Disclaimer: The extended absence has changed all of nothing. I still don't own any of this. All JKR's.
A/N: I'm back! I never thought that I'd be writing this again, but as I was rereading the story the other day, I realized that I just couldn't leave it unfinished. That and I really needed to practice my writing. Therefore…bear with me. It's been a while. The first section is a little recap from the last chapter.
Of Cowards and Heroes
Chapter 13
Unknown Location, Nov 2nd, 1996
"Ah, Lupin…I see you have survived your transformation," the voice stated, disappointment oozing from every syllable. The tired, rather haggard looking Remus paid it no attention and simply smiled wryly.
"You do sound glad to hear it, Severus; I appreciate the sentiment." He returned, before assuming a rather more serious expression. "Professor Dumbledore said that I was to speak to you regarding what I missed at yesterday's meeting."
"Oh, yes," Snape grudgingly admitted, before sighing as he took a seat in the armchair opposite Remus. The two men were in the large sitting room of the old house, the roaring fireplace between them giving the otherwise cold, high-ceilinged room some much needed warmth. But, despite the fact that it was a rather chilly November, the house, whose owner Dumbledore had so far declined to identify, felt much warmer and far more welcoming than the dank, dark corridors of their former headquarters at Grimmauld Place.
And, much to their surprise, Severus Snape and Remus Lupin had found the reason for their great relief upon leaving it to be mutual; no longer did they feel so haunted by Sirius Black. Even stranger, the two found themselves closer than ever, and so it was that the tall Potions master was quite civilly reporting the various specifics of the previous day's deliberations.
"I'm not sure I understand, Severus; you said that their mission was…to do what to Malfoy?"
"I understand that your mind is not quite yet up to speed."
Lupin laughed, its hoarseness momentarily echoing the bark-like laughter of his now dead best friend.
"Yes, yes, so, please, go a little slower on this transformation addled mind of mine."
Snape's mouth twitched upwards as the faintest hint of a smile passed across his face, returned in kind by a tired one from Remus. "It is, I suppose, slightly problematic. As far as I have been able to ascertain, Malfoy, Rockwood, Nott, Pettigrew, and a woman have all left the country; perhaps even the continent – and the reason appears to be Malfoy; that is, a Malfoy."
"Ah," Remus nodded his comprehension, and then frowned. "Narcissa is at home, and one would think in a very secure position thanks to this past July – Draco…is something wrong at school?"
"Mm – not that I am aware of, although he was recently betrothed, with the full approval of both his parents to a Miss Nadia Zabini; still, nothing that would supposedly send his father and three other Deatheaters abroad."
"Nadia Zabini? Surprising."
Snape raised an eyebrow. "And why, pray tell?"
'Well, Harry's letters have been full of nothing but her these past few weeks', Remus thought, but outwardly waved the query off with a gesture of hand.
"Her elder sister died in rather tragic and mysterious circumstances, so it has been said that she was most likely a squib; so I'm merely surprised that the Malfoys chose Miss. Zabini regardless of that fact."
"Her father is the heir to the Zabini fortune; she is an only child, considered-" Snape spat out the word with distaste "-pretty, by her peers; does well academically and although a powerful witch in her own right, has demonstrated a maturity beyond her years in preferring the understated in what she does."
Remus blinked several times before grinning widely, opening his mouth to tease Snape mercilessly for his uncharacteristic praise of a student when the dark haired man smirked.
"She is one of my Slytherins, Lupin, and although a year younger, already rivals some of Granger's scores. Please, let me have my moment of pride."
Remus, however, was frowning again. "Three other Deatheaters?" he queried. "I thought you said…"
"Malfoy, Rookwood, Nott, Pettigrew and a woman, who, unless Voldemort has recruited more women without my knowledge, is not Bellatrix and almost certainly not a Deatheater."
Snape almost smiled again as he saw the wheels of Remus's mind turning; the werewolf quickly coming to what he was privately convinced was the right conclusion.
"Personal vendetta, then?
"It would seem so, yes, apparently for this woman; and that would suggest that they are looking for someone related to Malfoy-"
"-and finding them must further Voldemort's cause if four of them would risk his anger at simply leaving the country for such an extended period of time."
Snape settled back into his chair, staring at the fire rather morosely. "Good, good, so you've grasped the basics, but before we even begin to consider what on earth it is they're doing, we will need to know who the woman is and what personal vendetta the five of them could possibly have in common."
A/N: And from here on, folks, it's all new!
Remus agreed wholeheartedly, and the two began an intricate discussion about family trees, detailed maps and plots soon covering whole sheets of parchment as they studied the various links and relations between the families. Much to their grand disappointment, however, even despite the help they had received from Nymphadora Tonks as to the various Black lineages, they still found themselves at a loss as to the identity of the missing 'link'. Remus, however, couldn't quite shake the thought of Nadia Zabini from his mind; her name was sending his train of thought on wild, random tangents, and he found himself unable to dispel the impression that she was far more central to their problem than a quick glance would suggest. He'd even suggested her name, once, only to be met with a blank look from Tonks and a rather sneering one from Snape.
