Fic 2/4: Another Chance (HP AU)
Title: Another Chance
Fandom: Harry Potter AU
Characters: Quinn (OC), Cam (OC), Caradoc Dearborn (established member of the First Order of the Phoenix)
Word Count: 1650
Prompt: written for the month-long challenge at octoberwriting and join in at 5_prompts
Author’s Note: This AU takes place in a world where Dumbledore didn’t win the fight with Grindelwald. Even in all the dark and desperation, there is still a group of boys training to be men that understand what it means to watch out for someone in need. For that, Quinn is eternally grateful.
Quinn and Cam are both characters dreamed up for a dueling RP (two people writing back and forth) and have very extensive backgrounds. This was something new that I thought I’d play around with. You DO NOT need to have any other background on the characters to read and, I hope, enjoy this.
As always, for Aster
The darkness was so complete that, for an instant, Quinn wondered if her eyes had stopped working. Sometimes she found comfort in these nights without a moon when she could blend into the shadows that took over. Not when she was supposed to be following Cam into the Forbidden Forest, though. Then the shadows just got in the way.
“Cam,” she whispered, stumbling over several small stones that marred the path. “Slow down.”
“Can’t.” The whisper came from in front of her, which still meant she was on the right track and hadn’t gotten lost completely.
“Please?”
“No.”
He must have eyes like a cat, she decided as she struggled to see any source of light up ahead of them. When she took the time to look up, she couldn’t see any stars to guide her along. If she started babbling to give some substance to the air around her, he’d only shush her. He couldn’t hush her inner conversations so she gave in and continued those.
He didn’t look at you today. Or yesterday. Now that things have calmed down and Imogene is concentrating on the Hufflepuffs who smirked at her during History of Magic, there’s no reason for him to ask you how things are going. He’s got a match coming up. That’s much more important than paying attention to you.
Shut up. He think I’m just as important as Quidditch.
No, he doesn’t. No little Slytherin is more important than the Gryffindor match against Ravenclaw. Whoever wins this, wins the House Cup. Besides, school is almost over for the year. You’ll go home and he’ll go home and things will change over the summer and he won’t even notice you next year.
Maybe I won’t need a white knight next year. Maybe I’ll be able to take care of myself. Better yet, maybe Imogene and Harris will have forgotten about me, too.
You wish.
Shut up.
“Quinn? You can stop walking now.”
She turned around with a self-conscious smile. “Oh. Right.” A shuttered lantern had been lit, giving the area slightly more light than before. Cam was sitting down on a log, waiting for her to come sit down across from him. She might have continued back into the darkness, her inner voices duking it out to see who was going to win this round of internal combat.
This wasn’t an area they’d ever been to before but it was definitely one that was well-used. There were several cigarette ends over to the side and a red X had been painted on one of the nearby trees. With the lantern flickering the way it did, the letter looked like it was moving, as if it might actually crawl back up the tree where it had come from.
Cam cleared his throat, calling her attention back to him. “You know that thing that we aren’t supposed to discuss?”
She nodded her head slowly, very aware of her command that they were not to talk about the fact that this was Cam’s last year at Hogwarts. Every time she thought of having to face the Slytherin dungeons without him, she broke into such powerful shivers that her body felt like it was going to fall apart. It wasn’t that she couldn’t take care of herself, only that she had no other friends in the Slytherin house. None. They all saw her as a victim, someone to step on instead of over as they struggled up the hierarchy of the House system. Without Cam, she knew she’d have to start all over at proving herself against the bullies who were always looking for someone to elevate their station.
“You promised we wouldn’t talk about it.” It was hard to get the words out over the lump in her throat.
“I have something for you, though. A gift.” He looked out into the darkness, lifting his chin as if to start something that had been paused.
It was then that she heard the others walking through the forest. She’d missed the sound over her own stumbling walk when they’d been coming into the forest but she remembered it being there now that she heard it again.
When the first person stumbled into the clearing, she shrieked. Her first thought was that Cam had decided to have the job finished here and now since he wouldn’t be around to protect her. But the figure, wearing in a white sheet like a cape, stumbled in front of her and fell. No, not fell, she realized. He was bowing, one knee to the ground as if she was a princess in some forgotten fable.
