"So... what uh... what actually happened yesterday?" Lily asked tentatively, shooting glances over to Bess, who was sitting cross legged on an armchair, her head propped up on her hand, her eyes closed.
They'd gathered in the living room for their game of exploding snap, and were all lounging around on the armchairs and sofas just like they did in Hogwarts. Halfway through the game Bess had zoned out, feeling her energy wane, her excitement levels fall. Her aches and pains had begun to come back, and she was finding it incredibly hard to stay awake. She'd waved off Sirius when he'd asked if she was okay, and blamed it on eating too much - she didn't want him to worry. But if she was going to have a conversation with everyone about the skirmish the previous day, she needed some magical help.
She opened her eyes, rolled her head around and stretched. "Do we have any painkillers or an energy potion of anything?"
Sirius' eyes widened comically and Bess tried not to smile at his concern as he moved from the sofa to sit on the arm of her chair.
"It's okay, love," he said as he kissed Bess on the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "You don't need to share anything with us if it's going to make your head hurt, okay? We'll just tell you what we know and-"
"Pup!" Bess said with an adoring smile as she held his hand. "It's fine. My head and body hurts because I had a vision two nights ago, and was in a fight yesterday. Don't panic!"
"I thought you said nowhere hurt?" he asked, his brow furrowing deeply.
"I did. Because it didn't," Bess said, rubbing her side which ached. "Not much, anyway. I just think the potion Moody gave me has worn off. Must've been a strong one, it only hit me during breakfast."
"Lunch," Lily called, sitting forwards in her seat with her finger in the air. "What?" she asked James, who had his eyebrow raised.
"Nothing. Just interesting... I never realised how particular you were about mealtimes," James replied. "Is it an Evans thing or a Lily thing?"
"Both I guess. Meals help to break up the day," Lily said, shrugging.
At the exact same time, Bess said, "Meals break up the day!" in a perfect imitation of Lily, who went bright red when she realised Bess was messing with her.
"Well they do!" Lily said, pouting and crossing her arms as she sat back on the sofa in a huff. James leant in to kiss Lily on the forehead, whispering something to her which made her look down and blush even more.
"What did Moody give her?" Sirius asked, looking over at Remus.
The sandy haired boy was averting his gaze from Lily and James who were sat on the sofa opposite him, and he was instead trying to read the miniscule writing on the front of the t-shirt Sirius had finally put on. His gaze lifted to Sirius' and he frowned and said, "Don't know... I didn't get a good look. What colour was it?"
"Green," Sirius replied instantly, and Bess joined Remus in wiggling her nose in disgust.
"Ugh. Yeah, that's a longer lasting one," Remus answered. "Not as potent as a pink one. Probably so you'd be safe to fly, but yeah."
"Which makes sense since it's been what? Twelve hours since I took it?" Bess asked, trying to count in her head. "No, thirteen? When were we at the park?"
"Doesn't matter, love," Sirius replied quickly. "We just need to get you another one. Bare with." He called the last as he walked back towards their bedroom.
James and Remus started another game of Exploding Snap while he was gone and Bess took the opportunity to rub her forehead and think through her vision and what it meant again. She wasn't sure how much she should tell them, considering she was going to be sharing the vision with Sirius and Dumbledore within the week.
"He's not coming back is he?" Lily asked, staring over to the hallway Sirius had disappeared into.
"Would you? He's probably glad of a break from the crazy world travelling girlfriend, werewolf, flower girl and a deer with an antler complex..." Bess said with a groan, indicating each of them in turn.
"I. Am. A. Stag." James replied in an annoyed voice, and Bess grinned, knowing she'd hit her mark.
"Deersaywhat?" she asked.
"What?" James replied, and Bess joined Remus and Lily in laughing. "What?" he asked again, clearly annoyed, as they continued to laugh.
"Ow ow ow!" Bess moaned, clutching her side and her head in her hands. "Ow. Okay, really need that potion now, pup!" she half-shouted towards the bedroom.
