I'm so so so sorry about how late this is!
This has been a very long time coming, I know, and thanks for sticking with me. But the next (and final!) chapter will be out before Feb. 15, because that's the day I retire from writing.
Once again, oodles of praise to my totally loyal, dependable beta-reader, Allylupin. You rock!
Lupin's Lair Chapter 16 – The Joys of Floo Travel and Truth Serum
*
Calypso rubbed her eyes and gave an impressive sigh. "Look, I've told you before – I DON'T know the passwords to the Portkeys!"
It was late at night, and rain lashed the only window in the Auror Boardroom.
"Then who does?" Cecil demanded, his jowls wobbling.
"Monahan. Him and my parents, and that's all."
"Well that's no good to us! He won't talk, and if Veratiserum won't work, what are we going to do?" An elderly witch with pince-nez moaned despondently, and looked about her fellow Auror Board members for suggestions.
"Torture's out of the question, sadly enough." A Warlock grizzled.
"Could we tempt him with immunity from prosecution?"
"Bribery, perhaps?" Suggestions rolled around the table, and heads leaned inwards to discuss the finer points.
Calypso leaned back on her chair. "How many times do I have to tell you – it won't work! He's a die-hard Death Eater! It's unthinkable for one of our Tribe to betray the rest!"
"Apart from you, of course." A balding wizard sneered.
"Which is exactly the reason I got away with it!" Calypso snarled back suddenly, jumping to her feet, eyes flashing. "Look, if you're not going to listen to what I have to say, why the hell am I here?"
"Calypso!" Moody barked, grabbing her by the back of her robes and yanking her back into her seat unceremoniously.
"I'm sorry if we seem ungrateful, Miss Grey," Dumbledore spoke from the other end of the oval table. "What you have told us about the Death Eaters and your futuretelling Dreams has been of great interest, and we are in your debt."
Calypso squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. "Sorry."
Moody leaned over. "I think we'll have to do something about that temper of yours." He murmured in her ear, and Calypso bit her lip. Her patience, normally very short, had been eroded by the hours of questions about her time with the Australasian Death Eater tribe. The Quick-Quotes Quill on the table beside Cecil's elbow had gone through two stacks of parchment, and was still scribbling furiously away. She had answered questions ranging from the Death Eater's favorite kinds of food, favorite curses and sleeping habits to antidotes, new curses, Portkey passwords, political currents and possible targets. The last three Calypso didn't have a clue about.
Calypso's weakest point (apart from her temper, patience levels and absolute pig-headedness) was her naiveity when it came to politics. Hostile takeovers, allegiances, innuendoes and general wheeling and dealing went straight over her head.
When she had told the Auror Board all about her Dreams, and particularly the one where Azkaban and Hogwarts were sandcastles and fell to pieces, she became vaguely aware of some sort of unspoken argument between Cecil and a stringy witch with sharp eyes. Most board members were convinced that the line in the dream 'one will fall' meant that the Aurors would have to sacrifice one stronghold in order to save the other one. Cecil argued that Azkaban should fall and Hogwarts should be protected. The witch was of the opinion that Hogwarts, simply a school, was not nearly as important as a Wizarding Jail containing dangerous Death Eaters. Calypso unintentionally broke up the argument by pointing out that both castles could possibly fall – the dream just said that one defiantly would.
"So do you have any idea where else we can find out the Portkey passwords?" another witch asked after the Board members had finished giving Calypso dirty looks.
"No. Unless there's been a new Truth Serum invented in the last fifteen years or so that we can give to Monahan." Calypso looked around hopefully.
"Zilch." A wizard answered, and the faces around the table looked very long. Apart from Calypso's, which was frozen in look of sudden comprehension, her mouth in a small 'o'.
"What?" Dumbledore asked.
"I just though…" Calypso said slowly, eyes large, "the Death Eaters didn't bother to add wards against Muggles when they Wizard-proofed their accommodation, so I was thinking that they'd…" she trailed off, staring at the ceiling.
"What?"
Calypso gave a dreamy smile. "I have an idea that may well work. If you don't mind robbing a hospital."
*
"This feels wrong." Neil said to Maria as they turned the corner and pushed the swinging doors open.
"The means justifies the end, so they say, Dr. Johnson," Maria said back as a nurse in a white uniform gave them a small nod. "But still, stealing from a Muggle hospital isn't something I'll put in my resume."
"Left here." Neil said, and, white coats flapping around their knees, the pair power-walked importantly past a sign that read 'STAFF ONLY'. Further down the hospital corridor a stainless steel door was set into the wall, equipped with a heavy deadbolt and electronic keypad.
"Looks like this is it." Maria breathed, reading the large sign printed on the door. DRUG STOREROOM. Neil marched straight up to the keypad and, whipping his wand from one of the deep pockets on his labcoat, prodded the electronic device. The keypad gave a chirp, and there was a click. "Alohomora." Neil whispered to the deadbolt, and there was a satisfying clunk as the bolt retreated and the door creaked open.
"After you." He said as Maria slipped through.
Inside the storeroom, the air was dry and had a peculiar taste that tickled the back of the throat. Maria coughed as Neil flicked on the lights, and the interior of the room was lit up in a dazzling fashion. Stainless steel gleamed and bottles glowed ominously from their alphabetical positions on the shelves.
"S, s, s, s, s, sa, se, se, se……." Maria whispered as she trotted around the shelves, reading the labels on the containers.
"No need to whisper." Neil remarked as he relocked the door.
"Here it is!" Maria said. "How much did she say she needed?"
"She didn't."
Maria frowned. "A big bottle will be missed more than a small one, but we don't want to take too little."
"It's your call."
"This one, then." Maria plucked a 50mL bottle off the shelf and dropped it into her coat pocket. "Have you got the rest?"
Neil looked up, still pulling a handful of sterile hypodermic syringes out from a large box. "I've got needles, syringes and alcohol swabs. What else do we need?"
"Sticky plasters. Here, I've got them."
Maria grinned wickedly at Neil. "You know, this is almost fun."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Neil replied as he unlocked the door and they slipped out.
*
"Here you go." Maria said proudly, plonking the glass bottle on the table in front of Calypso.
"Oh, fanks!" she murmured, her mouth full of fried rice. While waiting for Maria and Neil to get back from the hospital, the Board had decided to adjourn for dinner. The weather outside had worsened and the temperature was unusually low for summer, but inside the Auror HQ the temperature was cozy.
"Exactly what is this Muggle stuff?" Dumbedore asked, summoning the bottle across the table. "Sodium Pentobarbital." He read off the label.
"It's a very crude Muggle Truth Serum. Totally out of date now, but still does the job."
"How does it work?"
"It's an anesthetic."
"How is knocking Monahan out going to help us find the passwords for the Portkeys?"
"I'm not going to knock him out, you idiot." Calypso said crossly. "You just give them enough so they feel all doped up. It's a Barbital, you see – they are a family of sedative and hypnotic drugs. What happens is they forget all about consequences and just babble away." She looked quite smug. "That's exactly what you want, isn't it? Give Monahan some of this and he'll ramble on about whatever topic you ask him."
Maria moved uncomfortably. "How much is 'some'?" she asked.
Calypso shrugged. "I'm not the doctor."
Neil and Maria, both MediWizards, exchanged uncertain glances. Suddenly a smooth voice glided nastily over the boardroom.
"And how do we know that this Serum is going to work?" It was Snape. Where he had appeared from, no-one knew, but every face in the boardroom showed that they wished he would go away.
Seeming oblivious to the hostile aura in the boardroom, Snape stalked over to stand next to Dumbledore's shoulder. With long cream fingers, he deftly plucked the bottle of Serum off the table, and began toying with it in his hands.
"You see," he began, "if I were Mr. Monahan-"
Faces in the Boardroom reflected the unspoken comment that was on the tip of all their tongues – Snape and Monahan had many things in common.
