Since the last chapter and this one are both fairly short, I decided to go ahead and post this one as well. Hope you enjoy!

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The Book of Carmen

Chapter XIII: Despair

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Dumbledore was sitting at his desk when Sirius entered his office. The old wizard's hands were folded with each long finger interlaced with the others. His forehead rested against his hands and his eyes peered down at the Daily Prophet on his desk. Sirius approached and bumped a large stack of books. The top three books fell, and Sirius reached down to retrieve them.

"Leave them," Dumbledore said, his eyes still on the newspaper.

Sirius obeyed and stood in front of the desk. "You wanted to see me?"

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair. "Yes. I just received this Daily Prophet," Dumbledore said, pointing to the newspaper. "It appears that over the past twelve hours the Daily Prophet has received many reports of strange and brutal attacks on both animals and humans, wizards and Muggles alike. The shear amount of the attacks as well as the brutality, leads me to believe that the Book has gained great power."

Sirius ran a hand through his hair, "And you think Selene has something to do with it."

"No Sirius, I know she has something to do with it."

Sirius felt his anger rise. He tried to look away, but the headmaster held his gaze. "Sirius, listen to me, I know you don't want to hear this, but you are going to listen to me. I believe that the Book has Selene under its control. I doubt very much that she went willingly, but something happened that forced her to let it take control of her mind and body."

Sirius swallowed hard.

"Until now we believed that the Book intended to use Selene as a permanent conduit to the physical world. But these new attacks lead me to believe that the Book has other plans. The Daily Prophet calls these attacks random, but I believe they are anything but random. The creatures it attacks are gentle beings such as unicorns, phoenixes, and centaurs. Human victims are equally innocent, and many of them have been children."

Sirius blinked, "Children, why?"

"What other beings on the planet have gentler spirits?" Dumbledore stood and walked over to a large brass alchemy scale, "What the Book is doing is trying to tip the scale between good and evil." He placed a weight on the scale and it tipped accordingly, "If it succeeds than it will have enough power to achieve its own corporeal form and it will no longer need Selene to act as its messenger."

"And Selene?"

"She would be destroyed."

Sirius waved his hand, dismissing Dumbledore's idea, "Selene wouldn't allow the Book to assume a form. She would not stand by and let children be massacred."

"She is not in control!" Dumbledore yelled, startling Sirius. "Look at that paper Sirius."

Sirius picked up the paper read the headline, "LAST TWO UNICORNS OF GREENBRIAR FOREST FOUND SLAUGHTERED."

"I know you love her. I love her as well. But understand that our primary concern is for the innocents of this world. That evil must not be released. And I believe that I may have a plan that can stop the Book."

Sirius looked up from the paper, "How?" he asked.

"However, will be dangerous. Not just for us, but for Selene as well." Dumbledore paused, "It would cause great risk to her life."

Sirius threw down the paper, "No. That is a risk I cannot take."

Dumbledore walked over to Sirius and put a hand on his shoulder, "Sirius, she may be lost to us already. There is only a slim chance that our Selene survived the merging with the Book."

"But if there's a chance…"

Dumbledore sighed and picked up the fallen paper. He handed it to Sirius, "Turn the page."

Sirius complied. When he turned the page he saw a picture of a burning house. A woman and man stood watching their house burn to the ground. The woman held a small teddy bear in her hand, but its owner was not in sight. He knew Selene would risk her life to save a child, but could he risk her life to save others? Sirius remembered a scene much like the one in the paper. He remembered finding the two bodies of his friends in the remains of their house. Sirius often wondered what it would have been like if he had found a third body that night instead of a baby. He closed his eyes to block out the thought. There was nothing that he would not have given to have been able to stop the deaths of James and Lily. Now he had the means of stopping a far more potent evil from killing more parents and orphaning more children. Sirius opened his eyes, "How do we stop her?"

~*~

Remus did not want to wake up but he could not shake the feeling that someone was watching him. He lazily opened one eye and saw Will looking back at him.

"I didn't disturb you, did I?" Will asked.

"No. Not at all," Remus lied.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"I went back to the Shrieking Shack, to see if I could find out anything about what happened last night."

