when your demons return

Sunny was off in Jack's cramped office with Max. They were putting together a collage - a secret collage Jack knew nothing about. Sunny had goaded Max into finally breaking into Jack's office and taking down the shoebox full of photos she always refused to look through. The six year old was busy pasting the pictures into a book Max had helped her buy. She hummed happily, quite content and unworried. Every few minutes, she reminded Max that it was his job to tell her if Jack was coming, so she did not have to worry for him.

Jack was downstairs, putting away groceries like the tired matriarch she had become. She seemed normal and quiet and so very... typical. She could have been anybody. It would have hurt had she not always despaired about the unwanted tragedy that the public eye often earned her. Perhaps this anonymity would mean a return to peace. Hopefully, she would earn the long sought-after peace and quiet that used to bore her.

Jack was on her way to being thought a nobody.

But someone knew she wasn't. She had made enemies in her time at the Ministry. One such enemy was waiting outside her house with a large trunk. Cameron Pollard crouched in the bushes, nursing a hatred he had held for Jack ever since she had spoke as a key witness in the trial that ruined his life. Dragon trading did not often allow much wiggle room for punishment. Jack had long forgotten him, but he had not forgotten her.

CRASH!

Jack yelped and spun around in her shock to see a trunk had been thrown through the window. She ran to the door and looked outside - nothing. Jack swallowed and retreated inside, confused and wary, closing the door firmly. She turned around in time to see the latch of the trunk had come undone and the lid had opened. Something swirled out of the heavy box, split into two, and then... right before her...

Chase Moor and Vito Dee Symons stared at her. Her throat went dry.

They looked just as they remembered her, though Chase seemed pale, touched by death. The corners of her mouth were red with dried blood, and her hair was askew. No smile nor light graced her expression. Vito, however, was perfectly unchanged. He flicked twice like static, glaring maliciously, a smile twisted onto his face.

"We're back," Chase croaked, in a voice so unlike her own.

"Your old friends," Vito drawled, his voice dull.

Jack stared at them, her heart pounding, toxic memories pounding through her veins. They advanced, in step with each other, eyes menacingly locked onto hers. "Did you forget me?" Chase asked. "Did you forget ME?" Vito echoed. "Did you forget me? Did you forget me? Did you forget me?" they chorused one after the other.

Jack turned and ran, not even questioning it. She was not going to even attempt to handle the figures - no. She would not even attempt to test her strength. She was not willing to do it. She could not. The woman who had never been bested by a boggart before now ran in fear as its apparations chased her, calling their terrible call. She scrambled upstairs and headed for the first room she saw open.

Inside, Sunny heard the sudden noise on the landing and looked to Max. "She's coming! Red alert! The eagle is approaching! Take cautionary measures - CLOSE THE DOOR!"

Jack ran into the office, pale and frantic. "S-sunny! Oh! Max. Um - we have a problem."

Of all of the things that Max had learned while on Layabout Lane, one of the most surprising was the determination of a child. The first day Max had met Jack's small niece she had attempted to get him to open the mysterious contents of her aunt's office. Months later, her persistence had paid off and Max had been guilted/annoyed/tempted enough to unlock the doors for her. Once inside the room Max had been almost as curious to explore the contents as his young partner in crime.

It was only when Sunny discovered the box that Max felt the first pangs of uncertainty around their situation. Yet he helped her anyway, first buying the blank book to fill with photographs, and then being assigned to literally stand guard and watch for an angry Jack. Most of the time Max felt - and rightfully so - that Sunny was the real leader in their duo. The amount of time he spent under her command would be embarrassing if anyone other than Jack was there to witness it.

Noises suddenly appeared and Sunny immediately sprang into the defensive measures that they had so carefully prepared. But just as Max arrived at the door, he came face to face with the woman they were attempting to keep out. Immediately, the grin that had rested comfortably on his lips disappeared and he took in the sight of Jack's pale and frightened face. This was the second time that he had seen her looking like this, and the image of their first late night up still haunted him.

When a man as gentle as Max saw a woman as strong as Jack break down, he couldn't help but feel the world was mad.

Max reached out, touching her shoulder to have her attention returned to him. "What's happened?" he asked her, his voice grave. His eyes darted to the doorway that she had just come from and darted back to her face, searching for some explanation. "Are you hurt?" He had almost asked 'are you okay?' but the answer to that would have been clear to a blind man.

