» in your company

[Imogen Sauveterre]

At first, Imogen had thought writing to him would be stupid. He’ll say no, she told herself. He doesn’t have time for you. You probably scare him, you’re a stalker, leave him alone. He has better things to do with his time than talk to you.

But she wrote to Fabian Prewett anyway, and she wasn’t really shocked when he wrote back. On the one hand, she’d expected to be because of the doubts she’d had beforehand. On the other hand, she knew him well enough by now to know that he was nice and would always write back… and he seemed to like her enough to actually want to. And, crazy as it was, he actually seemed to like her. Not romantically, of course – not that she wanted him to. Well… no. Her crush was bound to come to an end soon and then they could be friends and she could actually be normal around him, not some stupid smitten girl. But he was actually a decent bloke, not some sleazeball who spoke crudely and tried to get into her knickers. He’d kissed her, but that was just an impulsive mistletoe thing. It didn’t mean anything.

And it was… nice… to have a friend who didn’t have a bunch of drama in his life right now. Ian didn’t, not really, but he was so busy with Wendy all the time, and he was also trying to help Benjamin, so that was weighing on him as much as it was on her. Fabian was completely separate from everyone and everything happening with the rest of her friends. He was always smiling and looked genuinely happy to see her, which was so rare and… well… it felt good. It made her feel appreciated, and wanted, and like she was a friend to someone without being a burden. He made her genuinely smile, even just his jokes in their owls back and forth. Smiling wasn’t something she did much of these days; she almost forgot what it felt like before he wrote back. He was just… a good friend to have, especially right now.

He wasn’t off from his Auror rounds until after three, so Imogen had a bit of time before then to glance around Hogsmeade on her own. Of course, students weren’t really supposed to go anywhere alone these days, so she drifted from group to group to pass the time. She walked with Tori for a bit before they separated. She stayed in the Three Broomsticks for a while, sure that she’d be safe in a crowded store, and when a small group of students left she followed them, sticking close enough that others would assume she was “part of the group” but far enough away that the students didn’t think she was creepily stalking them. It occurred to her that Fabian’s birthday was around this time of the year, but she couldn’t recall the exact date, nor could she remember how she got that information. He certainly didn’t know her birthday… hmm. Well, however she knew about it didn’t matter. It was either February or March – she didn’t think it was as far along as April – and they were friends, so… she didn’t think it was too out-of-line for her to get him a birthday gift. The question was what, though. He appreciated a good joke, so maybe something from Zonko’s would be all right. But he had a sweet tooth, and he’d already offered to meet her in Honeydukes, so maybe a bit of candy too… He liked Quidditch, though. Maybe she could talk to Simon about swinging some tickets to Falcons’ games, since they were his favourite team. She’d prefer Top Box, but that probably wouldn’t be possible on short notice, and Top Box was probably over-stepping her boundaries anyway. But if she could get Fabian tickets to games – two tickets to each home game would be good – that would definitely be a good birthday present. She’d write to Simon tonight and ask.

Her thoughts had distracted her enough that she’d lost the group she was trailing without even realising it. They had gone into Scrivenshaft’s and now Imogen was almost out by the Hog’s Head; her heart skipped a beat and she glanced around with wide eyes, half expecting (Rosier) someone to be trailing her or ready to leap, but scoffed at herself and shook her head. She was still surrounded by people. All she had to do was duck into a store and she’d be fine again. Nothing bad had happened since before Christmas, and the man responsible was now in Azkaban – thanks to the guy she was supposed to meet in a few minutes. Deciding now was as good of a time as any to head over, Imogen turned toward the Shrieking Shack and started up the path. The snow wasn’t as deep as it’d been last month, so the trip up was easy. The sun was out from behind the clouds and Imogen actually felt a little too warm in her cloak. At least she wasn’t sweating yet, though. The last thing she needed was to get to Fabian reeking of body odour, all red-faced and exhausted and dripping sweat. Gross.

Her stomach twisted slightly the closer she got to the Shack. She wasn’t really nervous about meeting Fabian. Haha, it wasn’t that kind of twisty. No, for the first time in ages, Imogen actually felt legitimately excited about something. She hadn’t felt happy – not really happy – since she’d been on the island with Tori. As soon as she’d gotten back, everything had come crashing down: the state of Benjamin and his depression, Stefan losing his parents, Lyle still suffering from what happened… She wished they all would talk to someone about their baggage, someone who could actually help. What if Benjamin needed medication? Stefan definitely needed to cope with loss in a way that was healthy. And what if Lyle had post-traumatic stress disorder? She couldn’t blame the poor bloke after what he’d been through, and what he was going through now with Stefan. Imogen had stretched herself thin by trying to help all three of them, and it was selfish of her to even think that. The way she was acting was selfish when she wasn’t with one of them, because then she was burying herself in mountains of schoolwork. She didn’t even speak to her other friends – the first time she’d spoken to Ian was a few days ago in the library – and… god, when was the last time she’d spent time with Jezebel? Even today with Tori was short-lived. Whenever she was alone, she was catching up on homework, even going so far as to plan (and sometimes pre-write) essays she knew would come up between now and exams. And OWLs were approaching much faster on this side of the New Year; she’d already dug up her essays from the start of term and corrected her mistakes on them. The only thing she hadn’t done that she still needed to do was suck up her pride and write to Florence and ask her to send her tests and essays from previous years.

