A/N: Here we go, some fluff to relieve the angst. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter. As usual, I own somethings, but not everything. It's confusing really.
Chapter 12: Growing Pains
**********************Hogwarts**********************************
September 3, 2015
8:20 am
Rain and Harriet were starting to breathe hard, having just sprinted half of the breadth of the castle from the Charms classroom to the Hospital Wing. They pulled up short as they almost crashed into a third-year coming out of the Infirmary door, and froze as they took in the scene in the room.
Tonks was standing back against the wall, hugging herself tightly, as she watched the bed. Emilia was wrapped around Xander, who was shivering slightly, his eyes still closed. Her outer robe was tossed carelessly to the floor, and she had slipped under the covers with him. A small hand had come up from under the blankets to cradle his cheek, as she rested her head under his chin. Rain started forward, only to be stopped as Tonks grabbed her shoulder and shook her head.
Parvati slipped from a side room, carrying with her a waft of simmering potions and came to stand next to Tonks. She half flopped back against the wall, and peered down at the pair in the bed. Small, wire-framed glasses framed tired, dark eyes; the need for them having appeared in the last seventeen years of reading charts in the often uncertain light of St. Mungo's and traditional patients' homes. Like most of her generation, she had nice, bright electric lights at home...even if they were occasionally unreliable. She reached up and pulled her ponytail over her shoulder and started to run her fingers through it.
"How is he, Par?" Tonks asked, looking over at the other woman. Poppy Pomfrey took care of the kids during the school year, but it was Parvati, who had by default become their healer during the summer months. Ever since her graduation from the Healer's program a year early, performing the five years of study and internship in only four, she had been pulled in every time one of the kids...or the adults that matter, in the rather insular group that had survived the war, had managed to injure themselves or come down with something serious. Parvati looked over at the bed as Em looked up, hearing Tonks' question and then at Rain and Harriet.
She sighed softly, knowing that it was easier in the end just to tell them all at once. She walked over to sit on the empty bed next to Xander. "You know, that none of you people are normal, right?" Parvati asked almost forlornly. "Most healers get cases, where the kid gets the parent's wand and maybe adds an extra leg, or gets boils in odd places, or they get into the Potions cabinet and give themselves ears and a tail..." She shook her head wryly, and reached into the wand pocket of her scrubs, set on the side of one thigh and flicked her wand around the room, casting a Muffliato Charm.
"I gave Xander a modified version of the Wolfsbane potion...it's primary purpose, of course, is to, for lack of a better term, allow less evolved Weres to control their impulses during the moon, but it also has a secondary effect of dampening certain hormones that are released during the full moon cycle. Ones that even the more evolved that have control over their transformations are still affected by...neurotransmitters that urge them to fight, up their territorial instinct, and urge them to...mate," she added a touch more softly.
Rain had the grace to look embarrassed, though Tonks only nodded, and Harriet did not seem to even notice as she sat next to Parvati, kicked off her Mary Janes and crossed her legs. Parvati looked over at her, and muttered something under her breath. "Em, Honey...look at me, please." Emilia looked up slowly, rolling over until she could see Parvati. "I talked to your mum before she left for the Ministry, Em..." she glanced over at Tonks, she nodded and closed her eyes. "I'm not going to sugar coat it...There have been about ten recorded, studied, instances of the curse that was used on Xander, it was a specialty of Antonin Dolohov's, until your Mum put a Piercing Charm through his brain..."
Emilia sat up, and wiped at her eyes, they were red and dried tracks ran down her cheeks. She swallowed a couple of times, "That was what Mum was hit with, wasn't it?"
Parvati nodded, "Your mum's case is one of the ones that Auror-cleared healers, the ones of us that work with the service, study. The curse is a variant of the Sectumsempra, but one that causes nerve-damage in addition to the typical severing damage, and usually explodes the heart, by causing adrenaline and other hormones to crash into overdrive, driving it faster and faster until it can't take it." Parvati shrugged, "Hermione was saved cause her magic saved her frankly...shut down her body...forced her into a catatonic state until Poppy could get to her. It also helped that he didn't verbalize it."
"So what happened to the rest of them?" Emilia asked, even though she really did not want to know. She looked over at Rain, as Tonks sighed and walked to the window, her arms pulling tight the bright orange jumper she was wearing.
