The Survivor
Disclaimer: See bio
Notes: This takes place in book five. I hope that she's not a MS but if so, well my apologies :)
"...and Lupin, who was staying in the house with Sirius but left it for long periods to do mysterious work for the Order..." Ch. 6 p.110 OOTP Canadian Ed. 2004, Paperback
Looking around and seeing no one, she allowed herself to step out of the shadows of the surrounding trees. In front of her stood a run down house, with what appeared to be several "do not trespass" signs, hanging off of a barbed wire fence encircling the house. It was hard to tell exactly what the signs said as many of the letters were either worn off or covered in dirt. Lack of sunlight and rolling grey clouds lent to its ominous atmosphere. As she stepped closer the sky cleared and the house shifted, blurred and turned into an elaborate Victorian-type castle.
It was a large castle with several towers, straining to touch the sky, and turrets scattered all over. It appeared well kept and the land was generally curious and inviting, with a manicured lawn and a beautiful garden off to the side. The castle's front gate was solid iron and when she approached it stayed shut. She tried several times but, no matter how hard she pushed, the gates stayed closed. 'This can't be happening,' she thought. Sighing she sat down, she had been running for so long and just felt so tired.
It had been four days since the death eaters had attacked her home. Four days since she had lost everything she held dear. Four days since she had started running, not once stopping to rest. Now here she sat, in front of the one place she thought she could find help, and yet she couldn't get in. Feeling defeated, she closed her eyes, clutching the necklace around her neck. As she lost consciousness the gate clicked open, but she was too far-gone to notice. That was how Remus found her.
He had just apparated, several metres in front of Hogwarts, from Grimmauld Place. He was staying there with Sirius, who was more than restless in his renewed confinement, and helping out the Order. Just as when he had been teaching at the school, Severus Snape had been brewing the Wolfsbane potion for him.
Usually Severus delivered the potion to headquarters but soon a new term would be starting and, according to Albus, the school would have the presence of the Ministry to deal with. Certain "changes" were being made to parts of the curriculum to fit with "impending Ministry standards." With these changes and increased death eater meetings as a spy, Severus claimed to be just "too busy" to bring the potion to headquarters. Deciding instead, to leave it with Headmaster Dumbledore for Remus to pick up. No one dared mentioned that, in reality, it was probably the strained relationship between the two, and Severus' desire to have as little contact as possible with Remus that led to the current arrangement. However, Remus didn't mind as the walk to the school gave him the chance to think about things without interruption.
He had been walking up the path leading to the front gate, softly humming to himself, his light graying hair shining in the afternoon sunlight, when he first saw her. At first Remus had thought that she was dead. Her light brown hair was matted to skin that was too pale. Her lips were parted slightly, but under her rumpled and torn clothes her breathing was soft, almost indiscernible.
He came up to her and tried to see where, or if she was hurt. It was almost impossible to tell, from the mud on her dress, any injuries she might have. Kneeling in front of her, he tried waking her up, gently nudging her shoulder.
"Miss, can you hear me? Are you alright?" He asked. She didn't respond.
He pushed her hair out of her face, her skin was cold and clammy. She shifted slightly and gripped the necklace in her hand tighter, murmuring something he couldn't quite catch. Unfocused eyes looked up at him.
"Please," she asked, "please ..I need ...Dumbledore...help." She trailed off and her eyes slipped closed.
Gathering the woman up in his arms, Remus walked the rest of the way to Hogwarts and headed to the hospital wing.
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"Did you take care of it?" The hooded figure asked. His very presence cast a chill in the dimly lit room, making it seem even smaller than it already was. The three death eaters looked at each other, neither one wanted to be the one to relay the mission's outcome. For a few moments there was silence, that not even the local wildlife dared to disturb. Even the moon reflected its wariness as the clouds continually obscured its view from the window, the men's shadows fading in and out with each passing cloud. Each of the men anxiously waited for the other to answer.