She waited by the fence, keeping her head down but eyes alert in case someone came along. She was a couple minutes early, but only by about three. Hopefully Fabian didn’t get mad at her for being alone for three minutes. She had her hand closed around her wand in her sleeve, just in case, and her arms were crossed so that it was hidden and couldn’t be pried out of her hands when she wasn’t looking. Imogen checked her watch again and saw that it was three; he was finally off. Fabian’s face appeared in her mind, smiling that big grin that filled her tummy with flutterbies, and she could hear his laugh in her head and… okay, she was blushing, and grinning to herself like an idiot. She looked back down the path she’d come from to see if he was there, but he wasn’t yet. Well… that was all right. It was okay to be late.

She just hoped he hadn’t forgotten about her.

tagged
fabian prewett

[Fabian Prewett]

These were dark times. Voldemort and his followers were getting bolder, having orchestrated at least two major attacks in the wizarding world in two months. St. Mungo’s was still recovering from the Death Eaters’ takeover in November, and the incident in Diagon Alley on Christmas Day hadn’t made the hospital’s work any easier. Marlene McKinnon, a new member of the secret Order of the Phoenix, had died in the incident, and the Minister for Magic had been injured the same night and murdered shortly after. Fabian himself had been wounded and hospitalized after attempting to defend the local citizens. Others with professional training weren’t immune either—Fabian had arrived at the office a few weeks later to hear the news that Mewes, one of his fellow Aurors-in-training, had been killed in action. He hadn’t known Mewes very well, but the death had served as a reminder of how dangerous his job was and how important it was for him to get the most out of his training that he could. His future colleagues, unfortunately, no longer had much time for grief. These days, they had their hands full tracking down people, even whole families, who’d mysteriously gone missing. Fabian knew that a team of Aurors had been assigned to find the vanished MacBoon family, and he’d heard something about them looking for a Muggle-born boy who’d disappeared as well. Suspicion, these days, tended to fall on Voldemort and his Death Eaters, with good reason. They’d been quite the busy beetles instigating more and more acts of violence against Muggles and wizards alike. The MacBoons, vocal supporters of Muggle rights, were a likely target for them, so the Aurors were currently looking for clues to their disappearance amongst the activities of suspected Death Eaters. (Fabian didn’t know much about the case of the Muggle-born boy, so he wasn’t sure exactly why the boy would have been abducted by Death Eaters. The senior Aurors seemed to think it fit the pattern of disappearances, though, so there must have been something important about him.)

Missing didn’t necessarily mean dead, of course, but the longer this went on, the easier it would be for people to believe that the worst things they’d never had so much reason to fear before were happening. The Head of the Auror Office had stressed how important it was for the Ministry to maintain order and prevent panic from spreading amongst the wizarding community. Panic never did anyone any good, especially in dire situations. So Fabian took his job seriously and did his best on every assignment he was given, because if he wasn’t doing his best to keep people safe, then what was he even doing? That was why, when Dumbledore had requested a security watch for Hogsmeade from the Auror Office (and asked members of the Order of the Phoenix to keep an eye out for Voldemort’s followers) last fall, Fabian had immediately volunteered. He’d seen firsthand last June the kind of damage an organized group of Death Eaters could do to an unprepared village, and he wanted to help keep a disaster like that from happening again. A few isolated incidents had happened here since then, but most parents still felt secure enough to allow their kids to keep visiting the village. If people started to think directed assaults on their children could happen at Hogwarts, though, they’d be driven into a frenzy. No one would feel safe anywhere. The panic could lead to riots, causing chaos that Voldemort would almost certainly use to his benefit. Many were already living in fear; if they lost too much faith in the Ministry’s ability to keep them safe, it wouldn’t take long for the dragon’s dung to hit the wind.

