B-R-Y-A-N

"...pain he suffered was so great..."

"...amazing that he held out for so long..."

"...just kept shouting..."

"...didn't want to go back...Look!"

"...coming around...Bryan?" Voices all around him, voices he could barely place, but which sounded familiar.

"Bryan, can you hear me?"

His eyes felt swollen shut and he didn't want to open them, but he could hear. Could he speak? He opened his parched lips, made a strange gurgling sound, swallowed and tried again.

"I can hear you," he croaked. He could feel them, too. One was sitting right next to him; one was standing over him; one stood at his feet; the last mind he felt was asleep, deeply asleep, about ten feet away. A little bit of memory hit him and he recognized one of the people. "Remus?" he croaked. The mind next to him leaned closer. "What happened to me?"

"Not right now!" the mind standing over him snapped. "He needs his rest." Bryan didn't think so; after all, he'd just woken up; but in his life, he'd found it best to follow orders. He made a small noise that he hoped conveyed consent and let himself drift back into the realm of his unconscious, hoping fervently with the last of his awareness that he wasn't where he thought he was.

Remus stayed at his side the entire time, insisting, when Pomfrey deigned to ask, that no he didn't have anything better to do. He moved away when Ron, Hermione, Mark, and Victor came to visit, but just for as long as they were there, and he absolutely refused to let Pomfrey, or anyone else, give Bryan the healing potions during the brief periods he was awake enough not to choke on them.

From the way he had acted when he woke up, and the brief look of despair that had crossed the boys face as he fell back asleep, he didn't know he was at Hogwarts. Having someone he thought was an agent of IRTOC touch him and force him to drink something would not be conducive to his mental health. Remus knew, though, that Bryan had recognized him and trusted him. Hopefully, that would pull him through.

Finally, after nearly twelve hours, Bryan opened his eyes. He immediately shut them again with a slight wince and Remus hurriedly retrieved his sunglasses.

"There, is that better?" he asked, placing them on Bryan's face. The boy opened his eyes again and nodded. He started to get up, but realized that Remus was, unintentionally, blocking him that way, so he would have to turn the other way and risk seeing...upon further reflection, he didn't feel all that much like getting out of bed.

"What happened, Remus?" he asked instead. "Why did I ache when I woke up before?"

"Well, that really doesn't count as waking up, it was more of a return to full consciousness," Remus said lightly. Bryan stared at him incredulously, not sure what he meant.

"You see, you didn't actually, exactly, pass out - you didn't lose consciousness completely - you just lost...part of your consciousness," Remus struggled to explain. "The part that controls the rest of your consciousness. You started screaming again and thrashing about...you broke Ron's full body bind, you know. As soon as we got you up here and managed to get you to swallow a pain-dulling potion, you came back to full consciousness, though I think your memory was impaired." Bryan nodded thoughtfully and shuddered a little.

"I thought that I was back at IRTOC," he said softly, "only you were there. It was just all too familiar." He laughed bitterly at the irony of reminiscing. "When They found out just how sensitive my eyes are, and how they don't adjust to sunlight, they tried to cure it with prolonged exposure to bright lights. It nearly blinded me and every morning I would wake up with a head ache and my eyes almost too swollen to open." He looked down, not meeting Remus' eyes. "Thank you, for being here." He felt a strong hand grasp his own, smaller one.

"I'm always here for you, Bryan," said Remus with great sincerity. "You're like family to me, you and Harry both." Bryan looked up and saw that Remus was gazing forlornly at Harry's still form. He didn't dare look over himself, but he knew it was there, and knew that was what Remus was looking at. Making a sudden decision, Bryan stood up (closing his eyes against Harry's still form) and reached for his robes. "What are you doing?" Remus asked frantically. "You aren't anywhere near ready to be released!" Bryan turned back to him, his face grim.

