Transcript from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:
(I do not own it...this belongs to J.K Rowling)
"And — oh, Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?" Harry's head spun round. The curtains had been drawn back from the two beds at the end of the ward and two visitors were walking back down the aisle between the beds: a formidable-looking old witch wearing a long green dress, a moth-eaten fox fur, and a pointed hat decorated with what was unmistakably a stuffed vulture and, trailing behind her looking thoroughly depressed — Neville.
With a sudden rush of understanding, Harry realized who the people in the end beds must be. He cast around wildly for some means of distracting the others so that Neville could leave the ward unnoticed and unquestioned, but Ron had looked up at the sound of the name "Longbottom" too, and before Harry could stop him had called, "Neville!"
Neville jumped and cowered as though a bullet had narrowly missed him. "It's us, Neville!" said Ron brightly, getting to his feet. "Have you seen? Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?"
"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" said Neville's grandmother graciously, bearing down upon them all.
Neville looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but here. A dull purple flush was creeping up his plump face and he was not making eye contact with any of them.
"Ah, yes," said his grandmother, looking closely at Harry and sticking out a shrivelled, claw-like hand for him to shake. "Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks most highly of you."
"Er — thanks," said Harry, shaking hands. Neville did not look at him, but stared at his own feet, the color deepening in his face all the while.
"And you two are clearly Weasleys," Mrs. Longbottom continued, proffering her hand regally to Ron and Ginny in turn. "Yes, I know your parents — not well, of course — but fine people, fine people . . . and you must be Hermione Granger?"
Hermione looked rather startled that Mrs. Longbottom knew her name, but shook hands all the same.
"Yes, Neville's told me all about you. Helped him out of a few sticky spots, haven't you? He's a good boy," she said, casting a sternly appraising look down her rather bony nose at Neville, "but he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say. . . ." And she jerked her head in the direction of the two beds at the end of the ward, so that the stuffed vulture on her hat trembled alarmingly.
"What?" said Ron, looking amazed (Harry wanted to stamp on Ron's foot, but that sort of thing was much harder to bring off unnoticed when you were wearing jeans rather than robes). "Is that your dad down the end, Neville?"
"What's this?" said Mrs. Longbottom sharply. "Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?"
Neville took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling, and shook his head. Harry could not remember ever feeling sorrier for anyone, but he could not think of any way of helping Neville out of the situation.
"Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" said Mrs. Longbottom angrily. "You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!"
"I'm not ashamed," said Neville very faintly, still looking anywhere but at Harry and the others. Ron was now standing on tiptoe to look over at the inhabitants of the two beds.
"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it!" said Mrs. Longbottom.
25 December, 2005
"Oh, would you shut up, old woman. You're giving me a bloody headache." A voice suddenly said, making Harry and the others jump.
Just as the four teenagers were about to ask Neville, who seemed to be holding his laughter in, who had spoken, a woman with wavy raven-black hair and stormy grey eyes that were shining with suppressed humour appeared from behind a couple of closed curtains. She was wearing muggle black ripped jeans and a white t-shirt with the words 'I'm right. You're wrong. Shut up.' written on the front, tucked in the jeans, a black leather jacket and black ankle boots.
"Carina, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, respect your elders, young lady." Mrs. Longbottom reprimanded the woman, sighing loudly in exasperation. "You are a Lady of an ancient and noble house, act like it."
"Apologies, Madam Longbottom." The woman, Carina, said sarcastically in a posh accent, smirking. "I'm afraid I was raised by a psychotic old hag that had no manners."
"You were also raised by your grandfather, who taught you proper pureblood etiquette." Mrs. Longbottom said slowly, like she was speaking to a child.
" Sorry Aunt Augusta." She apologized, seriously this time, before immediately turning to the youngest Longbottom in the room. "Oh, Neville, darling. There you are. Come give me a hug." The lady that Harry thought weirdly resembled Sirius Black said, opening her arms expectantly.
"Hi, Auntie Carrie" Neville said softly, hugging the strange woman.
The other teenagers in the ward were just watching all of this unfold, looking on in curiosity.