Today’s outlook didn’t seem so bleak, though. The weather wasn’t bad, considering it was still winter. The students looked happy to be out of the castle, and most of them didn’t look too concerned about the grim state of things back home. Fabian had been patrolling the streets for hours, and he hadn’t seen a single sign of trouble. In fact, he was almost… bored. Not that he wanted there to be trouble—things just would’ve been a lot more exciting if there were. Taking his watch from his pocket, he checked the time. He was supposed to meet Imogen Sauveterre at the end of his shift, which was… soon, actually, but not quite as soon as he was hoping. He was actually a bit surprised that he hadn’t seen Imogen at all yet. Every other time he’d been on patrol here, he’d bumped into her at some point and ended up chatting with her for a while, so it was odd that he hadn’t seen a single sign of her today. The last time he’d seen her had been a month ago, when he’d come to deliver his second Patronus lesson to her, her friend, and his brother. They hadn’t talked much; she’d seemed distracted during the lesson and had left as soon as they were finished. So the letter he’d gotten from her earlier this week had come as a bit of a surprise. At first, he’d thought she was writing to ask about having another lesson, but it had turned out to be something else entirely. She’d been feeling a little down and wanted to spend time with a “friendly face.” Fabian was surprised that she wanted to see him in particular, because she hadn’t known him very long and had to have friends closer than he was. Well, she had said she’d been having problems with her friends. But whatever her reasons were for asking to see him, it felt good, knowing he was appreciated.

But maybe he was appreciated by her a little too much, according to a couple members of his family. Alice had insisted that this girl must fancy him, but Fabian wasn’t sure whether he ought to believe that or not. She’d been wrong before, like when she’d thought one of the Selwyn girls fancied him but they’d both actually been after Frank. And she was a couple years ahead of Imogen in school, so she really didn’t know anything about her. Gideon did, though, or thought he did. His friends had some pretty nasty things to say about Imogen, so he didn’t seem to like the idea of Fabian getting chummy with her. And he seemed to think that Imogen wanted to get him into bed and Fabian ought to watch out for her (as if Fabian couldn’t protect himself from a fifteen-year-old girl, ha!). But whatever the case, Imogen was a girl who needed cheering up, and Fabian was the ready and willing volunteer for the job. He couldn’t stand the idea of letting a girl stay sad if he could do something about it. He wasn’t the best at giving advice or solving problems that couldn’t be fixed with a wand, but he knew how to put a smile on a girl’s face. Or at least he usually managed to.

And there was the girl now, coming into view as Fabian strolled toward the fence in front of the Shrieking Shack. She hadn’t spotted him yet. He lifted his arm, about to wave and call out her name. Then he paused, remembering something from their letters. She’d said that she liked spontaneity. He could give her that, he remembered writing back. Turning from the straight path he would have taken toward her, he walked a wide circle instead, coming up quietly behind her. Placing his hands quickly and firmly on her waist, he lifted her off the ground, calling out (in a friendly tone, of course), “Hey!”

[Imogen Sauveterre]

Was she being stood up? Had Fabian forgotten about her? Or had he found something bett—

She barely had any time to think before she felt hands on her waist, and for a moment (Rosier) she felt too shocked and frightened to even shriek. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open but her throat was closed up and no one walked by the Shrieking Shack and—

“Hey!”

Oh. Oh. It was Fabian. Imogen relaxed with a heavy sigh of relief and let out a laugh as her feet touched the ground again. It was on the tip of her tongue to scold him, to tell him that maybe sneaking up on someone wasn’t the nicest thing to do in Hogsmeade, but as she turned around and saw him smiling down at her, she kinda-sorta didn’t care anymore. So what if he’d startled her? She… liked spontaneity. Yeah. “Hi,” she greeted in return, blushing when she realised how airy that one word had sounded. She needed to get a grip on herself now before she did something totally stupid. “Hi.” Oh, right, that was much better, just repeat herself until she said one that didn’t make her sound like a total airhead but made him question her sanity. Great. “Er…” Words, Imogen, use your bloody words! “Ever been inside? The Shack, I mean. Supposed to be the most haunted place in Britain, but it’s kinda… um… quiet. And I dunno if they’d let it, you know, just sit there if it was really haunted, because there’s bound to be the kid who tries to break in, right? I mean, if it was haunted to the point of being dangerous, you’d think someone would perform an exorcism on the house and get it all cleaned up of ghosts and stuff.” She blushed furiously; why did she always come off as a complete dolt around him? She was more intelligent than this! It was that stupid smile of his, always giving her flutterbies and being not-stupid and making her feel all… bubbly. Which was just weird. Why couldn’t she fancy Fabian like she fancied Benj—wait, why did she have to fancy Fabian at all? At least her feelings for Benjamin were easy to control, and anyway, she shouldn’t have feelings for anyone else. At least it was just a crush and would go away, and then she could say she actually did have a normal crush at some point, not one where she kissed the person of her affections while he had a girlfriend or went skinny-dipping with him and snogged him there, too.

“Do you… er… d’you want to go for a walk?”

There. At least that was semi-decent.

[Fabian Prewett]

Aha, he’d surprised her!

