Ch.15 Unexpected actions
"Well? What do you think?" Tonks asked in an excited manner, Remus standing behind her looking hopeful. "It's an interesting theory, but..." Lucius rubbed his chin and looked over at Arthur, "...but, How would she have gone under radar for so long?" the red haired man finished.
Tonks and Remus looked crestfallen, "We don't mean that it's not possible..." Arthur tried to lighten their spirits, "It's just not probable..." Lucius sighed. "She's shown no sign of being even remotely magically inclined, and Cecelia was shy and quiet with poor eye-sight" the blonde man pointed out.
"But then again, if amnesia and a memory charm is involved..." Arthur raised an eyebrow "Perhaps she's not exactly how she was...". "But her eye-sight..." Remus frowned, "Muggles have all sorts of ways to improve even the worst of eye-sight!" Tonks clapped her hands together. They all sat there considering this before deciding to look into this more before making any more assumptions.
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It was near the end of January before Camron came back over to Renee's house, needing the time to get over the fact that over christmas she found out Renee was not her true aunt. Renee needed that time as well, in front of Harry she would go about her life as normal but he heard her in her art studio, crying and cursing while practically slashing at her canvases, creating dark and angry pictures.
Severus came over a little less, but not because he was having second thoughts on his relationship with her, he just knew that she needed some alone time to clear her mind. When he did come over, Renee's face would brighten a little and a smile would take over the blank expression she'd been wearing since christmas.
But today, Camron came over in hopes to play DDR with Harry but Harry was off to work, which was actually Auror training.
It was quiet and a little tense in the house before Dart started barking up a storm, chasing a fly that somehow got in. Dart ended up crashing into many house plants and furniture, creating a mess that Renee immediately started to clean up. Camron and Severus offered to help her but she just smiled and shook her head "No, don't worry about it, why don't you all take Dart out to the park for a little? I'll catch up later".
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So here they were, Severus with a death-grip on Darts leash while Camron got a few things off her chest about what happened at christmas. Severus let her spill her guts, understanding that she needed to talk about this to someone who whitnessed it as well.
"I'm glad that you didn't leave her because she ended up lying to you...I mean, it's not her fault, she had no idea about it either...but some people..." she frowned. "Some people are stupid..." Severus snickered, Camron laughed a little and nodded "Yeah, glad we're not those people, huh?" she nudged him with her elbow.
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Peter Pettigrew staggered his way through the streets, living as a muggle, he decided drinking himself stupid was the best way to deal with it. He would spend time on the subways and street corners, being a bum, getting handouts and money then buying as much booze as he could afford. He also bought himself a gun, not for himself, he had a plan for this gun, there were enough bullets in it to take out a few people he wanted to see dead.
He was approaching a park when he heard a familiar voice, the voice of one of the many on his list. Looking over he saw the 'greasy asshole that stole my Cecelia!', he didn't care to notice the little girl and dog with Severus, all he saw now was a target.
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Renee finished cleaning the last bit of debris Dart created before grabbing her wallet and heading out the door 'Hmm, I'll buy us all something to drink when I meet up with them...'.
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Severus and Camron came to a halt when Dart stopped and turned towards some bushes and growled threateningly. "What's wrong Dart?" Cam bent down and pat the dogs head, a short, drunk, balding man stumbled out of the bushes holding a gun. Severus quickly pushed Cam behind him just as a shot was set off, pain quickly spread through his left shoulder where it had begun to bleed.
"Damnit...missed..." muttered the man, Severus recognized him as Peter right away, Cam screamed when the shot went off and clung onto Severus from behind. Dart ran off, barking all the way, Severus crouched down holding his shoulder while making sure Camron was carefully sheilded.
"You thought you were so great, stealing my Cecelia, huh? I have plenty of bullets in this gun, I don't care if I use them all on you, Snivellus!" Peter slurred and swayed, the gun still up and aiming at the wounded man.
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Renee was just approaching the park when she heard the gun shot, her heart skipped a beat as panic started to take over her 'Cam! Severus!'.
Comfort didn't come when she saw Dart galloping towards her, barking in alarm "Where are they?" she asked the husky, Dart ran off back towards Camron and Severus, leading Renee.
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Severus slowly reached into his pocket, making sure the drunk, former wizard didn't realize he was reaching for his wand. 'Camron wont see, she'll only hear, no worries...' Severus mentally calmed himself, he was starting to feel dizzy from the blood loss.
Peter was just about to shoot again when Dart jumped out and bit Peter's arm, the gun shot off but the bullet hit the ground and the gun went flying a few feet away.
