"Next day, Draco had let Death Eaters infiltrate Hogwarts through the Vanishing cabinet, and Dumbledore was killed." Athena said, her head falling on Lily's shoulder. "Me and Andy decided against going to Hogwarts, because Snape had become the headmaster. We met Harry, Ron and Hermione at Bill and Fleur's wedding, and while we were finally getting some peace, Kingsley's Patronus destroyed it." She chuckled humorlessly.
"Rufus Scrimgeour was dead. Death Eaters infiltrated the Ministry. And were searching for Harry like mad." Andrea said. "We all met at Grimmauld Place, where Hermione had found out who R.A.B was. Harry coerced Kreacher to tell about Regulus, and Kreacher admitted that Regulus stole Slytherin's locket, but Mundungus Fletcher stole it and sold it to Dolores Umbridge." The name made Athena groan in despair.
"Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the Ministry to get the locket from Umbridge. And when they escaped, me and Thena decided to go to Leonhart Mansion and not return to Hogwarts. We told Elizabeth, and she agreed. We kept talking to the three via our enchanted Diary, and got to know that they were caught in Malfoy Manor, but Draco helped them escape." Andrea turned to Athena.
"And that's when we found a mouled body in our yard two weeks later." Athena said. "His whole body had claw marks. As if a beast attacked him. His platinum blonde hairs were soaked in blood, and his gray eyes were empty. We don't know what happened to Mr and Mrs Malfoy." Athena said.
"It was very disturbing for us. Especially Athena. 1 July, 1998. I still remember that day. We were sitting, and Death Eaters attacked us, leading us running away to Hogwarts and joining the rest of the Order there. It was bad, really bad. Fred; one of the sons of Molly and Arthur Weasley, died due to an explosion. Antonin killed Remus and while Tonks was weeping, Bellatrix killed her. They were merciless." Andrea sniffed.
"Voldemort asked Harry to come and meet him, to which that self sacrificing Dork went. I don't know what happened there, but all I remember is that his emerald eyes were not shining when he returned in Hagrid's arms." Athena started crying at the end.
"We knew we wanted revenge. For Harry, for Remus, Tonks, Moody, Sirius and EVERYONE who died due to that noseless fucker!" Athena swore loudly in the end. "We fought valiantly, we were ready to die for the greater good. But here we are." Andrea smiled sadly. "And now, we know that we are doing the right thing." She added with determination.
"We can't show you the memories. I don't think that we will be able to see that again." Andrea's voice broke in the end and she wiped the tear which escaped her eye.
No one was able to say anything. The silence was deafening. Lily and James were holding onto each other, let's say James was holding a hysterically crying Lily, who had Athena's head on shoulder. Alice and Frank were quiet, not knowing what their fate was. Fabian and Gideon knew they had died at that time. Sirius and Remus were too shocked to say anything. McGonagall felt as if she lost her voice listening about the destruction of her home Hogwarts.
"What should we do?" Sirius asked.
"All we want is to finish Voldemort off. I don't care if I die doing that. I never did." Athena said stubbornly, and for once she sounded like a Gryffindor rather than Slytherin.
"And to finish him, we need to find the Horcruxes." Andrea rose from her position.
"Alright then." Dumbledore's voice seeped through the tense atmosphere. "As per the both girls' say, we got hints about some Horcruxes. First, we need to speak to Regulus Black. I will go and search Gaunt's Ring, and I am also going to contact Alastor Moody. He may know how to destroy the horcrux." Dumbledore said and turned to go.
"Basilisk Fang!" Andrea suddenly said and they all turned to her. "Harry destroyed Riddle's Diary with Basilisk Fang." She told them.
"Who told you that?" Athena raised an eyebrow.
"Hermione. When Ron was not talking to her because Crookshanks tried eating Pettigrew." Andrea said.
"I know someone who can arrange Basilisk Fang for me." Dumbledore said.
"Andy, me and Sirius will go and meet Regulus. I have a plan." Athena said.
"So tomorrow, we will execute the collection of Horcruxes. I wish you all a very good night.." Dumbledore declared, and he and McGonagall apparated away.
"All I want now is to sleep." Athena plopped down on the couch face first. Lily laughed at it and tried pulling her up but she wouldn't budge.
"Okay so I think we should take our leave too." Gideon nodded his head towards Kingley and Fabian. "Good night guys." He greeted and Kingsley and Fabian echoing his greetings before they whisked away.
.
"Sirius? Can you pass me the water?" Andrea asked.
"Sure." Sirius replied and passed her the water.
