Chapter 10: The Last Secret
As I approached the door, quite from what I was expecting, there were no guards or bars or even locks on what appeared to be the outside of an ordinary office. However, as I listened more carefully I could hear what sounded like the cracking of a whip. A high pitched whimper of pain quickly followed this.
There was another crack, then a yelp.
Another crack, then a scream.
The sound of quick shuffling overtook the whip and I could hear what sounded like chains rattling on the inside of the room accompanied by more screeches. The sound of these was more horrible than anything I could ever have dreamed of hearing on Charad Street. They were high and earsplitting, like the sound of metal scraping on metal. I had never heard, a human, even in their darkest hour, make such desperate woeful cries.
What were they doing to her?
No sooner had I placed my hand on the door to find out, then I heard two male voices coming from the inside of the room heading closer to the door. Within seconds two large, muscular men emerged from the very black inside of the room. Each was carrying a padlock, which they were now turning to place on the door, along with a makeshift card board sign which read simply: Werewolf
One of the guards I recognized as the tall man from the hearing. He was the first of the two to notice me.
'And what do you want?' He asked eyeing me with a suspicious sneer.
Fighting back the urge to reply smartly to his rudeness, I gave my explanation about the medicine and showed him the forged note. Even as he read it the suspicious look never left his face. I began to feel anxious.
'Fine,' He said, however reluctantly. 'Just leave that with us, we'll take it in.'
He made a grab for the cauldron. I pulled it away.
'The minister requested that I deliver it in person,' I lied.
I couldn't quite explain why, but I wanted to see Celia. I needed her to explain everything to me.
The guard stared down at me for some time before finally:
'Suit your self then' He signaled to the other guard to open the door.
'Good luck mate,' The other guard said as I passed 'I only know I wouldn't wanna be alone with one a them'
The door shut behind me.
I immediately noticed the change. I was standing in a pitch black circular room. I pulled my cloak tighter around my shoulders. The temperature seemed to have taken a sudden plunge with the closing of the door.
This place felt more like a tower or dungeon then an office, as it appeared to be from the outside. It took a moment for my eyes to find my bearings, before I found the only flicker of light issuing from a high, small window to my left. There, below the window, shivering with her arms wrapped tightly around her bare chest, sat Celia.
Looking at her, I could now tell what had made the cracking sound from the out side.
The red lashes made a criss-cross pattern across her back leading all the way up to her shoulders where I could make out long purple colored bruises that ran down her arms from where she had been grabbed by the guard. Blood from the marks covered her completely nude body, which she had struggled to cover with her arms as she heard the door open.
'You came?' She asked quietly. Her eyes widened and her lips curled upward.A sting of pain flickered behind her eyes, the right of which was large and black There were several prints on her face which looked as though they belonged to the sole of a boot. I thought of the guard at the door, and his steel toed black boots. A surge of anger threatened to envelop me. I kept it at bay.
Her long blond hair, which was usually kept neatly off her face, now hung limply around her shoulders. A very small rope had been gripped tightly around her neck, keeping her tethered to a pole in the middle of the room. Her feet and hands had also been bound together; I could see the ropes cutting into her wrists making large red gashes.
'Your medicine,' I said shortly. At the moment I could think of nothing else to say
'Thank you Mr. Weasely,' She said with her usual polite nod.
'I've told you it's Percy,' I said, though rather coldly
'I apologize. But I wasn't sure that you would wish for us to be so informally associated under the circumstances,' Here her voice cracked slightly but she was still wearing the ghost of a smile.
She turned back to face the window. I thought of leaving. No doubt that was what she was expecting and I knew that I did not want to stay in that freezing dungeon longer than was absolutely necessary. But then I thought of all the questions I still needed answered, and somehow my feet were incapable of movement. I stood in the same spot on the cold stone floor
'I truly am lucky you know,' Celia said after a long silence.
'How so?' I asked.
'Most prisoners are sent straight to Azkaban after their court review. But since Azkaban does not accommodate magical creatures, I was placed here instead. One of the perks of being a monster I suppose.'
She valiantly attempted a small laugh before she shivered. I could tell the temperature had dropped again. Celia placed her arms around her bare shoulders. I moved closer.
'Here' I said removing my cloak. I placed it over her shoulders.
'Thank you' She said quietly.
All the questions I had wanted to ask, all the answers I had been planning on receiving had some how faded from my mind. Now, it seemed, there was only her.
