Primrose Paradigms

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Chapter the First

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Anna Lupin, daughter of Remus and Rachel Lupin, was, as her friend Jackie would put it, 'like, totally dead.' Angrily pushing her books back into her bag, she slid off the dead stump that she'd been sitting on and shook the brambles out of her chocolate brown hair. Stupid Kettleburn just had to pick today to give a pop quiz on the differences between fire and water dragons. Like she could concentrate today, of all days!

Not even bothering to say goodbye to her friend Gabrielle, Anna strode off, away from the groundskeeper's cottage, where the class was held. Breaking away from the other chattering students returning to the castle, Anna opted to instead head in the direction of the lake, muttering angrily underneath her breath.

Stupid Dennis Creevey! Not only did he completely humiliate her in the Great Hall this morning, but he distracted her enough in class to make her mess up the quiz! Anna cringed, she failed it for sure. She groaned, already hearing the disappointed letter that her mother would send her when she heard. 'Anna, you're better than this. You're a Ravenclaw, for Merlin's sake! You should concentrate harder on your studies, young lady.'

Anna rolled her eyes, taking calm, soothing breaths as she neared the edge of the lake. The worst part was that she had really liked Dennis, more than she'd ever liked anyone else. She was gonna kill Jackie.

"Find your inner Gryffindor, Anna," Anna said aloud, imitating the irritating redhead. "Just tell him how you feel!" Anna threw her bag down under a tree and walked over to the edge of the water. "Well, I did tell him, Jackie, and he laughed at me in front of the entire bloody school!" Anna punctuated each accented word with a kick to the bank, knocking several stones into the murky water. Letting out a frustrated scream, she plopped down on the ground.

Feeling tears of frustration prick at her eyelids, she buried her face in her hands. Anna hated feeling like this, like she was two inches tall, like she wasn't worth two Knuts. Being small and shy, she was a perfect target for bullies, and was tormented in primary school. Not only by the other children, but by her own friends, too. Memories of Harry and Cameron pulling her pigtails when Uncle Sirius and Uncle James weren't looking, and Jackie and Riz making 'joking' remarks about Anna's hair or clothes flew through her mind. The worst part was that it was all a joke to them; they thought that it was fun. They didn't think she minded. Anna hated herself for letting them think that. She hated herself for not being brave.

Anna raised her head up and wiped at her eyes furiously, refusing to cry. She supposed she could write to her dad and tell him what happened, explain to him why she was distracted during the quiz; maybe he could talk some sense into her mum. Her father was her only confidant, and she loved him more than anybody else in the world, and she knew that he'd understand. But Anna decided against it, her father was already being run ragged by his job at the Magical Creatures Relations Department at the Ministry. Anna remembered how tired and overworked her dad looked at Christmas.

The problem was that her mother had been the perfect Ravenclaw all throughout school, literally. Anna didn't think that her mother had ever gotten anything below one hundred percent on anything. Her mum's OWL record had stayed intact; the only person coming close was Hermione Granger, who received the same number as Rachel Van Zandt, now Rachel Lupin, had.

Her mother had gone on to receive job offers from all around the world. She had chosen to work for her great step-uncle at Ollivander's Wands, and served as the old wandcrafter's apprentice. When Ollivander retired, it would be Anna's mother that would take over the shop, and how many times had Anna been reminded of that fact? Anna knew that the only person who would want to give her a job offer after she graduated was her father, and that wouldn't be enough for her mum, she knew.

Anna knew that she shouldn't be worrying about life after Hogwarts now, after all she was only a fourth year, but how could she not worry? Her mother had set the bar so incredibly high that Anna knew she could never hope to reach it. She hated disappointing her mother, but she knew that it was inevitable.

