Lost Love Found

Chapter 11: The Runespoor

When Harry opened his eyes and looked out his window a pale sun was in the midst of a fight trying to get its rays to pierce the thickening clouds and reach the ground. Harry had barely slept the night before thinking about the Quidditch match of that day. He was very nervous because it was the final game of the year. The game that was going to decide who the winner of the cup was: Gryffindor or Slytherin. Not only that but he also felt the heavy weight of a captain's responsibility for his team on his shoulders. He sat up on his bed thinking about a few more strategies for the game when he felt something hit the back of his head.

"Hey, captain! Ready to beat Ravenclaw and win that cup?" said Adrian who was also sitting on the edge of his bed with another pillow ready to be launched.

"It won't be that easy but I'm ready," replied Harry deftly throwing the pillow back at Adrian.

The pillow hit its target right on the face. "Oh yeah? Take this," laughed Adrian throwing another pillow at Harry.

Seamus, Ron, Neville, and Dean woke up with the ruckus and joined the pillow fight. Soon pillows, feathers, clothes, and even blankets were flying through the room and laughter echoed through the dormitory. By the time their pillow fight was over the room looked like it had just been hit by a tornado.

"I guess we better get ready for the game, Adrian. Adrian? Where is he?" said Harry looking around for Adrian.

A muffled "yeah" came from the gap in between Ron and Adrian's beds. "Ok I'll get dressed," said Adrian emerging from beneath a pile of pillows and blankets.

The same excitement the members of the Quidditch team felt had also spread to all the Gryffindors, who that day got up early and in no time at all were in the Great Hall fizzing with anticipation as they ate their breakfast.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Adrian were sitting together eating their breakfast in silence. Even though none of them admitted it they were all very nervous about the match. The chances of Gryffindor winning the cup weren't too good. Slytherin was almost 350 points above Gryffindor, which meant that Gryffindor had to win the match by at least 351 points in order to win the Quidditch cup and beating Ravenclaw by so many points wasn't going to be that easy.

Everyone's thoughts were interrupted by a loud thump and the clank of plates breaking as Neville pulled the tablecloth sending a shower of plates, goblets, and cutlery to the floor. He had slipped on a banana peel set up by Peeves and trying to break his fall Neville had grabbed the first thing he could get a grip of, which was the tablecloth. Fortunately Lupin had seen Neville slip on the floor so he quickly ran towards the Gryffindor table and with his wand suspended the few remaining plates and goblets in midair, so that they wouldn't fall. After he had set all the tableware and breakfasts safely back on the table Lupin turned to look at Neville, "are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

"I-I'm Ok. Thanks professor," replied Neville struggling to his feet, his ears ringing with everyone's laughter. Then with Harry's help he picked up the pile of books that he had been carrying before the accident.

"Did you raid the library, Neville? What are all those books for?" asked Ron.

"These are to prepare for my O.W.L.s," said Neville straightening his robes and piling books on top of each other.

"Very good, Neville. I'm glad to hear that you are already preparing for our exams unlike some other people," she said shooting withering looks at Ron, Harry, and Adrian who just looked at each other sideways pretending not to know who Hermione was referring to.

"Thanks. I will see you in the Quidditch field in a little while," said Neville readying himself to load his arms with the books.

"Hey Neville, wait. Since you are going upstairs could you drop this off for me?" said Adrian handing his Arithmancy book to Neville but of course with Neville's worldly renown butterfingers the book fell on top of Ron's breakfast. The moment the book hit the plate a picture flew out of it. Lupin caught it and palled when he saw a beautiful woman with blond hair waving at him from the picture.

"Adrian, where did you get this picture?" asked Lupin frowning as he held the picture in front of him with trembling hands.

"That's my mom," replied Adrian wiping maple syrup off the book's cover.

"Y-your mother?" stammered Remus handing the picture back to Adrian feeling like he had just been hit by a brick.

Adrian took the picture and looking at it said, "yeah, this is my mom. This is an old picture though. I think it is from before I was born."

Lupin actually felt his heart climb to his throat. "Then isn't Franco your father's last name?" he asked in a quivering voice.

"No, that's my mom's last name. My dad's last name was Andrews. Why I'm Franco and not Andrews I have no idea. My mom is kinda weird. She doesn't like to talk about it."

"Um... sorry to interrupt but we have to go, Adrian," said Harry getting up from the table and calling the rest of the team, "it's time to go, team. See you, professor."

