Lifeline

3. Familiar

Third Person POV

"Morpheus!" Red light flashed, and instantly 'Hunter' was out like a light.

Never in all her years had Poppy Pomfrey incapacitated a patient of hers, certainly not by using the comatose spell! But as soon as this strange boy had said the name, it became crystal clear. Yes, the boy was thinner, and had clearly been through a traumatic event, a burden Hunter had never had to bear. But somehow, this boy captured Hunter in his exact likeness!

No... this wasn't real, this was a sick joke, Lucius Malfoy having one last laugh! Oh, if he wasn't in Azkaban she would have his head!

She looked at the boy in despair, remembered the funeral had for him with the empty coffin. And empty box burried as a monument to him.

Unsure of why she cared enough to, she helped him lay back down to ensure that his neck didn't hurt from sleeping while sitting up. As she finished that, Minerva walked in. The first thing she noticed was the shattered glass in a pool of water on the floor, but her mind quickly went onto other things as she looked at Poppy.

"Did he wake?" She asked. Poppy nodded silently, hiding her face from her friend as silent tears escaped her eyes. Minerva frowned, wondering if something was wrong.

"Poppy? What is it, what's happened?" Poppy sniffled, and Minerva walked up to her. "Poppy?" Minerva placed a hand on the nurses shoulder. Poppy have up and turned to her, revealing her crying face. Minerva's eyes widened.

"Are you al-"

"Look at him!" Poppy cried out, waving her hand in the boys direction. Minerva barely spared him a glance. "Look at what?"

"At him!" Poppy wailed. "Look!" She pulled out an old and faded wizarding photograph of herself, Hunter, and Evelyn. The all waved at the photo, smiling widely. Poppy held it next to the boy, and Minerva's eyes widened. She focussed on the boy, as if seeing him for the first time.

"It can't be..." She whispered. Poppy looked at her photograph, then at her patient.

"No. It can't be. So it probably isn't." Each word was clipped, precise. Minerva looked at Poppy in shock.

"What? But-"

"But nothing, Minerva. It's just Lucius's sick idea of a last laugh, oh, how hilarious it must be for him!" Poppy tried futily to brush it off, as if she hasn't been affected. But Minerva knew, oh, she knew.

"Poppy..." her face drifted to the boy on the bed. "They never found a body..."

Poppy stiffened and turned to her friend. Then to the boy. "No." She agreed. "They didn't. They never found a killer either, apparently." She spoke in a stiff tone, not daring to hope.

Minerva sighed. "No... but perhaps we should look into this before dismissing it."

***Meanwhile with Evelyn and Jackson...***

Evelyn sighed, pacing around the double office her and Jackson shared.

"You're going to wear out the floor doing that." Jackson said, not looking up from his book.

"I told them to Madame Pomfrey to keep me posted, we should have heard something by now... is he ok? What if something happened?" Evelyn kept rambling, very obviously panicking. Jackson sighed, having been hearing this for over an hour.

"I'm sure he's perfectly fine." He said, not really worrying at all.

"But what if he's not," she countered. Jack finally gave up on ending the conversation, putting a nlbookmard in his book, setting it aside, and looking up with a tired expression adorning his face.

"If your so worried then just go see him!" As he spoke, he threw up his hands in exasperation.

"But if he's fine then it will seem like I'm overreacting." Her tone was fussy.

"YOU ARE OVERREACTING!" Jack shouted. Evelyn jumped, startled by the change in volume, looking at her companion with wide eyes, her pacing coming to an abrupt start. He sighed, wiping his hands over his eyes.

"It has hardly been a day, and your acting as though he's dying." For a moment, Evelyn just looked at him. The she sighed as well, and looked down.

"You're right..." she mumbled. Her next words came in a very tired and worn out tone, "I know you right." Her voice was soft as she came to the reluctant acceptance. Jackson nodded.

"Why is it bothering you so much anyways? You just met him yesterday, and you couldn't even have a conversation with him... you don't know him."

Evelyn looked up sharply. Jack leaned away, surprised by the reaction. Evelyn Barry even noticed this, though, so consumed by her emotions that she was unable to think straight.

"Are you honestly kidding right now!" She shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration. Jack's eyes widened. "You were there! You saw how he was! Starved, forgotten, cold, scared, held captive! How could I not care? He was screaming for death, terrified! Why don't you care?" She accused, glaring coldly at him. He stood, his eyes narrowing.

"Of course I care! But your the one acting like this is the first case like this you've seen! Well guess what, it isn't! It's part of the job, that's why we both have this job! To help cases like this! But your acting differently about him, like you weren't expecting anything like this!" His words struck Evelyn hard, because honestly, she didn't know why.

She just knew that from the second she saw him, she felt protective of him. Seeing him broken as she had, it nearly broke her... but she didn't know why.

There was just something about him...

Something familiar...