Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Harry Potter universe.


Stealing Air
Chapter 8:
A Star is Born


Hermione was lying in bed quietly, it was only ten minutes past twelve, and she had many thoughts racing through her mind. She and Regulus had met up everyday for at least an hour each time. Hermione explained her theories and new possibilities as to where the horcruxes of this time were hidden. They had searched through several books on horcruxes and the disposal of them, but there was little to find in English copies. They had expanded their search with translation spells, and had for the most part read a large assortment of Italian dark arts books, but still had found nothing. Hermione huffed, turning onto her side. She thought about the Potter's; they were still in hiding. She worried mostly for their safety, she couldn't let Harry die during this time line, or she wouldn't have a best friend in the future. That's what she spent most of her time doing; worrying.

She tossed herself again in her bed, she debated whether to get up and to continue looking through books, but she needed to get to work in the morning also. And Sirius would be leaving early tomorrow morning too. His plans were to go to Ministry and see Dedalus Diggle, who worked as an Unspeakable. Apparently, Diggle had information but was much to frightened to meet in the public and would rather meet in his office in the Department of Mysteries. Sirius had told Hermione that Dumbledore had made it crucial to him to find out what he knew. Hermione thought better than to make any noise, because she knew Sirius was sleeping in his bedroom right next door to hers.

With that thought, a pop from apparition and an ear-splitting scream erupted through Sirius' flat. Hermione felt terror surge through her body, but the sound of the scream in no way slowed her down. She grabbed her wand from her night stand, and held it at the ready, as she charged into the living area of the flat. Sirius had thought the same thing, as they noticed each other from the corner of their eyes. The flat was still dark, as it was night time, but they could hear heavy breathing. They stepped around the flat carefully, there wands ready to attack if needed.

It was Sirius who found Scarlet wedged between the couch and the wall, bloodied and gasping for air. He carefully moved the couch and called for Hermione. Hermione held a frantic look on her face as she realized what had happened to Scarlet Gamp. Her usually cheery friend, had fear in her eyes and looked like she was holding in excruciating amounts of pain. Sirius looked away, as he had seen to much of Scarlet.

Scarlet had been splinched. A large gash from under her chin down the left side of her neck, made spirals of blood and missing flesh. The spirals curled along the side of her breast and ended underneath it. Hermione quickly caught a glimpse of Ron in the back of her mind, before she acted quickly.

"Sirius! In my bag, there is Essence of Dittany, bring it to me quickly!" Hermione then moved to lay Scarlet down flat on the floor and remove the rest of her clothes that was sliding into the exposed flesh. Sirius came back quickly and turned the lights on in the flat. He handed Hermione the dittany, and stood back knowing Scarlet would want that from him.

"This might sting a little bit, but it'll help. Just hold on Scarlet" Hermione took the Dittany and poured a few drops into her disturbing wounds. Hermione's shaky hands weren't helping, so Sirius moved from behind her and grabbed her hand to steady her. Hermione dropped a fair amount of Dittany on to Scarlet's flesh and they slowly began to reseal themselves. Scarlet withered slightly suppressing a gut-wrenching scream. Sirius backed away again and sat at the table, as Hermione levitated Scarlet carefully into her room to place on her bed. Hermione closed the door for Scarlet's privacy as she could not reclothe the top half of her body just yet. She took a seat next to her on the bed, and wondered what exactly had happened for her to get splinched. It was half past one in the morning when Hermione left her bedroom, at that time she could at least cover Scarlet up with a blanket, but she worried that the scars would never disappear.

When she stepped out of her bedroom she was making way to sleep on the couch, but Sirius was still sitting at the table. He had his head in his hands, and looked quite shaken.

Hermione moved closer to him, and took a seat in the chair right next to him. She put her hand on his back and rubbed him lightly. She had just noticed that he was not wearing a shirt either. But Hermione quickly looked passed it.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked in a hushed tone. Sirius looked up at her, and tried to force a smile.

"Yes, are you?" he took her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"I'm fine, I don't know how Scarlet will feel when she wakes up. I'm sure it'll leave a scar, a rather large one too." Sirius sighed, still holding onto Hermione's hand.

"Go on and sleep in my room. You have to go to work tomorrow, don't you?" He motioned his head toward his bedroom, and moved his shoulders sluggishly, he seemed exhausted.

"What about you?" Hermione asked, touched that he would offer his bed, but he didn't fit on the couch and she wasn't going to have him sleep on the floor.