Remus sat up, "What did you find?"

"Not a lot. The place was nothing but rubble. I can't believe you made it out alive."

"That makes two of us."

"But I did find this," Will said and pulled out a strip of bright red fabric and handed it to Remus.

Remus took it and rubbed it between his fingers. The fabric was tough, but pliable, and had a faint luster. Both were characteristics of robes made with dragon scales. Remus' heart sank, "This came from Selene's robes."

Will nodded.

Remus wondered why he felt surprised, because it all made complete sense. The evil managed to leave the Book long enough to find Selene and merge with her, but the core of its power still lied within the Book. So it was Selene who exploded the Shrieking Shack and took the Book from Peter. After all, why use someone with minimal magic to control when you could have someone like Selene obey your commands. Remus closed his eyes at the thought of Selene under the control of that hideous being.

"I was wondering if you would give this to Sirius," Will said.

"I will, but why?"

"I'm inclined to believe that Sirius would separate my head from my shoulders if I gave it to him."

Remus looked at him questionably. Will sighed and sat on the bed, "Can I confess something to you?" he asked,

Remus nodded.

"During the rise of Lord Voldemort, and after his fall, there was great pressure on the Ministry to apprehend all Death Eaters. However, Death Eaters were, and are, not only some of the strongest wizards, but also some of the smartest. Tracking them and arresting them properly was very difficult." Will took a deep breath, "So, the rules were bent and infractions overlooked. We started with the best intentions, but things got out of hand. Innocent people went to Azkaban, many innocent people."

"But you weren't responsible for that," Remus said.

"I had a part in it," Will admitted. Remus started to say something, but Will raised a hand. "There's more. One night my team went into a suspected Death Eater's house. It turned out to be a trap and two Aurors were killed. Later we found out that we had been ratted out by one of our own. The Ministry left it to me to find the rat in our ranks. There was pressure from them, from the families of the two slain Aurors, as well as pressure from the rest of my team, as each were terrified at the prospect of being the next victim. I was young, Remus, too young to be put in that position," Will said and then looked away. "All evidence pointed to them, every piece. But they just would not confess to the crimes. It never dawned on me that they could have been set up…"

"Will, you're not making any sense. Who are you talking about?"

"The Longbottoms."

Remus sat back, "You mean that…"

"The Longbottoms were never tortured by Death Eaters. It was we, their friends, who performed the Cruciatus Curse until they went mad. We covered it up with the story of the Death Eaters. We never found the real perpetrators."

Remus stood from the bed and walked over to one of the large windows. He had known Will for many years and he would never have believed him capable of committing such crimes. Remus had visited the Longbottoms once, and their wide-eyed stares had disturbed him a great deal. He had also seen the haunted look in Sirius' eyes. Although Sirius never discussed his time in Azkaban, he knew his friend slept very little due to nightmares. Remus had cursed the name of anyone who could have put innocent people through that despair. Now a man responsible for the despair of many was standing right beside him, and he had called that man friend.

"Remus?" Will asked hesitantly.

"Sirius knows this?" Remus asked with a monotone voice.

"He said he heard people screaming my name in Azkaban," Will said, his voice shaky, "But I don't think he knows about the Longbottoms."

"I suggest that it remain that way. I will give him the cloth and run interference between you two as well."

"Thank you Remus." Will said and put his hand on Remus' shoulder, "Your understanding is greatly appreciated."

"Don't thank me for this," Remus said and shook Will's hand away. "I'm doing this for Sirius' well-being, not yours."

Will's face contained both surprise and hurt at Remus' response. "After that night I've tried to repair the damage I've done. I've worked hard to free the innocent people in Azkaban and even harder to find a way to reverse the effects of long exposure to Cruciatus."

Remus sighed, "Yet you allowed it to happen in the first place. Repentance doesn't undo the past. I'm not your priest, Will. Don't come to me looking for forgiveness."

Will nodded slowly and Remus listened to his retreating footsteps. When he heard the large doors open and shut his anger surged through him and he slammed his fist against the glass, leaving snake-like cracks along the surface.

~*~

What do you think of Will now?