"They all died, Em, your mum was the only one to survive a direct hit with that curse." She paused, looking down at Xander, "Xander would be the second, I hope..." Parvati took a few steps forward, and next to Emilia, "There haven't been any recorded cases of weres attacked with this curse though, and definitely none of wolflings...I am almost certain that his regenerative powers, though not as extensive as a transformed werewolf, will let him recover," Parvati reached up and patted Emilia's knee.
Emilia swallowed, and turned back to Xander, she ran her fingers along his cheek, "I trust you, Aunt Parvati..." Parvati smiled softly at the nickname, "you've been taking care of our scraped knees since we were two or three..."
Parvati stood, and stretched, "Xander is resting, we should know by this evening, Em, I am going to go get some sleep, since I got called into St. Mungo's last night for that broom pile-up in Leeds." She bent and kissed Em on top of her hair, and Emilia nodded without looking up. Parvati patted Tonks on the shoulder and left after muttering something to the Auror that just received a silent nod.
Tonks stepped over to the bed, "Rain, Harriet, head on back to class, I'll stay here," her tone did not provide leeway for the girls to argue, even though Rain started to try, only to stop at a small headshake from Harriet. Both of them left slowly, dragging their feet, but leaving as Tonks gave them a sharp look again. Tonks sat down on the edge of Xander's bed and reached out, grabbing Em's hand. "Come here...daughter," Em looked up at her, tears threatening to fall and she half crawled into Tonks' lap.
"So," Tonks said after a moment, holding Em to her and rocking her back and forth slowly, "How would you like to get a touch of blackmail material on your parents?"
Despite herself, Emilia snorted quietly and sat up, rubbing at her eyes, "Like what?"
"Well, there was that time where they snuck into the Headmistress' Office..."
************************Diagon Alley*********************************
12:15pm
"The girl just doesn't know what she wants really," Molly Weasley said, waving her hands wildly as she looked across the table to a grey-haired witch. "You heard what happened, Vanessa," Molly went on to Vanessa Carleton, an old friend of hers from her school days, and the latest recipient of a rapidly-tiring tirade. "She was hurt in that attack...you just know that it was on the Potters' children, some attempt to get back at Harry and Hermione, the poor dears. I know that they can't help it...but I will not have my granddaughter get hurt because of it."
"What will you do, Molly?" Vanessa said, leaning across the table in the Leaky Cauldron. Molly and her had run into each other in the Wizarding shopping district, and Molly had immediately convinced her to have lunch.
Molly looked to each side, "I am going to apply for custody of Harriet...I'm not going to tell Arthur, he is better off not knowing...but the Potters home is just not a proper environment for a underage girl, look at how they have raised their own children...They are always gone, Hermione is working...they have let Xander Lupin stay there overnight, when they aren't there...Who knows the things that they could get up to?"
"I thought that the Prophet said they were engaged," Carleton interjected, with the air of one used to a good gossip.
"They let their children do as they please...what kind of an example is that for Harriet?" Molly went on, slowly gathering a head of steam as a soft buzzing sound came from under the empty table one over and neither noticed. "Harry used to be such a respectful child before Hermione brought out this streak, polluting him with these outlandish Muggle ideas...she is just not a proper witch in the slightest, not like my Ginevra. She stayed home to raise her boys."
Vanessa nodded, then shrugged slightly, "That is the way of things these days, I am afraid...I have no idea what they teach them at Hogwarts these days. They come out of there, and are so ready to ignore the traditions that have sustained us for millennia...In my day, I would have never seen a woman as an Auror."
Molly nodded, absently; as if she was not sure she agreed but appeared to anyway. "Anyway, that is as it is, Harriet will be staying at the Burrow come Christmas." The soft buzzing faded away, unnoticed, as Tom brought over their orders and the two witches dug in.
***************************Hogwarts*****************************
11:00 pm
Emilia Potter sat quietly with her back to the headboard of the infirmary bed that Xander was in. Someone had expanded it, combining it with the one next to it to make one as large as hers at home, and giving her ample room to lie with him. Not that she really needed it, as her mother had said to her father years and years ago, all they really needed was a rather nice twin. A large, normally engrossing book on the Magical Creatures of Southwest Asia sat neglected across her blanket-covered lap, which was pulled up to just under Xander's chin.
She looked down at her left hand, which was slowly running through his hair, lightly combing patterns in his hair, and brought it up. She frowned slightly as she examined her fingers, and then looked over to her right hand, and stared at the diamond and emerald ring there, on her third finger, as it caught the light from the oil lamp set on the bedside table.