"I heal fast," he said shortly. Remus didn't budge, just kept staring at Bryan until he was compelled to explain further. "Look, I've studied psychology for a while. The common factor that can effect physical, emotional, psychological, and social health in one blow is family. You've lost many people in your life, but never someone like Harry. I've never had someone to lose before, but now I do. Harry. I have a 300 point IQ and a library full of potions books at my fingertips. I. Will. Not. Let. Harry. Die."

He turned on his heel and walked forcefully out. The halls were crowded, but the masses of students seemed to part before him. One could almost feel the raw magic crackling in the air around him, fueled by his state of mind. No one even tried to stop him - until he was nearly to the library and ran into Professor Snape. Literally. The both of them went tumbling down in a heap in the middle of the corridor.

"Bryan," Snape drawled, "I'm surprised to see you here. The last I heard, you were unconscious in the hospital wing. Were you released?"

"No, professor," Bryan said quietly, the anger and fear that had fueled him slowly draining away in the face of shame.

"What are you doing down here, anyway?" Snape asked.

"I was going to the library, sir," said Bryan, "to do potions research."

"Indeed." Snape spared a glance at their surroundings. No one was near them, students tending to prefer to stay away from the library between classes. "I must admit, you certainly look well enough to read to me. Consider yourself discharged into the library only. I will go talk to Madam Pomfrey and...Lupin." Bryan stare at him for a moment, caught off guard by this uncharacteristic show of congeniality.

"Th...thank you, professor," he managed to stammer. Snape nodded to him and walked off, leaving him sitting there on the floor. Bryan quickly gathered himself together and hurried the rest of the way to the library.

That was where Remus found him two hours later. He had been so shocked by Bryan's speech that he hadn't gone looking until long after the boy's track was covered by the rushing students - about one minute before Professor Snape arrived at the Hospital Wing to speak with him. By the time Remus looked in the library, Bryan had finished The Apothecary: A Lexicon of Potions, and Brewing with Brumhilda: Extravagant Household Potions, for the housewitch who goes the extra mile; and was poring over Catalysts and Reactions: the Muggle-Born's Guide to Potions, turning pages at a mile a minute. Remus stopped when he saw Snape approach the boy. That in itself was unusual enough, but Remus was surprised at the lack of hostility in Snape's face.

"Bryan," the potion master said softly. Bryan looked up and gave Snape his full attention. "I have secured it with Madam Pomfrey. You will not go to classes for two more days, at the end of which you will have a physical examination, and during which you are allowed only in your dormitory, the Great Hall, and here." Bryan nodded his understanding. "I was unable to find Lupin, but have acquired a signed note from Madam Pomfrey confirming what I have said. You are to give it to Lupin whenever he finds you." Another nod and Snape left. Remus moved to intercept him.

"Severus!" he called, staying quiet enough to not bother Madam Pince. Snape turned and sneered at him.

"Ah, Lupin. For once you are exactly the man I'm looking for," Snape said. He seemed in a good mood, which surprised Remus so much that he almost didn't catch what Snape said next. "Tell Bryan that any new developments he feels might be helpful are to be reported directly to me. Also, let him know that, once he has exhausted the library's resources on potions, my study has quite a few additional volumes that he might find interesting." Remus nodded graciously and turned to leave, but Snape caught hold of his arm. "By the way, Lupin. Next time, you might want to keep better track of your ward. He isn't exactly popular." The comment was, though made sarcastically, clearly a warning and Remus promised to keep that in mind.

Snape sneered at him and left, his cloak billowing out behind him. Remus shook his head and went to check on Bryan, but the boy was so deep in study that Remus couldn't do much more than look him over to make sure he was okay. After coming to the conclusion that Bryan was in no immediate danger, he left to return to his previous post at Harry's side.

When dinner rolled around, Hermione came and almost had to drag Bryan to the Great Hall. He ate mechanically, thinking about what he had learned so far and how it could be applied. People tried to talk to him, but he didn't even hear them and eventually they just left him alone. Everyone knew the moment he was done, because he got up so fast that his fork fell on the floor, clattering loudly. Bryan didn't even notice.

