Chapter 35: The Hall of Statues

Unedited...

"So, let me get this straight..." she said, raising a dangerous eyebrow and puffing out smoke from her pipe, wearing a look that was nothing short of legit murder, "you went all the way to her house... and told her... that... story?" she asked, her voice bordering on downright incredulity.

The blond pacing the floor in front of her winced a little at her tone. "Look, I honestly hadn't planned to say the things that I said, if that's what you mean," he leered loftily, except his pace had quickened a lot more now. "Also, I beg of you to not think too much of it, really..."

"Oh, you DON'T want to know the things I'm thinking this very second, Malfoy," Andromeda scoffed, driving Lucius to jerk up feverishly at the severity in her voice. "But, for fuck's sake, enlighten me..." she started, hovering a bit as if looking for words that wouldn't mutilate him entirely, "I mean... You went there for an entirely different purpose, and instead of doing that... you did THIS?" she screamed. "Honestly, what the bloody hell were you planning on achieving by narrating that absolutely useless piece of family trivia of yours, anyway? Drive her away FOREVER?!"

Lucius stopped dead in his tracks. "Useless? Useless?!" he ground out icily. "Firstly, it is a sodding FACT! A fact that fucking terrifies me to death every single day, because as much as I HATE the rotten situation it bloody puts me in, I also know that there's no running away from it, Rommie!" he bellowed shakily, all stance of pretend-arrogance dissipating at once. "Secondly, she hates it when I keep secrets from her, I mean, you should've seen her wailing her lungs out about not knowing this little detail of mine and —"

"— Oh, Malfoy, you exhaust me," Andromeda sighed, gracing him with her most disappointed look. "Do you realise you've ruined it entirely? You've essentially permanently closed the doors on any future scenario of you and her getting together AT ALL!" she shouted, watching him defeatedly slump into the couch next to her.

It was dark outside and the pair of them had stolen into the study at Malfoy Manor soon after dinner, while the rest of the palatial house buzzed with the sounds of people dancing to The Singing Sorceress or drinking ale in the floors above.

Lucius looked up and realised Andromeda wasn't training her features to mimic the usual hauteur of the Purebloods anymore; she actually looked downright concerned for him now, something he practically hated... Rubbing his face frustratedly, he willed the wall of hopelessness descending on his heart to go away before speaking again.

"Rommie, look... I personally believe it's for the best, really," he said, trying to sound as convincing as possible, whilst waving his wand and conjuring up a glass of the finest mead, just to keep himself distracted. "I mean, think about it... This way, I won't go stargazing into a totally non-existent future for the two of us and... she could also, well..." he said and paused, suddenly finding it hard to get any words out anymore, a sudden wave of claustrophobia crashed into him. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he loosened the bowtie and closed his eyes for a second as he reluctantly embraced the reality. "I need to let her go, Rom..." he finally said, quite unable to believe he actually said that out aloud. "Let her move on with her life, y'know..." he breathed.

Andromeda, though, didn't say anything and simply watched her friend suffer in silence.

"Look, Lucius," she started, leaning over to put her hand on his. "I know you... and I know her through you and I can say with utter certainty that she's the one... Your one..." she said, a slight smile gracing her pale, beautiful face. "The two of you are perfect for each other and... Merlin, if only you're brave enough to toss that Curse in the bin and claim what's yours for once..."

"Rom, she's all over Black again now —"

"— I love my cousin, but I love you more, Lue. And he's not right for her, you are. You'd be willing to do things no wizard would EVER do for Bella's happiness, and nobody knows that better than I do..."

"Merlin, what'd'you want me to do?"

"Just tell her!" Andromeda spat out, rendering him speechless with trepidation. "It's too big a secret to harp on for three years, don't you think?"

Lucius knew she was right, but the tightness in his chest just wouldn't go away. He didn't even know what in Merlin's name was stopping him from opening up to her, but he knew it was time... He loved her and he couldn't bear to spend another second without her in his arms. He closed his eyes, doubt and fear taking turns to mess with his head, but for just a microsecond, her face flashed through his mind, making his stomach turn over entirely... And he knew.

He wanted her. Period.

And just like that, in that very second, he decided he was going to give Love a chance; that he deserved love too and he was going to get it — no matter what.

"Alright, fine," he finally conceded. "I'll tell her," he said and Andromeda gave him a 'You-Better' nod.

But just as the two of them rose to rejoin the soirée upstairs, they heard voices outside the door coming straight towards them. Alarmed, the two of them exchanged quick glances of peril before diving behind the long the window curtains just as the doors burst opened and in strode a fuming Druella Black followed by a slightly tipsy, but content-looking Vivian Quinn-Malfoy.

"— cannot believe you invited HER of all!" Druella was screaming.

