ii. The Wolf's Bane

Despite all the charms Claire had put on this trunk, it was somehow still heavy. She took a sharp breath and then a hard shove, but the trunk still did not move. Gasping, she let out a frustrated groan.

"I got it, Claire!"

The trunk floated up magically. Claire wobbled out from underneath it as it glided over to the train's cargo car. A very smug young man stood over her, wand brandished. Ryder, the werewolf-no-more, grinned and offered her a hand up, which she took with exasperation.

It was November, six full months after the war had ended. The air had taken on a distinct chill, and the streets of London had turned a cooler shade of gray. The autumn season had been busy and fast as most autumns were, but this one in particular had been unyielding. As soon as the smoke had settled in May, the country that had stood still seemed to come speeding back to the present, and the witches and wizards of Britain emerged from their shuttered doors and dark hiding places to reach out for the future once more.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Rowan dedicated herself fully to both rebuilding Hogsmeade and caring for the broken boy who had ended the war, and Claire took it upon herself to pick up the rest. After they buried Eugenia and Stewart Perpetua, Claire rebuilt the London apothecary and Cassandra and Ryder went out to find the scattered werewolves to tell them the good news.

Slowly, the werewolves returned to London and Hogsmeade until Claire was seeing a familiar face step through her door everyday. Most had not fared well during the war, and she learned that even a few had died, but steadily, her patients returned to the city with every intention to rebuild the safe haven they had been lacking for so long. In those months, the number of cured werewolves increased from two to eight, and with each month, another werewolf was able to see the full moon with clear eyes.

Now that the cities were on their way back to normality, the pace was beginning to slow again, and the wizarding community could feel the anxiety of those first few months slip away to something lighter. As fall began to give way to winter with the encroaching holiday season, it was apparent that life would continue to move forward, even after war. Businesses began to reopen. Shattered windows were gone. And so Claire decided it was time to leave.

The magical train she and Ryder were about to board would traverse the water to Paris, where they would transfer to another train headed toward Romania, where they would stay for two months to train the apothecaries in brewing the Wolfsbane Potion and how to administer the advanced Perpetua Potion. From there, they would make their way back west through Hungary and Austria, doing the same in the major cities as they did in Romania. At the end of the long six months, Ryder would come home, and Will would join Claire in Italy to take a long-awaited holiday.

It was a long time to be away, particularly for both Ryder and Claire, who had never been outside of the country, and both were jittery with anticipation of the adventure ahead of them. Ryder was eager to take advantage of all the world had to offer now that he had his own wand and freedom. Claire was prepared to become the independent woman she should have been all along.

She turned the ring around her finger nervously. It still felt a bit foreign - she and Will had barely been engaged for two months now. It was a larger ring than she'd ever expected to wear, but as an expression of Will's devotion, she could hardly take it off. Even now, she caught herself staring at it with a silly grin, full of disbelief and wonder. When Claire came back, she and Will Surrey were going to be married. More than the war or the Perpetua Potion, this single fact seemed more impossible than anything.

And yet she was leaving him for so long. A part of her whispered that it was a mistake. Will was much too desirable, much too fickle to be left for so long. Surely, he would grow tired of waiting. He would wake up from his strange fever dream to realize that he could do much better than plain Claire Verloren. But she knew she had to go. There were people out there who needed her, who needed all the work she and Rowan and so painstakingly undergone. There was no time to consider what could or couldn't be. She had to go.

As Claire and Ryder hoisted the last of their things onto the train, the finality of the action settled the anxiety in Claire's heart. Whether it was right or wrong, they were going. Heat rolled off of the train, sinking into Claire's cold cheeks. She stared up its long body and remembered all the times she stood in front of the Hogwarts Express. Was it similar to this? Is this how Rowan had felt when she'd left so many years ago? No, Claire was not running away. She was running towards the future.

"Are you done already?"

She felt his touch before she saw him, and as she turned, Claire was greeted by the face she had longed for. Will looked down at her frowning, cheeks pink from exertion. He had clearly run through the station to get here. She grinned.

"Yep. You're too late," she said. He grimaced.

"Ugh, I'm sorry. One of my men held me up when I was trying to leave. I didn't think you'd be so fast," he said contritely.

"Ryder was showing off again," said Claire, nodding to the younger man. Luckily, he hardly seemed to hear them, for he was now insisting on helping other passengers with their luggage, eager to make use of his new wand skills.

"Rowan's not here yet?" said Will, craning his neck.

"You're the first." He frowned.

"I thought for sure she'd be here to help you. She's seemed distracted recently."

"She's had a lot on her plate," said Claire. "She'll be here soon."

"Are you sad to be leaving her?" Claire gave a shrug.

"I'll be back soon."

Will smiled and took her hands with his. She felt his breath on her face.

"I'm sad you're leaving me," he whispered. For the first time that day, Claire felt their separation.

"I am, too," she admitted shakily.