I pulled myself down along the wall and sat beside her on the ground. There was silence for quite a while.
Then suddenly she gazed up into my eyes, as if making some deep decision.
'I should have shown you before…'
She motioned for me to come closer to her. When I did she pulled the right end of the cloak from her arm to reveal small white claw markings, identical to the ones I had seen on the garden wall at Oswald manner. I bent down to examine them further. As I did however, Celia took my hand and placed it gently on top of the marks on her skin.
Before I could do or say anything the room began to fade away.
I felt a deep falling sensation in the pit of my stomach. The area around me was swirling my head was feeling lighter every second as my eyes roamed hopelessly around the circling black and white mist
Finally, I felt my feet come to a stop on solid ground. Once I had found my bearings, I found myself not in the dungeon as before, but in a house that I recognized.
Even though Oswald Manner was colored dimly and bore an almost faded look, I could tell that this was a far cry from the blandly decorated, small home in which Celia lived. The lavish golden love seat along with a high, gold trimmed table replaced the moth eaten sofa and small coffee table in the living room.
The house seemed to be empty in this, was it a memory? I had, of course read of pensives, perhaps what I was experiencing now was similar to entering one of those. I walked slowly around the room for a few more minutes before I heard footsteps creaking from the stairs.
Soon, a small girl emerged at the stair well. She looked to be about twelve or thirteen. Even so she seemed particularly thin for her age. She had shoulder length light brown hair, and gray eyes. Celia's eyes.
The girl looked around the room hesitantly for a moment, then slowly, made her way across the living room and into the adjoining dining room, which I had known as the simple small kitchen in the modern manner.
She walked to the small wooden door through which Celia had shown me the garden. The girl stopped for a moment before turning the silver knob. I followed her down the corridor. I didn't feel as if I had a choice at the moment.
She began to walk faster. I had to sprint to keep up with her as she neared the door at the end of the hallway. We finally reached the end. The girl rattled the door knob. It was locked.
Quickly she pulled her wand out from underneath her robes.
'Aloham-' 'Alieanna!' A rather frenzied male voice cut her off. I whipped around, so did she.
I let out an indistinct noise, though neither of my counterparts seemed to hear me. From the back of the corridor came a winded and frazzled though much younger looking Fudge. The bald spots on his head were now filled in with dark brown hair and he was much thinner, but there was no mistaking those small eyes.
'Alieanna. What are you doing here?' He asked sharply.
'Thought I'd go for a stroll in the garden.' The girl answered staring at him defiantly.
'I've told you it's far too dangerous there at night. Now get back inside.' Fudge insisted
'How dangerous can it be, if Mum stays out there once a month?' The girl said frowning. Fudge suddenly looked horror struck.
'I know you've been trying to hide it from me Dad. I've got a right to know!' She pointed her wand once again at the door.
'Alohamora!' She said. The door lock clicked and she quickly turned the knob
'Alieanna don't-' Fudge began. But she had already started out the door. I followed her Fudge did not. I soon knew why.
We rounded the corner to the garden wall, which, apparently had not yet been covered by vines as it still shimmered in the light of the full moon. Near the edge of the wall, with it's back facing us, was a fully-grown werewolf.
Both Alieanna and I stopped dead as the wolf turned to us. Its teeth were barred in a low horrible growl. In less then a second it was flying at us through the air.
I pushed myself the ground. I heard a scream. Then the faint sound of a crying baby, before I was suddenly off my feet again. Flying as I had been before.
I felt my feet land on a wooden floor. I opened my eyes slowly. The scene was still faded. I was still in a memory. It was a house again, but not a mansion. This seemed to be a small, modest bedroom.
It was not long before I heard the door knob begin to slowly turn.The door opened to reveal the same thin girl with light brown hair and grey eyes, though she seemed older now, perhaps nineteen. She entered the room quickly,
seemingly anxious. Her eyes darted to a small clock on the bed stand and then to the window, where it seemed that dusk had newly fallen. She began to make her way to a small door across the way. I began to follow her.
'Alieanna?' Came a very small, high pitched voice. We both turned sharply. A very small girl, around six years old, with blonde hair and grey eyes was standing in the door way.
'Celia' Alieanna said wearily. Her voice was kind but her manner was still quite anxious
'I can't sleep,' Celia said stepping into the room and rubbing her eyes.