Chuckling at the sound of her relieved sigh, Fabian set Imogen down and flashed her an impish smile. “Didn’t scare you, did I?” he asked, eyes twinkling with mischief. She didn’t seem too upset by what he’d done, seeing as how she wasn’t smacking him in the arm or anything. After her first “Hi,” he thought they were done with the greetings, but then she said it again. Slightly puzzled, he opened his mouth to respond in kind. Maybe he’d startled her a little too much—oh, no, she was all right, talking about something now. She was reasoning through how haunted the Shrieking Shack could possibly be. It was kind of cute, how much thought she was putting into the ghost story. See, this was the sort of thing that just didn’t fit what his brother said his friends told him about her. They thought she was some sort of man-eating slag, but Fabian just couldn’t see it. She couldn’t really be that sort of girl, could she? All right, so she had invited him to a party that had turned out to be a strip card game, but she’d seemed honestly surprised about it at the time. And she’d been so shy about seeing her friends with their clothes off that he couldn’t imagine her engaging in such activities on a regular basis. Maybe she was just a really good actress, but she seemed a lot more innocent than his brother’s friends said she was. Their image of her was so contrary to how he saw her that he even felt compelled to defend her on occasion. What was wrong with spending time with Imogen and being her friend? She’d never tried to hurt him or wrong him, and he didn’t think she was likely to do anything like that in the future either.

“Nah, never been. Dunno if anyone but a ghost could get in there. There aren’t any doors or windows, see?” Fabian answered, pointing at the house. “Looks like it was designed so no one could break in.” Looking back down at her, he tilted his head and smiled. “You don’t think it’s really haunted?” He mused quietly for a moment. “Well, the Shack’s been silent since last year, hasn’t it? Maybe the ghosts’ve moved on.” He grinned at Imogen. “Or someone’s cleaned it out, like you said.” She was blushing for some reason—she seemed to do that a lot when he teased her. Oh, she wanted to go for a walk. That sounded like a good idea. But first… “First things first,” he said, closing the (small) distance between them. He was here for a reason, and this ought to help him toward his goal of cheering her up. Putting his arms around Imogen, he enveloped her in a bear hug. After a moment, he let go and gestured toward the road. “All right, lead the way,” he said, stepping aside so she could move ahead of him.

Glancing at the Shack as he turned away from the fence, he murmured to himself, “No doors or windows… Wonder if Apparition’s possible.”

[Imogen Sauveterre]

It was like there was some sort of static between her ears.

Once upon a time, Imogen seriously judged girls who dumbed themselves down and acted like complete ditzes for guys they wanted to fancy them. Now, she didn’t do that quite so much. Now she was wondering if it was really an act, or if they felt the way she did: like she had to focus too hard on breathing to think properly and make real words. She could only focus on one thing at a time, and right now, that was listening to Fabian as he Sherlock’d the Shack, determining that it was impenetrable by students due to the fact that it had no windows or doors. “Yeah,” she agreed with the same airy tone as her first greeting. She didn’t have time to scold herself before she felt, rather than saw, the distance getting closed between them, and all of a sudden the breath was pushed clean out of her lungs by Fabian’s hug. She felt her arms return it just a moment before it ended, despite feeling like she didn’t really control them. After that, actual thought became a distance memory, and she could only smile and nod as he invited her to lead on. Yet, for some reason, Imogen seemed rooted to the spot and didn’t – couldn’t – move for the life of her. Luckily for her dignity, Fabian seemed to distract himself by looking at the Shack again, and she finally felt some words and actual ponderings return to her brain. “Apparition?” she echoed, glancing at the building. She’d Side-Along Apparated a few times with her mother and brother; the first time, she’d been so sick she vomited for several minutes afterward. It was getting better, but she still felt awfully queasy whenever she landed. “I… Maybe… Do you want to check it out? It’ll be an adventure.”

Wait, no. That was something Jezebel would say, not her! And hang on, why was she grinning? She didn’t remember telling her face to grin! Oh, this was a bloody wonderful disaster, wasn’t it.

(… Yes, it kind-of was.)

[Fabian Prewett]

Fabian gave Imogen a slightly surprised sidelong glance. Did she really want to explore the Shrieking Shack? He wasn’t sure it sounded like the best idea, given that a house with no entrances had no exits either. And it was supposed to be haunted by ghosts that made the Bloody Baron look downright friendly… although, as he’d mentioned, no one had heard any of the shack’s infamous shrieking for quite a while now. So it was probably safe. And even if it wasn’t, his day had been rather slow so far, so he wouldn’t mind a bit of danger. “Adventure? I could use an adventure.” As far as he knew, no one around here had ever been inside before. Imogen looked a bit eager to take a closer look, and Fabian was here to show her a good time. Exploring a mysterious, abandoned house could be fun. Eyeing the Shack again, he took a step toward it. “Yeah, why not?” Bracing his hands on the railing, he leapt easily over the fence. Once he’d landed on the other side, he beckoned for Imogen to follow with a wave of his hand. As she clambered over the fence herself, an idea about how to make the trek up to the house more fun came to him. Grinning, he said, “I’ve got an idea,” and turned his back to Imogen. Bending his knees and elbows slightly, he called over his shoulder, “Hop on.”