Since it was late, Lily and James insisted on having Alice, Frank, Sirius and Remus for the dinner. Andrea and Athena got the two extra rooms, and they helped Lily make food because when James tried to do so, he almost blew up the Kitchen.
"Who were your parents, Andrea?" Alice asked. "As far as I know, there is no family named 'Archembeau' in London." She said,
"Our mum was from London. She taught Transfiguration at Mahoutokoro Academy in Japan before she met my dad and they hit it off. She studied at Hogwarts." Andrea told them.
"What was her name?" Remus asked.
"Virginia Leonhart." Andrea said and Sirius jumped up in alarm.
"Virginia Leonhart!?" He screeched. "You mean the youngest daughter of the Leonhart Family? Sister of Dylan Leonhart!?" His voice rose in shock.
"Yeah." Athena said simply. "When our cousin Elizabeth Leonhart joined Hogwarts, she was in her seventh year, and a hufflepuff. She is not much older than Lizzie, maybe seven or 8, because she was born a long time after her parents' other kids mysteriously died. She was the youngest of her three elder brothers." She told them.
"After teaching, she met our father, Robert Lorcan Archembeau in a Gala at Rome. They later got married and had us." Andrea said.
"Elizabeth Leonhart," Remus tapped his chin in concentration, his mind wheeling. "Lils? Isn't she that Ravenclaw Prefect?" He asked Lily who smiled.
"Yes. We hung out usually. She helped everyone with studies. But I think she is handling the Leonhart Mansion now since her parents died in our 5thYear." Lily shrugged.
"She won't join us. She dislikes Dumbledore." James said, snooping up some ice cream from Frank's uneaten one, resulting in a small and accusing 'Hey!' out of him.
Athena snorted. "You won't believe it, but our grandmother Gabriella despises him. Most of the elites out of Great Britain dislike him." She said while munching her food. Andrea made a face.
"At least eat nicely!" She chided at her.
"But why? He did nothing bad! He fought Grindelwald, and now he is fighting Voldemort." Sirius immediately got defensive.
Andrea shook her head. "Britain really lives in the medieval era. Those who are considered as blood traitors defy their traditions and neglect their history." She said before looking up. "Dumbledore had a history with Grindelwald." She said,
"A romantic one." Athena's voice turned serious as everyone heard intently. "Why do you think Slytherins hates Dumbledore? Because they know that he got blood under those white robe covered hands. Why do you think we learn Occlumency? So that NO ONE should read our minds. Most of the pureblood family know the history of Dumbledore and Grindelwald. He was scared of facing the latter and during that period, Grindelwald created havoc in the wizarding world." Athena said.
"Which Dumbledore tried to do the moment we woke up." Andrea said. "Since our Occlumency shields are strong, we never showed him what he wanted to see." She added.
"He uses people for his own motto. Otherwise instead of Sirius, there should have been Pettigrew in Azkaban all those years. He used Severus Snape who fucking told the prophecy of Voldemort's death to Voldemort himself. And then Pettigrew ratted the Potters out." Andrea scrunched her nose. "Ironically, he IS a rat."
"So you say we should be careful of Dumbledore?" Frank asked gulping.
"It's up to you buddy." Athena said. "Look, you guys trust that old man a lot. Not that I say you should not, you should. But at times like this, you should be careful. Even of us. You don't really know us." Athena said. "Not that we will 'rat' you guys. We are loyal." She laughed.
"In the span of 22 hours, I am exhausted by the information I am receiving." Lily mumbled.
"Can we not talk about blood and gore?" Alice said and turned the topic. "Tell me something funny." She said turning to the twin girls.
"About what?" Andrea gulped. "How Harry roasted Snape or—" She was cut off by a devilishly grinning Athena. "— or when Neville aka your son turned a Boggart into Snape wearing your mother-in-law's hideous clothes?" She grinned. "We have plenty of stories up our sleeves." She giggled.
"Turned Snivellus into what?" Sirius widened his food covered mouth and Alice smacked the back of his head. "Eat your food nicely Sirius!" She chided at him.
"It was the very first class of Professor Lupin and we were learning how to fight Boggarts. Snape was a bully teacher and he tormented Neville, I don't know why. Neville's boggart was him. But Professor Lupin, who was irked by Snape's treatment towards Neville, asked him to imagine Snape in Madame Longbottom's dress, and use the Riddikulus spell. The effect was a sight to watch." Andrea chuckled and Athena laughed.
"I could NEVER forget Snape's face the very next day." She managed to say between her laughs. "And this happened later on. Snape was teaching us some spells. He attacked Harry and Harry blasted him off with a very powerful and non-verbal Shield Charm. And then Snape went—" She morphed into Severus Snape. 'You should have told me that you were practicing non verbal spells.' She drawled out, perfectly copying Snape's sneering.