"-and this Serum did not work, it would be a simple matter to feed my interrogators mis-information, while pretending to be under the influences of this drug." Snape twirled the small glass bottle on the tip of his finger. "How, I ask you, will we know how much Serum to administrate without killing Mr. Monahan?"
A rumble of agreement rolled around the boardroom, and worried faces stared at the little bottle. Calypso felt totally deflated – it was the only good idea she had, and Slimy Snape had crushed it.
"You have another suggestion, Severus?" Dumbledore said, breaking the melancholy silence.
Calypso really didn't care for Snape's crocodile smile as he looked at her.
"We have sitting in front of us the perfect Guinea Pig."
It took Calypso a few bewildered seconds to realize what he was saying.
"Oh no, no no. No you don't!!!" she cried to a room full of people who had mostly made their minds up already.
"Ms. Grey," Snape continued, "I don't think you have any choice. We have to work out how much the drug to give, and see if it will work."
Calypso shook her head belligerently. "No."
"Then we won't use it." Maria said quietly. "Calypso, unless we test it out on you, it's too dangerous."
After thinking for a while, Calypso relented. "Okay." She said mildly, surprising everyone, who had expected her to argue for the next few hours – at least.
Ordinarily, she would have stuck her toes in and refused to have any needle of any name, shape or description come near her. But Calypso had been thinking about a dream she had a few weeks back, one that involved cartoon characters shooting apples off the top of her head. One of those characters had represented Snape. And Calypso's sense of logic told her that if her dream self had let Snape shoot apples off her head, then in comparison having Snape trying Truth Serum out on her wasn't that bad.
So biting her lip, she stuck her arm out for Maria and tried to ignore the roaring butterflies in her stomach.
*
"So, did it work?"
"Oh yes." Moody replied, his face twisted into a satisfied grin. "Maria and Neil and going to dose Monahan tomorrow morning. We'll nail the bastards."
"What did you ask me?" Calypso said sleepily to Moody as they walked out of the Boardroom and down the long, twisting corridors.
"All sorts of things." Moody replied with a slight chuckle.
"I don't like the sound of that." Calypso warned him.
"Oh don't worry, lassie. We asked you things like your name, address and telephone number, and all the stuff we asked before about the Death Eaters, to check if you were lying."
"And?"
"And what?"
"Why were you chuckling?"
"Oh, you managed to insult most of the Board members. And embarrass yourself quite horribly."
"Moody!" Calypso said, horrified. "What did I say?"
Moody snorted into his hand. "I dare not repeat it."
Calypso looked daggers at him. "I hate you."
"No you don't. You think I'm a grouchy, difficult, paranoid old bugger but I'm okay to get along with even though I read soft-porn, don't own any pets and have doorknobs that try to eat arms."
Calypso turned bright pink from her neck to her ears.
"The Warlock magazines aren't mine, by the way, they were my son's. But apart from that, I think it's a remarkably accurate description of me." Moody said with a straight face.
"Oh no." Calypso groaned. "What else did I say?"
"Let me say that those you didn't insult found it all quite entertaining."
"Perhaps it's better if I didn't know, then."
"I'd have to agree."
"Interesting meeting." Moody said reflectively. "I thought for a moment that Eliza was going to come out and challenge Cecil for leadership. But then you said something and it simmered down."
"What? When?" Calypso asked, confused.
Moody sighed. "That was a very politically charged meeting. Didn't you notice? Interesting that Rachel sided with Cecil on that issue, though….thought she was favoring old Brian…..but he's supporting Cecil….."
"Moody, I behaved, didn't I?" Calypso cut in sweetly to Moody's political pondering.
"Sort of." Moody grunted back.
"You promised that if I behaved we could go to Remus' place after the meeting."
"It's past 11PM!"
"I don't care!"
"Remus might!"
"Oh come on! Please! Pretty pretty pretty please!"
Moody looked at Calypso with a disturbing smile. "On one condition. You tell me how on earth you got those horrible scars on your cheek and brow."
Calypso stared at Moody, stunned. "Oh…your magic eye…it'd see through the Concealing Charm…." She mumbled, nearly tripping over the floor rug. She ran a finger over the grooves in her face. "I'd love to say they're a sign of some Prophecy that I'm the one that will save the world from the forces of evil or something equally impressive, but that'd be lying." She said ruefully. "I got these from a rather nasty car crash that I was in when I was sixteen."
Moody raised his eyebrows. "How disappointing! I was looking forward to hearing a good yarn."
They walked into the Floo Room, and a Junior Ministry Official in standard maroon robes greeted them.
"Meeting finished late, Mr. Moody?" he said as Calypso yawned.
"Don't they all?" Moody said, taking a pinch of powder from an urn and tossing it into the huge pyre that sat in the middle of the room. "Lupin's Lair!" he called as he stepped into the bright green fire.
Calypso watched Moody spin and then disappear in the flames, and felt vaguely sick. The Truth Serum had eventually knocked her out for a short while, and her mind was sluggish. It seemed to take things a long time to register with her, and there was a noticeable delay between touching something and feeling it.
Taking a pinch of powder, she thought for a second that maybe it wasn't a good idea to travel by Floo Powder while still under the effects of an anaesthetic. You weren't supposed to drive cars or operate heavy machinery for 48 hours after taking the drug, but stupidly, she dismissed the notion that traveling by Floo was much more dangerous than driving a car, and threw the powder into the flames.
Stepping into them, she realized it felt like ghostly fingers tickling her legs. "Lupin's Lair!" she said quickly, and the world swirled into chaos.
It was like the most horrible drug-induced trip Calypso had been on. Her vision surged, images flashing on her mind hard and fast, sounds disembodied and echoing. There was a sickening sensation of falling, and she could feel nothing. The blood seemed to rush to her head, and her stomach gave a troubled squish. One thought flashed clearly through her drug-addled brain.
Get off. Now.
And so she stepped forward, and fell.
And landed on a pile of ashes.
*
Dumbledore was brushing his teeth when Moody's head popped up in the fireplace.
"Dumbledore, that meeting we are having tomorrow with Calypso to discuss Divination-y stuff?" he asked frantically.
"Yes?" Dumbledore replied, taking his orange toothbrush out of his mouth and looking at Moody's head with concern.
"We may have to cancel it." Moody said in a shaking voice, his magical eye darting around in his head.
Dumbledore frowned. "Why?"
"Because Calypso is lost somewhere in the Floo network!"
*
A rather stunned Calypso got up off the ground, where she had lain for a few minutes after landing and throwing up fried rice all over the ground, the rain drenching her back.
A horrible feeling descended into the pit of her now-empty stomach as she looked around.
The magical grate she had fallen out of was about the most intact thing in what was left of the house. Even it's metal bars were agonizingly twisted and warped, half-buried in charcoal and muddy ash.
It had been a fairly substantial house despite its strange location – smack bang in the middle of a dense forest. The wispy, dank fog that sat around the clearing glowed fluorescent green due to the magical Wards, giving the scene a rather surreal, creepy feeling that chilled the soul. Trees towered ominously above Calypso, their dark silhouettes swaying in the wind that whistled breathily. It was still raining, and Calypso took a few disbelieving steps over charred tiles and beams to stand in the middle of the fire-gutted ruins in front of the fire grate. There was no way a fire, magical or no, would ever be lit in it ever again.
"Oh no." She said over the pelting rain. "I'm in trouble now."
*
"One more round." Ben begged.
Dmitri looked at his opponent in helplessness. "But you have already lost everything!" he pleaded. Indeed, while the table in front of Dmitri was stacked with peanuts, there was only a scattering of salt and smears of oil by Ben.
Will had long since withdrawn from the game of cards, due to eating all his betting peanuts. Phillip was out on duty, Charmaine was sleeping and Fleur was still off-duty due to her injury and was lugging her trunk down the stairs. The next morning Charmaine, Fleur, Will, Dmitri and Phillip were all moving to Hogwarts – to take up their new positions as Student Teachers.