[Imogen Sauveterre]

Okay, so she was really surprised when Fabian actually seemed okay with the idea of breaking into the most haunted building in Britain. But it really didn’t look that scary during the day, and anyway, what harm could ghosts do? The ghosts in Hogwarts just left you feeling cold (and slightly violated) when they passed through you, and sure, it was really gross when Nearly Headless Nick decided to show the firsties why he was called Nearly Headless, but they were still just floating spirits who could do no harm. Poltergeists were different, though, and Imogen knew that not every poltergeist was as harmless as Peeves. Some of them were downright nasty; she’d done an essay on them for Muggle Studies last year, and how they seemed to be especially drawn to Muggles in a violent way. And then there were incubi and succubi, which were both disgusting and creepy – and basically wrong in all ways – and then… What were those things… Oh, right, some people believed in demonic visitation, though Muggles often referred to it as sleep paralysis, and brushed aside the sightings of the paranormal as being hallucinations even though they really did have something sitting on their chest preventing them from moving. But it wasn’t a demon. Most of the time, it was a Boggart who had wandered into a Muggle home, and since Muggles tended to fear anything to do with unexplainable phenomena, turning into a demon-like creature was pretty easy.

Oh, look at that. Fabian had just gracefully leapt over the fence and – OH, she was supposed to follow him! Right. Imogen smiled and started for the fence, and was swinging her leg over the top when he stopped her and turned his back to her instead. “You really want me to… get on you?” she said, blinking in surprise. Imogen rode horses, not people, but he looked like he genuinely wanted to give her a ride. “Er… All right? Tell me if I’m too heavy.” As gingerly as she could, she put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, then moved her left leg around his waist. When he had a hold of it, she shut her eyes and swung her right leg around, hoping she wasn’t too heavy or uncomfortable for him. Imogen had never had a piggy-back before, so she really hoped that actually being pressed up against his back was normal. Maybe she should try to make space—

He didn’t give her a chance to try.

[Fabian Prewett]

Chuckling at Imogen’s hesitant response, Fabian teased, “What’s the matter, never had a piggyback before?” As soon as he felt her left leg on his side, he hooked his arm under her thigh, near the knee. Bracing himself for the imminent weight shift, he adjusted his balance accordingly and deftly secured her right leg against his body as well. “Too heavy?” he echoed, letting go of her leg for a few seconds and reaching up to pull each of her hands past his shoulders. Pressing them together and squeezing to show her how to hold on properly around his neck, he swiftly moved his arm back into position. “Imposs—oh—oh no,” he groaned, pretending to stagger under her weight, “I dunno if—” Then, with an unquestionably devious grin on his face (that she couldn’t see, naturally), Fabian tensed the muscles in his legs and pushed off the ground with as much force as he could. Taking off across the poorly kept garden at top speed, he laughed uproariously. Running without restriction was fun. Doing it to take the mickey out of someone was even more fun. He’d had loads of practice doing this with Gabby over the years, so he wasn’t at all worried about dropping the girl on his back. Enjoying the feel of the wind on his face, Fabian’s grin grew broader as he carried her up the hill.

When they finally pulled up to the ramshackle house, Fabian slowed his steps and loosened his grip on Imogen. Letting her off his back not quite carefully, he took in a few big breaths and turned sideways to look at her. “Wish I could’ve seen your face,” he told her, chuckling again. Offering her a good-natured smile, he then turned to examine the site of their spontaneously chosen “adventure.” The house looked even more dilapidated up close. There didn’t appear to be any cracks in the wall he was looking at, though. A thick square board was attached to part of it, presumably covering what must have been a window once. Taking his wand out of his robes, Fabian tapped it against the board. He muttered a few spells that he thought might be able to remove it, but the board remained stuck fast. “Hmm… Permanent Sticking Charm, maybe,” he mused. Well, there was definitely no way in from this side of the house. Maybe they ought to take a look around the other sides.

Fabian strode toward Imogen and took her hand, leading her around the corner. After poking and prodding a number of possible former entrances, they ended up at the other side of the house having made absolutely zero headway toward getting inside. “Well,” Fabian sighed, “looks like it’s sealed shut.” Time to try Apparition, then. Appraising the shabby wooden wall in front of them, he turned to Imogen and asked, “Ever done a Side-Along?” When she said she had, he stepped close to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t let go o’ me, all right?” Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the inside of the house.

He just hoped there wasn't a Caterwauling Charm on the place.