Anna sighed heavily, feeling the gloom settle down around her shoulders. The scene in the Great Hall echoed throughout her head again, and Anna cursed Jackie for the hundredth time that day. Oh, how Anna wished that some boy would snub Jackie. The great Jacquelyn Potter, slayer of men, girlfriend extraordinaire, dating master, rejected! Anna smiled maliciously, her fantasy playing out in her head. Maybe she'd even cry, and her long red hair that all the boys loved would all fall out...

A loud crashing noise startled Anna out of her daydream, and Anna jumped up. Looking around wildly, she turned around and saw several ravens cawing loudly and flying out of their perches on a bush about twenty meters away.

Debating with herself in her head, Anna warily eyed the spot that she'd heard the noise from. What if it was some kind of dangerous animal, or creature? But if someone was hurt...

Deciding to investigate, the teenaged girl drew out her wand just in case and slowly picked her way over to the spot that the ravens had fled from. Picking through the underbrush, she swept away an overhanging branch and gasped.

"Hermione?" she said to herself. Sure enough, Hermione Granger was laying on the ground, dirt streaked on her face and clothes, tangles in her hair. Anna frowned, this was Hermione, she was sure, but she looked...different.

Anna had always liked Hermione, she saw a lot of herself in her. She was in the same year as Jackie, Riz, Cameron and Harry, but she didn't hang out with them much. She was kind of a loner, always choosing studying over Hogsmeade, books over people. Anna had always kept her four 'cousins' from pranking the older girl, and in return, Hermione had always helped Anna out with her studies when she needed it.

But the Hermione she knew had short hair that barely reached past the base of her neck, the result of a prank that Anna had been unable to stop. Anna remembered when Riz and Jackie had snuck into the prefects' bathroom and charmed Hermione's shampoo with a sticking charm, resulting in Hermione having to cut off all her hair. It was for such a stupid reason, too, Riz was angry that Hermione had been chosen as Head Girl and not her. Like it was Hermione's fault, Anna thought. She had felt terrible about not being able to stop the girls, and had apologized profusely to Hermione. Anna had felt even worse when Hermione had waved it off with a shaky smile and told her not to worry about it.

This Hermione had hair that reached past her shoulders. It was curly and not as bushy as she remembered it being before the shampoo prank. She also looked different in general, she was taller, and...older, almost. She also had a scar on her neck that Anna knew for certain that she hadn't had before. Anna flinched at the ugly pink line that ran from one side of her neck to the other. It looked almost as if someone had tried to slit her neck...

Anna shivered, feeling cold. Bending down to check Hermione's pulse, Anna sighed in relief, she was alive, and her pulse was strong. She was probably just unconscious, Anna thought. She was about to do a Morbilicorpus spell to get Hermione up to the Hospital Wing, when she jumped. There was another body lying next to Hermione she hadn't seen before, a man. He was laying on his front, so Anna couldn't see his face. Reaching for the man's wrist, she found a steady pulse on him too. Anna gasped when she saw a nasty gash on the man's leg, his pant leg torn and bloody. Not daring to move either of them now, she remembered from her father's crash course in first aid that you shouldn't move an injured person if you weren't sure that nothing was broken. Anna needed to get the nurse, but she felt uneasy about just leaving them here.

Taking off her robes, she laid them over the pair's legs, the heavy black material just barely reaching over both of them. It left the upper half of their bodies uncovered, but it would do until Anna could get help.

Clad only in a thin t-shirt and jeans now, Anna didn't bother to get her heavy bag and ran as fast as she could back to the castle. Running, not really looking where she was going, as soon as she reached the courtyard, Anna smacked into another body, and both people went down.

Anna groaned and put a hand to her aching head. Looking down at the other person, she groaned again. Great, just the person she didn't need to see.

"Anna, you prat! Look, my bag's torn!" Jackie Potter's bright red hair was tangled, her pristine robes in disarray from the fall. Scrambling onto her knees, Jackie grunted irately at her books and parchment spread out all over the ground. Looking over at the small brunette disdainfully, Jackie sniffed. "Where the bloody hell were you running to so fast, anyway? And where are your robes?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this, Jackie." Jumping up, she brushed herself off. "I have to get to the Hospital Wing."