"Ben, I think it's time you gave in, old chap." Will remarked from beside the crackling fireplace, looking up from his book which was now smeared in peanut oil, much to Fleur's disdain, as it was her book he was reading.
Ben shook his head. "No, I have a good feeling about this next round." He said proudly, and it was with a sigh that Dmitri shuffled the pack of cards again.
The hostel the ex-Phoenix apprentices were lodging in was comfortable and homely, with a sprawling lounge and huge fireplace. There were twelve Junior Aurors at this particular hostel, and all got on well enough, despite many of the males scrapping over Fleur's attentions.
"Boyz!" she would mutter, turning on her heel and walking away from the brief fights. "Idiots, all!"
Fleur had been remarkably down-to-earth since being kidnapped by the Death Eaters and then rescued by Sirius and Calypso. She was itching to get back on active duty like the rest of the Juniors, but had another two days to go until the MediWizard from St. Mungo's would give her clearance.
The others, however, wished for a day off. The Aurors had been run ragged, and things were getting worse.
So it was with much surprise that Phillip's head appeared in the fireplace, making Will jump and Dmitri knock over his peanut stacks.
"Phillip!" Will exclaimed. "What's up? Are you coming back early?"
"No…such…luck. You'd…never…guess…what's happened." Phillip panted, eyes bright with excitement.
"We don't know, tell us!" Fleur demanded.
"Ben, your… girlfriend-"
"Calypso? I'm not quite sure if she's still my girlfriend seeing as w-"
"-is lost in… the Floo network."
There was an incredulous silence.
"You're joking."
"No, I'm not joking. HQ requests that you ….all Apparate to Floo Central immed…iately for a search." Phillip's head hurriedly vanished from the fireplace, and the Junior Aurors looked around desperately.
"Lost in the Floo Network? There's over 12 000 fireplaces connected to the Floo Network!"
"I heard this story about a little boy who got lost and they never found him."
"And just look at that weather!"
*
Calypso shuddered violently and wrapped her arms tightly around her sodden torso. Her lightweight cotton robes clung to her body wetly as more cold rain lashed the ruins. Huddled under a large forbidding tree, she started to sniffle.
This, she had worked out, must be the Petchell house, where the Death Eaters were ambushed a few days earlier thanks to her tip-off. Huge chunks were ripped out of the trees where hexes and curses had gone astray, and there was a few craters littering the ground. The magical wards were the biggest problem for Calypso – there was no way she could light a fire, magical or Muggle. She was horribly cold and had been for the past five-and-a-half hours since she had landed.
The rain wasn't that bad, she admitted – it was the wind that was the killer. Howling around the trees it stripped any trace of warmth from her body and left her teeth chattering.
"B-b-b-b-bloody w-w-wards!" she muttered miserably as lightening raced overhead. It was about four in the morning, and Calypso had only managed a few wink's sleep. She had occupied herself in long detailed reflection about her life so far.
I will never complain about anything ever again if I get out of here alive, she had though, tears welling up in her eyes. If I get out of here…..if I get out of here…
*
The rat was back at Azkaban.
It was scampering down the narrow, dripping, dim ducts that provided the ventilation to the cells – a perfect highway for small rodents. With every fourth step, there was a clank as the rat's silver paw hit the ground. As the rat scurried around a corner, the silver paw, which was covered in something dark and wet, skidded out from under its fat body and the rat squeaked with annoyance.
It stopped, and reluctantly started licking the human blood off the paw before continuing.
*
At about half past five in the morning, the storm was still raging, but there was a huge change that lifted Calypso's wet spirits. The Magical Wards died. Delighted, she stiffly got up off the muddy ground and dragged a broken branch under her tree. Collapsing beside it, she faced the palm of her hand towards the bough and frowned, trying to concentrate, which was hard when rivulets of water were streaming down her face.
"Dammit!" she growled through chattering teeth. "Burn!"
After ten minutes, nothing had happened, and Calypso burst into helpless tears.
Change shape, Calypso! You'll be warmer as a wolf.
Virginia? Calypso sobbed. Oh god am I glad to hear from you!!! I'm so cold and wet and lost-
Just change shape!
Calypso lay on the ground and closed her eyes, trying desperately to muster the concentration to change shape.
*
Being an Animagus had been possibly the biggest waste of time and effort in her life. It had taken two months of study and preparation, danger and sacrifice, and in the end she had turned into a Wolf.
"Bloody useless." She had grumbled to Melody. "What use is being a Wolf in a country where there are no wolves? Besides, Wolves would be shot on sight anyway."
"I'm sure it'll be useful in time." Ben had consoled her. "Look at me, I'm a Tiger! You can pass your animal off as a dog or a dingo – try a Tiger!"
Admittedly, Ian as a Lion, Gary as a Camel and Ashleigh as a horse weren't very useful Animagus shapes to have. But Malcolm had become a Elephant Seal, Renee a cat, Jared a Magpie and Melody was a Hawk.
How ironic that the blind girl had become a keen-sighted harrier.
"At least we are all large and predator-ish!" Ashleigh had pointed out. "Imagine being a rabbit or a fly or a mouse!"
"Or a Weta!" Ben sniggered, thinking of his boss.
Wolf-shape had been useful in a couple of occasions on the farm, though. It was much easier to run in Wolf-shape, and lacking working dogs, she could round up the sheep herself. And best of all, there was nothing like having fur.
So it was with relief that Calypso felt her veins tingling like her blood was filled with lemonade, and suddenly the night lit up as she had Wolf night vision. Suddenly she felt warmer – still wet, but faintly warm. Exhaustion hit her like a sack of bricks, and Calypso the Wolf curled up tightly into a ball of grey fur at the base of the tree. Within a few minutes she was off to sleep.
*
Moody apparated into the clearing with Amos Diggory, wands ready.
"Say," Amos said, looking around at the charred wreckage of the house, "isn't this where…"
"Yeah." Moody said as they quickly scanned the perimeter. "Bit of a mess, isn't it?"
"I can't find any sign of a fireplace." Amos called over the rain from where he was rooting around in the ruins.
"No fireplace, no Floo Connection." Moody replied. "She won't be here."
"Let's go, then. We've got another few hundred fires to check."
Amos was about to Apparate out when Moody's quick hiss of indrawn breath halted him.
"Amos! Look over there! Under the tree at two o'clock!"
Diggory turned around sharply, and scanned the treeline until he saw what Moody was talking about. Curled up in a tight ball was a Wolf – or maybe a dog.
"What do you think?" Amos said cautiously. "Can't be a Werewolf – full moon was two weeks ago."
"Dog. Large, hairy and asleep. How about we leave it that way?" Moody said as a dismissal. "Sorry for getting you worried. Let's go."
With a pop the pair of Aurors Apparated out of the remote clearing, while the Wolf twitched in her sleep. She was sure she had heard voices……
*
"It's all my fault."
Melody laid a gentle hand on the old man's shoulder. "No, Mr. Moody, it's no-one's fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's Cal's. She knew the dangers of taking drugs better than anyone else, and knew the possible pitfalls of Floo Travel. Don't beat yourself up for an accident."
"I was supposed to be responsible for her. And look what's happened!" Moody said despondently to Moody's kitchen table.
Remus' house was the center of the search and the kitchen was the nucleus. At least two people could always be found in the kitchen, crossing off Floo Ports, grabbing a quick bite from the friendly Fridge and sometimes friendly Pantry, and collecting a new list of Ports to check.
The door to the kitchen was flung open and a very wet and rather muddy ragged pair of Junior Aurors stumbled through the door.
"Gudday 'Ria, Mel." Ben said tiredly as Aria leapt up to hug him, mud and all.
"Found her yet?" Aria demanded, and Ben shook his head. "Don't worry, you will. I know it."
