One Single Day

*and now it starts getting...a little... weird...oh and it\'s blaringly obvious that I wrote this before the last book came out.*



I stood on the beach, my toes digging into the soft sand as I watched the waves roll in and out. It was mesmerizing. Ginny and Ron were behind me fighting over whether she could have a beer while Hermione was sunbathing next to them, reading some paperback novel with sunglasses on. The twins had hooked up with a couple of girls and were playing among the waves. The elder Weasleys had opted to stay at the hotel instead of go to the beach with us today. Percy couldn’t get his vacation so he was the only one of the Weasley clan not there. Bill and Charley were off shopping in Honolulu. The name of the beach was even beautiful, Lanikai, named after the Hawaiian Princess. Everything was so perfect, the sun shining directly overhead, the happy chatter of people around us, the clear blue of the sky, everything.



“Harry! Are you coming mate?” Ron shouted, I turned around, they had already finished packing up and were waiting for me to follow them. I nodded and hurried after. They twins had told us to go on without them. We got into the car, Hermione was the only one with a license so she drove us back to the other side of the island. Everything was so laid back, so gorgeous, down to the huge blossoms lining the roads. We made it back just when Bill and Charley did. Hermione grabbed Ron to go down to the hotel restaurant for lunch while the two eldest of the siblings went back out, mumbling something about going out to the Hawaiian Towers to meet up with some New Zealander tourist girls. So that left me and Ginny...awkward.



“So do you just want to start walking and eat at the first place we come across?” She offered, I took a deep breathe and nodded. We ended up at a place called Zippy’s which seemed like a local favorite.



“Harry...I just want to apologize for what happened a while ago. It was wrong of me to impersonate somebody else,” she said after we ordered and got settled into a booth.



“Why’d you do it?” I asked, curious.



“I’m worried about you Harry. After all that’s happened it just seems like you’re stuck in the past,” she explained, I frowned.



“What do you mean?”



“Well you just stick with Hermione and don’t branch out. You never do anything besides teach. There’s more to life than Hogwarts,” she explained, I blinked then looked away. Our food came, it was raman noodles and tasted delicious.



“I just...you wouldn’t understand,” I shook my head. It wasn’t like I didn’t trust Ginny, it’s just that...



“I could try if you gave me a chance,” she offered, I shook my head and looked up at her, she looked so pretty covered in freckles from the sun.



“Some things I just have to deal with on my own. Some things should stay buried,” I finally told her, she looked away, hurt. I felt so horrible suddenly, she really did want to help me.



“I’m sorry Ginny, I really am,” I breathed, she nodded and looked down into her bowl.



~~~~~!!!~~~~~



“Alright, what are the unforgivables?” I looked around the class, a few hands rose in the air. I called on one of them and she started reciting them. The door opened and in walked a tall woman I had never met before, she looked like an Auror.



“Professor, may I speak with you for a moment?” She asked, I looked back to my class and nodded, following her out.



“What’s going on?” I asked after I closed the door behind us.



“There’s been an incident, during Ronald Weasley’s training, he was injured. Now it isn’t that serious but he is at St. Mungo’s right now for treatment. He’ll be fine in a day or two but I was asked to come and inform you, his sister and Professor Granger,” she explained. I nodded, looking appropriately worried.



“I was hoping you would come down to the Ministry and help me. It also involves Mr. Lupin, he was with Mr. Weasley along with the Auror training him, me. Mr. Lupin seems to have disappeared and we need your help in finding him,” she explained.



“What’s your name? I didn’t quite catch it,” I asked, she nodded, holding out her hand for me to shake.



“Callisto Black,” she answered, I nodded, accepting her hand.



“Is Remus alright?” I asked.



“I believe so, he went after the one who injured Ron but that was the last I saw of him,” she explained.



“Can we wait for my class to get over first?”



“Of course Professor, I’ll be waiting in your office,” she turned to walk away after I gave her directions on where to go.



~~~~~!!!~~~~~



I stared at the bandaged man laying in the bed. The only distinguishing factor was the red hair poking out between the gauze. I slowly sat down next to my unconscious best friend. I looked up at the passing nurses before looking back to him then over at Callisto, she was going over the parchment one of the doctors had handed her when we had come in.



“Are you sure he’s going to be alright?” I murmured, breaking the silence.



“It’s worse than I thought but he will pull through alright.” She answered without looking up. I nodded and looked away, worried even though I obviously couldn’t do anything. Looked up at the nurses passing by, at the waving white sheet partitions, all of it seemed so surreal to me but this place always struck me that way. I just could never get the handle on this place. Soon I was numbly walking out of there after giving Callisto full assurance that I would help her find Remus later that night. I needed to go back to my rooms and change into better clothing. They had been attacked in Ireland, highlands. It was going to be cold and probably damp.



“You ran into what exactly here?” I murmured, looking around the ancient ruins of a once beautiful castle.



“Well it’s hard to say, I remember us searching out what the locals called ghosts. Something had kidnapped one of the muggle children from the nearby village. The reason why it attracted our attention was the magical resonance around these ruins. There’s definitely a magical creature of some kind living around here and we just don’t want to be responsible for leaving it if it turned out to be part of our world,” Callisto explained as we hiked around the place for a while.



“I see, did you see it?” I looked out over the beautiful scenery.



“Actually yes, it was a fast moving shape on two feet. I know that’s very vague but it’s all I remember. It was so surprised when we stumbled upon it that it hurled the fire it was sitting at, at Ron then ran. Mr. Lupin went after it while I tried to help Ron as best as I could while calling for help. I waited for backup before going after Lupin but by then his trail was cold. I was hoping that you could hone in on his magical signature because whatever we ran into overwhelms anyone else,” she explained as we came upon the creature’s camp.



“How do you know it was a magical creature?” I asked as I kneeled down next to the remnants of the fire that it had thrown. Stasis spells were caste all over the area to keep what little evidence in place.



“It moved way faster than any human I’ve ever seen and who could pick up a campfire and dump it all over somebody with it’s bare hands?” She pointed out.



“So it had hands?” I looked over at her, she shrugged.



“Yeah but there’s alot of magical creatures that have human hands. Like vampires, werewolves, imps, elves, all sorts,” she looked back at me with a challenge stewing just below the surface, I looked back down on the fire before me. I didn’t want to get into it with her, not now.



“Let me see what I can find out,” I stood up and brought out my wand, casting the spell to reveal all the magical energies that had come to this place. The creature’s magic was all over like it had marked the whole area as it’s territory. I could easily pick out Ron’s signature right where I was standing along with the Aurors that had caste the stasis spell. The only signatures I couldn’t pick up were Remus’ and for some reason also Callisto’s. I let the spell drop and my vision returned to normal to realize that I was alone. Callisto had disappeared somehow while I was concentrating on all the different unique colors that made up all the magical signatures in the area.



“Oh shit-” I gasped as cold enveloped me, something was directly behind me, I could feel it. I slowly turned around and stumbled back, falling over what was left of the campfire, struggling to get away from the dark figure advancing towards me. I started to desperately crawl away, feeling it slowly walk after me.



“Where do you think you’re going?” It was a female voice and one I recognized. I opened my mouth to start shouting for help but I was suddenly being dragged off into the deep woods.





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