She took a breath as she ran her thumb over the gold band, and tilted it back and forth for a minute, watching the light dancing in the faceted stones. She closed her eyes, as she pulled the ring from her hand, with a slight effort as she overcame the anti-loss charms and held it up in front of her face. She looked down at Xander's sleeping face, and then slowly slid the ring back on, onto the third finger of her left hand. The ring flashed once as the Sizing Charm triggered, adjusting minutely to her left hand, and her eyes flared to life, emerald fire lighting them from within.
Emilia picked up the book and tossed it on the bed one over before slipping down next to him. She crawled on top of him, and kissed him slowly, before settling back down with her head on his shoulder. "Three years, Xander, three years," she whispered and closed her eyes, reaching down under the blankets to unerringly find his hand.
**************************Hogwarts****************************
September 26, 2012 (Wednesday, Three years prior)
3:00 pm
Emilia looked towards Rain and laughed as the dark-haired girl examined her hair, and frowned. Rain looked back up at her, "It looked good in the pictures," she complained as she fingered long, bright red highlights in her raven-colored hair. The thirteen-year-old witch sighed quietly as she looked up to see Andrew Weasley passing by. Emilia rolled her eyes as her friend's blue eyes went glassy.
"Andrew," Emilia shouted, "STOP IT!" The part-veela looked to them suddenly and then at Rain's face and visibly took a breath. He gave them a quick, sheepish look and hurried on his way. Rain staggered, missing a step, as her eyes cleared. Emilia turned to her, catching her, and looked up as a hand reached out and grabbed Rain from the other side. She looked up and found a pair of dark brown eyes looking back to hers. "Thanks, Xander," she said quietly.
He smiled, and she felt her hand on Rain's arm tremble slightly. She dropped his gaze and looked past him to find Elliot Longbottom and Nathan Black, along with Robert Weasley, standing at the hallway back to Transfiguration, from which the girls had just come. "What happened?" he asked as they set the normally sure-footed girl on her feet. Rain looked between them and took a few steps backwards, pretending to check her pack for some suddenly vital piece of school equipment. Neither of them noticed.
"Andrew was doing his thing again," Emilia said exasperatedly. She looked over at Robert, "Bob, you tell Andrew that if I catch him doing his snog-me-now thing on friends or family again, I'm telling his mum...or maybe Aunt Molly." Robert nodded quickly, and looked around fearfully as if Fleur or worse yet, Molly was about to step out from behind the corner at any moment.
Emilia turned and looked back at Xander to find him still looking at her, "What, Xander," she asked quietly, "do I have something on my face?"
"Huh...No," he recovered quickly shaking his head and glancing back towards his friends who were all looking in various random directions. His eyes widened slightly as a herd of second years sprinted past and he grabbed her, pulling them both out of the way of the stampede and to a protected spot out of the way of traffic. He took a breath as Emilia looked at him oddly, "Um...Emilia...I was wondering..."
"Yes," Emilia replied, looking up at him, as she pulled her mass of inky hair back into a tail, and tied it back with a band from her pocket. Xander just stared at her dumbly, and she sighed, "What Xander? We have practice to get to in a bit."
"Willyougotohogsmeadewithme," he spurted and a single, inky eyebrow crooked up slowly, and he took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, breaking the contact with the deep green pools that he suddenly found took up his entire field of vision, he opened them and looked at her again. "Will you...g...go to Hogsmeade with me, this weekend?" he asked softly, but she understood.
Her already large eyes widened, becoming almost like Dobby's. "I...I'd l...love to," Emilia replied equally as quietly as her stomach flipped and tossed about in her stomach like a mad acrobat.
"Alright," Xander said.
"Alright," Emilia said as well. A huge smile bloomed on his face, and he took a step back. "Meet in the Common Room?" Emilia asked and he nodded. She watched, not moving from her spot as Xander walked backwards for a couple of steps, tripping over his own feet once in a display reminiscent of his mother and reached his friends. He said something to them and they headed off, Xander glancing back once just as they rounded the corner to pass out of sight.
*****************************Hogwarts*********************************
September 3, 2015 (Present)
11:10 am
"I would go anywhere for you, Xander," Emilia whispered against his neck. She squirmed until she was almost totally on top of him, feeling throughout her body the slow, steady rise and fall of his chest as it lifted and lowered her line of sight. She let her fingers trail along the ball of his shoulder, "I really, really need you to wake up soon, Xander...I'm sorta randy...you can watch me if you want..." She closed her eyes for an instant, and sighed, before opening them again, "I am beginning to run out of ideas, Xander."
