geoff smiled; our arguments lasted half a minute at most. "Speaking of the Marauders, guess what I blackmailed out of David this summer."

We all leaned in closer. Geoff grinned. "Guess who little Jim has a crush on?"

I was surprised. "Jamie? A crush? No! Really? Is she a Gryffindor?"

Geoff nodded. Em asked, "Is she above or below him?"

"Below," he responded. I scratched my head.

"Well, go on, who is it then?" Chris prompted. His hair that morning was neon red.

"It's Tiny," he said with a devilish grin.

I gasped. "No! Not Tiny! Are you serious? But she can't stand him!"

"I know," Geoff replied, grinning. Boys. "But you can't blame him, the girl is rather attractive. If she wasn't my cousin I could be interested."

I made a face. "Eew, Geoff, that's disgusting."

He only laughed. "Come on, Potions awaits. Want to try to talk to my mum before class?"

I examined my schedule. "Let's see, we have Defense Against the Dark Arts later today, but we don't have Charms until tomorrow. Why not? Let's see if we can solve this mystery.

So as The Pack, we walked over to Professor Weasley just as she was leaving the hall.

"Mum!" Geoff called. She stopped short, turned, and glared at her son.

"Geoff, what did I tell you about addressing me at school?" She folded her arms, but also winked at me. Geoff looked flustered.

"Sorry, Professor Weasley, but Lil and I needed to ask you a question. Why are Jeanette and Meredith here? Is the school being stacked against us or something?"

"Professor Levine and Professor Lupin are here to teach. Nothing more. As you know there is something of a teacher shortage and it's always difficult to find Defense Professors, so the two of them kindly stepped in upon my recommendation and filled the void. Now run off to class, all of you, you don't want to be late on the first day."

"Oh no, we'd hate to be late to Double Potions with the Slytherins," Chris muttered under his breath.

Professor Weasley heard him, but she only smiled. A lot of students compared her to Professor McGonagall in terms of strictness, but the Pack knew her to be fair with a sense of humor about some things. She unfortunately had a reputation to maintain at school, so we were usually the only ones to see the softer side of her.

"Go, run along." She pushed us off into the direction of the dungeons. As much as we hated Potions, we really didn't want to be late. Professor Snape would take off a lot of points, and then the rest of our House would ostracize us even more. So we forgot about the mystery for a few minutes at least and concentrated on getting to class.

We made it in with five seconds to spare. To judge from the way that Professor Snape glared at us when we entered, I could tell he was dying to punish us for something.

As I took my seat, my thoughts once again traveled to whatever ordeal my crazy uncle was talking about. I suddenly realized that Jeanette and Meredith had only been friends of my family for fourteen years! That was when whatever it was happened! Maybe they knew what was wrong.

Snape was in a particularly foul mood that day, but I had no idea why. He started terrorizing the other Gryffindors before the bell even rang. Tiny had most of her classes with us, because she was so advanced, so she was there as well. The only Professor who knew the truth about Destiny was Geoff's mum, and Jeanette and Meredith, I supposed. The others were only impressed with her advanced abilities. Professor McGonagall, who taught special Transfiguration courses even though she was Headmistress, loved Tiny's power and was training her to be an Animagus.

Professor Snape, however, was not so impressed with Tiny. I often had the impression that he was not sure how to treat her. She was a Gryffindor, so he should dislike her, but she didn't act like a Gryffindor, so perhaps she wasn't so bad. And then again, her mother was Ginny Weasley whom he detested, but her father was Draco Malfoy, who was his favorite pupil. Destiny confused everyone, but I don't think Snape liked the confusion. He more or less ignored her.

"Miss Potter!" he bellowed.

I looked up from my daydreaming and found myself faced with a menacing Snape. I shrank back a bit.

"Yes, Professor?" I replied, as innocently as possible.

"What do you get when you mix eye of newt and tongue of dog?"

