The Farland Files

Lena Farland and the Dementors of Azkaban

The two men that had tried to adopt her as a cat, it turned out, were the uncles of Charles Potter and the newest defense professors. They were co-teaching, as Mr. Black was an Auror (on leave for the year) and knew more of the application, whereas Mr. Lupin was more theory-based (though she bet he could still hold his ground in a duel).

Black was lounging on one of the desks that had been pushed to the side of the classroom, for all intents and purposes looking quite like one of those boys in the orphanage that thought he was the greatest thing to walk the earth, while Lupin talked about their lesson: boggarts.

But Lena was too busy watching the wardrobe to listen to the sandy-haired man, lost in thoughts of fear and it's possibilities.

She knew she was afraid of being forgotten... but how would that appear?

The other kids formed a line around where she stood frozen in thought, their fears things like clowns or spiders or snakes.

However, Theo's boggart was a man that Blaise whispered to her was the boy's father, though the boy had no explanation and merely turned it into a clown (much to one girl's horror). Blaise's was what looked like a bloodstained bed, but he just turned that into a small kitten chasing its tail with a smirk to her. Daphne's fear was a mirror where her reflection was crying, signifying weakness, and Draco's was his father.

Children were not born cruel, they were forced to choose that path.

"Miss Farland." The other Professor, Black, looked at her with unreadable silvery eyes and she realized she was now in the front of the line. "You're up next."

Nodding, Lena stepped forward, wand slipping into her hand.

The boggart changed, leaving a figure standing there in worn paint-stained clothes. He looked the same as she remembered with his wrinkle-lined face, his close-cropped salt and pepper hair, and the tern tilt to his lips.

"Jack?" Her wand was limp at her side, blinking and taking a step forward. "Jack, I missed you so-"

But the look in his eyes stopped her, something cold and hateful that the man reserved for the Matron when the woman had done something to her. His mouth moved, and she could almost hear his words in her ears.

"Monster."

Her hand shook, wand almost slipping from her grasp as her hand started to shake, reaching up to clutch at her dog tags as if they could protect her from the sharp pain in her chest where she felt like her heart had fractured. "I had to. You know I did."

Again the figure said a single word, eyes like ice.

"Worthless."

Flinching, Lena closed her eyes even as she felt tears on her cheek, swallowing thickly. "You- you don't mean that Jack." Looking at the man through tears she couldn't seem to hold back, her voice broke and she'd never felt more like that nine-year-old standing next to a gravestone pleading that he just come back. Just please- please I'll do anything, just come back to me. "You'd never-"

The man's eyes were resolute glaciers as he stepped forward slowly, advancing on her like a twisted version of the old man she'd relied on for so long- as if he was here to punish her for her mistakes.

"You should have died instead of me."

Gasping for her breath, her hands shaking almost comically where they clutched at her dog tags, she nodded through the tears that wouldn't stop. "I know Jack. I... I know." Then she pointed her wand at the man and took a shuddering breath. "I-... For what it's worth... I'm sorry... Riddickulus."