Jackie raised one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows. "What's wrong with you? You finally discover that you have two left feet, literally?"

Anna flushed. "No," she said hotly. "Hermione and some guy are in the woods down by the lake, and they're hurt. I have to go get help for them," she said.

Jackie got to her feet, and grabbed Anna's arm, her interest peaked. "Granger? But she's not hurt, I just saw her in Transfiguration," Jackie said, puzzled. "Her hair looks so nice, doesn't it? I love the pixie look," she said with a conspiratorial smile, her perfectly manicured nails digging into Anna's skin.

Anna bristled. "Then someone who looks like her, then, whatever! But she's hurt and so is her friend, and I have to go," she said, pulling her arm loose from Jackie's grip. She ran off, leaving Jackie staring after her, confused, surrounded by books and paper.

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Melody Northrup-Black was having almost as bad of a day as Anna was. It was only half past ten, and already she felt like tearing her hair out. Ronald Weasley had exploded his cauldron in Potions again, and the entire class had been splashed. She was just now finishing healing, and it hadn't helped that the bloody kid wouldn't sit still.

Finally managing to spread the anti-burn salve on the last reddened patch of skin on Ronald's arm, she sighed and capped the bottle. "All right now, off with you," she said to the seventh year, and he immediately jumped up and tore out of the wing. "Come back if it starts to hurt again!" she shouted after him, and sighed. How did Poppy do this for so long? She was starting to have doubts about this job.

Sighing, she brushed her bangs out of her face, already feeling the rest of her honey blonde hair coming out of its bun. Melody was beautiful, no doubt, but her heart-shaped face was lined with stress and there were bags underneath her eyes. She sat down at her desk to finish the order for more Dreamless Sleep Potion to send to St. Mungo's when the doors to the wing slammed open and none other than her friend Remus Lupin's daughter, Anna Lupin, came bursting through. "Aunt Mel...I mean, Madame Northrup!" the girl yelled breathlessly.

Dropping her quill, she immediately scanned the young girl for injuries as she bent down and rested her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Finding no obvious broken limbs or wounds, Melody walked over to the girl and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Anna?" Anna nodded, holding up a hand, still panting. "Good Lord, Anna, what's the matter?"

Gasping, Anna straightened up. "By the lake, two...um..." Anna breathed heavily for a moment, fighting for words. "Uh...people. They're hurt, they need help," she said.

The words tumbled out in a rush and Melody was already in action. Grabbing a medical bag and her wand, she said to Anna, "Show me." Anna nodded and started to run out again, but Melody stopped her. "No running. Walk briskly, if you must, but I'm too old to run."

Getting a small smile out of the distressed girl for the wry comment, the two walked quickly out of the wing.

When Anna and Melody reached the lake, Anna had caught her breath and was explaining what she'd seen. "...and I recognized her as Hermione Granger, but she looked different, Madame. Like, older, and she has this horrible scar..." Anna trailed off. "Anyway, there was a man next to her, I couldn't see his face, and he had this cut on his leg. They were both unconscious, so I covered them up with my robes and ran to get you," Anna finished.

Melody nodded approvingly. "You did the right thing, Anna, I'm proud of you," she said, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Anna smiled slightly, but her face stayed worried. She pointed to the underbrush where she had found the pair. "Over there, Madame."

Melody nodded distractedly, already in nurse mode, and worked her way over to the spot, Anna close behind her, carrying the medical bag.

Despite what Anna had told her, Melody was still shocked when she saw the woman lying on the ground, unconscious. It was Hermione Granger, no doubt, but she looked tremendously different. Seeing the scar that adorned the woman's neck, Melody swallowed tightly.

Disturbed, Melody's eyes traveled to the man lying next to Hermione. Walking around the pair and bending down on the man's side, she studied the cut on the man's leg. Nodding to herself, she said to Anna, "this gash looks bad, but it's shallow. It can be fixed quickly. Why don't you check her pulse again, make sure it's still steady."