He didn't sleep at all that night; when Madam Pince looked like she wanted to kick him out of the library, Snape headed her off and told her Bryan had permission to be there as long as he felt he was able. The librarian frowned and pursed her lips, but nodded curtly. All through the dark hours Bryan read. At first Pince just watched him, then she tried to give him a lantern, but he shrank away from it, having taken off his sunglasses an hour or two previous; eventually, she just went to bed and left him there alone.

This ritual continued for the next two days. Hermione, who was often in the library anyway, would take him to meals; then he would return to the library until the next interruption. At the end of the first day, Remus forced him to go to bed, but he spent most of the night trying to think of ways to work with what the books had to offer. Bryan spent every waking moment thinking about potions.

Logan had once told him that his potential was so great that, if he focused himself, he could work miracles. Bryan had to hope that was true now, because only a miracle could find a cure that could be made in time; in truth, he had come up with a few possibilities already, but they all required at least a month of total preparation time. He had a feeling that some sort of substitution might work, but he just didn't know enough yet.

So he kept reading, book after book after book, working his way methodically through the library's entire store of leather bound tomes and dusty volumes. Sometimes he would come across one in a different language, but he knew most muggle languages and had already familiarized himself with Goblin, Centaur, and Mermish; the more common magical languages.

After two days, Madam Pomfrey deemed him fit to return to his studies, leaving him with only time between classes, during mealtimes, and before curfew to study. At night, those nights when he didn't sleep, he would opt instead to work on his homework, including the make-up assignments. In the evenings, Remus would help him work on the spells he was supposed to be learning. Within a week, they had brought his grades up to nearly the top of the class. McGonagall smiled at him when she passed him in the halls, but he didn't smile back.

He was running out of time.

When he went into his tutoring session on the last Wednesday before Harry...before he...

Come on, you're strong enough, you can think it.

...before he died, he was a depressed and emotionally exhausted shadow of himself. When Remus told him that he would be taking that session and the next one off for the full moon, Bryan received the news with some relief and renew of hope. Maybe, just maybe, that extra time would let him find the answer. It was something to cling to, at least.

By Friday, even that hope was gone. Mark and Victor had to practically drag him to classes every day, as his heart wasn't in it - or anything - anymore. The only thing he showed any intensity for was antidote research and, as Victor commented on their way to Herbology, "If he keeps going like this, Harry's not the only one who'll die."

Moments later, something happened that shook Bryan completely out of his depressed stupor.

They had almost reached the greenhouses when Bryan's shoulder began to twitch and he veered off course, turning toward the forest. His head still down, Bryan didn't even seem to notice, so Mark ran up to him.

"Where are you going, Bryan?" he asked. Bryan paused and seemed to wake up. He swallowed, paled, and, Mark could see from the side, his eyes widened beyond all seeming possibility.

"Bryan, what's wrong?" Mark pressed. Bryan started.

"Mark! Get inside the greenhouse," he said urgently. "Get everyone inside the greenhouse and stay there. Don't come out no matter what!" When Mark didn't seem inclined to move, Bryan shoved him on his way. "GO!"

Mark jumped, but obeyed, motioning and calling urgently for everyone to come inside as quickly as they could, all the while looking over his shoulder, trying to see what was scaring Bryan. By the time everyone was safely in their classes, he thought he could make out a small group of people just outside of the Forbidden Forest. He wondered if Bryan was coming into the Greenhouse with the rest of him, but the boy didn't seem inclined to move. Mark walked out to stand with him, but Victor grabbed his arm.

"Get off me, Victor!" he snapped. "We have to help him!"

"Stop being so incredibly Gryffindor!" Victor retorted. "This isn't something a couple of first years can help with. We'd only get in the way. Now come on, and get inside." Mark nodded and, with a last reassuring glance at Bryan's fierce stance, entered the greenhouse.

Bryan noticed that Mark was gone with some loss of anxiety. He had known, as soon as he realized how much his barcode was burning, that They were too close to run from now. Besides, he could make out long before Mark even saw them that the two figures in front were Anyo, his Japanese teacher and an accomplished marksman, and Romulus, and that they were levitating Logan in front of them. Someone else was walking along behind them, but Bryan didn't recognize his face. He would have searched for the man's mind, but couldn't concentrate enough for Legilimency with the pain in his arm.