"I'll take the couch, now go on." He said letting go of her hand, and pulling her upward by the elbows.

"No you won't, how will you sleep? I'll sleep here, it's fine." Hermione said forgetting her hushed voice. Sirius looked unamused, and even more tired then before. He took Hermione by the arm, and lead her toward his bedroom. He sat her down on the bed and told her to lay down. He tucked her in, but Hermione protested again. "But, Sirius, What-" Sirius had walked around the bed, and got inside the blanket with her.

"Now hush" Sirius said in a quiet tone, mimicking her. Hermione watched him shut his eyes, before she let herself fall asleep.


When Hermione woke up, Sirius was still next to her. They were rather close, close enough that she could feel the heat from his body. She didn't move as they were both in compromising positions. Sirius' arm was wrapped over top Hermione's side, and she had nestled herself into his neck. She hated to admit it, but she enjoyed it. She had never felt anything like it before, the closeness of Sirius' body to hers, Sirius' touch on her skin, she could feel her self blush a furious red. She then remembered why she was in Sirius' bed, Scarlet had been splinched. She quickly pulled off the blanket, and checked the time. It was still quite early in the morning. Sirius woke up from her movement, but she had sped off to her own room before she could say anything to him.

Hermione casted a silencing spell on the hinges of the door, they were very creaky and she didn't want to wake up Scarlet if she was still asleep. She stepped in quietly, and turned her head on the side to see if she was wake. She was a wake, and she was staring straight at the ceiling.

"You're awake?" Hermione asked gingerly.

"Yeah, I am" she answered not giving her much emotion.

"Are you feeling okay?" Hermione continued, as she moved to sit on the bed.

"It feels weird, and I don't want to try to move" Scarlet groaned, as she moved her good arm underneath the blanket. "It's going to leave a crazy looking scar isn't it?" Her eyes were wider, but still didn't share much emotion.

"Yeah I think so" Hermione offered gently, hoping she wouldn't be disappointed.

"Alright, I can dig it" was all she said. They were quiet for perhaps five minutes, until Scarlet spoke again. "Could you owl my boss, and tell her I can't make it to work today?" Hermione nodded her head and moved to the corner of the room to pull out some parchment and quill, she began to scrawl down a message as Sirius entered the bedroom and sat down on the bed by Scarlet.

"So, how exactly did you get splinched? From what I know, apparating is your favourite form of transportation and you seem like you've never even lost a nail before." Sirius asked calmly not to shake her up to much.

"Don't worry about me, now I've got a sweet story to tell about this scar" Scarlet tried to glance down at her scar without making to much movement. Sirius looked away, toward Hermione who was writing a descriptive letter to Scarlet's boss.

"I didn't think you had a soft stomach for things like this?" Scarlet poked at him, chuckling lightly in her feathery toned voice.

"Trust me it's not that, Scar. I'm trying to just respect your privacy, but you just don't seem to care that I'm male and your female" Sirius scoffed changing his position on the bed.

"So what did happen?" Hermione interjected, as she finished writing the letter.

"It was absolutely bonkers, and I'm so impressed with my self that I'm still alive" Scarlet was holding that information in, for the anticipation, like any good former-Slytherin girl should. She smirked before she relayed her story to them


Scarlet apparated into the foyer of her parents house. It was late in the evening already, and she expected her parents were possibly already fast asleep in their bed. Scarlet tip-toed down the hall knowing the house elf, Sunny, would be willing to report to her mother her time of entry. At the end of the hallway, Scarlet noticed that the door to the sitting room was slightly ajar. A soft light, perhaps a candle, was shining dimly from it. 'Someone must be awake' she thought, until she moved closer and could hear a serious conversation continue. She stood outside the door and took her wand out of her robe pocket, and firmly grasped it if she needed to attack.

"I'd appreciate your support in my cause, Mr and Mrs Gamp. Your effort will not go unnoticed either" The voice sounded so familiar to Scarlet, like she had heard it in a dream, but she couldn't put a name to it.

"My wife and I will have to discuss this further, we have recently fallen out of favour in our community because of our daughter. Currently, I see a more pressing matter in putting our daughter into shape, and having her married so that our lineage and fortune will have somewhere to go when we pass." It was Scarlet's father who had spoken, Scarlet showed off her best look of distaste and listened further to what they had to say.

"If it is a pressing matter to you, it shall be a pressing matter to me as well." Scarlet didn't understand the familiar voice. "I will use my influence to see that you receive offers from several pureblooded suitors for your daughter Scarlet. Is this a good enough deal for you?"

