Hello, hello, hello! rave is back with more nonsense, so you've been warned. i can't seem to get the damned plot worked it properly...grr...yes i DO have a plot, thank you very much, it's just hiding from me because i threw some boots at it. i love reviews--positive, negative, neutral, the word "pork", whatever. thank you so, so so much to those who reviewed earlier bits--it's so kind and generous and i adore it. if i had any money, i would give it to you. o_O
-rave
Bryter Layter--Part III
Death in the Family
"So where were you last night, stud?" asked Erin playfully, nudging her best friend in the ribs over the quietly chattering breakfast table. "You and Sirius Black having a triumphant interlude?"
Anika, in the middle of a yawn, choked on her scrambled eggs (a rather difficult thing to do.) "You honestly think I was---was getting it on with Sirius Black?! Seriously, Sirius?" She gave a little cough of embarrassment as she realized what she'd just said.
Erin shrugged, the twinkle in her eyes growing more and more obvious as she cast a glance at the Gryffindor table. "All I know is, he comes up to you after the game and asks you something and you go all red. You come back, there is a short party in your honor, and then you vanish and don't show up until morning. I'm just putting the pieces together. No sick double-entendre intended, of course."
"Of course," said Anika, hiding her burning face behind a glass of pumpkin juice. "Tell me, does everyone think I'm now the official Gryffindor Groupie?"
"Oh, I don't know...the Slytherins certainly seem to be giving you quite the vicious looks, don't they?" Indeed, even Gretchen Stoop was staring at Anika with something remarkably close to hatred. It was a very unpleasant sensation.
Anika was turning away, about to return to her breakfast, when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw who it was--Professor Auriga Cygnus, Astronomy teacher and head of Ravenclaw house. A cold dread seeped through Anika's stomach--was she in trouble? Had they somehow found out about last night? Anika, usually on very good terms with Professor Cygnus, was becoming horribly nervous. There was something in the Professor's eyes...
"Could I talk to you in my office, Miss Donelan?"
"Of...of course, Professor," Anika stammered, stumbling to her feet and almost tripping over her robes. Erin watched, eyes darting from student to Professor in concern. Out the corner of her eye, Anika could see Sirius, apparently arguing sharply and animatedly with James as they pored over a copy of the Daily Prophet. Remus, however, was staring at her, worry and pain in his eyes.
Professor Cygnus had placed a kind but firm hand on Ani's shoulder, steering her out of the Hall and into the corridor where her office was. They reached it quickly, without exchanging a word; when they reached the door and the Professor pulled it open, Anika was shocked and rather horrified to see that Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore were there as well, staring meditatively into the fire. Dumbledore turned around, greeting her with a weary smile. "Sit down, Miss Donelan."
Anika sat, stiffly, in the chair in front of Professor Cygnus's desk, feeling like a wayward first-year.
Professor Cygus took a seat behind the desk, watching Anika with worried brown eyes. "Miss Donelan, we've received word..." She cast a desperate look at Dumbledore, unsure how to continue. "There's been an attack...your father..."
"Your father has been killed, Miss Donelan," set Professor Dumbledore in that kind, steady voice, full of sympathy and sadness. "He died fighting the Dark Forces, a hero. Whatever comfort that may be."
"Oh," said Anika, inadequately. There was a strange buzzing in her ears; she wished, desperately, that she could feel something when confronted with this news. Your father is dead, she told herself, furiously hoping for a response, anything. Dead. But there was nothing, nothing except that buzzing and a twinge of guilt because she couldn't feel anything else. "How?"
Dumbledore sighed. "Your father and a party of Ministry Wizards were on a mission for their department...routine containment spell. Has your father explained that to you?"Anika shook her head, mutely. "When an enchantment of great Dark power is performed, it leaves a residue that can be exploited by other Dark wizards. The entire mission of your father's department was to contain that energy, and your father was an expert at his craft. At any rate, they were going to contain the power at the site of a mass sacrifice--truly Dark magic, that is. But someone--something--attacked them. They found something else there, something they didn't expect..."