"But we'll see each other again soon." The certainty of his tone settled some of the nervousness she'd felt about their parting.

"Your sister will tell me if you're fooling around behind my back," she said with false-seriousness. He grinned in that cocky way that first caught her eye when they were just children. What she would give to tell that little girl that she'd one day marry the most popular boy at Hogwarts!

"If it gets you to come home sooner, it'd be worth it."

Claire laughed out loud, her stomach jumping with relief. Will beamed and bent down to kiss her laughing mouth.

"Ugh, gross!"

They broke apart to see said sister and her husband. Sirius Black made a vomiting noise, and Mina Surrey rolled her eyes before stepping forward and ignoring him.

"You beat me out of the office," said Mina to her brother.

"You were taking too long." She rolled her eyes again before smiling at Claire. Even now, her future sister-in-law's gentler expressions took Claire by surprise. The older woman handed her a book with a few pieces of parchment folded in.

"Will says you've taken a liking to mystery novels recently, so I thought I'd get you a copy of one I'm fond of. Also, there are a few maps in there of Graz, Innsbruck, and Budapest. I marked a handful of places I went during some of my Ministry trips. The tea shop in Budapest is particularly good."

"Thank you," said Claire, clutching the book to her chest.

"And I got you some biscuits!" declared Sirius, shoving a large tin into her hands. "They're the fancy chocolate ones too!"

"O-oh, thank you," laughed Claire.

"Wait! Us too!"

They all turned to see the Weasley clan hurrying down the platform, Molly in front. She huffed, red in the face, as she made it to them. Arthur looked rather disheveled, and Fred had a massive purple welt on his head that seemed to be growing by the second.

"Oh, goodness, I thought we were going to miss you!" she cried.

"Catch your breath first, Molly," said Mina, grinning.

"Oh dear. So sorry we're late. We went to get Fred first, but he had made a right mess of things at his shop-"

"Yeah, what the hell is going on with your head?" asked Will.

"New charm I'm working on. I'm trying to get it to take to the whole head, but it seems to be localizing in a strange way," said Fred casually, despite the welt's continuous growth. "No worries. Should wear off soon, I reckon."

Will and Sirius both eyed the welt apprehensively, and Mina sighed as she stepped forward. With a sharp point of her wand, she said sharply, "Reducio."

The welt shrank down immediately with precision , and though it continued to grow still, it was no longer the size of a second head. Fred beamed.

"Oh, that was way cleaner than when Mum did it. I thought she was going to shrink my brain down to nothing!"

"It might as well be nothing, seeing how stupid your stunts are!" she snapped.

"Well, either way, I've brought you a load of gifts!" declared Fred, presenting a large basket and disregarding his mother. "Bill and Fleur wanted to come but couldn't get out of work, so they've sent a very good bottle of French wine to share on the train; and Ron and Harry are stuck in Auror training, but they got you some cheese to go with the wine. And Hermione of course has sent a couple of books - the spell book is for Ryder, and the herbology book is for Claire…"

"Which book?" shouted Ryder, bursting back into the group. As Fred held up the copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6, Ryder let out a whooping cry and snatched it out of the younger man's hands.

"Wicked! This is the exact one I needed!" Ryder waved his wand enthusiastically - aspen wood and unicorn hair - as he was wont to do these days, still giddy with his new companion.

"Ryder, put that away before you take someone's eye out," snapped a voice from behind them. The party turned to see Cassandra, his old companion, with her typical scowl.

But Claire's eyes focused on the woman behind her, the small woman with black hair and a soft smile. As Cassandra and Ryder bickered and Molly piled him with newly knitted jumpers, Rowan stepped up to Claire with a book of her own. The others moved away discreetly.

"I'm sorry I'm late. It took me awhile to find something," said Rowan quietly.

"That's okay. I'm just glad you made it," said Claire.

Her eyes glanced down, and Claire's gaze followed. In her hands was an old book - older than Claire had seen in many years - with faded gold lettering in what seemed to be German. Rowan opened it up to reveal several pages inserted into the book with notes sprawling over them. They didn't seem to be written by Rowan's hand.

"This is Belby's. I want you to take it with you," started Rowan. Claire's eyes widened. Rowan rarely spoke about her late master. She could count the number of times she'd heard anything about him from her probably on one hand, despite all the years they'd been together. "When he passed, I found out that he'd left everything he owned to me - the shop, his flat, his books. But it was so painful that I left it all untouched for a long time. When I finally went back, I found this book among his belongings. I got someone to translate the section he marked off, and I found all these old notes he left me. This is how I knew where to go to find the flowers."

On the old yellowing pages were inky drawings of large flowers, opening and closing delicately. The drawing hardly did the real flowers any justice. If one only saw them in this book, they wouldn't see how the flowers glowed, how the flowers gathered together glistened in moonlight. They wouldn't see how Rowan's face smiled with such bittersweet pain at the sight of them as they picked them under the glow of the moon.