Maria gave a sad smile. "I'd like to think positive as well, but it's been over 48 hours so far and we've not seen hide nor hair of her."
"And that weather hasn't let up. She was only wearing Suzy's old cotton robes…" Moody said quietly.
"You will find her." Aria repeated confidently. "I was right when you all said she was dead and she wasn't."
"True." Remus noted.
Phillip, who was if possible, wetter and muddier than Ben, approached the kitchen table, a turkey sandwich in one hand and a chunk of cake in the other (courtesy of a most obliging Fridge and Pantry). "What's the news?" he asked.
"Nothing much." Remus spoke up. "We've got another 500 Floo Ports to check, but Arabella Figg has come down with the flu and has gone home to bed. Which means we've only got 39 people searching now."
"Can't you get more?" Melody asked.
Moody shook his head. "No, lass. Calypso's identity is supposed to be kept a secret, otherwise we would."
"And there's been no sign of her." Maria confirmed.
Moody snorted. "Some of those Floo Ports are deserted. Diggory and I even saw a big wild dog at one."
"Wild dog?" Ben repeated, shooting a quick look at Melody. She too, was just as interested.
"Yeah, a shaggy grey thing. Thought it was a Wolf for a second." Moody chuckled briefly. "Scared the bejesus out of me for a few minutes, it did."
Ben tried his best not to look too excited. "Wow, how freaky. Where did you see this dog?"
"The old Petchell House. You know, the one you Aurors ambushed the Death Eaters at?"
*
Ben, after careful consultation with Apparamaps, Apparated into the remains of the Petchell House, and instantly tripped over the crumbled remains of a brick wall.
Getting to his feet in the drizzle, he pushed his black hair out of his eyes and looked around at the gloomy scene, aware that his palms were grazed and brick dust was impregnated in the wounds.
"Calypso?" he called into the fog.
There was no answer, though his voice rang eerily off the tall pines.
Hope the old man wasn't seeing things, Ben thought as he picked his way out of the rubble and to a spot of level ground. He took a breath and within an instant, had easily transformed into a rangy orange and black striped Sumatran Tiger.
His Animagus shape didn't have many practical every-day applications, but in cases of emergency it was brilliant. One whiff of the air told him that Calypso had been here.
Her scent, human and wolf, wound around the clearing and zigzagged through the trees in a hopeless tangle. Ben leapt onto the freshest scent and with lithe Tiger-legs springing him through the undergrowth, bounded along the trail, dodging raindrops easily.
After about half an hour, he was beginning to feel worried. The trail wandered aimlessly through the forest in no particular direction, and on occasions doubled back on itself. He stepped up the pace.
A few minutes later he nearly stepped on Calypso. She had collapsed where she had stood, Wolf-legs too weak to hold her up anymore. With a pop Ben transformed back into his human shape and knelt on the sodden ground beside the shivering wet ball of grey fur.
"Cal!" he barked into her ear as he shook her. "Cal! C'mon, wake up!"
The wolf sneezed, and shuddered some more. Ben dragged his wand out of his pocket, and tapped the wolf on the head with it. There was a blinding flash of light, and the wolf squirmed on the ground, lengthened and changed color to become a drenched, hypothermic, hungry Calypso.
"Cal, you okay?" Ben demanded, placing a hand on her forehead. It was burning hot while her hands were numb.
Suddenly Calypso blinked blue-grey eyes. "B-B-B-B-Ben!" she said, teeth chattering. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm your Knight in Shining Armor." He said jovially, suddenly filled with warm relief. He slid an arm around her shoulders and heaved her to her unsteady feet.
"Bollocks."
"Nice to know you've kept your sense of humor!"
"I thought I was d-d-d-d-d-dying." She replied, staggering. Ben hugged her frozen body.
"Not yet." He replied. "Just sick." He pointed his wand to a small bush. "Incendo!' he said, and the wet bush leapt merrily into flames.
"So cold." Calypso whispered.
"Don't worry, we'll have that sorted in a tic." Ben replied as he took a pinch of powder from his pocket and threw it into the blazing bush. "I know you aren't supposed to travel in pairs by Floo, but I can't see any other way I'm going to get you out of here in your current state."
Calypso sneezed.
"Here we go." Ben muttered nervously, dragging Calypso over so they both stood in the green-burning bush. "Lupin's Lair!"
*
It was four days later when Maria placed a large bowl of soup in front of Calypso, and sat down at the kitchen table to watch her eat.
Calypso tentatively took a sip of the soup, and spat it out.
"Eerugh!!!! Maria, you overdid the salt slightly!" she said, gulping her tea.
Maria nodded. "On purpose. You've had a fever for four days now, and you've sweated an awful lot. I've got to replace all the liquids and salts you've lost."
Calypso pulled a face and started drinking the super-salty soup. "Where is everyone?" she asked between slurps.
"Oh, Remus and Sirius are out at work. Harry's back at Hogwarts, and I'm here."
"And I'm here too!" Fridge piped up.
Pantry made a derisive noise that could be described as rolling her eyes, if Pantry had eyes.
"Maria," Calypso spoke up hesitantly as she toyed with a spoonful of soup, "why does Pantry hate me so much?"
Maria gave a huge, evil grin. "Pantry," she said in a carrying voice, "has a huge crush on Sirius."
Calypso gaped at Maria, and then swivelled around to stare at Pantry, who had frozen in shock.
"N….n…..n…..that's soooo not true!!!!" Pantry stuttered in a high pitch.
Calypso broke into peals of laughter, and Pantry switched from embarrassed to furious.
"Frikking bullshit!" Pantry screamed. "You're just jealous!"
"That," Maria continued with perverse delight, "is why Pantry harasses any unattached female who could possibly steal Sirius' heart."
"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Pantry was slamming her doors open and shut, and was becoming quite dangerous.
Maria and Calypso moved to the Lounge so Pantry could continue her tantrum in isolation.
Maria had, however, forced Calypso to take her bowl of horrible soup with her, and so Calypso sat on one couch studying her bowl while Maria draped herself across another purple two-seater.
Calypso decided to appease Maria by drinking the soup. She did so by taking the bowl in both hands and sculling.
"Disgusting." Maria noted.
"Yes, I told you it was too salty." Calypso replied, rubbing her mouth on her sleeve.
"No, I meant drinking your soup like that."
Maria stared at Calypso analytically, and Calypso felt like she was being x-rayed.
"You know Calypso, you should stop avoiding Remus." Maria said calmly.
Calypso froze. "Erm…..ugg….no I'm not!" she said feebly.
Maria rolled her eyes. "Please, Calypso, stop acting like I'm stupid! Of course you are avoiding Remus! I'd probably be worried if you weren't!"
Calypso made a non-committal noise in the back of her throat.
"You've suddenly discovered that Remus is your uncle." Maria continued. "You don't know how to act around him. He's gone from being a friend and a workmate to being a close long-lost relative. To top it all off, Remus is desperate to ask you about your father, and you are desperate to forget. Why wouldn't you want to avoid him?"
"You know what, Maria?" Calypso grumbled. "Sometimes you are just too smart for your own good."
Maria ignored her rude reply. "Just follow a bit of advice, Calypso – stop pushing him – and Sirius, for that matter – away."
Calypso thought that was the end of the interrogation, but she was wrong.
"Calypso," Maria started, "what did you tell your sisters yesterday?"
Calypso stared at the dregs in the bottom of her bowl. "What do you mean?" she replied innocently.
"I mean, what did you say to your sisters that made them pack up and fly back to Australia, a week before they planned to?"
Cringing, Calypso peeked at Maria. The older woman had a frosty expression.
"Oh. Was it that obvious?"
Maria gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, Calypso, it was!"
As Calypso didn't reply, Maria decided to air her assumptions.
"My guess is that you've had some nasty predictions, and told your sisters to get to somewhere safe. Now that isn't a problem, Calypso. The problem is that you haven't told any of the Aurors! You are supposed to be working with us."
