A/N: so sorry for the late update i meant to but this up Tuesday but got distracted by harry potter studios in London for anyone who hasn't been go it was amazing!
i hope everyone enjoys this chapter and i hope I've explained everything clearly here to :)
as always R&R PLZ! thanks!
Tess stretched out along the bed, flexing her limbs that hung out over it, her head drooping off the one side, Tess yawned loudly. that had been the best night sleep Tess had in months. She felt refreshed, wide awake, and energised, and her back felt relaxed, no pain at all which was a rarity since the accident. Tess smiled up at the ceiling wiggling her toes off the other side of the double bed wondering what the day would bring, hoping the house would receive some good news. she thought she may pop to Diagon ally for the last of her Christmas shopping with only a few day to go hoping maybe Tonks or Remus ( if he was back) would be able to come with her.
Tess froze as she remembers last night and Sirius joining her in bed, she lifted her head looking around the room. she was spread out on the bed the blanket hanging off with the pillows flung everywhere he was nowhere in sight. She flipped round looking behind her. She saw him sleeping soundlessly on the bare floor next to the bed, his chest bare, a pillow beneath his head. Tess noticing his ribs weren't as visible as they had been in the summer. Tess leaned off the bed poking Sirius in the chest
"what?" he muttered still keeping his eyes closed.
"Why you down there?" she whispered
"I was sleeping"
Tess tilted her head at him "Don't tell me you've still been sleeping on the floor all this time?" she groan.
"No, ever since you uh, coaxed me in to bed in the summer" he smiled, with his eyes still closed "I've been sleeping like a good boy in my bed, but you" opening his eyes to look at her, "kept kicking me last night" pointing to the side of his chest.
Tess grimaced noticing the bruise that had grown there "sorry" she whispered
"It's OK" he said, smiling as he leaned up to kiss her "oh, Moony sent a message last night, he said he should be back sometime today" trying to pull Tess into a deeper kiss.
"Really?!" Tess asked excitedly springing out of bed away from him "come on, maybe he's here already" picking up the nearest clothes she could find and running out of the room. Sirius dropped back to the floor, he wondered why he had said anything, and this wasn't how he had wanted this morning to go.
Tess ran down the stairs into the kitchen hoping to see Remus drinking his morning tea with his head buried into a book like norma,l but was only greeted with disappointment when all that was in the kitchen was Mad- Eye and the twins.
"He's not here yet" growled Mad-eye, Tess sighed and collapsing in to the chair next to him.
"Good old Mad-eye was showing us how to fix our blood blisters, for the skiving snackboxes" grinned Fred
"We can finally stop the bleeding!" smiled George
"You're encouraging this?" asked Tess slightly awe struck and impressed.
"The little nightmares could give Peeves a run for his money, they can give that Umbridge woman I few things to worry about" Mad-eye smirked…
It had gone 4 in the afternoon by the time Remus had arrived at Grimmauld place, he looked tired and beaten, his robes were in a worst state than Tess had seen them in years and he looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks. Tess had been too excited though to really notice how worn he looked, ushering him into the house hugging him tightly telling him how worried she had finally forced her to stop, gripping her tightly, his face stern "we need to talk" he said seriously. Tess nodded, dread filling her and led him into the library which was empty except for Sirius and Harry chatting merrily to each other.
"Moony!" Sirius exclaimed happily getting up from the sofa to embrace his friend before registering the look on his face, "what is it?" he asked, seeing the grim expression on Remus's face.
"I'm afraid I don't bring good news" looking at his two best friends "you may want to sit down", Tess and Sirius both moved to sit next to Harry on the sofa who hadn't moved since her and Remus entered. Tess had no intention of making him leave. Remus moved to lean against the far wall crossing his arms across his chest looking deep in thought, he took a deep breath "for the past few days since I left Tonks, I've been tracking Deatheaters near Gloucester" he paused meeting Tess's eyes for the first time since he entered the room "they've been looking for you"
"Me!?" Tess questioned "why?"
"I overheard them talking one night. They know Tess" Remus took a deep breath "they now what you are!" he told her, his voice strained. Tess's heart stopped.