"This is our only clue to who caused it," said Professor McGonagall gently, pushing a small, glossy photograph across the table to her student. Anika picked it up in numb hands.
A tall, stone dolmen...words, scrawled in glistening letters (blood? the limp hand on the grass at the edge of the photograph seemed to suggest so) across its ancient stone:
I am Lord Voldemort, they read.
"Your mother owled us this morning," said Professor Cygnus sympathetically. "She wants you to be with her...these difficult times..."
"Of course." Anika still felt oddly blank. Poor Mother...she could never deal with being alone..."I'll go pack now," she said softly, standing up. "Thank you for telling me."
"Hagrid will give you a ride to the station as soon as you are ready." Professor Cygnus had also risen to her feet, her long blonde hair nearly sweeping the floor. "Anika...if you should need..."
"I'll be fine," said Anika hastily, drawing herself up to her full height. "Thank you," she managed again, and then quickly turned and left.
Professor Dumbledore watched her go, something flashing in his unreadable blue eyes.
*
"You're sure it was Anika's dad?"
Sirius paced the floor of the Gryffindor common room furiously, running his hands distractedly through his raven hair. "Seems like the only explanation, doesn't it? God, it makes me sick, though...what kind of twisted freak would do that to all those people? And that would explain why Professor Cygnus took her away at breakfast..."
"Let me see the article again," said Remus quietly. James tossed the Daily Prophet to him without a word, and Remus read:
Party of Ministry Wizards Slaughtered
Co. Clare, Ireland--The Ministry of Magic is baffled by the massacre of eight of its members from the Department of Mysteries, apparently attacked while attempting to contain the residue of power left over from the mass child-murders of the suicidal "Death Eater" cult. The Ministry has released the names of the dead: Bridget Flaherty, diviner, 32; Aoine Monahan, commander, 41; Sean Quinn, also commander, 66; Kieran O'Keefe, trainee, 24; Nuala and Padraic Finnigan, Hit Wizards, 39 and 40 respectively; Michael Donelan, containment expert, 46; and Connor Heaney, mediwizard, 43. Niamh Kilroy, resident expert on the Old Magic, was found in a coma; the Ministry has not confirmed rumors that the gruesome "Soul-Sucker" curse was performed on her. Doctors are now examining the bodies for clues, but so far only the grisly signature of the assassin has been found: the words "I Am Lord Voldemort", written in Commander Monahan's blood on the dolmen near the murder site. Whether or not these slayings are related to those of over twenty area children just three years ago has not yet been determined.
"Lord Voldemort," Remus said aloud. "It even sounds evil."
"It's intended to, I'm sure." Peter was staring at the photograph that had come with the article, a gruesome depiction of the bloodstained megalith, the grasses around it stirring in the slight wind. In the corner of the photograph, one could see a slack, white hand, presumably connected to someone's body...he shuddered.
"You should go talk to her, Moony," said James quietly. "I know she'll appreciate it."
"Yeah," agreed Sirius, squashing the urge to tie Remus to his chair and go comfort Anika himself. "She probably needs someone to talk to right now..." Me! Me, damnit, she needs to talk to ME!--Shut up, Sirius. No one needs to talk to you right now, least of all yourself.
He did a slight double take--"Remus? Where--"
Silently, Peter pointed to the already-opened portrait hole.
"I see," said Sirius softly, grimacing to himself.
*
Anika was lugging her suitcase down through the gardens to Hagrid's hut, expending far more energy than she really wanted to and thinking dark thoughts, when she saw Remus coming towards her at a run. She dropped the case onto the ground with an oath, shook herself mentally, and dragged it upright again. "Remus..."
"Ani." He skidded to a halt in front of her. "I came to see--are you all right?"
"Fine, thanks." She gave a short laugh. "I shouldn't be fine, though, which makes it not fine." A short pause. "That didn't make any sense, did it?"
"More than you might expect, actually," Remus responded, gently taking the case from her and propping it against a low garden wall. "Sit?" She complied, letting out a heavy exhalation and running her hands through her hair.