Calypso bit her lip guiltily. "You don't understand-"
"What I do understand is that you have got yourself into an awful lot of hot water by not telling people things!" Maria softened. "Trust me for a second."
"I do trust you, Maria." Calypso replied, frustrated. "It's just that I really can't tell you some things."
"Why?"
"It's complicated. You might accidentally do something that starts a horrible chain reaction."
Maria frowned, but didn't press the matter.
"But there are some things I can tell you, and that I need help with."
Maria cocked her head. "Fire away."
Calypso dumped the bowl on the floor. "When I was feverish, I had a lot of dreams." She begun earnestly. "Some of them were just ordinary dreams, and some were predictions. They're the ones I can't tell you about."
"Then what can you tell me?"
"There were some dreams…" Calypso frowned, making wrinkles in her brow. "…that were different. They didn't tell me what was going to happen, they told me what I have to do. Only I can't quite understand them."
"Describe them." Maria commanded, and Calypso took a deep breath.
"The first one was quite straightforward…
That was as far as Calypso got, because at the moment the fire spluttered to life, and Remus' head was in it.
"Hello Rem-"
"Maria! Niece! We have a serious problem." He said in a frantic whisper.
"What? Why?" Maria asked, wondering why Remus was referring to Calypso as 'niece', instead of by her name.
"Read this." He murmured grimly, and held up in front of his face the front page of the Daily Prophet.
Death Eaters Captured, Killed
Daily Prophet sources inside the Ministry have confirmed that they have in custody a known Australasian Death Eater who is responsible for the tragic massacre at Frankton Park last week. Named as a Mr. L Monahan, the Death Eater has named his fellow Death Eaters and betrayed…….
"Yes, very interesting Remus, but how is this a problem?" Calypso asked.
Maria silently pointed to a paragraph down the bottom of the paper. There was a mug shot of Calypso, and an article.
One down, many to go.
Teen Death Eater Calypso Grey was pronounced dead at the St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies Morgue shortly after taking part in the Frankton Park Massacre. 19 year old Calypso is accredited with over 11 murders during Voldemort's reign, and was L Monahan's female accomplice at Frankton Park, aiding in the murder of 9 Muggles and 3 Aurors before kidnapping a young female and hijacking a car.
Cause of Death is not known, but…….
Calypso's jaw dropped. How on earth had the paper known that she had been a Death Eater? It was her biggest secret, and she knew it was Alpha 1 Classified Information. It was supposed to remain classified!
"OH SHIT!"
"We tried to stop it, but the paper was already printed and out on the shelves." Remus rushed. "By then it'd look suspicious if we acted. Damn Rita Skeeter!" he growled.
"They haven't got anything right, though." Maria noted, reading the whole article thoroughly. "She was pronounced dead before Frankton Park, for starters."
"Worry about that later!" Remus interrupted. "You two, get here now!"
"Why?" Maria asked, but Remus glanced over his shoulder, indicating someone was there. It must be a public fireplace, she though.
"The Aurors are freezing any bank accounts that have links with the Death Eaters. Including Calypso's." he whispered.
Calypso was panicking. "No! I can't go to Diagon Alley! People will see me!"
Remus seemed to have things organised. "Maria, listen. Crouch's invisibility cloak is in the top of the wardrobe in my room. Put that on my niece and Floo here right now!." And with that, Remus' head dissolved and the fire went out.
Calypso sat on the floor in stunned silence while Maria raced to get the cloak.
If there is a God, he or she obviously hates me, she though. No matter what I do, things turn to custard! And just as everything seemed to be working itself out, things like this happened!
"Move move move!" Maria barked, scooping Calypso to her feet and lighting the fire in one fluid movement. Calypso took the invisibility cloak off Maria and threw it around her shoulders while Maria took a pinch of Floo Powder from a box on the mantelpiece.
"Diagon Alley!" Maria cried, and rather apprehensively, Calypso followed suit.
*
If the Goblins at Gringotts though it was strange that Remus took his dog to the bank, they didn't show it. After all, he was a customer, and customers were entitled to do perfectly illogical things. Like insist that there was an empty seat on the cart that took them to vault 389.
And then empty that vault.
And then deposit it all into another vault.
And then bribe the Chief Goblin into taking his name off the records.
After all, work was work, business was business, and money was money.
The Goblins understood it all when Aurors came ten minutes later and froze a large number of accounts. One of those accounts had been vault 389, issed to Miss C. Grey.
*
Calypso was having a hard time working her way through the tightly-woven throng of people in Diagon Alley without bumping anyone. Hands clutching the invisibility cloak tightly around her throat, she skipped around people, but as the cloak eerily brushed against shopper's legs, they glanced over to where she was, a confused and rather annoyed expression on their faces.
Snuffles was doing his best to clear a path, by walking ahead of her, baring his teeth and growling rabidly.
However, he almost lost her when she stopped, staring at the gutted shell of what used to be the BAF (British Auror Force) HQ. Suddenly people slammed into her, and she found herself knocked over to the edge of the yellow 'do not cross' tape sectioning off the roasted building.
There wasn't much left of the once 5-story tall building. Just two walls, an awful lot of charred office furniture, blobs of molten glass and piles of rubble. The building had been wooden throughout, built along with the rest of Diagon Alley sometime in the 14th century, and would have burnt like a match.
It would have been an impressive fire, Calypso though, staring at the vast burnt zone. There was no doubt in her mind who was responsible. No Ministry building would burn under a normal, Muggle flame. Only strong Dark Magic would break the Anti-Flame spells that coated the BAF HQ.
Suddenly she realized she had lost Snuffles, Remus and Maria, and she turned around quickly
But as she did so, something caught her eye. Puzzled, she turned back around.
Like most buildings on Diagon Alley, the HQ was long and narrow. So long, in fact, its back wall butted up against the very rear wall of Gringotts Bank, which was right around the corner of the twisty Alley.
The blackened walls of the gutted building had crumbled away in some places, stories high in spots and mere rubble at others, leaving the ruins with a macabre castle look.
On the back wall, there was such a spot where the wall dropped from nearly 4 stories of blackened wood down to nothing, and then back up again to about 3 stories.
In the gap was a door set into the wall of Gringott's Bank.
*
"Can't you see it, Remus?" Calypso whispered as loudly as she could beneath the invisibility cloak.
Remus shook his head, straining to see what was so perfectly obvious to Calypso.
"Look, now is not the time for this. We'll investigate further sometime later, but now we have things to do." He said back from the corner of his mouth.
He was obviously in a hurry, because he grabbed Calypso by the edge of the cloak and led her at a break-neck pace through the mob of pedestrians, Snuffles galloping to keep up.
Calypso slammed into a few people, who, startled, froze stricken to the spot where they had fallen, trying to work out what sort of phantom force had knocked them off their feet. Calypso however, didn't care. She had her head full trying to work out the mystery of the door.
Before she had managed to deduce anything apart from the fact that it was very odd indeed, Remus had led her to a building not far from Knockturn Alley, right at the end of Diagon Alley. Maria was waiting on the porch, talking to one of three Hit Wizards who were guarding the narrow entrance.
"In in in!" she said, and whisked Calypso, Snuffles and Remus up a flight of stairs and into the most crowded, chaotic room Calypso had ever seen.
"Welcome to Baffick!" Maria declared, whisking an arm across the incredible scene.
It seemed that the workers of the BAF HQ, who had previously occupied a large 5-story building, were now attempting to squeeze into a building about a quarter of the size.
Desks, covered in parchment, were crushed together, leaving only a hip-wide aisle every 6 desks for people to move about the room, but that was impossible, as the aisle also accommodated the chairs for the desks, making it a traffic jam of seats. Three people worked at each single desk, elbows knocking together and tempers simmering in the close confines.