"I did think you were doing better than at Christmas," Lily said, walking over. She sat on the arm of Bess' chair and began to gently massage Bess' shoulders.
"Thanks," Bess said, smiling slightly at Lily, her face still twisted into a grimace. "I'm definitely going to have a hard few days now though. Just hope I can pretend in front of Peter."
"Do you want me to get Dad to bring round something to help?" James asked, glancing over to the fireplace.
"No, that's okay. Thank you though," Bess replied, closing her eyes. "I'll just pretend I'm not feeling well or something. I'll work it out." She didn't want to disturb Euphemia and Fleamont yet - they'd be over for Sunday dinner next week anyway.
It took another minute for Sirius to come back, three potions in hand. "Sorry, took me a bit to find the right ones. The problem with this place is it rearranges things at night. Apparently Uncle Alph liked to keep potions in his sock drawer. Ridiculous."
"Ooh, a choice?" Bess asked, looking at the three bottles filled with blue and gold liquids.
"No," Sirius replied. "Pain potion, energy potion, and this one... is opened?"
He handed two vials to Bess and chucked the third over to James who gasped and exclaimed, "Elizabeth!"
"What?" Bess asked, eyes widening.
"This Felix Felicis has been opened young lady! And..." James stared at the contents of the bottle. "Yes! Three hours worth has gone!"
Bess smiled and rolled her eyes. She downed the liquids and thanked Sirius before replying to James. "No, about one hour is gone."
"What'd you use it for, love?" Sirius asked, pulling Bess up and sitting in her seat. He sent Bess a grin when she protested and pulled her down to sit on his lap.
"I'll just go then," Lily muttered, walking back over to James.
"I used it a couple of times back when Sirius and I were... broken up." She whispered the last few words.
"Wait... the time when you thought you were broken up, or the time when you were pretending?" Remus asked.
Bess could have laughed at his straight to the point delivery, but she felt Sirius tense beside her and saw his jaw clench. He refused to meet her eye.
"Uh... the first time. I ended up cutting in a fringe and then agreeing to go to a Slug Club dinner..." she said with a grimace.
"Which you never turned up to..." Lily added and Bess made a face. "I don't think you'll get an invite to this year's Christmas party..."
Remus held out a hand for the Felix Felicis, which James chucked unceremoniously at him. He just about caught the vial and glared at the black haired boy.
"You're the worst. You know the moon's this week," Remus said, sitting back with a groan as he looked at the potion.
"Yeah, and when the moon's this week, Moony's weak," James said, grinning when Sirius laughed at his stupid joke.
"Shut up. Bess, d'you think this could help with..." Remus asked, trailing off when everyone fell silent.
Bess smiled at him and snuggled further into Sirius' embrace. "No. Already asked Dumbledore, and he pointed out that I'd always have to have the vial on me, and if they took my bag, where would I keep it?"
James wiggled his nose. "Your charm?" he asked, pointing to Bess' necklace.
"Maybe... Yeah, that's not a bad shout actually..." Bess said with a smile which turned into a grin when she saw the look of pride in James' face that she hadn't shot down his idea. She wanted to give them something, even though she knew there was no space in her charm - she already had the vial of a single phoenix tear and the portkey Sirius had made. She also knew in her heart that she wouldn't be keeping the Felix on her - in her mind, one hour remained for her, and the rest was James'. She still believed he deserved the potion. "But it's fine anyway, I'll just stay inside for now, especially with the moon on Friday. No offense, Remmy."
"Remmy?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.
Bess schooled her features and tilted her head, pouting and widening her eyes at Remus. "I might die soon..."
"Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. If I ever question why you're with Sirius I'll remember this moment. The emotional manipulation!" Remus shouted in a mock-shocked voice as everyone laughed.
"Okay," Bess said finally finishing her laughter. Over the next half an hour she told them the blow by blow account of what had happened to her and Moody, and by the time she'd finished, everyone was on the edge of their seats, with a mixture of horror, awe, and worry on their faces. "And then we met up."
"Bloody hell," James said, blowing out a long breath. "Can't believe Moody just walked you into the middle of an ambush by accident..."
