Chapter 48 - "You said 'I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die'."
Circe was in and out of consciousness for much of the next few days. Her wounds were pulling her from pillar to post and since Circe had collapsed at the front door of Grimmauld Place, she'd been fighting against a raging infection. Sweating, hallucinating, re-living every tense moment in the Azkaban escape with terrifying detail as she thrashed about in bed. Every so often she'd be roused from her deep slumber as Sirius tended to her arm or propped her up in bed to feed her some water. She dreamt of silent Dementors with gaping, open mouths, flying black comets, a skull and snake tattoo moving about on white skin, lost forever in a sea mist that never ended…
But when she woke up in a cold sweat, in a grand double bed that was unfamiliar to her, in a room that smelt of dust and moth balls, her screaming would bring either Kreacher or Sirius to her side. Kreacher regarded Circe as a nuisance that had dropped into his lap like an unwelcome guest. He would always call for Sirius when Circe would not stop screaming at his snarled, leathery face, still delusional from her wounds.
"Poor Mistress would be appalled... The half-mad girl in my Mistress's bed… who came to her home dressed as some lice ridden-"
"Kreacher, shut up!" Circe heard Sirius snap once, when she had been in between awake and asleep.
Circe would become forever grateful to Sirius in those days. He would place himself at her back, holding her up in his arms as she sobbed and screamed, all too familiar with the cries of somebody who had known the leeching misery inflicted by the Dementors of Azkaban. He re-dressed her arm with delicate hands and spoke to her in soothing tones when her dreams became too frightening and laying her gently back down on the pillows when she fell back into an exhausted sleep. Circe heard small snippets of the conversations being had around her. Most of the time it was Kreacher complaining about one thing or another, but at times she thought she heard others she recognised but she was unable to latch onto them as her mind went spinning off down another fever-induced nightmare. After an uncountable amount of time, her high temperature passed and she slipped into the first truly restful night's sleep.
She awoke the next morning to the gentle sound of music playing from the adjacent room. It was a slow, soft tune that seemed to float on the air, rousing her from her sleep in the kindest way possible. Her bleary eyes opened and she rubbed her face with her good hand, trying to sit up in the huge bed where she had been bound to for the past few days.
"Ah you're awake… I told the kids not to play our old records too loud in case they woke you up…" A familiar voice said to her somewhere nearby. Circe rolled over and looked about the room and there sitting in an old wicker armchair by her bedside was Remus.
"Remus!" she muttered as she smiled at her old friend, her heart aching with happiness.
"What have you been getting up to, ehh?" Remus asked, smiling warmly back at her. "It looks like you got yourself into quite a spot of bother, Circe. You had us all worried for a while there."
"How long have I been here?" she asked, sitting up slowly. Remus stood up and propped up a few pillows behind her as he spoke.
"Well, Sirius said you turned up out of the blue on Sunday evening. And today is Thursday morning."
"Oh God…"Circe muttered, touching a hand to her forehead, feeling the lingering dampness of her feverish sweating still there.
"Sirius said it was one of the worst splinches he'd ever seen. He was surprised you even managed to walk here after you apparated."
Circe glanced down at her arm, resting beside her on top of the thick green blankets and bandaged heavily.
Nearly four days… God, Severus will be frantic. The last time I wrote to him was the morning of the escape. She thought as a deep frown bloomed across her face. If it had been him who had gone abroad on a dangerous mission and she had heard nothing from him since the morning of the planned attack, then she would assume the worst had happened...
Severus… Severus… she repeated internally to herself as her heart ached with longing for him. She remembered just how distraught he had been when Circe had gone missing a few years ago and she imagined he was much the same now but not even having the knowledge of where to even begin looking for her… It felt like an age since she had seen his face, since he'd held her close and kissed her. Her soul craved him. She hungered for his presence at her side.
"Oh and I hear congratulations are in order." Remus said with a grin. Circe looked up from her bandaged arm a little taken aback. Did Remus know about her and Severus? About the escape from Azkaban?
"What?"
"Dumbledore told us that you've joined The Order." Remus replied.
"Oh… yeah. Thanks." She said hurriedly, trying to hide her relief. "Is he here?"
"Got here a day or two ago. Sirius wrote to him after you dropped by suddenly, asking him to shed a bit of light on the situation. Albus said you've been off on a mission for The Order?"