Then she morphed into Harry. 'Yes.' She said nonchalantly and Morphed back into Snape.
'Yes sir.' Snape's eyebrow rose and then morphing into Harry, she politely said.
'You don't have to call me sir, Professor.'
James, Sirius and Frank burst out laughing, Remus and Alice started giggling and Lily tried to shush them, even if she was smiling. Athena took her seat beside Andrea grinning.
"Snappy was an asshole." Athena swore.
"You know, you are too mouthful for an elite." Remus pointed out, visibly astonished.
"We elites are only high in position, but in the end, we all are humans. Our father never taught us the supremacist pureblood ideals. You won't believe but we Archembeaus have a history with relationships between Muggles, Muggleborns, Halfbloods, etc. God gave Magic to those who deserve and are special in their eyes. So I don't really understand this pureblood agenda." Athena shrugged.
"Remus, you won't believe but there IS a whole Werewolf team in HWA. They are called the Lycan Squad." Andrea perked up in her seat. "Our uncle- aka the younger brother of my father, Richter Archembeau is head of the Hit Witch/Wizard Association. He told us about the Lycan Squad, Battle Mages and what not!" She exclaimed like a child looking at Remus whose mouth and eyes were wide.
"I— Wow.." He mused. "I never heard about that.." He said.
"That's because Great Britain is old. Medieval Era. They need to go with the muggle world or else problems will arise." Andrea said.
"You did pranks?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrow.
"Hell lot!" Andrea and Athena sighed in nostalgia. "Athena once bombed Snape's office, morphing into someone else but was never caught. She loved breaking rules." Andrea said.
"Freddie, Georgie, Jordan, Ginny, me, Theo and Daphne. We loved pranking. Also, the marauders map helped us. Any one of us will borrow it from Harry and scare the living daylights out of Filch." Athena laughed.
"Have you ever fought?" James asked. "Since you are a Slytherin." He added.
"Except Quidditch field and mock duels? No." Athena said.
"You played Quidditch?" James perked up along with Frank and Sirius.
"We both." Andrea replied. "Athena was a Chaser in her fifth year, and became a Seeker in sixth after Draco opted out." She said, "I played Beater for Hufflepuff."
"I still remember that hit." Athena winced, rubbing her hip.
"I targeted your ass." Andrea snorted and Athena widened her mouth. "Fuck you!" She swore.
"Language!" Lily, Remus and Alice scolded.
.
She was running.
Her legs were giving up but she couldn't. Ghosts of the laughter of various people plagued her mind until she tripped and fell.
Feeling something sticky on her palm, she raised her hand to see blood, red, thick, blood. It's sight and metallic smell made her want to throw up.
"You!" She raised her brown eyes, only for them to clash with bright emerald ones. "You left them! I trusted you but you left them to die! Why did you do that, Andy? Why!? You and Thena ran away like cowards!"
"Harry I—"
"Shut up!" Harry snapped at her angrily. "I hate you, and your sister! I hate you!"
"I hate you And– ANDREA!"
Andrea jolted up from her slumber, grabbing her wand and jabbing it at James' face. Her brown eyes are dark and cold like polished wood in winter.
"Relax, it's just us." James said in a soothing voice, and she saw tired but alarmed– and worried faces of the Potters.
"Are you alright?" Lily asked softly. Andrea gulped, wiping the sweat on forehead. "Water." She croaked. "Yeah," Lily said, running towards a table and returning with a glass of water. "Here." She handed the glass to her.
"You want to talk about it?" Lily asked, soothingly running her hands through Andrea's hairs. "It was just a nightmare. Do you have any Dreamless Draught potion?" Andrea asked.
James and Lily looked at each other. "I have one in my stash." Lily said and looked at James, who nodded, getting the message and left them. As soon as the door hit shut, Andrea buried herself in Lily's arms, crying badly.
"I-it was ha-arry… He-e he said th-at he h-hates us." Andrea sniffled. "T-t-that we lef-t, left them t-to di-e there." Andrea cried and Lily kept running her hands through Andrea's hairs.
"Harry does not hate you, sweetheart. How can he hate you? Hmm?" Lily consoled her. "You are a brave girl na? He can never hate a brave girl like you." Lily tried to console Andrea, while inside her heart was wrenching. What did she go through that Andrea is like this?
"Lils–" James came in but halted seeing Andrea in Lily's lap, crying. He fell silent but Andrea sat straight wiping the tears.
"I am sorry I just—"
"It's okay, Andrea." James said, passing the Dreamless Draught to her which Andrea gulped in a go, gagging at blande taste.
—