"A really corny muggle film about stereotypical witches?" I suggested. Geoff, Em, and Chris snickered behind their hands. Tiny shook her head. Snape turned and glared at them; they stopped immediately. Then he turned back to me.

"That will be ten points from Gryffindor for that disrespectful comment, Miss Potter. Can anyone tell me the correct answer? Miss Flint?"

Elana stuck her tongue out at me; I rolled my eyes. Then she answered, "I believe it's a youth potion, Professor."

"Correct, ten points to Slytherin. I will pair you up and we will begin. Miss Potter, why don't you work with Mr. Crabbe." He sneered at me. "Miss Paul and Miss Flint, Mr. Wallace and Mr. Goyle, Mr. Weasley and Miss Zabini..."

I groaned and walked over to Crabbe (not the one who Jaime pranked, his older brother). He was rather average looking with pale brown hair, watery eyes, and a large nose. Crabbe hated me as much as I hated him. As in the case of Elana, much of that was second hand; his father and mine had been enemies. But then again, Uncle Draco and my father had once hated each other, but now they were friends.

I tried to work in silence and ignore him, but ignoring wasn't my best thing. I'm annoyed rather easily and it didn't take much for a Slytherin to get on my nerves. He was saying rude things under his breath and I was very close to pouring our potion down his robes when Elana sauntered over.

"I need to borrow some powdered dragon scales," she announced in a loud voice. Professor Snape swept past our desk and nodded slightly at her while glaring at me. Then Elana came up next to me and whispered in my ear.

"How's your mummy, Potter?" There was a mean glint in her eyes.

"Fine, Flint. Why?"

"I just wondered if she was feeling any of the side effects yet."

She arranged our flower petals. I glared at her, my green eyes were flashing.

"What are you on about?" I asked impatiently, adding dried rosemary to the potion. Puffs of pale pink smoke clouded around us.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Miss Potter," Professor Snape called out. I scowled.

"Only that I know all about your mother's accident. More than you, probably. She should be careful right about now. It's about that time."

I turned and went face to face with Elana. She stepped back a bit. Then I realized others were watching, not to mention Snape, and with great effort I turned back to my potion, only to discover that Crabbe had ruined it by sticking an entire frozen ice wand into it. I looked at the ruined potion in horror. The first day of classes and I already had a fail. Snape would have my head for that.

No doubt it had been a joint venture, with Elana to distract me while Crabbe botched the potion. I balled my fists and willed myself to breathe and calm down. Snape was headed my way. I glanced at Geoff and he nodded. He stepped back from Lorena Zabini, gave the signal to Chris and Em, who were waiting for instructions, and our emergency plan went into action.

I clutched my head and my stomach at the same time, moaned in pain, wobbled on my feet a bit, and fell to the floor in a faint. A fake faint, though. Then Chris, who happened to be excellent in Charms, cast a spell on me so that my face turned an odd shade of purplish-green. Geoff rushed to my side and cried out, and while everyone's attention was on me and Geoff's wailing, Em switched my potion with some other Slytherin.

"Lil! Speak to me, wake up! Lily! Lily!"

Geoff was bent over me so that no one else could see if I opened my eyes. "Tone it down a bit," I muttered in barely a whisper. "You're overdoing it."

Snape swept over to us and pushed Geoff out of the way. When he saw the color of my face he recoiled.

"What happened here?" No one spoke. "Well? I asked a question!" he barked.

Elana was the first to regain her voice, of course. "We didn't do anything, Professor!" she shrieked shrilly. "She was fine a minute ago, then she just collapsed and turned that horrid color!"

Snape turned sharply and descended upon my poor friend. Geoff kept to his part though. His eyes were wide and his face pale. I had to hand it to him, Geoff was a terrific actor.

"Did she drink any of that potion, Weasley?" Snape hissed.

Geoff made an effort to tear his eyes from my face and responded. "No, sir, she didn't! I have to get her to the Hospital Wing right away!"