[Imogen Sauveterre]

Imogen loosened her grip around Fabian’s neck as he began to struggle under her weight (she wasn’t that heavy, was she? She needed to cut down on the chocolate cake, obviously), preparing to hop down, but he wasn’t letting go of her legs—

“Whoa!” she shrieked as he bolted, sprinting up the hill toward the house. She let out a laugh and held tighter, moving her hands back to where he’d placed them below his neck. Her eyes were wide until they began to water and sting from the wind, and she smiled freely as she put her face down in Fabian’s shoulder. It was nothing like riding a horse – obviously – but it was still plenty of fun. Definitely more than she expected, but she did have a bad habit of worrying far too much about the little things. She wasn’t quite prepared for her sudden dismount when they reached the shack, but managed to actually stay on her feet; she’d had awkward landings when getting off Willow, and had learned how not to fall like a prat. She smiled as Fabian laughed, giving a breathless little shrug; she hadn’t even been the one running, yet she was still panting as though she was.

She watched as Fabian attempted a couple of spells to make the place easier to access. He poked at it a few times and she furrowed her brow, wondering why he chose to do that particular action. Heh, maybe he was seeing if it would actually shriek. Finally, he seemed to decide that it was impregnable and came up to her. He asked if she’d done a Side-Along before, and her mouth answered before her brain could. “Oh yeah, loads,” she said, forgetting to mention that by “loads” she meant “three times” – twice with her mother, once with Simon – and that each time she’d thrown up almost as soon as they landed. Fabian stepped up closer to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Instinctively, Imogen reached up and grasped his wrists, but instead of wrenching his hands away she held tight instead. Splinching himself would be one thing, but splinching Imogen because she wasn’t holding on tight enough was another matter altogether. Her heart began to pound, and she had to admit to being relieved that it was from the nerves of Apparition rather than the fact that he had his hands on her. She squeezed her eyes shut, deciding to trust him, and felt the sickening feeling of being pulled and stretched through a tight tube—

They landed on solid, albeit creaking, ground, and Imogen kept her mouth clamped shut in case her breakfast decided to show itself. She felt her stomach turn, but forced it down, finally opening her eyes and taking a breath. The Shack was too dark to see, so Imogen pulled out her wand. “Lumos,” she cast, and looked around a bit. It was old and rotted inside – they’d definitely need to watch their step – and had a musty odour, but didn’t seem too bad, yet. Somewhat worriedly, she glanced at Fabian and gave him a small smile. “Well, you’re all here,” she assured him. “How’m I?”

[Fabian Prewett]

Oh, good, there weren’t any alarm spells on the place after all.

Fabian kept a secure grip on his companion as he Apparated the two of them inside the building. He wasn’t worried about splinching himself; he hadn’t done that since before he’d gotten his license. No, it was the Side-Along part that had him worried. He was pretty good about keeping all the important body parts together, but things like fingernails and hair sometimes got left behind. Once, he’d Apparated his brother from their mother’s house to his new flat, only to find out once they’d gotten there that Gideon had gone completely bald. The splinching hadn’t been serious enough to warrant a visit from the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, but Fabian had had to make a trip to the local potions shop and buy a hair-restoring potion for his brother before Gideon would go anywhere else with him.

His current Side-Along passenger had a lot more hair to be concerned about, so he squinted toward her head when she cast the Wand-Lighting Charm to illuminate the pitch-black room. Glancing briefly at her face when she asked whether she was all there, he lit the tip of his own wand with the same spell and lifted his wand to shed the best light on the back of her head. He shifted his wand around, looking carefully at her hair. Without thinking, he lifted his other hand and gingerly felt her locks to make sure none of them were missing. His fingers moved of their own accord, indulging slightly in the pleasant sensation provided by her soft tresses. Fabian took another look at Imogen’s face to make sure she wasn’t missing any eyelashes or eyebrows. Finally satisfied that he hadn’t left any pieces of her behind, he dropped his hand. “I think you’re all right,” he told her, a small smile on his face.

Suddenly, a loud banging noise sounded from his right. Fabian turned immediately, pushing Imogen’s body directly behind his. “Stay behind me,” he ordered, readying his wand to react to the threat. Struggling to see through the gloom, he silently increased the amount of light that shone from the end of his wand. His eyes darted around, trying to see what could have made the noise. Another bang sounded, and Fabian noticed the drawer of a wooden table moving at the same time. Oh. “I think it’s a boggart,” he said slowly, keeping his eyes trained on it. Moving his left hand behind him, he felt for Imogen’s hand and grasped it. “All right?”