Rowan's fingers unfolded another piece of parchment that had been placed in the book. It was cleaner, newer. Mountains and rivers traced the surface, labeled with foreign words she wasn't sure how to pronounce. Many were noted with Rowan's familiar handwriting. One area was outlined delicately with a bold red line.

"Fifty years ago, Belby took Marie to Hungary to see the Bakony Lunar flowers," said Rowan softly. She exhaled with a soft laugh. "I know we've had enough of those damn flowers at this point, but they're nothing compared to what you'll see here. You should go on the night of the full moon and see them all bloom. Even Lescos said it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen."

Another spot glowed on the edge of the field. "Marie died here, where the forest meets the meadow."

Claire's throat caught, eyes flying up to Rowan's face. Her master's gaze lingered on the map, tracing over the lines she had walked so many years ago. Memories seemed to spin behind her eyes.

"Do you know how she died?" whispered Claire. Rowan looked up with a sad smile. Her hand reached into book again and withdrew an envelope.

"I'm sorry I never told you, but I've explained it all here. It was a bit of selfishness on my part. I suppose I wanted to keep Belby's memories for myself." Her smile deepened as she folded up the map again and slipped it and the letter back into the book. It closed with a soft thud, and Rowan pressed it into Claire's hands. "When you come back, I'll show you the memories he gave me, so you can see just how much he loved her."

Claire's eyes burned with tears as Rowan squeezed her hands, the folder in her grasp. Her master - her partner - smiled that same smile she had first given her in the Hogwarts library, the one she had given with all of her promises of success and glory. Even then, she had known that she would follow Rowan anywhere, but now, Claire was overwhelmed with the knowledge that she was finally setting out on her own.

"Thank you, Rowan," she gasped. She beamed as her tears broke through, and for the first time, Claire was not ashamed to cry. "I promise I won't let you down." Rowan laughed and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"You never have!"

The train's horn sounded off, indicating that it was time to go. Rowan pushed Claire forward as she had so many times before, and with arms full of gifts and well wishes, Claire and Ryder stumbled onto the train. Their faces strained with grins, and though Claire's eyes continued to leak, it was with happiness. As the train pulled out of the station, Claire felt the way she had on that first day of Hogwarts, before she knew Rowan Delacroix, before she knew of werewolves and lunar flowers. But she knew now that she was prepared, and she was not afraid of the challenges that lay before her.

When the edges of London disappeared, Claire and Ryder tucked into their respective books quietly, sharing the wine and snacks their friends had so generously given them. Ryder withdrew his wand and eagerly practiced the spells in his new book, and with delicate hands, Claire opened the long letter Rowan had so carefully written.

In her words, Rowan took Claire through the profound loss of her master. She walked with her through the Bakony Mountains where she had watched her master lose his precious wife, through the hallways of St. Mungo's where he died an agonizing death. Claire sat with this young Rowan in her silent despair and walked through the burnt remains of her beloved apothecary, knowing she was all alone.

And as she read over Belby's story, Claire understood all the shame and regret he had bequeathed to Rowan, and in reading Rowan's small words, she knew that her master had taken those burdens as her own, carrying them silently in her heart through the years without relinquishing them for a moment. But more than that, Claire knew that he had not just given Rowan his pain; he had given Rowan all of his hope, his desperation. Even if he could not fulfill his promises, he had demanded that Rowan fulfill hers, and she had. Claire wondered if Rowan could see that.

"Claire, are you okay?"

She looked up from the letter to see Ryder's concerned expression, and she wiped away the tears she had shed for both Rowan and Belby. Claire smiled as she nodded.

"Yes. I just read a very sad story from a long time ago."

"Did it end sadly?" he asked.

"No," she said, beaming, "it has a happy ending."

The hills were green as the train moved towards the sea. The magical train dipped into the water just as Claire folded up the letter once more. When they emerged from the water on the other side of the channel, the blue-gray waters around them felt like all the tears both Rowan and her master before her had shed.

The sky was cool and blue. Her gaze traced the clouds and droplets of the sea that continued to fall away through the window. Already, she was somewhere new, and soon, she'd be even farther from home. But her heart was steady with the knowledge that she followed the steps of people before her, and her struggles would not be so great. If only she could tell those three precious people from the past that their pain was not without meaning. If only she could pull that precious person from her despair to tell her the story had a happy ending.

As Claire and Ryder stepped off the train, their breath was white and foggy with the coming winter. Already, Claire could feel the mountain air on her face, the cold wind that had chilled both Rowan and Belby to the core. Her aunt Marie had stood here, but for now, this was Claire's adventure, and no matter what came before or after, she wouldn't give it up for anyone.

A/N: I rewrote this a bunch of times. Never really got what I wanted from it, but I wanted Claire to stand on her own at the end. I think Rowan has held onto her burden long enough and can finally let someone else help carry the load.

Thank you to skyguyyy, Guest, Kayla DeLana, Miraculous, Bangbaby731 for your reviews! I hope everyone is doing well.