It seemed as she was trying to force her way into the office, Max was trying to bar the door. Why the other tenants of the house were in her office, she did not know. Only a shadow of curiosity was able to cloud her otherwise crystal demeanor of vague panic and desperation, but it was not curious enough to make her forget what was behind her.

She collided with Max and flailed out her arms as he gripped her shoulder. She grabbed his upper arms to steady herself and to hold onto something before she was swept off by a current of fear as she attempted to steady her mind and her voice. "I'm fine, it-it's-"

Sunny had flattened her palms over the visible photos but was now realizing there was something more at stake than a potential time out. There was something scary that was worrying her aunt, who wasn't even afraid of spiders! She looked out and saw something, two figures, which began to change shape. She pointed. "What's that?"

Jack swallowed and finally managed to explain herself. "It's a boggart!"

Contrary to popular belief, Max was not a fearful man. His mellow nature was easily mistook for cowardliness and his unwillingness to fight was taken as inability to. In school, when his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had brought a boggart for demonstration, Max had preformed much more admirably than some of his classmates. But that had been before Daisy's accident. Since then reality had become much clearer for the man and new worries seeped into his heart.

"It's a boggart!" Those words stuck a panic within Max that he would never have expected. Not only the anticipation of seeing his own demons displayed for his roommates. No. Max was more scared to to see the darkest corners of Jack's mind. He couldn't deny that the more he learned of her the more he desired to protect Jack, no matter how illogical it seemed. Her demeanor had not softened over time and she remained just as unpredictable as the day he had first moved in. It was not her who had changed, but him.

Jack's hands gripped his shoulders and he guided her farther back into the small room as quickly but gently as he could. Max's muscles tensed and his pulse quickened as he pulled his wand out of the deep pocket in his robes. He turned back towards the door, wand outstretched, unconsciously putting his body between the doorway and Sunny. Two forms were taking shape outside of the doorway, becoming more and more defined by the second. "Sunny, get back" Max warned, worried at what might hurt the girl.

Slowly the shapes gained definition and Max made out that one was female and one was male. The woman had fiery red hair that flamed out from her head and a devilish expression on her face. The boy had a dark air about him and his lips were curled in a sneer that looked strangely familiar. They advanced towards Jack, droning "Did you forget me?" in a mocking way. Defensively, Max pulled Jack behind him, positioning himself closest to the two devils. He still held on to Jack, keeping her close, almost as if he was scared to let her go. His wand was outstretched, unquivering, as he examined the now-clear apparitions standing before him.

If she could transcend the moment, or perhaps in the future when she looked back, Jack would feel so ashamed to be so frightened of a boggart. She had easily taken it down in school, and even again when testing to gain entry into the Ministry. Her tester had written 'fearless' and 'shows incredibly competency in facing and handling extreme fright or danger.' But things had changed. She had more to fear, and more to fear for. The return of Vito would mean her family would be in danger. She could not imagine the feeling of devastation if Vito even neared Sunny, the most perfect example of innocence Jack had ever seen. And if they knew of Chase, of what Jack had done... Max and Sunny made Jack feel like a hero. What would happen to her if she were revealed to be a villain to the people who mattered most?

Max carefully moved deeper into the room as Sunny pushed herself up to full height, having closed the photo album and tucked all the pictures safely away inside of it. Jack followed him, unable and unwilling to resist as he brought her deeper into the safe confines of the room. As Max called to Sunny, Jack dropped an arm and looped it around the little redhead's shoulders, pulling the girl close, as Sunny bumped into her thigh.

Jack's eyes had not moved from Vito's, who had managed to catch and hold her gaze. He advanced, becoming more and more like his original, when her view of him was suddenly blocked by a broad shoulder. Max had swept her behind him and was now standing before the boggart, poised to defend. His arm stretched across her, pinning her next to him, which she did not fight. Not when she was up against Vito. She held Sunny tight to her side, gripping Max's arm with determination. If she could hold on to him, all would be okay.

As Max asserted his presence at the front of their small huddle the boggarts taunting face become slightly confused. With it's original target no longer at the center of it's attention the boggatt began to morph. The features of the boy and girl become grotesque as they shifted together. In seconds the boggart had easily trippled in size, far too big for the tiny room, and even still it was not as big as in life. The figures had fully transformed into a giant tree, solid and wooden, with countless branches that began to swing violently as Max took in the sight. One of the larger branches came down upon Jack's desk, making it shutter under the weight and begin to crack and splinter.