[Imogen Sauveterre]

To say that she was surprised when Fabian started touching her hair was an understatement. Whenever her personal space was being invaded, as what was currently happening, it was Imogen’s instinct to recoil immediately – she didn’t generally like to be touched. Too stunned to move or even speak, Imogen stood stock still as Fabian ran his fingers through her hair. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a logical voice was saying that it didn’t mean anything. He was just checking for missing clumps or something, making sure she didn’t get splinched in the Apparition. She was just letting out a nervous exhale when he dropped his hand and assured her that she was all there. It was on the tip of her tongue to joke that she thought she left her breath behind, but her voice was swallowed by a bang from inside the Shack. Imogen jumped in shock, nearly dropping her wand, but managing to keep a grip on it as she looked around for the source of the noise with wide eyes. Fabian didn’t waste any time in ensuring that she was behind him, and in her mind she focused on the Stunning Spell they’d been learning in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She’d practised with Ian a few nights ago, and while she didn’t knock him unconscious, she did manage to get him off his feet and make his mind go slightly fuzzy. Maybe she could perform it properly now that the occasion called for—

“A Boggart?” Imogen echoed, more nerves in her tone than intended. She would have rather faced a poltergeist or a ghoul; anything but a Boggart. Warm fingers enclosed over her free hand, and she instinctively squeezed as the Boggart shook the table again. In third year, her Boggart had been Leo, piano wire and cuts and bruises around his throat, and she found that nothing she thought of could make it funny. Before he could speak, because she knew what he was going to say, Imogen had backed out and passed the Boggart onto the next student. It was the only project where she’d ever been unsuccessful. Now, with all the shit going on, she knew her Boggart would probably be different, but that didn’t make her want to face it any more.

“Yeah. … You’re sure it’s a Boggart?” Realising that she was squeezing his hand rather tightly (and apparently his arm, too, but she couldn’t remember grabbing that), Imogen released her grip and moved to clasp his wrist instead. It was less… intimate… than holding hands. That would only lead to trouble, and that… wasn’t good.

“Are you uh… are we gonna face it or leave it alone?”

Truthfully, she hoped for the latter.

[Fabian Prewett]

Imogen sounded nervous about the idea of releasing the boggart from its hiding place. Fabian wasn’t particularly worried about facing it if he had to. He already knew what form it would take—his brother, dead—, and he knew how he’d be able to defeat it once it did (the image of Gideon zipping up, er, himself never failed to send Fabian into the peals of laughter needed to defeat a boggart). “Pretty sure,” he told her. “If it was a poltergeist, it would’ve done something else by now, don’t you think?” Taking one last wary glance at the wiggling drawer, Fabian turned toward Imogen. “I think it’s doing all right in there by itself. No need to bother it, ’less you want to get some practice for your O.W.L.s.” Fabian shook his wrist free of her hand and wrapped his own hand around her fingers again. “That wasn’t too much adventure for you, was it?” he teased, smiling.

Holding his wand out again, he began walking, keeping a firm hold on Imogen’s hand. It was pretty quiet in here; maybe he ought to make some conversation. “Hey, you know that mask you sent me over the holidays?” Imogen had sent him some sort of tribal mask as a souvenir from the island she’d gone to on holiday while he’d been recuperating from his last hospital stay. He’d just put it on the wall of the bedroom in his flat, not knowing what else he could do with it. Then, last week, he’d been getting ready to drop by Molly and Arthur’s house to visit his nephews when he’d spotted the mask and decided to take it with him. “Got some use out of it,” he said. “Took it to my sister’s house to show my nephews. Billy and Charlie thought it was wicked. Scared the stuffing out of little Percy, though.” He probably shouldn’t have arrived at the house wearing the mask on his face. The very pregnant Molly hadn’t been pleased with his terrifying her youngest boy and had given him a good whacking with a wooden rolling pin afterward.

Surveying the floor around them, Fabian spotted a broken wooden chair lying in Imogen’s immediate path. “Whoa,” he breathed, his arm going around her. Pulling her close to his body, he murmured, “Careful,” only letting her go once they’d passed the splintered furniture. Nothing else seemed to be in their way—certainly not any ghosts or poltergeists, at least so far. A set of stairs appeared to the right in his view. Fabian looked up at the dusty staircase and nodded his head toward it. Did she want to go up there? “So, what d’you think?”

[Imogen Sauveterre]

To Imogen’s relief, Fabian decided against releasing the Boggart. She knew she did need to practice with one before her OWLs, because there was no way she could beat one now – and since she was pretty sure her Boggart would have changed, practice would definitely come in handy. But there was bound to be one or two lying about the castle that she could stumble upon, right? In any case, she wasn’t facing this one, which was perfectly fine with her. Embarrassing herself in front of Fabian was not exactly on her list of things to do today. “I’m up for more if you are,” she told him, her brow furrowing a little as he took her hand again. She couldn’t deny that it gave her flutterbies, but there was a twist of guilt in there, too. She and Benjamin—

“What about it?” she interrupted herself. She had found a tribal mask on the island over the holidays that she thought Fabian might like; supposedly it represented some sort of warrior god, and since he was training to be an Auror, it seemed only fitting. Plus, it did look kind-of bad-ass. She let out a small giggle when he told her what he’d done with it, blushing a little afterward – she wasn’t a giggler, but for some reason she did it more than once around him. “Probably sounds like something I would have done,” she smiled. It was sort-of true. Imogen was terrible with kids, and what was funny to her was probably terrifying to them.