"Oh, come now, darling, I had to, it's only common courtesy," Vivian mused, sounding not in the least apologetic. "Besides, the grapevine's already ablaze with rumours that I had a falling out with Walburga ever since I found out that her stupid excuse for a son was deemed One Half of the Cursed Pair, I mean how humiliating is that?" she slurred, taking another elegant sip from her wine glass.

Druella, though, looked beside herself with rage now. "But isn't that EXACTLY what happened?" she roared back, her fists clenched into tight balls of fury now.

A dangerous eyebrow went up on Vivian's forehead, and the mood in the room changed at once. "Another word from you and I shall have you banished from my premises forever, Black..." she whispered slowly, rotating her wand suggestively between her fingers, and managing to slap Druella shut at once. "Get this in your head, Druella. You're. NOT. Special! In fact, you're not anything! I wouldn't have even dreamed of associating with you had Walburga borne daughters instead of sons..." she hissed.

Lucius gave Andromeda a quizzical, almost manic, look.

"You aren't worth my attention, not in the slightest... So if I am even tolerating you, it is out of the sheer goodness of my heart, and you shall do well to remember that!" she leered, her eyes narrowed down to mere slits now.

A guttural gasp escaped Druella's mouth as she watched Vivian taking yet another cold sip from her glass whilst gracing her with the fiercest, unblinking stare ever. "I've not thus been insulted and humiliated in my whole life," she whispered, a look of shock still etched in her features. "You've nearly equated me to a street mongrel, haven't you? Does it mean NOTHING to you that I am a BLACK?"

"Née Rosier..." Vivian scoffed. "You're a Black by marriage... Walburga, though, is a Black by birth... And what's more? She was even clever enough to marry her own second cousin, just to remain a Black... And don't get me wrong, Walburga could be a bloody cow for all I care, but family name is all that ever matters and she will always have my respect in that regard..." she said smilingly.

Druella, merely, dismissed her scornfully and rolled her eyes. "Are you forgetting that the Rosiers are at least ten levels higher up in the strata than the bloody QUINNS —"

"— Quinn-Malfoy now," Vivian corrected her. "And that is exactly why forming the right alliances in the wizarding world so bloody important..." she said, smiling gleefully. "Witches cannot slip, cannot fall for the flutterings of the heart, cannot afford to make the tiniest mistake, because in just the blink of an eye, their entire fortunes could turn for the better or for worse. Had I bowed to my heart's desires of locking hands with Aymer Flint, I'd more likely be standing in your position this very second, won't I?"

Druella simply blinked incredulously. "You're a proper piece of hagwhore, aren't you?" she muttered.

Vivian, though, simply smiled. "It's a man's world, unfortunately, my dear Drew. All a woman can do is flutter her lashes, push back her shoulders and keep her nose up in the air till she gets his attention. And if she's lucky enough, he'd agree to marry her, but that's all he'd EVER do, because the woman only wanted his name and his family magic, and once she gets that, she's got it all, hasn't she?" she leered, conjuring up another glass of wine and taking a sip from it.

Druella's expression now closely resembled of someone who'd pulled out their own eyes from their sockets, as she gaped incredulously at Vivian.

"D'you know what the world's best-kept secret is, though?" Vivian continued, smiling devilishly. "Men don't see it, in fact, they wouldn't know what hit them even if it slammed into them like a wall... But it's not about him, in fact, it was NEVER about him... It was about her all along... This face that we're gifted with," she said gesturing at her own thin face, "is our secret weapon. And this right here," she said pointing at all of her this time, "is capable of swaying even the mightiest of men! They don't even realise it, but it is us not them that steer the course of history. We manipulate family trees. And ultimately, we are the ones who determine who gets to on be top and who ought to bend the knee..."

Andromeda jerked her head towards Lucius to find him looking thoroughly confused at his mother's words. And she couldn't blame him, Vivian had simply reduced the institution of marriage down to the level of a business deal, and it did little to advocate her point that the Malfoy family curse was a mere myth...

"If you loathe me and my family status so much, why do you invite me home in the first place?" Druella rasped, her wrinkly neck quivering with emotion.

"I have my reasons," Vivian said, swaying a little in her tight, body-hugging glimmery black robes. "Firstly, because your eldest, Bellatrix has managed to get the attention of the Dark Lord himself, and I'd very much like the same for us Malfoys too, so keeping you close means, being in the first circle of the Dark Lord," she said, shrugging casually. "And secondly," she paused to stare sultrily into Druella's face, "because you have a daughter... And I have a son," she shrugged.

A mad panic coursed through Andromeda as she swung her head towards an even more stricken Lucius.

You and me? ARE THEY TRYING TO SET YOU UP WITH ME?! she mouthed wildly at him.

I DON'T KNOW! he mouthed back violently.

