Hi. Well it looks like we're nearing the end of our journey together. YES! I hear you all shout. I couldn't agree more. I think there'll be one more chapter after this one, and then that's the end. Thank you for you reviews, they're wonderful, except Laura's, but I know her so it's not a problem. DON'T WORRY!! Ha, capitals are great. On with the show...
Chapter Twenty-Nine: In the Hospital Wing
Remus, Bethan and Sarah followed the head of Gryffindor house through the school corridors, on the lookout for Sirius. They were anxious to find him, but dreaded to see what state he would be in when they did.
They had filled McGonagall in on everything they knew – or had assumed – about Adriana, and were surprised when she took them seriously. The number of casualties in evidence, including a teacher, had probably aided their argument. They'd set off quickly to find Sirius – they needed him to fill in the blanks of the evening's mysteries, and to know that he was okay, of course.
McGonagall walked fast, lighting the torches in the wall brackets on her way and looking quickly into all the dark corners for the missing Marauder. The three sixth-years hurried to keep up, not talking but exchanging nervous glances whenever another corridor turned out to be empty.
McGonagall raised her lit wand to create some extra light on a particularly shadowy fourth-floor hallway, and the magical beam landed on a dark heap next to the wall.
The students saw him, too; Remus went even paler in the dim light and Bethan hid her face in Sarah's shoulder.
"He's in a bad way," said a hollow, tinny voice. It was the suit of armour that was standing above Sirius. "Had the Cruciatus curse done on him," it added gravely.
"It could be worse," McGonagall replied quickly as she saw the three scared-looking teenagers, though she was almost as worried as them.
After a tense conversation with Madam Pomfrey the school nurse, Professor McGonagall managed to get Bethan, Sarah and Remus permission to stay in the Hospital Wing with their friends that night. Sarah sat in a chair between Peter and James' beds, while Remus and Bethan sat on either side of Sirius. Across the room Snape and Professor Harlem also lay under crisp white sheets.
The three of them tried to make conversation, but it was hard to in the circumstances. During one of the many lulls, Sarah looked down at James' pale sleeping face. It set a great contrast to his jet-black hair.
"I think Lily should be here," she said, breaking the silence. Remus and Bethan looked up at her. "Well, I think he would appreciate her most of all... and I know she'd want to be here when he wakes up."
Bethan nodded. "She doesn't even know any of this has happened," she realised, looking around at the five unconscious people.
Sarah got up. "I'll go get her. Back in a minute."
Bethan opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it again. When the door had closed again, she said to Remus, "I nearly suggested getting Adriana, too, then – for Peter." They looked over at the lonely, forlorn form of Peter two beds away.
"Well, now we know why she chose Pete over Padfoot," Remus said gravely. "Sirius was right – she was a spy."
Bethan looked down at the sleeping Marauder in front of them. "Sirius was right about a lot of things," she replied.
Remus gave a shrewd glance, and went out on a whim. "Marley?" he asked gently.
"I don't know why I'm thinking about that now," Bethan scowled herself harshly. "It's hardly important, with all this going on." She gestured to the five casualties. "Everyone's ended up in here."
"It's still important, though," Remus told her.
She carried on looking at Sirius for a few moments, then said, "I only really said yes when Marley asked me out to get over Sirius. I did like him," she added quickly, "but not as much as I liked Sirius... But I grew to like Marley even more, and I thought he felt the same way, I thought we could be actually going somewhere... But not I've been screwed over, and I realise I haven't gotten over Sirius. And I have no one to distract me from him." She reached a hand out and brushed a stray lock of hair from Sirius' face. It was as soft as she had imagined.
At that moment Sirius jerked awake suddenly. Bethan yanked her hand away in surprise as he sat up in the bed. His wide eyes darted around wildly and his hands clutched the sheets until his knuckles were white. Remus and Bethan exchanged worried glances, and then Remus put a placating hand on Sirius' shoulder.
The roving brown eyes turned to Remus, finally fixing on his face. Sirius' grip relaxed on the sheets as he muttered, "Remus... It's only Remus. I thought it was..."
His eyes swivelled nervously again as if he was searching the room for a hidden danger and he saw Bethan sitting on his right, looking almost as terrified as him. He reached out and seized her hand in her lap, holding it tight.
"Darling, I can't believe that Ravenclaw Beater treated you the way he did, he's a fucking bastard! I would never do anything like that to you!"
He squeezed her hand and his brown eyes bore into her green ones for the briefest of seconds, before they rolled back into his head, and he released her hand and slumped back onto the pillow.
Bethan looked across at Remus, bewildered.
Early the next morning Albus Dumbledore quietly entered the Hospital Wing. He surveyed the almost full room sombrely, but couldn't help but smile when he saw not only the five casualties of last night, but also the four forms of Lily, Sarah, Bethan and Remus tucked up in spare beds. The beauty of true friendship, the headmaster thought to himself.
He walked slowly around the room, looking at the sleeping bodies. He blamed himself for not keeping a sharp enough eye on the school's goings-on this year... but all he could do now was thank Merlin no one had died – although there had been some near misses, especially in the cases of Professor Harlem and Sirius.
Madame Pomfrey, having the ears of a bat, heard the headmaster's quiet footsteps and came out of her room at the end of the ward, wearing a pink dressing gown and carrying two mugs of hot chocolate.