"You do seem rather fixated on this idea, Lupin – have you information that you have neglected to share with us?"
He'd groaned inwardly – he couldn't really explain why he felt she was so important, and he wasn't even sure that she was their missing link. He'd sighed, leaning back in his armchair. "I…well, all I can truly recall is some sort of scandal; but I really think that this is quite important, Severus."
"Scandal?" Tonks had perked up, quickly distracted from the endless sheets of family histories.
"Ah, yes…Zabini, Zabini…the Great Hogwarts Divide, I believe that was. We were only in our first year at the time. Interesting, but really of no connection to the matter at hand."
Remus, who was already exhausted, had simply shrugged and turned his attention to yet another scribbled sheet of parchment. "If you're sure," he'd said, and yet, now, he was still plagued by the thought that they had missed the crux of the matter in that moment.
'Nadia Zabini,' he thought, fleeting images of a proud, beautiful brunette bouncing a small, black-haired girl on her knee slipping in and out of his mind. 'How do I know you, Nadia?'
Hamilton Canada, Nov 16, 1996
"They were looking for us, weren't they?"
James turned to his wife, expecting to see fear etched all over her youthful face. She was so very transparent, sometimes – he'd always know when she was happy, sad, or so excited that she was practically bouncing up and down – but now, now, there was nothing. A strange, eerie calmness was exuding from her as she steadily held his gaze, the only thing visible on her features a strong desire to hear the truth.
"I – I don't know." James began, and hastily continued when Adéla raised an eyebrow. "I mean, yes. They were looking, Déla…and they were wizards…I just don't know who they were. Or who they were looking for."
Adéla nodded, leaning forward to kiss his cheek gently. "I was just being silly," she said quietly, smiling shyly at James. "It's not as if my family would have any idea about the baby until it's born, would they?"
Smiling far more enthusiastically than he felt, James put an arm around her, grinning when she smacked him for his fake 'oof!' as she shifted her weight against him. "No, baby, no, they wouldn't know."
He had almost managed to calm down again, to banish the image of her emotionless face from his mind when she spoke, turning to look at him with the same calm gravity of minutes earlier.
"And it's not as if anyone knows you're alive, right?"
It was almost a relief, really, James reflected, looking into eyes that already knew the answer to their question. Granted, there were still many wrongs to be corrected, scores of apologies to be made, but the end had finally begun. Here was the last lie, stripped away and the truth finally laid bare as he told his wife what he should have said long ago.
"My…my aunt Julianna knows I'm alive. And no one else."
"Right…Julianna…Julianna," she appeared to mull this over for a minute before continuing. "Who…correct me if I'm mistaken…was also supposed to be dead? Killed by Deatheaters as revenge?"
And James's relief disappeared, replaced by a hard, cold dread that gripped him so tightly he shivered. Adéla, however, nodded slightly and took his hands in hers.
"For better or for worse, no?" she said, leaning towards him and kissing him. "It's all going to work out, James."
And that, James knew, was exactly true. It was all going to work out, the one fact that without a shadow of a doubt, terrified him the most.
Hogwarts, November 17th, 1996
WHAM!
The thud of heavy, dusty books hitting the table shocked a pleasantly dreaming Harry into a rather unpleasant, conscious state of affairs, compounded with the equally unpleasant information that he'd been drooling all over his books like a disgusting little boy and could he please pick himself up so that they could have a proper chat about this latest dream of his.
Utterly perplexed, he blearily stared up at a darkish, female figure, who muttered "oh, please" under her breath and handed him his glasses.
"Well?" Nadia Zabini demanded, once Harry had been able to process the information that he was now, in fact, awake, and face to face with the rather annoyed looking young woman.
"Well what?" Harry yawned out, now beginning to be more than slightly irritated himself. "What on earth did you have to go and wake me up for? This is prime napping territory, this is! No one ever notices, let alone bothers you round here!"
"I certainly noticed you," Nadia began, but Harry's brain, which had been previously lagging in information uptake, was now fully up to teenage boy speed.
"'Course you did," he smirked.
"Yes, yes, of course…that's why you were dreaming about me again."
"I was not! I was…oh…right. Oh, yeah, that's right – wait…how did you know I was dreaming about you again? And I wasn't dreaming about you – she just looked like you, remember?"
"Sure, Harry, sure," Nadia sighed, setting down her stuffed book bag as she took the chair beside him. "You actually said my name a couple of times. Pretty loudly, too, as if you were calling for me. It's why I came over – but by the time I got here, you were mumbling on about somebody named…Jules, I think it was."