She dropped her head and tucked it under his chin, reaching down intertwining her hand with one of his, carefully avoiding pulling out the potion drip in the back of his hand. The soft beep of a monitoring orb filled the silence as she lay on his chest, eyes open and staring towards the door. Emilia looked up as Poppy Pomfrey slipped in, and looked at them. She shook her head slightly, and checked the potion drip before she gave Emilia a silent nod and left, heading back to her quarters.
"I think we broke her, Xander," Emilia whispered, snuggling down a touch more.
Yeah, a soft, croaked voice filled her thoughts, and she felt her heart skip a beat or maybe ten, before she lifted her body slowly on suddenly-shaking arms, to find his eyes open and looking unerringly into hers. He watched as her eyes slowly filled with tears and she dropped her head to his shoulder, sobbing quietly. Don't cry, Em, I'm fine...
You damn prat...I though I'd lost you...I was..g...getting ready to follow, Emilia sobbed silently, and shuddered slightly as his free hand came up slowly to cup the back of her head. She swallowed and pulled back, sitting up and looking down at him. Don't you ever do that again, Xander James Lupin, her eyes cut to the side as a flicker of black fur slipped in the door and hopped up on the bed next to them. Hipper gave them both a seemingly exasperated look, as he started cleaning his fur.
Emilia turned back to Xander as he started to stroke her hip; she fought the shudder that slipped up her nerves at his touch, even with the utter exhaustion she knew he still felt. I'd do it again, Em, he replied, and her glare intensified.
That's it...no sex for you for a month, Emilia snapped and laid back down on his chest.
What about what you promised, Xander smirked slightly.
Heard that, did you? she muttered, but refused to sit up and meet his eyes. His hand reached down, pushing up the fabric of her t-shirt at the small of her back and started to run his fingers in small circles. She let out a soft groan as the tips of his fingers slipped under the waistband of her sleep pants, and she kissed his shoulder. Xander...she laughed silently, if you can...
Maybe later, he replied and she laughed out loud once.
Should I get Poppy? she asked in a worried tone as he coughed once.
No, I'm fine as long as you'll be here when I wake up. He turned his head trying to find her face in the darkness as a sudden suspicion flitted across his thoughts, You aren't going to miss any class tomorrow, are you?
It's Friday, just DADA...I think we can skip that one for this week, don't you? She lifted herself enough to kiss his lips chastely, Don't worry, Xan, you have all weekend to get better, you won't even miss a Hogsmeade weekend.
Damn...and I really wanted a butterbeer...he whispered as he trailed back off to sleep.
September 29, 2012 (Saturday, 3 years prior)
9:10 am
Xander Lupin paced nervously back and forth along the threadbare Persian rugs of the Gryffindor Common Room. He looked up quickly as he caught a glimpse of black hair out of the corner of his eye, and sighed as he saw it was only Rain. She looked over at him and grinned as she walked over. Twinkling blue eyes looked him up and down; she walked around him slowly, as she took in the dark blue button-up shirt over a pair of khaki cargos, "You clean up nicely, for such a scruff ball."
"Thanks, Rain," he muttered, not rising to the bait. He looked back to the stairs as several more Gryffindor girls came down the stairs, including Anastasia who giggled at something her roommate said. She waved at Xander and Rain as they passed before bending to whisper something urgently in the auburn-haired girl's ear as they slipped through the portrait hole.
"Ready, Xander?" a soft soprano said from behind him and Rain grinned and quickly vanished, slipping away to the portrait hole and following the crowd quickly empting the Common Room. He looked back towards the stairs, to find Emilia standing with her hands twisted together in front of her.
He swallowed slightly as his eyes took her in, and she smiled nervously. Thanks to Rain and Anastasia's midnight work last night and a panicked, last-minute mirror call to her mother, she had picked out a pleated red and gold skirt that just brushed her knees, along with a white, long-sleeved top. Her hair was pulled back into a bushy tail, making her eyes seem huge in her face, and exposing her ears, which held a pair of emerald studs, a gift from her father for her last birthday. She scuffed the toe of her trainers against the slate floor as she cocked her head at Xander, waiting. Her eyes dropped, as he did not say anything for a moment.