And before Snape could say anything, Geoff picked me up and ran out of the room. He kept running until we were a safe distance from the dungeons. Then Geoff put me down and I nearly fell over from laughing so hard. Geoff waved his wand and my face returned to it's normal color. He started laughing too. We were sitting on the floor giggling madly.

"That was brilliant!" I exclaimed. "Perfect! I got out of Potions and some other twit is stuck with my messed up potion!"

Geoff could barely breathe. "Did you see Snape's face when I ran out of there? Classic!"

I was about to respond when a shadow fell over me. I turned my head and saw Jeanette Mills-Lupin staring down at me with a small smile.

"Now, I may be new here," she said, "but I was under the impression that you were supposed to be in class."

I exchanged a worried glance with Geoff. He had paled slightly; like his mother, he hated getting into trouble.

Jeanette sighed. "Come on, you two. Stand up and follow me."

With sullen faces and heavy steps, we followed Jeanette to her office. It was the same office that had been inhabited by all of the former Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors, including her husband. She had many thick volumes on her shelves as well as an owl who was sleeping with his head under his wing. Her desk was littered with parchment and quills and a crystal ball. She noticed Geoff stare at it. As far as we knew, Jeanette hated Divination.

"I haven't suddenly changed my mind, Geoffrey," she said. "It's not really a crystal ball. It's an orb of Antigone. It shows when a loved one is experiencing pain and/or suffering. I use it to keep tabs on the people at home." She sat down in her purple high-backed chair and leaned forward across her desk. "Now. What were you doing out of class?"

"Er, we were on our way to the Hospital Wing?" I said, unsure of how to respond.

"Who was injured?" Jeanette countered.

"I was," Geoff and I said at the same time. Jeanette only smiled.

"Since I suspect you're not telling me the truth, I'll just drop it. You can help me prepare for your class. I want to work on Patronus'."

She led us into her classroom. I saw stacks of chocolate bars and a briefcase. Geoff looked at me in confusion and I only shrugged.

"Whose class did you escape from?" she asked over her shoulder. The briefcase shuddered and I jumped. "Relax, it's only a Boggart."

When I found my voice, I answered. "Professor Snape's."

"Oh, well, then I forgive you. I'd want to escape from his class too." Geoff and I exchanged another bewildered look. "Here, break this chocolate up, would you?"

We started breaking up slabs of heavy chocolate. Jeanette was humming under her breath and rooting around in her desk.

"Um, Jeanette?" I said hesitantly.

"You should probably get used to calling me Professor Lupin, Lily. Yes?"

"Would you happen to know why Snape's in such a horrid mood? I mean, Professors talk..."

Jeanette chuckled. "I suspect it has to do with me. Severus doesn't like me much, not the least because I married Remus. A lot of people didn't understand why I would marry a werewolf. Oh, not your parents," she said, misunderstanding the expression on my face, "or Sirius, or anyone at M.A.T.D.A., but many of the people who couldn't understand Remus in the first place, didn't understand my decision to marry him. But, then again, Snape has never liked me."

My hands were beginning to hurt. And they were getting covered in chocolate. Geoff was absent-mindedly eating some of it, and Jeanette was still humming. Suddenly I remembered that I wanted to ask Jeanette about the whole "ordeal" fourteen years ago.

"Jeanette, er, Professor Lupin? Would you happen to know anything about an event that took place fourteen years ago?"

Jeanette dropped the briefcase on her foot and it only rocked harder now that the Boggart was disturbed. She swore inventively and turned away from me. I could see fear in her eyes.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about, Lily. That will be all thank you, I'll see you later."

She ushered us out of the room just as the bell rang for us to go to lunch. Geoff was looking at me curiously, but there was no time for him to ask me anything as streams of students flooded out of the rooms and headed to the Great Hall. I made my way to the Library instead. I knew that Snape would be looking for me at lunch, it would be better if I was absent. It would be safe to return at dinner. Besides, I wasn't really hungry.

