Chapter 7 - Don't Fear the Reaper
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except Charolette and family. Thanks :)
(Don't Fear the Reaper is a song by Blue Oyster Cult)
Walking over to the door, she opened it softly and saw Sirius standing outside. Before she could mutter a sound he embraced her, crushing his lips down on hers. She began to push him back at first, but felt herself give way into his kiss, enjoying the moment.
They staggered back into the room, Sirius shutting the door behind him with his foot. Charolette stopped at the edge of the bed, and pushed him back slightly, looking at his face.
"Sirius...I...I can't...please...don't force me," she said quietly, her eyes filled with sadness.
"You shouldn't lead people on without an intention of following up on it then Charolette," Sirius said bitterly, his eyes now filled with anger.
"We can't be anything but friends Sirius, you know that, we are two completely different people..."
Sirius let go of her, stepping back from her. His steel blue eyes which had before held hunger and need now showed anger and distress.
"I'm sorry Charolette..." he said and paused for a moment, looking deeply into her eyes. "I didn't mean to force you to do anything," Sirius
picked up her hand and opened it slowly. He dropped the small rose blossoms back into her palm and closed her hand. He forced his gaze to the ground and turned around sharply and walked out of the room, leaving Charolette standing alone, staring at the two white and one red rose in her hand.
~*~
Today was the first day Charolette would have the chance to see her daughter. She had been busy for the past few weeks and so had her daughter, what with classes and homework. But Dumbledore was letting them see eachother today.
Emma had been brought into Dumbledore's office the first night her mother came to him and told him her sister was a death eater. He had explained to Emma the situation and that her aunt was not to be trusted.
Emma understood, but was still shocked. She was glad her mother was safe, and was glad to finally get to see her.
Charolette approached the large Gargoyle that led into Dumbledore's office. She spoke the password and climbed onto the rising stairs.
When she reached the top she walked in the room, Charolette's hand shaking with nervousness.
Emma was already in there, sitting on an armchair playing candy wizards chess with Dumbledore. Emma saw her mother and ran up to her, hugging her tightly.
"I missed you honey," Charolette said happily, looking at her beautiful daughter.
"Missed you too mom...oh...hello," Emma said to Sirius, who was now standing behind Charolette.
Charolette didn't say anything, but turned away from Sirius and back to her daughter.
Sirius smiled at Emma, pain urking inside him that she didn't remember him. He didn't bother to look at Charolette. It hurt too much.
He walked over to Dumbledore who was now standing by his desk, reading over a piece of parchment that was no doubt from the Ministry of Magic.
"Headmaster..." Sirius said quietly, motioning that he wanted to talk to Dumbledore in private. They walked into a room connected to Albus's office and took a seat at two armchairs seated by another fireplace.
"I was wondering if there was any news from the ministry about the death eaters? Apparently Charolette's sister is one of them."
"Yes, I'm afraid, but don't worry, as long as the fidelius charm is working, your safe. And as for Charolette's sister, she will most likely come back for Charolette, so we have to be on vigilant watch," Albus looked up at Sirius and kind of smiled, his baby blue eyes filled with worry.
"Sirius, I was wondering if you'd be interested in taking a teaching job here...as an animagi teacher, seeing as to how you and your friends learned to do it."
Sirius was a bit shocked but nodded in agreement. "Sure, I'll take the job...thank you very much, Headmaster."
Albus patted Sirius's shoulder and walked out of the room, Sirius trailing behind him. They entered the office again, to find Charolette and Emma talking about Harry Potter and how Emma was good friends with him now.
"Well, the time being what it is, I believe it is time for Emma to get back to her classes," Albus said softly, winking at Emma.
"Alright, I'll see you later mom," she hugged Charolette tightly and walked out of the room, waving by to Sirius and Albus.
Charolette sighed and sat down in one of the arm chairs where Albus and Emma had been playing chess. She knocked over one of the pieces in exasperation. Albus walked over to the other chair and sat down, looking at Charolette.
"I know this is hard, but she is well protected, I can assure you of that..." he looked up at Sirius, "and it seems to me that you are well protected as well."
Charolette looked up and saw he was looking at Sirius, who was gazing out the window, pretending not to listen.
"Oh, no no Headmaster...Sirius and I...we're just...friends, believe me," she said softly, looking down at her hands which now toyed with one of the candy chess pieces.
"Nothing more then friends, headmaster," Sirius interrupted sternly.
Albus looked at both of them, seeing as to how they were both hurt when they admitted what they thought as the truth. He smiled and stood up and walked over to his desk.