"That's not possible" Sirius stated "the only people who know about Tess is us two" Sirius said gesturing to Remus and himself "plus mad-eye and Dumbledore" Tess rubbed her face with her base of her palms, pushing her head in to the back of the sofa looking up at the ceiling. "I don't understand, how did they find out?" Tess breathed looking down at the floor her head in her hands
"Apparently Peter told Voldemort in the summer, that's why the house was destroyed they were after you, apparently his orders are to take you alive-"
"But peter never knew!" Tess nearly shouted angrily,"I never told him!" she stressed "I didn't trust the little creep!" Tess's blood was pumping she was so angry, she wanted to tear something apart than just be sitting here, useless. Tess stood and started to pace the room ferociously, pulling at her hair in frustration, all three sets of eyes were on her "Tess its OK" said Sirius trying to calm her "me and Remus will protect you"
" Protect me?" she shouted "You think I'm worried about me!" she continued looking at him disbelief.
how could he think i was worried about myself
"I don't care about me, it's everyone else I care about I'm afraid for! If he gets his hands on me- how did peter find out?" she screeched frustrated, Tess kicked the side table across the room smashing it against the wall.
"Nobody else knows?" asked Sirius her calmly, ignoring that Tess had been screaming at him "what about Snape?"
"No" Tess exclaimed throwing her arms in the air, she took a deep breath "I've never told him"
"Wormtail's been at Hogwarts for twelve years" said a voice to Tess's right, she had forgotten Harry was in the room, "he's had all that time to think and hear things maybe he figured out whatever it is while there?" he said staring at Tess. She froze where she was pacing giving him a small smile.
"Harry's right, he's had plenty of time to figure it out, we all know he's not as stupid as he looks" said Remus who was now shaking slightly against the door
"you ok Moony?" asked Sirius who was still sat on the sofa noticing his friend's discomfort
"yeah I'm fine Tess is just making my hair stand on edge" he muttered.
Taking a deep breath Tess forced her heart rate down "better?" she asked
"Much, thanks" Remus said with a sigh of relieve.
Tess watched Harry for a second seeing the mixture of confusion and curiosity on his face, Tess took another breath "when I was young, I could see all these creatures" Tess explained dreamily "my best friends where Gnomes, I used to play with Pixies, climb trees with Bowtruckles" she said with a slight smile at the memories "I'm muggle born so my parents thought it was just my imagination running wild, that was until McGonagall came. She told my parents that I was a witch, so they figured out those creatures I'd been seeing for years were actually real. It wasn't until third year I found out though. Dumbledore called me to his office and explained it to me. Being the brilliant man that he is he figured it out, he'd been hearing about my performance in care of magical creatures, I didn't have to bow to hippogriffs they just accepted me, mermaids would swim to the top of the lake to try and speak with me, I had a pride of kneazels follow me on the grounds for a full week" Tess explained "so just before Easter, in my third year Dumbledore called me to his office and explained what I was, he told me I'm a Spiorad" she said slowly looking at Harry who was still looking confused.
"it's a very rare gift, very few have been recorded since Druid times, I think the last living one was something like 3 hundred years ago" she said thoughtfully "what it means is, I have an affinity with magical creatures, they tend to trust me without question and if I truly wanted to… I could control them and my emotions tend to affect them, like you've just seen with Remus, but of course its limited" Tess explained, "a creature can trust me but not like me which means they don't have to listen to me, like bane, not unless I tried to control him which I can do, I just choose not to, I would never take away a creature free will-"
"So that's why Voldemort want's you, because you could build him an army?" asked Harry in awe understanding the severity of the situation.
"Yeah… an army of dragons… the order wouldn't last a week" Tess muttered pushing her back against the wall leaning against her left leg
"Dragons, Banshees, Manticores, Chimaera, Werewolves" listed Remus from behind her,
"If Remus ever let me with him during a full moon I could properly make him do back flips, and jump though a ring of fire" Tess half joked,
"And we will never test that little theory of yours" said Remus with a tang of bitterness
"Could you really do that?" asked Harry "Control all those creatures I mean?"
"Probably" Tess said slowly thinking about it "I've never tried in such large numbers, I've only taken a creature's free-will in self-defence or by accident as a child, but that kind of magic is exhausting, in theory I could, but I'd probably die soon after"
"Well that won't happen"said Sirius crossing his legs relaxing into the sofa "we'll make sure they never get the chance"
"And how are you going to do that, when I'm in Ireland?" asked Tess, folding her arms looking across at Sirius "you're not allowed out of the house"
"Simple!" he replied simply with a smile "you're not going!" he finished sternly
"I have to go! I'm the only person that has any chance of convincing them to join us!" Tess replied shortly
"Fine! Moony can go with you" said Sirius irritated
"Are you mad?" Tess said raising her voice again, "they will kill him as soon as he steps foot on their land, you know how much Banshees hate werewolves"
"Well someone is going to have to help you!" he yelled back at her
"I avoided capture from Deatheaters when I was an Auror Sirius, I can look after myself!"
