Author's Notes: Holidays are crazy! Don't get me wrong I love 'em, but I have not gotten a break since winter break started! Sorry for the long wait, especially because nothing really happened last chapter, but that is not the case for this one, hope you enjoy!
A round-faced baby girl peered up at Alice from the page. Cake and icing covered the child's face, head, and arms, but the child just grinned and happily started mashing her little fists into the remaining bits and smears of cake. The next picture over, a little boy, about four years old with brown hair that curled at the ends, leaned over to the baby girl. The baby flung a piece of icing-covered cake straight into the boy's face. The boy glowered and seemed to whine at someone outside of the shot as the baby laughed and a ten year-old boy doubled over in the background.
Even as little kids, Alice's family was crazy.
Moving away from the pictures of Aunt K's first birthday, she flipped through the family album. She passed beach trips, birthday parties, holidays, and first days of school. There were few pictures of Aunt K as a pre-teen, at which Alice smirked knowing that Kensington had probably burned every trace of her awkward years. There were plenty of pictures of her father's awkward years though!
Alice figured that she and Jason must've gotten their looks from their mom, because all of the Connen children went through awkward stages—very awkward stages. A thirteen year-old Matt Connen looked up at Alice: a mouth full of braces, acne covering his face, a pair of bushy eyebrows dominating his features, and a quirky smile that showed all of his teeth. Luckily Matt grew out of this phase and became much more attractive, or Alice probably wouldn't be around now.
The album also contained pictures of her mom's family. Alice had to do a double take upon seeing a picture of a young Nax playing with Kensington because she could've sworn it was a picture of herself. She was really starting to understand why everyone recognized her right away. She had to really look to notice the slight differences between herself and her mother: the tip of Nax's nose turned up a bit while Alice's was more pointed, Nax had a soft jawline while Alice's was quite prominent, and Nax's eyes were a tiny bit closer together than Alice's. Other than that, the two had nearly identical facial structures.
As the pictures of Nax progressed in age, Alice saw more people from Hogwarts. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Lily Evans were in many pictures with her mom, but Alice found a picture with Triggs in it! Another picture showed her mother standing and smiling with the Headmaster, Dumbledore. Finally, Alice came upon a large group photo containing the Potters, her mother and Sirius, the Weasleys, Triggs, and Dumbledore. Alice just knew this must be the Order Triggs had been talking about.
Setting her jaw, Alice firmly closed the album and placed it on her nightstand. She plucked up her invisibility jacket and determinedly left the dormitory.
It was after hours as Alice, hidden by the charmed invisibility jacket, walked the darkened halls of the castle. She really enjoyed not having to sneak from alcove to alcove and hide at every noise for fear Filch would spring on her. The only issue really was trying to muffle her footsteps. When she wasn't sneaking, Alice walked quite loudly so she was struggling to keep her disembodied footsteps from echoing throughout the halls.
Not bothering to knock, Alice flung open the door to Triggs' office and stomped inside. Triggs jumped, hefting the battle axe he had just been polishing when the door flew open of its own accord. Alice walked right up to him.
"This is me demanding some answers!" Alice stated.
Triggs seemed to jump out of his skin and Alice had to hastily duck to avoid her head being severed by a wild swing from her professor. Triggs was glaring around frantically searching for the intruder. It was then that Alice remembered she hadn't taken off her jacket: he couldn't see her.
Heaving a suffering sigh, Alice shrugged off her jacket. She was amused at the startled look on Triggs' face at her sudden appearance. He dropped the axe and his entire body relaxed.
"What the hell was that?" Triggs demanded.
"Sorry, invisible charm jacket," Alice shrugged. "Anyway! My curiosity can't take it anymore, I need all the info you've got on this Order you and my mom were in."
"The Order?" Triggs asked, a little confused as the topic seemed to come up out of nowhere. Alice shrugged her shoulders.
"I know you guys fought the Death Eaters, but what exactly does that entail? Who all was in it and what did they do? What happened to everyone? Is it still around?"
"Alice, I'd love to tell you, really I would!" Triggs insisted at the suspicious raise of Alice's eyebrow. "But I can't. Physically, I can't tell you anything about it, beyond the summary. That information is protected by a charm," Triggs explained.