She jumped a little as he stopped her, wondering if they’d encountered something else that was more threatening than a Boggart, but it was just a broken chair. For some reason – maybe chivalry – Fabian seemed to decide that pulling her closer was appropriate; fortunately, he couldn’t see the look of utter surprise on her face. She tensed up a little the closer she got to him, resisting the urge to push away, but he released her shortly anyway. He was nodding at a set of stairs and asking what she thought; Imogen didn’t even hesitate to grin. “I’ll see you up there,” she teased, then hurried off without him, taking the stairs two at a time and only realising halfway up that that could have been a very dangerous move. Nothing seemed to break under her feet, though, and she reached the top before Fabian and waited, grinning down at him. She looked around at her surroundings while she waited for him; it was just a single room. Bedroom, apparently, given the moth-eaten mattress against the wall. But her stomach clenched at the sight of what appeared to be dried blood stains on the walls and floors, and there were definite scratches in the wood. Whether or not the house was still haunted, Imogen wasn’t sure, but something bad had definitely happened here.

“Wow,” she said softly as Fabian made it up beside her. “It’s really quite… sad, isn’t it? All this. I wonder what happened here.” She walked over to the wall, placing her fingertips against some of the scratch marks and following them along, drawing closer to the bed. There was a tiny hole in the wall that was letting light through. Curious, Imogen stepped up onto the mattress and stood on her toes to look through. “We’re facing the village,” she noted. “You can see everything from up here. It’s actually really nice looking.”

[Fabian Prewett]

“Oi!” Fabian shouted as Imogen dashed up the stairs ahead of him. Being invited to race always got his blood pumping. He leapt up the first few steps and clambered noisily after her, the wood creaking loudly underneath his feet. When he got up to the landing, he saw her pass through a nearby doorway. Following her, he found himself standing inside a shabby-looking bedroom (which he doubted would look any better in full light). Imogen was already looking around, so Fabian did the same. Peering warily into one of the room’s dark corners, he almost didn’t notice that Imogen was speaking. Sad, was it? Glancing around the rest of the room, he shrugged and replied, “Yeah, I s’pose.” Girls always seemed to get more emotional about these things than he did. After satisfying himself that nothing dangerous was lurking in the room (though a fair number of spiders seemed to have made their homes here), Fabian wandered toward the large four-poster bed set against the far wall. He sat on the edge of it, bouncing a little to test the mattress’ strength. While Imogen investigated some marks on the wall, Fabian settled further back on the bed.

This adventure wasn’t turning out to be very adventurous. So far, the only thrilling thing they’d come across had been that boggart, which couldn’t cause them any harm trapped in its little drawer. It didn’t look as though they’d find anything more frightening than that up here, either. Well, the house had been silent for months; maybe whatever had been responsible for all the shrieking had moved on. Letting out a long breath, he flopped backward onto the bed, casting his gaze up at Imogen, who was busy peeking through a hole in the wall. He watched her for a moment, noting that all of her attention seemed to be on the village outside. So it was nice-looking from here, huh? “Yeah?” he replied. “Not spooky?” An impish grin suddenly crossed his face. It’d be fun to throw a little stimulation her way, wouldn’t it? After all, nothing else was happening, really. Before he’d even fully decided to do anything, his hand had shot out to grab her foot.

Ha, maybe something exciting would happen in here after all.

[Imogen Sauveterre]

“No, not at all.” For a moment, she thought she saw Ian and Wendy, but it was some other redhead and she was definitely walking with another girl, not Ian. Bummer. “It’s—whoa!”

Something had just grabbed her foot and Imogen, always clumsy but especially when she was surprised, felt her balance give out and shut her eyes as she fell backward, hoping she didn’t land on Fabian and breathing a sigh of relief as she bounced on the mattress instead of him. He was laughing, she could hear him, and she let herself give a little laugh, too. Obviously he’d done it, not some spook, probably to liven up the non-adventure. She tried to sit up but couldn’t push herself properly; opening her eyes, she saw Fabian’s hand by her own and grabbed it, using him to pull herself into a sitting position. “Oi,” she laughed, poking his shoulder, “I could’ve landed on you there, and that wouldn’t’ve been any fun.” She was grinning, so she wasn’t taking it too seriously.

She was, unbelievably, having fun.