It was bad enough crushing all the desks together on the floor, but desperate for space, desks and chairs were floating near the ceiling, manned by some rather brave wizards and witches, who sacrificed stable ground for breathing room.
Talking about breathing, the room was hot and noisy, with at least fifty people working in a room designed for twelve, and dozens of people yelling across the room, because they couldn't walk over. Calypso put her hands over her ears and winced.
"This way!" Maria said, and to Calypso's surprise, got down on her hands and knees. Remus did so as well, and started crawling underneath the nearest desk. Hastily Calypso followed suit, hampered by the invisibility cloak. Snuffles gallumphed ahead easily as Maria skirted legs, both human and wood, rubbish bins, chairs and dead-ends.
After a few moments of crawling and twisting in the dim, hot, cramped maze, they emerged on the far side of the room, next to a door. Brushing off her knees, Maria grinned in the direction of Calypso.
"Now, wasn't that fun?"
Maria couldn't see the scowl, but heard Calypso's grumble.
"It's the only way to get across this chaos." She explained. "We used to just fly over until they suspended all those desks in the air."
With that, they all followed Remus through the door.
*
Snape was stressed.
His sallow face was showing to what degree his role as a double-agent and teacher at Hogwarts was draining his energy. There were deep purple bags under his eyes, creases on his forehead, and about two days stubble on his chin. Teaching by day and working as a spy by night was not good for his complexion.
Dumbledore had hinted he should take a long bubblebath before he returned to Hogwarts on Monday.
Snape hadn't slept in 54 hours.
He was near to collapse, but a combination of Strengthening Potions kept him on his feet. Yet his mind was telling him that he needed sleep, and soon.
Snape had one last task to do.
Kneeling down in front of the fireplace, he threw a pinch of orange powder from his belt into the flames, which promptly turned green.
"Kerian?" he called hoarsely.
Calypso, who was sitting across the room beside Maria, gave a start. "Did you say-"
"Shut up." Snape snapped. He had no patience for Calypso.
She was so much trouble Snape couldn't believe the Aurors wanted to keep her on. Snape had a personal theory Calypso was much like King Midas. Only while everything King Midas touched turned into gold, everything Calypso touched turned into trouble.
No matter what the girl involved herself with, it spiraled out of control. Also, Calypso grated on Snape's nerves quite like the Hufflepuff girls in his Potions class did. Naïve, stupid and yet indulged. Only Calypso was arrogant to boot. A combination Snape did not cherish.
"Kerian, are you there?" he spoke again to the fireplace.
There was a scuffling, and a head popped into the fireplace.
"Not so loud, Snape." It whispered back, pushing tousled brown hair out of it's eyes.
"KERIAN!!!"
Suddenly Snape found himself pushed out of the way as Calypso leapt in front of the fireplace.
"Kerian, it's me!"
"Calypso?" The man in the fire looked lost for words. Then he found them, and turned angrily upon Calypso.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled, narrowing his eyes dangerously. "I told you explicitly to get the next plane back to Australia! Don't you realize how much I put at stake to get you out of the Convent? I'm under sus-"
Calypso sat back on her heels, startled and shocked at Kerian's furious diatribe.
"Well, hello to you as well!" she retorted, hurt. "I did my damnedest to catch that plane, thank you very much!"
Kerian closed his eyes, rested his head in his hands, and groaned. "This is the last thing I need right now!" he said quietly.
"Fine then, if you don't want to see me, I'll go! I've had an incredibly horrible day, and all I wanted was a few nice words from you." She said chokingly, leapt up and stalked over to the window like a 6-year old to stare out the window.
Kerian groaned again. "Oh, don't get shitty Calypso! I didn't mean it like that!" But by then Calypso was standing with her back to the fire, determined that no-one would see her start to sniffle, and Snape was sitting back in front of the fire.
"You had information for me?" Snape said gruffly, intensely irritated at being interrupted.
"Oh… yes, that's right." Kerian switched back to the task at hand. "I've only just found out – it might be too late –" Kerian said urgently, "-there's a plan to kill Spicier, the Azkaban Warden. Don't ask me how, I don't know. But if it's not too late, it'll be damn soon."
He was about to say more, but at that moment the door to the room swung open and people walked in, hot and disheveled. Before the new arrivals had caught sight of who was in the fireplace, Kerian was gone, and the flames were back to their normal colour. Snape swore.
"Sorry, did we interrupt something?" one asked. He was a swarthy man with messy, receding mousy hair, and an Australian accent.
By the frosty silence that greeted them, it was obvious they had.
"Incredibly sorry!" he said genuinely. "It's just that we really need to use the fireplace – our Apprentice, Ben Hunter? You know him? He's just been admitted to St. Mungo's – he didn't duck quick enough and we were in the middle of a rather nasty-"
He only got that far when there was a slight commotion down by the window.
Calypso had thrown the invisibility cloak over herself and jumped out the window.
*
Ben was lying in his squeaky, graunchy hospital bed counting the dots on the ceiling of the 10-bed ward when something invisible poked him in the arm, hard.
What on earth? He though. Then he ground his teeth. If it was that little kid from bed 2 playing tricks again, he'd throttle it.
Ben played dead, hoping the kid would go away.
His arm was shaken roughly.
Immensely irritated, he rolled over with a furious expression on his face.
There was an invisible gasp.
Puzzled, Ben pushed his fringe out of his eyes and squinted at the gap between his bed and the curtains. Unless the kid had quickly jumped underneath his bed, he had gone. Then what had made the gasp? Warily, he reached out his good arm and swiped at the empty space.
And nearly leapt out of his skin when his hand hit something warm and squishy.
"Aaaah!" he squeaked.
"Stop it, Ben!" a ghostly voice whispered.
"What? Who? Where ar-"
"Sssssh!" Calypso shushed him, and pulled the hood of the invisibility cloak off her face.
The look on Ben's face was priceless. Slowly, his eyes widened to gold-fishbowl proportions and his jaw dropped slackly.
"CAL- Calypso!" he changed his initial yell of horror to a whisper. "What on earth do you think you are doing here?"
Calypso sighed tiredly. "Seeing you, of course. Look, d'ya mind if I sit down?" She was slightly sweaty and very pink, and so Ben moved his legs to one side and Calypso perched on the end of his bed.
There were many question running through Ben's mind, but he voiced the first one that arrived at his mouth.
"How did you get here?"
"I ran."
"Where from?"
"Diagon Alley."
"Why on earth were you in Diagon Alley?"
"I was about to go into an Auror meeting."
Ben didn't like the way this was heading. "Why did you come here then?"
Calypso looked irritated. "Because someone came in and said that you hadn't ducked fast enough and I, as usual, thought the worst and assumed it was a curse you'd caught. And because I still care about you for some reason, even though you are horribly rude to me and I think we've broken up, I jumped out the window and came running right here."
Ben noticed that Calypso seemed close to tears. He sat up in his bed, making it screech with protest.
"I didn't duck a bludger quick enough." He said with a wry smile. "Broke my collarbone and made a right ass of myself in front of a lot of people while we were having a departmental Quidditch game."
That drained the last of the energy out of Calypso. She started to snuffle.
"Oh, Calypso, don't cry!" Ben said desperately. He could face a Death Eater, but a crying female….?
"You don't understand." Calypso said thickly into her sleeve, which she was covering her pink face with. "Everything has gone horribly, horribly wrong!"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, Ben, I don't know where to start! Remus and I don't talk much, Sirius is too busy, Maria spends hours telling me off, Snape hates me, so does McGonagall, Kerian is mad with me, I can't talk to Virginia any more, Harry-bloody-Potter smashed my crystal ball, I just ran off with Crouch's invisibility cape when I'm supposed to be under Moody's supervision at all times, the Daily Prophet published an article that named me as a Death Eater, the Aurors closed down my bank vault, Melody and Aria have gone home, my feet hurt, I see doors no-one else can see, I've had some awful visions, and … and … I'm going to die!"
