The Girl who Survived (Fred Weasley)

CH 13. The Black Dog

~Elodie's POV~

Waiting. We could hear the slight drip from the rain that had stopped outside as we waited for Harry to wake up. The quidditch match was absolutely awful. Harry fell off his broom after being attacked by a dementor and now we were waiting for him to wake up.
"Looks a bit peaky, doesn't he?" Ron asked from over my shoulder as I sat in the bed.
"Peaky?  What d'you expect him to look like? He fell fifty feet." Fred answered him.
"Yeah, c'mon, Ron. We'll walk you off the Astronomy Tower and see how you come out looking." George pressed further.
"Probably a right sight better than he normally does," Harry said as he finally opened his eyes as he slowly began waking up.
"How are you feeling?" I asked him.
"Brilliant," Harry said as he propped himself up on his elbows.
"You gave us a right good scare there, mate" Fred told Harry as he went to sit next to him.
"What happened?" Harry asked. My goodness he didn't even remember.
"You fell off your broom," Ron informed him.
"Really? I meant the match. Who won?" Harry asked and we all kind of went silent for a bit feeling uncomfortable.
"Uhm, No one blames you, Harry," Hermione said from his side. "The Dementors aren't supposed to come inside the grounds," she said and looked over to me.
"Dumbledore was furious, little brother. After he saved you, he sent them straight off," I said as I brushed a few strands of hair away from his face.
Ron went on to tell Harry about his broom which let him a bit upset, but it was definitely better than a broken neck. Eventually we decided to leave Harry to get some rest, he was required to stay overnight in the hospital wing.
"I'll see you lot back in the common room," I told everyone as they headed out "Listen Harry, I think you should talk to Professor Lupin, maybe see if there's anything he can do, so that way if you are attached again, you'll be prepared," I told him quiet enough for no one around would hear.
"Have you gotten a chance to talk to Dumbledore since the night of the great hall?" He asked me.
"No, Minerva said he's been far too busy lately, and now after this I don't see that getting any better," I told him.
"And you're sure you don't remember anything that could-" Harry began but I cut him off.
"No, I told you, I can't remember much, especially not anything about Black," I said and watched him sink back down into his bed. "I'll leave you to get your rest then," I told him.
"You should learn too," He said looking at me. "From Professor Lupin."
"I know how to protect myself Harry. It's you I worry about," I answered him.
No one was in the mood to celebrate, not even Hufflepuff. Cedric had offered a rematch given the circumstances of how they won, but there was only so much he could do. He felt it hadn't been a fair victory, but eventually the issue was dismissed.

***

The next couple weeks all passed the same. Go to class, turn back time, go to another class. Sit through a different class, turn back time, sit through another class. Keeping up with my class work was still pretty consistent; sometimes I would set up in Minerva's office so I could use a whole day to study. Professor Trelawney's remedy hadn't been much help in removing the blockage she talked about, so I was now at drinking her special wonky tea every day.
Saturday morning, the snow was sticking to the ground, the holidays were just around the corner. This was the last Hogsmead weekend before everyone would leave for Christmas holiday.
"Come on Mimi, there has to be something you can do for him, he's all alone in his dorm It's bloody heartbreaking," I told Minerva as I was trying to see if there was anything she could do for Harry.
"Like I told him, I am neither a parent nor a guardian, it would be inappropriate," she told me as she slipped on her cloak to head outside.
"But you're my parent or guardian, and he's my brother, there must be-" I began but she wouldn't hear it.
"Absolutely not. It is the school's rules and I will not be the one to break them," she said and opened her office door signaling that she thought this conversation was over.
I took a few steps towards the door but stopped as I felt a strong sense of anger building up in me. I felt the pulsating pressure behind my eyes that caused my vision to slightly blur. I looked up and locked eyes with Minerva who was still waiting for me to leave.
"If it were me would I be dismissed just as easily?" I said and instantly felt the feeling disappear.
