October 30th, 1976

Dungeon Halls

The night before, Anabella had had a new reaction to the spell after four sessions. Instead of simply agonizing pain, she'd experienced rage. True, unbridled rage at absolutely anything. And paired with the rage was accidental, elemental magic. She'd set the entire room and almost everything inside of it on fire. Fabian and Regulus were forced to nearly carry her out of it.

After a plethora of scans, Bertie had told them that she wasn't welcome back until she'd rested for a week, and not to use magic until he'd cleared her to. So, that night as she walked through the halls, she was on edge.

She was headed to the Room with a special package in hand. It was Marlene's birthday, and they had the party planned out. While Sirius and Remus had been tasked with creating the room, James and Lily were told to get food and drinks, and Anabella had gotten the potion from Slughorn.

She was almost out of the dungeons when she caught sight of a familiar person standing in the shadows. Watching him carefully, she tried to walk past- to ignore him. Apparently, that wasn't in his plans, because he reached out to grab her. She ducked down and punched him in the gut. Hard. When he was stunned from it, she straightened and punched him in the face as well, for good measure.

Yaxley recovered quicker than she expected, though. She'd turned to walk away when he reached out and grabbed her by her ponytail and yanked her back. She gasped in pain, her hands flying to her head. She didn't have to make him release her, though. His hand moved from her hair and circled down to slap her across the face just as hard as she'd hit him - possibly even harder. Standing there, stunned, she willed the tears not to fall. He stepped closer, grabbing her throat roughly. "You wanna play muggle, Carter? Let's play muggle."

His grip on her throat was so tight she thought she might pass out if he didn't let up soon. Since he seemed to be content just squeezing the life out of her, she lifted her knee and hit his crotch with it. He released her, stumbling back against the wall, and she ran as fast as she could.

Anabella didn't stop until she was on the third floor. Stepping into a classroom, she carefully glamoured any bruises that were beginning to form - mostly on her neck, but also her face- he'd really hit her very hard.

Once she was done with that, she took a deep breath and turned to finish running up the stairs. When she got to the seventh floor, she took one last breath before entering the room.

Inside was a large room with many couches, chairs, and even cushions on the floor. On the other side of the room was a small flying area with multiple brooms sitting against a wall. Looking around, Anabella tried for a smile. "This is amazing, guys."

"Glad you're here," Dorcas raised an eyebrow at her. "Your best friend and your boyfriend are about to kill each other."

"Sirius," she sighed, rubbing her forehead tiredly. "If you can't handle him, pretend he isn't here."

"Or," Sirius looked to her, a remnant of a scowl still on his face. "He could just actually not be here."

"Marlene said it was okay if I invited my boys. You're lucky I told them I only wanted Reg and Avery to come or they'd all be here."

"He's evil!"

"Sirius," she said lowly, staring him down darkly. She was not in the mood to fight him, not after Yaxley. "Don't you think that if I'm with him, I might know something you don't?"

Sirius stared, trying to find a new argument as her point hit him hard. When he couldn't find another way to argue her, he huffed out and turned away.

Anabella shook her head at him and came to sit between Regulus and Avery on the floor. "You guys good?"

"Are you?" Regulus asked her seriously. He glanced down at his bracelet. "It started to light up, but by the time I realized, it was stopping."

"Oh, I'm fine," she waved him off, wincing when he narrowed his eyes at her. She'd forgotten once again that he knew when she lied.

"Anabella."

"I've got the Veritaserum!" she announced, pulling it out of her bag. She tossed it over to Remus, who measured it and dropped the correct amount into the bottle of firewhiskey he held. "I've never actually played Veritaserum or Dare before."

"It's as simple as it sounds," Mary told her excitedly. "I'll show you. Veritaserum or Dare, Bella?"

"This sounds like a horrible idea," she laughed, though she was tense. She knew Regulus was watching her, looking her over carefully. "Question before I pick."

"Shoot."

"I've got some… due to the circumstances of my transfer, I have some pretty dangerous secrets. Can someone else approve the questions before taking the shot? Meaning one of my boys."

"I think that's fair," Sirius answered, surprising the friends that didn't know the truth about her. "Sure."

"Okay, then Veritaserum."

Mary grinned as Emmeline poured some shots, handing one over to Anabella. After quickly clearing her question with Sirius, who sat closest to her, she waved for her friend to take the shot. Once Anabella had taken it, she spoke. "Okay, Bella, who have you dated before Regulus?"

Anabella grimaced. Everyone was watching her, including Regulus. "A seventeen-year-old Bulgarian Quidditch player named Viktor."