After the two broke the rather long hug, Neville seemed to remember the presence of his friends in the room, and went to introduce them to his honorary aunt. But before he could do that, Carina noticed them first, and was subsequently shocked at what she saw.
"OH MY MERLIN!" She screamed, shocked. "You're Jamie's son. You look a lot like him." She said, pointing at a shocked Harry. "You are either a Weasley, Prewett or both." Pointing at a confused Ron. "You have to be related to Lily." Pointing at a curious Ginny. "And you look like a young Marlene, with slight differences." Pointing at an inquisitive Hermione.
The first one to talk out of the four was, as expected, Hermione. "Who do I look like?" she asked, confused.
"Marlene McKinnon. She was a Gryffindor in my brother's year. Oh, I apologize, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Carina. Carina Black."
"Black? Like Sirius Black? And who's Jamie?" Harry asked, finally getting over his shock.
"Ah, yes. That would be my younger brother. And, oh yes, Jamie is James Potter." She answered casually.
"You knew my father?" Harry asked, shocked. He didn't know there were people, other than Sirius and Remus, that were so close to his father that they called him 'Jamie'.
"Knew him? Oh no, darling. I practically took care of him while he was at Hogwarts. I practically raised all the Marauders, their friends and some other younger students I had taken a liking to when they came to Hogwarts. I had already been raising Sirius and our other siblings, so I just took the rest of the Marauders in as my little siblings subconsciously. I taught them everything I knew." She said passionately, with eyes that showed how much she loved her siblings and honorary siblings.
Before anyone could say anything else, the door to the ward opened and Remus Lupin, himself, walked in. "Ah, there you guys are. I've been looking for you."
"Hello, Remus. Didn't expect you to be here." Carina said absent-mindedly.
"C-C—Carrie?!" Remus stuttered, mouth agape in shock.
"Yes?" The aforementioned woman asked tilting her head innocently, but everyone could see a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.
"How- what? I thought you had died?" he asked, shocked. Dumbledore had told the order that she had died duelling you-know-who. They had all mourned her loss, especially the marauders who were all devastated by the loss of their older sister. And a week later James and Lily had died and Sirius was sent to Azkaban.
"Oh, Remus." She said, shaking her head and sighing sympathetically. "I didn't die, I've actually been here for the past fourteen years. It's been frustrating. I only get news from the old nurse that takes care of Alice and Frank, the doctors that rarely pass by or when Aunt Augusta and Neville visit. I only found out that Siri was sent to azkaban and had escaped by accident. But, I don't blame you for not visiting, I imagine Dumbledore told you I had died and you believed him. And to prove I'm really me, when you were a first year, because you were so bad at potions, you came to me and asked for secret tutoring lessons. You told me not to tell anyone, because you thought if your friends found out, they'd think you were lame and not be friends with you anymore." When Remus was still standing awkwardly in front of her, she sighed again and opened her arms invitingly. "Stop being an idiot and come give me a hug."
At that, he ran into her expecting arms, embracing her like his life depended on it. He was silently crying into her shoulder, releasing the pain that had built up and settled in his heart.
Carina was also emotional. Having one of her cubs in her arms after so long of not seeing any of them was surreal for her.
The teenagers in the room were surprised. They had never seen the usually calm and composed ex-professor break down like he had just done. Augusta was watching all of this unfold with a fond smile on her usually stoic face.
After Remus and Carina separated from their emotional hug and wiped their tears, Carina started explaining some very important things to the five teenager, Remus and Augusta. "Alright. We don't have much time before the nurse comes and tells you visiting time is over, so listen closely. First, Dumbledore was the one who sent me here, to get rid of me. And before any of you object to this, know that there are a lot of things you don't know about. Just don't trust him blindly. Remus, there are a few things I need you to do for me." When she had blamed Dumbledore for her incarceration, Remus, Harry and Ron had started to protest until she told them to listen first.
Harry and Ron stopped their protests when they saw Hermione and Ginny hadn't joined and were listening to the older Black with thoughtful expressions on their faces. Remus, on the other hand, listened to her because he knew Carina Black always had an explanation to any request she had, and nodded obediently when she said she needed something from him.