Alice narrowed her eyes, staring Triggs down to see if he was lying and would break and tell her. He wasn't lying, and he didn't break. Alice's face fell and she went over and slumped into the chair in front of the desk. Triggs' shoulders stiffened as he gazed at the girl who was trying to get more information about her missing mother. He would do the same in her place. Well, he would actually probably do more.
Triggs' eyes widened with a sudden thought. It was a terrible idea, absolutely awful! But it could work!
All the tension in his body vanished and he sprung over to Alice. Grabbing up her hand, he pulled from the chair and whisked her out the door.
"I can't tell you! But I know how you can learn about it!" Triggs said excitedly as he towed Alice along behind him.
He heard footsteps and saw a faint light growing brighter down the corridor and hurriedly ducked into an alcove, pulling Alice along behind him. She practically fell into the alcove and glared up at him.
"What is going on!" she demanded. Triggs shushed her just as the source of the light came into view.
It was Filch with his lantern, shining it into the alcoves, looking for any students hiding out after hours. Alice pressed further into the alcove, seemingly trying to merge her body with the stonework. Triggs however peeked out at Filch. He raised his wand to his throat and mouthed some words.
"Argus!" Dumbledore's voice called out at the other end of the corridor.
"Headmaster!" Filch nearly leapt out of his skin and turned around.
Triggs mouthed words again.
"Argus, come quickly!" Dumbledore called from the distant end of the corridor.
"I'm coming sir!" Filch hollered and began shuffling as fast as he could back the way he came.
Triggs poked his head out of the alcove and watched as Filch hustled off. Triggs crept out of the alcove, waving for Alice to follow him. They crept away before rushing off once Filch was out of sight.
"That was you," Alice said, a bit out of breath after running down the corridors. It wasn't a question. She didn't know what spell Triggs had used, or how he had done it without an incantation, but she knew that Triggs had made his voice sound like Dumbledore's and throw it down the corridor. Triggs just grinned at her.
"I may have done a bit of spy work in my day!"
Triggs led her up to the seventh floor and they stopped before a statue of a gargoyle.
"Peppermint humbug," Triggs told the gargoyle. The gargoyle leapt aside and the wall behind it split into two and opened to reveal a spiral staircase. The steps moved up like an escalator and Triggs led Alice onto them before leaning over to her. "This is the entrance to the Headmaster's office," he explained.
Alice's eyes grew wide. Now she was a trouble-maker and a rule-breaker, but she had her limits! Sneaking out after hours or going past boundaries was one thing, but breaking into the Headmaster's office to find information was bad. Alice dropped her shoulders and turned around to head back down the staircase. Triggs grabbed her and pulled her back up.
"Why are we breaking into the Headmaster's office? This is bad! I'm gonna get into so much trouble! You're probably gonna get fired! This is—" Alice was freaking out but Triggs again shushed her.
"I can't tell you about the Order, but I think you have a right to know about your mother and this is the only way you can find out more about the Order and about her. Dumbledore will surely have something in his office that can help you learn more about both. And we'll only get in trouble if we get caught!" Triggs smirked.
Alice glared at him, but didn't try to leave. Of course, that was partly because it was rather tough to go down an up escalator with one's dignity in tact, and because she was safer with Triggs than out after hours alone. If they did get caught she could always blame it all on him. Not that she would though, he was her favorite professor and she wouldn't want to get him fired.
The staircase stopped and left them in front of a polished oak door with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. Triggs didn't bother with the knocker of course though, and quietly opened the door.
The room was large, beautiful, and circular, with lots of tall windows letting the stars and moonlight shine through.
"What if he's in here?" Alice whispered, trailing close behind Triggs as they entered the office. Triggs shushed her and pointed to the paintings on the wall. Their subjects were sleeping and Alice got the message: don't wake up the guard dogs.
"He's not, he's downstairs playing cards with Flitwick," Triggs replied in a hushed voice.
On the wall opposite the portraits was a large fireplace as well as many shelves and cabinets. The wall directly in front of them had shelves above a huge claw-footed desk. A beautiful sword with rubies in the hilt sat in a glass case on the shelf behind the desk. Next to the sword sat an old, tattered hat which Alice recognized as the Sorting Hat.
There were a number of tables with spindly legs throughout the room. Strange silver instruments sat atop each, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. Alice gazed curiously at these, but as Triggs continued on over to inspect a cabinet, Alice rushed to follow after him.