“My lady,” the boy said without once laughing. She recognized Kent, one of the boys that hung out with Caradoc. He wasn’t on the Quidditch team but she’d seen him fly once and he could have been if he’d wanted to.
Another boy came forward and did the same thing. This one was Gavin, the Gryffindor’s Keeper. His hair stuck up at odd angles and she always wondered if he ever tried to get it to lie down flat. Then came Ollie, a chubby boy who smiled almost continually, followed by a boy that Quinn couldn’t name right away.
At last, Cara came out from the shroud of the darkened trees. Instead of falling to his knee at the end of the line like the others, he came to the front of the line and took her hand before he bowed. “My lady, we offer ourselves up as your white knights.”
She giggled. As silly as they all looked, the pomp and circumstance made her fifteen-year-old heart do funny little jumps and twirls. When she didn’t answer right away, he squeezed her hand and looked out the side of his eye at her. “You have to accept or it isn’t legal,” he whispered loud enough for everyone to hear him.
“Right.” She licked her dry lips. “I accept your offer, kind knights.”
When she looked up to include Cam in the lighthearted fun, he was staring at her with that hard glare he sometimes got when he didn’t know she was looking at him. She’d been able to figure out what a lot of his looks meant, but she didn’t know this one very well. It wasn’t supposed to be one she saw, she supposed. When he saw her looking at him, he cleared away the fierceness so that he was Cam once again.
“Do you like your gift?”
“Did you do this?” she asked him, wondering what this gift meant.
“No. This isn’t from me. I wanted you to see this first, though. Do you think your knights will be able to keep you safe.”
She contemplated the question for long enough to have an answer that suited her. “I appreciate the gesture. Stand up, boys. You’re making me feel silly now.” They all stood, laughing and joking as they took their seats to show that they weren’t moved by the gesture. It all made her laugh along, seeing them having fun together. While she’d never been part of a group of friends, she’d watched enough of them to be able to appreciate what this group had.
When they’d settled, she picked the train of thought back up. “But we’re still back to the original argument.” She looked at Cara with a sad smile. “There are so many hours of the day that you can’t help me, no matter what kind of crisis I find myself in. I’m not a Gryffindor.”
Cara nodded, well aware of the arguments. He’d helped with all of them, refining and restructuring many of them so she saw things she’d missed before. He reached out to smooth over the yellowing bruise on her neck. “But we’ll be there as much as we can. No more bruises that we don’t answer with bruises of our own.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks but she met his gaze without ducking her own. It had taken a lot of practice to be able to look him in the eyes. “Thank you for that. I hadn’t thought it would help but it does.”
She dragged her eyes back to Cam. Without saying the words, she begged him to stay with her. He was her rock when she was unstable. Her fortress when she needed a place to hide. Her only family to speak of. In every sense of the word but the blood that flowed through their veins, he was her brother. In the past, he’d also taken turns at being her mother and father when she’d been in need of them.
“One more year,” he replied to her unspoken plea. “I can give you one more year.”
“What about training?” Cara asked. “They’re expecting you.”
Cam shrugged, his hands braced on his knees. “They’ll just have to wait for me. I’ve succeeded in getting an Unacceptable in every class. Slughorn had no choice but to offer me a chance to come back next year to redeem myself. It was very sporting of him, considering he told me he wanted me gone from his sight come June. I doubt he’ll be happy to have me take him up on the offer.”
She jumped up, barely able to contain her excitement as she landed on him, her arms tight around his neck. As he always did, Cam hugged her close. “I’m not leaving you yet. Not just yet,” he whispered into her hair.
The other boys filed out of the clearing as Quinn tried very hard not to collapse into sobs of delight and pain, both too much for her to bear in silence much longer. She caught what one of the boys said but wasn’t able to think about it until later when she was finally back in her bed.
“Not exactly the ending you thought you’d get it, was it, Cara?”
What ending had he expected, she wondered.