October 15th, 1976

Room of Requirement

"So what's Professor Prewett doing here?"

Anabella looked to Remus with a smile. "Fabian's here to… help. We had to make this official, or Dumbledore could step in and shut it down at any point. With a professor here, we're more protected."

"'kay, and what're we doing, exactly?" Mary wondered, twirling her wand between her fingers.

"Defense. I want to teach you blood magic. It's not 'dark magic' in the least, it's protective magic. Just watch me and Regulus perform it and then decide for yourself if it's too dark for you."

"Mum would hate this," Frank grimaced.

"Well, your mum has a stick up her ass, mate," Sirius laughed. Frank just shrugged - he didn't disagree.

"First is a blood shield," Anabella said, waving her hand at her wrist to cut it for the spell as she spoke. "It does require wandless magic. Sometimes, with blood magic, your wand's energy can interfere with whatever spell you're trying to do."

"You can do blood magic?" Lily asked, amazed.

"I had a great teacher," Anabella said, glancing at Sirius. "And I needed to learn. Does anyone here know any?"

"I do," Sirius shrugged. "Got bored with my wand."

"Of course, you did," she laughed.

Sirius, Fabian, and Anabella showed everyone else how to use the spell. It protected against two out of three Unforgivables - not including the Killing Curse.

They spent a few hours working on it and by the time they finished, everyone had gotten it down, much to their surprise. She'd explained that blood magic was much easier than normal magic once you learn wandless magic - which was also easier than Hogwarts had suggested to them.

When they finished, she found herself sitting on a bench, looking around the magical room. It looked exactly like the one they'd used in fifth year, down to the pictures on the mirror that she'd stolen. She stared down at the one Sirius had given Harry of the original Order of the Phoenix.

Most people had left already, including her Death Eater friends and her Gryffindor friends, leaving her with only Regulus, Avery, James, Sirius, and Remus, not to mention Fabian.

"What's that?" James wondered, appearing behind her. She jumped a little and he chuckled as he came to sit next to her with Regulus on her left.

"Sirius gave it to Harry a couple years before I came to the past," she said, staring down at it. "It's the original Order of the Phoenix. That's you, Sirius, Lily, Frank, Alice, Dorcas, Emmeline… I'm trying to save a lot of the people missing from this picture."

"I'm missing," Remus realized. "But you said I was your professor."

"You were on a mission for Dumbledore, if I recall correctly," she told him quickly. "You were fine, just not home when this was taken."

"Marlene isn't there," Sirius frowned at it. "Where is she?"

"Look, a lot of people were out fighting," she said sharply. "I don't think there's a single comprehensive photo of the original Order. This is just the best that they could get."

"This is amazing, though," James said, plucking the picture from her hands. "To see the future…"

"Yeah, let's not touch it," she said, grabbing it back. "I think this is literally from the future, not just a copy of it. I think this room… is the future. It's hard to explain."

"What're your plans for the rest of the day?"

"We are heading to the DOM," she said, pointing to herself, Regulus, and Fabian. "To start the spell with guidance from Bertie and Alphard."

"What spell?" Remus wondered. She looked between them and blinked.

"I thought I'd told you. The way I came here is also how I'm getting back. I just have to master the spell first. It's going to be difficult, according to Bertie, but I have to if I want any of this to actually work."

"And why are Fabian and Regulus going with you?" James questioned her. She made a face.

"Fabian is coming because he said he'd help. Regulus calms me down and I'll need that because…" she sighed in irritation. "Because apparently, I have a bit of a temper."

Sirius snorted, earning himself a glare. "Sorry, kitten, but you did hex me yesterday for touching your tea."

"It was my first tea of the day!"

"Which you hadn't added your sugar to!" he shot back. "I was helping, Bel."

"Okay, well, we're going," she told the, getting up. They waved them off, and the three of them went through the floo in Fabian's office, taking it to the DOM, where Alphard greeted them.

Anabella smiled softly as Regulus hugged his uncle openly. He clearly missed the man greatly. Watching them, she made the decision to do whatever it took to save Alphard.

Once Bertie walked in, Alphard released his nephew, but he clapped a hand on his shoulder and held it there as if promising himself that Regulus was okay. "Ready?"

"Not in the least," she laughed nervously as they were led through the DOM and into one of the experiment rooms. It had been cleared out, save for her time turner, which was floating in the middle of the room. There was nothing else inside. "But I'm getting the feeling there's nothing I can really do to prepare."

"There's not!" Bertie smiled at her. "The spell is Harenas Tempore Moventur. You will cast wandlessly with a scooping motion."

"Like this?" she asked, waving her hand in a small U shape. Bertie grinned.

"Exactly! Now, the spell is like a curse. It will have a physical, mental, and magical affect on you. Practicing the spell in moderation, it will not harm you."

"What sort of things should I expect?" she wondered.