"What are we looking for?" she breathed, casting furtive glances to the sleeping portraits.
"Memory or mind devices, I can't tell you about it, but if you saw my memories you would have some information though you wouldn't really know what it was," Triggs mumbled, his voice barely over a breath. "Go look in that cabinet for anything weird-looking," Triggs waved over to a black cabinet behind the door.
"Everything in here is weird-looking," Alice grumbled as she trudged over to the directed cabinet.
She pulled open the cabinet door and stared into it in awe. A large, shallow stone basin with runes carved around the edge sat on a shelf within the cabinet. The sides of the cabinet had dozens of shelves holding hundreds of vials containing silvery, cloud-like substances swirling around.
"Uh, is this weird enough?" Alice called softly back to Triggs.
Triggs came over and his eyes shone.
"A Pensieve! That's better than I was hoping for! This might actually work despite the Fidelius Charm," Triggs commented to himself.
"The Fiddle-what-now?" Alice asked, but Triggs didn't seem to notice.
"All we need is some of your mom's memories!" Triggs muttered before turning to Alice grinning. "With this, you can actually watch your mom's past!"
Alice's face beamed.
"Cool! How do we get some of my mom's memories?" Alice asked excitedly.
Triggs' face fell. He tapped his finger against his chin.
"Yeah, hmm, forgot about that minor detail," he remarked a bit sheepishly. Alice rolled her eyes.
"Second shelf on the left," a soft voice said.
Alice and Triggs spun around, each assuming perfectly innocent expressions. Each had experience with getting caught and getting out of it, though they doubted they could come up with an excuse for this particular situation. Headmaster Dumbledore stood behind them with a kindly smile on his face.
"Third vial from the back," Dumbledore added, nodding back to the Pensieve.
"Headmaster, we were just—" Triggs began, a bit shakily.
"Trying to find a way around the Fidelius Charm protecting the Order of the Phoenix so that Alice can learn more about her mother," Dumbledore supplied nonchalantly. "That will not be necessary, as I've just mentioned it to her so she can now be told about it."
"Headmaster, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—" again Dumbledore cut Triggs off, holding up a hand to silence him.
"Apologies are unnecessary, Professor. I should have told Miss Connen about her mother long before now. Professor, if you would go retrieve young Mr. Connen, I believe I have some long over-due explanations for the twins."
"Yes, of course, Headmaster," Triggs replied and hurried out the door, leaving Alice alone with the Headmaster.
Alice glanced up at Dumbledore guiltily. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Dumbledore stopped her with a raised hand and a smile.
"Again, apologies are not necessary. You were simply seeking information of a long lost loved one. I cannot blame you for that. Although I do expect that this particular course of action was devised by Professor Triggs," Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at Alice as he settled into a chair. She nodded. "He is a gentle soul. He also feels responsible for you. The man has a bad tendency of taking any loss or mistake of others upon as his own fault, thus weighing the man down with guilt he shouldn't have. He did that with your mother's disappearance, and so is trying to relieve some of that guilt by helping you."
Alice glanced over at the Sorting Hat, thinking back on when she first got here and was introduced to all the mystery surrounding her mother. For most of her life she had just assumed her mom died or abandoned them, and that was all there was to it. She had been a normal woman with a normal past and a normal family. Now all Alice seemed to know about her mom led to mysteries and more questions. But here stood the man who, out of anyone, could probably give her some answers.
"So, Order of the Phoenix," Alice began, gulping hard. "What did my mom do?"
"Your mother was—well, the best word would probably be 'soldier.' She fought Death Eaters and even faced the Dark Lord a couple times. She was quite skilled at strategy and thus most of her missions suffered minimal casualties. However, Voldemort's forces were seeking help from many different sources and we received word they were going overseas. Due to your mother's ties in the United States, I sent her over there to work against the dark forces. She was quite successful, but even if she wasn't she had nothing to fear from settling down with your father as she was marrying into a very powerful and loyal wizarding family," Dumbledore explained kindly.
The Headmaster always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye and a tone that made one feel comfortable in his presence. Alice felt like she could ask him anything, so she asked the biggest question she had in mind.
"Why are me and Jason here? I mean, why Hogwarts when we lived in America. And even after our dad died, we could've stayed with one of our aunts and still gone to school there," Alice asked. Dumbledore smiled at her as if he had been waiting for this question all year.