"But you was usually teamed up with someone, usually me! You can't do it by yourself we can't risk it!" Sirius shouted angrily
"You don't think I've thought about this before?" she questioned "You don't think this kind of thing hasn't ran though my mind a million times? I know what to do if I get cornered! I know the spell; I know how to take care of myself so I'm no longer a risk"
"Tess!" Remus yelled in horror
"You can't be serious that's your plan?!"Sirius shouted jumping up from the sofa stalking towards Tess "Kill yourself? That's stupid and reckless"
"So you're the only one allowed to be reckless now" Tess screamed in his face
"I'm not listening to this" he spat turning to Remus "Moony tell her!" he demanded, butt was greeted with silence from his best friend "Moony?!" Remus said nothing looking down at the floor "I can't believe this!" Sirius shouted breathlessly and stormed from the room slamming the door behind him. Nobody looked at anyone.
"Harry can you…" Remus said after a few minutes breaking the silence.
"I got him" Harry said, lifting himself off the sofa he had been sat on with Sirius just a moments ago, and went off to find his godfather.
"That went well!" Tess said once the door had closed, giving a tired sigh collapsing on the sofa Sirius had just been sat on.
"Don't you dare" Remus sneered, his face dark "don't you dare try and make light of the situation" pointing at her in anger "he has every right to be angry, and so do I after what you just said! Is that honestly what you'd do?" he asked
"It's not like anything will happen I've been in far worse situation?" she sighed
"That's not the point do you honestly think he could live though loosing you? Do you think I could!?" he spat.
A distant memory appeared in Tess's mind, a disgusting image that had once haunted her dreams night after night, Remus passed out on the floor, his naked body covered copletly in his own blood, his chest ripped open. Tess pushed the memory back just as quick as it had appeared.
"I'll be careful" she said trying to soothe him
"would you really do that?" he repeated
Tess sighed "It's a last resort…" she muttered quietly "I'd disapparate before it would get to that"
Remus didn't say anything barely looking at her he spoke "go speak to him" he muttered, and he left the room silently leaving Tess alone.
Tess stood in the open doorway where Buckbeak now lived. Sirius was pacing the floor throwing dead rats to the hippogriff. On the bed Harry was sat next to the Buckbeak nodding intently to whatever Sirius was shouting about.
"Who does she think she is? Calling me reckless! I'm not bloody reckless!" he complained while Buckbeak caught each rat Sirius flew at him. Harry saw Tess over Sirius shoulder giving her an apologetic look, "what she going to do in Ireland anyway? Just get herself she killed that's what, she can't do this alone!"
"I do love the confidence you have in my abilities" Tess said very calmly to Sirius's back, he whirled around to face her, his face covered in anger.
"I think I just heard Hermione calling me" said Harry quickly running out of the room.
"Look what you've done know, scaring Harry off like that" Sirius spat at her once he thought Harry was out of ear shot
"O yeah cause I was the one shouting just know was I?" Tess replied calmly, she refused to turn this in to a shouting match
"You come to tell me how reckless I am then?" he asked accusingly
"No… but I can list them for you if you want?" Tess said sweetly "but I'm not sure i have enough fingers for it"
"You'll be risking your life for nothing, what can the banshees do anyway?"
"if they side with him they could breed, and take over Ireland by the summer. The only reason they don't is that they don't have a reason to… yet"
"I still think that you risking your life-"
"Did you know" Tess interrupted calmly, walking over to the bed lying down next to the hippogriff " that all prisoners of Azkaban next of kin, gets contacted when anything happens to said prisoner?" Sirius looked at her blankly "well, as your dear dragon of a mother blasted you off the family tree, your brother was dead along with James whatever device it is they use to figure out next of kin, the damn thing picked me! When you broke out two years ago I was sent an owl straight away telling me, I think I even found out before the Daily Prophet. when Fudge went and visited earlier that year I was informed that he would be going past your cell, two years before that" Tess took a small breath looking up at Sirius for a second, wondering if he knew what she would say next "I was sent a letter" she continued slowly "telling me that you had somehow managed to retain a sharp jagged object, with which you cut your writs all the way up your forearm" trailing her middle figure up her own as she spoke "and was in a coma for 3 weeks due to blood loss" Tess noticed his face pale, she realised he didn't think anyone knew about these incidents "the year before that I was told how you had managed to drown yourself and was dead for 5 minutes before they were able to bring you back, and the year before that –"
"Alright" he snapped rubbing at his arms subconsciously "what's your point?"
