TW: SA at the end of the chapter

September 11th, 1976

Gryffindor Common Room

It was early when Anabella got downstairs. She slept restlessly, charms being the only things that kept the others from waking to her nightmares. Tired of tossing and turning, she got up, dressed quickly after a long, savored shower, and grabbed her bag to head downstairs.

"Mornin', kitten," Sirius said, startling her. She jumped and pulled her wand, but quickly relaxed when she saw him.

"For the love of Circe, don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed, tucking her wand away as she moved to sit with him. "Why're you up?"

"Couldn't sleep," he shrugged. "You?"

"Couldn't sleep," she agreed with a sigh. "Everyone is very nice. Mary's a little…"

Sirius laughed. "She's intense, but I bet she likes you."

"Oh, she's great, don't get me wrong," Anabella shook her head quickly. "Just startling to be cared for so quickly by strangers, you know?"

"I do, actually," he smiled softly. "Mum and Dad, plus James. I'm glad you feel welcomed. Any idea who's giving you a tour later?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Dumbledore just said after classes. I did get my schedule, though," she pulled it out and handed it over.

"We have almost all the same classes," he grinned. "We will be your guides today, Miss Carter."

She smiled softly at him. She never expected to be welcomed in the past, and yet she was. As she went through classes and meals that day, she was never forgotten. It seemed they'd made it their mission to befriend her and keep her safe- or at least Sirius had, and he'd made sure everyone else knew it, too.

Meeting Remus was interesting. He wasn't shy per se, but rather reserved. She figured he was gauging whether or not to trust her, and that was fair. He did have a fairly important secret to guard. So, she was polite and spoke to him a few times, but she kept her distance for his sake.

Peter, however, was an entirely different story. She had a visceral reaction to meeting him. She was sure it showed, and she'd had to come up with an excuse quickly. Flashing a nervous smile, she'd said, "I'm so sorry, you just look quite a bit like a friend that I… lost." And it had been accepted with a few quiet apologies. She knew she'd have to control her reactions to him. She couldn't change time. She just needed to… slightly alter it.

At dinner that night, a letter was delivered to her via prefect rather than owl. She shoved Sirius away and rolled her eyes as she opened it.

Miss Carter,

I'm glad to see you've made some friends and I do hope you're settling in well.

After dinner at 6:30 in the evening, you will meet your guide outside of the Slytherin common room, which you will find across from the potions supply cupboard.

Well wishes,

Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Anabella tucked the letter in her bag and finished her meal quickly - it was nearly time to go if she wanted to get there in time. After she ate, she grabbed her things, bid farewell to her new friends, and slipped out of the Great Hall.

The walk down to the dungeons was quiet. There were students here and there, but mostly, they were still at dinner. She knew James, Sirius, and Marlene were so distracted discussing the first Quidditch match that they'd barely said goodbye. It was probably for the best. For all she knew, one of them would try to escort her down there, and she didn't need a Gryffindor to potentially mess up any connections she was going to make.

There was one person standing in front of what was apparently the Slytherin common room, and she was glad he hadn't noticed her yet considering she recognized him. She'd never met him, of course, but she'd seen him in pictures- mostly Slughorn's pictures of old, favored students.

His slicked back, obsidian hair was cut just above his shoulders and she watched as he messed it up a little running his fingers through it tiredly. When he turned, she saw his deep grey eyes first. They reminded her of a storm on the ocean more than anything else, and they were mesmerizing to look at.

The rest of him was very familiar to her - his nose, cheekbones, chin, all of them looked just like his brother's. Before she could continue to study him, he caught sight of her and tilted his head a little, clearly curious.

She forced herself to move. She didn't want to mess it up. Walking over, she smiled as he bowed his head. He held his hand out, so she offered hers and gave a small curtsey as he kissed her knuckles. Once that was over, she backed up a little and met his gaze.

Almost immediately, she felt him playing along the top of her mind, gently prodding. Taken aback, she used the Occlumency she'd taught herself to defend her mind.

"Any witch in her right mind would curse you for that," she told him with an eyebrow raised.

"So you're not?" he smirked. It wasn't one she'd seen before - it was his own twist of his lips, and one that made her smile a little more genuine.

"Depends on the day," she answered. "Anabella Carter."

"Regulus Black," he answered with a small nod. "Impressive shields, Miss Carter."

"Anabella, please," she requested.

He chuckled a little. "Quite long and formal."

She considered it. "You can call me Bella."

"I have an awful cousin nicknamed Bella," he explained, and she did her best to keep from flinching. "I'll call you Ana."

Anabella smiled and shrugged. "I suppose that's fair."

He nodded and turned to the wall behind him. She was confused for a moment before he muttered the password and saw the wall fade completely out of existence to reveal a staircase leading down. She followed him, looking around.

