Seeing a Stranger

Chapter One

Eranne d'Berwyn was never one to leap out of bed at an early hour, especially during the summer holidays. However, today she awoke to a loud clang coming from the kitchen downstairs.

"Damn," she said, and promptly rolled over, closing her eyes again.

Sleep, unfortunately did not come. After what seemed like an hour of twisting and turning, she rose, put on her dressing gown, and slowly shuffled down the back stairs towards the kitchen. As she approached the doors, she heard voices that were not her mother's coming (rather loudly) from the room.

"It can't be," said a male voice.

"I don't know, I just don't know what to do. Should we pull her out of school this year? She already had to go away for a year, damn gift of my mother's. He's after Harry, but will he know? When he sees her, will he remember?" That was her mother's voice, and she was talking about Eranne. Damn gift, she had said. It happened to be that Eranne, and all her family for generations unkown were witches and wizards. Powerful witches and wizards, at that. Most women in her family, like herself were Searchers, Seers that could see the present instead of the future, locate people with their minds, and communicate telepathically. Eranne could also move things with her mind. She had, since the age of 11, been attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, however, she was forced to leave her school last year because she could not control her gifts: she had never been taught. Her mother was not a Searcher, and her grandmother, the great Auror Elena d'Berwyn had been killed in the war against Voldemort before she could teach Eranne how to use her gifts. Eranne received private tutoring from her Great Aunt Arsinoe for a year instead of going to Hogwarts. She had missed the castle dearly, and her friends. She was to be going back this year, for her last year. Would her mother keep her from her friends for another year?

Her thoughts were interrupted by another voice, which Eranne recognized as her grandfathers, answering her unvoiced question,

"To keep her from her studies and her friends for another year would be awful for her, Aridan. Dumbledore will protect her. Yes, she needs to go back into the world. But remember this, Aridan, you can't keep her in the dark forever. She will find out sooner or later..."

"No! She must never know. Think of all the ridicule, Daddy - her friends would abandon her, the wizarding world would abandon her. I will not have that for my daughter."

"She is your daughter, indeed. Though, I think she may already know more than you think - there seems to be a strangely shaped shadow coming from behind the door over there." Her grandfather said jovially. Eranne could almost feel his smile though the heavy oak door.

The door swung open quickly, to reveal her mother, fuming, behind it. She looked like she had been crying for hours.

"How long have you been listening, Eranne?"

"Long enough to know that there is something that you are not telling me."

"She should be told, for her own protection, Aridan"

"Remus -"

"Eranne," her grandfather began, "Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban today."

"What does this have to do with me, and what you don't want me to know?" Eranne replied with pleading eyes. Her mother jumped in quickly, pulling her to a seat at the kitchen table.

"Eranne, this is Remus Lupin. He will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher at Hogwarts this year. He and your father were friends while they were at school..."

"Nice to meet you, Professor," Eranne smiled at the gentle man with tattered robes.

"And you, Eranne," he replied. "My, I haven't seen you since you were very small. You are as beautiful as your mother was at your age, and of course still is." Remus smiled playfully at Aridan as she handed her daughter a cup of tea.

"Eranne, there is no easy way of telling you this, but Sirius Black..." her grandfather began.

"...Was the man who killed you father thirteen years ago," her mother finished.

Eranne stared at her mother for a moment, at a loss for what to say. She could tell that her mother wasn't telling the whole truth, she had fine-tuned her Searcher's gift of being able to read people's faces to see if they were lying. Her father had died when she was five years old, the very night that Harry Potter, her Gryfffindor house-mate, had saved them all. She didn't remember her father at all, and there were no pictures of him throughout the Manor house that she shared with her mother and her grandfather. She had never known before today that he had been murdered.

"Say something, Eranne," her grandfather pleaded, putting his strong hand on her shoulder.

"I can't. Why didn't you ever tell me that he was murdered? And what does this all have to do with me going back to school?"

Remus stepped in, saying, "Sirius Black is believed to be headed to Hogwarts. We believe he might be after Harry. Harry is currently staying at the Leaky Cauldron, under close watch, and is fine. However, your mother is worried that he might be after you as well..."

"Why," Eranne replied, "He already killed my father, what does he want with me?"

"Eranne, all the world knows of your abilities," he mother placed a bitter emphasis on the word abilities. "We think that if he catches Harry, he will want to bring him back to the Dark Lord. You and your great Aunt are two of the remaining three Searchers alive today in Britain. You are still a child yet. He may come after you to..."

"Help him find the Dark Lord," Eranne finished. "Mother, I am not a child. I am seventeen now, and I'm better. No more screaming at night, and blacking out in the middle of the day: I can control my gifts. Besides, Professor Dumbledore would never let anything happen to his students. I will be fine, I promise. I am getting on the train tomorrow, with your blessing or without it. I miss my friends, I miss classes; I miss everything. I'm not scared, and you shouldn't be either."

In that moment, Eranne looked around at the faces surrounding her. Her mother and her grandfather, and even her new Professor looked at her with surprise, and admiration. Eranne had always been taught to speak her mind, but there had been very few times that she had deemed it prudent to do so.

Her mother spoke first:

"I never wanted to separate you from your friends or your studies. You are all I have left of your father, and I don't want anything to happen to you. You are my daughter, and heir to everything that your forefathers have built. The d'Berwyns are a strong family, and you are our new hope. How could I keep you from doing something that you have your heart set on?" Her mother smiled, weakly.