"I need you to get Sirius, the Weasley children, Hermione, Harry and yourself to Gringotts, get magical inheritance tests and purges. I also need you to get my younger brother here. I need to talk to him and explain a few things to you both. Hermione," The girl jumped, not expecting she would be addressed, but nodded for the older woman to continue. "The library in Grimauld place is divided in a certain way. The bookshelves are divided by subject, there is a bookshelf that is full of books about the British and French wizarding worlds' cultures and traditions. Pull out the book with the title 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard', you'll find something interesting. Oh and have the Marauders Map with you, it'll help." Even though Hermione was confused by the vague order, she nodded obediently anyway, curious about what she might find.
"Ok, we have five minutes left and there is one last thing I need to ask." At their nods, Carina continued. "Why the bloody Hell are you guys at St. Mungo's anyway?" she asked exasperatedly, pointing at the five that weren't in the ward for Alice and Frank Longbottom.
"Oh, Arthur was attacked two days ago and we were here to visit him." Remus answered simply.
"Arthur? Arthur Weasley? One of my closest friends, Arthur? That Arthur?" She asked, surprised.
"Yes, that Arthur, Carrie." Remus said, rolling his eyes at her dramatics. Before Ron or Ginny could ask how she knew their father, they were interrupted by a nurse coming in. "I'm afraid visiting time is over for today." She informed them kindly.
"Of course, we'll see you soon, Carrie." Augusta said as she hugged the young women, then went to hug her son and daughter-in-law goodbye.
"Bye, Auntie Carrie." Neville said sadly.
"Bye, darling." She said, hugging the younger boy. After releasing him, and he went to say goodbye to his parents, Carina stepped forward to hug Remus goodbye. As he went to pull away, she pulled him closer and whispered in his ear. "Go to Gringotts as soon as possible, tell no one of what I told you today except Sirius. Get him here as soon as possible. Make sure the teenagers don't say anything to anyone, and don't leave them alone with Dumbledore or Molly. Listen to me closely Remus, trust no one except the people in this ward and Sirius. I mean it." At his nod, she let him go and went to say goodbye to the four confused teenagers.
As she came close to them, she leaned in and whispered three words that had them on guard. "Trust No One." Loudly she said "It was really nice to meet friends of Neville's. I hope to see you again."
Hermione was the first to get the message, 'stay cautious, play along.', and answered accordingly "It was nice to meet you as well, we'll try to visit again before we go back to school." The others also caught on and nodded along.
"I'll be waiting."
As they left the ward, they all knew that their lives would not be the same again. And they all had things that they needed to do.
Hermione was going to the library in Grimauld place and doing what Carina Black asked of her.
Harry was going to tell Sirius and ask him about his siblings, especially Carina Black.
Ron and Ginny both thought the same thing, they needed to talk to their older siblings, but their parents weren't going to be informed of anything that happened with Carina Black.
Remus was already thinking of ways to sneak the teenagers and Sirius out of Grimauld Place without anyone asking questions.
Augusta and Neville Longbottom knew that everything, from this moment forward, was going to change.
In the Janus Thickey Ward
"That was bloody painful. Having to pretend to be mentally unstable, when we're obviously not." A male voice said, sighing dramatically.
"Oh, stop being such a drama queen Longbottom, it wasn't that bad." A female voice answered, sounding exasperated.
"But, you have to admit that the moment was awful, right?" another female voice asked.
"Yeah, it was painful being so vague with my answers. I wished I could explain everything, but I couldn't." The first female voice replied. Then they turned to a man who had just appeared out of nowhere. "Peter, report."
"I have two out of five of the objects you asked for." A voice, Peter, said covertly, knowing the people in the room understood what he was talking about.
"That's great. Good work, Peter." The first female voice complimented. "How is he mentally?" She then asked, concerned.
"To be honest, not so great. He's been torturing people in the outer circles and some people in the inner circle." Peter said, wincing as he remembered being tortured himself.
"Oh, god. He's gone completely insane." The first male voice said, groaning in annoyance.
"Yeah..." the second female voice sighed."Setting that aside, we need to plan how we are going to go about helping from here."