His face bright red, Harry shook his head. "You weren't listening to me. I mean, in the dream, you…your look-alike heard me, but she wasn't responding to your name. And then it was as if I wasn't in control anymore, and I called you something else – I can't remember. It's all a bit fuzzy after that point."
He sighed; expecting yet another sarcastic remark from Nadia about her 'look-alike' but was surprised when she bit her lip, her eyes completely betraying her confusion.
"Are you – are you sure you can't remember what you called me afterwards?" she asked him. "It's just that…"
Harry frowned, trying to recall the dream sequence of minutes earlier. He'd been sitting at a kitchen table, studying his reflection in a glass when he'd noticed the older 'Nadia' out in the hallway; except this time, she'd been quite obviously very, very pregnant, and she'd come when he called her…
"Er, I think it was 'Dela.' Or 'Dayla'. Something like that, I couldn't quite tell. And, Nadia, she was - "
Nadia, however, had gone white, staring at him with such icy blue eyes that Harry had to turn and look away after a moment. "Déla?" she whispered, and Harry relaxed.
"That's what I – he said. Déla."
"Déla."
"Er, yes," Harry reassured her. "That's what it was."
"Adéla."
"I said, yes," Harry repeated, quite bemused. "I mean, not…Adéla. Just Déla."
"No, you don't understand," Nadia shook herself out of her shocked state. "You know that sister I told you about? The one who died a few years back? The one no one really knows about?"
Harry stared at Nadia for a few moments before shaking his head. "No, no, you've got to be joking. There is no way that…that…"
"That's my sister's name, Harry. Adéla Zabini. Well, that was her name – she died when she was only eight in an accident the year before I was born."
"Alright," Harry slowly said. "So, that would make her, if, she hadn't died, about…twenty-four."
Nadia sighed, leaning her chair back so she rocked back and forth slightly. "Please tell me that she – the girl in your dream - wasn't about that age in the - "
"Yup."
Nadia eyed him interestedly for a moment, her chair coming to a standstill as she rather carefully studied his face.
"You know, Harry," she began, after a moment or two of prolonged silence. "I've never really thought of you as anything special,"
"Why, thank you, Nadia," Harry couldn't help interrupting, but was quickly silenced by a glare from the girl beside him.
"As I was saying, I've never really thought that you're particularly extraordinary." She paused for a moment's reflection, and then appeared to remember something else. "You do fly passably well. But – now…I mean, there's no way you should have – or could have known that…her name isn't actually in any of the books with the Great Divide in them…"
"The Great What?" Harry interjected.
"You know – that whole business with my mum and dad, back in the seventies? Yes? Right, well…look, it's just that, you shouldn't know…but you do – you're dreaming it! Harry – well, you're starting to get a little too interesting."
"Too interesting?" Harry's eyebrows went up. "That's what most people like! Harry Potter, walking freak show just waiting to happen."
"I know," Nadia sighed, before smiling wryly at him. "I liked you better when I thought I'd figured out that you were just a normal person like the rest of us."
Harry stared at her for a moment before smiling back at her. "You know what?"
"What?"
"I do believe that you, Zabini, do actually fancy me."
Nadia snorted halfheartedly before grinning at Harry. "Who knows? You tell me, you're the …uh…clairvoyant around here."
Harry shook his head. "Sorry – apparently, it only works for dead people. Your sister, my-"
"Your dad? I'm not stupid, Harry, I'd already figured that much out."
"Well, yes; the point is, you're alive, so you're just going to have to tell me yourself."
Nadia, however, had already drifted off into space. "They never told me exactly how she died, you know. It was always just…an accident. In fact, Malfoy once suggested that it wasn't really an accident at all – but then, that's Malfoy for you, isn't it? Always stirring up trouble where it's not wanted."
"What?" she smiled at the look of shock on Harry's face. "Just because I'm a Slytherin doesn't mean that I don't know what he's actually like. Anyway, I really have to know what I'm getting into; I think my parents are planning on marrying me off to him. So, technically, that probably means that I'm not even allowed to fancy you."
Several outraged exclamations ran through Harry's overwhelmed mind, but he was astonished to hear himself calmly ask Nadia if she was really alright with the idea of marrying someone she obviously didn't like.
"Instead of what – marrying you?" She cheekily asked, before standing up and gathering her things. "You know Harry…I know you think that you're the only one whose life is already set out for him. You're always walking around like you've got the weight of Destiny on your shoulders at all times; as if you haven't got a choice in the world and you're just stumbling along trying to do the best you can. Well – it may not be such a big deal to you – but some of us don't really have a choice in life either. There are some things we just have to do."
"Nadia-" Harry began, but was silenced by her quick kiss on the lips.
"See you round, Harry."
A/N: Alright, there you go – I have emerged from the dark abyss of non-writing and hopefully haven't completely lost the little ability I had in the first place. Therefore, any feedback from you is greatly appreciated!
- Laren