I missed this place...

[ezrian]

Covered in dirt and bits of sticks, Derek dragged himself into the dorm room of Slytherin house. He had eben gone for months and he didnt know if they thought he was dead...or if they even noticed he was gone. He had hiked for so many miles...a hundred? He didnt know...all he knew was he had to see her...see Pam...and tell her what he had realized when he was taken away...he hadnt had the chance to fix what went on with Rhea before he was abducted...he hoped she still knew who he was...

He stood in the doorway of the common room and looked around. Gasps greeted him, and he ignored them...looking up the stairs he heard someone coming down the girls stairway...

[Talkahuano]

Pam hadn't had as much homework as she thought she would, and was enjoying some free time playing with Lizard.
He was a cute little fellow, and a good listener (or so Pam said). She would tell Lizard everything - her secrets, how much she missed Derek, what she planned to do the next day, everything.
She decided to go for a walk, maybe meet up with Li Na, and walked out of the girls' dorm with Lizard poking his head out of her pocket.
As Pam approached the doorway, she saw that a circle had gathered around something... or someone...
Suddenly, all the faces turned to face her, and they parted. Pam blinked twice. It couldn't be. She had buried him, he was gone! How could he...?
But it was. The look on his face was unmistakeable. No amount of polyjuice could mimick those eyes she had come to know so well.
She began shaking violently, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She stumbled over to him and fell, crying, not knowing what to do with herself. She wanted to run over to him and hug him, kiss him, never let go, but all she could do was lay there, crying and shaking.

[ezrian]

Dereks question on whether they thought he was dead seemed pretty obvious now. His eyes filled up with tears as PAm collapsed to the ground. At that moment he hated himself for making her feel like this...he felt like he had no right to do it, but he walked over to where she wept on the ground.

he kneeled in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Pam?" he said.


"I love you."


he let out a deep breath and waited for her to respond.

[Talkahuano]

Pam stopped shaking. Something about his touch calmed her spirit. He was back, he had come back to her.
It didn't matter how, not now. Pam reached up slowly and hugged him. "I love you too." she said softly. She started crying even more, not giving a damn that the rest of the Slytherins were staring in disbelief, running off to call the headmaster.
Pam didn't care about anything except that he was back. She let him hold her in his arms, right there on the floor, and she looked up into his face.
It didn't make any sense, and slowly... she was realizing something was just too good to be true. It couldn't happen, people didn't just come back from the dead. She sat on the floor for a few moments longer, not wanting to move, but growing more doubtful every second.

Lizard scrambled out of her pocket and scurried over to Derek, climbing on his shoulder to take his usual place.

[ezrian]

Derek smiled. "Thanks for taking care of Lizard for me", he said.

"The Death EAters told me when they took me they left a body...I didnt know whether to believe them or not..."


He trailed off and looked apologetic. "Will you come with me to see the headmaster?" he asked.


"Actually," he amended..."lets go to the tower first...back to the place we met. I need to talk to you."

[Talkahuano]

Pam only half listened to what he said. It didn't make any sense, she couldn't remember anything. Death eaters? They killed him, he was gone.
And yet here he was, alive and breathing, saying words to her that she couldn't understand... she took a deep breath. She understood the last part.
Getting up shakily, she said, "Yeah, the tower... let's go to the tower..."
She reached for his hand nervously, almost as if expecting it to disappear. When it didn't, she gripped it tightly and walked out with him. She ignored all the confused talk from all her fellow Slytherins. They were too stunned and confused to follow them out.

[ezrian]

Derek was breathing so fast he thought his chest was going to explode. He didnt let it show, of course...he had to be strong. He turned the corner, Pam still clinging to his arm, and headed up the stairway to the astronomy tower.

When they got to the top of the stairs, he led Pam to sit over next to the ledge...the ledge from their first night. Tears began to well up in his eyes and he cursed himself silently.

How will you ever get her to stop crying if you start??, he asked himself.

Lizard crawled up his cheek and darted his tongue out, licking up the tears.

In spite of the moment, Derek laughed. He looked at Pam and smiled with sadness and joy in one.

"So...what have you been up to?"

[Talkahuano]

Pam looked up at him in disbelief.
"What have I been up to? Don't you mean what have you been up to? Where have you been?!" She was angry and she didn't know why. She got up and began to pace, saying, "This whole time I thought you... I mean I saw the..." she paused and looked into his eyes. "I just... I just want to know what happened to you."
He looked tired, worn out... he was covered in sticks and mud, as if he had been hiking for days.

[ezrian]

Derek sighed. "What happened to me...what happened..."

He looked at her and a blank look went over his face. "I...so many things. I woke up a few months ago to go to get a drink...I got pulled into...into the Room of Requirement. Death Eaters...they brought me..."

Derek coughed and wiped his eyes.

"brought me to a cabin...the mountains at Hogsmeade...it was...I dont know...they tried to make me...listen to them...fought so much...burned me..."

Derek gasped and fell to the stone floor, crying.

"Dont let them take me back! Dont let them..."

[Talkahuano]

Pam knelt down on the floor beside him and put her arms around him.
"It's ok..." she whispered. "You're here now. It's ok..."

She didn't know what else to do. But she knew that whatever happened, she must not cry. This time, he needed her to be strong.

[ezrian]

Derek shivered and tried to hold back the emotion.

"Im sorry...I think they tried to make me forget some of the things they did...but I escaped before...before whatever it was they were trying to make me do actually happened..."

He tried to stand up and slumped against the wall, sliding back into a sitting position. He smiled sadly at Pam.

"Im so sorry..."

[Talkahuano]

"Shh... it's ok." she said lovingly. "It's ok." She followed him to the wall and sat down beside him, and rested her head on his shoulder the same way she had when they had met. "You don't have to talk about it. We'll sort this out later." She held his hand. "I'm just glad you're here."

She was hoping it wasn't some wicked dream, some scam her mind was playing on her. She was afraid to wake up.

[ezrian]

"Im glad Im here too..." He looked out blankly into the sunset and smiled. "I remember the last time we were out here..."


He turned to her. "I missed you so much..thinking of you kept me...kept me sane."

he kissed her gently. "Im so sorry you had to go through all of this..."

[Talkahuano]

Pam didn't want to kiss him back. She was worried. "You need to go to the infirmary." she said softly, caressing his hair. "I want to be sure you're ok. Please... we can talk in a little bit..." it was hard for her to say that, and she was saying it as sweetly as she could.
She wasn't breaking up with him, just the opposite. But she was afraid he might get the wrong idea.