"You don't even like Quidditch," Regulus laughed, leaning closer to her. He still seemed worried and suspicious, but seeing her seemingly okay, he'd relaxed a bit.

"We didn't discuss it," she shrugged. Before Sirius could even make a suggestion of what they did do, she spoke again. "I mean, we spent a lot of time in the library, doing our homework and talking. You're disgusting, Sirius."

"That's veritaserum," Mary told her with a laugh. "Everyone ready?"

Everyone was ready, so they all sat with their drinks, snacks, and friends around the room, passing a bottle of firewhiskey that hadn't been dosed around to share.

The game was going well. Frank had confessed that he wanted to marry Alice, and everyone watched the unplanned engagement happen.

Regulus had picked dare, and the dare had been to cut two inches off of his hair. Anabella had done it, cutting carefully until his long, wavy, black hair lay just above his shoulders. She moved closer to whisper in his ear. "I think I like your hair down like this."

"Bella! Veritaserum or dare!"

She looked over to Peter and shrugged. "Dare."

"I dare you to take off that glamour on your neck," he grinned. "Can't hide hickeys from us."

Anabella tensed. "Actually, I think I'll go with Veritaserum."

"Too late, can't back out now," Sirius reminded her. "It's not a big deal, Bel. Disgusting, but not a big deal."

"Yes, it is."

"For the love of Circe, have you considered there may be a reason she doesn't want to show us?" Avery wondered.

"Finite Incantatum!" Peter cast. Anabella gasped as all of her glamours fell from her - her eyes, her throat, and her face.

Unsurprisingly, Regulus grabbed her face gently and looked her over, fire raging in his own eyes. "Who did this?"

"It's Marlene's birthday. I really think we should do this later," she told him softly.

"Fuck my birthday, Carter," Marlene told her sharply. "What the fuck happened to you? Can you even see those fucking bruises?"

When she shook her head, Lily summoned a mirror and handed it over. Staring at herself, she thought she could understand why everyone was so worried. The bruises were worse than she'd expected, and made it clear what had happened.

"Ana, tell me," Regulus requested quietly. He looked so scared for her that she deflated and nodded.

"I was on my way here and Yaxley grabbed me. I hit him and tried to run, but he grabbed me by my hair, said something about if I wanted to fight muggle, we could fight muggle, and then he choked me and slapped me. I hit him again to get away."

"I knew he wouldn't let you go," Regulus whispered. She made a face.

"I'm sorry, Marls," she apologized tiredly. "I was going to tell them about this after your party."

"It'd be a hell of a birthday present if you let me beat the absolute shit out of Yaxley without detention," Marlene told Lily, who looked pained.

"I truly wish I could," Lily admitted. "Where'd you leave him, Bella?"

Anabella shrugged. "Outside the potions storage room. He's definitely gone now. Besides, he's a Prefect, too. He wouldn't get in trouble without a witness."

"Bruise paste," Avery requested, holding his hand out. She dug through her bag until she found it and handed it over to Regulus and Avery. Avery worked on her neck while Regulus took her face gently within his hands and applied the paste.

"Can we keep playing, please?" she requested. "I really don't want to ruin the night."

Dorcas scoffed. "Yaxley ruined the night, Carter, not you."

"She's right," Marlene agreed. "But if you're up for more of it, I am, too."

With a few more murmured agreements, they got back to the game, drinking and playing until the early hours of the morning.

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November 12th, 1976

Hogs Head

"This place is disgusting."

Anabella scoffed, looking up furiously. "Take that back!"

"The glasses aren't even clean. I will not."

She sat back, crossed her arms over her chest, and sniffed. "Tell me exactly why you want to work with me."

Evan hesitated, looking to Avery. "Why should I trust her, again?"

"Because you're an idiot and you need out," Avery stared at his friend. "She can make that happen."

Anabella smacked Avery. "You didn't tell me Rosier wanted out."

"Is that a problem?"

She turned to Evan, frowning at him. "For reasons I can't get into, you can't get out. You have to stay with him."

"What?"

"You have to stay with him, but I could use your help taking him down. It'll take time, but I'm putting something together that will tear him apart from the inside if I can do it right."

"I want my life to be my own," Evan told her seriously. She considered him.

"What do you want to do with it?"

He frowned. "I want to be an Unspeakable."

"Well, I can make that happen," she said, looking to Regulus when he leaned back in his chair and put his arm around her. "And you'd be of use to me. Not much, mostly in the future I'll need your help. For now, just sit back, work as an Unspeakable, and wait."

"Do what I want and wait. What's the catch?"

"The catch is fighting him in the end," she answered plainly. "Can you handle that?"

Evan didn't hesitate to nod. "I can."

