Faux Amour (Frerard/Bandom Hogwarts AU)

Into The Forest

Jamia lead the way. She seemed to have a clear view of which direction to go after leaving the tunnel. Frank followed, quietly.

He had so much to process. Gerard and Mikey had been under an unforgivable curse. Jamie's mother had been firing off spells like mad before sending the Way brothers to do her dirty work... Jamia had a brother?

Frank looked at Jamia as they moved along the treeline to the forbidden forest. He wanted to ask, but he wasn't sure how. He wasn't even sure that she would be truthful if he did ask.

"Spit it out." Jamia spoke without turning away from the path they were taking.

"What?"

"I'm sure you don't remember much of the last few months." She elaborated, "You must have countless questions."

"Questions combined with comments containing a decent amount of swears." Frank nodded, slowing his pace as Jamia stepped through a pair of sistering trees into the forbidden forest. "First off, why are we going in here?"

Jamia turned back around to face him. "It'll be where my mum is." She replied, "She's looking for the resurrection stone."

"Resurrection stone?" Frank couldn't help but laugh. It was easier to do now that he wasn't hovering in front of Gerard, more concerned for him than Jamia's words. Why would something from an old bedtime story be at Hogwarts?

Jamia had a less than amused expression on her face as she nodded. "Rumors spread, and seem quite believable, to those who want nothing more than to see the dark lord rise again." With that, she turned and continued into the forest.

"Dark lord?" Frank hesitated before hurrying after her, afraid to loose her in the dark. "You don't mean... But he's dead. Potter killed him before most of us were born."

"Potter also supposedly killed him when he himself was an infant, but look what happened 17 years later." Jamia shot back. She sighed, shaking her head. "That first revival still gives some demented, former servants, hope that it can happen for a third time."

"That's ridiculous."

"Not in their heads."

"So your mum's a death eater, brother's a squib, where does that leave the rest of your household?" Frank sucked in a breath immediately after speaking. Jamia had stopped in her tracks, but didn't turn to face him.

An eerie silence hung between them before she finally spoke. "My brother is considered the shame of our family." Jamie's voice was soft and on edge, "My mother hides that he ever existed, only ever bringing him up in order to taunt my shortcomings..." Her voice faltered.

"You said that in past tense." Frank spoke up, quietly. "Your brother is gone, isn't he?" He stepped forward during the silence that followed his question.

"My mum seems to have a thing for neglecting young life." Jamia's voice was soft before she shook her head. She set off again, causing Frank to skip to hurry his pace.

He didn't ask anymore questions.

He lit the tip of his wand with a whisper. He wasn't sure how she navigated the darkness so easily without the charm.

"Why the forbidden forest of all places?" Frank finally spoke again, becoming weary of the silence. "Just because Potter went to school here or what?"

"Potter was supposed to surrender himself here at the end of the war." Jamia sounded as if she had composed herself after their previous conversation. "It's a rumor that he had control of one, if not multiple, of the hallows."

"How in depth do people believe in that fairy tale?"

"You'd be surprised."

Silence fell again. Frank hurried to keep pace with Jamia. This place gave him the creeps, especially in darkness. As he looked around, however, he had a strange sense of déjà vu.