Disclaimer: still, I own nothing.
"You-Know-Who," Sirius repeated. "You know where to find You-Know-Who?"
Shaking her head, she turned the page, "Nope."
Sirius blinked rapidly. "Danielle, I feel like you carry on conversations with me thinking I know what's going on inside your head, but I don't. Care to fill me in?"
"You used to," she replied quietly, the words hanging heavy in the air. She looked him in the eye and gave him a thoughtful look. "But that was too long ago I guess. What I meant was that we're looking for information about You-Know-Who and something, or rather some things, called horcruxes."
"Horcruxes. I didn't realize that's what Dumbledore had thought You-Know-Who had done. How many is Dumbledore thinking?"
"You know what they are? I didn't find out until after my graduation. That was a sad day. But that's when Dumbledore pulled me aside. Asked me to be in the Order."
"How many, Danielle?"
"Bill and Charlie count six deaths. Plus the wretched part still in his body. Dumbledore says that Harry already destroyed one; that diary during Harry's second year. That means--."
"Five more," Sirius finished. He stood and assumed Dani's role of pacing, revolving around his previous seat and Danielle. "And what exactly did your going to the Sirens have anything to do with horcruxes?"
"This story is wrong. It says that Sirens are half-bird half-human," she said absentmindedly.
Sirius stopped pacing and knelt beside her, "Woman, I need you to focus. Tell me what's going on!" He waited for her response but all she did was look him in the eye and sigh. "There's something more isn't there? What aren't you telling me?"
"So you still can figure me out pretty well." Closing her book, she pulled her mouth to one side and sighed again. "Sirius, I've only got a short time."
"Alright, then hurry and tell me or just give me the bare facts if you must."
Shaking her head, she began to explain but stopped short, "No, I--the light's out! We better go!"
Vaulting to her feet, she tossed the book back into her bag and slipped through the bushes before Sirius could react. "Confounded woman! What I wouldn't give for a moment's clarity from you!" As he pushed off from the ground his hand slipped on a piece of paper that must have fallen from Dani's bag. Stuffing it into his pocket, he climbed to his feet and quickly darted through the bushes after her. She was only a few dozen feet ahead of him and silhouetted perfectly by the vibrant moonlight shining off the lake behind the house. Sprinting after her, he only had one thing on his mind.
Grabbing her by the elbow when he caught up with her, he forced her to turn and face him. "Answers. Now."
"Ok, ok. The ancient Greeks used sculptures called caryatides and atlantes—larger than life human statues—in their architecture. Some believed that these sculptures, as well as other idol statues, housed souls that yearned to break free one day."
"Like a horcrux."
"Yes, minus the required killing, though. I went to the Sirens because there are loads of forgotten sculptures at the bottom of the sea and Dumbledore felt that they held the key to helping us find the horcruxes. The Sirens told me that the caryatides, like horcruxes, have a special energy that can be read if one knows how it is unique to that object. To that soul. All of that led us here."
"Why? How? You said we are looking for information. Do you think that You-Know-Who just left a list lying around with what all of his horcruxes are and where we can find them?"
"Of course not. But if we don't get in there before whomever that was returns, we'll never know, will we!" She wrenched her arm away from him and dashed the rest of the way to the house, slipping through the front door and out of Sirius' sight once more.
Sirius stood in the front hall of the house, keeping guard as Danielle had instructed him from the second floor. She had already searched the house and no one else, wizard or otherwise, was in the dark dwelling. Random noises filtered down from the rooms upstairs as Sirius surmised that s that she rummaged through drawers and cabinets.
Leaning against the front door, he watched her scurry from one side of the balcony to the other in search of what he didn't know. "Can I help?"
"Just keep an eye out," she snapped in a loud hiss.
"Ok," he called back. "What is this place?"
"Consider it the Death Eaters' Grimmauld Place. Snape told us about it," she responded using the same strained whisper.
"Gotcha. Why are you talking like that?" he asked, mocking her stage whisper.
"Sirius!"
"Fine, fine," he mumbled, thrusting his hands into his pockets. His right hand curled around the paper he had found early and, curiosity getting the better of him, he pulled it from its hiding place and thumbed it open. At a quick glance, he saw that it was a note from Dumbledore to Danielle and he couldn't resist perusing it.