Druella's eyes widened. "Andromeda? But she's over six years older than your son —"

Vivian scrunched her nose in disgust. "NOT that blood traitor, no! Your youngest. Narcissa... I hear she's quite the feisty one," she said, wiggling her eyebrows knowingly at Druella.

A feeling of utmost dread sunk into Lucius as he watched his whole life get contrived by his mother in a matter of minutes.

...

The Williams's household looked like a mini Leaky Cauldron these days, with witches and wizards spreading their magic everywhere in the extremely 'Muggle' setting. Because while Isabella and Remus were obsessed with playing Wizard's Chess, littering the floors with the debris of their fallen heroes, Sirius, James, Edgar and Peter were hung up on playing miniature Quidditch all day and night, which meant Mr. and Mrs. Williams would often find tiny players zooming towards them out of nowhere, making them knock things over in complete fright. And while the quill on Claiborne's mind-reading journal scratched away incessantly on its own accord, Lily's owl, Dewy, swooped in through the windows SO OFTEN (oftentimes without warning) that it had become commonplace to hear a dramatic scream of surprise streaking through the house (mostly from Remus). But despite the chaos that wreaked in the house, it certainly did leaps to improve the sullen mood of its inhabitants after all the drama they had endured.

"D'you have to go, though?" Isabella wailed, watching Mary gloomily pack her trunk.

"It's time, Iz," Mary replied, tossing a sock in and looking up. "Mum's written ten thousand letters already asking me to come back home. Besides, I'm not needed here anymore, am I?"

"Of course you're needed, are you kidding? Alice is going to be SO MAD when she wakes up and finds out that you're not by her side in the hospital anymore —"

"— Like it matters, Izzy!" Mary shot out sulkily, but doubled back looking regretful at once. "I'm sorry. Look, she's got Frank to do everything for her now, I'm basically simply warming the chair beside her..." she said, gulping dolefully. "I'm not the most important person in her life anymore, and honestly? I feel like I'm already imposing on all their intimate family discussions... I'd really rather leave than make a complete arse of myself," she said, angrily stuffing her clothes in her travel bag and slamming it shut.

Isabella went quiet.

She had not realised that Mary was miserable and had quietly endured these feelings of abandonment all along... She had literally suffered in silence and no one knew... Isabella mentally kicked herself — because how completely caught up could she have been with her own life to not notice all these blatant cries for help?!

"Oh, Mare," she said, watching Mary's eyes fill up with angry tears now. "Mare, I'm truly sorry, I didn't know... I didn't realise Frank was putting a... Well... A strain in your friendship —"

"— Forget it, Izzy," Mary rolled her eyes before sinking into bed next to her. "I'm learning to keep my distance... Learning what my place is, what it ought to be going forward, you know? We can't be too attached to our friends now, can we? They don't 'belong' to us... The sooner we embraced that fact, the better, eh?" she said, sniffing a little and looking into Angela's room where Mrs. Williams could be seen folding the laundry and fondly watching Sirius animatedly reading a book out loud to a delighted Angela.

Isabella smiled. "I always knew you were a strong person," she said, giving her friend a little squeeze. "But, Mare, I want you to remember this," she said, looking solemnly into Mary's face, "and I've been making this proclamation a lot of late, so listen up... You're never alone. You will never be alone. If you don't have Alice, you come to one of us, PERIOD. We're all going to be there for each other no matter what. D'you understand that?" she said, raising a determined eyebrow up at her.

And in an instant a smile appeared on Mary's freckle-filled face as she fervently nodded her head. "Alright, deal," she said, taking Isabella's hand in a firm shake. "The four of us for life..."

"Four?"

"I am in no mood to forgive Alice just yet!" Mary barked back comically, sending Isabella into peals of laughter.

Still smiling, Isabella looked up and felt a sudden tug at her heart. Because inside Angela's room, she could see her mother tearfully wrapping her hands around a chuckling Sirius, as if the pair of them had only just made up after their little incident down in the living room several days ago. And finally, for just a fleeting moment, after many days, Isabella's heart felt whole again before the feeling vanished at once, when Sirius turned his evil face towards her and winked, establishing the fact that she had indeed lost the bet and had better pay up.

Violently beckoning at him, she jerked her head sideways to let him know she needed a private word, and he obliged her with the biggest grin she had seen on him in days.

Leading them downstairs into the kitchen, Isabella turned around and faced him excitedly. "So... How'd you get her to forgive you? What did she say?" she asked, squealing out the last word.

Sirius didn't reply immediately and continued to chuckle into her face. "I have so much to thank you for," he muttered randomly.

Isabella scowled in confusion. "What?" she asked, only to find him continue to smile mysteriously down at her. "She asked me to never scare her like that ever," he said, looking at her through unseeing eyes, "and that I meant the world to her, and that she needed to teach me a thing or two about not dicing with death... and that..." he paused and stared teasingly down at her, "you'd never forgive her if she punished me a second longer...?"