Dumbledore smiled up at her and took the offered mug from her hand. "How are they doing?" he asked her.
"They'll be fine," she assured him, as she smoothed Harlem's bed sheets. "Still recovering at the moment, of course." She glanced at the great wizard. "What exactly happened, Headmaster?"
"It was Tom Riddle's doing," he answered gravely, surprising her with his candid response. "Under his new guise of Lord Voldemort."
"How on earth do you know?" Madame Pomfrey asked, sitting on the other side of Harlem's bed.
"I had Professor Abercrombie brew some Veritaserum, and used it to interrogate young Regulus Black. I see him as an unfortunate victim in this case, though we shall have to keep a careful eye on him from now on." Dumbledore sighed and looked up at the ceiling. His once-smooth face was showing the beginnings of aging, and the auburn hair had more grey now. "I knew this would happen," he said. "Of course Tom would want to get a spy into Hogwarts. I suppose I was in denial... and I never imagined he would use a young girl like that."
"Who, Professor?" asked Madame Pomfrey curiously, then added, "If you don't mind me asking?"
"It was Adriana Balavoine," said a voice, though it wasn't Dumbledore's. They looked round to see Sirius awake and alert.
He propped himself up on his elbows and continued hoarsely, "I knew there was something up with her – so she was spying for – for him, was she?"
He made to get out of bed altogether, but Madame Pomfrey rushed over, protesting, "For goodness' sake, lie down! You need rest, you've had the Cruciatus curse on you!"
"Is that what it was?" Sirius asked, his face white. He turned to Dumbledore again. "Lucius Malfoy attacked me, sir, he was working with her, and so was my cousin Bellatrix, and him –" he jerked a careless thumb in Snape's direction. "And... my brother," he finished.
"I'm quite aware of it," Dumbledore said simply.
"Well, what're you gonna do about it?" Sirius surprised himself with his boldness, whilst batting away Madame Pomfrey's hands; she was anxiously trying to push him back onto the bed.
"Well sit down and I'll tell you." Despite the grave circumstances, Dumbledore had to try not to smile at the situation in front of him. Sirius reluctantly sat back down on the bed and Madame Pomfrey fussed about, straightening the sheets and fluffing the pillows.
"The truth is, Sirius, there isn't a lot I can do," Dumbledore admitted. Sirius looked aghast. The headmaster continue, "Your brother has told me, under the influence of a very strong truth potion, everything he knows about what has been going on." He paused annoyingly, apparently thinking. Sirius tried to wait patiently, out of respect, but just as he was going to prompt him to continue, Dumbledore did anyway.
"Apparently Miss Belavoine cheated the Sorting Hat, therefore guaranteeing her disposal into Gryffindor. She had met Tom Riddle during the summer, and according to your brother they were... having a relationship."
Sirius had a disgusted look on his face. "But wouldn't he be like... forty now?" he asked.
"Older than that," Dumbledore replied calmly. "Ancient, to your eyes. But Voldemort has more than just great magical powers – he possesses tremendous charm and persuasive skills; you must understand, Sirius, that it would be very difficult for a young woman such as Adriana to resist him. I don't think we should blame her completely."
"Yeah right!" Sirius was unconvinced. "She knew what she was doing all along... and I knew she didn't really like Peter!"
"Quite." Dumbledore smiled grimly. Madame Pomfrey was now checking the other patients' conditions, whilst still listening intently of course, and Remus, Sarah, Bethan and Lily were showing the stirrings of wakefulness.
"So Adriana tricked everyone here, including you, so that she could spy on Hogwarts for Voldemort," Sirius clarified. Dumbledore nodded. "And you're not going to do anything about it?"
"What can I do, except prevent it from happening again?" the headmaster asked. "I only hope that she didn't find much of interest to tell Tom. I suspect the reason that she was so eager to become a Gryffindor was that your house seems to produce the biggest trouble-makers." His blue eyes pierced Sirius' suddenly. "Tell me, did you and James ever take her along with you on any of your jaunts around the school?"
"No!" Sirius was outraged. "She's no Marauder!" He thought about what Dumbledore had just said. "You mean – Voldemort would've wanted her to find out all the secret passageways and stuff... I don't think we ever told her about any. Unless..." He looked over at Peter's bed, and then back to Dumbledore worriedly.
Dumbledore smiled reassuringly. "It wouldn't matter either way," he said gently. "Having taught Tom Riddle myself, I know that he was no stranger to the less-known ins and outs at this school. We – well, I – am going to have to raise our defences from now on." He closed his eyes briefly, then looked up at the ceiling.
Sirius watched, wondering what the man was thinking. He didn't register the bustling of waking people around him until Dumbledore rose from his seat, saying, "I should go now. I've stayed too long as it is." He paused at the door and looked back. "I suppose there's no point in asking you to keep this to yourself?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, there isn't." When the headmaster had gone, Sirius turned to see his friends all awake and eating early breakfasts that Madame Pomfrey had conjured up for them. On his left Remus asked quietly, "What did Dumbledore say?"
"Well, he knows about our late-night jaunts around the school," Sirius replied solemnly, though his yes sparkled as he wondered, "Should we be worried about that?"
Well, that was the kind of 'answering all the mysteries' chapter, I hope it sufficed. If anyone has any BURNING QUESTIONS they want to ask, then just review and I'll think up some suitably eccentric answers which you couldn't possibly doubt...