"Most wizarding schools are regional, providing an education to children within a certain area, such as the American East Coast, or Western Africa. However, our admission is based entirely upon a book wherein a magical quill records the names of certain witches and wizards when they are born. Before each school year, this book is consulted, and all the children that are eleven are invited to school. This quill had always recorded the names of children born in the United Kingdom and Ireland; until you and your brother that is,"
Dumbledore paused at this point and, with perfect timing, a knock sounded from the door.
"Come in," Dumbledore called, turning his attention to the door, where Triggs and Jason stepped in. "Mister Connen, come, sit!" Dumbledore ushered Jason over and the boy took a seat near his sister. "Thank you, Professor, you may return to your office now," Dumbledore said, dismissing Triggs. Triggs nodded and left quietly. Alice, being the only one still standing, sat down in a seat next to Jason, which she swore hadn't been there when she first came in with Triggs.
"Mister Connen, I was just explaining to your sister about your unusual admission to this school. I believe you aware of how we determine our student classes?" Dumbledore asked, though by his smile Alice suspected he already knew the answer.
"The magical quill marking down names when magical children are born? Yes, of course," Jason replied, his face having lit up upon realizing he would be getting some answers.
"I thought so. Well, you two were the first magical children that quill had ever written down that were not born in the United Kingdom. Some claimed it was simply a mistake since your mother had attended here, and they were willing to simply ignore it and let you attend an American school. I did not believe it to be a fluke. After all, the magical quill was set into place by the Hogwarts founders, the greatest witches and wizards of their age. So I did some investigating and firstly contacted the American school in your region. They had a similar method of admission and I was not at all surprised to find that you two were not on their list,"
Jason glanced over to Alice, who raised her brows mockingly surprised. Jason smirked and they both returned their attention to Dumbledore, whose lips quirked upon watching the exchange. He continued on.
"Now, upon my informing them of this strange occurrence, the school of course was prepared to add you to their list manually. I asked them not to. This was not simply a mistake to be corrected, this had a reason. I believe part of it had something to do with your mother having attended here as generations are often listed in the book. But I also believe that as the quill is magical, it can foresee events and respond to them, so that it knew about your move over here, as well as your future that none of us as yet can know. Perhaps you are supposed to do great things here that you could not have done in America."
At this Dumbledore glanced over to the open cabinet where the silvery substances within the vials swirled and glowed. He shook his head slightly and returned his piercing blue gaze onto the twins when Alice spoke out.
"But even if it knew about our being orphaned, we had family that would've taken us in! I know that Aunt K, or even Aunt Beth, would have taken us in! Why didn't they?" Alice demanded.
"Aunt Beth has a son, and Aunt K travels so much—" Jason began his automatic response but Dumbledore stopped him.
"I was the reason for that actually. I was of course remaining in contact with your mother as she was working for me, so I told her about your names appearing in the book. I kept a close watch on your family, even after your mother disappeared. Both your aunts were in fact willing to take you in, your Aunt Kensington was especially passionate about keeping you two. However, I knew that should your aunt take custody of you two she would send you to school in the States. I saw this as a pivotal moment and I was determined to follow my instincts and ensure you two ended up here, so I convinced your aunt to allow you two to be sent overseas, as the school board was insistent that only children living in the UK could attend. I specially chose the Wallace's because of Margo's connection to the wizarding world and I knew you would be well taken care of. I assured Kensington that after you lived in the UK for two years she could then take you off with her unofficially becoming your guardian because you would be legal residents of the UK and thus the school board would be appeased. I believe she is already making plans for your summer break," Dumbledore grinned.
Alice could follow Dumbledore's reasoning, though she suspected he had other reasons for wanting them here than he had divulged. Maybe he had a similar tendency as Triggs and felt this was his way of making up for whatever happened to Nax, by taking care of her children. Jason was completely satisfied with this answer, the actions appeared logical even if the reasoning was based on hunches. Alice suspected the part about them doing great things here had something to do with Jason's easy acceptance as she recalled Ollivander saying something about him seeking a greater purpose.
"Triggs said you had something to show us," Jason said.
"Yes, of course," Dumbledore rose from his seat and proceeded over to the Pensieve, ushering for them to join him by it.