Blood rushed to her face at once... Surely, her mother wasn't foolish enough to tell him THAT?

"— Wh-er... I... dunno what you're talking about —" she started, determined to save face, except Sirius was howling his lungs out deliriously now. "Merlin's pants, you don't know how bets work, do you?" he asked, holding her in a fierce stare-off now. "You can't put a Galleon on a prospect that your mum would 'remain' mad at me for eternity and then go behind my back and threaten her to do the exact opposite, I mean... That's ju... That's just... counter productive and stupid...!" he guffawed.

Isabella was gagging like a fish out of breath now, broiling in mind-numbing awkwardness. "Okay, l-look," she sputtered, even as full-blown panic broke out of her hands and face in the form of steam, "My mother's a legit MENTAL PATIENT... She's mad! Honestly, she doesn't even know what she's saying half the time —"

"— and downright adorable," Sirius continued, still chuckling heartily, making her flush even more. "And thoughtful. And kind... And, oh... so bloody fucking hot!"

"WHAT?!"

Another extremely teasing laugh escaped him and Isabella stood there battling an army of butterflies in her stomach all over again. She needed to get away from him right away.

"— Look, I lost the bet, here you go...!" she said, stuffing a gold coin in his palm, "and we shall never speak of this again!" she declared and dashed out of the room leaving him clutching his stomach in uncontrollable laughter...

.

Soon after Mary left, Remus, Peter and Edgar bade their friends goodbye too over the next following days too, suddenly making the house seem quieter (and sadder) than before...

~oO Three Weeks Later...

The thousand or so protective wards that Dumbledore had insisted on administering over the Williams's household was finally becoming a major pain in the arse as owls delivering posts to the children either started dropping dead from the sky from the exhaustion of never finding their addresses or returning the package back to the senders, successfully driving everyone mad in the process.

And this little fiasco may have been the sole reason why Isabella, Lily, Claiborne, Sirius and James received their A.P.E. scores late - much, much later than the rest of their class.

And Merlin, was Isabella devastated!

Never in a million years had she expected to receive a deplorable 'Acceptable' in Herbology ever, nor had she prepared herself to see that word be repeated again and again for Charms, Transfiguration and Ancient Runes!

This was bullcrap.

BULLCRAP!

"What d'you reckon's going to happen to my Auror placement now?" she wailed, staring at her parchment in utter shock.

"Izzy, a Healer does not need an 'E' in DADA," Claiborne said, comfortingly. "Besides, you got an 'E' in Potions! Isn't that wonderful?"

Ha! Easy for her to say. She'd consistently scored an 'O' on five out seven of her subjects.

"I'm Prefect again this year," Lily sang chirpily, gleaming at the flashy badge pinned to her chest. "And I've made a list of things that I plan on doing differently this year to achieve an entirely whole new level of perfection!" she squealed, giving a distraught Isabella a big squeeze, before returning to pack her large trunk.

"And right on top of the list ought to be to give Sirius a detention for every time I run into him snogging someone in the broom closet!" ground out Isabella, as she watched Sirius and James zoom out of sight on his motorbike through her window. She hadn't been able to believe her eyes when she saw only E's and O's on both James and Sirius's score card when it arrived. And she couldn't understand just HOW they'd found the time to study whilst having just as many adventures as she had had in their fifth-year...

Claiborne, who was putting on her makeup in front of Isabella's large mirror, smirked a little and said, "You're mad if you think that's ever going to happen this year," and exchanged a questionable look with Lily who seemed to be bursting at the seams too.

"Mad to think what's ever going to happen this year?" Isabella asked distractedly, still staring at her grades to see if they had magically changed in the last two minutes.

Claiborne flashed her a surprised look. "Merlin's beard, you're as blind as a brickbat, aren't you? He can't seem to keep his eyes off of you, Izzy, wake up!" she smiled teasingly.

Isabella's head jerked up at once in alarm.

And then she blushed.

What she was glad her friends hadn't picked up on yet was that, she couldn't keep her eyes off of him too... Isabella shook off the butterflies in her stomach. She hated sticky situations and she knew this was going to be a particularly disastrous sticky one this year...

"The papers have been awfully quiet about You-Know-Who of late, hasn't it?" she said, hastily changing the subject.

"Hey... You're right, the Prophet indeed hasn't breathed a word about him in weeks," Lily said thoughtfully, whilst bending over and groping inside her backpack for the Prophet. Swiftly pulling it out, she sighed and opened it when —

BAM!

Pink rose petals EXPLODED out of the newspaper, smacking her right in the face and hurling her backwards off the chair, her red hair flaring up in the air and landing back in a messy afro!

It took her nearly half a minute to realise where she was and what had to happened to her a second ago...

And then all hell broke loose.