Once I got to the library, I asked Madam Pince, the ancient librarian, for books on the Dark Arts in the past two decades. I also asked if she had any Daily Prophet articles from thirteen years ago. She brought me everything she had.

It was almost eerily quiet in the library and would have remained that way if someone hadn't come storming in dragging along two very familiar boys. I had never seen Professor Weasley quite so angry, or such an odd shade of puce.

"You two will stay in here until lunch is over and help Madam Pince shelf the books. Once classes are over you will report directly to the kitchens where you will help the House Elves with their chores."

She stormed out of there before even noticing me. David and Jamie (who else?) bounced over to me with identical grins.

"Hullo, Lil!" Jamie said brightly. "Don't tell me you've been punished too!"

"Of course not," I replied snappishly. "I'm researching."

"What are you researching?" David asked, grabbing a book for me before I could reply. "Voldemort? You're nutters, Lil, Voldemort's gone for good. Evil's been vanquished and all that rot."

David looked exactly like his father, and I mean exactly. It's almost as if there was none of his mother in him at all. Whereas Geoff looked like a mixture of his two parents, and the twins tended to resemble Professor Weasley, David looked like a miniature Ron, but acted just like Fred and George.

"I know that," I said, snatching the book back. "Leave me alone, both of you. Don't you have books to stack?"

They laughed and ran off to terrorize Madam Pince. Both boys possessed an extraordinary amount of charm and were often able to talk their way out of trouble. They had even been able to do it with Professor McGonagall once or twice, but never with David's mum. She was impossible to charm.

I went back to my research. Actually, David was wrong. Voldemort may have been gone and his Death Eaters scattered to the wind, but there was a new danger. Do you remember when I made some small comment about how even the Prefects were segregated by House on the train? Well, you see, two years prior to this tale, five witches were "found out" and tortured to death in Scotland. It seemed that a new witch hunt had begun. Muggles and magical people couldn't live in peace. Many muggles were only too eager to expose a real witch or wizard and kill.

The main difference between the old Salem Witch Hunts and what was happening now was that this time, muggles were catching real witches and wizards, and they were just killing them. No burnings or drownings, things that any capable witch or wizard could escape from, no, they were using guns. More and more of our numbers were dying each day since the first attack. A strong anti-muggle feeling had swallowed the wizarding world and it hit Hogwarts hard. Dad had to place Unnoticability charms on Jamie and me when we used King's Cross to get to school.

It was the politics behind it all that really made a mess of things. You see, when the first murders were committed, the ministry was in deadlock on what to do about it. They really didn't want to wage a war against muggles. It would have been slaughter and pointless. Not to mention that it would only reenforce everything the muggles said about us. And unfortunately, right in the middle of the crisis, a new Minister of Magic was elected. Uncle Percy decided to retire from the minister's position and work in the new Muggle Relations office with his father. So that left the Minister's seat wide open.

So in Hogwarts, the pureblood/muggleborn tension was at it's highest. Not a day went by when some pureblood didn't make a mudblood comment. And muggleborns were in the most danger because their parents could "accidentally" say something. I know Chris worried and we worried about him.

I tried to ignore the sounds of catastrophe that I'm sure were coming from Jamie and David. I was still looking for information, but I came up with nothing. Soon it was time to go to class. I hurried to Defense Against the Dark Arts, and made it with a second to spare. I sat next to Em, who gave me a warm smile.

"Hello, I'm Professor Lupin," Jeanette said. "Some of your parents might have had a Professor Lupin when they attended Hogwarts. He is my husband. Today I'd like to begin with Patronuses which are very complicated and draining. The spell is Expecto Patronum. Please repeat."

Everyone repeated the words dutifully. Jeanette smiled. "Wonderful. Stand up please and take out your wands. I'll release the Boggart, which will hopefully turn into a Dementor when you face it."

A few people cried out, but I only scoffed. It was only a Boggart, it couldn't hurt you.

