Immortal Memories -part one-

Chapter 3: Wild

"A boggart? You've got to be kidding Professor!" a Ravenclaw boy burst out. "We did that ages ago."

"Would you like to teach the class then, Mr. Wardon?" the professor remarked dryly.

The boy sat down shamefully. "No ma'am," he muttered.

The professor smiled. "Well then, shall we?" She gestured to a door on the wall behind her. "Any volunteers?" When no one answered, she started to say something, but was interrupted. A boy had stood up in the back of the room.

"I'll go," he whispered. The professor looked stunned.

"Mr. Valentine, what a surprise."

"How so?" the boy asked.

She had no answer, so she waved to the rest of the class to line up behind him as she opened the door. The boggart emerged as an orb, shrouded in mist. The moon, full moon. "Ridikkulus" the boy whispered, pointing his wand at it, and it promptly turned into a yellow happy face button. The boy stumbled back, eyes closed, and breathing shakily, he took a seat on the floor against the wall. When it turned into a banshee for one girl, he laughed to himself, but when it turned into the moon again, his eyes widened in shock. He made a mental note to speak to the boy after class. Unbeknownst to him, so had Remus.

Once Remus had told his friends not to wait up for him, he turned to see the boy staring at him. "What?" he asked.

The boy stood up. "Yours is the moon too."

"Yeah, so?"

"I didn't know there were others." He never spoke louder than necessary for his voice to reach the other person.

"Neither did I." After a pause, "But it's not you, is it?"

The boy was surprised. "How do you know?"

"My friend figured it out a few weeks ago. Now I know what he meant. What's your name?"

"Viktor."

Remus smiled. "Well Viktor, nice meeting you, and I look forward to meeting your sister too."

"Full moon tomorrow night," the boy said. "Watch out, she gets kind of crazy when she turns. I'm surprised she's still alive."

Remus patted him on the back. "Don't worry. Say, how would you like a few friends?"

Viktor perked up, his eyes alight. "R—really? I mean, yeah, that'd be nice. She's all I've got, after all." He smiled shyly and followed Remus out the door.

As they were walking, Remus introduced himself and invited Viktor back to Gryffindor tower, to which the boy hesitantly agreed, and they walked up to the seventh floor. When Remus said the password, Viktor was polite enough not to listen.

Inside, almost immediately after the portrait swung closed, there was a small explosion. At one of the tables near the fireplace, Molly and Said were playing Exploding Snap; Molly's card castle had just ignited and Said was laughing in triumph. Remus walked over to them and looked down at the table.

"So...where are the others?" he asked.

Said stopped laughing and looked up at him. "Peter went to the library to finish his Potions and James and Sirius are, well..." He glanced toward the boys' dormitory.

"Okay...so anyway" he turned to Viktor and motioned for him to come over and sit down. Then he introduced him to Molly and Said. Viktor nodded and introduced himself before pulling out a pack of cards.

"Care if I join you?"

"Please do," Molly said happily. Remus sat on the other side of the table, and though he would rather have finished his book, he joined in their game after much prompting from Molly.

The next night, Madame Pomfrey led Remus out through the oak front doors, across the grounds to the Whomping Willow, where the boy slid through the roots into an underground passageway leading to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. Above he heard and argument between the nurse and a girl. Maybe it's her, he thought just as she slid into the tunnel behind him, causing him to stumble backward.

"Stop staring at me," she said, not even looking at him.

Remus looked away and started walking down the tunnel. She said nothing as she walked past him toward the turn ahead. After the turn, the passage was more or less straight from then on. But when Remus went after her, she was nowhere in sight, and that was saying something, since starting here the walls were hung with torches every twenty feet or so. When he finally reached the Shack, he found her sitting in a corner holding a bottle of butterbeer.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked.

"The pub, where do you think?" she replied sarcastically. She took a drink. "It is not the greatest but it will do." She stood up. "If you will excuse me." She walked up the stairs to the first floor. Just as she had her hand on the doorknob, Remus yelled after her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Out," was her whispered reply as she waved her hand over her shoulder.

Remus leaned back against the wall. Typical Slytherin. But not twenty minutes later, she was back. That's hardly enough time to get to the village, Remus thought when he saw her.

"At least tell me your name," he whispered unintentionally.

She looked like she was thinking for a moment before she opened her mouth to say something. But there were no words. Remus looked behind him out the window in the ceiling. The moon. He vaguely heard the girl whisper "run" before she pushed him up the stairs and shut the door. The moonlight hadn't touched him yet, so he could hear what was happening. A roar, then the sound of splintered wood, a wince that sounded like a hurt puppy, and then silence. Oh my god. I've got to get down there. The door was locked.

In the last second of his transformation, he slammed against the basement door, falling hard on the dirt floor below, and passed out.

When he woke again, the sun was shining slightly brighter than dawn light. He raised his head tiredly to look at the girl. The first thing he noticed was the large piece of wood through her left shoulder and the blood running from her head and mouth, and that she was conscious.

He conjured a stretcher from thin air, a handy spell he'd learned while reading up on Animagi, and levitated her onto it as not to hurt her more than she already was, before pulling the wood from her shoulder. He couldn't help wonder how she was still alive; he guessed now he knew how Viktor felt. He cast a levitation spell on the stretcher and floated it ahead of him as he walked through the passage back to Hogwarts. Once at the exit, he reached around to press the knot that stilled the tree, and moved the girl out before him. At the gate, he met Viktor. What was he doing up this early?