"Let me guess," said Remus wryly. "You haven't seen your father in practically forever, but you have a sort of vague familial affection for him just on principle--you know, he's the father, you're the daughter, you two ought to love each other so you've decided to do so. So now that you've found out he's dead, you realize that he never really meant much to you at all...it's like finding out your great-great-uncle is dead, or something--you feel not so bad, but then you feel worse because the fact that you feel not so bad makes you feel guilty."
Anika's mental jaw dropped. "Are you reading my mind?"
"No, just been there." Remus took her hand, almost amazed at his own daring. "Don't feel guilty. I mean, there's no real reason, is there, after all, it's not like he was so wonderful to you, if he were then maybe you could feel a little bad, but really you're only guilty on principle, which isn't a good form of guilt at all, and I'm babbling, aren't I?"
"Only a bit," she said, laughing slightly. "Thanks. I...It really means a lot that you care."
"I do," he said softly. "I really do."
Her laughter faded; the grey eyes raked over his face, searching for something he wasn't sure was there.
He cleared his throat. Might as well get this over with, he thought hopelessly, trying not to panic. "Er...I know this might be a bad time...but I was wondering, when you get back, you know, er," he took a deep breath, "dyouwangotohogsmeadewimesometime?"
A puzzled look came into Anika's eyes. "What?"
"D'youwannago--wime," he managed, before collapsing into a coughing fit that took up a good two minutes while Anika pounded heartily on his back. "D'you--Hogsmeade, sometime? Me?"
"Oh!" Anika smiled suddenly. The effect was electric; it transformed her entire face. He noticed, surprised, that her smile was slightly crooked, and her canine teeth were set rather too high. Not that those facts made the smile any less beautiful. "Oh, well, if you want to--I mean, if that's all right with you, I think, well, I'd love to, Remus..."
They grinned foolishly at each other for a moment.
Not breaking eye contact, Remus stood, picking up her case and almost tripping over his robes. "Er...shall I help you with this, then?"
"All right," Anika whispered, firmly directing her eyes to the ground and glowing brightly pink, unable to stop grinning like an idiot.
She slipped her hand into his as they walked down to Hagrid's cabin.
*
"Finally," grumbled James, watching the two of them through the frosted windowpane. "I was wondering when he'd get round to doing that."
Peter managed a smile. "Who'd have thought Moony would be able to successfully ask a girl out on the very day she finds out her father died? Not I, I'll tell you that. I doubt even Padfoot could pull that off."
"Heh," said Sirius expressionlessly, staring at his hands.
James eyed him sharply, but said nothing.
*
"Yeh gonna be all right, Ani?"
Hagrid watched her worriedly as she wrestled her suitcase onto the train, breathing heavily. "Yeah, Hagrid, I'll be fine."
"Leaving in one minute!" yelled the conductor, leaning out the window of one of the front cars.
"I'm sorry...'bout yer father. It'll be tough, for yer mum, yeh know. You give her my love." Hagrid sighed, knitting his immense brow. "It must be tough for her...tough on yeh, I know, growin' up without a father..."
"Hagrid, I never felt like I was growing up without a father," said Anika softly.
Hagrid went very red.
She went up on her tiptoes, clinging to the railings of the stairs for balance, and pecked him sweetly on the cheek. "I'll see you when I get back, then."
"Ani...If yeh ever need to talk about it..."
"I'll come to you," she assured him, pulling her case the whole way into the car.
The whistle blew insistently. Anika wrapped her traveling cloak around her body and gave Hagrid a half-wave as the door slid silently shut. Then, dragging her valise behind her, she stumbled into the nearest empty compartment and sat down, running her hands through her hair. The train wheels began to slowly chug; the platform, obscured by steam, began to slide past the window until Anika could only see the open English countryside out her large window.
When he was sure she couldn't see him anymore, Hagrid sniffed sentimentally, pulling a tablecloth-sized handkerchief out of one of the (many) pockets of his coat and blowing his nose furiously. "Well..." he muttered into the handkerchief, nose still quite scarlet. "Well...I never..."