"JAAAAMES!" she shrieked on top of her voice, spitting out petals from her mouth before jumping up to her feet and hurtling downstairs to murder their bespectacled friend, while Isabella and Claiborne roared on the floor laughing their guts out.

"Wow, that would honestly be the funniest thing he's ever pulled under 'Operation Woo-Lily' all summer, wouldn't it?" Isabella said, still squealing in laughter.

"I don't think he knows the difference between wooing someone and setting someone's face ablaze, the poor lad!" Claiborne twittered, even as the door burst open and in came a homicidal Lily dragging a petrified James by his collar, her hair still bouncing up and down looking like a misshapen amoeba. Sirius, closely followed them looking bored and collapsed next to Isabella on the bed wearing a lazy grin.

"EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" Lily screamed, pointing at the pink mess on her corner by the window.

James, who was still held up the collar, suddenly brightened up and glanced at her with a smile oozing with love. "Why, it was just a practical representation of what happens to my heart — every time I see you," he crooned, smirking stupidly at Lily's hot face. "Now do you understand my pain, love?" he said, his face contorting into an expression that could only mean 'heavily constipated' making the rest of them erupt into laughter around them.

"James, I am warning you," Lily said in her most stern voice ever, "if this is your idea of a practical joke, I swear to Merlin, I —"

"— Yes. What?" James challenged at her at once, his arrogant smirk never wavering. "What will you do if I kept this up, eh?"

Lily's eyes widened with shock. "I will — I will — Give you detention!" she sputtered densely making him break into a wider grin.

"Ooh, I'm shaking..." James guffawed, pretending to writhe in fright. "Come on, Evans, surely I am a bigger pain in the backside than that, I deserve more than just a bloody detention!" he scoffed haughtily.

"Oh, sure. Wisecracks! Mock me, why don't you?" Lily trilled, finally wrenching her hand off his collar.

"I'm not mocking you," James replied, looking genuinely offended. "I don't mock anyone after a prank, what am I, a monster?"

"Aha! So you admit it was a prank and not just a — your usual — you know?"

James raised an eyebrow and chuckled even more mockingly. "My what?"

Abruptly, Lily's face turned crimson in colour. "You know, your usual... flustering... excruciatingly cringe-worthy... discountenencing... attempts to... GAHHHH!" she exclaimed.

"Hurts to say it?" James stifled a grin.

"Like stabbing myself in the eye."

"Ooh... savage! Who knew Miss Goody Two Shoes could bite too?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did that only hurt? I meant to maim."

"You know, I might've lost interest in you and spared you all the headache had you simply pretended to like me back five years ago!"

"How could I? I hate you on general principle."

"Oh my god, JUST KISS ALREADY!" Sirius howled from the side, making James, Isabella and Claiborne howl with laughter, leaving Lily a bubbling, spluttering mess.

"Tell you what," James said, grinning and rounding up on her. "Have one ice cream with me, and all this shall stop forever... Promise!" he stuck his tongue in his cheek triumphantly.

Lily scoffed. "I doubt if you know what any of those words mean, Potter."

"Be reasonable now, Evans. He can barely get words out of his mouth with you in such close proximity, you expect him to make sense too?!" Sirius called out and James, with lightening speed, grabbed one of Isabella's plushies off the floor and hurled it at him for teasing him so.

"Unfortunately, Black's got a point though," James guffawed, making Isabella burst into snickers.

Lily, though, seemed to have had it for the day. Shaking her head dangerously, she said, "I am serious, Potter, I'm DONE with your stupid antics — DON'T YOU DARE, BLACK!" she added before Sirius could make his lame-ass 'No, I'm Sirius' joke.

And all of a sudden, James tensed up and frowned at her, all sense of banter vanishing at once. "What's got you bent out of shape, eh?" he asked watching Lily hastily fix her hair again, while Isabella and Claiborne exchanged glances of amazement with each other.

"Nothing," Lily replied stiffly.

But obviously James wasn't buying it. He cocked his head to a side and regarded her a second longer, his dark eyes scanning her face like an X-Ray machine. "No letter from Sni — Severus — as yet? Is that what this is about?" he ventured a guess and going by the look of shock on Lily's face, he seemed to have nailed it in the head. "Evans, come on. He's a genius at Potions... I'm sure he aced the A.P.E.s..."

Sirius turned blankly to look at a dumbfounded Isabella, then at Claiborne and then back at James who held Lily in an idyllic gaze. How he guessed what Lily had been crying about over the last couple of days to her and Claiborne, Isabella would never know...

"You think so?" Lily asked looking hopeful.

"Of course! Are you kidding? You're getting worked up for nothing, honestly," James replied, giving her a reassuring pat on the back

Lily smiled at once.

"I just wish he'd written to me."

"Well, he's an idiot. And I'm proud of the fact that you didn't cave and write to him instead after what he called you the other day," James declared. "Anyway, mate you coming? I want to join the lads for a game of basketball down by the ground! It's so much better than Quidditch, isn't it?" he called out excitedly to Sirius before bounding out the room, leaving three very astounded people in his wake.