"There was a mission, where your mother was in danger of being caught by Death Eaters. She didn't want them to get hold of certain information, so she asked me to take some of her memories. I returned them to her after the mission was completed, but she refused a few of them, saying it was better she didn't have them. These I kept, and would show them to you if you wish," Dumbledore said, already retrieving a vial from a shelf.
"Yes," Alice replied without hesitation.
Dumbledore uncorked the vial and tipped the contents into the basin. The silvery mist flowed into the basin and swirled unceasingly. Dumbledore stirred the silvery light with his wand and it glowed brightly. He turned back to the twins.
"By touching the substance, we will be—transported—into your mother's memory. This is a factual replay of events she experienced, which we will witness as invisible observers. This is the past so we cannot interact with it, but it will seem very real. I will come with you, now are you ready? We simply need to touch the substance," Dumbledore explained.
Jason and Alice nodded and held their hands out above the basin. The three lowered their hands into the swirling silvery light.
Alice was falling… or floating… or sinking, or something of that strange sensation of movement without control over it. She couldn't make out anything distinct around her, just a bunch of swirly mist. She grimly thought that this seemed very similar to the story of Alice in Wonderland when she falls down the rabbit hole—the irony was not lost on her.
She landed abruptly in a candle-lit room. People were arguing heatedly and slamming their hands down on a large table that sat in the room in front of Alice. Glancing to her right she saw Jason gaping in astonishment. Dumbledore stood to her left, a slight down turn at the edges of his mouth.
"It's a suicide mission Nax!" a man with dark, messy hair and glasses shouted angrily.
"No, James, it's not! They don't know we have this information. Triggs—" a nineteen year-old Nax turned to a younger version of the twins' professor. He didn't have as many scars or lines on his face and his hair was short, but other than that Triggs looked much the same. "You said no one saw you!"
"You're insulting me if you think that," Triggs scoffed with a smirk, but his eyes were lacking his usual cheerful gleam.
"It doesn't matter if they know we're coming or not! This is a meeting of the highest ranking Death Eaters, including their leader for bloody sake! This is not a group we can take by surprise!" James exclaimed. He was breathing heavy and Lily placed a hand on his arm to calm him down. He caught her eye and took a deep breath. "Nax, you may think you're invincible, but you're not!"
"I never said I thought I was invincible, just lucky," Nax grinned, but her eyes didn't reflect it. "I know this is dangerous," Sirius scoffed but Nax ignored him. "And there will be casualties, but this could be the last battle! With one single assault, we could end the fighting! I for one am willing to take that risk," Nax stared down all the people present who either rolled their eyes or nervously avoided her gaze.
"And even if this mission isn't approved, you'll do it anyway," a man with light brown, shaggy hair commented. He grinned slightly at Nax and she returned it, shrugging.
The man wore shabby clothing that had seen better days and he looked exhausted. All of them did for that matter. Nax's hair was in a messy bun with strands sticking out at every angle and she had bags under her eyes. James' hair was sticking up from him constantly running his hands through it and was sagging against the table even as he bristled with anger. Lily was quiet and her eyes were red. Sirius appeared at ease, but the bags under his eyes betrayed him. The others, Alice didn't recognize, looked much the same.
"Lupin's right, so really our only options are to let Nax go on her own and get herself killed, or to send her with some back up," an older man, with numerous scars and an unnatural blue eye that moved around independent of the other, growled.
"Knowing Nax she'd succeed, and then she'd get all the glory! I for one think her ego needs to be taken down a notch or two," Sirius grinned and winked at Nax, who laughed. "I'm in."
"Settle down," a soft, recognizable voice called from behind Alice, making everyone turn to look past her.
Alice was startled by the voice, but also by everyone looking over at her. She briefly forgot that Dumbledore had said they would be invisible. Turning around, her mouth dropped as a younger Dumbledore walked up a hallway straight towards her. His hair was gray, not quite snowy white yet, but the most distinguishing aspect was that his usual kindly and winsome attitude was replaced with one of somber authority. The younger Dumbledore stepped straight through the twins and their Dumbledore as if they were ghosts. Which Alice considered they might as well be.
"Dumbledore," James looked up at him in relief. "Tell them this is insane!"
"I'm afraid I cannot James," Dumbledore replied. James' face fell and Nax tried to hide her smirk. "I'm afraid neither can I fully support this plan either," Nax's smirk fell.