This startling revelation was interrupted by a heavy-treaded nurse reaching for the curtains that surrounded Ben's bed. Quick as a flash, Calypso pulled the hood of the cloak up and disappeared from view.
"Now now, Mr. Hunter, a broken collarbone doesn't mean you are going to die!" a tall, angular nurse strode into Ben's cubicle.
Ben coloured. "Erm…no…I didn't-"
The nurse thrust a thermometer under Ben's protesting tongue. "I've heard you mumbling to yourself all down the ward. Must have been those painkillers they gave you. I told them three Armadillo scales was enough!"
Thankfully, the nurse promised to get some Powdered Moon Calf hoof to halt Ben's 'hallucinations' and scurried off, closing the curtains behind her.
Ben turned to the empty space where Calypso had last been.
"Cal, what's this about you dying?!?" he asked incredulously.
Calypso pulled the cloak back off her head and looked at Ben with a glum expression. "It was a reoccurring dream I had while I was sick, after being in the forest."
"Tell me about it. Quick, before the nurse comes back."
Calypso sighed and fiddled with her thumbs. "It was…
It was a mild, calm night. The still night air was tainted with anticipation and cold, cold evil. Calypso looked up to see the moon, full and round against the inky black sky, illuminating the rough choppy waves and outlining the edge of the cliff.
Standing on the edge of the cliff was …herself, dressed totally in black. The salt-spray had caused her hair to curl slightly at the edges, blonde ringlets forming in some places. A smudge of dark soot was smeared down one cheek as she proudly stared down her opponent. Mundungus Fletcher.
Then time froze. The waves paused their pounding of the cliffs, the trees swayed no more, and Mundungus and Calypso stopped moving. Strangely, the dreaming Calypso found herself the only animate object in the dream. She walked over to the frozen Mundungus, and merged with him.
Calypso found herself in the strange position of facing off against…….. herself. There was a heartbeat's pause, and then time started again.
There was no sound at all, just the twinkle in her eye as DreamCalypso stared atMundungus/Calypso arrogantly, daring, challenging him to draw his wand first. Then suddenly, as if at some unheard command, both DreamCalypso and Mundungus/Calypso raised their wands and jets of light issued from them at a roar.
DreamCalypso's bolt of purple light hit Mundungus/Calypso square in the chest, knocking him/her off his/her feet and sending him/her catapulting back into a pine tree.
Yet from her/his crumpled pile on the pine needles, Mundungus/Calypso watched his/her sapphire bolt hit DreamCalypso in the throat, throwing her back and toppling backwards, slowly at first, then faster and faster, like in a video, off the sides of the sheer cliff down onto the crashing waves and rocks far below.
Horrified, the dreaming Calypso pulled out of Mundungus' body and floated over to the edge of the cliff and peered over as far as she could.
Hundreds of meters down below there seemed to be a small rag-doll, sprawled over the wicked rocks limply.
"Oh no." Ben whispered, horror in his eyes. "No, Calypso, don't let it happen!"
Calypso hugged her invisible knees miserably. "There's nothing I can do about it. That was one of those dreams that is fated to happen, and must happen!"
Ben was lost for words. "Tell somebody! Like…Dumbledore!"
"What could Dumbledore do?" Calypso replied sadly.
"You never know till you try." Suddenly ringing from the other end of the ward was the nurse's footsteps. Ben grabbed at Calypso, and got her knee. "Promise me you'll tell someone as soon as you get back, Calypso!" he said firmly, staring her forcefully in the eyes.
"I can't-"
"Promise!"
She relented. "Okay. I promise. Now, I better get moving before that nurse comes back!"
Ben however, held onto her knee. "Thanks for coming and seeing me."
Calypso gave him a watery smile. "That's okay. Anything for an old friend." At that, Ben leant over and laid a light kiss on her forehead.
And with that simple gesture, Calypso suddenly realized that after three years of their torrid on-off relationship, the dial was firmly set to 'off'.
For some reason, instead of making her feel abandoned, disappointed, or even sad, it lifted her heart. She'd lost a lover – but gained an incredible friend.
"Now go!" Ben said gruffly, pushing her off the bed with his foot. Calypso slid off and tucked the hood of the cloak over her head just at the moment when the curtains were whisked back by a professional hand.
"Here we go, Mr. Hunter!" the nurse exclaimed as she nearly walked straight into Calypso. "Powdered Moon Calf's Hoof! It'll get rid of those nasty voices in your head!"
Calypso carefully skirted around the nurse, ducked out behind the curtains, and without a backward glance, started power-walking down the ward while listening to the conversation she had just left.
"Now, this may taste a little peculiar…"
There was a slurping noise.
"Uurugh!" Ben choked on the medicine.
Calypso grinned as she went through the door.
*
It took Calypso a few minutes of futile wandering around the endless corridors of St. Mungo's before she realized she was hopelessly lost. In her panicked flight from Diagon Alley to the hospital she had forgotten the route back to the Reception.
Stumped, she stopped halfway down a deserted corridor and scratched her head. The ward she was in was totally unfamiliar, and Calypso felt the first pangs of worry in her stomach. Seeing Ben healthy and alive, not half-cooked or dead from a hex or curse, had made her feel much better, but as she stood in the corridor in the invisibility cloak problems and worries surfaced in her mind.
She was gloomily pondering the reception she would receive back at the Auror HQ when there was a tap on her arm.
"Excuse me..."
Calypso wheeled around like a startled rabbit.
Standing behind her was a short, friendly-looking woman with long bouncy brown hair. Middle aged, her face was pasty, as if she had been sick, but her hazel eyes were bright ... and looked directly at Calypso under the invisibility cloak. She offered Calypso a large, sunny smile.
"Are you Calypso?" she said inquisitively.
Calypso just stood there in stunned silence. Was the cloak malfunctioning?
The woman must have seen her distress, and reached out and clasped Calypso's hand in her own. "Don't worry, child. You have nothing to fear from me."
"How can-"
The woman shushed Calypso with a finger. "Listen, don't talk." she murmured. "People may hear us. I have a message for you from Virginia."
"Virginia?" Calypso stuttered incredulously. "But-"
The woman interrupted again patiently. "She wants to -"
"-she's dead!"
"-tell you that she's very sorry she hasn't been able to contact you recently, but it's out of her control." The woman gave a small wry smile. "I think she's feeling guilty that she's effectively abandoned you in a very messy situation."
By now the strange woman had Calypso's complete attention. "Please, what should I do?"
The smile dropped from the woman's face. "The door in the ruins. Virginia has stored instructions and other aids behind the door that'll give you advice."
"Oh! So there really is a doorway in the wall?" Calypso asked, intrigued.
Suddenly the woman frowned, and put a hand to her forehead. "There is a trick to the second door... you have to..." the woman's frown deepened and she held both her arms out straight in front of her, fists together, and then opened her arms wide. "…pull…in half…it makes two…it's a trick…"
"What? Say that again?" Calypso asked, trying to work out what the woman was muttering.
But there were purposeful footsteps ringing their way down the corridor.
The woman suddenly grabbed Calypso's shoulders and shook her gently, a look of desperation and resignation in her brown eyes. "I know it's hard, but you've got to go through with it! We are all depending on you!"
"Do what?" Calypso could see two nurses and a doctor come charging around the corner. One pointed to the woman.
"The cliff…" the woman let go of Calypso and gave her a sad smile. "You poor girl…no-one should have to go through that…"
"How do you know…" Calypso started to ask, but a large male nurse was bowling up into the spot where she was standing, forcing her to leap to the wall to avoid being flattened.
"Carol!" he said politely to the woman as the other two hospital staff circled her. "How did you get out of your room?"
Mrs. Longbottom glanced at the Hospital staff, and then back at Calypso. "They can't see you, don't worry." She whispered.
"Who are you talking to?" one of the other nurses asked sweetly.