All the players rose from their seats and followed Harry, except for Adrian who was scratching his right ankle.

"Come on, Adrian!" called Fred with a grin. "Are you still scratching that leg? Do you have fleas or something?"

"Shut up, Fred. It itches like crazy I must've gotten a mosquito bite," replied Adrian giving Hermione a peck on the cheek before he ran after the team and then waving to Lupin said, "see you in the field, professor."

Remus, completely shocked, barely managed to utter a "good luck" to the team before they disappeared through the doors. Then he also left the hall completely unaware of his surroundings or direction. He just let his feet carry him through the corridors of the castle while his mind raced trying to process what had just happened.

Hermione saw him leave puzzled by his reaction after seeing the picture but she didn't have much time to ponder about it since she noticed that Adrian had forgotten his gloves on the table. "Oh Adrian. He has his head in the clouds," she smiled dreamily and then hurried to the locker room to give him the gloves. Little did she know that Adrian was too busy checking out a girl with long black hair flying in circles around the Quidditch pitch to notice that he had forgotten his gloves.

"So that's your crush, Harry, Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw's seeker," he said.

Harry nodded, his face turning slightly pink. He then frowned at the sight of Hermione standing behind Adrian holding his gloves.

Adrian who was still looking at Cho continued talking. "I don't blame you, man. She's hot. How come we don't get the pretty girls in Gryffindor? What?" he asked annoyed at Harry, who had just nudged him painfully on the ribs.

Adrian turned and saw Hermione's livid face. "Aside from Hermione of course," he added nervously. "The prettiest girl in the whole school."

Hermione shoved the gloves at Adrian's face glaring at him while the rest of the team walked out onto the field laughing.

"I was just kidding, Hermione," apologized Adrian holding Hermione's hand.

"DO NOT touch me!" she cried jerking her hand away.

"Come on, you know I love you," he said with the cutest puppy eyes Hermione had ever seen and she began to cool down but she decided she wasn't going to soften up just yet. He had more apologizing to do.

"I do not believe you. Now go away! I think the team is waiting for you," she snapped.

"Let them wait for the star of the team."

"ADRIAN GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!" came Angelina's voice from the field.

"Coming," replied Adrian sheepishly glancing backwards over his shoulder. Then he got an idea and in an anxious voice he cried, "Oh my God! Harry just fell off his broom!"

Hermione, terrified, immediately turned expecting to see Harry sprawled lifeless on the ground but all she saw was the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor teams, Harry included, standing safely on the ground. She felt her anger rising once more but before she could start yelling Adrian had her face in his hands and quickly planted a kiss on her lips.

"Love you," he said with a wink before he dashed out on to the field.

"I hope you are the one who falls off that broom!" she yelled after him and then in a whisper she added, "good luck bad boy. My sweet bad boy."

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Winky was hiding in the farthest corner of Lupin's office trembling like a leaf caught in a hurricane and babbling to herself. Dobby, who had been looking for his wife for quite a while now, entered the office calling her, "Winky where are you? Dobby is looking for you."

As soon as Winky heard Dobby's voice she darted from her hiding spot into her husband's arms. Dobby held her with a puzzled expression on his face, "What happened, Winky?"

All that came out of Winky's mouth were sobs as she bawled an answer. When she finally calmed down a little she said, still crying, "Winky was here cleaning the professor's office when mean old Peeves came in. Peeves began playing with the professor's things and Winky told him to leave and Peeves began circling around Winky cackling. Then Winky tried to leave. Winky ran for the door and... and," here Winky broke into a wail and it took her another couple minutes to pull herself together and continue, "Peeves threw a big box at Winky and the box broke and... and a horrible snake came out of it. The snake hissed at Winky and then left. Winky was very afraid."

"Have you told the professor about the snake?" asked Dobby still holding Winky.

"No, Winky was too scared to move. Bad Winky, bad Winky," and she began banging her head against the wall.

"Stop Winky. Dobby and Winky must tell the professor what happened. Quickly," with that Dobby exited the office dragging a still sobbing Winky by the hand.

At the same time the professor found himself standing outside the teachers' lounge. Remus figured that the lounge would be empty since all the teachers were at the Quidditch match so he entered and dropped himself on a chair. He still couldn't believe that Adrian could be his son. He couldn't be or could he? Then he remembered the odd feeling he had when he met Adrian for the first time and how much Adrian always reminded him of himself. He also remembered the bit of a conversation between McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey that he had overheard a few days after the term had started:

"You were right, Minerva. The two of them are like two drops of water," gasped Madam Pomfrey.