A lead weight settled in his stomach at the sight, and something jolted his brain back into motion. "You look nice," Xander said quietly and she looked up at him, grinning, and walked over to him.
"You do too," she said softly as she stood a foot or two from him, "New shirt?"
"Yeah...Mum said it worked with my eyes," he replied with a shrug, and slipped his hands in his pockets. "Wanna go?" Emilia nodded and started towards the portrait hole. She paused and looked back towards him. Xander jumped into motion, and walked forward to the portrait hole. He held it open for her as she clambered through it and then looked at him as he let the portrait close.
Emilia nibbled on her lip as she walked beside him, periodically glancing over to meet his eyes as he did likewise. They made it to the Great Doors, where Alabaster Smityh, Argus Filch's replacement in the role as Caretaker to Hogwarts, waited to check permission slips. A role that was actually becoming challenging these days as the student population grew every year, and was currently almost twice what it had been in their parents' years here. Minerva McGonagall stood next to him, leaning on a lion-headed cane that she did not really need, but had adopted as a prop after her second stay in St. Mungo's.
She gave them both a nod as Xander handed Smityh the permission slips for both of them, and watched them go and board a carriage. A faint expression that might have actually been a smile crossed her lips, but quickly vanished as she turned back and frowned at the Baker twins, whom she knew quite well had been grounded from Hogsmeade by their parents for the foreseeable future. She had had tea with their grandmother the day before school started and had heard the long, sordid story of purloined brooms, a Manticore, and a couple of Yetis, while the twins were on vacation with their parents. McGonagall just pointed with her cane back towards the castle and the pair of Hufflepuffs shambled off.
The carriages let out at the end of the High Street of Hogsmeade, and Xander leapt out from the carriage and looked back, reaching a hand up to help Emilia from the carriage only to watch as she jumped down, ignoring the steps. She just shrugged at him, and they started out along the street, headed towards the main part of the town. In the years since its near destruction during the final battle of the war, the Wizarding town had almost quadrupled in size as a concerted rebuilding effort revitalized the town, bringing shops and homes back to the town.
The Three Broomsticks, Zonko's, Dervish and Banges, Scrivenshaft's, Honeydukes, all destroyed during the fighting, had all been rebuilt, though with Wizarding construction, the shops looked much as they had in Harry and Hermione's school years. Others had joined them, the first of which was the Weasley Twins' first expansion store, followed by a new expansion store for Florean Fortescue, who had been found a month after Voldemort's death, miraculously alive, in the basement of a suspected Death Eater's mansion...suspected as they were never sure that the body bearing the Dark Mark that was found in the rubble of Hogwarts, matched the either one of the pair of unidentified heads near by.
"Where do you want to go?" Xander asked nervously, looking up and down the street. Hogwarts students were spreading out in a thick wave, pouring into the shops and stores, yelling back and forth to each other. He looked at Emilia nervously and then away as he caught sight of a pair of Fifth Years, Annette Thrace and Samson Gander, standing closely under the eves of Zonko's. He looked away, blushing as Annette giggled and slapped away his hand as it pulled up the hem of her skirt and pulled him deeper into the alley, and out of sight.
Emilia looked at him, her cheeks pink as well, "I don't know...maybe Scrivenshaft's...I do need a new quill..." she said with a shrug.
"Alright." He pointed on down the street, "It's there."
"Yeah," Emilia agreed and they set off, dodging through the streets, and stepping around other students. Emilia glanced over at the doorway of Honeydukes as they passed and sighed softly, moving almost imperceptivity closer to Xander, "They are watching us, Xander."
"You noticed, huh?"
"Yeah," Emilia replied, as she gave Rain a quick, heartfelt glare. "Xander?"
"Yeah?"
"Would you...um..." he stopped and looked at her, a sixth year Slytherin and his date bumped into them, knocking Xander into Emilia and both of them into a thankfully unoccupied bench. Xander growled as he stood and spun, he took a step, and stopped, as a small hand grabbed onto his.
Emilia glared at the rapidly departing Slytherins, both now joined at the lips, and oblivious to anything, and then back at Xander. Her gaze softened, and she shook her head slightly, "Don't let those wankers ruin our day, Xander," she said softly and stood, pulling herself up with her right hand that was in his left. She pulled him along, starting him back in motion.
"But..." She shook her head and kept them moving towards the Quill shop at the end of the street. After a few more feet, Xander looked down at their hands, "Em...you haven't let go."