"But Dumbledore, you've seen my proposal! If we catch them off guard for just one second that's all we need!" Nax explained.
"I have learned from experience that I cannot keep you from doing anything you've set your mind to, Nax," he said with what could be interpreted as an affectionate glance to Nax. "But I believe as large a force as your requesting would do more harm than good. More bodies means more casualties which would be unnecessary when the mission could be accomplished with a smaller infiltration team. Also, due to the danger of the mission, I will not assign anyone to it, they must volunteer."
"Well, I'm going," Nax stated.
"Already threw my hat in too," Sirius added.
"I'll go,"
"And me," a young man with dirty blonde hair and warm brown eyes volunteered.
"Aww man, Stewart, I'm not gonna let you hog all the glory!" another man laughed, ruffling the blonde man's hair.
"Me too," Lily said with a glance at James who clenched his jaw angrily.
Nax, Sirius, Lily, and Lupin were all watching James closely. The veins standing out against his neck showed his internal conflict. He stared down at the table, hiding his face from his friends. Finally he clenched his hands into fists and looked up at them, staring Nax in the eye.
"Someone's gotta keep you guys out of trouble," he grumbled.
The scene before them dissolved into a different meeting. This room featured a group of men and women in black sitting at a long table. Alice hadn't imagined people could really look like the embodiment of evil, but this group proved her wrong. She didn't need Dumbledore's explanation to tell her that this was a meeting of Death Eaters.
At the head of the table sat a man that looked like he'd come straight from the world of nightmares. He was bald, his skin a pallid grey, and had no nose—just slits for nostrils like a snake. His eyes were blood red and the pupils were also slits like a cat or a snake. Alice also didn't need Dumbledore to tell her this man was the Dark Lord, Voldemort.
The Death Eaters were discussing giants, but before Alice could really catch up with the conversation, seven figures appeared around the table with loud cracks. Voices shouted out spells and flashes of color raced from the seven wands at the Death Eaters assembled who hadn't yet recovered from the surprise.
One woman, with wild black hair and a manic laugh was the first to respond, even as several of her comrades fell to the attacking forces. This woman leapt upon the table and shrieked, sending a blast of green right at Lily. Nax tackled Lily out of the way of the spell and the women quickly rolled back up to their feet and faced their attacker. Lily sent a blue flash at the woman, but she repelled it effortlessly. However, Lily's spell had been a distraction as Nax sent a white flash directly on its heels. The woman couldn't recover from repelling the first attack in time to dispel this second one and was thrown backwards off the table where she lay unconscious on the floor.
Alice could hardly keep track of her mother as bright flashes of color careened from every angle. She involuntarily ducked a green blast before remembering that she wasn't really here and the spell thus couldn't affect her. She followed the green flash and gasped as it hit an Order member who crumpled to the floor lifeless. However, several Death Eaters had also fallen and an Order member gathered a group of unconscious and immobilized Death Eaters and popped out of sight.
As the combatants decreased in number, Alice finally caught sight of her mother again. She flung a white-blonde man back and he hit the wall hard. James and Sirius suddenly flew right past her, flung back by a spell from the Dark Lord. Nax immediately turned her attention to Voldemort who was raising his wand to finish off an Order member.
"Avada Kedavra!" Nax shouted, the first spell she had actually performed verbally.
A green flash hurtled towards the Dark Lord, whose attention was elsewhere. However, he caught the light out of the corner of his eye and flicked his wand at it. The green light ricocheted back like it had hit a wall and careened off to the right. The flash struck a blonde-haired young man in the chest. He fell to the floor in a heap.
"Jason!" Nax roared. She flung a blast at Voldemort and, covered by this distraction, bolted for the blonde man's body. "Retreat!" she ordered over the chaos.
The Order members disappeared with slight pops as Nax grabbed hold of the blonde man's body and they both disappeared.
Alice, Jason, and Dumbledore followed Nax through darkness where they felt like they were being pulled from every direction and then squeezed through tiny tubes before finally landing back in the first candle-lit room. Nax was clutching onto the blonde man's body, her entire body shaking. Sirius came over to her and grabbed her shoulders, trying to gently pull her away from the corpse.
"No!" Nax roared and pushed him away. She dug her hands into the young man's shirt before burying her head into his chest.