He watched, every muscle tense, as they came closer. Romulus was smirking, as he always seemed to be, and walked without any urgency, as though completely aware that Bryan wouldn't run away. At a hundred yards, Bryan could make out the slight bulges in Anyo's trench coat that told him the man was packing a decent amount of firepower.

"Hello, boy," Romulus sneered once he was about ten yards away, "It's good to see you again."

"Can't say that I feel likewise," Bryan answered promptly, his training keeping the pain out of his voice. "What's Anyo doing here?'

"With a monster like you, I need all the backup I can get," said Romulus, using one of his favorite taunts, "and he's the only other wizard at IRTOC. Now, it's time for you to come home. Will you come quietly?" Bryan hesitated, his eyes lingering on Logan for a moment. He wondered how the aging psychologist managed to get himself into such a position. His eyes wandered to the anonymous man, still hiding behind the other two. Something about it all didn't make sense, and that made him uneasy, but he knew what he had to do.

"No," he said firmly, "I'm not going back."

"I had hoped you would say that," said Romulus with a cruel smirk. "I never liked Logan."

The shot rang out, echoing off the walls of the castle and silencing the students all around. Logan dropped to the ground, blood pouring out of a wound in his middle. A part of Bryan's mind was screaming, crying out in denial, but he silenced it. Nothing was going to make him feel at that moment.

"You just lost your bargaining chip," he said coldly. The students, who had started foolishly started coming out of the Greenhouse at the sound of the gunshot, gasped at his tone, but he paid no attention.

"Au contraire," said the anonymous man, stepping out from behind Romulus. Bryan registered his appearance; his chubby figure, his pointed face, and his silver hand, which had something in its grip that was still hidden behind Romulus and Anyo. "The Dark Lord has authorized two other 'gifts'. First, the cure to young Mr. Potter's mysterious illness," he said, pulling a small vial out of his robes. Then he held up the thing - the person - in his other hand. "And I believe you know Remus Lupin."

Despite himself, Bryan's breath caught in his throat. Remus was bloody and weak, cringing from his contact with the silver, but he was alive. When the man saw Bryan, he opened his mouth to speak, but the rat-like man silenced him with a spell.

"And don't bother wondering if your precious Dumbledore is on his way," sneered Anyo, "he has a meeting with the board of governors today." Bryan wondered if that was true, hoped it was not, but had to admit that the headmaster would most likely already be there if he were at Hogwarts at all.

"You see, Bryan," Romulus said casually, "It's all up to you. You come with us, let us remove your memory of this place, and everything goes back to normal. You refuse, and the werewolf - and the precious Boy-Who-Lived - die. Decide."

Bryan felt like his insides were in a blender. He locked eyes with Remus, could see him willing Bryan to say no, and tried to convey his apologies that it had to be this way. There was no other choice. He had played his part as best he could, but Romulus had thrown him a curve and he couldn't compensate. He had to fulfill his promise, it was the least he could to; the only gain he could make out of his loss.

"Alright, I'll come," he said. His soft voice carrying clearly with no other sounds. All the other students were silent. "Now give the vial to Remus and let him go." Romulus smiled maliciously and signaled rat-face to comply. The pig threw the bloody form onto the ground far away from both himself and Bryan and tossed the vial at Remus, who caught it deftly, his face numb with disbelief and denial. Bryan knew the feeling. Romulus strode up to Bryan, his wand poised in tense fingers, smiling more broadly than ever.

"Say goodbye, boy," he sneered. Bryan was silent and Romulus slapped him across the face. "I said, say goodbye, soldier!" Bryan's shoulders drooped slightly. This, more than anything, showed his defeat.

"Goodbye," he said softly. Romulus lifted his wand up just in front of Bryan's face, pointing it right between his eyes. Bryan flinched slightly

"Obliviate!"