The Fifth Marauder
Chapter 12
The Marauders had been sat in the common room with Lily since Nixie left, trying to come up with a plan for getting Rothburn fired.
"There has to be something we can do." James said as he paced. "Sirius, your parents never mentioned the name Rothburn did they? Maybe we can prove that he is working for Voldemort."
"I never listened to the names they said." Sirius said, leaning back in the sofa. "And besides, we don't know that he is working with Rothburn, so how can we prove something that we don't know?"
"Can we fake some proof?" James asked, making the other 4 occupants in the room look at him with raised eyebrows. "Fine, we won't try to fake proof."
"James…" Lily said, frowning at James.
"We just need to find a way to prove that Rothburn has something against Nixie." He said, not listening to Lilly.
"James…." She tried again, Remus and Sirius looking at her in confusion until they realised what she had seen.
"There has to be a way. There has to be something we can do." He said, still pacing.
"JAMES!" Lily, Remus and Sirius shouted, making Peter jump and James stop pacing.
"What?" He asked, looking at them in confusion.
"Your pocket." Lily said, still looking at his trouser pocket.
"Lilykins, if you wanted some alone time with me, you just have to ask." He said, grinning widely.
"Your pocket is glowing." She snapped, glaring at him. He frowned and looked down at where a bright light was shining from his pocket. He put his hand in and pulled out the object emitting the light, a piece of blank parchment.
"Is that the map?" Sirius asked, standing up and moving closer.
"Map? What map?" Lily asked as they all crowded round the glowing parchment.
"We made a map of Hogwarts. But why is it glowing?" James asked, frowning.
"Nixie." Remus gasped, making them look even more confused.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"I made a failsafe with the map. If any of us are in trouble in these halls, it glows to alert whoever has it. Nixie is the only one of us not here! She's in trouble!" He exclaimed.
"Are you sure?" Lily asked, praying that he was wrong.
"I can feel that something's not right. Nixie's in trouble. I just know it." He said, making them frown.
"Open it!" Sirius snapped. "See where she is." James pulled his wand out and opened it up.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He said. Lily watched in awe as ink started to spill from his wand onto the parchment, revealing words and pictures.
"Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and Wings proudly present, The Marauders map. What is this?" She asked.
"It's a map of Hogwarts. It shows us where everybody in Hogwarts is all the time." Remus said as James opened the map and scanned it. Lily watched all of the moving feet in awe, looking at the labels to see who was where in their school. As much as she wanted to hate the Marauders, she couldn't deny that they were extremely talented.
"There!" James exclaimed, pointing to where a pair of feet was labelled 'Nixie'. "In a classroom upstairs."
"Look who she's with." Peter said, pointing to the other name in that room, making them all share a look.
"Not good." Remus said. "We've got to help her."
"I'll go get Dumbledore. You guys get to her quickly!" Lily snapped, running out of the common room as fast as she could.
"Let's go." Sirius said. The 4 Marauders ran out of the room and up the stairs, Peter falling behind slightly as they ran. They reached the room that Nixie was in and ran into the door, groaning when they found it was locked. "I can't open it!" Sirius exclaimed after trying Alohamora.
"Move back." James said, turning into a stag and taking a few steps back. The other 3 quickly moved away from the door as James ran at it, using his antlers to break the door, allowing him to run into the room.
"What the?" Rothburn turned around in shock to see a stag stood where the door was, Sirius, Remus and Peter running in behind it.
"Get away from her!" Sirius snapped, only for Rothburn to flick his wrist, making them all fly into the wall, James turning back into a human after receiving a blow to the head.
"So, the famous Marauders are Animagi." Rothburn snarled, stalking towards the 4 boys.
"Leave them alone!" Nixie yelled, trying to get her wand, only to be thrown into the wall again.
"You stay there. I'll be with you in a minute." He snapped, ignoring her trying to get up. "Now, you 4." He said, shooting a full body bind at Peter and James, Remus and Sirius jumping out of the way before he could hit them. "You need to mind your own business."
"Nixie is our business." Sirius snapped, gripping his wand. "Stupify!" He yelled, getting annoyed when Rothburn just flicked his spell away. He shot spell after spell, Remus doing the same, but Rothburn just managed to deflect them all.
"Bombarda!" Rothburn shouted, making the wall between the two boys explode. They both yelled as they fell to the floor, Remus falling unconscious as he got hit in the head by a brick and Sirius getting his leg trapped under a large slab of wall.
"No!" Nixie yelled, running over to Sirius and crouching next to him. "Leave them alone!"
"Step away from them girl." He snarled. "You are coming with me."
"I'm not going anywhere!" She snapped, standing in front of her friends.
"Then you will die with them." Rothburn snarled, raising his wand. "Avada Kadava!" The green light shot out of the wand, and Nixie gasped before closing her eyes and transforming into her fairy form, turning slightly and wrapping her wing in front of her. The green light hit her wings and reverberated off of them, shooting into the wall above Rothburn's head. Nixie moved her wing and looked at Rothburn, who was grinning widely at her. "I knew it. The Dark Lord will defiantly want you on his side when he finds out what you are."
"Petrificus Totalus!" A voice shouted. A light hit Rothburn, making him freeze before falling to the ground, unable to move. Nixie and Sirius looked at the door to see Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall stood there, Dumbledore's wand raised.
"Nixie!" Lily exclaimed as she ran past the two professors and wrapped her friend into a hug. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine Lil. The boys aren't though." They separated and looked around them. Professor McGonagall had undone the full body bind on Peter and James and was helping Sirius free himself while Dumbledore was getting Remus and James onto magical stretchers. "How are they?"