"How does he do that?" asked Claiborne watching Lily run down to the kitchen to grab the plate of crumpets that Mrs. Williams had freshly baked that morning.

"Underneath all that crap, he definitely has his moments, doesn't he?" Isabella wondered out aloud, even as Sirius pushed himself off the bed. "I hope everyone's packed for tomorrow, we don't want Lizzy throwing another fit about how 'last minute' the bunch of us are... Especially you," he said, accusatorily jabbing the side of Isabella's face before reluctantly following James out the door for a game of basketball.

"Says the Reigning King of Procasti-Land!" Isabella shot back petulantly which Sirius did not even bother to acknowledge. Looking at her nearly empty trunk, she gulped fearfully, realising how right Sirius actually was about her mother losing her shit about how unprepared for school she was.

...

Isabella slept poorly that night.

It was extremely chilly outside and yet, her body felt like a furnace, her skin burning against the blanket she lay on. She knew she had to sleep the day before they left for Hogwarts again, but no matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't shut out the thousand or so screaming voices in her head... Thrashing and kicking, she wiped the sweat off her brow and willed herself to drift off only to feel more awake than ever.

Frustrated beyond words, she let out a scream and bolted upright, her head swimming with heaviness.

She looked around and found herself sitting between Lily and Claiborne, sound asleep under their blankets. Looking up, she saw through her window, a thin ray of moonlight trailing a line of silvery snow flakes swirling about in the breeze.

And a sudden heaviness crept up in her heart as memories from long ago came crashing into her once again. Her head swam with a clang of urgency.

Without another thought she got up and drifted towards her door only to find it ajar.

Confused, she walked on in the pitch blackness of her house, her legs moving on their own accord, turning corners and thudding down flights of stairs that just didn't seem to end... On and on she went, down the spiral staircase, away from her world, her reality and into the dark hole of mysteries.

Her feet stung and bled as she climbed down stone-ridden steps, burrowing down into the depths of the earth, ducking and avoiding the thick ends of roots sticking out of the muddy walls that collapsed and closed shut behind her as she trudged on, but Isabella wasn't scared. She had been here before, but never come this far...

A streak of excitement coursed through as she realised she was finally closer to the truth than she had ever been before... She was finally here and she was going to find out! She was going to finally see what secrets the chamber under the willow tree held within its confines... To unearth the unknown, to go where no man had been...

Finally, the winding staircase came to end and her feet landed on a dusty, carpeted floor.

Looking up, she saw large French windows lining the left walls, bathing the room in bright morning light, robbing it of all its colour. A light snow fell softly around her, sending a shiver up her spine. And although not a sound was heard, she knew this place had once housed many a scream, seen several unspeakable deeds be executed, enough to earn the Curse of the Horn for eternity...

She stood staring into the depths of the sunlight, her breaths slowly, but steadily, getting shallower and shallower... Because she knew she wasn't alone; not anymore at least.

The whispers returned at once, ringing in her ears and clouding her mind entirely now. Blasphemous... they were saying, Worse than death... Daughter of love was she... A crime like no other... Worse than sin...

The whispers were steadily getting louder and harsher, until her head was exploding with screaming voices, calling out in terror.

Slamming her hands against her temple, Isabella slowly gathered up her courage and started to turn around. She wasn't going to let them stop her this time... She hadn't come this far just to go back without knowing...

Every element of her being hurt now as she swayed and rocked about in mind-numbing pain, but no power on earth was going to stop her from turning around. Finally, with a sudden burst of courage, she swung around and flicked her eyes open, and the voices stopped abruptly, plunging her into a sea of silence —

Isabella felt the wind get knocked out her as she stood there, shell-shocked and rooted to the spot, internally screaming in horror at what reached her eyes: because she was standing in a long white hall full of statues of people, frozen and locked away in time.

What was this place?

Where was she...?

And who were all these people...?

Her mind was fulminating with questions as her eyes searched through the room, looking into the blank, empty faces of the hundred or so people that she didn't recognise, caught in various glimpses of life of a time unknown. Stricken with terror, Isabella aimlessly waded through the sea of people, bumping and colliding with the statues and sending them crashing to the floor, even as tears poured out of her eyes, as she tried to discern what this place was and what time this was that she was witnessing...

Where am I? she thought, shuddering in terror and staring into the blank faces of Death Eaters looking either horrified or stricken with fear, all looking in the same direction towards the end of the hall. WHY AM I HERE? she yelled, only her wails fell into dead men's ears.

And then came the spine-chilling question: What if she got stuck here forever...?

Her insides lurched, blocking out her vision entirely as the thought of it plunged her into dark fear...