"You make a remarkable deal, my Lord." Scarlet looked on quizzically. 'My lord?' her father had never addressed anyone in that way before. In her brain, everything had just clicked. Lord Voldemort was in her house, and offering suitors to her parents for Scarlet to be wed. Voldemort wanted her families support, and of course he came to her oh-so-pureblooded parents. Scarlet forcefully opened the door, and looked at everyone in the room with disdain.

She looked at Voldemort for a brief moment, and the picture in her head that she had painted of him, was completely different to the middle aged man she was seeing right now. The first thing she said, she really wanted to make clear. "I am not like the other pureblooded women, I choose things for myself, I choose who I want to be, what I want to do, and who I want to marry. Do not think that you can set me up with some twat that I do not even know or I'll hang myself before you" It was her cheapest, but strongest trick. She would always threaten her parents with her death, since they could no longer have children they really needed Scarlet to give them a pureblood heir. But, it was cheap in the sense that she had just threatened them with her very own life, she never had even thought of killing herself before, and didn't plan on it either, but the look on her parents face was one of pure belief.

Her mother was shaken. She had never had a good relationship with her. Since, Scarlet secretly took muggle studies in her third year at Hogwarts nothing had been the same between them. Her mother was often reciting the reasons way blood purity was so important to her and her ancestors, while Scarlet was charming her Stevie Nicks posters to the wall, so that her mother couldn't remove them.

Scarlet took a glance at Lord Voldemort and noticed a smirk on his face. She frowned at him, casually showing of her dislike of him. His next move was something Scarlet wasn't prepared for. He asked for her parents to retire to their bedroom, so that he could talk to Scarlet alone. Her blood began to boil, not out of anger but out of fear. When her parents had retired to the bedroom, Voldemort began to speak to her.

"From my knowledge, you've dabbled and have been successful in the art of necromancy" Voldemort started the conversation.

"So what?" she answered, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She still had a good hold of her wand.

"I'd find it very useful if you were amongst my ranks, with a talent such as necromancy I would find you very much useful to me" Scarlet sneered sat him. "tell me about your endeavours" he said in a demanding tone.

Scarlet began to speak, as much as she didn't want to. "I read a few books after my fish died. I really like my fish, you know they say that if they live for over a year you have one strong fish. Nelson lived for 6 years. I really missed him, so I learned as much as I could and I practiced so hard and I was able to get him to live again. But it wasn't the same, he wasn't the same. He tried to go through things, like a ghost, he didn't like to eat anymore. He was lifeless even though I had brought him back to life. So, I let him go." Scarlet had no idea why she had been compelled to tell Voldemort about her Nelson, she hadn't even told her friends about Nelson, not that she had many. She suspected that he had used the imperious curse on her, but was his magic that great that he could use wandless magic? Scarlet was puzzled for a few seconds before she regained her composure.

"I see, well, I am willing to give you a high position in my ranks, and suitable husband to please your mother and father. You seem like an intelligent girl, why not join my cause?" Voldemort, his name didn't fit his face. He looked to human, to charismatic, and to persuasive to have such a name that people feared. Once Scarlet remembered that she needed to fear this man, she took one step back, calculating the look he had on his face, and the outstretched hand he had to offer her.

Voldemort smirked, and stepped closer. Scarlet didn't understand what he was trying to do, but she knew she needed to get away.

"Well?" Voldemort, moved his hand upward, so she would take it. Scarlet did the next best thing that could possibly bring on her death.

"Over my dead body, roach" She said in deadly tone as she spat in his face. Voldemort looked appalled, and the sudden change of emotion on his face told Scarlet to run. Scarlet made room to apparate, and she heard the familiar pop. She felt a hand clasp tightly around her shoulder she had almost reached her destination, the back of an old Scottish pub in muggle London, but instead she was caught wrestling away from Lord Voldemort. Her body felt like it was nothing, while she tried to force her most dangerous attacker away from her, she pried his hand off her shoulder with the loudest shriek her small and thin body could ever muster. Her mind told her to find Hermione, so there she went. She was unable to force back the screams she emitted through her splinched apparition.

She was brutally injured, but at least still alive.


"You spat in Voldemort's face? High-five!" Sirius raised his hand for Scarlet to clap, but Hermione stood behind them with disappointed look on her face.

"Why did you even stay? You should have apparated straight away! You're lucky your whole head is still on your body!" Hermione had been sick to her stomach as Scarlet had shared her story.