"What?" Bess asked, rearranging herself on Sirius' lap. "I thought they were there for me?"
"The issue, love, is that they never seem to be there for you. You're probably the most important person in this war and they have no idea you exist yet," Sirius chuckled.
"Delbert does..." Bess whispered, frowning at the table.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter and shook his head. "And who's he going to tell unless he catches you? Don't think Voldemort's going to be too happy with him if he comes in and says he has an unconfirmed report that if someone tortured you enough you'd bring Daphne back from another world, would he? Even Dumbledore didn't believe you at first. Only whack jobs, no offence to Ma, would've heard you out enough to believe you."
"Yeah, but what if he's right? What if... what if he's the reason why I end up running from Greyback? What if-" Bess asked.
"Bess, love, don't. Okay? Just... let me believe nothing's going to happen? Give me that at least?" Sirius asked, the smile falling from his face.
"Sorry. Yes," Bess said, nodding slowly. "No, you're right. No you're really, really right. We don't even know if Delbert's even alive at this point. I mean, no one's heard from him since he went on the run... no sightings... nothing really... Okay... little bit of hope restored."
"Good. Now... Moony? You were at Headquarters. D'you know what happened next?" Sirius asked, his arms tightening around Bess. He whispered to her, "He probably knows the same as us but-"
Bess stopped him with a kiss and nodded down at him as she pulled away. It was lovely of Sirius to put the onus on Remus for this - he'd felt so left out and discriminated against when Margot had refused to let him come on the search for her.
"Okay, so after you guys left," Remus began.
"Wait! I don't even know how you were called there! Start from the beginning!" Bess heckled, and James and Remus chuckled. She grinned and wrapped her arm around Sirius' neck, settling in for 'story time'. "I want to know how parents are... what houses are like... everything. I'm stuck in this flat now so get used to giving all the detail. I'm living vicariously through you all, and you don't have to like it, you just have to describe it."
And that was how Bess found out that Moody really had accidentally stumbled across a skirmish with no prior knowledge of the attack. As Remus described it, Death Eaters and some unfortunate witches and wizards who were under the Imperius curse were in the area to intimidate Muggles and cause mass panic during a co-ordinated attack to kidnap two prominent Muggle-sympathising celebrities.
Moody being in the area had brought backup from Aurors far quicker than the Death Eaters had expected, and the ensuing battle had led to the de-masking of five high-ranking, and the arrests of three lower ranking (and therefore not-masked), cronies. Bess declined the opportunity to read the press around the event. It all felt too soon to see photos and hear testimonies.
As it turned out, Alice Longbottom had been leading the Auror taskforce which followed two more Death Eaters back to their residences, and that was why Bess hadn't met her yet. From the obvious woman-crush that Lily had on her, Bess really couldn't wait now - she sounded fantastic.
"It was so odd though," Lily said, frowning and interrupting Remus, who had just begun to explain how they'd been called to the Headquarters and arrived to find a chaotic scene. "Because Margot just wasn't interested in going out at all until Moody said it was to find you. Then she couldn't wait to go... Do you know her?"
"What? No... never met her before our argument..." Bess replied.
"Weird..."
"But she didn't want Remus to come look for me?" Bess asked, her frown deepening.
"Oh no, she didn't want anyone to," Lily replied. "Like, if she'd had her way, only Fabian, Gideon and Moody would have gone."
"But that was never happening," Sirius said, pulling Bess closer again. "Straight away Moody turned up without you asking for backup we were going no matter what. I don't trust anyone outside of this room to help find my girl."
Bess grinned down at him and wiggled her eyebrows as she asked, "Not even Peter?"
"Pfft! Worm'd get all distracted and accidentally misplace you. I asked him to keep an eye on you the last night of term and he left you when you got to the library!" Sirius scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"That was probably for the best. Don't think Reg-" she stopped herself and pursed her lips. When she saw the look on Sirius' face she slapped her palm to her forehead and mumbled, "please pretend I didn't say anything...?"