When it came to me, I was ready. "Expecto Patronum!" I cried.

A weird fog descended over me and I heard sobbing. Real, heart-rending crying. As if someone was dying. Then I heard a scream, felt hands grab me, pick me up and run. I got dizzy.

"Expecto Patronum," I tried to call out, but I could barely hear my own voice. The crying was getting louder and someone was shaking me. I could hear my brother, he was crying too. I saw my mother. She told me she was going to die. Like Ralph, she said. I was being taken. Someone screamed. My brain was being scrambled.

Then the fog cleared and I was back in the classroom. Jeanette was standing over me, looking concerned. She handed me a large slab of chocolate; now I knew what it was for.

"It's alright, Lily. Relax, take a deep breath."

Geoff helped me into a chair. I concentrated on breathing and noticed that everyone was staring at me. I ignored them and only looked at Jeanette.

"Professor, my mother didn't die."

That's what I saw when the Boggart/Dementor got so close. My mother dying, my family crying, Jamie and I were kidnapped. But that never happened.

"What do you mean, Miss Potter?" Jeanette asked, almost nervously, I thought.

"I saw my mother dying. Everyone was so miserable, and I think Jamie and I were being kidnapped. But, my mother isn't dead!"

Jeanette had gone rigid. "I think we'll end class there for now. Everyone, return to your common room."

Geoff and Chris helped me out of the room, I was limping a bit. Someone, I'm not sure who, had dinner sent up to me so I could remain in bed. I felt as if I had the flu and was still a little dizzy. After eating, I fell asleep almost instantly.

I woke up in the dark. There was no knocking this time, I simply had gone to bed so early that I was no longer tired. Now I was hot, so I threw the covers back and got out of bed. The breeze from the window was cool against my skin and I felt better. I walked to the window, sat on the edge, and pulled my knees up. Then I simply gazed out into the night sky.

I loved how when I was at Hogwarts the sky seemed to be alive with stars. Astronomy was one of my favorite subjects, and I could name practically any constellation in the sky. It was soothing.

I thought about what had happened earlier. I had always thought that when faced with a Dementor, one saw all of the terrible times of one's past. But my mother wasn't dead and Jamie and I had never been kidnapped. It just didn't make any sense. I had to find out what really happened fourteen years ago. If Jeanette wouldn't tell me, perhaps Meredith would.

I turned to go back to bed when a slight movement caught my eye. Someone was down by the lake. It was the dead of night, and yet someone was down by the lake. I watched the person intently and my breath was taken away.

It was a male person. He had pale blonde hair, bleached so light it was practically white, swept back, though some of it fell in his eyes. I couldn't make out his features from where I was, but I saw he was wearing a green tunic, black boots, and black leather pants. His head was thrown back and it looked like he was communicating with the gods. He was absolutely still; a moment later a magnificent hawk flew down and landed on his arm. It screeched it's hunting cry and the boy nodded sharply once. Then he threw his arm up and the hawk took flight.

I was holding my breath. It was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen. The boy and the hawk seemed perfectly matched, both hunters. I had never seen that boy before and I doubted he attended Hogwarts. He seemed too--feral. Suddenly, as I was watching him, he turned to look up at me. We stared at one another for a few minutes. Then I blinked and he was gone. I sighed.

"I think I'm delusional. First my uncle, now that mysterious boy." I looked over at Em's bed. The curtains were drawn and I could hear a small snore. I sighed again and climbed back into bed.

If, and only if, I wasn't, as David put it, "nutters" then I wanted to know who he was. He was so wild, so impressive, so breathtaking. I knew it would torture me if I didn't discover his identity.

"Like I don't have enough to deal with," I grumbled. "Now I'm seeing things."

And I fell asleep. My dreams were filled with the boy, screams, dying, and, for some odd reason, Destiny. Blood, too, there was lots of blood.

I needed a therapist, or at least, a stuffed animal.