"I told you," replied McGonagall taking a sip of her coffee.

"Do you think he could be his son? Because it wouldn't surprise me if he was."

At that time Remus hadn't really paid much attention to the conversation but now it was obvious that they were talking about him. The fact that as soon as he had walked into the lounge the two women had stopped talking and had given him very odd looks was proof enough.

Remus sat on the chair, his mind a complete mess. Phrases like: "Do you think he could be his son? Because it wouldn't surprise me if he was;" "Moony that kid is identical to you;" "That's my mom;" and "Remus what would you do if you knew you had a son or daughter?" kept resounding in his head as Clara's picture drifted in and out of his mind. The last phrase, the question that Sirius had asked a few days before, was the one that he remembered the most and suddenly a thought dawned on him.

"Sirius knew! I'm sure he did, but why didn't he tell me? Just wait until I get my hands on him," he thought angrily before he was snapped back to reality by the heavy footsteps echoing outside the lounge and the creaking of the door being opened. Then Hagrid's gigantic frame appeared behind the door.

"What are you doing here, professor Lupin? The match's already started. I just came to get some refreshments," he said pocketing a plateful of biscuits with a grin. "Let's go."

"I'm not going. I have a lot of papers to grade. You let me know who won right after the game," said Remus forcing a smile and walking towards the door but when he was reaching for the doorknob the door flung open hitting him on the shin. "What the?"

"Professor, professor," came Dobby's squeaky voice from the floor. "Peeves let out the snake."

Remus blinked. "What snake?"

"The one in your office, sir."

It took a few seconds to Remus' already baffled mind to register Dobby's words. "The Runespoor!" he finally said in dismay. "How long ago was that?"

"About 45 minutes ago, sir."

"What?! Why didn't you tell me before? That Runespoor is a very dangerous creature!" he roared.

A loud wail broke in the room. Winky was crying her eyes out and hitting herself on the head with anything she could get her hands on. "Bad Winky, bad Winky."

"Stop that! We must find the Runespoor immediately. Hopefully it hasn't bitten anyone yet," said Remus angrily.

"I'll help. Fortunately the whole school is out in the Quidditch field," said Hagrid.

The two men and the two house-elves walked out of the lounge and began searching every nook and cranny in the castle. They had been searching for about five minutes when they heard a scream nearby. They hurried towards it and realized that it was coming from the Gryffindor common room.

Once they were outside the common room Lupin ordered the fat lady to let them in but she denied since they didn't know the password. Lupin, desperate, threatened her with his wand. "Let us in if you don't want to end up like last time Sirius Black was here," he growled.

"Why I've never!" she said indignantly and then she flung the portrait open revealing the round hole into the common room. "Dumbledore will be hearing about this!"

Lupin, Hagrid, Winky and Dobby climbed through the hole and they had barely walked a couple of steps into the common room when they saw Neville Longbottom running down the stairs looking as pale as Nearly Headless Nick.

"Professor! The snake! It's upstairs in the dormitory," he cried in terror.

"Blimey! Did it bite you?" asked Hagrid.

"No, it was just laying on the floor. Thinking about eating me I bet."

"Let's go take a look," said Remus taking two steps at a time towards the dormitory.

Once there Neville pointed at the spot where, in fact, the Runespoor was neatly coiled, looking as if it was taking a nap. Remus walked warily towards the animal and stunned it with his wand. Then he examined the mouth of the snake's right head.

"It has bitten someone," he said turning to look at the others. "There's still a trace of the venom in its mouth. Where did you find it, Neville?"

"Right there where it is now only it was underneath Harry's robe," squealed Neville. "I was looking for Trevor and when I picked up the robe I saw it."

"Then it bit Harry!" said Hagrid.

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Neville in a small voice. "We had a pillow fight this morning so everyone's clothes and blankets got thrown all over the dormitory. The snake is actually in between Ron and Adrian's beds."

"Adrian," muttered Remus and his eyes widened as the image of Adrian scratching his ankle drifted into his mind. "I must get to the field before it is too late! Hagrid please put the Runespoor back in its cage." With that he dashed out of the room running as fast as his legs would permit.

Author's note: Mmmm I don't think I have any notes this time aside from begging you to please review!!!! Oh and thanks for reading my fic!

Next Chapter: Guess what?! The next chapter will be the last one so stay tuned for the amazingly amazing ending!!!!!!! That's all I'm saying. No preview for that one mwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!