"What? Reg?" Sirius asked, his eyes widening in horror and surprise as he sat up straight, ducking his head and pulling Bess' hand from her forehead so that he could stare into her eyes. "Bess, love? You don't mean Regulus, right? Tell me you don't mean Regulus was in the library."
"It was nothing," she sighed, trying to avert her gaze.
"Nothing? Nothing?! Bess! He's my brother. And he talked to you and then you had a vision! That's not nothing!" Sirius cried.
"I talked to you and had a vision," Bess argued. "It's not down to the person, it's-"
"Down to the feelings and memories they invoke," he said through clenched teeth. "And the feelings he invoked were great enough to produce a vision so important that Dumbledore wants to see it! Why didn't you tell me you saw him?"
Bess raised her hands to the air and let them drop to her lap. She threw her head back and groaned loudly before looking down at him once more. "What would it have done? What would it have helped? It doesn't matter anyway. He just told me to stay away from you again."
Sirius frowned. "Why? He thinks we're not-"
"No, Sirius. He knows we are. He's not stupid. Like you said, he's your brother," she said, rolling her eyes. "It just so happens that he uses his intelligence to be the perfect Pure-blooded blood purist arsehole son and you use yours to hang Peter up from the rafters and make his trousers change colours."
Sirius was silent for a few moments while he glared at the coffee table in front of them. Bess was about to ask Remus, James and Lily - who all looked mortified - to continue, when Sirius sighed and whispered, "It wasn't the rafters."
"What?"
"It was the astronomy tower. Hanging Peter from the rafters is second year level," he whispered with a hint of a smile.
"One of these days you're going to drop him again but he's going to get really injured," Lily called across the room, glaring at James who was trying not to laugh. "And don't think you're getting away with this either. You're meant to be the smart one! You're a prefect! Keep them in line or they could really hurt him!" she added, turning her glare on Remus who had been shaking with laughter, his hand over his mouth.
"Oh please!" Sirius said, rolling his eyes, his anger and upset momentarily forgotten. "The only thing that would make us drop him would be a momentary lapse in concentration. Merlin, I bet I could levitate the Giant Squid if I could find it."
"Nah mate, that's way too heavy. Don't think anyone's magic could stand that," James replied, chuckling.
"Uh- mine could. I bet you ten galleons I could levitate something..." he motioned vaguely in the air. "I dunno... let's say... yeah. I bet I could levitate something that weighed half a ton."
Bess never did find out the rest of the story of what happened when Margot insisted she Remus stay behind at Headquarters, as James used Sirius' words as a challenge, and the two boys decided to find out what the biggest thing Uncle Alphard had left behind, and see if they could levitate it. So with a quick peck on their girlfriend's cheeks, the duo ran over to the hallway which led to the study and downstairs.
Lily and Remus sighed and stood, walking slowly after them, while Bess began to walk back towards her bedroom.
"You're not coming?" Lily asked, stopping in the middle of the kitchen, a worried expression on her face.
"No. I'm okay, just tired. I'll see you all in a bit," Bess replied, walking backwards to shoot them a reassuring smile.
xXx
Three hours later, refreshed from her nap, Bess sat on her bed, her golden notebook resting on her thighs.
With Peter set to join them for the week, and with her mind clear for the first time in a while, she'd decided to try and update everything within the notebook. She'd gone through it twice now, recapping the information she'd written and making sure that Peter's name was hidden from everyone apart from Dumbledore. Something about what Sirius had said - that Peter had left to go to the feast when he was meant to be in his rat form making sure she was okay - hadn't sat right with her. She wondered if he'd left because he'd seen Regulus approaching, and not because he was hungry.
With him arriving the next day, she needed to get her ducks in a row.
She silently thanked the magic woven into the notebook for the control over what information she could and couldn't let people read - she definitely wouldn't have been able to cast such intricate magic herself, and was glad that the notebook had only cost her fifty galleons, and not much more.