"Madam Pomfery will be able to assess them when we get them to her." Dumbledore said. "Mr Pettigrew, can you go and find Slughorn? Ask him to come here ASAP." Peter nodded before running out of the room to find the potions master.
"Professor, what about Rothburn?" Sirius asked, standing up and pulling Nixie closer to him. "He tried to kill Nixie." There was a moment of silence as the two professors looked at Nixie in shock.
"Is that true?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Nixie with concern filling his eyes.
"He shot the killing curse at me." She said, hugging Sirius even closer to her.
"How did you stop it?" McGonagall asked.
"My wings." She said, drawing the attention to the purple wings still in view on her back. "A fairy's wings are the only things strong enough to block every spell in the wizarding world. Including the unforgivable curses."
"Amazing. Did Rothburn know this?" Dumbledore asked.
"I think he did. He kept hinting that he knew at the beginning of the year." She said. She could hear the sound of someone running down the corridor and quickly transformed back into human, just in time for Slughorn to run into the room, Peter right behind him.
"Professor!" He panted, freezing as he saw Remus and James on stretchers and Rothburn frozen on the floor. "What happened?"
"It seems that Professor Rothburn is not the man we thought. He has attacked students and attempted to use an unforgivable curse on a student. Please escort Mr Black, Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew, Miss Evens and Miss Ryder to the medical wing. Minerva and I will contact the Minister and go from there." Professor Slughorn nodded before ushering the kids out of the room, the two stretchers floating ahead of them.
"Are you ok?" Sirius asked as they walked, his arm still around Nixie, holding her close to his side.
"I don't know." She replied in a small voice.
"What did he do before we got there?" He asked, looking at her with worry.
"I'll tell you later when I know everyone's alright." She said. They walked in silence the rest of the way, Lily occasionally looking back at them in concern. Once they made it to the medical wing, Madam Pomfery got them all on beds, except Lily who hadn't been in the room during Rothburn's attacks. Nixie sat on her bed for a while, just looking at her friends, until Pomfery came over to her.
"Miss Ryder, I need you to come into my office for a moment." She said. Nixie nodded before standing and following the healer into her office, ignoring the confused look Sirius was giving her. "I understand that you blocked the killing curse with you wings." Nixie started, shocked that the heeler knew about her. "I know what you are Miss Ryder. Professor Dumbledore had to tell me as there are some healing potions that can be poisonous to fairies. I need you to transform so I can check your wings for any damage." Nixie nodded before transforming, realising why Pomfery wanted her in the office, so none of the other patients in the medical wing could see her. Madam Pomfery took a moment to take in the beauty of Nixie's wings before lightly touching them, looking for anything that might indicate damage.
"Anything?" She asked, feeling self-conscious of having her wings so closely inspected.
"Not that I can see." She replied, taking a step back and nodding to Nixie, signalling that she could change back. "If you feel funny, or think that there is anything wrong, please come back. I can get some research done if needed to see how I can help you."
"Do you know much about my wings?" Nixie asked, sitting in the chair.
"There isn't a lot of published materials on fairies. Not many wizards know of their existence, and even few know how to treat them medically. I was lucky enough to know a fairy during my training, which is how I know roughly what to look out for and what potions and ingredients are poisonous to you." She said, smiling slightly at the young girl in front of her.
"You knew another fairy?" She asked, shocked.
"Yes. A wonderful woman. She worked very closely with me during my training." She looked at Nixie with a small smile on her face. "You look just like her." Nixie looked at her in astonishment for a moment.
"I look… You mean…. She was….." She couldn't quite form a sentence for what she was trying to say.
"Yes. I knew your mother." Nixie slumped in her chair in shock, not quite believing it. "Her name was Mariposa. She was an amazing woman, so kind and caring, even to those who did her wrong."
"How did she die?" Nixie asked, trying to find out as much as she could about her parents.
"She was found by a dark wizard who was trying to kill any creature he deemed unworthy of magic. Over the years, witches and wizards have forgotten their heritage and their ancestry. The wizard, he humiliated your parents, turned as much of the wizarding world against them as he could, before publicly executing them."
"What?" She gasped.
"You have to understand that people are scared of what they don't understand. The wizard, he convinced as many people as he could that your parents were dangerous. I can still remember her last words." Pomfery looked to the side, her eyes glazed over with tears as she remembered the day she lost a good friend.
"Can you tell me?" Nixie asked, her eyes filled with tears.
"No." She replied, making Nixie frown. "But I can show you. Professor Dumbledore has a device called a penisive, which allows a person to relive a memory, or allow another person to view the memory. I'll ask Dumbledore if I can use it to show you the day, if you are up to it."
"Yes. I want to know. I want to see them, even if it is only a memory." She said.
"Very well. I will contact Professor Dumbledore and owl you when I am ready to show you the memory." Nixie nodded, standing up and moving to the door, only to pause for a moment.
"What was my father's name?" She asked, turning to look at the heeler once more.
"Aiden. His name was Aiden." She said. Nixie left the room, tears falling down her face as she smiled slightly.
"Nix?" She looked up to see Sirius in front of her. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, looking at the concerned faces of her friends. "Madam Pomfery knew my parents."
"She did?" Lily asked, looking shocked.
"Yeah. She trained to be a heeler with my mum." She said, sitting down on the bed that James was sat on, Sirius sitting next to her with Lily stood at the foot of Remus' bed, Peter sat with the now awake wizard on the bed.
"Do you know their names?" Sirius asked, putting an arm around his girlfriend.
"Mariposa and Aiden." She said.
"What do they mean?" James asked, remembering that Nixie had told them fairies tended to be named after the elements.
"Butterfly and Fiery." She said. Here, sat with her friends and the newfound knowledge of her parents, it was easy to forget the events that had put them in the medical wing in the first place. For that small moment of time, everything was just perfect.