Moondance

TITLE: Moondance
CHAPTER 2: Please to the Calling
RATING: NC-17 (It’s on the way, I promise!)
AUTHOR: Andarta Wildhearth (andarta_wildhearth@adelphia.net)
SUMMARY: Evil witches, sexy werewolves, broken hearts, first times, silver-soft moonlight…‘And all the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush…’—Van Morrison
PAIRING: HP/OFC, RW/HG, RL/OFC
GENRE: Romance/Angst/Adventure/Slushy sweet sap…
DISCLAIMER: I own none of what I am writing about nor do I make any monetary gain from said writing.
DISTRIBUTION: AdultFanfiction.net and Checkmated!
WARNING: Spoilers for OotP

Harry Potter had been back at Privet Drive less than a week after the end of his fifth year and he already wanted to leave. He knew Professor Dumbledore had insisted he stay with the Dursleys over the summer holiday for his own protection, but nevertheless, Harry wanted to be elsewhere. Almost anywhere, anywhere but at number four, Privet Drive.

From sti still-aching heaviness in his heart, he wished to be at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, with Sirius and the rest of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, but alas, he knew with wish-filled longing that that could never be. Harry lay in his bed on this chilly night and stared absently at the ceiling. He knew he would never see Sirius again.

Harry rolled over and gazed into the dimness of his room and thought of his godfather. Within his chest a pain echoed through him, a pain salted with guilt and grief for the man who had once been his father’s best friend. Harry swallowed hard, as if forcing down a bitter pill with no glass of water to follow. No, he would not cry.

As his eyes followed the shadows cast by the street lamp, Harry thought again of Professor Dumbledore. He had last seen Professor Dumbre ire in his office on the night that Sirius died. Harry remembered how angry and frustrated he had been as Dumbledore revealed all those many secrets on that fateful night, barely a week prior. He thought of how he had practically destroyed the Headmaster’s office in a tirade of rage and anguish as Dumbledore watched calmly, like a benevolent grandfather.

A feeling of shame now crept over Harry as he remembered the last time he had looked into Albus Dumbledore’s tired eyes. Harry remembered the single tear trickling down the wizard’s cheek as Professor Dumbledore spoke to him of an old man’s mistakes…

Harry got up from his bed and quietly tiptoed to his bedroom door to listen. He could only hear the sounds of a sleeping Dursley household as he made his decision. He grabbed a small jar from his desk and set out for the living room.

Harry knew with great certainty that if his Uncle Vernon caught him, he would be severely punished, no matter how much Mad-Eye Moody had threatened his uncle. In spite of the possibility of being caught, Harry continued to the living room, where he sat in front of the fireplace. He opened the small jar and reached into it for a pinch of Floo powder. Emerald flames sprang to life in the grate as he threw in the powder. He crawled toward the fire, pushed his head into the blaze, and whispered, “Hagrid’s hut!” forcefully.

A strange sensation of dizziness filled his head and he could barely feel his knees on the solidness of the hearth around the Dursley fireplace. When he felt the wooziness begin to subside, he found himself looking into the happy warmth of Hagrid’s home. But the scene before him looked decidedly unhappy. Panic began to spread through Harry.

Hagrid was sitting in his armchair with a grim expression on his face. The giant was looking at Tonks and another girl, whom Harry had never before seen. Today, Tonks had bubble-gum-pink short hair and she had her arms around this other girl, who seemed to be close to Harry’s age. Both Tonks and this strange girl were sitting on the floor across from Hagrid. Tonks was rocking back and forth with the girl in her embrace and Harry could hear Tonks’ voice soothing the stranger with soft words of comfort. This girl was obviously crying and she was extremely upset about something. The scene before Harry indicated that something was wrong, very wrong. The sight of so much grief unsettled and worried him, especially so soon after the loss of his godfather.

But what surprised Harry the most about the sight before him was the creature this unfamiliar girl had in her own embrace: a very large, bushy black dog.

The black dog was licking away the girl’s tears and nuzzling her face. Harry could hear the high-pitched whining of the dog as it tended to the girl. He could hear the young woman’s voice as she whimpered, “No, no, no, nooooo!” into the dog’s thick black fur as she clung to it.

“No momma, no momma, no momma,” the girl kept repeating in a whimper that sounded more like a animal howling low, in misery and pain. Her bottom lip quivered and her eyes were so puffy and red it was as if they swam with blood. As she buried her face deeper into the dog’s coat, she broke into a heartrending chant of anh.
h.

“Momma, momma, momma, momma...”

Harry’s heart broke open. He thought that her sobs were perhaps the saddest sounds he had ever heard in his life. He gasped in spite of himself.

“Harry!” Hagrid exclaimed as he looked into the fire. Hagrid saw Harry glance at the girls and the giant moved to block the boy’s vision of them. “See yer usin’ the Floo powder we gave ya’. Was’ wrong, Harry?”

“Nothing, Hagrid, I just wanted to talk to you about, about,” Harry fumbled. “Have I called at a bad time?”

“No, no, no…well, yes, yes you have. But don’t go off just yet. We can catch up right quick.” Hagrid looked back over his shoulder before continuing. “Them Dursley people treatin’ ya’ all right, Harry?”

“Yeah,” Harry responded distractedly. “Hagrid,” he hesitated, trying to see around his big friend, “Has something bad happened, with, well, you know…is she going to be all right?” Harry asked as he nodded toward the two girls. It was difficult to talk through the Floo network about the things that worried Harry most, as it was being monitored by the enemies of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry had not thought of that before trying to contact Hagrid.

Hagrid looked at him bleakly. “Well, yeah, and no…yeah, Harry, somethin’ bad’s happened to the young lass here.” He tilted his head to indicate the girl behind him. “She’s lost a family member and she’s a mite upset right now. Tonks and me, we’re tryin’ to help her through it fer the time bein’.”

Hagrid stopped to look back over his shoulder and Harry noticed that the door to Hagrid’s hut opened. As Hagrid stood, Harry could see the figures of Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin enter the cabin.

Professor Dumbledore walked to the girls, bent down, and began whispering something to the mysterious young woman while he patted her back. Harry caught Dumbledore’s attention for a second and Dumbledore nodded at him.

Professor Snape was holding a chalice that was billowing smoke. He also bent toward the girl as he offered the goblet to her and helped her drink its contents.

Professor Lupin, whom Harry had not noticed before, due to the fact that he was standing in the shadows of the room, caught Harry’s attention. Lupin looked straight at Harry with an odd expression on his face and quickly crossed the room to the fireplace. He bent down toward the grate and said, “Sorry, Harry, but we’ve got to go,” and tossed some dirt and ash from the hearth into the green fire.

Well, that was the end of that conversation.

“Why’d he go and do that?” Harry wondered as he fell back against the Dursley’s coffee table.