Sirius, his face drawn, turned to James and Lily who were just turning to see the sight. James put a hand on Sirius' shoulder and drew him into a tight hug. Lily choked and turned away. Another Order member Alice didn't recognize came into the room in a rush. He couldn't see the body behind the small crowd.
"Who is it?" he asked breathlessly. It was Lupin who turned to him.
"Jason Stewart," he said in a hoarse voice.
The man shook his head and covered his eyes with a hand. He heaved a sigh which set his shoulders to quivering, before lowering his hand and raising his eyes. He pushed through the crowd and knelt down beside the body, which Nax was still clutching to.
"I killed him," Nax whispered brokenly into Stewart's chest.
"No! No it wasn't you! It was the Dark Lord!" Sirius stated angrily, tears burning in his eyes. He stepped over to Nax who rose to her feet angrily.
"It was my Killing Curse! It was mine that struck him! I did it! I killed—" Nax's hysterics were cut off as Sirius crushed her into an embrace. She tried to push him away but gave up and sobbed into his shirt.
A woman went over to the body and closed the sightless eyes. She smoothed the clothes and brushed back the hair away from the face. She turned to look up to Dumbledore who had appeared in a doorway on the other side of the room.
"His family are Muggles, sir. How should we proceed?" she asked the past Dumbledore.
"They are aware of his doings. Tell them the truth, he died bravely, fighting for a better world," Dumbledore replied. The woman nodded and grasped a cold hand, but Dumbledore stopped her before she disappeared. "Make sure to tell his sister that I'm sorry."
Alice and Jason's Dumbledore cleared his throat.
The room began to dissolve and after a brief rushing sensation, Alice, Jason, and Dumbledore were returned to the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore waved his wand over the silvery mist and directed it back into its vial. He stoppered it and put it back on the shelf before even glancing at the twins.
"Sir, that young man, Jason Stewart… how long ago was that?" Jason asked hesitantly.
"Twelve years ago," Dumbledore replied, grief tinging his voice. Jason nodded as if he had suspected as much. "You are correct in your guess, Mr. Connen. That was Margo Wallace, your guardian's brother."
"Mom named you after a guy she killed that just happened to be Margo's brother?!" Alice demanded.
"She did not kill him," Dumbledore interjected sternly.
"It was her spell that rebounded and hit him!" Alice returned.
"No! She tried to take out Voldemort and he redirected her spell at Jason. Willamena did not kill Mr. Stewart," Dumbledore stated, a fierce gleam in his eyes.
Alice took a step back. Dumbledore sighed and his frame seemed to fall. He pinched the bridge of his nose before turning back to her.
"I'm sorry, Alice," he said kindly. "It's just that your mother was nearly broken by the guilt she felt over that incident. She blamed herself and it was only when I removed that memory that she was able to move on. Maybe I should've started you two off on an easier memory," he remarked with a slight smirk.
"So, you have more?" Alice asked quietly. She was a bit struck by that memory, but her curiosity urged her to view more.
"I do, but it is very late, perhaps we should view them at a later date," Dumbledore refused gently. Alice rolled her eyes; it wasn't even midnight yet. She suspected Dumbledore was purposefully delaying their seeing further memories, but for what reason she didn't know. Maybe because he couldn't quite remember which ones he had and wanted to figure out which were more upsetting.
"Fine," Alice grumbled, though she smiled shamefacedly at Dumbledore in apology for her rudeness.
"Goodnight, Headmaster," Jason said as Dumbledore herded them towards the door.
"Goodnight, young Mister Jason, and Miss Alice," Dumbledore beamed down at them as he held the door open.
The twins stepped onto the spiral staircase and the steps began to descend. Alice glanced back at the headmaster as he shut the door and was a bit confused to notice a look of pain on his face before the heavy wooden door blocked him from view. As she and her brother were carried down she shook her head. Maybe he had a stomach ache or a headache, or maybe he was simply tired he was quite old after all. Sure the memory of her mother's they had witnessed was distressing, but Alice suspected that it wasn't the cause of such a grief-stricken, and even guilt-ridden, expression as she had thought she saw on the headmaster's face.
The wall ahead of them opened once more and the staircase halted, dropping them off once more on the seventh floor as the gargoyle statue slid out of their way. The twins hopped off the staircase and crept out of the passageway. Once they were clear, the wall closed behind them and the gargoyle returned to its place. Jason moved to go down another corridor that served as a shortcut back to Ravenclaw tower, but Alice called him back, getting an idea.
