The lights return •HP ff• (not continued)

Chapter Six

With a loud gasp, the woman sat up. She did not recognise her surroundings at all, but that was the least of her worries. She had no idea where her husband or her son was. Hopefully her son was unharmed at her mothers, but for her spouse, she was very worried. She called out his name, but to no avail, there was no response.

She saw her wand a couple of feet away from her, so she grabbed it and whispered "Lumos," before looking around her, for clues about her whereabouts. She got a feeling in her stomach that she'd been there before, but couldn't for the life of her family remember why or where she was.

The room she was in — because she was inside, that much was sure — had dark walls, no windows, high bookshelves reaching up to the ceiling covering one of the walls, and one door. The female marched over to the elegant, large, soot brown door, which seemed to be made out of wood. Or possibly metal, the woman wasn't sure of which.

Trying the doorknob, she found it locked, and it wouldn't open with the simple "alohomora" spell, and it wouldn't budge even the slightest with "bombarda" or even something as powerful as "confringo". Turning around, she circled the room, trying to find another way out of the place she now felt like was growing smaller and smaller.

***

The young man felt like he had been searching for his wife for hours. But that didn't stop him, he was sure that she were there somewhere.

"Darling," he spoke out in a hushed voice, he didn't know who was there after all. Wherever there was. "Are you here?"

No answer.

He found a very large door, that seemed to be some sort of dark brown. Looking at it, he found it to be very elegant, and quite old. The lad knocked on the door and held his wand up, as defence against whoever opened the door.

"Who is it?!" He sighed luckily.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," He answered her. "It's just me. But uh, do you have any idea where we are?"

"No," her voice was heard through the door. "And I can't open this bloody door either."

The man tried the doorknob, and voilà, the door opened. The couple threw themselves into the arms of each other, happy to see the other one.

"Wait," the woman looked at her partner. "How the hell did you open that door?"

"I just tried the doorknob."

***

Together, the two found a way out and saw that they were at... Hogwarts? It seemed like they had been in the Room of Requirements, considering that the door to the room disappeared as soon as it was closed.

"Come on," the manly one said. "Let's go to the headmasters, or headmistress, office. Maybe they can help us."

"I bet you know your way there," his wife teased him. "Been there a lot in your school years?"

"No, it was mostly at Minnie McGee's office," he grinned. "But once or twice we may have been there."

The couple quickly found their way up to the office where the headmaster or mistress had their quarters. But as they didn't know the password, it quickly turned into quite the challenge getting up there. It had been easier if Albus Dumbledore still had been alive, since all he chose was different sorts of candy. Suddenly the couple was startled by a voice from behind. A male teenager from the house of the loyal, Hufflepuff stood there watching them.

"Can I help you? The password up to Professor McGonagall is "rediit populus".

"Thank you," the elder man thanked the younger student. "May I ask your name?"

"Of course," he said. "My name is Logan, Logan Sanders. Now if you excuse me, I need to find my friend, Teddy. Probably pranking the elder students. I wonder how he looks today." He whispered to himself before waving to the couple and marching off.

"Rediit populus," the man turned to his wife. "It means "returned people", either McGonnagall knows about us, because I'm pretty sure we died that night, or someone else came back."

"But," his wife looked at him as they stepped onto the stairs. "Didn't you hear what that boy, Logan, said before he wandered off about his friend? 'I wonder how he looks today.'  You don't think his friend - Teddy - is an you know, animagus?"

Her husband stared at her, starting to understand what she was trying to say, but before he could answer her, they were at the headmistress door.

"Come in," The couple heard the stern voice of Minerva McGonagall say when they knocked.

When they opened the door, she looked up at them and let out a small gasp.

"Oh how wonderful!" She stood up and stepped around her counter. "But do forgive me, as I need to call the Aurors here to confirm that you're actually you."

"Professor, y-you actually believe we're us? Didn't we die? Or has someone else also returned, considering your password was "returned people" in Latin?"

"Yes, Mr Lupin," Minerva looked at her old students. "Someone else has returned, but I'll let you figure out who on your own."  She turned away, sending a message to the Aurors-office, telling them to send the head-Auror.

Remus Lupin looked at his wife, remembering what she had been saying as they were on their way up to the office they were currently standing in.

"Uhm, Professor," he began. "How- how long has it been? Since that night I mean."

"It has been a very long time," she looked at the date. "Almost 18 years. Today's date is January 20th 2016."

Tadaa? :)