"Yeah." Circe stated plainly. Not strictly untrue….
Although I wonder how Remus would react if he knew I was partly responsible for the mass breakout at Azkaban. "Bit of a bad start, isn't it." Circe said, pointing at her bandaged arm with a self-deprecating laugh.
"Well, I'm sure you can tell us all about the mess you got yourself into at the meeting tonight." Remus chuckled.
"Dumbledore's called a meeting?"
"He has. Partly to discuss the Azkaban "development"." Remus added, waggling his fingers in the air. "I'm guessing that's what your mission was based around…."
"What else is there to discuss?" Circe asked quickly, avoiding Remus's probing statement.
"There's been some… interesting developments at the Ministry. Odd stances taken by the Minister after the events of the Tri-Wizard tournament. Fudge still believes that Barty Crouch Junior was a raving madman. He was so quick to give Barty the Dementor's kiss because it's easier to bury your head in the sand than to accept the truth of what Barty said, that Voldemort is back… He refuses to even acknowledge that Cedric Diggory's death wasn't an accident. He's delusional Circe, and I fear he's listening to the whispers of the wrong people."
Circe had no reply for Remus. She'd barely been awake for ten minutes and already her head was spinning with questions and problems. She'd woken up at Grimmauld Place believing that her ordeal was over when it seemed it was only just beginning. She listened to the sound of the children's voices in the next room, talking and laughing over the noise of the song they played. Circe recognised the tune when she listened closely. Dire Straits, 'Romeo and Juliet'. A pretty song. One of her favourites.
"Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet, and you exploded into my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"
Circe smiled and listened for a while. Hearing music in the midst of all this chaos. A little bit of enjoyment in the struggle. She suddenly heard a deeper man's voice amongst the children, telling them to "shut up and listen to the guitar work". Circe laughed, recognising Sirius's voice.
"So… you're back here." Circe said to Remus with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes… I meant to write to you and say. Well, what with The Order starting back up again, I think it'll be better if I'm here today her than up in Edinburgh."
"So you and Sirius are-"
"The right people who loved one another at the wrong time." He interrupted, looking at Circe with a sad smile. "It'll be strictly business."
"And you've both… talked about this? About the two of you?"
"What's there to talk about Circe? Nothing has changed. He grew up in his world, I grew up in mine. Both cruel and mean in their own ways but they shaped us into two different people. We are adults now, not children. Without the Marauders and Hogwarts to bind us. Too much has happened since the tragic play curtain came to a close…"
Circe listened to the song for a while, noticing how it made Remus introspective and distant as he listened.
"And I dreamed your dream for you,
And now your dream is real.
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your "deals"?"
Ahh, Sirius is engaging in musical warfare. Circe suddenly realised. He's put this on knowing Remus can hear it…
"I'm going to guess and say Sirius isn't of the same mindset as you." She stated.
Remus looked at Circe, marvelling at her intuition, and then sighed heavily. "No. But I told you that he wanted to pick up from exactly where we were when we were twenty one, before Azkaban, before James and Lily died, before I-"
"Before you fell in love with Tonks?" She asked suddenly.
Remus fell silent. He stared at his hands in his lap, swallowing hard. He looked at Circe with an expression of pure misery, his eyes crying out to her for help. A look that confirmed everything she needed to know.
A woman's voice came bustling up the stairs outside Circe's bedroom.
"Turn that racket off! I told you Ginny, George, Fred, that there are people in this house that need to rest!"
Remus jumped to his feet and strode over to the door."It's alright, Molly. She's awake now." He replied.
The woman appeared around the corner of the door and peered at Circe. She looked kind, homely, wearing a selection of bright oranges and yellows that made her radiate warmth in the old and dismal Black family home. Circe could see instantly from the curve of some of her features and the shock of frizzy orange hair that she must be the Weasleys' mother.
"Oh my dear. Look at you, you've been in the wars haven't you." She said gently, sitting down at the side of Circe's bed and taking her hand.
"Quite literally." Sirius said, appearing suddenly at the doorway also.
"Sirius, I can't thank you enough." Circe replied as her eyes flicked from him to Remus, standing awkwardly with his arms folded across him, not looking at Black.
"You helped me in an hour of need and now I have returned the favour to you." Sirius nodded politely to her.