The Slytherin common room was much bigger than Gryffindor's, that was the first thing she noticed. After that, she saw the comfortable looking chairs and couches littered around the room. There were a few students scattered about, and she tried to see if she recognized any of them, but he touched her arm gently to get her attention.

"This side is where we relax," he explained. "No one spends much time here, truthfully. There are more important things to do."

"This side?" she asked. He nodded and led her down a hall to the right, and she was surprised when they stopped in the middle of it in front of two doors.

"Boys' dorms on the left, girls' on the right," he told her, waving at each door. "Downstairs you'll find your roommates, should you have any. And over here is where we spend most of our time."

She looked to the right and found a library. Her gasp and wide eyes made Regulus chuckle, but she ignored him, walking over to the nearest wall that was covered in books. The books she found were on pureblood families- extensive volumes on each of them. It didn't take her long to spot the Black family's books - because there were multiple, filling nearly an entire shelf.

"Most first years," he said, startling her. She blinked. At some point while she was looking at the books, he'd come to her side. "Notice the giant squid first."

Anabella followed his gaze until she saw the giant squid calmly floating about through the glass windows that covered the wall in the back. "Oh, Circe."

Chuckling, Regulus led her back over to the quiet part of the common rooms and sat down. She sat with him, trying to take in the fact that the war had changed her so much that she was in Slytherin. "Hogwarts doesn't take transfers."

"I'm a special case," she answered.

"Over a week into the school year, as well. It was urgent, then."

"If you want to know why I'm here, why don't you just ask me?" she wondered.

Regulus looked surprised, as if it hadn't occurred to him. "Ana, why are you here?"

"I'm here out of necessity. If I could be, I'd be back with my friends and family, but… I made a choice, a hard one, and I lost all of them."

It was as close to the truth as she could get. All she knew was she felt like… he was important. She didn't want to lie to him if she could help it.

"I think," he began slowly, looking a little confused. "I think you'll find Slytherin a good place for those who have run out of choices."

She searched his face, wondering just how much he didn't want to be in the position he was in. Would it be as easy as making him trust her and asking him for help, or would she have to convince him? "That's what I was hoping for."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

September 12th, 1976

Arithmancy Classroom

Class had finished, and Anabella wasn't surprised at all when someone came to walk at her side out of the room. As soon as others had passed them, they both stopped. Before she could demand to know who he was, he spoke.

"You're new."

"Very astute observation," she rolled her eyes a little, leaning against the wall. "Anabella Carter. You are?"

"Frederick Avery," he replied. He went to move on but paused. "Just call me Avery."

"Alright, Avery. Wanna tell me why you were staring at me the entire period?"

"Regulus Black is a very guarded person," he told her. "So are the majority of your friends, actually. With the world in the state that it's in-,"

"I don't blame any of them," she agreed. "Do you have a point?"

"My point is, you befriended all of them in the period of about twenty-four hours. Did you curse them?"

Anabella rolled her eyes again. "No. Why do you care, anyway?"

He was about to say something, but seemed to switch gears. "What do you know about bonds?"

She sighed at the question. She was tired of thinking about bonds, especially since being left without her healing bond. "I know what type of bonds exist, I know some can be combinations of them. I know when one is ignited, both parties are made aware."

"Unless," he interrupted, raising an eyebrow at her. "Unless one person's magic is so damaged that they don't notice."

Anabella's patience was waning. "Explain or I'm leaving."

"I took some scans in class," he admitted, earning a glare. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Back off, Avery."

"Seriously, Carter, you're going to kill yourself walking around like this."

"And you care?" she wondered.

He hesitated. "I asked about the bonds because when you touched Regulus, you ignited a powerful soul bond."

Her throat went dry at the words. She couldn't have. He was going to die. And aside from that, that wasn't how they were ignited - soul bonds usually ignited from a kiss. But-

"Soul bonds don't begin that way unless one party is unusually powerful. Regulus is powerful, but not that powerful. Which means-,"

"Stop-,"

"It means you're a Dark Lady."

His words caught her so off guard that, despite the fear creeping up inside of her, she burst out laughing. "A Dark Lady? Really?"

"Your power level-,"

"Is also consistent with a Light Lady," she told him sharply. "I'm not dark, Avery. How the hell would you know if he and I had a soul bond, anyway?"

"He told me."

Anabella sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She didn't know the person in front of her. She'd heard his name before, yes, but only in a list of Death Eaters that had disappeared as the first war had intensified.

Her goal was to collect Death Eaters, get them on her side so that they'd help her end the war in the future, but Avery? She wasn't sure she knew enough about him. How could she be sure she wouldn't destroy her plans before they even properly began?

"You don't seem bothered by it," he said. She blinked away her thoughts.