"Do you want me to?" she replied quietly, glancing down for a beat, as they stopped in the middle of the street just outside of the store.
"No...not really," Xander replied, with just a trace of squeak in his voice. She grinned up at him, and moved her hand slightly in his, interlacing her fingers with his, and led him into the store. After a half hour, in which they examined at least fifty quills, driving the shopkeeper slightly mad, and in which Em never let go of his hand, even though she wrote right handed, she picked three, and Xander one, mostly because he was there, more than anything, they walked back out onto the street. "What now?"
"I dunno," she replied, and looked at him, panning her eyes over his face as if she was looking for some hidden truth, or maybe a spot from breakfast. She slipped her free hand into the hidden pocket of her skirt, then played with the hem of her top for a beat, before looking down the street, "We could go to the...bookstore if you want...I know it's boring and all..."
"Not really," he replied, "It's alright I mean..."
She smiled shyly, and slowly started towards the bookstore, Xander automatically falling into step at her side as if
they had been doing this for years-which they had, just without the hand holding, usually. She smiled up at him and
tucked an escaped lock behind her left ear as he held the door for her, and let her lead him to the Transfiguration
section.
Emilia started to look through the books idly, glancing back every so often to find Xander as he read the titles of a
few select items in the Charms section on the other side of the aisle.
He picked up one on Changing You, Hairstyles for the Metamorph in You, "I'm going to get this for Abby for Christmas," he announced to Emilia, and she nodded.
She pulled down Weird, Wild and Wonderful Transfigurations and looked back towards him, turning and pulling the heavy book to her chest. "Thank you, Xander," Emilia said softly, almost timidly, as she rocked back and forth slightly on her heels.
"For what," he asked, bemused as he set his book down on a small table near him.
A stack of books floated by, cutting between them and Emilia turned and watched them float down the aisle, "I know that I'm not the best one to be seen with...you could have taken Naomi...or even Rain...I mean I can't even decide if I want to be a tomboy or a bookworm..."
"You're a very cute bookworm with tomboyish tendencies," Xander said quickly, almost blurting it out. Emilia's eyes widened, and she snapped to his, he nodded as if answering her silent question and blushed. "Um...you want to go get a butterbeer or something?" he said, and she nodded, holding her bottom lip in her teeth, as she almost jumped the several feet separating them until she could grab his hand again.
"Let's go, Xander," she said, and started to pull him towards the counter to pay for their books, "we might as well get the teasing over with."
"What, our friends and family tease us mercilessly about this?" he snorted, with a faint sense of dread, which vanished as she intertwined her fingers with his, and handed the clerk her money. "They would never do that."
"Noooo, that would never happen," she agreed with a small smirk on her lips that seemingly cast a spell removing all of the oxygen in the room for a minute. "You got my back, then?" she added, the question seemingly light, but somehow, it was not.
"Yeah, I suppose I do," Xander returned, and lead her from the bookstore towards the Three Broomsticks and the combined nefarious forces of the collected third and forth year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw houses, lying in wait.
A couple of long, innuendo-filled and teasing hours later, Xander and Emilia slipped out of the Three Broomsticks, both looking slightly harried but more or less whole. She looked sideways, giving him a small, knowing grin, and he laughed. They both looked along the street, finding it still crowded with students and staff, and Xander grabbed her hand and led her along the street until they reached a nearly empty section of street, leading towards where the Hogs Head had once stood seventeen years ago, but was now filled with houses and a custom broom shop.
"Wanna go look and see what's new?" Emilia said, looking towards the shop as she slowly swung their joined hands back and forth, "Dad's, thinking of getting one...Mum's not too hot on the idea though..."
"If you want," Xander replied, he looked back the other way, towards an old decrepit house on the hill above the town. It seemed even more run down these days than it had in previous years, but it still held the supposed stigma of almost forty years of dark happenings. "Em...I kinda would like to..."
"Yeah?"
"Would you like to go check out the Shrieking Shack?" He shrugged," I've heard about it from Dad, but, I'd kinda like to..."
"Sure," Emilia agreed with a small smile, she dropped her head and pushed her hair back behind her ear again, and started to pull them both up the hill, overcoming the bare trepidation that she knew he felt at the subject.
