"Alexia, what happened?"

She looked at the woman above her with a deep frown. "There was an explosion, he-,"

"There was no explosion," the man told her. "We were talking and you fell, holding your head. Your scans make… no sense. It's as if something attacked your mind."

"Tell me of your life," the woman instructed. "Tell me what you and Sal were just doing."

"I-," Alexia rubbed her head and tried to remember. It hurt, like she was pushing through a marsh in her own mind. "All I can remember is… Lily was- I was with Lucius- why the hell was I with Malfoy?"

"Who is Malfoy?"

"He's my- no," she shook her head vigorously. "No, he isn't. That's not- there's no way I…"

"What, Alexia?"

"I didn't marry him," she said sharply. "That's not- I don't know what that was but that's not me."

"It did look like an attack on your mind," Salazar said slowly, frowning at her. "How did it feel?"

"It felt like I was disappearing for these memories," she said quietly. "I don't think… they're me."

"Some sort of mental attack," Rowena said thoughtfully. "But who would attack her?"

"No one did," Salazar shook his head. "It must be something… she already had."

"It's a familiar pain," Alexia agreed quietly. "I know I am friends with Lucius, at least in the past, but I can't imagine I'd ever marry him. It would dramatically change time. Even if I'd wanted to, I couldn't have. It was like this other… other version of me, her memories were taking over mine. Eclipsing me."

"An eclipse," Rowena repeated. "Interesting word to use."

Salazar reached his hand down to help her up, and Alexia took it. When she was on her feet again, he took her face in his hands and looked her over. "This does complicate things. We may need to hurry so you can differentiate these fake memories from your life."

"I'm okay," she said, pushing his hands down gently. "I think I've been through worse."

"I'm going to go fill in Ric and Puff," Rowena said, looking between them. "Get some work done tonight if you can."

She didn't wait for them to agree before making her way back down the path. When she was gone, Alexia raised an eyebrow. "'Puff'?"

Salazar's lips twitched. "Ro's called Helga that since we were young. Helga hates it."

"Mm, I know the feeling. Ron's called me 'Mione' the entire time we've been friends, and I hate abbreviations of Hermione. Alexia, I don't mind. Call me Lexi, Alex, that's fine."

"Your brother calls you 'Lex'."

Alexia nodded. "I call him Jamie. I once hexed Sirius because he tried calling me Lex."

"Alexia is fitting for you," Salazar said. He guided her back into the castle and toward the rooms they'd given her. Inside, they sat on the couch while elves brought them tea. "How does your mind feel? Are you able to do some work tonight?"

"It feels… it's painful," she admitted. "I'd actually prefer you take a look and see if it did any damage. Then we can try and release more memories."

He nodded once. "Of course. And… Alexia, I feel I should warn you, releasing these memories, I have little control over which ones overtake us. I would… I find myself willing to be Obliviated if you truly need-,"

"Sal, please," she interrupted as she shook her head. "Surprisingly, I trust you. I can't imagine there would be, but if you see something so terrible that you want to be Obliviated, I'll do it."

"You've performed the spell before?"

"Ah. Fighting a war is easier when the people you're fighting literally have no memory of having seen you."

"Smart."

"I'm ready whenever you are."

With that, they shifted positions to face one another, and he raised his wand. With another short nod of consent from her, he cast the spell, and they found themselves falling into her mind.

Salazar felt himself suck in a sharp breath. "That's the damage," he whispered. "It is part of it, at least. These… attacks."

"It looks awful," she agreed. "No wonder I have a headache."

"We'll have to find a way to prevent these attacks since it's obvious you've had multiple," he told her. "Are you sure you feel well enough to-,"

"Please."

Reluctantly, he agreed. They approached the wall of memories together and waited a beat before he cast the spell again.

It was nearly immediately when memories slammed into them, throwing them back.

"You must be bored," a young Lucius said.

Alexia snorted. "Terribly so. I mean, in my time, this work has progressed as we learned more, so this is even easier than what I did in my original first year."

"Have you considered finding books on things you're interested in and doing that in your free time?" he wondered. She stared at him.

"The second I finish doing my homework, James is on me. I swear, he just waits. Apparently, we're wasting away our time and opportunity to learn from Fabian and Gideon by doing our work."

Lucius laughed a little. "Invite the twins over during summer."

"And that's exactly what I told him, and even asked them, but he says that's just extra time. I'm wasting our regular time."

"Your brother is-,"

"Ridiculous."

"The twins," Alexia whispered. Salazar looked at her as she stood, watching the casual conversation with wide eyes. "Fab would… lose it if he knew I was here without them."

"You were close?" he wondered.

"It's like… I can remember bits of us being older, but just about him. We were really close, Sal."

The memory changed, catching their attention. She was a bit older now, and there was a boy a little younger than her by her bedside in the infirmary.