It was only a tree. But every time a branch of the whomping willow came down somewhere else Max tensed up more. He winched at each smash and seemed to be almost paralyzed. Just a tree. But the whistling sound it made as it moved through the air seemed to echo Daisy's screams. The memeory of her beaten, broken, and bruised body stopped him in his tracks, just as he had been stopped when he hadn't been able to save her. Rational thought of Jack and Sunny's safety was quickly being left behind and he was plunged into memories of his own regrets and weakness. Memories of other boys stupidity and his ability to do nothing more than stare blankly.

Smaller branches whipped his face as they zoomed past, leaving thin cuts and red marks across his face. Leaves began to litter the floor as the willow shook them off with its own mighty force. Max shook too, but not from it's blows.

Jack had not thought of the consequences of being sheltered behind her roommate before she had to face them head on. It was only now, as Vito and Chase begin to swirl away as though they were drawings being crumpled by a frustrated artist, that it fully dawned on her that she was going to be witnessing, firsthand, Max Morrison's greatest fears. It was strange - she knew what he would eat with breakfast, what television shows annoyed him, and his favorite colored crayon, but she did not know much more. She didn't know what he had been like in school, she didn't know what scared him, and she didn't know what he thought about when he was at his leisure. It seemed she was going to be exposed to the answer of at least one of these mysteries.

She heard a great creak of wood and she tipped her head up, finding herself face to face with the Whomping Willow. She was very familiar with the tree, having used its secret entrance more than once to cause some trouble and, y'know, gallivant with teenaged werewolves. She had never viewed it as the danger it really was, though that didn't say much as she had not been one to correctly identify a bad situation. Nevertheless, she felt Max tense against her. It was automatic - she twitched and found her arm slide over his arm and slide to the opposite shoulder, as though bracing him, though it allowed him to find some support against her. Her arm twitched to his other elbow -

And with that freedom, Sunny took a curious step forward. "What sort of tree is that?" she queried, pointing openly at it. The boggart's attention jumped to her and she suddenly saw the figure of her father bearing down on her. With a snide look, he bent down, peering right into her face. "You bad girl. We sent you away because you made everything bad! We're so happy that you're gone!"

"Daddy!" Sunny shrieked indignantly, though tears had already sprung to her eyes.

"I'm not your daddy!" he bellowed at her.

"Sunny!" Jack called, releasing Max, drawn back to reality by her niece's anguish. She stepped forward and picked up her niece, holding her close as she pulled her away from the nightmare. The boggart began to shift, looking for a new target.

Max barely felt Jack's touch as he stared, horrified at the boggart. It was only at Sunny's first shriek that he came back to his senses. The whomping willow had disapeared and in its place stood a menicing man, shouting down at Sunny. This immediately cleared Max's mind as his mind jumped to saving Sunny from her terrible screams. Jack pulled her away and once again Max stepped up to the boggart, as if to accept its challenge. The boggart's form shifted again, growing and expanding as it grew back into the angry willow. This time better prepared for what he was to see, Max shouted "Ridiculous!" At once the branches and limbs found themselves bent and tied in a plump bow.

The boggart was not pleased with his transformation and morphed again. It's attention was still focused on Maximus and it dug deeper into his mind, finding new fears to feed off of. The boggart had taken form of Maisie. Though she was still young and beautiful, she stumbled as she walked, not quite able to stand. She fell to her hands and knees and started caughing as a pool of red blood formed under her mouth. When her head rose again her face was shallow and pale. She looked more skull-like than human.

Max tried to keep his voice steady. "Jack, help me." Max kept his wand outstretched, although he didn't seem to be able to cast a spell on this destroyed version of what had once been his little sister. "Help me get it out." Max hoped part of training in the Beast section of the Ministry had been boggart wrangling.

Jack was so concerned for Sunny that it took a second for it to hit her that she had just seen her brothe right before her. It had been a very long time since she had seen him (anyone from her family, really) and even if it only was Sunny's nightmarish version of him, something about seeing him sunk deep into her core, pounding dully through her. It would not have hurt her so badly had she not just had to face Vito and Chase. It reminded her that she no longer had a family to cling to. They had moved on without her.