I have to get out! she thought, as she ran to the front of the hall and stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes fell on a familiar face...

PETER...?

The walls started closing in on her as continued to look into the disturbed face of a slightly older, plumper Peter Pettigrew.

What on earth was Peter doing in this godforsaken place?

Following his gaze, she turned around and saw a tall, blond man, looking ready to fall to his knees any second, his face filled with a look of compunction that made the hair on Isabella's hands stand on end...

Lucius... she muttered, blinking back at his kind face and wondering what horrors he had witnessed to look this shocked, this miserable...

There was only way to find out...

Most reluctantly, Isabella turned around and saw what everyone in the room was looking at: and her heart stopped beating.

There on the long table, lay a lifeless, slightly older, thinner and paler Isabella Williams, staring at the ceiling through sightless eyes.

Inching closer, the young Isabella closed the gap between her frozen self on the table, her mind buzzing with questions.

What on earth brought you here...? she asked softly, looking at the pitiful face of her older self.

Stretching her arm, she slipped her hand into the cold, frozen hand of herself and blinked back tears of emotions she could not understand. There was an innate sense of understanding, a longing that the cold hand held that the young Isabella could somehow fathom, as if she had already witnessed everything her older self had undergone way into the future...

And then her breath hitched in throat... Because her fingers had closed in on something that felt like a piece of parchment.

Pinching the parchment between her fingers, Isabella wrenched it out of the frozen hand and spread it out. In beautiful black ink, she saw her own neat handwriting scrawled against the paper; and the parchment carried a message...

'Keeper of the Stone
Daughter of love, sacrifice and thorn…

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
True Heir to the throne need only pray...

Seek the boy with the Jewel of Light...
Reflect on DESIRE and burn it bright…

Daughter of love, sacrifice and thorn…
What is up is now down…' she read, and watched the parchment catch fire on its own, falling away as ash onto the snow-covered floor.

She looked up...

Next thing she knew, her eyes were flying open and her body felt a thud of solid bed hitting on it, as her ears picked up Lily's voice drifting to her from afar.

"...just can't decide which of these two ribbons would match my tie, y'know?" she was saying, holding up one bright gold ribbon and another striped maroon and white ribbon into Claiborne's face, trying to get her opinion on it.

"Oh, good, you're up too! Hurry up, Izzy, your mother's come in twice asking us to get ready," Claiborne said, smiling at a groggy Isabella, who pushed herself up on her elbows now.

Isabella's head swam, as if she had been drugged. "Alright," she mumbled and tiredly got out of bed, trying to seem as normal as possible, except her mind was alight with befuddlement...

Everything from that second on was a blur to Isabella as the party of sixth-years made their way to King's Cross station amidst a hullabaloo about missing cauldrons and textbooks and finally locating them only to lose something else, making Mrs. Williams fly off the handle more than once that morning.

Isabella's senses crashed back to earth when a loud whistle resounded and she realised she was seated in a compartment with a healthy-looking Alice, Mary, Lily and Claiborne, while her mother stood tear-faced outside her window next to Angela, bidding her goodbye. Within minutes, the train had pulled out of the station and the boys had trudged in, overcrowding their little compartment at once.

An hour into the train ride, however, Isabella was starting to feel claustrophobic to be sitting around her friends laughing and cracking jokes without a care in the world while she sat there, broiling on the spot as images of her face from the dream kept flashing before her eyes.

Without thinking, Isabella pulled out her diary and quill and scribbled down whatever she remembered from the message she had seen in her dream while Lily and James started arguing about something in the background. And just as she was done writing, 'What is up is now down', two fingers appeared before her eyes and snapped loudly, making her jump out of her wits entirely.

"Merlin's beard. I nearly peed my pants, Sirius!" she cried out into the chuckling face of Sirius Black. "Well, you haven't said a word since we got on, nor do you seem to care about the fact that Lily just agreed to a most outrageous business deal with James, and it got me worried!" Sirius grinned, even as the Hogwarts Express rattled onward, speeding out into open country.

Isabella hesitated, but the look of absolute curiosity on Sirius's face made her change her mind about it; she needed to talk about this to someone right away or she'd explode!

"Come with me," she muttered, grabbing hold of his hand and surreptitiously hauled a very surprised Sirius out of the compartment, leaving him gasping in bewilderment.

"Whoa, Izzy, slow down babe! I get your urgency, but making out in the train is NOT a good idea, trust me, I've tried it before!" Sirius guffawed, making her roll her eyes long and wide at her unfortunate friend's crassness.

"Good Godric! Gross! Shut up, Sirius!" Isabella retorted over and above the sound of his voice, and despite her efforts to shut him out, she definitely did hear him say 'palpable raw sexual tension' and 'no privacy because the trolley witch is a total tattletale' and 'the seats here are just not comfortable!' and 'hot sex'.

