the case of dawna flynn - r.j lupin

four

Having Red back was like a gift from Merlin.

He may have only had the cat for two months before he had to leave her but they'd been some of the two most most comfortable months he'd had his whole time at Hogwarts. Remus believed it was under the circumstances he got the cat that caused him to get so attached to her. He'd bonded with her quicker then his own owl in his first years at Hogwarts.

It had only been three days but Remus felt like he could almost understand what she was saying. Well technically not saying, but what she wanted at the times she wanted them. Like if she wanted out, she wouldn't have to even move an inch and he knew.

Red had stayed at his side, apart from when he was in the bathroom. She was on his shoulder at meal times, sleeping on his desk when he was teaching and walked the corridors with him after curfew to look out for any stragglers in the corridors.

When they'd walked past the corridor where Dawna Flynn had supposedly dissappeared in, Red sidetracked and went behind the statue where they found the girls wand. Remus followed.

Shortly after the Dawna had been pronounced dead, Remus had transfigured a stick to look ad much like her wand as he could get it and he'd made a small memorial type thing behind the statue with a plaque that had her name, birthdate and deathdate messily engraved into it. His friends didn't really understand why he done it as Remus had never told anyone but them about it and he'd never known the girl.
Remus remembered using the excuse that he built it for that Red. Not that that was particularly untrue, he did build it for the cat in a sense. But also for himself.

Remus settled against the back of the statue pedestal directly infront of the  memorial plaque. He was honestly surprised it was still there and not taken down or ruined.

Red was settled infront of him, between his legs. She was sat up straight staring at the plaque.

Remus reached forward and stroked down her back softly and leant his head against one of his knees. He was sure Red still missed Dawna Flymn, he did too in all honesty and although she was two years below him in school he still used to wish that he'd atleast exchanged some sort of words with the girl before she dissappeared.
They were both sat in silence for a while doing nothing and not moving. Normally Remus would do anything to avoid moments of silence like this one but for the first time in ages he'd welcomed the silence.

Remus estimated it'd been about half n hour when he finally spoke.

"why don't we look at the news article?" Remus' voice was hushed and he reached forward and pulled out a folded piece of newspaper that was shoved behind the plaque.  Taking a deep breath he dragged Red closer to him and onto her hind legs as he opened the article.

It was a simple cut out of a newspaper. It held a moving picture of Dawna Flynn, one Remus had assumed one of her friends at the time had taken as she was in her Hogwarts uniform. Remus had to admit she was pretty with fiery red hair that battled the vibrance of even the Wesley family's red hair. Remus had always refrained from commenting on her appearance too much as she'd been only 15 and he 18 when she dissappeared. It felt weird.

The text on the article was simple and written by a reporter he didn't know. It simply just contained a small description of the dissappearance, dates, a lovely description about the girl herself and two short eulogya Remus believed to have been written by her mother and the other was by her best friend at the time, Jane Malibu. After she went missing, Remus had tried to return the cat to the Hufflepuff common room, to Jane, but the girl had said she'd never seen the cat before. The pair ended up just talking about Dawna. Well, Jane talked and Remus comforted her while she cried. He was still in distant contact with Jane.

Remus read it out to Red, four maybe five times before the cat yawned and he laughed.
"Bedtime, Red." He told the cat as he folded the paper back up and tucked it behind the plaque gently.

He picked the cat up this time, otherwise he felt she wouldn't move from the memorial and carried her back to their room.