'Celia please go back up stairs. I'll see you in the morning.' Alieanna threw an anxious glance in the direction of the window again.
'But I can't go back alone! ' Celia was on the verge of tears. Alieanna suddenly doubled over in pain.
'Celia please-' she managed to whisper before she became very tense. Her body was ridged and straight as a board.
'Alieanna?' Celia said stepping closer. Her voice was shaking. Then she gave out a scream. I couldn't watch. I knew what had happened. The sound of four paws leaving the ground told me everything.
I felt the flying sensation once more before landing on the floor of the dungeon. Celia's eyes were still boaring into mine. She had lifted my hand from her arm and set it back down on the ground.
'A werewolf's claw marks,' she began softly. 'Conceal the history of a werewolf. They show when the wizard or witch was first bitten as well as the bites of all their victims.'
'Then Alieanna-?' I began hesitantly, pulling myself up from the floor.
'No, I didn't make her up. She was my sister.' Celia answered anticipating my question.
'She was never content to take our father's word that our Mother had sudden emergency's at different periods of the month. She eventually figured out the truth, and well, you saw what happened.' Celia's voice began to crack once more, but after a moment she went on.
'I was only a baby. I don't know exactly what else happened that night, nineteen years ago. The night the legend about Charad Street began.' I stared at her quizzically.
'Well, surely your Father…the Minister…' It felt strange to think of Fudge in such an informal manner. I took a moment to let it sink in before continuing.
'He must have told you something about what happened! What about your Mother?'
Celia looked up at me, a new sadness seemed to fill her eyes
'Father never spoke much about the incident if he could help it. I think it was too painful for him. All though, he has told me since, that Mother escaped over the garden wall that night and ran into the trees, never to be seen again. He would never tell me any of the other details. I know as little as you do about what happened to the others, the Aurors and the rest of them. To tell the truth I didn't want to know.' She pulled my cloak tighter around her.
'Why did you move back after so many years?' I asked. I was too anxious to worry about appearing too forward any more. I was finally getting the answers I had sought for so long.
'I have never left that house.' She answered quietly
'Father put a charm on the numbers to make the address change each year. He allowed the outside to fall too pieces as the houses around us had, and he changed the inside of the mansion every once in a while, just to be safe. He stayed in the mansion with us until Alieanna turned 17, then he moved away, coming only when necessary. It was very dangerous to his career to remain there. Despite the precautions. And of course with out Father's work we would be no where.' Celia added the last bit hastily. As if convincing herself of the sensibility of Fudge's actions.
'What happened after-?' I asked almost not daring to finish the sentence. Celia stared out the window for a moment.
'After I was bitten,' She began slowly. ' I remember waking up the morning after. I didn't remember much, only that Alieanna had told me to go back to my room, then that she had been acting sick. I asked Father where she was. He told me not to worry, that it would be all right, and that I needed sleep. Later he told me that she'd disappeared, like Mother. I would never see her again either.' She gave another shiver before continuing.
'After that, I learned to look after myself. Father would stop by about once a week to make sure I had food, and sometimes to give me lesson books, when I became old enough to learn magic. It was far too dangerous for me to go to school.' She added almost wistfully.
'Then when I was about twelve, my father came with a potion. He said he'd had it made for me, he told me that if I drank it, it would help. He didn't have time to explain further but-I'm sure you understand.' She looked at me. I nodded. She turned back toward the window. I could feel the wind seeping through it causing the temperature to drop even further. I was beginning to miss the cloak that Celia was now pulling tighter across her shoulders.
'He is a very good man.' She said quietly. I pondered this in my head, but no matter how I tried I could not understand it.
I thought I had seen blind loyalty in my parent's devotion to Dumbledore. But as I thought of Fudge who had basically condemned his daughter to death, who had ordered her to this dungeon, who had, no doubt, dictated that she should be stripped, beaten, and tethered like a dangerous, wild animal, how she still saw this man as "good", my parents actions seemed quite reasonable indeed.
'Who was the man you were talking to, the day You-Know-Who- returned?' I asked ignoring the peculiar sensation in my stomach. This subject still brought up feelings of slight jealousy
'His name is Remus Lupin.' She said. Now I knew where I had heard his voice. He was the Werewolf who had taught Defense against the Dark arts in my last year at Hogwarts
'He was trying to convince me to spy on the ministry for Dumbledore. Of course I declined.' She said rather valiantly
'Is there anything else you wanted to know?' Celia asked after a rather long pause. I began to shake my head no, before remembering that I still had one more burning question.