Bending down, Anna checked Hermione's pulse again, finding it still going strong. Anna nodded at Melody's look. Satisfied, Melody pulled out her wand and muttered a spell, waving her wand over the unconscious two. A fine mist settled around both their heads, murky blue in color. Melody nodded again, muttering underneath her breath. "Madame...Aunt Melody? Are they okay?" Anna asked, her face drawn in concern. Anna might not know if this was Hermione or not, and she didn't even know who the man was, but she didn't want them to be hurt.

Melody smiled warmly at the girl, and Anna relaxed. "They're fine. See that blue mist? It just means that their magical energy has been depleted. A little rest, and they'll be fine." Melody liked Anna more than any of the other 'Marauder offspring,' as James had put it, maybe even more than her own son, Cameron Black. She'd never let her husband, Sirius, hear her say it, but Anna was such a caring and kind person, yet she had such a fragile soul, that Melody was as protective of her as would be if she was her own daughter.

Melody knew how Rachel treated her daughter, and many times had had to physically restrain herself from beating some sense into that wretched woman. Nothing was ever good enough for Rachel; she treated her own family like garbage. Remus deserved better, she'd even told him so many times, but the trouble was that the father was like the daughter in the fact that he didn't feel very worthy of anyone else.

She knew that not only her husband felt the same, but Lily and James did too, and they had all tried to reason with Remus on many occasions, but Remus had a bit of a blind spot when it came to his wife. Also, there weren't any examples of outright abuse from Rachel, verbal or otherwise, so they were stuck in the current unhappy medium.

Of course Lily and James had their own problems, especially lately, so Sirius and Melody had taken it upon themselves to try help Remus and Anna whenever they could, but they could only do so much. Many times, Melody had been with Anna and it seemed like Anna might open up, only to be distracted. Sirius had said many times that it would take Hera herself to break Remus' bond with his daughter. Not that they wanted to, it was just that it seemed like Remus was the only one that Anna would let past her defenses.

It didn't help that Cameron, Jackie, Riz and Harry teased Anna all the time, also. Melody had punished Cam all the time, and she knew that the other three had been punished severely for pranks and jokes on the small Lupin girl, also, but the parents could only do so much. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Melody shook herself back to the present when she heard Anna's voice. "What about the cut on his leg?"

Melody looked around, seeing a scrap of denim and some blood on a tree, about three yards up. Pointing, she indicated it to Anna. "They must have fallen from somewhere. Maybe they were climbing the tree, or something."

Anna looked puzzled. "Then how did their magical reserves get depleted?" she asked.

Melody shook her head. In fact, she was as confused as Anna was. "I don't know, Annie." Anna smiled at the nickname. "Here, I'll take him, you take Ms. Granger."

Nodding, Anna pulled out her wand and performed the Morbilicorpus spell on Hermione. Leading the unconscious woman in front of her with her wand, she walked out of the thick underbrush and onto the bank, waiting for Melody to come after her.

Melody performed the spell on the unconscious man, twirling her wand so that he turned over slowly, hovering slightly above the ground. When he turned face up, Melody gasped so violently that she nearly dropped her wand.

This was Harry Potter, without a doubt, she'd recognize the face anywhere. But it couldn't be Harry, she'd just treated him for a potion burn nearly thirty minutes ago, and he hadn't looked like this! The Harry she knew had thin, fashionable, silver glasses, and his hair was cut short and spiked with styling gel. He was stocky and muscular from years of playing as a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. This man in front of her was tall, thin and lanky, and he wore no glasses. Melody supposed they could have been lost in the fall, but when she looked closer at his face, the calluses on the bridge of his nose were faded. It seemed as if he had wore glasses at one time, but didn't anymore. Also, his (gel-free) hair was shaggy and long, reaching past his ears and getting in his eyes. There was also a peculiar scar in the middle of his forehead that Melody was sure she'd never seen anywhere before on anybody, let alone on Harry Potter.