"Great! You'll come with me to the DOM tomorrow. You'll have a lot of questions that I can't answer, and you have to be okay with that, do you understand me?"

"If you can get us out of this fucking monsterous war, you can be as mysterious as you want, Carter."

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November 20th, 1976

Library

"What are we looking for?" Severus wondered, flipping the large volume in his hands closed. "I get that it needs to be complimentary to the protean charm, but she modifies hers. How do we know what will work with it if she won't give us the modifiers?"

"Regulus knows what I'm looking for," Anabella called as Avery piled more books on top of the ones she was holding. "I have to put these back. If I'm not back in ten minutes, come find me."

"It's just the restricted section," Avery scoffed. "Nothing's going to attack you."

"You haven't seen it at night."

"And you have?" Regulus looked up at her, confused. "For what?"

"Later," she promised. "Keep looking, guys. I have to have this finished by the end of the month if I want Bertie to approve its use."

"Tell me she isn't trying to create an entirely new spell," Evan requested. Antonin looked at him, eyebrow raised.

"It seems to me that whatever you don't want her to do, she will be doing that."

Anabella smiled at them and walked away, her magic helping her carry the insane pile of books in her arms. She'd cast a feather-light charm on each book before Avery had placed them in her arms. It made walking much easier.

By the time she got to the restricted section, her mind was wandering. She'd met so many people and made so many friends since coming to the past. Her goal had been completely tactical - make friends, change minds, set things up. Instead, she'd become very close with too many people, especially too many people that she knew would die.

Yet, she couldn't find it within her to regret it. She just wanted to do everything she could to help and save the people she loved.

Regulus was the problem she was most concerned about most of the time. He was her soulmate, and the thought had her panicking more than anything else. If she couldn't save him, what the hell could she do?

"Carter," a voice drawled, bringing Anabella back to the present moment. She stiffened at the voice and cursed herself for separating from her boys. She was sure that, if it came to it, she could scream and they'd be there right away, but she didn't want it to come to that.

"Yaxley," she replied smoothly, turning to face him. He was alone, something he usually wasn't. The idea that he'd come to find her made her nervous.

"What would you need in the restricted section?" he wondered, eyeing the books she was in the middle of shelving. He was much too relaxed, too comfortable in the situation. She felt out of control and her nerves hitched.

"Special project," she replied shortly. "What do you want?"

"Well," he began, stepping closer. There was a table between them, but she knew it didn't matter. His wand was gripped tightly within his hand and hers was in her back pocket. "I thought I'd look for some advanced defense spells. An insane witch keeps attacking me, you see."

Anabella grit her teeth, glaring at him darkly. "You were going to attack Mary. You came at me. Maybe everyone here puts up with your bullshit, but I won't."

"How dare you speak to me like that?" he demanded, his voice louder but not loud enough to attract attention. "Don't you know not to be rude to your superiors?"

"Oh," she scoffed and rolled her eyes. "If I see one, I'll make sure to control myself."

He moved closer, clenching his fists and stepping around the table until he was uncomfortably close to her. Her heart rate picked up at the uncontrolled fury in his eyes.

"How dare you speak to me like that?" he spat. She was frozen in place as he lifted his wand, slanting it down as it moved through the air. "Sectumsempra!"

She gasped as she felt the curse split her skin open, slashing through her robes and cutting her chest, both arms, and her stomach deeply as the curse arched down and back up again in a U shape.

"Perhaps that will teach you to respect me," he growled. "Or I'll give you a more in depth lesson next time."

She wasn't sure when it had happened, but she'd fallen to the ground. He leaned down and pulled her head up by her hair before slamming her head into the cool stone beneath her. She heard him laughing as he walked away and twisted her body in pain.

She wasn't sure how long it had been by the time someone found her. Not as long as she'd expected, but she'd lost a lot of blood because Sectumsempra split one open and then pulled the blood to the surface quickly. Slowly, she blacked out as she saw shoes approaching hurriedly, wishing only to stay awake.

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"Are we worried at all that she plans to make this spell and then use it on us?" Evan wondered. He'd finally managed to get it out of them what the books were for, and he was concerned to say the least.

"Ana's made spells before," Regulus said quietly, frowning down at his bracelet. "Curses too… something's wrong."

"What do you mean, something's wrong?" Severus asked, looking up from his own pile.

"Something is wrong," he repeated as the bracelet heated up and lit up. He flipped his wrist over to check where she was and, without another word to their friends, took off after her.

He reached the restricted section and found that someone had closed and locked the doors that Anabella always kept open, just in case. None of the simple spells like Alohomora worked to open it, so he used an overpowered Bombarda to knock the doors off the hinges to let him in.