The large, worn and abandoned house sat as it had for the last forty or fifty years, windows boarded up, paint, what there was left of it, peeling and flaking away. The entire house seemed to sway in an invisible wind as they approached, stepping up to the very edge of a untended fence composed of a rusted pair of barbed wire strands strung along rotted fenceposts. A hand-lettered sign, painted on an irregularly-shaped chunk of wood was hung on the fence reading "Keep Out".
A faint feeling of dread settled over them as they stopped next to the wire and looked in across a barren yard to the front door. Emilia let go of Xander's hand and rested her hands on top of one chest-high fencepost. She watched as a knarl slipped by along the foundation of the house, "Do you want to get closer?"
"Sure," Xander replied, looked at the fence, "How do you want to get through the fence?" Emilia smiled at him, and nonchalantly clambered through the fence, Xander hurriedly looked away, lest he catch a glimpse of anything. She looked back and resettled her skirt around her legs, and looked back at him, finding him still looking back towards the town.
"You didn't have to do that, Xander," Emilia called softly, nibbling on her lower lip for an instant before continuing, "but thank you anyway." He just shrugged and followed, slipping through a gap, and deftly avoiding catching his clothes on the fence, before following her up to the house. She looked around, and motioned to Xander. She reached into his front pants pocket and quickly grabbed out a folding knife she knew he kept there, and pried at a half-nailed-on board that was blocking the entrance. She paused and dropped her head, blushing as she realized what she had just done.
She pulled on the board, and a moment later it flew backwards into the yard as Xander grabbed on and it tugged. She gave him an appreciative look and ducked through the resulting gap, and looked back as he followed. "Lumos," Emilia muttered and a spear of white light shot out from her wand, piercing the gloom of the house, which was only sporadically lit with shafts of light piercing the boarded-up windows. Xander followed her as they slowly wandered around the lower floor, finding old, tattered and shattered furniture, many of them bearing long claw marks.
She watched, silently, as he placed his hand into the claw marks, finding it short. "Do you want to go, Xan?" she asked quietly. He looked back and held her gaze for a moment; then finding something in her eyes, affection, friendship...he shook his head shortly.
She nodded at something unsaid, and reached back, taking his hand again, and started up the rickety stairs to the second floor. The light from her wand bobbed on the stairs as she led with her right hand as she pulled him along with her left. The ancient boards creaked and moaned as the two of them climbed the stairs cautiously. Emilia stopped, almost jerked off her feet as Xander stopped suddenly. She looked back, and she let his hand drop. "X...Xander..." she whispered, as he stepped into the shaft of her wandlight.
His eyes, dark brown eyes that she had seen at least once a week since she could remember, and usually much oftener than that, were gone, even the whites vanished into depthless pools of black. A pair of sharp, white fangs protruded from under his lip. Emilia took a sharp step back, and Xander flinched, stepping backwards into the dimness. "Xander," Emilia whispered, reaching for him and watching him take another step back, "w...what's wrong..."
"I...I sh...should leave," he stammered, his voice an octave or two lower than normal, more of a growl than actual words. He took a step, and blinked to find her in front of him. She reached out and grabbed his wrist, he tried to pull away, but found she would not let go. "L...let go, Em...I might hurt you."
"I don't believe that, Xander," she whispered. She swallowed a step closer and the light from her wand lit his face. She looked up into his eyes, and stepped closer, "I trust you, Xander," she took a final step forward and wrapped her arms around him, and buried her face in his shirt. She paused, hearing his heart race under her ear, like a caged animal's. "Whatever it is..." she took a breath, and her mind raced behind emerald eyes. "You're a wolfling...like a Damphir...but a were..." He nodded slowly, as she stepped back and took both of his hands in hers, her wand clattering to the tattered and scarred floorboards of the house, remaining lit even as it settled to the ground.
"I didn't want you to know," he muttered, dropping his head so she would not see his eyes. She let go of his left hand, keeping his right in her left. Her wand jumped back to her hand with a mutter, and she looked around the room, shining her wandlight around until she found another staircase upward.
"Come with me, Xander." Emilia soft voice brooked no argument as she pulled him along, and up the short set of stairs. A closed door was at the end of the stairs and with a flick of a wand, it opened to the afternoon sunlight and a soft breeze. Emilia pulled Xander out onto a small, hidden roof outlook and watched as Xander took several deep, shuddering breaths. His eyes slowly faded, brightening to his normal dark brown iris and bright white sclera as his fangs receded. She flicked her wand, cleaning the accumulated dust and leaves from the deck and motioned to the floor. He sat down with his back against a wall, and watched as she sat down across from him, bending her legs to the side. He watched her as she looked across at him, a soft look dancing in her eyes. "You won't tell anyone?"