"How are you feeling, dear?" Molly asked. "Are you hungry? I've got a rather decent chicken casserole on in the kitchen, if that blasted house-elf of yours hasn't thrown it away down the gutter again." She cast a withering eye to Sirius.
"I'm starved." Circe replied honestly. She moved to get out of bed but Molly placed a firm hand on top of her legs.
"No, no, no, no… I'll bring up a nice tray of something. You aren't to get out of this bed, and that's a direct order from another Order member." Molly shot back with a wink.
Circe laughed and Molly stood up, brushing the creases out of her apron before turning back to the door.
"Oh, I completely forgot why I came up here!" She sighed, flapping her arms at her sides. "Sirius, we have another visitor. I answered the door downstairs before Kreacher could slam it in their face again…"
"Who?" Sirius asked.
"Severus."
Circe's eyes widened, her heart jumping into her mouth. Severus is here… He's here.
"He says Dumbledore wrote to him and informed him that Circe was here. Asked him to bring along a few of his potions and drafts for her… arm."
Sirius groaned, rolling his eyes. "I tried my bloody best with that splinch!" He said heatedly, pointing at Circe's bandages. "I really doubt there's much more even Snivellus could do to make it any better."
"Yes well… we all know that your skill set is rather more weighted to brauns, not brains, Black." A rich, velvety voice piped up from just beyond Circe's line of sight. But she would have known that voice in a heartbeat, in any place in the world. And her heart rate doubled as Severus stepped out of the shadows of the landing and into the doorway of her bedroom.
"Oh, ding-dong. It's the Avon lady." Sirius sneered back at him. "With all of her lotions and smellies."
"Oh will you stop it, you lot." Molly interrupted swiftly before the insult hurling could escalate any further. "You'd think that you all would have grown out of this behaviour by now…"
Molly looked to Remus imploringly but Lupin was in no mood to chastise Sirius, what with the tense situation currently sitting between the two of them. He cleared his throat awkwardly and mumbled "Shall we… give Circe a little bit of privacy whilst Severus sees to her wound?"
"Absolutely, everyone out!" Molly stated forcefully, flapping a tea towel previously tucked into her apron strings at Sirius.
"Molly..! Th-This is my house!" Sirius protested as he was being ushered out the door.
"Oh shut up, Sirius." Remus mumbled under his breath.
Circe was on the verge of tears when Remus closed the door to the bedroom. As soon as the lock clicked into place she let out a small sob. Severus too instantly dropped his visage of calm and collected, rushing to Circe's side and dropping to his knees by the bedside. They both, in unison, threw their arms around one another in the fiercest, most desperate embrace as the tears came to both of their eyes. The two of them wept silently as they held each other firm. Severus cradled her head to his chest, gripping her so, so tightly to him. He buried his face in her hair, letting his tears of relief drop down his nose and onto her curls as he rocked her from side to side. Circe never wanted to part from him. His sandalwoody smell filled her senses as she nestled her face into his doublet. She could feel the beating of his heart against her cheek and his gut-wrenching sobs rippling through his whole body. And for a while, that is all they did: held each other firm whilst their worry and relief and love poured out onto one another.
"I did it, Sev…" she muttered through her tears, still clinging on to the small of his back, pressing him close to her. "I did it. I did what they wanted and I made it back to you…"
"Only just though, it looks like..." He whispered to her, touching a gentle hand to her bandaged arm. "It's a good thing Molly let me in when she did. When Dumbledore wrote and told me you were here, I was contemplating climbing the drainpipes under your window to get in."
"This room doesn't have a window…"
"No. Nor was a Romeo Montague trying to get into the most well-guarded safe house in Britain."
He eventually drew away from Circe, wiping his eyes and brushing her own tears away from her cheeks with his thumb.
"Let me look at you…" he breathed, cupping her face in his hands. He sighed, his eyes threatening to start weeping again as he beheld her. "When Odette sent your belongings back to Spinner's End… I thought I'd never get to see you again."
"She didn't send a letter? A brief note? Anything that could have told you what happened?"
"Just your brooch and a few clothes. I suppose she couldn't risk her owl being intercepted. She, as a Leatrange, will be under close surveillance now…"
"Oh God, I didn't think of that... I guess I didn't give much thought to the "after" bit of the plan because I expected us to fail. At least her sons will be off to school and out of that house soon."