He sped into the general area she'd have been in to put the books away and looked around. He froze at the sight of a pool of blood coming from around the corner. He felt his breath leave him even as he took off in that direction, vaguely aware of their friends hurrying behind him.

He stopped short at the sight in front of him, completely unprepared for it despite the blood. Anabella lie on the hard stone ground, unconscious and covered in her own blood, which was pouring from her at an alarming rate. There was a deep cup along her entire torso, and her head was at a weird angle. It prompted him to look at the wall behind her, where he found even more blood.

"Merlin," Evan said from behind him, jolting him out of his stillness. Regulus dropped to the floor, picking her up and leaning her against him as he pointed his wand at her and tried to heal her, muttering all of the healing spells he knew. None of them did anything to touch her extensive injuries.

"Nothing is happening," he whispered, horrified. No one spoke. "Nothing is happening!" he yelled, looking at them.

Severus fell to his knees next to them when he finally reached the group, his own wand out already. He waved it gently over Anabella after pushing Regulus's wand away. He whispered as he cast, "Vulnera Sanetur," over and over, his voice almost too soft to hear.

They watched as, slowly, her skin stitched back together and the bleeding slowed. It took nearly ten minutes of Severus fighting the injury before she'd finally stopped bleeding. Breathing out sharply, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked to Regulus. "She needs to go to the infirmary. She lost too much blood- she's nearly dead."

Regulus was already well aware of that fact, the bracelet on his wrist still burning brightly. He stood with her in his arms and made his way to the infirmary. Everyone followed along behind him. They reached the large room quickly, and he thanked every deity he could remember that the library was on the same floor as the infirmary. Rushing in, he found an empty bed for her while Avery found Madame Pomfrey.

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Anabella threw her head to the side, whimpering in pain as she felt it throb. She felt a hand in each of her own and was fairly certain she knew where she was if the uncomfortable bed underneath her meant anything.

"Mm," she mumbled, blinking her eyes open painfully. She winced at the bright lights and tipped her head to the side. To her right and holding one of her hands was Severus, to her surprise. She blinked, confused. She'd known he cared for her to some degree, but sitting by her bedside? What had happened? "Sev?"

"Sano," he breathed, looking somewhat relieved. "You're awake."

"What happened?" she managed to ask, frowning at him. She remembered very little.

"Someone attacked you," he replied quietly. "They used a curse that I invented. It rips you open and works like a magnet for blood, pulling it out quicker. It almost killed you, Sano. I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault," she told him softly. "What else?"

"They hit your head pretty hard," he answered. "Madame Pomfrey said there may be some memory loss."

"Do you know who it was?" she asked, trying to shove down the panic rising within her.

"Yaxley," Regulus growled. Her head shot over and her eyes fell on her boyfriend, who looked both furious and devastated. As he said the name, though, everything seemed to fall into place. Seeing Yaxley in the library, talking, being cursed, all of it.

She nodded numbly, avoiding his gaze. "He cornered me in the restricted section. He used Sectumsempra and… I'm not really sure what else, but there was a threat in there."

"I'm sorry, Sano," Severus told her softly, gathering her attention again. "I had no choice but to give them the spell. I should've warned you."

"Don't apologize," she told him, gathering a stare from Regulus. "You didn't intend for this to happen- you weren't the one that cursed me. If he hadn't had your curse, he'd have used something else." She thought back to what Harry had told her of the curse. It had cut Malfoy deep and had bled him badly. Snape had refused to take him to the infirmary, instead using the counter curse right there. Anabella had a feel that Madame Pomfrey wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. Draco would've died had Snape not shown up.

She cursed Harry silently for how stupid he'd been to use that book. A book which she'd seen Severus carrying around. Part of her itched to burn it, but she resisted. It had to be there for Harry, for better or for worse.

"Your bracelet works," Regulus commented quickly after a moment. Her eyes widened a little.

"That's how you…?"

He nodded. "It burned my arm. I think it's because you were so close to death."

"It's likely," she said, thinking about it. "It's connected to my core, so the brighter it is, the darker my core is."

"It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't taken us so long to get there," he sighed in frustration.

"Hey, I'm okay," she promised softly. "How long have I been out?"

"Two hours," Avery answered as he entered the large room and made his way over to them. "I just let your Gryffindors know what happened and told them not to come until later."

She nodded gratefully, but grimaced. She knew they'd be concerned, and it was probably Lily that and Remus that would keep Siris away from the infirmary. James, too, she thought.

With very little convincing and the calming energy that came from holding Regulus's hand, she let her eyes close and fell asleep once again.

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