"The Archangel Gabriel." Mrs. Longbottom replied sweetly as the nurse gently took her by the arm and led her back down the corridor.
With bewilderment slowly turning into horror, Calypso watched the staff patiently lead the insane lady away.
As they were about to round the corner and disappear from view, Mrs. Longbottom twisted away from the staff and called out to Calypso. "I have faith in you, dear! Have faith in yourself!"
*
Severus Snape was not a very happy man.
Not only was he very short on sleep, but he had just received some very bad news, followed by the orders to apprehend someone he disliked, with the help of two people he despised.
He sat in a wicker chair in the British Auror Force HQ (BAFHQ – 'Baffick' to those who worked there) Floo Powder Fireplace Room and stared obstinately at the opposite wall.
Sirius Black, Dogboy, Rabid Mutt, Mongrel – Snape had many names for Sirius – was slumped in a corner and seemed to had nodded off. In contrast, the One Eyed Freak, AKA Cyclops, AKA Mad-Eye Moody was pacing up and down the small room.
He had done that for exactly seventy three minutes.
In the seventy three minutes since Calypso had jumped out the window and chaos had reigned in the Floo Room, Snape, Moody and Sirius had been allocated to stay behind and wait for the wayward teen, while the rest of Team 7 and another Quick Response Team, Team 3, had Floo-ed off to Azkaban.
Snape had been made to stay behind because he was so tired.
Sirius had spent enough time with the Dementors.
And Moody was to keep Snape and Sirius from killing each other.
After a few minutes of bickering they had settled down into their places – Sirius sleeping, Snape thinking and Moody pacing.
Snape personally didn't think Calypso would be back. So it was with great surprise he saw the window frame shudder and shake, and something fall on top of the dozing Sirius.
Sirius gave a startled yell, and there was an invisible squeaky shriek.
"Gerroffme!!!!" Sirius hollered sleepily, pushing away his assailant. As he did so, the invisibility cloak, which had snagged on the windowsill, fell off Calypso.
From her tangled mess of limbs on the floor, she stood up…and looked straight into Snape's face.
Snape scowled and snatched her arm. "About time." He snarled.
"Where have you been?" Moody demanded.
"At St. Mungo's." Calypso replied, unperturbed. "Sirius, are you all right? I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there-"
Sirius was scrambling to his feet, looking quite winded. "Fine." He puffed.
"Enough small talk." Snape snapped. "Let's go." And he started leading a rather unwilling Calypso over to the Floo Port.
"Go where?" she asked, digging her heels in and refusing to be moved.
"My place." Moody said, grabbing some Floo Powder out of a tin. "Things have been happening, and the meeting has been postponed."
"Wait! We've got to go to the old Auror HQ first." Calypso said, pulling her arm back from Snape's grip.
Snape looked at her like she had sprouted two new heads. "Doesn't anything penetrate that thick skull of yours?"
"Snape…." Sirius warned him.
Snape continued as if he hadn't heart him. "You are Moody's ward. You have no choice in the matter. And with the irresponsible way you have been behaving lately, I doubt if you'll get to go anywhere without an escort for months!"
"But we've got to go to the ruins!" she pleaded desperately.
"Calypso, the Azkaban Warden has been murdered." Sirius said bluntly. "All Aurors from Teams 3, 7 and 8 are supposed to be there right now. That includes us. We can't spare the time to go sight-seeing at ruins!"
Snape actually felt quite sorry for Calypso at that point. She looked like she'd just been slapped.
"No," she choked, "please, we've got to go!"
Moody was waiting with the Floo Powder in his fingers. "Why do we have to go?" he asked reasonably. "Give us a good reason and we'll consider it."
"Erm…I have to go through a door-"
"There's no doors left in the ruins." Snape cut in.
"-an invisible one on the wall," Calypso continued, "and figure out a puzzle, and then pick up some information and things, and that's all! It'll only take two shakes of a monkey's tail, I promise!"
"Two whats of a what?" Moody asked, confused.
"You promise?" Sirius demanded.
Calypso nodded fevoursly.
"Oh please, I'll be really quick!"
"What sort of information?" Snape asked thoughtfully.
Calypso shrugged.
"Why not?" Moody said in defeat, putting the Floo Powder back into the box. "We are already an hour late to Azkaban. What difference will another fifteen minutes make?"
"A puzzle, you said." Snape said slowly. "Well, I'd better come with you. I verily much doubt you've got the intellect to work out a puzzle, especially a magical one." He said scathingly.
Calypso glared at him as she pulled the invisibility cloak back over her head.
*
Snuffles was wandering over the charcoal ruins, nose to ground, following Calypso's trail over the vast blackened area. In comparison, Moody and Snape were standing beside a large pile of smoldering tiles down the end of the site, wands in hand, and trying to work out where Calypso was leading them. They could only follow the footprints she had left in the ashes as she scrambled agilely over the rubble.
"Over here!" she called. "Follow Sirius!"
The huge shaggy dog had bounded right down to the very end of the site, where blackened timbers leaned up against the white marble of Gringotts' Bank rear wall. Snuffles sat down in a large pile of soot, sending it flying. Some of it covered Calypso's invisibility cloak, and then the Aurors could see the outline of her body.
She was standing impatiently, hands on hips, for the others to catch up.
"Come on! I've found the door, and the handle turns."
"What door?" Moody asked when they arrived, huffing and puffing. He ran his hands up and down the smooth white marble.
"This one." Calypso said with relish, twisted the doorhandle, and pulled it open.
*
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were huddled around a table in the Gryffindor Common Room, doing their homework.
Or more correctly, Hermione was doing homework, and Harry and Ron were showing Ginny how to 'prophesize' Horoscopes for 3rd Year Divination.
"Now Ginny, remember never to repeat the same thing twice." Harry said solemnly.
"And you've got to check for continuity." Ron added. "I got burnt a few times on that. You can't have the flu one day and hurt yourself in a game of Quidditch the next day."
"Are you sure this works?" Ginny asked suspiciously.
"Sure." Hermione said, looking up from Horribly Difficult Arithmancy For Fifth Year Magical Students. "Harry and Ron got A's in Divination. Here's my advice for you – a) it's all a load of trash, and b) the gloomier, the better. Trelawney loves sad endings."
"But what if it doesn't happen? Won't she be able to tell?"
"Now here's the trick, Ginny." Harry said, leaning over the table conspiratorially "Make it all ambiguous."
"Yeah, or trivial. Don't name names."
"Say you loose bets, get into fights."
"Scorned by your one true love."
"The sort of stuff that probably happens every day."
Ron scrabbled around with his books. "Look, here's some of Harry and my stuff from last year. Read this."
Ginny read the smudged parchment, and then looked up uncertainly.
"Oh….I see…..so this won't do?" She slid her workbook over to Ron, who read what she'd written.
Ron sighed, and gave the book to Harry. "Now Ginny, it's a good start, but we'll need to make changes."
To Ginny's distress, he pulled out his quill and started striking through sentences with vivid red ink.
"Azkaban destroyed, no, she can find out if that really happens…………..…..nations unite…that won't do, Trelawney likes gloomy stuff……………….….traitors, oh that's good, we'll keep that…………….….fate of the world……..that's a bit iffy…….."
"Change that to 'fate of my heart'." Harry added. Ron did so, and Hermione snorted.
"Voices from the past…….that's a bit too off-the-wall, even for Trelawney, we'll get rid of that…….but this line's a true gem – she knows what must be done, but she does not fully understand…..We'll have to work that in somehow……….all this stuff about blood being spilt and kinslayers will have to go………..…..outcome is uncertain…beautiful safety-net there……..…..…..great sadness and pain…….wonderful, Ginny…………"
Harry looked at Ginny's distressed face while Ron edited her work.
"But I-" Ginny started.
"Don't worry Gin," Harry cut in reassuringly, "we'll make a Divinator out of you yet."