"Your eyes may change," he began slowly. "There's been a case before where an agent's magical reserves moved to their eyes. Actually, it's happened both times I've seen someone use this spell, so I'd expect it. For a while, you should be able to cover it with a glamour. You may expect strong emotions to come to the surface, especially anything you're working to suppress."

"Great," she muttered.

"It will strip you of any magic on your person," he warned after a moment. He looked regretful, and it made her nervous. "Which includes potions. I would warn you to expect to be in pain while working."

"You mean her Longis Crutiau potions will wear off," Regulus understood, shaking his head. "No. No, she can't. We'll figure something else out."

"There's nothing else to figure out," Anabella told him. "It has to be this."

"Then you'll stay!" he insisted. "I won't let you sit there in indescribable pain for this."

She stepped closer to him and took his hand. "I was prepared for anything when I came back in time, and I still am. I'm used to the pain, Reg. If you don't think you'll be able to watch me like that, I understand. You can go back to Hogwarts."

"I won't leave you," he told her, careful not to snap. "But I don't want you in pain."

"What else?" she asked Bertie after a moment. She had nothing left to say on the matter - she didn't exactly want to be in pain, either, but there was nothing to do about it. The plans she'd begun to make to save people depended upon her ability to cast the spell she was about to learn.

"You may get a power boost," Bertie told her. "A noticeable one, so you'll work with Mister Prewett to control it in front of your classmates."

"If that's all, I'd like to get to it," she said.

It didn't take them long to adjust. She, Fabian, and Regulus all stood in the middle of the room, while Bertie and Alphard stood behind some summoned glass at the back of the room.

"Harenas Tempore Moventur," she cast softly, waving her hand in the small, sharp U shape.

Nothing visibly happened to the Time Turner. All of the effect was on her - the glamour she kept on her arm fell and her potions wore off, leaving her shaking like a leaf. She bit her lip to keep from screaming and felt tears streaming down her face as Regulus ran over to wrap his arms around her tightly - not only to comfort her, but also to keep the shaking to a minimum, something that was important with torture.

Despite Regulus and Fabian arguing, she kept going. She cast the spell over and over, feeling as if she was still being tortured, until she collapsed. Regulus fell with her, carefully pulling her into his lap as he did.

Bertie congratulated her on her progress, promising that while she couldn't see it, she had made great progress. Alphard had escorted them back to the floo, and Regulus had carefully carried her through.

It took a while to get her to her dorm, where she'd promptly taken her potions again. They weren't helping as much as usual due to the severity of the spell, but even a little bit of pain relief made a huge difference to her.

It was two in the morning when she woke from her restless, nightmare filled sleep and threw her legs over the side of the bed. She had one extra potion she could take that night, but out of concern for overloading her system, she didn't. Instead, she grabbed her wand and bag and made her way out of Slytherin and back up the stairs towards Gryffindor. Whispering the password, she ignored the Fat Lady scolding her for being out so late and stepped inside, looking around.

Everything in Gryffindor was so familiar, so comfortable, that she nearly cried. She made her way carefully over to the large, comfy couch that she'd fallen asleep on more than once. When she went to lie down on it, hopefully to sleep some more, she found it was already occupied. "Sirius," she said in surprise. "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep," he said with a frown, moving over to let her lie down. She did, putting her head in his lap when he picked his arms up to give her space. He pushed her hair out of her face gently, frowning at her as he did so. "You look like shit, Bel."

"Nightmares," she muttered.

"What about?"

Anabella hesitated. "I don't think it's a good idea to tell you."

"C'mon, I won't tell anyone," he promised.

"Sirius-,"

"I swear, I won't do anything," he insisted. "No changing the future, all that. I wanna help you, not fix your life."

"Okay," she said slowly, closing her eyes as she spoke - she couldn't watch his face. He looked too worried for her. "You know that I knew you… pretty well."

"Yep."

"You told me that you wanted to do what your parents- what Mum and Dad did for you, just like you did when I got here," she explained. "You took care of me as much as you could, even fighting my dad when he… it's a long story. We had a lot of times where it was just us alone in that big fucking house, so we talked a lot. You taught me wandless magic, you showed me blood magic. You wanted me to be protected. Harry was too much in- but I wasn't, and I could protect us."

Sirius had stopped stroking her hair, just leaving his hand on her head. "Okay."

"And then Harry had a vision," she breathed, her voice almost too soft. "Of you being tortured by Voldemort. And- and he couldn't ignore it, and neither could I, you know? But it could've been a trick. We went to find you, but you weren't there. It was a trick, one to make Harry give Voldemort something that he needed, something only Harry could get."

"What was it?" he whispered.

She ignored him. "We ended up in the Veil room. The Veil of Death. There was a fight. Yaxley was- he was holding me back. Harry was fighting with you, and I saw it as it happened, Sirius. I saw her- it was a stunner. It was a fucking stunner!"