"Not if you don't want me to," she replied, "what happened, Xander?"
"I don't know...I suppose there was too much of Dad still around here...I was stupid, Em, I should have known..." he looked up as she scooted closer to him, "I would hate for you to be afraid of me, Em...I don't want anyone to know, they'd be afraid of me, you can't know..."
"I do, Xander," she reached out and stopped halfway, pulling her hands back into her lap. She concentrated, closing her eyes and small bits of debris started to lift around them dancing and weaving in the breeze. They held there for a long, timeless moment, then collapsed to the ground with a soft clatter of sticks and stones to the wood around them. Emilia leaned forward, panting slightly. Xander's eyes slowly panned down to Emilia's wand, lying unlit and well away from her hands, and then back up to her face, finding her lower lip trapped between her teeth and her quivering slightly. "They were afraid of Mum and Dad, Xander...even their best friends..." She looked down at her wand, "Dad blew up his Aunt Marge when he was my age...met her once, horrible woman," she shook her head, throwing off the thought. "Rain doesn't even know, yet...but I'm going to tell her soon..."
"Do your parents know?" Xander asked as Emilia scooted over to sit next to him, leaning back against the wall next to him.
Emilia nodded, "Honestly, yeah, Mum recognized the signs in Sirius and I, after all she had already seen them in herself and Dad, though she never did anything as grandiose as Wandless Human Transfiguration when she got peeved...Honestly, Grandmum and Granddad would have never given her reason to be. Which is good...her temper's worse than Dad's actually, when she lets it go. I have her temper, Xander," she added quietly, and he shrugged and waved away the comment with a gesture. "Abby too?" Emilia asked, as she dropped her head to his shoulder as they both looked out the trees and houses to the huge castle looming over the surrounding area.
"Probably," he replied, and a faint flush swept up his neck, "Mum and Dad said something about her being tied more to the Lunar cycle..."
"Oh," Emilia said, understanding, and blushing slightly herself, "she is only eleven..." The pair of them fell silent as they watched squadrons of school owls wheel about over the castle in the distance. Emilia settled her head more comfortably on his shoulder, and sighed quietly as he slipped an arm around her shoulders.
She played idly with her wand, twirling it between her fingers like a drummer before she slipped it into her pocket, sliding it through the pass-through into the sheath strapped to her leg under her skirt. Silently, she debated calling Dobby and having the elf bring them something, her skill at conjuring beverages still leaving much to be desired, but refrained, somehow mere thirst did not seem a valid enough reason to disturb this hidden, silent corner of the world, where the air was still heavy with earth-shattering revelations. At least to a pair of thirteen-year-olds.
The traffic in the town below them ebbed and flowed, emptying slowly as Hogwarts' students started to head back to the castle, and finally Emilia looked down at her watch, and groaned, not wanting to leave for all the Galleons in the family vaults. "We need to leave, Xander."
"I know," he replied and stood slowly, reaching down and pulling her to her feet with deceptive ease. "This really isn't how I thought this would turn out," he mentioned, taking her hand and leading her back down through the house. She felt it, somehow when his other side started to manifest in the house, and felt it ebb just as fast as they reached the doors to the outside and stepped into the late afternoon sun. She followed him through the fence before answering.
"I prefer it, somehow," she replied quietly, several long silent minutes after his comment as they headed down the High Street to board the carriages. She waved at Rain, who was carrying a large bag from Honeydukes, along with Emilia and Xander's purchases, which the pair had left with her seemingly ages ago. Rain gave them a puzzled look and nodded towards the carriages. Emilia waved her on, and stopped, grabbing both of Xander's hands as she turned to face him. She took a breath and darted forward, kissing his cheek softly, and lingering for a beat before rocking back on her heels to face the now, bemused Xander. "Thank you, Xander...for everything."
An almost glow filled his eyes as he helped her aboard the carriage that Rain had already boarded and stepped up to follow her, back to Hogwarts, or to anywhere really.
A/N: There you go, feel better. The events that Tonks talked about are enumerated in A Visit to the Headmistress' Office which is here on PK, look for it under my account and its set during Circle, so if you haven't read it...go now. Next chapter, Hermione has a talk with her daughter, we catch up with some old friends and X/E reconnect...