If she was honest, Electra wasn't expecting the attack to come from all three members of her family. After what she had done to her father, she hadn't thought he'd be capable of summoning the strength to cast the powerful Dark curses he was using on her. Her father was the most intelligent one in her family, the most gifted spell caster. Her mother was the loudest, the most gifted at bursting ear drums and alerting the entire neighborhood to when Electra had done something traitorous. Her brother, well, he was talented at using brute force to get what he wanted. At the present moment, what he wanted most was to cause his sister pain.
Electra was trying desperately not to cry as she was punched and hit with curses – some dead-on, and some she just caught the shield ends of. She was dueling with her father with everything she had – the only person in the family who had a chance of beating him. Unfortunately, while she was more talented and more intelligent as him, she wasn't nearly as dark as he was. She hated her father, but he was just a hate-filled man. When her mother finally blasted her name off the family tapestry, she stopped. She stopped dueling, stopped fighting, and stopped holding back the tears. Her wrist was burning, her eye and chest were aching where her brother had punched her, and her body was just in agony. She was ready to give up, to stop shielding the curses and let her father finish her off for good when she saw the small blast next to her father's name. She remembered something the family's house elf had told her when she was younger, and that memory gave her the strength to walk out of the room, storm up the stairs, magic all of her belongings into her trunk, and get out of the house. She summoned The Knight Bus, hoping that it could get her to where she wanted to go – even though she didn't actually know where she was going.
Sirius must have nodded off on the sofa, because he awoke suddenly to a knock that was somehow both timid and strong. Startled and confused, he slowly stood up and walked down the long hall to the front door. Throwing it open, he saw a young woman with raven black curls twisted into a knot, with a few pieces falling in her face, eyeliner and mascara mixing with tears and streaked down her face. She was pale, weak-looking, shaky. She was wearing a black velvet dress that clung to her petite frame and black high heels, with a trunk next to her. While he noticed all of this, two things struck him more. The first was the piercing grey eyes, and the second were the words glowing red on her left wrist – the same two words permanently branded on his wrist.
He had never met this woman, but he knew her instantly. She was him, twenty years ago. Without a word, he pulled her into a hug and let her cry against his chest. He quietly pulled the clip from her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders, and he stroked it while she cried. "I'm Sirius," he said gently. "Come inside." He put one arm around her waist and supported her weight while he magicked her trunk in behind them. He led her into the kitchen, where he carefully seated her on a chair at the kitchen table and wordlessly pointed his wand at the tea kettle. Once he had two large mugs of tea and had fished some of Lily's homemade biscuits out of the cupboard, he began talking.
"I'm going to Floo to my friend's house, he's much better at healing than I am, and it's evident that you need some healing. I'll be back as soon as I possibly can be. I have a son, Romulus, he's 14 and harmless. Sometimes he wakes up at odd hours, so don't be startled if he wanders into the kitchen." He gently placed a kiss on top of her head, the same as he had done to Rommy when he was small, and she immediately began to cry again. His heart shattered as he realized that small kiss was probably the first show of affection she had ever received.
Remus was sound asleep next to his wife, content in the knowledge that his children were safe, loved, and happy. He awoke to a loud crash coming from his living room, and knew instantly that Sirius was here. Sirius, his loud, obnoxious, best friend, was the only person who would be Flooing into his house in the middle of the night, and was the only person who was so loud when he Flooed in. Remus didn't want Sirius to burst into their bedroom and wake Natasha, so he quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed down the stairs. Sirius was already on his way up when he met Remus, and, without explanation, grabbed Remus's wrist and started dragging him back towards the fireplace.
"You have to come with me, Rem, I need you to heal. You're a healer. I need you." Sirius said quickly and with a slightly panicked tone.
"Is it Romulus? Is something wrong? Sirius, I need you to take a breath and talk to me. If I'm leaving, I need to tell Natasha. I need to at least put on robes and shoes."
"There's no time. We'll owl Tash as soon as we get home. It's not Romulus. I don't know who she is, but she's a Black and she needs you. You can borrow my clothes if you truly can't heal in pyjamas. Just come on." His eyes shone with tears and fear, and Remus knew it was best not to ask questions and to just go.