"Bel-,"

"You fell in. Remus had to hold Harry back and it's a damn good thing I couldn't run up there or I'd have run in after you, too."

"Anabella, are you telling me I died? You watched me die?"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, meeting his familiar, slate grey eyes. "I've had nightmares about it every night since. You were my family the same that Harry is."

"Fuck," he cursed loudly.

"I've got something," she told him nervously. She sat up to look at him closely, but still held his hand tightly within her own. "I have a spell, a- it's blood magic, but it'll do the trick. I can bring you back, Sirius. I can't stop you from dying, stop that from happening, but I can bring you back if you'll just let me."

He stared. "Wanna say that again?"

"We need to do a blood bonding ritual."

"I did hear you right," he nodded. "You're fucking insane."

"Please, Sirius," she begged softly. "I need you to trust me. Do you trust me?"

"With my life," he sighed. "Okay. It's just- look, when James and I were younger, we kinda did a blood brothers thing. You'll be bonded to him, too."

"That's fine."

"Okay," he agreed. "Okay. When?"

"Right now," she decided. There was preparation to be done, but not much of it, and he could help.

He helped her to an empty classroom, where she told him what to draw on the floor as she set up the magical protections, warding the room thoroughly.

When they were finally finished two hours later, she led him to stand on one side of the circle and placed herself across from him. She grabbed his hand and twisted it until it was palm up in the middle of the circle.

Raising her hand, she waved it over Sirius's hand muttering in a language he didn't recognize. The entire ritual was some of the darkest magicks out there, he knew, but he couldn't find it within him to regret it when she was going through so much to save him.

She shook as she took a knife and held it above his hand. With great focus, she steadied her hand and lowered the knife to cut his hand until there was a small pool of blood. She turned it over silently, squeezing his blood onto two runes drawn on the floor.

She then cleaned the knife off and handed it to Sirius, pointing quietly at the runes that would be hers. Nodding, he repeated what she'd done, though she could see him wince as he split her skin open. She tilted her hand over and let the blood drip onto the right runes before turning to Sirius.

"Do you, Sirius of the House Black, Heir to the House Black, bond yourself to me, Anabella Carter of House Potter, for all eternity?" she asked, staring at the boy in front of her.

"I do."

"Through the Veil of Death, will you heed my call for all eternity?"

Sirius shivered at her words, his eyes wide. "I will."

Anabella waved him on and they repeated the vows in reverse, Anabella promising the same as he had. She doubted they'd need it, but it was always good to have. Just in case.

The circle and Anabella both glowed a dark blue color, confirming the bond, and they both felt something around their wrists like a tight bracelet being burned into their skin. It lasted a few minutes and then it was gone, along with the blue light, leaving behind a thin black circle on both of their wrists that resembled a muggle tattoo.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"You did what?"

"Jesus, not so loud," she requested, rubbing her temples. She'd had a headache from the magical drain the ritual had caused. It technically called for three people - two being bonded, and one to bond them - but she'd refused to involve anyone else, and she knew she was powerful enough to handle it regardless.

"You bound yourself to Sirius Black," Severus said, staring at her with wide eyes. Avery sat to Anabella's left, examining her wrist quietly.

"Bella."

"Avery."

"This isn't any of the ones we found in the library," he said. "This is some of the darkest blood magic there is."

She shot him a look, trying to get him to shut up. Severus didn't know the truth yet, and she didn't want him to. Not if she could handle it. "I'm extremely exhausted from it, so if you guys could be a bit quieter, that'd be wonderful." Both boys stared at her for a long moment. She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Did you do the ritual yourself?" Severus asked her carefully. She nodded, shrugging.

"It calls for three, sure, but I can handle it and I didn't want to involve anyone else if they didn't have to be involved. They didn't."

"Jesus, ace," Avery muttered. When she looked at him, he shook his head.

Anabella looked between them with a frown. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal," she admitted, her nerves picking up. "Do you think it messed up the ritual?"

"No, this looks right," Avery disagreed. He still held her arm, staring down at it in disbelief. "I mean, I knew, but to see your power right before me is… different."

"What do you mean?"

Severus looked between her arm and her face. "He means, you may be much more powerful than you think."

"Why?"

"The last person that tried bonding a blood ritual while being part of it had their core completely drained during the ritual, since she was using the core as she was binding it to someone else's. It also killed her bond-mate."

Anabella reeled, silent as she processed Avery's words. "I'm just tired. I'm just- I'm tired, my head hurts, but I'm not- I'm fine. I'm fine."

"I was confident in you before," he told her. "But I don't think even the Dark Lord could do this. You're more than you think you are."

She met his eyes, understanding what he meant - she was more than a Light Lady, but what was past a Light Lady? "I think… I'm going to go find Regulus."

"I think that's a good idea," Avery said quietly. "Let me know what he says."

"I will."

OoOoOoOoOoOo