Minerva stared at me. I could see how her angered expression flipped to shock. I blinked a few times to make sure the feeling was gone, and without saying anything I moved past her. Eventually I was sprinting as fast as I could. The icy cold air hit my face, first feeling relaxing, but after a minute my face felt numb. I stopped to catch my breath and looked out one of the windows as I decided where I was even going. As I looked just outside the courtyard I could've sworn that I had seen a dog looking up at me, but I blinked and it was gone. What was happening to me?
I walked to where I thought the animal may still be around, but there was nothing in the hallway. Surely it wouldn't still be here. I heard snickering coming from the courtyard. From behind a pillar I stopped to see red hair concealed by beanies. Fred and George were building a snowman. I walked up to them and they noticed me right away.
"Hello beautiful! We were wondering where you had run off to," George told me as I moved closer. There was something about his voice that wasn't convincing. Fuck, the last thing I needed was to get pranked right now.
I grabbed a handful of snow and placed it on the ball George was forming in his hand. "Do you ever try and do something good, but just end up feeling like a complete tosser after?" I asked them.
"Never," They said in unison.
"I tried to get McGonagall to sign Harry's permission form so he could go to Hogsmeade with everyone else," I informed them. "And then I yelled at her." I said as I smashed my fist into the middle layer of the snowman.
"Oy, don't take it out on frosty!" Fred said as he placed the head on the snow man.
"Don't worry deary, it just so happens we have a plan to help young Harry," George told me as he wiggled his eyebrows.
"Do I want to know?" I asked them. I knew that they wouldn't purposely get Harry into trouble, but trouble had a way of finding the Potter name. I trusted them enough though. "You know what, never mind. I should go, I told Ron and Hermione I'd meet them," I said and made eye contact with Fred who looked like he wanted to tell me to stay.
Fred and I had talked since the incident in the common room, but I'd just been wanting my space lately. I didn't like that it had happened at all, especially from Fred, but I also didn't like how upset I had gotten. I knew that there was a bit of tension between Cedric and Fred, and I didnt want that to get worse. Yet I felt a bit torn. Both were my best friends, yet I felt myself choosing Cedric more lately. If things were to escalate I wouldn't want Fred to think I'd replaced him as my best friend too. It had just turned into a messy situation as Cedric predicted, but I'd never tell him.
I started walking away, but I didn't really want to go to Hogsmead anymore. When I turned back the boys were no longer at the snowman. I walked into the castle and made my way to the great hall where I found Cedric talking and giggling with Cho Chang, a third year Ravenclaw. It's like at this point my mind just turned off, and I didn't know how to feel anymore. He saw me but I just turned around and started walking towards the whomping willow.
"Elodie!" He called behind me, but I didn't slow my pace.
"Hey El, please stop," He asked, and I did.
"Hey, what's going on?" He asked me and moved to stand in front of me. He reached out to try and place a hand on my waist, but I stepped back.
"I don't know Cedric, what's going on?" I questioned him back and maneuvered around him to resume my walk.
"What? Cho is just a friend. I was sitting at my table eating and she came to join me," He said walking next to me.
"What, you mean how I'm just a friend?" I shot back at him.
"No, you know that's different," He told me, flustered by my statement as if I had insulted him.
We were just on the outskirts of the Whomping Willow, but I made sure not to get too close. I turned to look at him and said, "How is it different? You're friends with her and you're friends with me, I can assume it's not too far off."
"Yeah, only cause every time I try and ask you to make things official something comes up," he started. I put a finger to his lips and pointed at what I knew I saw. A big black dog going into a space underneath the Whomping willow. The only reason I saw it was because the tree started twisting as if it wanted to push the animal away.
"Please tell me you saw that?" I whispered to him. He didn't say anything, but I felt him nod his head. "That's the black dog, the same black dog," I said and removed my hand from his face. I started walking a bit closer, but Cedric pulled me back.
"Are you crazy?" He asked me, holding an arm in front of me.