Sunny whimpered as she buried her head into Jack's shoulder and Jack realized something. Wait. She had not lost her family. She looked up at Max, bravely facing the boggart again as it turned into his greatest fear, for the sake of herself and her young niece. She looked between his broad back and the mane of red hair tangling against her shoulder and felt something in her soul settle gently, decidedly more optimistic. She had a family right here. And what had she always told Vito? She would win because she had people to fight for.

Jack heard Max's voice and she looked over her shoulder, seeing a huddled figure before him, blood spewing over the ground. Max seemed frozen, managing only to call out to her. She turned and gently set Sunny down in the corner of the room. "Don't look up," Jack whispered to her, stern enough to ensure Sunny would obey. Jack spun around and withdrew her wand, stepping forward, standing right next to Max. The boggart did not shift its attention, so she stepped forward, right in front of him. The boggart began to shift, working first on the form of Vito. Jack concentrated. "Riddikulus!" Vito stood straight up, sporting long hair. "Nice hair!" she said spitefully, glaring at him. "Ha!" The boggart transformed into Chase. "Riddikulus!" Chase began stuffing brownies in her mouth. Jack forced another laugh. And then, the boggart began to take the shape of her two roommates, of Max and Sunny. Jack gulped. She knew something bad would happen soon if she didn't stop it now. She did not want to see what the boggart would do to them.

She stepped forward, causing the Boggart to step back. She reached forward, grabbed the door, and slammed it shut, quickly locking it. She turned so her back was against it. "That... Um, that went well."

((I'm an idiot sometimes. XD Here I kept saying they were going to lock the boggart out, and in my first post, Jack beat it. Agh! So here's the edit. XD))

Jack stepped forward, coming to the grown man's rescue. He watched nervously as one by one the boggart flickered from person to person that she feared. This time his worry was not for himself and his own memories, but it was for Jack. He had immediately regretted asking for her assistance because he very well knew her demons were more painful than his. He shouldn't have asked her to fight them. Max's hand reached for Sunny but didn't find her. He wanted her close right now, to keep her snuggled up against his chest where he could make sure she was safe against the evil in the room.

As the apparition transformed into a mirror image of himself and Sunny, Max felt the slightest bit of shock. Jack pushed the boggart back angrily so it was out of the room and slammed the door quickly. Not the most permanent solution, but Max was grateful for any sort of break from the horrors of that lay outside. He felt a sudden sense of relief when the attacks stopped and was able to feel safe, even with the demon lurking just outside. With the threat momentarily gone, Max was able to acknowledge the thought that had appeared in his mind, that he was enough of a part of Jack's world to appear in her boggart.

Even though the trio had lived together for months they could never have been considered close. Max and Sunny spent the most time together, always coming up with new games and adventures to occupy the evenings. He adored the small girl and loved her as he would his own family. But her aunt? There was always more of a distance between them. The differences in both personality and history eliminated many common things that they would have been able to normally talk about. Only when they played Quidditch did they seem to connect and beyond that their relationship had never strayed beyond strangers living in the same home.

Lately Max couldn't put his finger on just how he felt about his housemate. But his feelings had expanded far beyond a mutual tolerance for eachother's eating and sleeping patterns. Jack's back pressed against the door and she looked as if she was physically holding the boggart out, although it seemed to be making little effort to barge into the door. Max moved across the room to stand by her, and pressed his ear against the wall to listen for any sounds at all - the whistling of tree branches, the low voice of the man, or the higher pitched female. When the coast appeared to be somewhat clear he turned to face Jack. Max reached out and touched her shoulder, finding her, and making sure that she was whole and here. "It's over. It won't get in." he reassured her, reassuring himself at the same time. Max's shaking had come to a full stop and he felt silly for his reactions. That never happened at school.

On impulse Max stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Jack's slender figure. "You're safe, they can't hurt you now." he murmured in her ear. He knew this wasn't true. That was the thing about a boggart - it played with your mind, not damaged your body.

It took Max a moment to fully realize that he was hugging Jack, at which point he let her go. He had never hugged her before and despite the emotions surrounding the boggart attack he wasn't sure that she would be pleased with his touch. A bit embarrassed about this action too, he turned to Sunny and gave her a weary smile. He worried about the effect the yelling vision of her father might have on the young girl but didn't want to show his concern. She didn't need him to be worried, she needed her friend.

((All edited for you))