"Hey, Jason! Will you walk me back to Gryffindor Tower?" she asked, grinning.
"Sure," Jason replied. Alice headed off down the corridor and Jason followed, jogging a few steps to catch up with her. "So that was… odd, but informative," he commented.
"Yeah, it was weird being in mom's memories… and seeing her," Alice replied, remembering the image of her mother from the memories. It was the only first-hand image of her mother that she had as Nax had disappeared when they were still too young to remember.
"Yeah, she looks a lot like you," Jason added.
"You look like her too, you have the same nose," Alice said, flicking the aforementioned feature, prompting Jason to glare at her as he rubbed it.
Dumbledore shut the heavy oak door behind the twins, his frame sagging against it wearily. It was a tiredness of the soul rather than the body. He hated lying to the children.
Proceeding back over to the cabinet, Dumbledore gazed down into the basin, as if by looking into he could see the memories they had just witnessed play out all over again. Of course, he didn't need to view the memory again, those images were seared into his mind, and on his heart. He considered himself responsible for the casualties of that battle; after all, he had sanctioned the mission. He should've approved the members before letting them go, he shouldn't have let such a young group of witches and wizards try to take down the Dark Lord. If he had only allowed the older, more experienced wizards to go, maybe there would have been no casualties.
Dumbledore shook his head.
It was the young members that had almost succeeded. Nax, James, Sirius, Lily, and Remus were just shy of twenty yet they had handled themselves brilliantly. It was some of the older members that had been injured or taken out of the battle quickly. He himself had allowed the Dark Lord to become such a threat, and he had failed in every attempt to defeat him, so he used others to do what he could not. His own failures put young people in harm's way, made soldiers out of them back then, and made orphans of them now. In both situations he never told them the whole truth.
Dumbledore looked up to the shelves housing the numerous vials of memories. He looked straight to the shelf containing Willamena's memories. He knew what story each and every vial held.
Heaving a sigh, Dumbledore gently picked up Willamena's memory of getting engaged to Matt Connen. Retrieving a key from the depths of a pocket he unlocked a drawer and placed the vial inside. Leaving it open he reached for more vials. Nax and Matt's wedding, the birth of Alice and Jason, Nax being asked to be the godmother of James and Lily's son Harry. All of them went into the drawer.
The first time Nax and Matt kissed, the twins' first birthday, Nax and Kensington making a pact to be sisters forever, Nax asking Kensington to be her children's godmother.
Nax going to the Potter's burned and blackened house, Nax fighting to take charge of Harry, Nax going after Sirius, the explosion, her coming back to Dumbledore raving about Sirius' innocence, Dumbledore calming her, giving her a mission, taking her memories…
Dumbledore shut the drawer and locked it.
It would never do for the twins to know the truth.
The twins rounded the corner to the corridor in which the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was. It was a few steps before Jason realized he had lost his sister. He turned around to stare, bemused, at Alice who was stretching her legs.
"Okay, can you go open the portrait hole and make sure it stays open? Imma try and jump through!" Alice said, preparing her stance. Jason glared at her. "What?"
"And here I thought you asked me to walk with you because you wanted to spend some quality time with your brother," Jason retorted snidely.
"Well you thought wrong, little brother," Alice replied.
"Younger by five minutes," Jason whined.
"Closer to six!" Alice declared as Jason trudged over to the portrait hole and opened it with the password Alice had given him. "Now keep it open!" Alice hollered to him.
Jason sighed, nodded and waved his hand to tell her to go ahead.
"She's dragged you into this now too?" the fat lady in the portrait asked sympathetically. Jason nodded to which the fat lady replied: "Poor lad."
Alice bolted from her runner's stance and careened towards the portrait hole. She went behind the portrait and out of Jason's sight, so he scrambled around the portrait to see the results.
An exclamation of "Dang it!" preceded a slight thud. Jason rolled his eyes.
"Good night, Alice!" he called through the portrait hole.
"G'night," she grumbled irritably as the portrait swung back into place.
AN: Dun dun duuuun! You ever get those moments where you're going along, writing a story, and suddenly a thought comes to you... it's a little alteration but suddenly everything just makes perfect sense?! That happened here and I kinda flipped out I was so excited!
Let me know what you think! Please review!