"It's settled then," her grandfather broke the short silence. "Tommorrow, you will go back to school, and you will study hard for your NEWTs and you will surpass the scores even of your grandmother. You will do your family proud. And, you and your playful spirit will have fun, as well. Now, we should all have some breakfast. Where did those house-elves get to?"

"We is here, sirs and madams!" Two odd looking creatures appeared out of nowhere, their golf-ball sized eyes growing wide with anticipation.

"What is you liking today, Master d'Berwyn?"

"I am in the mood for eggs. What are you in the mood for cooking?" He smiled at the elves. The d'Berwyns were known for their kindness to all creatures and humans alike. They preferred not to go the way of many other wealthy wizarding families, hungering for power and social improvement.

"I makes a delicious eggs for you, sir! With all you favorite things! What will Miss Aridan be eating this morning?"

"Actually, Daddy, eggs sound splendid. Something simple always hits the spot. Remus, would you like to breakfast with us this morning?"

Remus smiled. "How could I pass up the chance to eat the cuisine of the two best cooks in all of Britain?" The house elves blushed deeply. "I think that I will take two eggs, poached, over toast."

"We is happy to make it for you! Miss Eranne, what is you eating today?"

"I think I would like two pieces of toast, and a piece of fruit, please."

"Eranne, you have to eat more than that," he mother began.

"I don't think I am very hungry this morning, mum."

As the house-elves left to prepare breakfast, Eranne let her mind wander far away. She had been told that her father had been killed by this man, Sirius Black. Yet there was something in her mother's eyes that told Eranne that a part of the story was missing. A large part of the story. As she ate her food, and helped her family with the dishes so the elves could take a break, Eranne couldn't help but wondering what that missing part was...

Finding her friends the next day proved to be not difficult at all. In fact, upon entering the hidden platform at King's Cross, the first thing that she spotted was a sea of readheads. She dearly missed the Weasley family. She was lifelong friends with Percy, who was her age, and the two corresponded frequently during her hiatus - he mostly wanted advice about his girlfriend, Penelope. Eranne laughed quietly to herself for a moment; the thought of Percy with a girl was...she had thought the boy hopeless.

Even as she quickened her pace to surprise her friend, she stopped short just fifteen feet from him. Would the Weasleys want to be friends with her, knowing that she was a Searcher? She had barely survived two weeks at school the previous year, she had passed out several times screaming bloody murder, dreaming of a giant snake. The looks on the faces of her friends were at first mixed with concern, but as the situation became worse, and the episodes more frequent, all she could see was the fear in their eyes before the world went black...

"Eranne! Let me look at you. Oh, how I've missed you so!" Strong arms came at her from behind, and she barely had enough room to breathe in the tight embrace. She knew she would know this new voice anywhere.

"Hello, Oliver. What a welcome back present - you are trying to kill me." She tried to laugh, tried to be her old jovial self, but the fear still lingered on. Oliver let her go, and she slowly turned, not meeting his eyes.

"Ho, what's this? Where's the smile that I missed all of last year? Why didn't you write more often? I thought that you had forgotten all about me..." Oliver placed a finger on her chin and pulled it up, so that she could no longer avoid his eyes. She could hardly stand from fear.

"I didn't write last year, because...because I was afraid that you wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore. I thought that you thought I was a freak, and never wanted to talk to me again."

"What sort of rubbish is this? Not want to talk to you again? Not want to see one of my best friends, maybe the only girl in all of Hogwarts with whom I can have an actual conversation that does not involve her asking me out, and giggling profusely? Do you honestly think that I would ever give up on that? Besides, I may need your skills this year to help us win the Cup..."

Eranne laughed despite herself, and in a rush of happiness, wrapped her arms around Oliver with a strength that she did not know that she had. When she finally released him, she did not say a word, she hoped her eyes would communicate her gratitude, which was beyond words. Oliver nodded, understanding, wiped the tear from her check that she did not know that she had shed, and picked up her trunk.

"Where to? Perce has already gotten on the train, he's up sitting with the prefects and such. You wouldn't believe how inflated his ego has become without you here to bring him back to earth. We'll have to find a compartment on our own, unless you want to sit with Trina and Alexa..."

Her dormmates, Trina and Alexa, were very nice, and Eranne counted them among her close friends. But she needed her best friends now, because she still was scared to be on her own.

"No, I think our last ride into the castle should be our own. I'll see Trina and Alexa often enough, I only live with them. You seem to always be busy with practice and the like, and I still need your help - oh, I don't think I can do this on my own, Oliver," she looked at him pleadingly.

"You will never be alone, Eranne. I promise. Best friends help each other through even the hardest of times."

Eranne smiled, and stepped on to the train, and back into the world.

Not more than five feet away, Aridan d'Berwyn smiled a sad smile.

"She's getting so old, Remus," she said, "I wonder how she turned out so well, despite everything that's happened to us."

Remus smiled at the woman beside him, "You are a wonderful mother, Aridan."

"Take care of her Remus, please. I couldn't take it if anything...I would have lost them both..."

"You know I will. You have nothing to worry about; I believe that girl can take care of herself. You could at that age." Remus smiled at her again and boarded the train. His smile reminded her of all the times they had shared together in their own school days, before circumstances had torn them all apart.

"I think that is what worries me the most. She'll want to know more..." Aridan replied.

The train began to pull out of the station in a swirl of smoke and shouts of goodbye from students to parents, and Aridan waved goodbye to Remus and sighed, hoping that all would remain as it always had been, and at the same time realizing that things were about to change forever.