"Yeah, but I think you like that, otherwise what are you doing here?" I told him and then pushed my hands in front of me so I could freeze the Whomping Willow to give us enough time to make it through. "Run," I said, grabbing his hand and he was quickly being me.
We made it through and landed in a tunnel that had been hollowed out. It was dingy and creepy, and the dog was nowhere in sight. There was only one path, so it couldn't have gotten far.
"Please don't tell me we're going to do that again," Cedric said as he dusted himself off behind me.
I kept looking around and started following the way that the tunnel led, "If we can't find a way out, we're going to have to," I said and looked back to make sure he was following. "This way," I said.
"Is this that Gryffindor craving for adventure everyone's always talking about?" he asked me softly.
"Perhaps, maybe I'll turn you into a believer," I said with a chuckle in my voice. We reached the end of a tunnel and got to a set of stairs that looked old and dangerous but we began ascending anyway.
"Wait, Are we...?" Cedric asked me as he looked around. The outside definitely matched the inside if he was right.
"I think we are. It would make sense that the entrance was protected by the Whomping willow," I told him once we reached the top of the stairs. Most of the doors were closed. So I walked towards the one that was open.
"And can you tell me why exactly it is that you're so interested in finding this dog?" He asked close behind me.
"So many questions," I said going through the open door to find an old bedroom that contained a heavy layer of dust, a bed and a piano. "Do you remember that night in the courtyard? When you almost...?"
"Yes, why?" He asked me.
"I thought I had seen something moving in the trees, and that feeling has kind of stuck with me this whole time. Then I thought I saw it again before I went into the great hall. So maybe if I find this dog it'll explain something," I told him as I stroked one of the piano keys and it rang terribly out of tune.
He came to stand next to me, and almost sat on the bench, but he quickly decided against it. He brushed a strand of hair away from my face and looked at me apologetically. Oh, I just couldn't stay mad at those big beautiful eyes. The same eyes I had looked into for what felt like my entire life.
"Stop that," I told him.
"You know I'd never do anything to hurt you right?" He told me as his thumb brushed over my cheek. Why were the two boys I was torn between both telling me the same words?
"I've been hearing a lot of that lately," I told him, stroking another piano key in a lower pitch and looking away from him. Still out of tune
"Hey," He said and took my hand to place a gentle kiss on it. "Put the boyfriend hat aside for ten minutes. Talk to me like I'm still your best friend."
I thought about it for a moment. We hadn't talked about much the last few months. It was maddening. I missed how we could go on and on for hours, and I felt like it was mostly my fault. I'd been keeping everything inside instead of confiding in him.
"I think it may scare you away," I told him barely above a whisper.
He turned me away from the piano and intertwined both his hands with mine. He leaned in and rested his forehead on mine and let his minty breath wash over my face. For once, the ticking feeling didn't come. Dangerous as our surroundings may be, I'd never felt safer with him.
"Nothing you can ever say will scare me away. I love you too much," He said, placing soft kisses on my forehead. This made me laugh. He hadn't told me that before.
I gave him a gentle push back, "Easy there Romeo, someone might actually get the impression you like me," I told him as I did a spin gesturing to the empty room.
"Shakespeare? Oh, darling you know I've always favored Jane Austen." He told me dramatically. "Right well let the entirety of the Shrieking Shack hear that, I Cedric Diggory, love the brilliant Elodie Potter, until my dying day." He said and took a bow in front of me pretending he had just given a performance at the theater.
"A little soon to be speaking of death, don't you think?" I told him. He gave me a look as I stepped around the piano and I gave in. "Alright, alright," I said. "Have you...Have you ever felt you've forgotten something; you're meant to remember? Like a memory that should be burned into your mind is no longer where you left it"
He looked at me curiously for a moment, not confused, but like he had figured out everything I had been thinking.