"Sorry, mum!" Scarlet laughed lightly, Scarlet was laughing but she felt quite hallow as she said it. "I feel bad for that sorceress that has to fight Voldemort now".

"Me too" Hermione said knowingly, as she gave Roger the letter she had written for Scarlet's boss.

Sirius stood from the bed. "So, I should go get dressed now, I have somewhere to be soon" Sirius avoided saying exactly where he had to be in Scarlet's presence, Hermione nodded at him understandingly. Hermione moved to sit where Sirius had been. Sirius gave Hermione an expectant look, before he left the room.

"Sorry, I dropped in on you two like that. I never thought I would have ever exposed myself like that in front of Sirius." Scarlet widened her eyes, as she looked away slightly embarrassed.

Hermione knew she needed to tell Scarlet who she was; that she was the witch from the prophecy, but if she was going to tell Scarlet, she needed to run it by Regulus, because he was just as involved in the efforts to take Voldemort down as she was.

"I have to work today, but I don't think I should leave you alone" Hermione added, a slight frown on her face, as she looked at the mending skin on her neck.

"Levitate me to the telly!" She sounded like a child, Hermione cracked a smile at her friend.

"Scarlet, aren't you afraid he'll come looking for you? Maybe you should go into hiding too." Hermione was all the while early, and decided that instead of going to work that day, that she would need to get Regulus acquainted to Scarlet, and Scarlet acquainted with the new plan to take Voldemort out.

"I want to be brave" Scarlet spoke clearly. Scarlet appeared just as ready as she once claimed she was, and Hermione trusted her although she wasn't sure if it was a good idea too.


The sky was draped in a dark cloak, of glittering lights. It was late in the evening, Hermione had spent most of the day attending to Scarlet, but also continuously sending owls to Regulus as she continued to look through foreign magical tomes on the dark arts.

Sirius was inclined to now use the door, as Hermione had put up wards for anti-apparition, so that no one could come looking for Scarlet, or simply attack the lot of them.

Sirius had a curious look on his face as he entered the flat. His wand was poking out of his coat pocket, and as he made eye contact with Hermione his face lit up, to tell her the news.

"Kitten!" The familiar sound, of the new name Sirius had branded her made Hermione smile in response. "There's great news, I got an owl while I was at the ministry, and it was James, Harry's been born! Healthy, with two legs and two arms!" Scarlet laughed in the corner at his remark. "Lily is recovering but she'll be just fine. They say they are going to come out of hiding when Lily gets her strength back". Sirius was as excited as a child at Christmas, but so was Hermione.

She had completely forgotten what day it was, and how that July 31st 1980, was the day of Harry's birth. Hermione jumped up and down for a few seconds before she jumped on to Sirius hugging him tightly. Her face had gone pink from excitement. Sirius hugged her back fiercely, he had missed his best friend dearly, and was anticipating James' presence and Lily's new tyke in his life.

They had embraced for longer than expected, and it wasn't until Scarlet had cleared her throat obnoxiously that they noticed and separated quickly. Scarlet chuckled under her breath.

Hermione continued on to pester Sirius for more information. She needed to know how her best friend was doing. It hadn't occurred to Hermione how strange it felt to know that her best friend was only a day old. Hermione was delighted that they were okay, but then the realization that Voldemort was still at large came to play in her mind. 'Harry was still in danger' she thought to herself as she sat down at the dinning table. She tried to collect her thoughts, thinking about ways to protect the tiny newborn baby Harry. But, she realized, Voldemort was not after Harry Potter "The Chosen One". Voldemort was after her, the witch that broke all magical boundaries. The thought still didn't help her feel any better.


A/N: I am sooooo sorry! I don't have a good excuse in the ridiculous wait I have given this story. I knew I needed to do this and I somehow found the time between readings and essays to write and edit this chapter. I'm satisfied with it, and it fits perfectly into my timeline for this story. I really hope to enjoy it! I'll get on to writing the next chapter with hopefully a smaller gap of time between writing and posting than I had for this chapter. Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favourited and reviewed this story. I promise you that I will finish this one! Also, Please review! Tell me what you think!

- I was expecting someone to ask that question! I was using a program to write this story that made it really unclear where I had my dialogue. The fact that I also have really bad eye-sight didn't help also, so I bolded the text whenever I had someone speak so that I could tell where I was in the story with out having to read a thousand words every time I got lost. I won't be using that program for the rest of my chapters though. Sorry for the confusion!

20160114 - R.I.P. Alan Rickman, we lost a gem today.