Grinding her teeth, she finally pushed into a compartment of four first-years. "GET OUT!" she ordered, making the bunch of them look up startled out of their wits before dashing out for their lives.

Sirius's eyebrows disappeared into his hair as he watched the tiny little boys darting past them under her bossy glare. And before he could stop himself, he broke into a bewildered chuckle. "Oh my god, what was that for?" he exclaimed.

Isabella rubbed her forehead in frustration and wildly gestured at him to sit down, before throwing herself into the empty seat opposite to him.

"Izzy?" Sirius started, finally picking up on something. "Seriously, what's going on?" he repeated, leaning forward and looking downright concerned now.

It was now Isabella's turn to look up in surprise. "Wow, I can't believe you said that with a straight face and not follow it up with your stupid 'Sirius' jokes!" she exclaimed, looking mighty impressed.

Sirius grinned. "Well, how could I? You look like someone smacked your arse on your way here," he guffawed, flicking his jet black hair off his face.

And Isabella's initial wave of surprise dissipated, only to instantly get replaced by disgust. "Oh, why must you be so bloody crude, Sirius?"

"I'm crude? Izzy! YOU'RE MEAN! You just kicked out a bunch of firsties from their dorm to have a chat, what is up with that?"

"Not the time to flash your moral compass at me, Sirius! Something really weird is going on and I am positively freaked out!"

"So tell me, goddammit! I'm right here!" Sirius yelled, his demeanour hardening at once.

Isabella didn't say anything and simply showed him what she had written in her diary mere moments ago.

Sirius's eyebrows scrunched together at once. "What in the world...?" he muttered, his eyes darting through the page.

"You should hear the rest of the story," Isabella said shakily and went on to telling him everything about her dream that morning. What surprised her, though, was she could not believe how vividly she remembered every little detail of it. It freaked her a little, because, somehow, it didn't seem like a dream at all; more like a distant memory...

"A hall full of dead people?"

"No! A hall of people frozen in time!" Isabella corrected him. "From the future though, because, everyone I saw looked a lot older... Peter... Lucius... Even me," she said, recalling her own thin, sallow face, staring blankly up at her, a cry for help etched in her features... "It was terrifying, Sirius... The pain I saw in my own eyes shook me to my core..."

"Okay, enough already, it was a dream, Izzy, stop reading too much into it —"

"Read the damn message, Sirius, you think I'm ever capable of coming up with something like that? I'm no Shakespeare!"

Sirius raised his eyebrows teasingly. "Not true! You CAN too do more than just 'shake my spheres'!" Sirius added with a wiggle of his eyebrows before breaking down laughing at Isabella's exasperated expression. "I'm kidding, come on!" he chuckled, getting up and collapsing next to her this time. "What I meant to say was you've been reading that book on the Sacred Age an awful lot lately, haven't you? Couldn't this be one of those occasions where your mind simply got awfully creative and started playing tricks on you?" he asked, sounding mighty logical, much to her chagrin.

Isabella bit her lip thoughtfully. "I really want to believe you, Black..."

"Look," Sirius cut in, rounding up her, suddenly looking grim, "I can feel it too... Ever since we encountered that old witch outside your house, I've been getting doomsday vibes wherever I go as well, so I don't blame you for getting all wobbly... All said and done though, I need you to remember one thing: nothing can ever happen to you when I'm around —"

Isabella gave an exasperated sigh. "— No, Sirius, come on, that's just one of your usual pickup lines you use on your stupid conquests and I'm not falling for it..."

"— Would you shut up?" he cut in, looking deadly serious now. "Izzy, IF what you saw in your dream really was the future... IF it really did go to show that you were in grave danger, you'd have seen me there in that hall too. I would have been there... clawing my way in through the windows or blasting open Malfoy's head or something..."

Isabella mutely blinked.

"There's no way in hell that I'm not around when something bad's happening to you, Iz, believe that at least," Sirius repeated, taking her fully by surprise.

Isabella didn't know what to say, but her insides were exploding with warmth now, an odd tingling taking over her senses entirely. And in all honesty, she didn't know what she did to deserve those words from him, but she sure was blushing scarlet in her seat. It took her a second to realise Sirius was staring into her eyes too, seemingly lost...

"So! In conclusion..." he cleared his throat, distractedly darting his eyes away from her and shaking her awake, "it's a stupid dream, and you're an idiot," he scoffed unconvincingly and stood up, stretching his back as he did.

Isabella didn't say anything. Normally, if Sirius ever called her stupid, she would retort by calling him a clod or something more petulant than that... Today, however, as much as she recognised the height of his boofheadedness, she decided to let this one slide. "Thanks for setting my head straight," she said, flashing a genuine smile up at him.

"Come on, then," Sirius said, pulling her up by her hand and squeezing out of the compartment, while jerking his head at the bunch of first-years, asking them to get back in.