"the point is, is I received those letters at least once a year … and it was nothing" she said sressing the word "nothing compared to the horror I had to endure during the first few years with Remus …nothing" she continued "I would do anything to have gone through what you had to. Instead of having to look after Remus every full moon" she told him bitterly "Did you know for the first year, he didn't say anything to me! Nothing just ignored me because just like everyone else he thought I was in on it, that I was somehow accepted by Voldemort because you was 'his right hand man' that I was a blood traitor to my own kind"
"I don't understand what-"
"I'm not done!" said Tess raising her voice she took a calming breath and continued "During each full moon he would slink off to that damn shed and transform. I would sit outside it trying to talk to him, it was the only time I could get near him, without him trying to hex me. I would hear his bones snap, his skin tearing apart, how he howled in pain when the wolf would tear bits of flesh off him, I would sit outside all night listening, trying not to run away in fear, listening to the wolf try and kill him because it couldn't handle all the emotions running though its system" Tess paused for a second trying to get the howling that had started in her head to stop "
"I would watch as blood would pool from under the door of the shed, and the next morning I would have to break into it to see him torn to shreds, his skin hanging off him" her words were trembling uncontrollably "his bones broken. Once, his chest was torn open, and I could see his heart beating" she told him slowly, her hand clenching over her own chest "another time.. The wolf tried scratching out his eyes, half torn out of skull. He's still partially blind in his left eye," she paused, Tess played with a group of black feather on the back on Buckbeaks head swallowing hard to keep the tears away "but I couldn't help him" Tess chocked out "because I was so upset so distraught from what had happened, what was happening, from losing everyone. I couldn't do anything" she whispered painfully "I couldn't use magic, I couldn't heal him. I had to stitch him back together every month. Three times I had to start his heart again, Three times the wolf succeeded in killing him Sirius. Three times he died in front of me as I tried beating his heart back to life" Tess was shacking violently now from the memories, trying her hardest not to cry, Sirius hadn't moved, frozen in place "to be fair, I properly made it worse being there" she said slowly thinking how her emotions affected Remus "but I couldn't loose him to, I couldn't loose the only friend I had left" Tess felt her tears escaping from her eyes "I would carry him back to the house after each full moon once I had the bleeding under control, and I would nurse him back to health, and then when he was strong enough…he would throw me out of the house, physically pick me up and sling me out of the house. once, he broke my arm" she told him meeting his eyes which where full of shock that calm caring Remus who had loved Tess like a sister could hurt her in anyway "another time he ripped a good chunk of my hair out, I still have the scar" Tess pointed to the back of her head where she had a sizable bald patch from when Remus had dragged her across the floor out of his home, all the while Tess had kicked and screamed grabbing hold of anything she could find to try and anchor herself inside the building, trying to get him to listen to her "that repeated for 12 full moons, until he finally realised I was telling him the truth, that I didn't betray my friends" Tess stopped fussing with Buckbeak leaving the bed and stood right in front of Sirius putting her arms around his neck kissing him gently on the cheek, his body relaxed against her with the her gentleness.
"I am telling you this not to upset you" she told him looking in to his grey eyes "but so you understand how important it is that I go, because I would not risk putting him through that again, unless I had no choice and that I would not risk my life or his, if it wasn't necessary because I know if anything happened to me, he wouldn't get though the next full moon if he somehow went without wolfsbane potion, so, are you still mad?"
Sirius looked up from the floor he had found so very interesting during Tess's speech, a little bit of colour returning to his cheeks and nodded slightly, "I'm not happy, but I understand wy you have to. come on lets go find Remus, I think I owe you both a drink"
"Firewhiskey?" Tess asked with a meek smile
He smiled back "you read my mind" he said weakly, taking Tess by the hand leading her out of the room when Tess forced him stop, "what is it?" he asked searching for what had made her stop
"Can you promise me something?" Tess asked
Sirius looked at her sceptically "sure…."
"Can we not argue again? At least until after Christmas?" she asked tiredly,
Sirius laughed "yeah I think we can do that"
"Good" smiled Tess, "also, go shave!" rubbing her hand across his rough beard pushing his face away, walking down the stairs listening to him joke that his beard was sauve…
PLZ R &R!