"Lexi, I am so-,"

"If you apologize again, I'll hex you, Reg," Alexia warned. He froze and she sighed. "I'm joking. No one here is going to hurt you like she has."

"Except for-,"

"Dolohov only knows I was involved," she told him. "This was a warning. Stay away, don't mess with him again. If he knew it was your plan originally, you'd be in the next bed over, and I sure as hell am not going to say anything."

"I'm sorry," he said, despite her earlier warning. "It's just- I mean, I haven't seen Sirius in so long, and then Dolohov was saying awful things and-,"

"And just like Sirius would've, you lost your temper and decided to retaliate," she finished for him. "I get it. I'd do the same thing for Jamie. Just stay safe, okay? I'll be fine."

"You… attacked Dolohov?" Salazar questioned quietly.

Alexia grimaced. "Reg was going to dose him alone and get hurt. I tried to help, but my Head of House somehow realized I was involved and very publicly gave me detention. Dolohov saw and pushed me down the stairs."

"Gods."

Once more, the memory changed, and they saw her in her bedroom with Dolohov. He held her by the ropes that bound her, and she seemed to be silenced.

"Crucio!" he cast. She tried to scream but was unable. He held the curse for two minutes before he swapped to cutting her up a bit. Finally, he left her there and hurried out of the room.

It wasn't long before she was found by Lucius, Sirius, and Remus. The first to get to her was Lucius, and he did his best to heal her while she was partially awake.

"He was… how old?" Salazar asked, horrified.

"I don't know, Sal," she answered. "But… I remember why he did it."

"Why in hell-,"

"Because he didn't just hurt me," she interrupted. "He put another curse in there, and the same one on Jamie, so that if I told anyone what he did, it would release and we'd both feel all the pain I've ever felt. He assumed that was just what he'd done. He didn't know I'd-,"

"Gone through war," Salazar understood. "Did he ever-,"

As if it had been summoned, another memory hit, and they watched as Fabian pushed her and pushed her until she'd essentially admitted that Dolohov had done it. Alexia flinched and closed her eyes as she saw the curse released. Unbeknownst to her with her eyes closed, the memory not only showed how she reacted to it, but everything she felt and saw as well.

When the screams ended, she opened her eyes once more to find Salazar looking a horrible mixture of sick and furious.

They slipped out of her mind without a word, and she sat there quietly, waiting for him. She sipped her tea and watched the emotions cycle on his face until finally, he settled on a terrifying sort of angry emptiness.

"It… hurt, yes," she said quietly. "But I'm okay."

His eyes shot to hers. "Alexia-,"

"I avoided James and- well, pretty much everyone but my Slytherin friends for a long time after that," she admitted. "Sirius and Regulus forced James and I to talk eventually. It was… painful."

"Do you know-,"

"It ended up okay in the end. We moved on. We had to move on."

Salazar took a breath and set aside what he'd seen - either she knew and didn't want to talk about it, or she didn't know, and either way, he felt the need to calm down before bringing it up.

"I want to do more," she told him quietly. "I need to know more."

"After seeing the things that have happened, you want to know more, knowing it could be worse?" he questioned quietly. She furrowed her brow at him.

"Sal, those things happened to me, but I also remember my mum- James and I's mum, taking care of me after. I remember how worried James was, how Sirius loved us enough to risk me cursing him. I am scared to know what else has happened but god, I'm also remembering how loved I am."

"You're scared but doing it anyway."

She felt herself smile a little. "Someone once told me that to be afraid and to do it anyway is what courage is. I still have a little Gryffindor in me."

"The need to know yourself would leave you in my House, too," he disagreed. "Are you ready?"

Alexia set down her tea and shifted a little to get comfortable before she nodded. "I'm ready."

They entered her mind again, and he didn't waste time casting the spell.

"Are you scared?" he asked her as he cast once more, finding no memories coming loose at first.

"A little," she admitted quietly. "But I have to-,"

She was interrupted by a memory, and it felt intense, as if it wasn't meant to come loose yet.

Alexia looked older, and it surprised them. She looked to be the age she was now, and she wore official robes with a jumpsuit on underneath.

"Oh my god," she breathed, eyes wide as she stared at herself. "I look…"

"What?" Salazar glanced at her. "Is something wrong?"

"I- I can tell what we're doing, but I don't know why. And according to those robes and that badge, I'm- why would I ever work there? I don't understand."

"Breathe. Where do you work?"

"The Department of Mysteries," she answered. "I'm an Unspeakable."

She entered the large, open room from what looked to be a conference room. As she walked down the steps and into the area with the desks, she caught the attention of a few people.

"Hey, Lexi," Emily said. "You're here early today."

Alexia rolled her eyes. "We had some… difficulties in regards to the machine."