Renee ran into view now and gasped at the sight of Severus' shoulder, she quickly ran to him asking if he and Cam were ok but then her eyes went hazy. She stood there for a second in a daze, Camron was still clinging to Severus' back crying loudly, Dart was busy keeping Peter from getting the gun again.
Renee slowly bent down and took Severus' wand from him then turned and strood over towards Peter. Dart jumped away as Renee pointed the wand at the former wizard "Impedimentia!", Peter slumped to the ground moving quite sluggishly, eyeing Renee curiously.
Severus was confused 'Renee's not a witch...', Renee slowly walked up to Peter and muttered something before punching him in the face, knocking him out.
The wand suddenly dropped from her hands and she stood there in a daze again before looking around in confusion "What just...? Oh, Severus!" she quickly ran back to his side and helped him up.
"We need to get you to a hospital, now!" She took her sweater off and pressed it against the wound "Camron, go call an ambulance and the cops, alright?". Camron shakily nodded and ran off to find a payphone, Dart trotted over to the fallen wand and picked it up in his mouth and trotted back over to Severus.
Renee quickly dashed away to find the gun and keep it out of the unconcious man's reach, giving Dart the perfect oppertunity to give the wand back. Severus almost swore Dart winked at him as he pocketed the wand, the cops came first and dragged Peter off to jail while Severus was taken to the hospital.
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"She did what?" Remus choked out, his eyes wide, "She took my wand and cast a spell, it was very odd..." Severus furrowed his brows together.
Tonks bit her lip and glanced at Remus who nodded, "Severus...we think...Renee might be Cecelia...", a few seconds of dead silence filled the room before the black haired man slowly turned his head and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? What would make you think that? Cecelia's...", "Not dead...most likely alive..." Tonks smiled nervously. Severus' eyes widened "What? How long have you known this?", "We didn't want to upset you..." Remus replied weakly. "Well, I'm upset now! Didn't you two learn anything after what happened at Renee's this past christmas?" Severus gasped in exasperation. "We're really sorry, it's just that you had this thing going on with Renee...and Cecelia was your old love...we didn't want to...I dunno...ruin things..." Tonks pouted, feeling bad now.
Severus took a moment to think this over before sighing "I understand..." he took in another deep breath before raising an eyebrow "Do you really think it's possible that Renee is...Cecelia?".
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When Harry got home Camron and Renee tried as best they could to explain what had happened at the park earlier that day. When Remus and Tonks came back to Renee's with Severus bandaged up, they pulled the younger wizard aside to tell them the whole story.
"You guys think she might be my aunt?" Harry almost shouted but knew better and kept his voice at a harsh whisper.
"Do you think you could keep an eye on her, see if she does anything or even says anything that might confirm...?" Tonks bit her lip.
Harry looked over at Snape, the black haired man seemed to be having an inner conflict with himself, Harry looked back at Tonks and nodded. "I'll keep an eye on her..." he sighed, feeling slightly guilty as if he was asked to spy on his house-mate.
Days went by without anything 'odd' happening, Renee went about her days like usual, make breakfast while blasting the radio, clean the house, do laundry.
"Hey, I don't have enough whites to do a load, you got any that need to be washed? I'm pretty sure I wont mix up who's is who's" she laughed.
Harry gathered the small amount of white laundry for Renee to wash then grabbed a quick bite to eat "I gotta go to work now, I'll be back for dinner, alright?". "Not a problem, I'll have your clean whites on the end of you bed when you get home, alright?" Renee smiled and wished him a good day as the young man left.
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As Renee folded the freshly cleaned whites and stacked them in seperate piles she pondered on what to make for dinner. "Hmm, had chicken the past two nights..." she picked up the piles and walked down the hallway.
After a moment of difficulty opening Harry's bedroom door with laundry in her hands she finally managed and walked in. "I could make a steak...but then again, I haven't had one marinating all day like a good steak should..." she deposited Harry's whites, still thinking, when the painting she made him caught her eye.
She smiled to herself, proud of her work, she snickered slightly as she remembered her and Harry talking about finding that castle.
She still had her own laundry to put away but the painting seemed to have her in a trance, her eyes couldn't seem to tear away from it.
She swore the lake in the painting was starting to ripple as a breeze made the forest trees sway, the sound of a bell and childrens chatter invaded her mind. "Renee, I'm home early!" came Harry's voice from the front door, Renee shook her head and her thoughts "Ok, hey, you wanna go out to eat tonight?" she made her way out of the room to put away her own laundry before her and Harry went out to eat.
Kinda a short chapter, compared to my other ones...kinda craptastic too, but I'm trying to move the story along without taking away too much detail...I hope you all liked it, please review!