"The Dark Lord also sent his congratulations to us…Well, to you..." Severus said darkly as he began peeling apart her bandages.
"No! Stop…!" Circe cried out suddenly, laying her arm on Severus.
"What is it?"
"It's… it's going to be bad. Based on how Sirius and Molly were talking about it." She said nervously, casting a fretful look at her arm.
"So you'd rather you never looked at your own arm ever again?" He asked bluntly.
"No. I just...Give me a minute."
She looked down at her arm. She'd noticed as soon as she'd woken up that it felt oddly numb. Like there was nothing there. Sirius had obviously had to apply some rather strong pain-killing potions and magical imbuements to it, but as a result her arm felt like a lead weight at her side. She could just about see the tips of her fingers poking through the bandages and noted that there was a very slight blue tinge to them…
"Do it. Now." She said to Severus. A lump already in her throat.
Severus glanced back down to her bandages and resumed his unwrapping. She watched his delicate fingers peel back the layers as her breaths became increasingly rapid. He paused when he reached the last layer of cloth, glancing up at her, watching her expressionless face fight down the mounting panic inside. He removed the bandage and Circe gasped.
Her arm was a knotted mess of pink skin. A long, bubbled scar ran from the base of her hand, all the way down the underside of her forearm and stopped just below her armpit. Her skin had an angry red tinge to it and much of the flesh of her arm that had remained had now warped and changed into an odd shape.
"Huh…" Circe said in a state of shock. "And you were losing your shit when I got this piddly little thing." She said, pointing to the small scar next to her left eye. She chuckled at Severus and he looked at her stone-faced. Her laugh soon dissolved into a series of vicious sobs and Severus again moved to cradle her close to him.
"It's alright…" he murmured, stroking her hair soothingly. "Let's see what I can do for it. Whatever essence of dittany Sirius used, it obviously wasn't brewed strong enough."
"Severus, tell me honestly…." she began as Snape moved to fetch a few small bottles from the satchel he'd brought with him. "Is my arm always going to be… like that?"
"Can you feel this?" Severus asked, running a finger through her palm.
"Yes… just about."
He flicked each of her fingers. "And this?"
"Yes."
"Then you should count yourself lucky. You will have use of your arm and your hand when you've recovered fully. But I'm afraid there will always be a scar…"
She nodded solemnly, tracing her own finger over the ridge of re-knitted flesh. Her eyes widened as she came to her wrist.
"Oh God… my Dark Mark." She gasped. "It's gone."
In the space on her wrist where there had once been the Death Eater's tattoo, there was now nothing but the bright-red mound of her scar.
"Mmm…I did dwell on how accommodating Sirius had been towards you, given that you would have been marked as a servant of the Dark Lord." Severus said quietly.
"You don't think he'd have turned me away if-"
"Yes." Severus interrupted her harshly. "I think he would have."
Circe was silent, thinking on what Severus had said as he tended to her arm. He poured out a vial of essence of dittany and gently rubbed it into the skin of her arm, massaging it into her scar with his delicate hands. She winced a little as his fingers caressed her skin but he would pause any time he heard her suck in her breath through her teeth and he would wait for her to nod at him to continue. As he worked, she told him of everything that had happened in Normandy and how she'd managed to successfully infiltrate Azkaban. He listened like a child at the knee of a storyteller, genuinely impressed with her and Odette's method of extraction.
"Ahh, if you broke your arm before you splinched, that might go some of the way into explaining why your wound was so bad." Severus stated.
"Because there was already a weak point on my body?" she asked.
"Mmm." he grumbled, nodding slowly.
She continued with her story, going through how she had captained the dingy to the shore of Britain and the battle she'd been forced into with the two aurors. She couldn't quite remember the name of the wizard she'd fought, too caught up in the adrenaline of the fight to have committed it to memory. But from her description of the man, Severus could pretty much guess who it was.
A good thing he's not coming tonight. Severus thought.
As she continued, his heart ached when she told him of her flight to London. Her memory of her walk from the Union Chapel to Grimmauld Place was foggy, hazy, distorted by the pain and shock she'd been in after her splinch. But what marvelled him even more is that she'd walked past a great deal of muggles clearly wounded, suffering, dressed in rags, and no one had offered to help her.