"Well you two, I've got some paperwork I've got to do, if you'll please leave me to it," Albus said cheerfully, smiling at both of them as they nodded and headed towards the door.
Sirius pulled it open to let Charolette walk through, staring down at the floor as she passed. Charolette thanked him quietly and rushed to her room ahead of Sirius, who turned and went out to the lake.
* * * *
That night Charolette was sitting quietly in her armchair in her room. Gazing into the fire, she relaxed and tried to forget Sirius, Dumbledore, and the whole magic world. But she found that when she opened her eyes, tears flowed freely down her delicate cheeks, relflecting the firelight.
Charolette didn't know what she wanted. Once again in her life, things weren't going so well. She had been in love once, and it had caused her nothing but pain. She didn't want to go through that again. Even if it was with Sirius.
I would only bring Sirius pain, she thought sadly. I could never trust him, I could never let go.
She closed her eyes again and breathed in the smoky scent of the fire and the lavender scent of a candle she had lit on the mantel. Charolette lost her train of thought and began to drift off to sleep.
Not long had passed when Charolette opened her eyes slightly, feeling another presence in the room. Before she could turn her head, a hand grabbed her around her mouth to prevent her from screaming. The person pulled out their wand and whispered the imperius curse, causing Charolette to feel light headed.
The person ordered her quietly to stand up. Charolette felt part of her saying no, but the imperius curse was too strong and she'd never been under it before. The person led Charolette out of the room, and down the hall.
Making sure nobody would see them, the person who was now leading Charolette down to the entrance hall was wearing an invisibilty cloak, so it just looked like Charolette was taking an evening walk.
When they reached the huge door at the entrance of the castle, the person ordered Charolette to open it and step outside. Charolette obeyed, watching helplessly while her body started walking away from the castle.
She couldn't see the person who was leading her away, but knew they were there because she could constantly hear them muttering things for her to do.
Charolette felt carefree and lightheaded at the same time as feeling great worry and frustration. Why couldn't she repel the curse? Why was she forced to give in?
The person led Charolette to the dark forest, where she saw a broom leaning neatly against a treetrunk.
Off by the lake, Sirius gazed up at the sky, watching a meteor shower. Normally he would have been fascinated by seeing stars fall from the sky, but his mind was elsewhere.
He couldn't stop thinking about Charolette. The way her soft dark brown black hair flowed freely down her back and the way her amber eyes shown with deep gold, penetrating his gaze. The way her smile shut out all worries, even though her smile was rare to see. She hardly ever smiled.
Sirius sighed deeply and gazed over his shoulder. He saw a dark figure walking right into the forest. Turning into dog form, Sirius ran after the person, keeping quiet and in the shadows.
Much to his surprise, he saw that it was Charolette, and that she was stepping up onto a broom that was by a tree and that she looked like she was sleep walking.
Watching intently, Sirius watched as another figure appeared behind Charolette and got on the broom behind her. The figure then kicked up off the ground and began to fly off into the night sky, heading east.
Sirius quickly ran to the broom shed, taking out his broom. He set off to follow them. Clearly something was wrong.
* * * *
Charolette opened her eyes slowly, forgetting for a second what had happened. She then felt a sick jolt of anxiety in her stomach as she remembered the night before. She had been knocked unconcious when they had reached some sort of mansion.
She couldn't remember anything else.
Charolette sat up and looked around. Whoever had brought her here had placed her in a small guest room with a queen size bed against on wall and a small desk on the opposite wall. There were no decorations in the room, and Charolette felt nervous just being in it. The walls were adorned with pale blue wallpaper that matched the color of the comforter of the bed she was on.
There was a small window with white blinds and the same pale blue color drapes. She climbed out of bed, still wearing her dark red robes from the night before.
She rubbed her eyes, feeling exhausted and weak. When she opened them there was a woman standing by the window. She was short and pudgy with strict dark curls close to her head. She looked over at Charolette and smiled, causing Charolette to gasp.
"Maggie!" Charolette shouted with surprise. Maggie stepped over to Charolette who was now standing by the bed, gazing disapprovingly at her. Charolette opened her mouth to speak, but realized there were no words to say. Maggie had her now, and Charolette knew she was going to be forced to take the mark.
"Charolette my dear...how nice it is to see you again," Maggie said, smirking at Charolette and glaring at her evilly. "I think you know why you are here."
Charolette began to back away from her sister, backing away towards the door. She gazed at her sister, who hadn't moved an inch but was instead looking out the window again. Charolette felt the door and opened it quickly, about to sprint out of it when she bumped into something hard.
Charolette looked up and saw a tall man with long white hair glaring down at her, a smirk forming on his tight lips. "Hello, Ms. Graye, how nice of you to join us."