"It's not working?" JJ wondered. Alexia scoffed.

"I wish. No, by difficulties, I mean Bertie and I had a… disagreement over me using the machine again. He had safety concerns - which is rare for him - and I had work to do. I was told not to touch it again until I get some tests done, but the last time I left Bertie do tests on me, I had excess magical radiation that set off the scanners in the Ministry."

Morgan coughed to cover his laugh. "Your boss is-,"

"A pain in my ass," she interrupted. He started laughing openly, so she turned to Reid. "Ready?"

"Almost, I just have to finish this first," he told her, writing at an unusually quick speed to do his reports. "No one else is there today other than you and Bertie?"

"Mm, we had to send them to Brazil to clean up a mess that we did not make," she made a face. "Irritating because they'll be there for a week. The only reason I didn't join them is-,"

"Your Vow," Reid nodded. "He doesn't have issues with your Vow getting in the way of your work?"

Alexia tensed. "Bertie knows why I made it."

"What Vow are you talking about?" Salazar wondered. Alexia shook her head.

"I don't- it's like I can almost tell, but it's just… out of reach."

"Who are they?"

Alexia glanced at him. "They're… from America- oh, you wouldn't- they're from pretty far away, and they profile the behavior of killers to catch the killers. I don't know why I- I don't know a lot of things about what's happening here. Why did it come out of order?"

"I don't know."

They stopped talking as the memory swapped abruptly. It seemed as if it began in the middle, and it was blurry, like it was corrupted somehow - likely from a head injury, considering she had blood falling from her head. She was tied up and staring up at two familiar men who were looking down at her hungrily.

"-not a stupid girl, are you?" one man asked. "You know why we want you."

Alexia's breath caught. "No."

She took a step back when he moved toward her. "What you want, you won't be getting."

"I'll be leaving you with Nikita," he told her with a smirk. "He does deserve you, after you had him cursed."

"After I- I did not! Whatever Antonin did, he did himself."

Despite being in her mind, despite it being a memory, Alexia took a step back. "I can't- I couldn't mean Dolohov."

"What's happening?" Salazar asked quietly. "Who are they? What do they want?"

"Cousins," she answered with a frown. "I- I know they're cousins, but I've never seen them before. I know what they want, but-,"

"Oh, come, Lyubimets," Nikita grinned darkly. He backed her up against the wall and stopped when they were nearly touching. "There we are."

"Don't fucking touch me," she spat as he pressed his lips to her cheek, then chin, and moving down slowly.

"You don't have to watch this," Salazar told her gently. She shook her head.

"I have to make sure he doesn't…"

As he kissed her neck and rested his hands on her hips, the door slammed open and he jumped away from her to look.

"Get the hell away from her," Pollux demanded. He Avada'd Nikita without hesitation.

"I have never been so happy to see you," Alexia told her uncle honestly. He started making his way over, but she saw Kastya step inside. "Pollux!"

He turned to defend himself, but it was too late. Kastya had shot a Killing Curse and it hit Pollux perfectly in the back. He dropped to the ground, and Alexia simply stared.

Kastya rushed at her furiously and grabbed her by the throat, choking her as he shook her angrily. He threw her to the ground and she hit it hard.

He didn't waste time. His fury drove him and he began hitting her in a very muggle way. It wasn't long before he mixed the beating with cursing, not to mention a rather strong Crucio.

It lasted for so long. She closed her eyes, giving into it. When they opened again, she couldn't fully comprehend what she saw or heard.

"Dorogaya, look at me," the person holding her said.

"What did he say?" Salazar wondered. "What language is that?"

"Russian," she answered. "He said… 'dear, look at me.'"

"Do you know him?" he asked.

She shook her head. "The voice is familiar, but it's so… blurry, I can't see him."

"It must be blurry from the… beating," he grimaced.

"How do you feel?"

"How do you feel?" she translated. She waited for her reply before doing so again. "I said 'he killed Pollux.'"

They watched as the mysterious man stroked her hair. She moved back but leaned against him still. "Help me."

"'Help me,'" she repeated with a frown. The man looked tense. "'I am trying,' he said. And- what? I said 'Take me to Australia.' The only thing in… my parents. I was trying to get to my parents?"

"Why were your parents in-,"

"Before I went on- god, I have a lot to tell you about the war. During the war, I had to go on the run with Harry and Ron. To protect my parents, I Obliviated them and sent them to Australia. I-,"

She was cut off as the memory ended. They left her mind and she breathed out in stress. "There's a lot about the war I'd like to tell you. I think it might impact these memories. At least, it impacts my life."

"In that case, why don't we go to the office and you can tell all of us?" he suggested before pausing. "Are you okay after seeing that?"

She laughed shortly. "Worse has happened. I'll be okay."

"In that case, let's go."

OoOoOoOoOoOo