"That's Londoners for you, Sev." she responded flatly, shrugging her shoulders. It was a grim summation but Severus had no reply to it. When all was said and done, she'd used her wits and intelligence to get herself to safety and pull off the task the Dark Lord had laid in her lap.
A pity that her intelligence had to be used to aid the enemy… this time. Severus thought to himself.
When he was finished, her wound was already looking less angry and raw. He wrapped her back up, tieing her arm up into a small sling, and packed away his things swiftly.
"Sev, don't go just yet…" she called out to him, shuffling over in the bed until there was a little space beside her. Severus looked at the place next to her and with a small smile and a sarcastic roll of his eyes he lowered himself on top of the covers, crossing his long legs and wrapping his arms around Circe again. It felt wonderful to have her in his arms, lying on his chest as she had done before the world turned upside down. Before the days when he'd thought her dead, before the Azkaban breakout, before she'd been forced to go to Normandy, before they'd met the Dark Lord. It seemed like a lifetime ago that they'd been together in Spinner's End. Severus and Circe both were glad that they could snatch this small moment of quiet in the midst of the chaos that had become their lives.
"Tell me you love me, Sev. I need to hear it." Circe said suddenly after a few blissful moments of quiet.
"You know I love you." He answered her, squeezing her tight.
"This war… This fight… It tears people apart. It changes them." She muttered, thinking on Remus and Sirius. People whose love was written in the stars and that shone just as bright. Despite even their best intentions, despite the promise of "through thick and thin", their loss and pain and battles changed them. Perhaps that was the true tragedy of their story: sometimes even the truest loves cannot survive so much trauma and the love still remains but the people they were doesn't.
"This war can try and tear me into a thousand pieces and reform me into something else entirely… and even then I will love you."
Circe smiled, nestling deeper into his chest. It was a pretty promise, one that comforted her for the time being, even if it was something Severus couldn't promise at all…
"Swear on all the stars and the moon and all that lovey-dovey stuff in the films?" She asked.
"Well, you know what that play says:
"Swear not by the moon,
The inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb"." He quoted perfectly.
"Do not swear at all;
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry,
And I'll believe thee." Circe quoted back. "You know… that Shakespeare knew what he was on about."
"A gripping and erudite summation of the greatest known author of English History…" Severus drawled sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up." Circe shot back, grinning broadly.
Circe sat in Severus's embrace for a while longer, both happily lost in the warmth and touch of one another… until Circe heard the approaching footsteps of someone coming up the stairs. She gasped and opened her eyes from her half-daze, remembering suddenly that Molly had promised to return to her with food.
Oh shit, she's going to see us having our little canoodle...
There was no time to speak. Or to tell Severus to get up. She withdrew her arm from lying on top of Severus's chest and gave him the heartiest push she could manage and he went toppling off the side of the bed just as Molly pushed open her bedroom door.
"I finally managed to get Kreacher to show me where the bowls a-" Molly suddenly halted in her sentence as she heard Severus's stunned groan from the floor, on the other side of Circe's bed. "Is Severus alright?"
"Dropped a vial under the bed, Molly." Circe said hurriedly, smiling at Mrs Weasley as Severus glared up at her from the heap he'd fallen into on the floor.
"Oh…" Molly muttered, placing the tray of chicken casserole down on Circe's lap. Severus got to his feet and recovered his senses just in time and he stood up brusquely, brushing himself down and gathering the last of his tools. He shook his head irksomely at her as he passed behind Molly's back and Circe did her best not to choke on her food with laughter.
That night, Circe came downstairs on shaky legs as Molly held her up. She was welcomed into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place with an uproar of good-natured greetings. Molly guided her over to a seat at the table at Sirius's side and she smiled at them all politely. Remus, Tonks, Sirius and Molly were the only people she recognised. But Mrs Weasley was quick to introduce her to her similarly red-headed sons Bill and Charlie as well as her husband Arthur, who all waved at her when she sounded them off. Bill was tall, with his long red hair tied into a ponytail at his back, a dangling fang earring hanging from his lobe. In another world, he could have been one of Myron's associates with him backstage at a Weird Sister's gig. Charlie on the other hand was shorter and stockier, but very very muscly. His face was covered with so many freckles he looked almost tanned and he had the look of someone who had spent many hours outside in all weathers. They were both rather good-looking young men and Circe suddenly felt a little self-conscious, dressed in the long nightdress that Sirius had been forced to put her in. By the look of utter abhorrence Kreacher cast at her, she guessed it was once his "Mistress's". Molly had given her one of her children's hand-knitted jumpers to wear over the top of the garment and by the large gold '"R' on the front of it, she assumed it was Ron's. She cast an exasperated glance at Severus, who hovered in the shadows away from the table and pulled at the knitwear with a roll of her eyes. Despite his obvious uncomfortableness at being around the other Order members, he gave a small smile back at her.