What was going on? Melody had no doubt that these two people were in fact, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, yet they were not the Harry Potter and Hermione Granger that she knew. Was it some sort of plot, or dark spell? When a quick revealing spell showed that he had nothing to reveal, Melody concluded that she had no idea what to do.

"Aunt Mel?" Anna's voice came to her from through the trees.

"Uh, I'm fine," Melody said nervously. She couldn't bring Harry? Mr. Potter? Harry's impersonator? Whoever he was, Anna was worried and confused enough; she couldn't let her see this man, also. "Anna, listen to me carefully. Go ahead and take Ms. Granger to the hospital and set her on one of the beds in the back room. Then go fetch Professor Dumbledore and tell him to meet me back at the hospital. Tell him it's very urgent. I have to fix this man's leg," Melody called out to Anna.

Slightly puzzled at her favorite honorary aunt's change in demeanor, Anna shrugged and fetched her school bag from where she'd left it. "On it, Aunt Mel," she called out, and set off for the castle, an unconscious Hermione in tow.

As she heard the sounds of Anna leaving, Melody exhaled sharply, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. Rubbing the back of her neck tiredly, she shook her head. This bad day just got worse, she decided. Looking at the strange man hovering in front of her, she sighed. What the bloody hell was going on?

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While one version of Hermione Granger was being hovered to the Hospital Wing, the other version was buried in a book up in her quarters, as usual. This was her free period, and the thin, pale girl was trying to finish up her extra credit Charms essay, due a week from now. Hermione was sitting on her bed, balancing her book on her knees, researching the Fidelius Charm.

"Reading again, Granger?" a drawling voice asked from the doorway. Looking up from her text, she saw her roommate, none other than Head Boy Draco Malfoy leaning against the doorjamb, a smirk on his face, his blond hair loose and in his eyes. He was wearing his school robes, having just gotten back from class, apparently.

Instead of retorting with a nasty comment as many would, Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Yes, reading, Draco, something I'm sure that you've never done in your life."

"Hey," Draco's mildly offended voice came back. "I've read tons of crap," he said. He walked into the room and flopped down next to Hermione, ignoring her verbal protest as the ink bottle on the bedspread threatened to spill. "What're you working on now?" he asked, leaning over her shoulder to look.

Hermione huffed and showed him the title. "Fidelius Charm, for Flitwick."

Draco frowned. "I thought that essay was extra credit," he said.

"It is," Hermione said distractedly, turning back to her reading.

Draco rolled his eyes, irritated at her brush off. Leaning closer to the girl, he blew in her ear softly, making her shiver. She turned around and hit him and he laughed. "Got to you," he said.

"Honestly," Hermione said disgustedly. "God, Drake, you can be so immature sometimes."

"Don't call me Drake," he said in retort. "Dra-co, my name is Draco," he said, over pronouncing the syllables.

"Whatever," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

Draco shook his head. "The way you treat me is appalling, Granger, considering I am the best friend you've got." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I suppose you're the best friend I've got, too, considering."

Hermione went slightly pink, but covered it up by doing a pretty good Draco Malfoy impression. Turning up her nose and sniffing disdainfully, she sneered. "Grangers are above friends," she said haughtily, dissolving into giggles when Draco took a pillow and tried to smother her with it. "Ah, Drake, you spilled my ink, you prat!"

"What did I say about the nickname 'Drake?'" he said.

Hermione pushed Draco off of her, grabbing her wand and muttered a 'scourgify' charm to clean up the spilled ink. "You're such a git, Malfoy." Hermione didn't really know what it was about Draco Malfoy that made her blush with pleased embarrassment one moment, then want to scream with frustration the next. Whatever it was, it was not because she liked him, romantically. Definitely not.

Draco grinned. "A git that you love," he said cheekily. I definitely do not like him! Hermione screamed in her head.

"Shut up!"

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