*
Colleen Donelan was an almost unbelievably thin, almost unbelievably beautiful woman, with long pointed ears and sparkling green eyes. Her hair was long, white, and silky, falling nearly to her delicate ankles.
It was to be expected, from a real honest-to-goodness Fairy Princess, even if she was a rather aging Fairy Princess. Anika, sadly (she felt), had inherited only her mother's skinny body build; her coloring was her father's, and her face was rather childishly boyish in a way her ultra-feminine mother could never be. There was too damn much to live up to in her household.
"Hallo, mum," said Anika quietly, dropping her things on the sofa. After taking the train to Lampeter, she'd had to catch a Muggle bus to get to their village of Sylphwood-on-Teifi; her mother hadn't had the strength to come and get her from the station. Mother, thought Anika with some irritation, never seems to have the strength to do anything. "Mum? You home?"
"Of course I'm home," said a weary, tear-choked voice from the bedroom. "There is nowhere else to be."
For God's sake, thought Anika irritably, her and her dramatics. There are plenty of other places she could be. "I'm coming upstairs. That all right?"
Silence.
Anika trudged up the stairs, pushing open the door to her mother's bedroom. Colleen was curled up on the bed, her eyes red from weeping and an untouched bowl of rice placed on the bed table next to her. Anika cast a sharp eye around the room. "Where's Toffy?"
"I don't know," said Colleen miserably. "I don't care. He came up to give me some food this morning and I screamed at him."
"That wasn't very considerate," said Anika patiently, crossing the sterile, white room to sit by her mother and gently--but firmly--helping her sit upright. "Come on, mum, at least take this housecoat off--"
"How can you think about housecoats?!" screamed Colleen, her beautiful face contorted with rage and sorrow. "Your father is dead! Dead!" She collapsed into a paroxysm of grief, sobbing hoarsely and clutching at her throat.
"I know that, mum, honestly I do, but I hardly even knew Father, you must admit." She struggled, to no avail, with the tangled housecoat. "Come on, mum, just move your arm and I can get this off. You'll feel better."
"I won't," wailed Colleen, nonetheless moving her arm.
You sound like a two-year-old! Anika wanted to scream, savagely ripping off the bathrobe and tossing it on a chair. Can't you get over it? Can't you deal with anything on your own anymore?
A piteous, childish need for attention was rising in Anika's own chest. "I had my first Quidditch match," she said forlornly, trying to smile. "It was a shutout, but we lost anyway. Mum, aren't you proud of me?"
Colleen was staring at her in horror. "Don't you even care?"
"Of course I do," said Anika pathetically. "I only wanted you to know. You said you wanted to know when we played for the first time. Don't you care?"
Colleen raised a languid hand, shaking her head in disbelief. "Leave me for a bit, Anika. I can't...I can't deal with your apathy right now."
"It isn't apathy!" Anika smoothed her hair back hopelessly. "Mum, I only saw Dad once a year--if I was lucky. I want you to feel better. You're my mum, you're supposed to be able to wave your wand and make everything all right. I don't know what to do when you're so--so helpless! It throws everything off, and I just try to make everything normal even though it's so far from normal it's not even--I can't explain it, Mum. I only wanted to help..."
The Sidhe woman's eyes were filling with tears again. "Oh, Ani, I'm sorry..." And then she grabbed her daughter in a crushing embrace, sniffling into the shoulder of her robes. "It's hard for me..."
"I know, Mum." Anika was almost crying herself, now. "I know."
October 16
Dear Remus,
Wanted to see how you were doing. The funeral was yesterday--horrible scene, with a great fat Ministry official sniveling his way through the verses and the constant blowing-of-noses to every side of me. The whole time I could only think about how I could kill all these nose-blowers without being noticed. I almost laughed once.
There were so many people there, I could barely see my own father--I had to fairly kick my way through, which is a horribly irreverent thing to do at a funeral as you can imagine. Luckily, most of the guests thought I was just in a grief-stricken rage, which I suppose I should have been if I were a good daughter. And if he were a good father.
