Trapped In Time: Love's Secrets

Chapter Twenty Eight

It was warm and sultry; the sun baking the grounds all day caused the heat to rise up in the evening making it feel hotter than it had at high noon. The breeze at the top of the tower was wonderful as Shannon sat on the stone floor against the guard rail. From here she could see most of the grounds down to Hagrid’s hut and she knew she would have to get inside before dark. Tonight was the night everything would happen and tomorrow she would end things with Remus. A strange calm had overtaken her as if she was functioning on auto pilot and watching things unfold from a distance. She hoped it would last through tomorrow and thanked heaven for her built in defense mechanism.

She had called Matilda as soon as she got to the top of the tower and hoped the old lady would make it to her on time. Even if she barricaded herself up in the tower, she wasn’t quite brave enough to sit here and listen to the scratching and howling should Remus catch her scent and try to break down the sturdy tower door.

He had been up to check on her wearing an expression of sadness as he looked out towards Hagrid’s home where Buckbeak could just be seen; a tiny feathered figure laying out in the garden. He urged her to finish quickly and head inside before the execution because he didn’t want her to see something so terrible, then rushed off when Harry popped into his mind and she breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t bring up the new moon or his potion. It was important he forget it tonight and with how things had been between him and Severus since the boggart incident, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he let it slip his mind being as it wasn’t actually anywhere near a full moon.

I’m sitting here in the Astronomy Tower hoping Matilda finds her way to me.

She printed carefully trying to make sure it was clear. She had terrible handwriting on a good day; on a bad day… well one example of how bad it was would be that once in school she had got an answer on a test right because the teacher couldn’t tell the difference between “nord” and “sud” in her writing. She wrote “sud” he read “nord” and she took the extra mark on her test. She chuckled to herself with that memory and got back to writing.

  The letter had taken almost all week to write with all the interruptions and time she devoted to Remus. It had been so long since she last wrote she couldn’t remember what was said so she had gone into great but vague detail about all that had happened recently such as the conversation with Dumbledore, the potion from Severus and the boggart. She almost wondered if Alissa would have time to get through it all before Sirius found his way home. She had better read it before then, knowing Alissa, everything would be dropped once Sirius was home and then it would be months before she heard anything back!

A low hoot sounded above Shannon’s head and she smiled up at Matilda who was glowing golden red in the setting sun. No one had ever explained how to give an owl directions so it was kind of a leap of faith to send Matilda off with such a long letter therefor she had been very careful about names. If the letter was intercepted, all the reader would know was that someone at Hogwarts had been lectured by Dumbledore and was in love with one of the professors. It was all very funny really and had been an exercise in creative writing more than anything else.

She folded up the letter and as she handed it to Matilda said very carefully “please take it to Alissa and if you can’t find her, bring it back to me.” Pulling a treat from her pocket she sent the owl on her way and hoped she hadn’t misread the understanding in her great yellow eyes.

She stood at the railing for a while looking out over the grounds where she could see the slow moving line of men heading towards Hagrid’s home. With one last look around the grounds, hoping to spot the shaggy black dog but finding nothing, she turned down the steps and rushed across the entrance to her room where she locked her door carefully, triple checked it, closed her window and blinds and then curled in a chair against the far wall. At least if Remus was still watching the map he would know she was safe and sound, freeing his thoughts for everything that would happen tonight.