She turned to the page she'd written back in the October half term - My reasons for fighting: which currently only had Sirius' name on it, and added:
Lily Evans, James, Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, Remus Lupin, Jasper Serpen, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Alastor Moody, Benji Fenwick, Dorcas Meadowes, and Frank and Alice Longbottom to her list. She didn't know the last few people well and hadn't even met Alice, but she knew they all deserved better. And she felt awful for those who she couldn't remember.
She watched the ink as it dried into the page, and then flicked through the page titled Horcruxes and locations. Here, she crossed out the entire page and wrote the title on another blank page. She ripped out the original, which was covered in corrections, and set it alight, watching until it had burnt completely away.
Then she wrote Horcruxes and Locations (complete): on the new page and confirmed the list as:
Diadem - with Dumbledore - found
Cup - Lestrange Family Vault as of (?) S.B to confirm date - not found
Ring - Gaunt Family Shack - Little Hangleton - not found
Diary - Malfoy Manor library as of August 20th 1978, hidden in 'Creatures of Britain and Their Habitats' - not found
She then turned to the pages at the back of her diary. She pulled out four pages of parchment and began to write letters to Sirius and to Lily. When she finished these, she placed them into separate envelopes which she adorned with their names in looping writing. Using a simple sticking charm to place them at the back of her notebook, she closed it and sealed it shut, muttering 'Mischief Managed' to clear the writing from view - she'd been lucky that her invisible ink had the option of a password to reveal its writing. She wondered if it was the same concept as the magic used to make the Marauders' map.
Sighing deeply again, she flipped the book over in her hands a few times, staring at the door which led out into the hall.
She gave herself a moment before placing the book back into her bedside table and exiting the room, heading off in search of her friends.
It was only when she retraced her steps to the study that she realised she had no idea where the stairs to the lower level of the flat were.
There was no obvious opening, only a set of six doors which she began to open one by one.
One led to the study, but she knew that already and so walked straight past it. The next one led to a loo (according to the sign on the door which looked like a giant sitting on a large porcelain throne, reading a newspaper) but this one was locked. The next opened to a rather beautiful room which contained... a tree?
Nothing else that Bess could see, just a lone tree. It was bare and sparse, and Bess felt sorry for it... the need to go towards it... to comfort it... to care for it. To...
Well, she didn't know anymore. As she stared at it more she felt her mind cleared of all worries, the tree invading and taking over her thoughts.
She took a step towards it and felt something on her foot. It was like water, rising around her ankle, trickling up her leg. But she didn't mind. She wanted to get to the tree. So she raised her other foot to step completely into the room.
That's when she felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around her waist. She protested and pushed forwards more, but the pair were joined by another, and then another. They were pulling her backwards with urgency now - two arms around her waist, two around her hips, both pulling her so that she was almost lying in the air, and someone was trying to remove her leg from the water.
Still, she protested. Why couldn't they see that the most amazing thing was right in front of her?
And that's when she saw it. Her eyes widened as the tree, which she'd thought was bare and helpless, began to twist and move, its branches reaching out to her. She raised an arm as if reaching back, but that was forced to her side suddenly and she could suddenly smell the most amazing scent - a mixture of cologne and chocolate. Sirius. She smiled and her concentration on the tree waned for a split second, letting her hear the commotion around her.
When she looked back, the tree was even larger, more imposing. It might have been the shouting right in her ear, or the pulling, or the now terrifying tree, Bess didn't know, but something switched and she was scared. She wanted to leave.
The instant she thought that, her leg was released and she fell backwards on top of two large things.
No, not things... young men! The door slammed shut and she continued to lie on top of Sirius and James, who were panting from exertion. She turned her head to see Remus leaning against the wall, gasping for breath, his hand to his forehead.
"Where's Lily?" she whispered.
James replied, still out of breath, "Toilet."
"And here I was thinking you were joking when you said the flat was trying to kill us," she said, staring up at the ceiling.
xXx
Thank you everyone reading, following, favouriting, with a massive thank you thank you to everyone reviewing - themugglepadme24 - (hope they all went well!), Ghost Claw 001, BlueHairedRaven, AvalonRivers and CharlotteGryffindor! Your words really kept me writing this time!