"What?" she frowned. "The bond? It's- it's really the least of my problems. If he wanted me to know, he'd have told me."

"You're either stupid or very smart," he stared at her. "I'm going to say a bit of both, since you're apparently a Light Lady."

"Sure," she shrugged. "Did you need something from me?"

"If you're a Light Lady, there has to be a Dark Lord," he reasoned. She tilted her head.

"Yes. The man running around, calling himself Voldemort? He's the Dark Lord," she explained, watching his eyes widen in alarm. "Calm down, he's not going to jump out of the walls and attack. I take it you've joined him."

Avery took in a deep breath. "He hasn't announced himself as a Dark Lord yet. Fucking hell. If I'd known-,"

"You could always help me," she suggested. He looked like she'd suggested he jump into a pool of lava. "Relax, I'm not asking you to fight him directly. I need help gathering his followers, gaining their trust. I'm going to fight him some day. In the meantime, he'll keep gathering followers, so I need to as well. His, not mine. I don't- I don't have- Jesus, do you get my point?"

Avery let out a short laugh. "Very eloquent, ace."

"Ace?" she scrunched up her nose. He ignored her.

"I'll help you," he decided finally. "Just tell me where you came from."

"I might someday," she shrugged. "But that day is not today."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

September 13th, 1976

DADA Classroom

"So, how's everything going?"

"Fine," she shrugged, pulling the door to the office closed. "Kind of… startling."

"Why?"

Anabella hesitated for a moment. "The night before I left, before this all started… Bill sat down with me to talk. I'm a Light Lady, Fab."

"Oh, fuck," he cursed loudly, throwing his head back. "Jesus, Anabella."

"Ana or Bella," she requested. "Bertie gave me a long fucking name."

"I'm not as concerned about your name as I am with your safety," he said seriously. "Anabell- sorry, Bella, you don't understand."

Anabella rolled her eyes at him. "I do understand, Fabian. I- I've been fighting him since I was eleven. Bill knew it, too, and he told me about everything. He explained my life. The biggest thing is that, like Dark Ladies and Lords, I pull people in like gravity. That's why I've already made the friends I have, why Avery was pulled to me, why Regulus-," she shook herself, stopping abruptly at the mention of the boy she'd only spoken to once. "My point is, I get it. I'm in a lot of fucking danger."

"Shit," he cursed, running his fingers through his hair. "Fuck. What's the plan?"

"I've been thinking about that. When I was in fifth year, my friends and I put together a… club of sorts where we taught defense. I want to do that again here. Pull in everyone I know or trust and teach them," she explained.

"Don't trust me to do my job?" he wondered with a slight smile.

"It's not you," she promised. "I want to make sure they know some things that you can't teach them."

"Dark magic."

"Dark magic is just blood magic. Blood magic isn't inherently good or bad, it just is. There was a fucking smear campaign against it like a hundred years ago or so that Dumbledore pushed forward because Grindlewald was a renowned blood magic user. So, yeah, I'm gonna teach them 'dark magic' but I know what I'm doing. I learned from the best library in the world, and a very reluctant Sirius Black."

Fabian sighed. "You'll get caught and disbanded if you do it alone. I'll phrase it as a dueling club and oversee it with approval from Dumbledore."

"Thank you," she breathed out in relief.

"I have a question."

"I might have an answer."

"I was wondering what happens to me and Gid," he told her. She frowned.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean."

Fabian shook his head. "Look, kid, you didn't know us. You said you're close with Molly and her family, but you clearly never really knew us, so what happened to us?"

Anabella considered lying, but decided against it. She could always Obliviate him. "Five Death Eaters attack you in your home. It was said that they obliterated you - there was nothing left of either of you but blood on the floor."

"Jesus Christ," Fabian cursed loudly. "Is there… anything we can do about it?"

Her immediate reaction was to say no, but she stopped herself and thought over her words.

They'd never actually found the bodies. All they'd found was blood. So, technically…

"I'm not going to say yes or no," she said finally. "The first thing I need to do is work on the spell. Then, I'll see what I can do with it for you guys. I'll do everything I can to help, I can promise you that."

The relief in his face overwhelmed her.

"You should get going," he told her, glancing at the time. "It's getting late."

"Yeah," she grabbed her things and got up. "I'll keep you updated, Fab."

He smiled and gave her a short wave as she made her way out of his classroom.

Their conversation played over in her mind. How could she promise to help when she didn't even know if she could? Time travel was dangerous. She knew she was lucky to be where she was safely.

Bertie's words just before she'd left rang through her mind. The past is set in stone. It reminded her of Harry's theory on time travel - anything that happened had already happened. There was no changing time, only complying with it.

A hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her back as she passed whoever had grabbed her. She stumbled a little and tried to steady herself as she came to a halt. Looking up, she sucked in a sharp breath.