"Dear Danielle, this reply is in regards to your many, many letters. I hope that it answers all your questions and I bid you please, use discretion with the owls; you mustn't let your location be known. Yes, you are correct on both accounts. Sirius did vanish, he went through the veil, and now he has returned without any explanation.
"But you mustn't come and see him as you wish. Your job right now is to gather the information that we so desperately need, only then can you come and ask him all the questions your heart so desires.
"Let me finish with this: there is a saying that time heals most wounds and I believe that timing and fate are everything sometimes. Mistakes are made, people change, and some things are so inevitable that all we can do is sit and await their arrival. Regretfully, we must be willing to sacrifice whatever it takes. You, I'm sure, understand this better than any of us, unfortunately. When the time comes for what is to happen, I hope that you will realize the course that you are to take. But know this as well; I have seen love do many miraculous things in my lifetime and believe me, that is quite some time. Trust your instincts and your heart."
Sirius scanned the letter again. Was it really saying what he thought it was? And what sacrifice did she have to make?
Dani darted down the stairs, grabbing the newel post to swing her momentum into the room that they had seen the figure in earlier that night. Before she could, however, Sirius wrapped an arm around her stomach and pulled her to his side.
"Danielle, what's this about?"
She looked at the note in his hand for a brief moment before snatching it from him and stuffing it into her satchel. She almost didn't have the heart to tell him, but she couldn't keep the words from spilling out of her mouth. "That's why Dumbledore pulled me aside at graduation. Apparently, there was a prophesy made during my seventh year that said I was to complete a grave operation for the Order and once that mission was completed, Dani Aquila Afton would be no more. Dumbledore and I have decided that this is the mission. Once we get this information, that's it for me."
He shook his head defiantly and roared, "You think I'm going to let that happen! You don't know me very well!"
"Shh shh shh, Sirius," she chided. "There's nothing you can do about it."
"There must be something! Why else would Dumbledore want me to help you?"
Her forehead crumpled in thought as she pondered what he'd asked. "I don't know. Maybe he thought I'd want to be with you in my last few hours."
"Well you fought tooth and nail to keep that from happening."
"Ah, Sirius. I was just--," she stopped, something catching in her throat. Wiggling free of his arms, she continued to the room, painfully aware that Sirius was close on her heels, wanting answers.
She discovered the room to be a study and not much of one at that. A desk, a couch, a Muggle photo of a family, possibly the unfortunate past owners of the house, and a few shelves of books were the only items to tip off anyone to its purpose plus a set of doors leading to another room. The Death Eaters' haunt looked derelict in comparison to its Order counterpart.
She bit her bottom lip as she rummaged through the lone desk in the room, feeling his eyes on her, waiting. "Did you know that some thought a caryatid represented what would happen to someone if they fraternized with the enemy? Submission, humiliation, punishment, death. It's funny."
"How's that?" He was humoring her; she knew it for his voice was completely void of emotion. He sat down on the arm of the couch.
"Horcruxes are the same but only intensified; they bring pain, hate, death. It's funny how modern wizards can take something innocent and turn it into something so vile."
"After everything we've seen, can you really believe there was ever innocence in the world? The evils that they've seen? Think of poor Harry. And Ginny. She was possessed by the Dark Lord. These kids, we, will never be able to escape this."
Danielle stopped as still as the night, absorbing his words, staring him in the eyes. His form was blurred slightly by the tears flooding her eyes. "Sirius, I have to believe that there's something worth dying for."
"But there are greater things worth living for."
Turning from him, her cheeks growing hot, she ran her fingers along a shelf over the fireplace. "A girl can't live on hope alone, Sirius." She then ran her finger across the picture of the family and felt a jolt go through her arm to her heart.
She felt as if she were in a dream, standing with the people that had been in the picture. The tingling sensation of magic coursed through her, but the picture hadn't been a portkey: it must have been some other form of supernatural power that she was feeling the effects of. Danielle walked up to the female, a lifeless girl whose poor eyes pointed in opposite directions.
"He got it back. He got it back," she said over and over again, groping the ragged material around her neck as if trying to feel or find something there.
"What? What did who get back?"
The girl simply restated the four words repetitively.
Danielle moved on to the older man, his controlling hand resting on the young woman's shoulder, his wrinkly face emotionless. "He took it. He took it."