Charolette didn't recognize the man but her questions about his identity were confirmed when Maggie turned and spoke.
"Ah, goodmorning Mr. Malfoy, I see you've met Charolette, my sister?"
"Hello Maggie," Malfoy said with wider smirk then before. He grabbed Charolette by the arms and pushed her against the wall.
"You have one of two choices, and I think its obvious which is the better of the two, darling." Malfoy said calmly, gripping Charolette's wrists and holding them against the wall. "You may choose to join us, and fight with us as death eaters and take the dark mark on your arm, or you can choose to let us kill you...now you have 3 seconds, 1....2....thr," the man said, gripping Charolette tighter.
Charolette winced in pain. "You'll have to kill me then because I refuse to be what you've become Maggie!" she screamed.
Malfoy looked over at Maggie, and pulled up her sleeve, revealing the dark mark. "You could have had a piece of the power, Charolette, pity you chose the side thats going to lose, the side thats already losing..."
Charolette glared up at Malfoy, noticing that his eyes were a steel gray and were hard and tough, nothing like Sirius's, who showed compassion.
Malfoy let go of her and walked swiftly to the door, shouting to two large men outside. The men came in the room and grabbed Charolette, who tried to kick them but was overpowered by them when Malfoy performed imperius on her.
The world became dizzy and she felt lightheaded, watching as her legs began to walk for her, her brain totally shut out in its own world.
Charolette saw the two men carrying her fly into the air and across the hall. She fell to the floor, gasping and waking up slightly from the imperius curse.
She looked up and saw Malfoy clutching his wand and pointing it at Sirius. Sirius had his wand pointed at Malfoy and sent off a beam of yellow light that pinned Malfoy to the wall, causing him to drop his wand.
Charolette winced at the pain she felt in her arms from where Malfoy had clutched her. She tried to stand up but her legs wobbled beneath her, causing her to sink to the floor again in desperation. She felt Sirius pick her up and run. He ran down the stair case and right through a crowd of now confused Death Eaters. They never saw it coming and by the time they realized that Charolette had gotten away, Sirius was already in the air on his broom, clutching Charolette to his chest.
* * * *
Charolette awoke yet again, squinting her eyes against the bright sunlight that was shining in her face. She felt a stab of fear as she thought she was in the Malfoy Manor again, but then looked around and realized it was her own bed.
Sirius was sleeping in the arm chair by the fire, his black hair touseled from flying. Charolette stood up and felt instantly dizzy. Her head ached and she realized she had been asleep for some time.
Shaking off the dizziness, she stepped into the bathroom and splashed cool water over her face, considering what had happened the past night. She realized she didn't want to think about it anymore and turned on the shower.
She gently stripped off her robes and looked at herself in the mirror. She had faint bruises on her upper arms where Malfoy had gripped her. They hurt slightly when she touched them. Stepping gingerly into the shower, she let the steam and hot water relax her muscles and mind. She hadn't taken notice that the door to the bathroom was open, and Sirius had woken and seen the bed empty, a stab of fear in his heart.
He walked into the bathroom and saw her in the shower and breathed freely again. He washed his face and tried to fix his rats nest of hair. Charolette turned off the water, and saw Sirius standing by the sink, staring at his tangled black mane.
Not thinking, she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body.
"Want me to help?" she said softly, watching Sirius try to finger through his hair.
"Alright...be careful, I don't want to have any bald spots." Sirius said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Charolette ignored the comment and grabbed her brush and detangling spray. She began to spray his hair and run the brush through it. His hair was almost instantly detangled and he marveled at the way she stroked it straight.
Sirius had let his hair grow long again, always liked it that way, he thought. Though at times like these, it was better to have short hair.
Charolette set the brush down on the counter and stepped out of the bathroom when she was finished. Sirius ran his hands through his hair and was very pleased.
He followed after her, entering the room and seeing her standing naked by the bed, pulling on panties and faded blue jeans. She didn't care that he was watching her, she had nothing to hide afterall. Well, at least not physically...she thought with a sigh.
Sirius waited by the door of the bathroom until she finished dressing and then walked up to her. Charolette looked up at him, her amber eyes penetrating through his gaze.
"It was so hard...really hard..." Charolette said quietly, her voice wavering as tears threatened to well up in her eyes.
"What was?" Sirius asked sternly, expecting her to say something meaningless.
"Seeing the dark mark on my sisters forearm..." Charolette whispered, watching the hard expression on Sirius's face quiver slightly, then watching him stare down at the floor, avoiding her gaze.
"I'm sorry Charolette." he said as he walked quickly out of the room.