I can't bloody wait until I can wear my own clothes again…
Circe noticeably flinched when Alastor Moody entered the kitchen to join the meeting. Sirius chuckled beside her when he clocked her surprise.
"He's the real deal this time, Circe." he said, leaning close to her to whisper in her ear. Still, she felt the familiar pang of discomfort when she looked upon Moody's spinning fake eye. He might not be Barty Crouch Junior in disguise any more, but the old auror certainly still felt odd and intimidating to her. Alastor took his seat beside his protege Tonks, grumbling something to her as he adjusted his leg. All in all, the kitchen table in Grimmauld Place was rather crowded once everyone had taken a seat. They were sat so close together that Circe had to be careful her sore arm wasn't knocking into Sirius's elbow as he moved around and gestured as he spoke. Then, finally, Dumbledore entered the kitchen with his head held high and his hands placed demurely behind his back, nodding to each Order member in turn as the talk and chatter died down to a pregnant silence.
"We are not expecting Kingsley or Mundungus today and Mrs Figg is still keeping a watch on Harry for us." Dumbledore stated as he took his place at the table's head.
Kingsley?! Circe suddenly thought, her eyes widening to bright white saucers. But she did not have time to dwell on the name Dumbledore had dropped as he pressed on. "So shall we begin?"
As one, the Order members took their wands out and held them aloft, over the table. Circe followed suit, unsure of what exactly was happening but nevertheless her little heart soared as she realised she had finally managed to earn a place in the organisation she had wanted to be a part of since she was fourteen. As the tips of their wands drew nearer, a bright, golden flare of magic began to glow from each of their magical instruments.
"Oriri ex cinere." they all said in unison.
Rise from out of the ashes… Circe translated internally.
"Thank you all for coming." Dumbledore continued. "First order of business, I can see you've already welcomed Circe Smith into The Order." Dumbledore gestured at Circe and all the faces at the table turned to face her. "And as you can tell she has had a rather rude introduction to what being a member of this organisation means. But her test of courage and her valiant efforts have already proved what an invaluable addition she will be to The Order of the Phoenix. Cheers!"
The other Order members all moved to grab their goblets of wine and Sirius helped Circe pour her own glass and handed it to her good arm.
"Cheers!" they all said as they raised their glass to her. Circe smiled gratefully at them all and took a drink.
"At least now I won't have to give her a detention when she turns up to meetings in the future..." Dumbledore said, eliciting a laugh from the other Order members who were old enough to remember when Circe had tried to join the organisation during the first wizarding war, when she was still in school. Circe knew she should have felt embarrassed, but she didn't. She felt rosy with pride, finally a part of the fight for the triumph of good and love. How utterly and completely different this meeting felt to the one she had been forced to attend first at Pettigrew Manor. If she ever needed any confirmation at all that she was truly fighting on the correct side, then the golden, warm feeling in her chest was her sign.
However, the conversation moved swiftly on to more darker topics… The surge on attacks on muggles over the last few days, the reluctance of the Minster to acknowledge the happenings at Hogwarts last year, the smear campaign railed against Harry in the Prophet, and, of course, the mass breakout at Azkaban. Dumbledore explained, using a few choice words, that Circe's mission had been centered around the breakout, leaving out, of course, that Circe had been on the wrong side of the prison break… But nevertheless, Circe's involvement in the event was made known, if not the specifics.
"And how many escapees were there in the end?" Moody asked her gruffly.
"Rabastan, Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lesgrange… that I know of. Probably more." Circe muttered back, keeping her gaze on the table just in case her shame from being responsible for their escape showed on her face.
"Oh, wonderful…" Sirius muttered. "Cousin Bella out in the big wide world again."
"And Voldemort is growing increasingly merciless with those who choose to deny his summons." Dumbledore added gravely.