"Hullo? Can you hear me?" She waved her hands in front of their faces, receiving no response of any kind and suddenly had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Spinning around on her heels, she felt a desperate need to find her way out of wherever she was.
The room was small, rundown, bare and warped. She wasn't in a normal reality. She saw a wobbly table, empty except for a few items: a book, a cup, and other small objects. When a heavy hand dropped onto her shoulder, she let out the fiercest, most piercing scream that would rival any Siren's call.
She twisted and turned but the hand clamped down on her shoulder and pulled her into viselike arms, refusing to let her go. Thrashing about, she tried to grab her wand or find some way to escape but both eluded her.
Someone was speaking in her ear. The muffled words tugged at her memories but her mind fought it, fought her attacker. But a thought was forcing its way through her mind: her attacker wasn't attacking her. The viselike grip that she thought would strangle the life out of her was embracing her, comforting her.
She started focusing on the voice, trying to hear what it was saying but moments of panic would grip her, forcing her to lash out again.
"Danielle!" She heard the voice as if it was coming from the bottom of a well. "Danielle! Wake up! They're coming! They're going to catch us!"
Her head spinning, she dragged her eyelids open and tried to remember where she was. The first thing she heard was a young female's voice; the one from her vision that had been groping at her neck. The girl was screaming, "They're here! They're here! Hurry!"
Her captor spun her around in his arms and she vacantly stared into his steel-gray eyes. "Dani, come back to me!"
Blinking several times, she seemed to finally focus on Sirius and grasp what was going on. She turned to the photograph that had caused so much trouble and saw that what she thought was a normal, Muggle photograph had changed greatly and the girl was now alone, pointing accusatorily at her and Sirius. The old man was missing, possible alerting the Death Eaters to their location.
"Shut up you minger!" Danielle shouted, pushing away from Sirius. She went to the picture, a rather well done portrait that allowed its occupants to interact with real people, and studied the female.
Danielle's eyes fell on the gold locket around the gangly girl's neck. "You're Merope Gaunt, aren't you? Where's your father?"
The portrait merely continued yelling at the top of her lungs.
"Dani! We've got to go!"
She turned towards Sirius as if remembering what was going on around her.
"I've got to get you out of here!"
She looked back at the portrait, hearing the heavy huffs of a man, the one that was in her vision. He must have been running back meaning that real reinforcements would be there shortly. "Relax," she breathed, pulling out her wand, "we'll simply apparate out."
"Love, I tried while you were thrashing about in my arms. There are anti-apparating charms locking us in. We've got to run!"
"Just wait!" She pointed her wand at the portrait. "Reveal yourself or you're going up in flames!"
The old man huffed into the portrait, looking disgusted. He thumped his hand against his chest as if trying to restart his heart.
"A ring!" Dani shouted triumphantly. "Another horcrux!"
"Avada--!"
Green light burned the air around her. She had just enough time to freeze before she had the wind knocked out of her as Sirius clothes-lined her to the ground and slid her behind the couch, rolling underneath her to absorb most of the shock of hitting the ground. She sucked in short coughs, trying to catch her breath as she rested her head against Sirius' chest. "My bell….has officially…been…rung. And I know…that…voice."
She glimpsed over the couch at the ghost of the woman she'd almost lost her life to. Twice.
"I should have killed you when you came out of the sea, witch!"
"Really gotta work on your insults, Narcissa! Use our last encounter as a clue to this one!" Locking her eyes with Sirius' she transmitted her commands to run for it as soon as the option presented itself. He nodded.
"Narcissa, trying to live up to the standard of your husband? What would that brat of yours think if you ended up dead?" Vaulting to her feet, Danielle mounted the couch and aimed her wand at the faltering Malfoy. "Expelliarmus!"
The light tinkling of wood hitting wood filled the air and Sirius took his chance. Wrapping his arm around Danielle's middle, he yanked her from the couch and carried her through the swinging doors into the connected room: a kitchen. He made sure her feet were firmly planted before grasping her hand tightly and pulling her through the back door.
On the ridge near the lake, figures began to apparate from anywhere and everywhere, apparently the closest anyone could get to the actual manor by magic.
"Ah, bloody hell!" Sirius yelled, running a hand through his long hair in frustration. "What do we do now!"
Danielle scanned the vicinity, looking for any escape possible. And then it came to her. "Sirius, how long can you hold your breath?"
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