Have you heard? "Voldemort" struck again, in England this time. They say a whole family was killed--children and all--and their house was infested with poisonous snakes when the Ministry got there. All that was left of the family were their bones. They don't even know why the people were killed, except maybe just as a warning. God, that just makes me sick. No one even knows what he wants. I suppose Hogwarts must be incorporating some kind of defense against curses into the DADA curriculum...? They should, anyway.
Er, not much else to say. I got a cat. Our house-elf, Toffy (and our house is pretty small, so we only have a house-elf because house-elves just gravitate to the Sidhe--in case you've forgotten, that's what my mother is) gave her to me, to cheer me up. She is black and she has a weird little crooked patch of white fur that looks a bit like an "M" on her head. So I called her "Moony Blues" after you (partly) even though no one will tell me what "Moony" means.
Give James, Sirius, and Peter all my love (and give that Severus Snape a whack with a broomstick for me.)
Love,
Anika
October 19
Sweet Anika (how my heart melts at the name! Even now the pen trembles as I draft those sublime syllables):
You are the honeysuckle of my soul's garden, the delicious lemonade fate has tossed me after the great long de-gnoming that has been my life. Every word you say or write is like music, or fine art, or possibly a beautiful ballet, or an expertly hand-crafted Taiwanese figurine of Mickey Mouse. Your soul is forever entwined with mine; destiny favors us, and will never tear us apart, like the cheap paper upon which this note is written because I am too much of a miser to buy actual quality parchment. I am inexplicably drawn to you, like a fly to a used diaper, only more romantic.
Yours with passionate long-distance kisses,
Remus
October 20Dear Ani,
If you just got an owl with some really odd message in it: it's not from me! Honestly! It's from Sirius. I got him back, though; I told Moaning Myrtle that he'd called her pimply and said he was glad she was dead. She was wailing at him for hours.
Sirius told me to tell you he kicked Snape in the hallways and thought of you.
Hope you're well.
The Real Remus
(P.S. Don't write for a couple of days, as I will be attending my aunt's wedding.)
October 24
Sirius:
"The great long de-gnoming that has been my life"? Surely you can do better. That bloody stank. I never thought it was Remus for a minute.
Glad you kicked Snape. Did he kick you back? How's Myrtle?
-Anika
October 29
Ani,
Slytherin flattened Ravenclaw without you. So ha.
-Sirius
November 14
Remus,
Sorry it's taken so long to write back! I've been visiting innumerable relatives all over the damned British Isles. I'm supposed to be going back to school November 29th, so just in time for the next Hogsmeade visit. Hurray!
Would you believe they're still making me do the homework?! They've owled me all my assignments and I have to spend hours between consolation sessions with my countless uncles trying to figure out how to turn a mountain hare into a mole.
I have a new person for you to kick: Sirius. Tell him to take his head out of his arse as his words are very muffled from in there.
How are James and Lily? And Peter? I haven't heard from them.
Moony Blues is trying to eat this letter so I will send it quickly before it disappears forever down her gullet.
Love,
Ani
November 17
Ani,
Haven't really got anything to say, but am glad you're coming back soon! I've missed you. Just to warn you: I won't be at school when you get there, as my aunt has died and I'll be attending her wedding funeral. I'll be back on the 30th, though, so we can still go to Hogsmeade on December 1.
Love,
Remus
November 20
Remus,
The same aunt? Poor thing! What about her brand-new groom? (As they say, a new groom sweeps clean...heh heh. What the hell am I talking about?) Anyway, much sympathy.
Love,
Ani
November 24
Dear Sir/Madam,
Monsieur Remus is not at his residence at the moment. I am his man-of-all-work and general message receiver. Your message re: "The Same Aunt?" makes little sense to me, and thusly I cannot be expected to help you. You may, however, seek the master's assistance upon his return if you so desire.
Have removed my head from my arse as per your request, only to find that everyone around me has still got theirs up there. I long for my former pastoral state.
-Guess who?
November 27
Sirius,
You twit.
See you in two days.
-Ani