Come Home + Sirius Black

twelve: the kiss

Charlotte Wilson would have normally prided herself on her quick thinking. It was how she got her job in the Ministry in the first place. She could have become an Auror because of it, if that was what she wanted. She chose a desk job out of choice, not because she wasn't capable. Because she was; she was quick-witted, she was a problem-solver. But right now, she was frozen.

Remus had gone feral, having forgotten to take the potion that would have kept his mind in tact when he transformed tonight. Sirius had fought his best friend in order to keep the rest of them safe, but he'd gotten himself injured in the process. And Harry, her foolish, darling godson had run after him in an attempt to help him, taking Hermione along with him. And among all this chaos, Peter had escaped.

"Damn it," she whispered. She had to chase after him — it was not safe out here anymore. But she couldn't leave Ron out here alone with Severus Snape unconscious. "Damn it."

"Go!" Ron said. "Go, I'll be fine!"

"No," she said quickly. "No, I'm not leaving you here on your own, I just... I need a second to think... But damn it, I don't have a second." She was aware that she probably seemed like a crazy person to the thirteen-year-old boy with her, pacing back and forth. "Okay... Okay, I'm going to have to carry you on my back, we don't have time... You'll need to tend to Snape, okay?"

Frantically, Ron nodded, and she lowered herself so that Ron could climb onto her back. On any other day, she doubted she would have been able to carry him so easily. He may have been lanky, but he was tall. But the adrenaline drove her, allowed her to run the rest of the way to the castle. When they got through the doors, she let Ron off her back.

It wasn't quite 10pm yet, so there was a few students still in the halls to stare at her, bewildered.

"Miss Wilson? Is that you?" The voice came from Minerva McGonagall. "What on earth is going on?"

"Professor McGonagall," she breathed. "Thank Merlin. I don't have time to explain, I have to go. I need you to find the Headmaster. Tell him Remus didn't take his potion tonight, tell him Harry and Hermione are still out there, I need to go."

Charlotte didn't waste time to see how McGonagall would react to any of her nonsense. She turned on her heel and dashed back out onto the grounds. She didn't know where to start searching, but she returned to the spot where they had run off and started from there. Twenty minutes had gone by when she realized that it was colder that night than usual, and the sky was awfully dark for a full moon. That was when she looked up to the sky.

Dozens of dementors floated in the sky above her, all of them drifting along in the same direction: towards the Black Lake. A million things ran through her mind, but the main one being that she had never mastered the Patronus charm. Charlotte broke into a run again, but by the time she got there, it was too late. Sirius was on the ground unconscious, Hermione collapsed nearby as well. Harry was on his knees next to Sirius.

"Harry!" she cried out, running towards him just as he began to fall to the ground. She was crying now, her hands trembling as her legs took her to her godson's side. Then she saw it.

On the other side of the lake, a stag emerged from the woods, white and wistful. A fully-formed corporeal Patronus. She couldn't see the caster, but she didn't care. She dropped next to Harry on her knees, shaking his still body in a half-assed attempted to make him stir, but deep down, she knew it was hopeless. He wasn't dead — none of them were — but he would be unconscious for quite a bit longer.

She didn't know how long she stayed there — minutes, maybe — when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Step aside, foolish woman." It was Severus Snape.