The Forest - R.L.

Chapter 3 - The Boy

It wasn't until nearly 24 hours later that they had finally arrived in England, and Grace was already bursting with the excitement of being in a new country. She had only been overseas once before, a few years ago, so this whole ordeal was a great big adventure.

Alexander apparated the three of them to his parent's house, where they were instantly greeted with a hug from the both of them and invited inside.

They spent the next couple of hours catching up on everything that had happened over the past three years since they had last been here. Grace's Nanna and Pa were delighted to hear that the three of them had moved closer to them, as Alexander was an only child, meaning that Grace was their only grandkid.

"It gets quite lonely out here sometimes," her grandfather, William said, before taking another sip of his tea. "But the neighbours are all very nice and friendly. Alfred and Carol Cooper are always coming over and keeping us company. Carol's a muggle, but Alfred's a wizard, and they're both around our age and live in that little cottage over there." He pointed to a cosy looking cottage to the left of the veranda that they were sitting on, and Grace shuffled forward in her deck chair to get a better look.

"And the Harringtons are always sending one of the kids over with a basket of fresh fruit and veggies," Mary said, smiling slightly "I believe the older two go to Hogwarts actually. George just finished.... What was it?" She asked her husband, turning towards him "George is in his fourth year, Samantha's in her second, and Aaron and Ingrid haven't started school yet." He replied, counting each one off his fingers.

"They live on that side." William jerked his thumb at the large house balanced on top of a hill to the right of them.

"The Lupins are awfully quite, though. They keep to themselves most of the time. I don't even know if they're wizards or muggles." he took another sip of his tea. "And they have a son as well, probably around your age, Grace, although I've only ever seen him from a distance, wandering through the forest. They live on the other side of it, you see."

Grace turned away from her grandfather to look at the overgrown mass of trees that was the forest "Can I go down there?"

"Down where, dear?" William asked her. "To the forest."

All four adults looked at each other, having a silent conversation. Her father was the first one to break the silence.

"Well, I don't think...."

Grace sighed. She knew this was coming. Ever since that night three years ago, her parents had been very reluctant to let her go wandering by herself.

"It's the middle of the day, Alex. I'm sure she'll be fine, she's eleven years old now," Paula turned to her daughter
"Yes, you can go. But don't go too far, and if you see anything that might hurt you, come back immediately. Okay?"

Grace nodded, springing out of her chair. "And be back before it gets dark."
"I will. Bye!" And with that, she took off down the hill, running as fast as she could until she reached the edge of the trees.

She noticed something, something she had not seen the last time she had been down here. Hidden between the trees was a small, windy, one that would've been impossible to find in the darkness that had covered the forest the last time she was here.

Following it, she found herself in a small clearing. The clearing where she had seen it.

Now the clearing was well lit, she could fully see the beauty of it. The grass was bright green, with a few splashes of colourful flowers here and there. There was a small stream that crossed through the middle of it, flowing over and around a strip of smooth rocks and pebbles. Two of the rocks were placed in the middle, like stepping stones to continue the path, which disappeared again into the trees directly opposite her.

It was only then that Grace realised that she wasn't alone in the clearing.

There was a boy, sitting cross-legged on a mound of rocks beside the path on the other side, with his face buried in the book in his lap, meaning that she couldn't see his face.

"This is a very nice spot, isn't it?"

The boy immediately leapt up from his place on the rocks, the book dropping to the floor, his eyes wide. Grace could see his face now, and was surprised by the amount of scars that covered it. He only looked around 11 or 12 years old.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I was just-"

"No no it's okay, I-I just got a bit surprised, that's all." He raised his hand and ran his fingers through his already messy brown hair.

"My name's Grace. What's yours?" She asked him, sitting down on the rocks beside where he had been.

"Remus," he replied shortly, picking up his book from the ground and dusting it off, refusing to meet her eyes. His parents had told him to steer clear of people as much as he could.

"Um, well, nice meeting you, but I really should be getting home," he began walking towards his side of the path.

"Why?" Grace asked, frowning.

"It's, uh, it's getting dark. Goodbye." He tried leaving, but Grace grabbed his arm and pulled him back, pointing
towards the sky. "The suns in the middle of the sky, silly! It's nowhere near getting dark."

He pulled his arm out of her grip, still refusing to look at her. "I.... I just really need to go." He walked towards the path again, but before he could leave, Grace asked "It's me, isn't it? I'm sorry for disturbing your reading, I was just
curious. I'll leave if you'd like."

He finally turned to face her this time "Oh no, it's not your fault at all, I just..."

He looked at her and frowned. Now that he could properly see her face, and found that it was awfully familiar. The image of a little girl in a torn nightgown flashed in his memory. The girl had a long cut on one side of her face, long platinum blonde hair and pale green eyes, exactly like the girl in front of him.

Grace frowned again, watching the panic and worry in his brown eyes. His brown eyes that were now slightly tinged yellow at the edges.
She knew those eyes.

"That was you," she exclaimed.

Remus looked even more worried. "Who?"

"The werewolf."