'Why did you lie to me?' I moved closer as she looked up at me, smiling almost coyly at this question.
'It-it was rather silly of me. But, you have to understand, I…' She cut herself off abruptly and swallowed. She spoke her next words very slowly, as if she had taken great care in choosing them.
'I've read all about what most people think of werewolves. They don't trust us, and they have reason not to. We are monsters after all.' Her coy smile began to fade as she said this and she looked away from me, down to the floor.
'My Father taught me never to become too friendly with strangers. He told me that none of them would understand none of them would accept me. He said that he was the only person I could trust. For a very long time I believed him. And then you came.' She looked very hesitantly up at me once more, though she was not smiling now.
'The moment I saw you I knew that, some how, you were different from the people my Father had warned me about.' The ghost of a smile returned to her face.
'I wanted, more than anything, to tell you what I was, to tell you everything, anything you wanted to know. But, there was still the risk that you would stop coming when I told you. That you would leave me alone the moment you found out. And I know I should have told you the truth from the beginning. But …' She stopped abruptly biting her lower lip.
'You once asked me what I was afraid of. It is true, to some extent that I've never really feared anything in my life. Not even my transformations. In some strange way, I began to feel that I deserved the pain that came with the moon. I became accustomed to it. But when you came everything changed some how.'
She looked at me as though I were some curious beast. It occurred to me for the first time that this was possibly the longest amount of time in my life that I had ever kept silent. I did not see the need to speak. She continued…
'My feelings, my thoughts, somehow became more…real, more…human I suppose you could say. When you were there, when you were with me, I didn't feel like a monster that was only being allowed to live out of kindness. For the first time in my life I felt…like I didn't simply belong to Oswald manor or to my father, but that I could possibly belong to…something else. Something much grander. That frightened me to some extent.'
She paused and took a very shallow breath. I couldn't tell where this speech was leading. I opened my mouth several times in an attempt to prompt her, but words failed me and in the end I stood silent.
'But what I was most afraid of, was the thought of you leaving. If you left, all the sense of belonging, the sense of equality I felt, would disappear with you. I would go back, to being just another monster, like I was before you found me. So I suppose you could say that what I was afraid of the entire time was…you.'
She stared up at me wide eyed. She had told me the truth. Perhaps for the first time since we had met. And in doing so, she laid her heart and soul at my feet, giving me complete and free reign to ruin them, trample them, reject them if I so desired. But she trusted that I would recive them, whole and unspoiled as they were. There was the chance that I would reject her. She knew that. But I could see the same trust she placed in her Father shining in her eyes when she looked to me.
And somehow, I couldn't accept it.
I began to look away.I found it difficult to look her in the eye. My own pitiful soul knew what she refused to see. She had been right not to tell me what she was. She had been right not to trust me.
What would have happened if I had known from the beginning? Perhaps I would still have dropped off the potion at the request of the minister. But I would have made a point of not entering the house. I would not have wanted to have any verbal contact with a werewolf. It would have been too damaging to my career.
'It was selfish of me not to tell you,' She whispered. 'I'm sorry'
I forced myself to look at her. She was still staring at me, looking as though my silence had done more damage to her than the death sentence of ten thousand judges from the world's highest courts.
She began to stare back out the window. In the faint light of the setting sun I could see tears pouring, silently down the side of her face.
At that moment I wanted more than anything to put my arms around her to comfort her. I wished with my entire being that I could receive what she had offered, to be able to freely accept the truth that she had laid at my feet. But I could not force my body to follow the foolish whims of my heart.
Instead my feet remained completely paralyzed as I watched her place her head against the side of the wall.
When my feet finally did find their bearing, I began to head towards the door. I had learned all I needed to know. There was no reason for me to stay.I knocked once, and heard the guard begin to unlock the door to let me out. I looked back at Celia. Her head was still resting along the side of the wall. Then she sat up and made a motion to shrug the cloak that I had given her off her shoulders
'No. Keep it' I said.
She hesitated, then nodded silently pursing her lips together. The guard opened the door, and I began to walk towards it before her voice, though very soft, stopped me.
'I love you' she whispered.
I stood by the door for a moment. The guard was holding it open, tapping his foot impatiently. I straightened myself up and walked out, not daring to look back.