"Well ummm, we did destroy the house and most of the family was easy to take care of..." One of the men replied.
"But?" The man shifted nervously, his companions sent longing glances towards the door.
"There was one sir, a woman. We tried but she got away." The hooded figure took a step forward. "But we've been looking for her." He rushed to say, "don't worry sir, we'll find her." The others vigorously nodded their agreement.
"It was a simple assignment: question them, get it and then destroy the house after you've disposed of the occupants."
"But sir we did! The house is gone and the family-"
"Has not been fully dealt with," the hooded man interrupted, "and you were unable to find it. So simple and yet, between the three of you, you couldn't manage one thing that was asked of you." The figure made his way to the door, his billowing robes giving the illusion of him gliding on air, as the other three looked at each other.
"Failure will not be tolerated." The figure stepped through the door as the room burst into flames, the screams of the three men echoing behind him.
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There was yelling and the sound of furniture being thrown across the room. A woman's scream followed by the sounds of children crying. Opening the door, she walked down the hall, pausing as she approached the living room. Chairs were scattered, the table was overturned and cards were all over the floor, evidence of a recently interrupted card game. Dark-robed and masked figures surrounded her family.
Her brother was standing protectively in front of her sister, mother, niece and nephew. Her father lay lifeless of the floor, unseeing eyes staring at the ceiling. Her niece and nephew clung to her sister sniffling, trying not to look at the men who had invaded their home. Her brother glanced at her and she made to go towards them as one of the figures turned to her.
"Hey we missed one."
"Bring her here," the other one ordered. The man started to come towards her as she stood there, to scared to do anything more than stare.
"Nooo." Her brother yelled. "Serilyn get out of here."
All hell broke loose. Her brother launched himself into one of the men, the momentum barreling them into the second man. Her sister took the opportunity to try and get her children out, but was blocked by the third man. Serilyn locked eyes with her sister and a silent understanding passed between them.
"Take care of them." Her sister said simply, before tackling the masked man before her, scratching, hitting and kicking any part of him that she could reach.
The children slipped by easily and Serilyn quickly led them outside. Behind them the three men struggled with her family.
"Poppy, what's wrong with her?" A voice asked, it was far away but its warm tones managed to be comforting.
"Besides the bumps and scrapes, she's dehydrated, malnourished and exhausted, but she'll be alright. Albus has your potion in his office." Another voice, female this time.
Serilyn tried to hold onto them, to follow them out, but she was still too tired and it was too hard to fight.
Running, branches whip at her face, and tear at her dress. Small hands grip hers as she tries not to stumble in the darkness, only just succeeding. She can hear the men behind her, steadily gaining on them.
"The children, I must not let them get the children," she thinks. Before long she is repeating this to herself like a mantra. Her niece trips and she catches the little girl before she hits the ground.
"They're coming closer Auntie Ri." Her nephew gasps. She doesn't need to look back, her ears have already confirmed his statement.
"Just keep running," she says to them. Her lungs are starting to burn, she can only imagine how they are fairing.
"AVEDA KADAVERA." One of them yells.
'No, no no no no anyone but that one." She thinks frantically.
Time seems to slow as she rushes to pull the children to the ground and out of the way. Too late as her nephew screams and then collapses, face first to the ground, a faint green light emanates from his back.
Serilyn grabs her niece and takes off running again, trying to ignore the urge to collapse and sob. The least she can do now is keep her niece alive.
She stumbles again. The forest is gone as is the child in her arms. Instead she's in front of a lake, the same lake her family visits every summer.
"I asked you to take care of them." Serilyn starts at the voice and spins around to face her sister, the accusation in the other woman's eyes more than she can bear.
"I tried, dear God, Stephanie, I tried. Please, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She sobs.
Her sister fades as does the lake, to be replaced by warm blue-green eyes and a soft voice.
"Shh, it's ok. You're okay, just rest." He says.
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