Praying for a Miracle

By the time the Marauders finally appeared in the Great Hall, Rigella was among the several other students dotted along the length of the Gryffindor table. She finished her toast and smiled at them as they sat down, talking and laughing loudly.

Remus smiled back, propped a dusty green book on the fruit bowl, and began to read. Rigella noticed his eyes darting down the table to where Kat, Lily and Isabelle were taking their seats.

"Hey, Rigella," James said almost as soon as he sat down, "Sirius has a question for you."

Sirius' hand froze halfway to the milk jug. He swallowed awkwardly. Suddenly he regained his composure and the cocky smile returned.

"Yeah," he said casually, "what year are you in?"

This caused an eruption of noise, laughter, arm-punching and hair-ruffling ("OI, NOT THE HAIR!" yelled Sirius) from the other boys, and Sirius grinned sheepishly.

Rigella nearly laughed. "Fifth year," she replied.

"A galleon to me!" crowed Sirius triumphantly, turning eagerly to James with an open palm.

"No way!" protested James, trying feebly to fend off Sirius' hands and wand as Sirius attempted to snatch a coin from James' hands. "So totally sixth year. She looks too intelligent to be grouped with us!"

Remus looked up and raised his eyebrows at James, who, for some reason, looked utterly shocked and forgot to hold the money away from Sirius. With a second cry of triumph, the black-haired boy grabbed the coin and stuffed it into his robes. Remus was still staring at James.

"I never said there was anything wrong with intelligence!" cried James, raising his hands defensively.

*****

"Hey, Rigel! Over here!" Kat's scarlet braid swung as she waved to a dark haired girl from across the corridor. Rigella looked up from the conversation she had previously been immersed in, although what she could have been talking about with the infamous Marauders was beyond Kat's knowledge.

Kat beckoned to the girl, who said goodbye to the boys and headed over, leaving Sirius Black staring at her retreating back thoughtfully. James and Peter were whispering fiercely at him, but Remus Lupin only listened, nodding as pensively as Sirius looked.

Kat smiled momentarily. She liked Remus. More than liked, actually, but no one had any reason to know that. Lily caught her smiling and elbowed her side. Ok, so maybe they could tell, but that was far from the point.

"Ready for class, Rigel?" Isabelle asked as the raven-haired girl joined them.

Rigella shrugged. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

Lily was still gazing across the hall toward the Marauders.

"What the hell do you see in them?" she asked wonderingly. "I really don't get it."

"Yeah, why do you hang with them? They're so… arrogant."

"They're not all that bad," Kat reasoned.

"Oooh, sticking up for darling Remus, are we, Kat?" Lily grinned devilishly.

Kat blushed furiously.

"You're right, I guess, but then, Remy is just too much of a book-worm."

"I like to have a good mix of friends." Rigella shrugged again. "Hanging around with girls too much can mess with your head after a while."

"True," said Lily, "but hanging with guys, especially those ones, is guaranteed to break your heart!"

*****

Rigella sat two seats from the front of the class. Kat was sitting to her left, and Sirius occupied the seat behind her. Defence Against the Dark Arts was always one of her strong subjects, and the class had been going fine.

Until now.

"The Unforgivable Curses. They are among the most ancient of magics known to Wizardkind. They date back hundreds of years to when the torturing of Muggles and Muggleborns was common practice. The very use of any of them is enough to land you a life sentence in Azkaban."

Rigella shifted uncomfortably. Not this, not in her first class!

"There are three Unforgivables, with three different purposes. To torture, to control, and to kill. Now…"

The teacher droned on, but Rigella could no longer hear her. The world was spinning. She could see her wand on the desk in front of her; 11 inches, willow, with a unicorn tail-hair as the core. She could feel sweat breaking out on her forehead. She could-

"Rigel?"

Her head jerked up. Kat was peering at her worriedly, one hand on Rigella's arm.

"She asked you to name one." Kat whispered.

Rigella looked up. The whole class was looking and the professor's eyes were fixed on her.

"Avada Kedavra."

Her voice was so soft that she wasn't sure the teacher would hear.

"Avada Kedavra, the killing curse. That's correct, five points for Gryffindor. The killing curse is…"

It happened instantly. One second, Rigel was sitting on her seat, wishing she was somewhere else, just so she wouldn't have to remember, and the next she hit the floor.

Green light everywhere, blinding, burning her eyes. Oh, Merlin, the pain! Oh, Christ, please, make it stop! She prayed to every God she could think of, but the agony went on and on. She couldn't even hear herself scream anymore.

Then came the laughter, and with it, despair. At that moment, she knew; she knew she would die- oh, Merlin, I'm going to die!- and yet, even as she fell into despair, she prayed for a miracle.

Suddenly, there was something else: a black shape between her and the light. The torture ended so abruptly she almost passed out. She breathed, and it seemed to her she had never tasted anything so sweet.

But then she looked up. No! whispered a tiny voice, somewhere deep inside her. No! Not again!

Too late, her eyes lifted, and she saw what had come between her and her tormentor.

The body of her brother Aldebaran lay in a crumpled heap before her.

"NO!" her scream went on and on, drowning out all else as it echoed into the starless night.

*****

"NO!"

Sirius leapt over table, trying to reach Rigella. The whole class was in turmoil. One moment the girl had been sitting there, answering questions, and suddenly she had screamed and keeled over.

He reached her side and tried to lift her face. She screamed and flailed her arms wildly, trying to fend him off. He jerked back, surprised, but then noticed that her eyes were still closed. She didn't know who was touching her.

Convulsing, she screamed once more and her eyes flew open. "Sirius," she whispered, and all of a sudden tears were streaming down her face.

He pulled her to him and she collapsed against his shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably into his robes.

"He killed him," she sobbed, over and over. "He killed him."