Circe cast a knowing look at Severus, remembering the brutal way Voldemort had treated him when they had presented themselves at Pettigrew Manor. She still remembered the choking noises Severus had made as the Dark Lord had squeezed the air out of him, suspecting him of being a turncoat. Luckily they had managed to convince Voldemort otherwise, but Circe shivered, thinking on what he might have done to the two of them if they'd been unsuccessful.
"Karkaroff is dead." Moody stated bluntly.
Circe gasped, covering her mouth as shock went coursing through her. "No…" she uttered.
"He was found two weeks ago in some godforsaken shack in Tibet." Moody continued. "Alone."
"He hid them." Circe breathed, her eyes clouding over with tears of relief. "He hid Marguerite and his wife..."
"We have tried our best to locate Igor's wife and child, but they cannot be found for love nor money by any of our Tibetan informants. It seems like he deliberately separated himself from them and drew attention to himself. A tactic that hopefully has saved them, but doomed him." Dumbledore added sagely.
"He gave up his own life to save them…" Tonks muttered sadly.
"The only brave deed he did in his sorry little life." Sirius added, handing his handkerchief to Circe. She rather haughtily declined it, angry at his comment.
He was scared. He lived by the mistakes and consequences of his past every single day. That was brave…
She wiped her face with the sleeve of her good arm and turned from Sirius. "Courage isn't the absence of fear. But rather the assessment that something else is more important than that fear." Circe spoke levelly.
"Well… quite." Dumbledore said diplomatically.
Sirius scoffed, a little surprised that Circe was, as he believed, expressing sympathy for Death Eaters given what had happened to her recently.
"Have there been any sightings of anybody worrying near Harry?" Remus asked, raising his head from his lap for the first time in the meeting.
"None so far. But Mundungus is rather slapdash when it is his turn to be on watch duty..."
"Harry's not here?" Circe asked suddenly. "He's not with Ron and Hermione…? In the Order's safe house?!"
"No. He's with his Aunt and Uncle still." Dumbledore said as plainly as if he'd not been talking about the very boy who saw Voldemort's return at the end of last year…
"Does… does he even know what's going on out there?" Circe asked incredulously.
"Dumbledore wants to keep him in the dark." Sirius grumbled, folding his arms across his chest in a huff.
As he sat back in his chair, his shoulder bumped into Circe's bandaged arm and she let out a small "ow!". Severus flinched upon hearing her cry of pain and inched forwards a fraction, a deep scowl on his face.
"Be careful, you brutish oaf!" He hissed at Black. "That wound on her arm is bad enough thanks to you, without you reopening it with a bump."
"Shut up, Snivellus. Go scurrying back into the shadows."
"Sirius, that's enough!" Circe shouted, fixing him with a firm grip on his arm. "I know you did your best to help me with my arm. Severus, it was just an accident…" she continued softly. "Come on, I thought we're all on the same team here."
Circe tightened her grip on Sirius's arm looking at him imploringly. She knew she could just about get Severus to stand down, but Sirius needed a bit more feminine beguiling to lay down his arms. And by the way he was staring at her hand on top of his sleeve, she knew she had his attentions… Sirius looked up into her green emerald eyes, his moustached face twitching as he bristled. Despite his brewing anger, Circe clocked a look from deep beneath his rich brown eyes that conjured up the word "wolfish" in her mind. She let go of him, suddenly aware that everybody was looking at them, and she cleared her throat.
"Are we done?" Dumbledore asked, placing his hands on his hips. "Because we have much to discuss tonight."
"We are." Sirius said quietly, finally taking his eyes off Circe.
"Good. Because there's also to be some strange developments at Hogwarts this year… The Ministry has decided to elect the new DADA professor instead of leaving it up to the school's governors and myself. I'm afraid the last nail in the coffin for my reputation was the sighting of an ex-Hogwarts student at the Azkaban breakout."
"What? What do you mean, Dumbledore?" Remus asked.
"Well I'm afraid Cornelius thinks I've been indoctrinating my followers into supporting Harry's claims that Voldemort has returned. And to add weight to the "rumors" of Voldemort's return, I've sent this supporter to be an agent-provocateur, if you like."
"Who was the ex-pupil?" Molly asked.
"Percy Weasley."
As the rest of the Weasley family gasped and cried out their surprise, Circe felt all of the colour drain from her face.