Disclaimer: I own nothing (except maybe my school books, and technically they aren't really mine either), it all belongs to j.k. rowling (to whom I am forever in debt for writing about Harry Potter!)
Summary: A women from Remus's past returns bringing with her a mystery that could return something lost as well as put all their lives at risk.
Part 1: Elizabeth
"I'm drowning in nothing"
~Stabbing
Westward
He leaned against the side of the bed. Buckbeak was sitting next to him; his long nose was inside the box examining the contents. He had brought down the boxes from the attic hoping to find something worthy of giving Harry on his birthday. So far he had been unsuccessful, stumbling first on a box filled with fake wands and fireworks and then a box filled with James's old clothes. Remus knew Harry wanted his parents' old belongings, things to remember them by but old clothes were too much. On his third attempt he had found a box filled with books and albums. Finally something worthy. Remus opened the first dusty album and found Lily's neat handwriting on the first page.
"Hogwarts: Seventh Year"
He smiled; Lily had a love for albums and scrapbooks. It probably came from her muggle side. He turned the page and found a picture of the four Marauders. They stood still in this picture revealing that it was taken with a muggle camera, not a magical one. Sirius was at the end, his eyes barley visible through the thick curtain of charcoal hair that covered his face. Next to him was Remus who was smiling broadly at the camera and Lily. James was next to him, his hand in his hair trying to make it messier than it already was. And Peter was at the end, a sandwich in his hand and a blank expression on his face. Peter was never really on top of things. He was constantly relying on his fellow Marauders to make sure he had dressed himself properly in the morning.
He turned the page and found a picture of Sirius and James. Both were pointing their wands at a distant object which looked like Severus Snape. Remus smiled, they never missed an opportunity to wreak havoc on old Snape. This picture, unlike the previous one was magical and Sirius's and James's wands were swishing back and forth. Snape, who was off in the distance, kept jumping up grabbing his backside, looking around for whoever was hexing him. Finally the two could not hold it in any longer and fell to the ground with laughter.
The next was of Lily and James off a little in the distance. James was holding her close and was trying to win her over with his puppy dog eyes but Lily remained stiff. They had been arguing over why Sirius and James felt the need to hex Severus every chance they got. In the end Lily of course forgave him and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, which left James quiet in shock.
He turned another page and found another muggle picture. This one had Peter on the end, the same dumbstruck impression on his face. Lily was next kissing the boy next to her on the cheek, her green eyes shimmering in the afternoon sun. James was standing not next to Lily but next to Sirius who was being kissed on the other cheek by James. Remus looked up and couldn't help but laugh after looking at the expression on Sirius's face. Remus secretly knew that Sirius had loved the attention.
He glanced down again and found something he hadn't expected. There was a younger version of himself standing next to a girl with ebony hair which was rivaled only by Sirius's. Her eyes were a vibrant cerulean that day. They were never the same color blue, they were constantly changing shades. Sometimes he felt they depended on her mood and other times simply on the time of day. There was no pattern, or at least he had spent the better half of six years trying to find a pattern. Her blue eyes were gazing endlessly into his own. Somehow she found his golden honey eyes much more interesting than her exquisite blue ones.
He put the book down; there was not a moment in the day that he did not think about this girl. About where she was, what she was doing, if she was still alive. Now that Sirius was dead he highly doubted it.
He sighed and put the book back, and closed the box. There was a reason he hadn't looked through the boxes James and Lily had given him, it hurt too much. The pain of loneliness was like a searing knife cutting through him.
He had gotten used to the quiet, the silence in his life. True, it was never truly quiet at the head quarters of the Order, and yet it was. It was a different kind of silence, not the kind that occurs when no one speaks. This silence was the kind that could only be chased away by the laughter of friends, and he had lost all of those.
~
"What's wrong with her professor?" Remus said glancing at the pale women lying in the bed ahead of him.
"What happens to all empithimagus*, I'm afraid," Dumbledore paused and placed a hand on the werewolf's shoulder, "She is lost."
"I don't understand, lost?" His eyes filled with tears, he had read of things like this. When she had gone through her changes he had researched empithimagus with her. He knew what "lost" meant but that couldn't be what Dumbledore was talking about.
"Remus, empithimagus share deep bonds with their loved ones. The emotions they experience are most clearly visible to the beholder. She feels Sirius's pain. She is where he is."
"That doesn't make sense," he shook his head towards Dumbledore as he took a step back still keeping an eye on the sleeping beauty to his left. Dumbledore had to be wrong, he couldn't have lost her too, "I mean her mother and father both have died. Going by what you say, she should have died then. Maybe it'll ware off. She might just wake up."
Dumbledore shook his head, "You still do not understand. They share a deep bond with their loved ones, she never loved her father. And her mother, she was too young when she died-her powers were still asleep. But now, now they are awake, Remus. You must accept that as long as Sirius is in Azkaban, she will be in a place like Azkaban, simply without the dementors. I am sorry Remus. I wish there was something I could do."
And with that Dumbledore turned away and strode out of the hospital ward, wiping a single tear that had rolled down his cheek.
Remus turned to her. Her once glimmering, hoping, loving eyes were now gone, lost. They were such a deep shade of blue that one could almost mistake them for black. He felt tears prickle his eyes as he went and sat by her. She was curled up in a ball, tears balancing on the edges of her eyes, every once in a while rolling down her ashen cheeks. Her raven hair spread across the pillow limply. It did not glow anymore, she did not glow anymore. He took her hand and squeezed hard, praying she would squeeze back, but there was nothing.
He lay down next to her pulling her close, trying to wake her but she wouldn't. "Please," he whispered, his voice thick, "don't leave me now. I need you. Please…" He finally broke down and cried. He had lost everyone, James, Lily, Peter, Sirius, and now her.
~
He heard the bell ring for the third time before he got up. It was surprising that in a house filled with so many people, he was the only one who answered the door. It was probably Snape coming to gloat about another one of his accomplishments.
He took the steps three at a time; he was a man with nothing to fear. Death was his only friend now. He reached the door out of breath and listening to Mrs. Black scream obscenities at him. He sighed and opened the door.
There stood the women of his dreams. Her eyes were navy, almost black, and still somewhat lost. Her skin was paler than he remembered and her lips chapped, but it was her.
"I found you," she murmured hoarsely before collapsing into his arms. He could feel the blood through her robes.
"Elizabeth," he whispered through his tears, Elizabeth.
*empithimagus: a wizard/witch with the ability to sense and experience what others feel. They are also able to sense auras (if a person is good or bad) which are white or black and appear as a glow from the person. (Made up entirely by the author for this story)
A/N: Please review, it really makes the writers day if you give them ur opinion (even if it's only a few words!) I swear there will be a plot…you just have to wait a lil bit. And I promise she isn't dead!
Quote at top is from "drowning" by Stabbing Westward