"You didn't just want Professor Trelawney's help for class, did you?" He asked me and I shook my head silently. "You want to know why you can't remember them, your parents," he said correctly, and I nodded still silent. "Is...Is that why you don't like talking about them?"
"I remember the smell of my mum's hair, and her perfume. And I remember when my dad would play with me, he would do different voices for every toy. But then sometimes I'll get a flash of my dad handing me over to someone and saying, 'It's your turn, good luck', but it wasn't my mum. It's like a wall has been put up so I can't see everything." I said. Over the fireplace through the thick layer of dust I wrote their initials. LE + JP.
He leaned on the piano looking at what I had just written. Taking in everything I had just said. I didn't know how to begin telling him about the feeling I got with him, but the word vomit took over. "And then when I'm with you, I keep getting this feeling, like there's not enough time. And then sometimes I get angry, but it's like it's a headache, flooding all my senses."
I looked down from my spot in the fireplace and noticed that a bit of the dust had been shifted around, like if the dog had been here already. It had maybe gotten scared by the look of the way the paw print smeared underneath mine.
"You don't have to carry this burden yourself you know," He told me, pulling me back from my train of thought.
​ I was about to say something to him, but when I looked at him, I saw the dog sitting in front of the bed frame being Cedric. I widened my eyes to Cedric, and he turned around. Getting startled he had jumped back and stood in front of me to protect me from it. I half expected it to attack us, but it just cried. I looked over Cedric to see it had laid down with its face on its paws. Watching us.
​ "Poor thing, it must be freezing," I said moving around from behind Cedric and I began to take off my winter coat. He put his arm out in warning to not approach it. "What's the matter? All out of Gryffindor courage?" I asked him and slowly approached the dog. I placed my coat over its body and as I did it leaned its head into my hand.
​ "Poor thing, you must be starving," I said as I played with its chin.
​ "Do you think we should bring it back to the castle?" Cedric asked me as he stepped closer. He was answered by a low growl erupting for the dog's chest.
​ "Well there's your answer," I told him with a chuckle. "Where do I know you from? Have you been watching me?" I said to the dog and was answered with another cry.
​ A larger gust of wind hit the house and it felt like it was going to topple over in its entirety. The snow must be picking up.
​ "We should go," Cedric said and placed a hand on my shoulder.
​ The dog moved its head away from my hand and looked at Cedric directly and growled at him. I made a hushing noise to it and pet the side of its face.
​ "There, there. I'm going to be back with a warmer blanket, and some food for you," I said and tucked my coat tightly around it's body. I placed my hands over the center of the coat and cast  a warming charm. I looked over and saw some old crust of bread. I pinched it into my hands and turned it into a full loaf.
"Hmm," I heard Cedric say. I looked over to him and he said "I never tire of watching you easily produce wandless magic." I rolled my eyes and stood to leave with him.
​ Cedric led the way down the stairs, but I lingered in the door frame for a moment and gave the dog a little wave only to see it lay its head back down. We made our way down the stairs and through the tunnel. Before we exited, I cast the same charm to allow us to get past the Whomping Willow. Once we got far enough away Cedric finally spoke again.
​ "Well, I can definitely say it's a good thing I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor. I'm exhausted." He said and intertwined his fingers in mine.
​ I stepped in front of him to slow him down and said, "It's only for the brave of heart."

***
​
When I got back to the Gryffindor common room, I went up to talk to Harry. Ron had told me he was in the dorm alone, so I took the chance to go see him and let him know that I tried to persuade McGonagall. I knocked but was met by silence. I pushed the door open and saw him curled up on his windowsill.
​ "Harry, what's going on?" I asked as I pushed the door shut.
​ He didn't say anything. I began walking over to him and could see his face was stained by dried tears.
​ "Hey, it's okay. It's okay," I said and sat next to him. I wrapped my arms around him and let him cry into my chest. Once he had stopped, I told him "I talked to McGonagall today, it didn't go too well, but I really tried"
​With his face still in my lap he whispered, "Elodie, I need to tell you something."