"I heard there was a new little Slytherin," Yaxley said, staring down at her. His eyes were dark and she thought she knew what was coming as he raised his wand hand.

But instead of the curse she expected, he pulled it up and grabbed at her chest. She sucked in a sharp breath and tried to back away, but he still held her arm tightly with his free hand. He shifted and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against his chest.

He grabbed the back of her neck tightly and, though she fought him, pressed his lips roughly to hers.

She jerked back, managing to separate their lips. "Get the fuck away from me before I hex your balls off."

Yaxley smirked at her and continued to hold her tightly. She gasped sharply when his lips moved toward her neck. Being a Beater, he held her effortlessly as she tried to fight him.

"Stop!"

"Keep fighting," he whispered into her neck. He bit a little too hard, eliciting a whimper from her.

"Lapis!"

Anabella gasped as Yaxley froze completely. When she was sure he wasn't unfreezing, she ducked down and slipped out of his arms. She held herself tightly and backed away from him, shaking lightly. She jumped when she hit the wall behind her.

"It's okay," someone said, startling her. She looked over to find Regulus standing at her side, looking her over carefully. "Did he hurt you?"

"He-," she cut off, not trusting her voice. She blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears from falling in the middle of the hallway.

"I'm going to grab your hand," he told her softly. She hesitated but nodded. He touched her hand gently for a moment before intertwining their fingers. When she seemed to relax a little, he guided her through the halls and to the common room. It was late enough that no one was on the left side, so he sat her down and took a look at her neck. There was a light mark where Yaxley had bitten, and she watched his eyes darken.

"What?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

"There's a mark," he told her, not one to lie - especially not to the girl that was, apparently, his soulmate. "I can glamour it."

"Please."

He took care to cover every piece of the oncoming bruise. He covered it three times before, finally, he backed up again and looked her over with a frown. "Is anything else hurt?"

"No," she whispered. "Thank you. I think I'm going to- to go to bed."

"Hey," he shook his head. "I know how Yaxley is. You shouldn't be alone."

"I'll be fine," she disagreed.

Regulus ran his fingers through his hair. "Go to Gryffindor. You're friends with my brother- he'll help you."

"I don't need his-,"

"You need someone," he interrupted sharply. "You don't trust me, so-,"

Anabella tipped her head back. "That's not- that isn't- it isn't that I don't trust you, it's just-,"

"What?"

"Avery told me."

Regulus looked startled and he frowned. "You mean you didn't know?"

Anabella grimaced. "My magic is really fucked up. It's- it's kind of hard to notice any changes in it."

"May I?" he asked, reaching out for her again. She nodded, so he touched her hand gently. His hand was warm, and she closed her eyes as he ignited the new bond within them. "Focus. Can you feel it?"

She focused on the bonds she knew she already had - the broken healing bond with Bill, the familial bonds with the Potters, and now… her soul bond with Regulus. Grabbing onto it, she gasped at the warm, comforting feeling. It was as if he moved inside of her and covered her pain with his own soul. It was the most pleasant thing she'd felt in… maybe ever, she thought. "Oh, Circe…"

"Fuck, Ana, your magic is-,"

"I know."

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

Anabella looked down at herself. She could already see her arms shaking like mad, and she felt the sharp pain of Longis Crutiau vibrating through her hips - Yaxley had destroyed the last of the potion she'd had in her when he'd grabbed her.

Still, she wasn't sure she was ready to share. She'd already had to tell so many people about the torture. Aside from that, Bellatrix was his cousin. How would he react?

"Anabella," he said softly. "Whatever you're afraid of, it isn't going to happen."

"I was tortured," she told him finally. "Very recently, for hours. I have Longis Crutiau."

Although she wasn't sure why she'd expected anger from him, he just seemed crushed. The way he looked at her made her feel… cared for. Beneath the surface, however, she could feel that anger bubbling up. She thought that maybe, since it wasn't the primary reaction, she didn't really care. In fact, she wondered how he could care so much after barely knowing her.

"I care because of our bond," he told her, making her jump. "Just like you can… sense things, so can I. But… what happened?"

"I was taken by Voldemort," she told him, glancing around the room every once in a while to make sure no one had joined them, but it was just as empty as when they'd arrived. "They thought I had information that… I didn't have. I was tortured for it. Eventually, we got out."

Regulus shifted a little, frowning at her. "Who?"

"What?"

"Who tortured you?"

Anabella grimaced. "Bellatrix."

While he didn't outwardly react, she wasn't surprised at the sight of a candle exploding and setting some books and a plant on fire. With a sigh, she waved her wand absently to put the fires out.

"I'd like to talk more," he decided finally. "But not here."

She glanced around again and sighed. "I know a place."

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